UPDATE: A new
remastered version
has been released on 7 Aug 2023 which has much better sound quality.
We received a message from writer/producer and Sound Gems owner
Frank Fioravanti on Friday notifying us of the release of a
previously unreleased archive recording by
William DeVaughn that he found on a tape. The song is "Thank You - Thank You (For Your Love)" written by DeVaughn and produced by Frank.
He tells us that it was recorded around 1974 for DeVaughn's debut album
"Be Thankful For What You Got" on Roxbury but wasn't finished in time to
be included so was scratched.
We thought initially that perhaps it was an earlier recording, as it
sounds earlier to these ears, as he began his career playing with bands in
Washington D.C. in the 60s and wondered if this was an early demo.
Frank relayed a couple of stories re DeVaughn. There was a DJ called Dr
Bop in Milwaukee who 'claimed' that he broke the hit "Be Thankful For What
You Got" (nothing changes then lol!). He hired DeVaughn to open for The
Dramatics at a concert he promoted in a movie theatre and William stole
the show. He was also booked for a tiny venue in NYC and Frank got fellow
Philly natives Hall & Oates to sing background vocals for him.
As you can probably detect, the tape is a bit warbly (it is almost 50
years old!) but best efforts have been made to remaster it but Frank tells
us that in the past he has had tapes baked to restore them with some
success and may try it with this one.
We won't pretend that it's one of the best songs we've ever heard but it
does grow on you with a few plays. It has more of a southern soul feel
than most of his recordings and is a nice piece of undiscovered history,
so thanks to Frank for making us aware of it to share with you.
It's available to download from the usual places.
For more on William DeVaughn we did his
discography
a few years ago, obviously we will now have to update it!
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
| Rating: | 7.8 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Southern Soul |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | Sound Gems Records |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | 14/07/2023 |
| Key/BPM: | N/A |
| Price: | £1 |
Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved
Thank you so much
ReplyDeleteThis is something interesting because it's always good to find unreleased recordings. However I doubt very much that it is from the Roxbury period because the orchestra and the style do not seem the same. This was not the case for the unreleased track on this same LP with "You Gave Me A Brand New Start" which is in the same vein as the whole LP and released as a bonus later.
ReplyDeleteYves
Hi Yves, I agree it sounds earlier but Frank assures me that it was from 1974 and intended for the 'Be Thankful' album but not completed in time so was left off .. but of course the song may have been written much earlier? .. it doesn't fit with the other material on the album.
ReplyDeleteI myself woudnt know or remember if it was written earlier because we didnt have William earlier. Certainly we did not have access to the same Rhythm section on this song thats why it also does not seem to fit.
ReplyDeleteabout that song "You Gave Me A Brand New Start" just mentioned. I wrote that song for the group "High & Mighty " and we ended up using William`s vocal on it.
ReplyDeleteIconic LP.. agree that it doesn't fit with "blood maybe thicker" or "we are his children" but it is very nice and great to hear anything from WD back then
ReplyDelete