Wednesday, 8 March 2023

Salena Jones [2023] - Am I The Same Girl (Soulful Strut) / Right Now [Soul Brother #SB70449]


Another Soul Brother reissue due in May and available to pre-order. It's from Salena Jones with a cover of the Barbara Acklin's Chicago classic "Am I The Same Girl" which is the vocal of Young-Holt Unlimited's "Soulful Strut" penned by Eugene Record and Sonny Sanders. Eldee Young (bass) and  Isaac "Redd" Holt (drums) were earlier members of Ramsey Lewis Trio who left to form their own group.

Young-Holt's instrumental came first in Oct '68 followed by Acklin's vocal in Jan 1969 although I believe that Ackilin recorded it earlier in Jul '68 but it wasn't released until later. Salena Jones' version has been in demand for many years as it's an album only track from "Everybody's Talkin About Salena Jones" (1970) excluding a solitary single release in The Netherlands in 1970. The song has been covered many times, probably most famously by Dusty Springfield and Swing Out Sister who had a UK #21 pop hit with it in 1992. Surprisingly, perhaps, it wasn't a massive hit for Barbara Acklin reaching #33 R&B / #79 Hot 100.

The track used for the flip side, "Right Now", is from her 1969 UK only album "The Moment Of Truth" and is a cover of Mel Torme's 1962 Carl Sigman and Herbie Mann written hit. Totally irrelevant for here, but wasn't it covered by Siouxsie Sioux under an alter ego The Creatures in the early 80s?

Salena Jones (Joan Elizabeth Shaw) is from Newport News, VA, and was mainly a supper club jazz singer. She performed from the late 40s until the mid 60s as Joan Shaw, and then moved to England changing her name to Salena (contrived from her influences Sarah Vaughn and Lena Horne) Jones (a play on her first name). She is now 85 and lives in Ascot, Berkshire.

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

Details
Rating: 8.6
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: Crossover Soul
Format: Single
Media: 7" Vinyl
Label: Soul Brother
Cat No: None
Date: TBC/05/2023
Key/BPM: N/A
Price: £13
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