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.
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.
It's been a couple of months since my last post, but what better way to return after a break than with 'Amen, Brother', by the Winstons? The Winston's were a Washington DC group formed by refugees from Otis Redding's band. You'll immediately hear the influence of The Impressions in this side, and indeed they first signed to Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label before moving to Metromedia to record this disc.
The A-side to this tune was 'Color Him Father', a homage to paternal values not unlike Clarence Carter's 'Patches'. It was a top ten r&b and pop hit, earning the Winston's a Grammy in 1968. The B-side must always have enjoyed good club play with its driving beat, Memphis style horn line and funky breakdown, but with the advent of sampling it was given a new lease of life, indeed I've even read somewhere that it has a legitimate claim to being the most sampled track of all time. I don't know about that, but I do know that with this one single The Winston's assured their place in soul history.
I knew nothing about Senor Soul when I picked this single up the other day. It's a latin-flavoured take on the Isley Brothers' proto-funk track 'It's Your Thing', with some crisp drumming and funky Hammmond propelling things along. Research reveals that Senor Soul were none other than the precursor to WAR, the funk-rock outfit soon to jam and record with the Animals' Eric Burdon.
It seems there is an Ace Records comp out there which brings together the cream of their two LP's and few singles, including such curios as covers of 'Sunshine Superman', 'Psychotic Reaction' and 'Pata Pata'. I picked up two more of their singles when I got 'Your Thing': a cover of Lee Dorsey's 'Working in a Coalmine' and the self-penned (I think) 'Don't Lay Your Funky Trip On Me'. All good stuff. The sample below is of an extract from the A and B sides, but I'll post the whole A side when I get time.
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.
This was a number seven hit in the R&B charts for The Mighty Marvelows in 1965. It's a two-and-a-half-minute minor masterpiece of eccentricly harmonized doo-wop. I wonder whether the Funk Brothers were listening to this when they came up with Frank Wilson's sublime 'Indeed I Do' for Motown a few years later?
