A couple of releases of previously unissued Detroit recordings announced in June, which seem
to have been delayed, are now available.
The first consists of two sides from Deon Jackson. "Happily Ever After" was originally recorded by Len Barry on Decca in 1966,
but found its way to Detroit and producer Ollie McLoughlin and arranger Mike
Terry in the mid 1960s.
The flip "(You've Got) The Power Of Love" was written by Richard McDougall (a member of the Capitols but they never recorded the song). The Esquires released it under a shortened tittle "You Got The Power" via Wand
in 1968 and it found it's way onto a CD compilation "The Esquires – Get On Up ... And Get Away With The Esquires" in 1998 by Westside compiled by Tony Rounce, as well as a couple of others.
Hayley released another couple of unissued Deon Jackson songs which we posted on a Deon Jackson Profile in Jan '23 (on his posthumous birthday) which included a superb new digital compilation of his music.
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
A posthumous birthday tribute to one of the great 'unsung' 60s/70s
artists Deon Jackson, whose material I have loved for many years. He was born in Ann Arbor (just outside Detroit) on 26 Jan 1946, departing this
world on 18 Apr 2014 aged 68 so would have been 77 today.
He began his career whilst still at school after being signed by Ollie McLaughlin who ran three labels named after his three daughters Karen, Carla
and Moira and another named after his wife Ruth which all produced some
classic tunes loved on the Northern Soul scene.
Jackson's first single was in 1963 on Atlantic (aged 17) which was
followed by a second on the label in 1964 before he transferred to the
Carla label and had his first, and biggest, hit with "Love Makes The World Go Round". It reached #3 R&B and #11 Hot 100 but he was never able to
emulate the success of this record. but on the back of its success an
album with the same title was released on Atco. It was reissued on CD in
1997 with additional tracks by Marginal and then again in 2006 with just
the original twelve tracks.
His next two singles didn't make the R&B chart but the first was
#77 and second #11 Hot 100. The next two singles didn't register on
either chart but his fifth single on Carla "Ooh Baby" made #28 R&B and #68 Hot 100 and that was his last appearance on
either chart in 1967. That's a bit of a surprise as his next two singles
are in my opinion, arguably, two of his best; "I Can't Go On" (1968) and the 1969 double-sider "You Gotta Love" (covered by Matt Lucas in 1975 on Celebration promo only) / "You'll Wake Up Wiser" (covered by Chuck Boris on Enterprise in 1969 and Betty LaVette on
Atco in 1972).
That was all but the end of his recording career with only one further,
Leroy Hutson written and produced, single appearing on Shout in 1972
"I'll Always Love You" / "Life Can Be That Way" which are another two
superb sides that are overlooked.
A few reissues appeared. A notable one was on John Abbey
(Blues & Soul) Contemporaries label which had "Love Makes The World Go Round" backed with an alternate take of "I Can't Go On" which has female backing vocals not on the original and has become an
in demand item.
UK Hayley Records uncovered and released a couple of previously
unreleased tracks in 2016 "Pain In My Heat" (which starts of with a similar hook to Darrel Banks/J.J. Barnes "Our
Love (Is In The Pocket) / "I've Got So Much Love".
I think I'd be correct in saying that apart from his Shout, and
previously unreleased Hayley, singles and the alternate take of "I Can't
Go On", this compilation is his complete catalogue and what a gem ... and
wait for it, unbelievably, it is only £4.99! You won't spend a better
fiver on a such a collection of magnificent tunes. How Deon Jackson wasn't
a soul superstar is beyond belief. Sadly he died of a brain
haemorrhage in 2014 aged 68.
Note the tracks not on the compilation have been sourced from YouTube,
however three of them are only available on Steve Edgar's excellent
Soul Hawk channel and embedding has been disabled but just click on link
'Watch on YouTube' to listen.
Deon Jackson featured here a few days ago with two sides of
a new vinyl release by Hit And Run Records of two hard to find 60s
recordings. We did a feature on him in June when a compilation of his songs
was digitally released and this song featured there but the YouTube clip
posted has been made private .. why do they do that?
Anyway, a good enough excuse to repost this superb side "I'll Always Love You" from 1972 co-written, arranged and produced by Leroy Hutson.
The second release on 17 Nov '22 from Hit And Run is a pair of unreleased
sides (at the time) from, generally overlooked and underrated, Detroit artist
Deon Jackson.
The lead side "Someday The Sun Will Shine" was a self-written, unknown and unreleased , song until an acetate was
discovered (by Dean Anderson at Stafford in the 80s now owned by Carl
Fortnum I believe?) which resulted in a bootleg appearing on Canadian
label Maple St. CD "Detroit Dynamite" and then on a counterfeit Carla
label with "I've Got So Much Love". Hit And Run has carefully remastered it for vinyl release (included below).
The flip side is a cover of the Barbara Lewis, Rose Marie McCoy
written, floater "I Remember The Feeling" which she released as a B side to "Baby What Do You Want Me To Do" on Atlantic in 1966. It was paired with the Barbara Lewis version on 7"
by Stardust (probably late 90s / early 00s as a guess) and was also issued
by Goldie 45 along with the biggest of his only two hits "Love Makes The World Go Around" circa 1974.
We did a fairly comprehensive post on Deon Jackson earlier this year when
we came across a 25 track digital compilation "Presenting Deon Jackson" but omitted "Someday The Sun Will Shine".
The single is available now to order by sending £15 (£12 + £3 postage) to: hitandrunsoul45@gmail.com
I don't know when exactly this year this digital compilation was released
but it's a 2022 release (it states a publishing date of 6 May 1965 which
is implausible as it contains tracks from later than that so perhaps it was
6 May 2022 as the copyright date is 2022).
Deon Jackson
was a largely unsung artist whose material I have loved for many years. He was born in Ann Arbor (just outside Detroit) in 1946 and began his career
whilst still at school after being signed by Ollie McLaughlin who ran
three labels named after his three daughters Karen, Carla and Moira and another named after his wife Ruth which all produced some classic tunes loved on the Northern Soul scene.
Jackson's first single was in 1963 on Atlantic (aged 17) which was
followed by a second on the label in 1964 before he transferred to the
Carla label and had his first, and biggest, hit with "Love Makes The World
Go Round". It reached #3 R&B and #11 Hot 100 but he was never able to
emulate the success of this record. but on the back of its success an
album with the same title was released on Atco. It was reissued on CD in
1997 with additional tracks by Marginal and then again in 2006 with just
the original twelve tracks.
His next two singles didn't make the R&B chart but the first was #77
and second #11 Hot 100. The next two singles didn't register on either
chart but his fifth single on Carla "Ooh Baby" made #28 R&B and #68 Hot 100 and that was his last appearance on either chart in 1967. That's a
bit of a surprise as his next two singles are in my opinion, arguably, two
of his best; "I Can't Go On" (1968) and the 1969 double-sider "You Gotta
Love" (covered by Matt Lucas in 1975 on Celebration promo only) /
"You'll Wake Up Wiser" (covered by Chuck Boris on Enterprise in 1969 and
Betty LaVette on Atco in 1972).
That was all but the end of his recording career with only one further, Leroy Hutson written and produced, single appearing on Shout in 1972 "I'll
Always Love You" / "Life Can Be That Way" which are another two superb
sides that are overlooked.
A few reissues appeared. A notable one was on John Abbey
(Blues & Soul) Contemporaries label which had "Love Makes The World Go Round" backed with an alternate take of "I Can't Go On" which has female
backing vocals not on the original and has become an in demand item.
UK Hayley Records uncovered and released a couple of previously unreleased
tracks in 2016 "Pain In My Heat" (which starts of with a similar hook to
Darrel Banks/J.J. Barnes "Our Love (Is In The Pocket) / "I've Got So Much
Love".
I think I'd be correct in saying that apart from his Shout, and previously
unreleased Hayley, singles and the alternate take of "I Can't Go On", this
compilation is his complete catalogue and what a gem ... and wait for it,
unbelievably, it is only £4.99! You won't spend a better fiver on a such a
collection of magnificent tunes. How Deon Jackson wasn't a soul superstar is
beyond belief. Sadly he died of a brain haemorrhage in 2014 aged
68.
Note the tracks not on the compilation have been sourced from YouTube,
however three of them were are only available on Steve Edgar's excellent
Soul Hawk channel and embedding has been disabled but just click on link 'Watch on YouTube' to listen.
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