Yesterday I posted a new single due on 25 Mar 2022 from Kent Select by
Melvin Hicks & The Versatiles "The Intruder". Kent are also releasing another 7" on the same day by Brothers Of
Soul "I Need Your Love" / "Can’t Nobody". Both A sides featured on last year's compilation "Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities Volume 7" and until then were previously unreleased.
Brothers Of Soul of course were Fred Bridges, Richard Knight and Bobby
Eaton, who also recorded as The Creations and were prolific writers for
Ric William's Zodiac and associated labels, predominantly for Ruby
Andrews.
The A side "I Need Your Love" is a soulful mid-tempo tune and "Can't Nobody" is a lowrider (which was previously unreleased until it featured on "This Is Lowrider Soul Vol. 2" last Sep.) Both songs were recorded in 1969.
Boo was a label created by Ric Williams (who also owned Aquarius and
Zodiac) which ran between 1967-69. It was intended to be an outlet for The Brothers Of Soul who were Fred Bridges, Richard
Knight and Bobby Eaton who wrote a lot of the Zodiac material. They released
seven of the nine releases, the other two were from Roy 'Cortez' Butler both
Bridges, Knight & Eaton compositions.
Aquarius was essentially a channel for Candace (aka Amanda) Love as five of
its six releases where from her.
Zodiac's main artists were Ruby Andrews (15) and Chuck Bernard (6) who
accounted for 21 of the 27 known/listed releases, three of the others were
by Creations (i.e. Bridges, Knight & Eaton), Bobby Eaton, Freddy &
Bobby (i.e. Bridges & Eaton) .
The featured track was first released in 1967 on Zodiac as Creations who were in
fact Bridges, Knight & Eaton who would later be known as The
Brothers Of Soul who recorded a different take in 1971 on Shock which only released three singles, two by BoS and the other by Woman a psedonym form Candace Love.
Roy
'Cortez' Butler also released a version in 1967 on Boo.
Another, unreleased, version was discovered (by Adey Pierce) on a 10" studio acetate from 1966 with no credits on it. It was originally 'thought' to be by Barbara Mercer, but
Fred Bridges stated that it definitley wasn't her, but recalled that it was
The Debonaires on backing. It has subsequently been established that it is
in fact Pearl Jones who was a secretary at Sidra and a member of The
Embraceables who released a single on Sidra with both sides written by Jones.
George McGregor (who I've featured on the blog before) was involved with
Sidra, Drew and Zodiac at the time and confirmed that it was not Barbara
Mercer and he should know as she is his wife.
Pearl Jones also released a solo single on W.I.G. (which I believe is a
part of Sidra) in 1965 both sides were
written by her. It is also claimed the she and another member on The
Embraceables, Wyline Ivey, were backing singers for Aretha
Franklin.
Jones' version was eventually issued in 2008 on a relaunched Joe
Boy/Inferno label by Neil Rushton.
There's a great article on Bridges, Knight & Eaton on SoulfulDetroit.
Creations [1967] - A Dream [Zodiac #Z1005]
Roy 'Cortez' Butler [1967] - A Dream [Boo #1002]
The Brothers Of Soul [1971] - Dream [Shock #S-1313]
Pearl Jones [2008] - A Dream [Joe Boy Inferno #S-9014]
