Soul Direction's Alan Kitchener acquired a master tape from the Don
Davis Collection of tapes for his personal collection and was more
than happy to listen and enjoy the tracks in the comfort of his own
record room.
One of the tracks was an unreleased version of the
Melvin Davis written song "I'm The One That Loves You" recorded by the writer but best known for
Darrell Banks' 1969 Groovesville recording released on Volt with a slightly
different title "I'm The One Who Loves You".
You may recall in Jan '23 we posted an article regarding Davis'
health after reading about it on Rare Soul Talk facebook group who had
raised a
GoFundMe
page to help with his medical bills (which currently stands at $15k).
We, in the UK, may 'moan' about the NHS waiting times but at
least we're not then hit with a huge medical bill, which we take for
granted.
Prior to this, Alan, during a conversation with Jim O'Hara (a friend
of Melvin's who wrote the release sleeve notes), came up with the idea
of releasing the song to raise some funds to help with the medical
bills.
With Melvin's approval, Alan set about remastering the tracks which
was no mean feat given the age and condition of the tapes. Once
contracts were drawn up and licensing fees paid, Soul Direction
scheduled the project.
Alan has subsequently decided to donate all profits from this
upcoming release direct to Melvin. However, Melvin, the gent that he
is, was insistent that he would not accept anything unless he knew for
sure that Soul Direction's costs were covered.
To discover more about Melvin's contribution to soul music go to
the Melvin Davis article
posted in Jan '23 and if you feel inclined, please donate via the
GoFundMe
page.
The song featured on a 2010 compilation "Detroit Ambassador of Soul" released by Spanish label Vampi Soul which we posted in Jan. We are
not entirely sure if it is the same version as on Alan's tape and
neither does Alan, so where Vampi Soul got the masters from is a
mystery!
The single will be available to pre-order from
Soul Direction
shortly for release on 30 Jun '23 and you know will that you are
helping one of Detroit's rare soul legends who contributed so much to
the rare/Northern Soul scene in particular.
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
| Rating: | 8.5 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Northern Soul |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | Soul Direction |
| Cat No: | SD022 |
| Date: | 30/06/2023 |
| Key/BPM: | 8B/107 |
| Price: | £15 |
Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved
What a wonderful singer and songwriter!!! Another one from the great Detroit era. Maybe a new unreleased version? Is there a mistake in the title?
ReplyDeleteYves