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Monday, 7 August 2023

Pumpkin [2023] - Take Me Back (feat. James 'Crab' Robinson) / U Drive Me Crazy (feat. Paris Ford) [Overlord Entertainment Group Inc Recordings]


There's a bit of  story to this one as last weekend Roger we were contacted asking if we knew a song being played on Solar Radio by Tony Monson. After scanning through a few of his podcasts (which are 3 hours long) we couldn't find the song being played so gave up. We were told that it featured James Robinson and that the artist name was thought to be Pumpkin.

It sounds very much like an 80s recording and the sleeve indicates 1984. The A side "Take Me Back" features James 'Crab' Robinson (written by Pumpkin and Robinson) whilst the B side "U Drive Me Crazy" features Paris Ford written by Ford. 

Ford is Robinson's cousin and was a member of BB&Q Band as well as The Whole Darn Family in the 70s and is the owner of Overlord Entertainment Group on which these tracks are released. Ford has played bass and toured with many artists including Oneness Of JuJu, Vickie Sue Robinson, Lonnie Liston Smith, Johnny Gill, Village People, Stacy Lattisaw, Evelyn Champagne King, Rick James and New Edition.

The artwork/labels suggest that it may be available on vinyl but we don't see any way to purchase vinyl from the website but both tracks are available as digital downloads from the website.

There's no way to embed/stream the tracks so visit the Paris Ford website for them.

Information on artists given on the website:

Pumpkin was Errol E. Bedward (21 Jan 1961 - 24 Aug 1990) a musician, percussionist, and band leader renowned for being the one behind many old school hip hop tracks for the Profile, Enjoy, and Tuff City record companies. He worked with several influential early hip-hop acts from 1979 to 1984, such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Spoonie Gee, Treacherous Three, Funky Four, Grandmaster Caz, the Fearless Four, and Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, and several more obscure names. 

His 1983 single "King of the Beat" was followed by one of his last productions, Pumpkin and the Profile All-Stars' "Here Comes the Beat" (Profile, 1984).

James 'Crab' Robinson was a member of Change recruited by Jacques Fred Petrus to replace Luther Vandross, owing to his ability to perform in a similar vocal style. He sang of three albums between 1981-83 and was also a solo artist signed to Tabu Records in 1987 where his one album was 'Guilty'. That album contained the popular track 'I Feel Like Going On'.

He sang guest lead vocals with artists including Norman Connors ('Stella' and 'Listen') and Lonnie Liston Smith ('Song For The Children and 'Love Is The Answer') as well as on albums by Lenny White, Jeff Lorber, Bob Baldwin and Mark Johnson on his outstanding track "Daydream" in 1995 (which we have featured previously and has reissued on 7" by Izipho Soul in 2020 NB there are some still available).

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

Details
Rating: 7.7
Explicit: N
Genre/Style: 80s Soul
Format: Single
Media: Digital / 7" Vinyl
Label: Overlord Entertainment Group Inc Recordings
Cat No: None
Date: 08/2023
Key/BPM: N/A
Price: $2 / $TBC
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