Eddie Hill / The Detroit Emeralds [2022] - I Am So Thankful / Long Live The King [Kent Select #CITY 075]

The third forthcoming vinyl release from Kent Select features a previously unreleased track (until it featured on "Westbound Detroit Northern Soul" (2010) and then "Masterpieces Of Modern Soul Vol 3" (2011)) by Eddie Hill "I Am So Thankful". As far as I can tell he only released three singles, all on different Detroit labels (Ge Ge, Thelma and M-S), between 1965-68 and, as you'd expect, all have that mid 60s Detroit feel but none registered on the R&B chart. I found some vintage black and white footage of him performing "Baby I Cried", the B side of his first single in 1965.

The flip side was featured recently in a playlist for the heavenly birthday for Ivory Tilmon of The Detroit Emeralds. It's an album only track "Long Live The King" from "Do Me Right" which I think, if I remember correctly, Steve Plumb started playing around 20 or more years ago.

Available to pre-order from Ace/Kent for release on 28 Oct 2022.

Details

Rating:	8.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent Select
Cat No:	CITY 075
Date:	29/10/2022
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£9.86

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Ivory Tilmon - The Detroit Emeralds - A Profile

Ivory Tilmon was a member of the Detroit Emeralds and would have been 81 today. He died the day before his 73rd birthday on 13 Sep 2014.

The Emeralds were formed as a vocal harmony group in Little Rock, AK, by Ivory and his three brothers, Abrim, Cleophus and Raymond Tilmon. Cleophus and Raymond left and childhood friend, James Mitchell joined. When they moved to Detroit they renamed themselves Detroit Emeralds.

Now a trio, they joined Ric-Tic Records and had their first hit with "Show Time" (vocal and instrumental) in Dec 1967 which reached #22 R&B and #69 Hot 100. They recorded another two singles with the label, "Shades Down" which was an instrumental (probably by The San Remo Strings) which had spins on the Northern Soul scene with a cover of Bobby Gentry's "Ode Billy Joe" on the flip in Apr 1968 followed by "(I'm An Ordinary Man) Take Me The Way I Am" (an underrated song) / "I'll Keep On Coming Back" in Jul 1968. Neither made a dent on the R&B chart.

Ric-Tic was bought by Motown in 1968 and it would seem that the Emeralds were surplus to requirements and by 1970 signed to another Detroit label Westbound. It is claimed that whilst touring they recorded demos at the Willie Mitchell run Hi studios and brought them back to Detroit to record the vocals and strings. Out of these sessions came their next hit "If I Lose Your Love" reaching #32 on R&B chart in 1970. 

They had one more minor hit with "I Can't See Myself Doing Without You" (#41 R&B) before having a run of several crossover hits between 1971-73. Amazingly, probably their best known record, "Feel The Need In Me" failed to enter the Hot 100 (falling just outside at 110) yet it was a UK #4 pop hit!

Whist not a hit in the US, not even registering on the R&B chart, "I Think Of You" was a UK Top 30 pop hit reaching #27 on it's fifth of a twelve week run on the chart in Sep 1973. It was released following the UK reissue of "You Want It, You Got It" (which made it to #12) to capitalise on the chart success of "Feel The Need".

The group began to split in 1974 with James Mitchell and later member Marvin Willis along with Ivory departing and forming another Detroit Emeralds. Abe continued with his group naming it A.C. Tilmon & The Detroit Emeralds (presumably elder brother Ivory had rights to the name). Mitchell and Willis also formed The Floaters, writing songs for them, who included James' brother Paul Mitchell.

The group only had one more minor success with a re-recording of "Feel The Need In Me" in 1977 which again fared much better in the UK reaching #12 whilst only #90 on Hot 100 and #73 R&B.

The song has been covered several times, by Graham Central Station (1974) and Forrest (1983) probably being the better ones, but Bryan Ferry and, God forbid, Shakin' Stevens covered it in 1988 and even Annie Lennox (1992) as well as several others. 

The group released five albums, all on Westbound:

1971 - Do Me Right

1972 - You Want It, You Got It

1973 - I'm in Love with You

1977 - Feel the Need

1978 - Let's Get Together

Abrim Tilmon died from a heart attack in 1982 aged only 37.

You may recognise "Baby Let Me Take You (In My Arms)" as one of several samples used by De La Soul in their 1989 hit "Say No Go". Other songs sampled include Hall & Oates "I Can't Go For That" and Emotions "Best Of My Love".

One of De La Souls' later singles "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays" samples loads of songs and the intro is from Instant Funk's "I Got My Mind Made Up" which prompted me to post it along with a couple of the B sides from the 12".

The Singles

Album Tracks / B sides

Copyright © 2009-2022 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

The Detroit Emeralds [2021] - Face 2 Face [MCM Global Team]

I've always had a bit of a soft spot for The Detroit Emeralds as their records were some of the first that got me into soul music in the early 70s with "Do Me Right" "You Want It You Got It", "Feel The Need" (live video below) and "I Think Of You" etc.

They were formed in the 60s by brothers Abrim, Ivory, Cleophus, and Raymond Tillmon in Little Rock, AK.  Two brothers, Abrim and Ivory, moved to Detroit and hooked up with James Mitchell and released a few sides on the legendary Ric-Tic label with "Show Time" and "Shades Down" getting exposure on the Northern Soul scene. Whilst "Shades Down" is credited to them, it's an instrumental, more likely to be by The San Remo Strings or possibly Al Kent who wrote and produced it!

In 1969 they moved to Westbound where they began a string of hits which were more popular in the UK than US. Surprisingly, "Feel The Need", which was a #4 pop hit in UK in 1973, didn't even get in the Billboard Hot 100 and neither did "I Think Of You" a UK top 30 pop hit (#27)!

The group began to disintegrate in the mid 70s with Mitchell leaving to form The Floaters in 1976. The following year they remade "Feel The Need" which scraped into Billboard at #90 whilst reaching #12 in UK. At the same time The Floaters had a world-wide smash hit with "Float On" co-written by Mitchell.

The Detroit Emeralds, led by James Mitchell, are back in 2021 with a new single "Face 2 Face" released on 1 Nov 2021.

Thanks to Paul Regan for highlighting this one.

Click icons below for further information or to connect with the artist.

Details

Rating:	7.2
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Neo Soul Funk
Format:	Single
Media:	Digital
Label:	MCM Global Team
Cat No:	None
Date:	01/11/2021
Key/BPM:	3A/107
Value:	£1