San Francisco TKO's [2023] - Make Up Your Mind / Ooh Baby Baby [Kent #TOWN 176]

First played at the 100 Club in the 90s, the San Francisco T.K.O.'s "Make Up Your Mind" has been packing the dance floor since. Its first vinyl release was on the 100 Club's 19th anniversary single in 1998 which is long sold out.

Kent has decided to reissue it along with their take on The Miracles' 1965 classic "Ooo Baby Baby" (they titled "Oh Baby,Baby") from the B side to their first single "Herm" on Golden Soul in 1972 which appears to be their only, official, listed release. A bootleg of "Make Up Your Mind", along with a nice version of Freddie Hughes' "Send My Baby Back", appeared on a counterfeit Golden State label which is dated 2001.

Golden Soul and Golden State were bonafide labels for the Golden State Recorders studio in San Francisco owned by the late Leo De Gar Kulka who had acts such as Greatful Dead, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin passing through its doors.

All three songs were included on a Kent CD compilation "Golden State Soul" in 2000, which is possibly where the Golden State single was bootlegged from?

Their single on Golden Soul is sought after by funk collectors for the funky instrumental "Herm" presumably named after the song's writer, horn player and  band leader Hermon Henry. Other members included Penny Lewis who is credited as lead vocalist on "Oh Baby, Baby", James Aaron and guitarist Robert Emerson, who played with Henry on Warren Donell Hickman & The San Francisco Inspirational Choir's "God Is Love" album in 1972.

Oddly, "Herm" was released in New Zealand in 1973 with a different B side, "Acid Lady", which is another one sought after by funk collectors and has featured on a 2007 compilation "Golden State Funk" released by BGP along with "Herm" and another track by the group "Devil's Got Your Mind".

Available to pre-order from Ace/Kent for release on 24 Feb 2023.

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

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Details

Rating:	8.7
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul / Sweet Soul Harmony
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent
Cat No:	TOWN 176
Date:	24/02/2023
Key/BPM:	3B/127 / 9B/74 / 11B/80
Price:	£8.99

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

The Classic Example [2023] - Right On / I Found Me A Girl [Kent Select #CITY 083]

Having posted three new 7" vinyl reissues from Ace/Kent on Friday, another couple have just been announced.

The first consists of two sides by Los Angeles duo The Classic Example (Curtis Colbert and Harriet Hurst) who provided four of the songs on their only, self-titled, album released on GSF in 1972. Another of their songs, "Right On", was left off the album and never got a release, but Kent released it as one side of a 100 Club 42nd anniversary single in 2021.  As with most of the limited edition 100 Club anniversary singles, it now sells for silly money, so now you can acquire it at a reasonable price.

Only two tracks from the album made it to a single release, also on GSF in 1972. The A side "That's Groovy" was co-written by William 'Mickey' Stevenson with Vicki Basemore and Tom Nixon and recorded by Kim Weston on M.G.M. in 1967. Interestingly, Stevenson's name doesn't feature on writing credits for that release.

The album featured some top class musicians such as Wilton Felder (bass) and Joe Sample (piano) from The Crusaders, Arthur Adams (guitar)  and Paul Humphrey on drums and Hodges, James & Smith & Crawford on backing vocals. Willie Hutch contributes a song "We Got A Thing Going On".

The B side is a harmony ballad "I Found Me A Girl" from their album.

The single is available to pre-order now from Ace/Kent for release on 24 Feb '23.

Details

Rating:	8.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul / Sweet Soul Harmony
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Kent Select
Cat No:	CITY 083
Date:	24/02/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£10.88

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

4th Kingdom [1972] - Gotta Get To You [Janion #JS 102]

4th Kingdom from The Bronx, NY. with a sweet soul song written by J.R. Bailey & Ken Williams.

As far as I can tell they released this single and followed it with another written by Ken Williams & Kermit Moore 'Loneliness' in 1973 on a different label Elmcor, and that was it. 

I think Janion and Elmcor were part of the same group as there were two releases on Janion 101 & 102 and two on Elmcor 103 & 104.  The odd cat nos. were both by Brother Soul who I believe are the backing band on the other two releases by 4th Kingdom. The cat. no.s then continue from 105 thru 117 from 1973-1977 on Leo Mini with the first two releases being by Brother Soul.

Details

Rating:	8.2
Genre/Style:	Sweet Soul Harmony
Format:	Single
Media:	7"
Label:	Janion
Cat No:	JS 102
Year:	1972
Key:	N/A
BPM:	N/A
Value:	£100-£150 (approx.)