Soul Strutter: 11/23/22

Wednesday, 23 November 2022

Betty Everett - Birthday Profile

Betty Jean Everett (23 Nov. 1939 - 19 Aug. 2001) would have been celebrating her 83rd birthday today, she passed in Aug 2001 aged 61. She will probably be forever known for the novelty song "Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" along with a duet with Jerry Butler "Let It Be Me".

She was born in Greensville, MS, in 1939 and sang and played piano in church from the age of 9. In 1957, aged 18, she moved to Chicago to pursue a career in secular music and released her first recording the same year and followed it with another two singles for Cobra Records. A pair of singles appeared on both C.J. and One-derful! and another on Renee before being signed to Vee-Jay in 1963.

Her third single for the label, the aforementioned "Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" hit pay dirt and was her biggest hit so far reaching #6 R&B in 1964. Two more singles followed with only one being a minor R&B hit before her next biggie, the duet with Jerry Butler which got to #5 R&B.

The follow up was another minor R&B hit "Getting Might Crowded" (#65) but was picked up on years later by the UK Northern Soul scene. She then recorded another duet with Butler singing Charlie Chaplin's "Smile".

The hits dried up at the end of 1964 and she had to wait until 1969 for her next. Vee-Jay folded in 1966 and she moved to ABC but after four singles for ABC in a year failed to chart she moved to Uni. Her first single for them was her biggest hit, "There'll Come A Time" (#2 R&B / #26 Hot 100) which was the title track of her third album, having released a duets album "Delicious Together" with Butler 1964 and her debut "You're No Good" in 1963.

Another three of her six singles on Uni charted before leaving for Fantasy in 1970 where she had four R&B hits and released two albums, "Love Rhymes" (1974) and "Happy Endings" (1975). By 1977 she had moved on again this time to Sound Stage 7 where she released two singles, followed by another on United Artists in 1978 and her final single on 20th Century-Fox in 1980 and that would appear to be her last original recording.

WILSN [2022] - Hurts So Bad [Ivy League Records] (Full EP)

A new six track EP from WILSN titled "Hurts So Bad" with the title track featuring The Teskey Brother's Josh Teskey. This should come as no big surprise as she toured with The Teskey Brothers recently on a UK/European tour and is signed to the same label.

WILSN (aka Shannon Busch) is from Melbourne where she studied jazz at Victorian College of the Arts. She released a debut EP "Don't Give It Up" in 2015 and followed it with a self-titled, six track EP in 2019. She has also supported Charles Bradley, Allen Stone and St Paul & The Broken Bones.

She featured here in Sep '22 with a four track EP "If You Wanna Love Me" which at the time we suspected was an incremental release and all four tracks are featured on this latest edition. Only the first two tracks are new songs from her last release. It would appear that this isn't the final cut as she has a full album, "Those Days Are Over", due on 3 Feb 2023.

I'm not sure the pricing on Amazon is correct as it's £10.29 for a 6 tracker, a full album is generally £7.99, perhaps that is the price of the full album when it's due!

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	8.3
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Retro Soul / Blue-Eyed
Format:	EP
Media:	Digital
Label:	Ivy League Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	22/11/2022
Price:	£10.29

Blue Magic [2022] - The Philadelphia ReEdit Sessions [Simpson Uniquity] (Full Album Samples)

Paul Simpson is back with a new dedicated website for his releases. His latest set of Philadelphia Re-edit Sessions is Blue Magic. You know the drill by now, available for two weeks only and then they're gone for good!

Blue Magic were from Philadelphia and were formed in 1972 consisting of Ted Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt. Mills was with a group called The Toppicks and the other four members where originally in a group known as Shades Of Soul and essentially the execs at WMOT decided to replace the existing Toppicks with Mills and Shades Of Soul and renamed the group Blue Magic.

They hit the R&B charts with their first three singles "Spell" (#30), "Look Me Up" (#36) and "Stop To Start" (#14) but their most notable hit was "Sideshow" in 1974 which topped the R&B chart and also made it to #8 on Billboard Hot 100, all were produced by Norman Harris and backed by MFSB. It didn't register in the UK and they had to wait until 1984 before scratching the chart with an entry at #89 with "Romeo And Juliet". Two other songs made it onto the Hot 100 "Stop To Start", "Three Ring Circus" with "Grateful" just bubbling outside at #104.

They have released nine studio albums between 1974-95, a live album with Margie Joseph and Major Harris in 1976 and their most recent album "Share A Dream" in 2020.

By 1977, with the rise of Disco, their smooth sweet soul style was going out of fashion and in 1980 they disbanded when the Sawyer brothers left and soon afterwards so did Pratt. Mills and Beaton recruited new members and released "Magic#" in 1983 but by 1989 the original members got back together and released "From Out Of The Blue".

In 1990 Mills was involved in a near fatal car accident and when he returned to music it was as a solo artist and he was replaced in the group by Rod Wayne (aka Roderick Bronaugh) who remained in the group until 2004 and died in 2016.

During the noughties there were three variants of the group. Wendell Sawyer and Keith Beaton trademarked the name and both Vernon Sawyer and Richard Pratt also had their own versions of the group until Pratt died in March 2022.

The ReEdits are all from their first four albums plus three single B sides which didn't appear on any original album but some have featured on reissued albums as bonus tracks.

There are no sound file samples available on Simpson's website, so below or one minute samples from each.

* 1974 - Blue Magic (7)

** 1974 - The Magic Of The Blue (5)

*** 1975 Thirteen Blue Magic Lane (4)

**** 1976 Mystic Dragons (2)

Answer To My Prayer (Paul Simpson Edit) *

Chasing Rainbows (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) ***

Grateful (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) (1976 B side)

Let Me Be The One (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) **

Look Me Up (Paul Simpson Edit) *

Love Has Found It's Way To Me (Paul Simpson Edit) **

Magic Of The Blue (Paul Simpson Edit) ***

Making Love To A Memory (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) ****

Never Get Over You (Paul Simpson Edit) **

Sideshow (Paul Simpson Edit) *

Spell (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) *

Start To Stop (Paul Simpson Edit) *

Stringing Me Along (Paul Simpson Edit) **

Summer Snow (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) ****

Three Ring Circus (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) ***

Welcome To The Club (Paul Simpson Edit) *

We're On The Right Track (Paul Simpson Edit) ***

What's Come Over Me (Paul Simpson Instrumental Edit) */***

Where Have You Been (Paul Simpson Edit) (1973 B side)

You & Me with Margie Joseph (Paul Simpson Edit) (1975 B side)

Details

Rating:	8.5
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Philly Soul / Re-Edits
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	Simpson Uniquity
Cat No:	None
Date:	23/11/2022
Price:	$11.99

L.A. Boppers [1981] - La La Means I Love You [Mercury #76096]

You will, of course, be familiar with this song as it's The Delfonics' sweet soul classic "La La Means I Love You" from 1968 on Philly Groove, written by Thom Bell and Delfonics member William 'Poogie' Hart and covered by many. However, you may not perhaps know this particular take by L.A. Boppers from 1981 from their "Bop Time" album. It was a minor hit reaching #77 on US R&B chart.

The tempo is uplifted from the original ballad pace 85 BPM into a nice modern soul dancer.

The L.A. Boppers were of course from L.A., where else, and released four albums between 1979-82 along with around half a dozen singles. They were formed by Side Effect's Augie Johnson and started out as the backing band for Side Effect. For their debut album and single they were simply known as The Boppers and changed their name to L.A. Boppers for subsequent albums. They hit the R&B chart on four occasions, their biggest hit being their second single "Is This The Best (Bo-Doo-Wah)" in 1980 which reached #28 R&B.

Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Mercury
Cat No:	76096
Date:	1981
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£8-£20 approx.

House Bros. [2022] - Shake (Original 1979 Version) [North Broad St #NBS008BL]

The latest vinyl release on Colin Law's North Broad St Records is an unreleased track "Shake" from 1979 by House Bros.. The flip side has the Al Kent Mix which was issued on Al Kent's Million Dollar Disco earlier in the year.

I wasn't sure whether this had been released yet or not as it has been floating around for a few weeks on promo / test pressing but, having just checked Discogs, it was released last month and is already selling from ridiculous amounts. One has sold for £150 and two are being advertised for £199.99 and €250.00 respectively! They were being sold originally by the label for £20!

According to the date on the test pressing, it was released 10 Oct, and they are usually released before the main issues, and since then six have sold on Discogs with another two currently for sale within barely a month of release, so draw your own conclusions as to why some are buying vinyl, as it's obviously not to keep for themselves, thus depriving genuine buyers of obtaining limited edition copies at face value! As Grandmaster Flash said in The Message ... it's a jungle out there!

I'm sorry, it's ok, but it's not a £200 record in my book, I can think of far better records to spend my money on but there you go, rarity over quality one more time, but then again it's not particularly rare as around 300 have just sold! Madness!

Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	North Broad St.
Cat No:	NBS008BL
Date:	16/10/2022
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£20 (originally) now upwards on £200

Dr Packer & Sonic Soul Orchestra Feat. Colonel Abrams [2022] - You’re The One For [Tinted Records #TINTV006]

Aussie DJ/Remixer Dr. (Greg) Packer has released various versions of "You’re The One For Me" digitally over recent months and four mixes are now available on 12" vinyl from 21 Nov '22.

It is of course a rehash of James 'D-Train' Williams' 1981 post disco / early house classic which comes in four flavas: Extended Original, Extended Instrumental, Ross Couch Remix and Ricky Morrison Remix.

I just wonder where they got Colonel Abrams vocals from as he died in 2016 so is it taken from an unreleased recording? There were some mid 90s garage/house mixes by Central Hill aka Chapter 9 aka House Of Correction so perhaps there's an acapella vocal floating around that's been used?

Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Nu Disco / Cover Version
Format:	Single
Media:	12" Vinyl
Label:	Tinted Records
Cat No:	TINTV006
Date:	21/11/2022
Key/BPM:	4A/122
Price:	£13

DJ Kool Keith [2022-11-20] - Soulful Vibes [Soul Groove Radio]

The Soul Emperor's selections of the latest releases broadcast on Sun 20th Nov 2022 on Soul Groove Radio.

DJ Kool Keith has two shows per week, his Soulful Vibes show Sun 12:00-14:00 (GMT/UK Time) on Soul Groove Radio and his Soulful Slow Jams show on Soul Radio Coast 2 Coast 23:00 PST (Tue 07:00 GMT in UK).

All DJ Kool Keith podcast are available to listen/download from Podomatic.

Playlist:

Mr. Confuse feat. Alicia Cibola - Time To Move

Cool Million, Susanne Ørum - Maybe You're The One (Original Mix)

Mz Pat The Lady Of Soul - Lies (feat. Ciddy Boi P)

Glenn Jones - Family Time (feat. Y'Anna Crawley)

The Funk Fathers Band II - Girl U Really Turn Me On (Remix)

Andre Ward - Classy Lady

Andre Ward - Africa Rising

LaTasha Spencer - Pressing On

Kenny Thomas - Got It On Time (Radio Extended)

John Reid - Light Up My World

V. Cartier - Take You There

Kim Tavar - Problems (Gedi Clean Edit)

Ernie & The Family McKone feat. Laura Jackson - Alone Again

Eric Valentine feat. Richard Elliot - Let's Move

Centric - Unbreakable

Claudia Campagnol - Make Me Believe It

Cole Williams with Soul Tune Allstars - A Better Woman

Saint Jaimz presents Popz feat. Kaleo Ross - Technology (Radio Edit)

Melba Moore - Not Too Late

Hil St. Soul - Love And Fire

Hil St. Soul - FIngerprints

Sir Spencer - New Maybe (Radio Edit)

Kayla The Love Note - It's The Weekend (Radio)

Deanna Li - Deserve Your Love

Uruwashi feat. Reina Shimizu - Stuck In Time

Imperial Wonders - Lord What Is Happening To The World?

Candy Dulfer - Since I Found U

Alton McClain - While I'm Alone

Melani - Pressure Baby

Babyface feat. Queen Naija - Game Over (Clean)

Claudia Campagnol - You Are On My Mind

Get To Know & Andre Espeut - Nowhere Plans

Ja'vion Mcvadian feat. Brenton O2 Loughlin - Put A Ring On It

Lindsey Webster - I'm OK (Radio Edit) (feat. Nicholas Payton)

The Modulations [1975] - It's Rough Out There (Expanded Edition) [Buddah #BDS-5638] (Full Album)

A classic modern soul album by The Modulations "It's Rough Out Here" which features key members of MFSB Baker/Young/Harris and was arranged by Vince Montana.

The group were from Durham, NC, and were previously known as The Pimps. They released just three singles in the US between 1973-75, but strangely the album title track was only released as a single in Greece and Peru with different B sides.

The video of them performing below on Soul Train is a different song over which "Hopelessly In Love" has been dubbed, but nice to see some vintage footage of a relatively obscure group.

The edition of the album posted here from Spotify is a reissued 2012 expanded edition which includes two B sides not on the original album along with an unreleased track, "Somebody's Been Messin'", and 7" versions of two singles.

Details

Rating:	8.6
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Modern Soul
Format:	Album
Media:	Vinyl / CD
Label:	Buddah / Funkytowngrooves
Cat No:	BDS-5638 / FTGUK-008
Date:	1975 / 2012
Price:	£15-£20