|
|
Post by fwclipper51 on Oct 28, 2024 12:58:56 GMT -5
The Philly PBS-TV station is running a Soul Special on Sunday Night featuring the "Sound of Philadelphia" with the Gamble-Huff ERA groups. A couple of summers ago, I saw the Tymes performed at Cooper River Park. They still sounded a great and still own that painting busines , that kept them going when things were tough for them in the music business. Great stuff Clipper. I love it when people know about their painting business. How cool would that be to get a little "So Much In Love" while the paint is drying? Stupidly I never saw them in concert, but lead vocalist George Williams was a regular, as was I, at a place called Val Shively's R&B records in Upper Darby. Val claimed to have the largest collection of vinyl in the world. I don't know if that's true, but he was the main purveyor of music to legendary Philly DJs like Jerry Blavat and Georgie Woods. People like that were in there constantly sampling or trying to track down rare music. At various times I ran into performers like George Williams, Lee Andrews and Little Sonny Brown of The Intruders. All very good guys and happy to talk about music. Like many US R&B groups, The Tymes developed a bigger career in the UK than in the US. They were also popular in the Carolina Beach Music scene in the 70s with songs like "Ms. Grace" and "You Little Trustmaker." Talented guys. Thanks for the heads-up for the Philly PBS show. If it's Sunday it won't interfere with Yankee baseball. I visited and met Val Shively at record his shop in Upper Darby, PA. The British music fans really were crazy over our Soul music, as you wrote, some even lived there like singers Edwin Starr (War) and Doris Troy (Just One Look), who perform vocals for The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." |
|
|
|
Post by kaybli on Oct 28, 2024 13:06:06 GMT -5
Ok guys and gals, not sure how many readers we have in the group. I'm an avid reader and have been for 40 years. I'm reading a book now that is quite ineteresting. It's titled "I heard there was a secret chord" by Dan Levitin. Levitin has a background in Neuroscience and Psychology and he is an accomplished musician. In this book he talks about how the brain processes music and some believe it can have a healing effect on some illnesses. Pretty interesting stuff. Another music related tidbit, I was watching a PBS show last night in which Paul Reiser was interviewing Michael McDonald. It was pretty interesting and for the last musical piece McDonald picked up a guitar and Reiser played keyboard. I have to say, Reiser was actually pretty good. Jimmy Fallon does a great Michael McDonald impression  :
|
|
|
|
Post by pippsheadache on Oct 28, 2024 15:46:49 GMT -5
Great stuff Clipper. I love it when people know about their painting business. How cool would that be to get a little "So Much In Love" while the paint is drying? Stupidly I never saw them in concert, but lead vocalist George Williams was a regular, as was I, at a place called Val Shively's R&B records in Upper Darby. Val claimed to have the largest collection of vinyl in the world. I don't know if that's true, but he was the main purveyor of music to legendary Philly DJs like Jerry Blavat and Georgie Woods. People like that were in there constantly sampling or trying to track down rare music. At various times I ran into performers like George Williams, Lee Andrews and Little Sonny Brown of The Intruders. All very good guys and happy to talk about music. Like many US R&B groups, The Tymes developed a bigger career in the UK than in the US. They were also popular in the Carolina Beach Music scene in the 70s with songs like "Ms. Grace" and "You Little Trustmaker." Talented guys. Thanks for the heads-up for the Philly PBS show. If it's Sunday it won't interfere with Yankee baseball. I visited and met Val Shively at record his shop in Upper Darby, PA. The British music fans really were crazy over our Soul music, as you wrote, some even lived there like singers Edwin Starr (War) and Doris Troy (Just One Look), who perform vocals for The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." Hah, that's great that you've crossed paths with Val Shively. We've definitely passed through some of the same turf. For such a nerdy-looking guy, Val has had a series of affairs with some beautiful women. I think vinyl was very good to him. Two excellent examples of what the Brits call "Northern Soul." Although Edwin Starr is mostly known for recording "War," I actually preferred his earlier mid-60s stuff on Ric-Tic that you probably know, especially "Stop Her On Sight (SOS)" and "Agent Double O Soul." "SOS" in particular is one of my top "can't sit still" songs. Starr also wrote one of the best blue-eyed soul numbers "Oh How Happy" which Shades Of Blue had a hit with in 1966. Oh yeah Doris Troy, excellent. Co-wrote and recorded the original (and incomparably the best) version of "Just One Look" in the spring of 1963 on the old red and black Atlantic label. I don't recall ever hearing anything else she did getting airplay. The Beatles thought enough of her to sign her to Apple Records and George Harrison produced one of her albums. "Just One Look" was recorded in ten minutes and intended to be a demo, but as with Astrid Gilberto doing "The Girl From Ipanema" the intended demo became the hit single release. That spring of 63 was a good time for soul/R&B/girl group music. At the same time "Just One Look" was moving up the charts we also had "Da Doo Ron Ron" by The Crystals, "One Fine Day" by The Chiffons, "Come And Get These Memories" by Martha and The Vandellas, "Pride And Joy" by Marvin Gaye, "If You Wanna Be Happy" by Jimmy Soul, "Hello Stranger" by Barbara Lewis, "Your Summer Love" by Ruby and The Romantics, "The Bounce" by The Olympics -- plenty of others. It was that small window between Elvis being in a lull and the advent of The Beatles. A little breathing room for some great soul to come to the fore. |
|
|
|
Post by pippsheadache on Oct 28, 2024 15:51:41 GMT -5
View Attachment
The Box Tops were considered to be "blue-eye soul" because their lead singer Alex Chilton, favored the soul music sound over the pop sound. When they toured around the country they wanted soul groups to be included in the concert line-ups. Hard to believe that Alex Chilton was only 16 when he recorded "The Letter." An awful lot of grit in those vocals for a junior in high school. |
|
|
|
Post by pippsheadache on Oct 28, 2024 16:12:33 GMT -5
Hey 55, just catching up with some of these posts after a busy weekend -- interesting list of songs but clearly aimed at a UK audience. The only one of those that I recall getting much airplay in the US was "All The Way To Memphis." I believe that was the only one on the list that made the US Billboard charts. I guess it depends where you were at the time -- I at least knew of the songs from Nazareth (Scottish band BTW) and Focus. Never heard of those songs from Genesis or Wishbone Ash. I don't recall Wishbone Ash ever getting much radio play except on esoteric college stations. Good band though. The Dutch band Focus, which of course is mostly known in the US for "Hocus Pocus," was somewhere between inspired and insane to my ears. Yodel Rock is definitely a niche market. If you ever saw them performing live (only on TV for me) they were an astonishingly tight band and top-notch instrumentalists, but too far out there for the general audience. A largely forgotten UK band from that time that I liked was The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver. They had sort of a hit with "Lying In The Arms Of Mary" that perhaps you remember. I wore out their album "Reach For The Sky" back in the mid-70s. Anyway thanks for another good music conversation starter. |
|
: