Here we are again, after a short holiday and a broken laptop which together spelled a long hiatus.
Today's song, 'Long After Tonight Is All Over', is one of those magnificent, life affirming numbers that a genius like Burt Bacharach could seemingly rattle off at a moment's notice. The first version here, cut by Jimmy Radcliffe in the mid-sixties, was only ever a minor hit but subsequently attained legendary status when it became one of the famous 'three before eight' northern soul songs, meaning the last three songs of an all-nighter, the other two being 'Time Will Pass You By' by Tobi Legend, and 'I'm On My Way', by Dean Parrish.
Jimmy's smooth, clean tones float joyously over the orchestra, buoyed up on a wave of ecstacy and a raft of backing singers, but much as I love his version, the definitive take for me has to be Irma Thomas's long shelved but thankfuly rediscovered version.
Thomas's band really attack this song – just listen to that muscular drumming – and take it from the realms of balladry into R&B territory, but it's essentially a vocalist's track, so what makes it work is the delicate combination of grit, post-coital satisfaction and sheer punch-the-air joy which Irma manages to emote in two minutes 31 seconds of dynamite. Enjoy it.
The magnificently monikered Case of Tyme produced one of the toughest and most original dancefloor workouts I have ever heard in 'Manifesto'. The propulsion is pure funk, even if the rhythm is firmly grounded in 16/4 time. The Wes Montgomeryesque octave runs on the guitar and the muscular saxophones are indebted to jazz, and over all this chants a sweat-laden James Lewis with all the intensity and rawness of a man singing for his life.
'Manifesto' reminds me of other tracks from this period (I would guess 67–69, there's no date on the 45), where groups were blending rock, jazz and soul with similarly interesting results. The ones who immediately come to mind are bands like the Chambers Brothers ('Time Has Come Today'), The Crow ('Your Autumn of Tomorrow'), and Johnny Jones & The King Casuals ('Purple Haze'), and I shall post some of these other tracks in future weeks.
Incidentally, I know nothing at all about this band or the record, save for the fact that it was a big northern soul track, so if anybody has any more to add, I'd be very interested to hear it.
I don't know how familiar readers from outside the UK will be with Mr Bloe. The group was the alias of a bunch of guys involved with a small London label called DJM (Dick James Music). In 1970 they released 'Groovin' with Mr Bloe', a stripped down soul instrumental with producer Zack Lawrence on piano and Harry Pitch on harmonica. I don't know who was drumming, but it could have been either Bo Gentry, Bernard Cochrane, P. Naumann or K. Laguna, who all share songwriting credits.
It's a taut and memorable little workout, which found a ready market in the burgeoning northern soul scene and was eventually propelled to number two in the UK charts. As I've mentioned, I don't know whether it charted elsewhere, but I do know that Mr Bloe never bothered the charts again, ensuring 'Groovin'' attained the dubious honour of 'one-hit wonder' status.
I was intrigued by this one: Sonny Stitt on a soul record? I'm glad I picked it up though. If you think you recognise the backing track you'd be right, it's Edwin Starr's paean to snappy dressing ladykillers, 'Agent Double-O-Soul'. In this case though our secret agent is the eponymous Sonny, blowing for all he's worth over two sides of atmospheric, stomping accompaniment from the Funk Brothers, Motown's untouchable house band.
The result is magic. Close your eyes and you can almost smell the cigarette smoke and feel the creak of the sprung dancefloor. Lovely stuff.
This tale of lovers' bliss from Arkansas-born Roscoe Robinson seems to me to epitomise everything that's great about early sixties soul music. There may be no overt social or racial consciousness here, but there is a simple joyousness and a lust for life that springs from this record the moment you put it on. Try listening to it without dancing, and try dancing to it without a smile on your face.
