Honey & The Bees: Come Get It - The Complete Josie Recordings (1970-1971)

Honey & the Bees were a talented soul group out of Philadelphia, originally named the Yum Yums, and comprised of Nadine Felder White, Cassandra Ann Wooten, Jean Davis and Gwen Oliver. They changed their name to Honey & the Bees before signing with Arctic (the great soul imprint that was also home to the Soul Ambassadors). The quartet recorded around five sides with Arctic, including a few choice and expensive Northern soul pieces. In 1970, Honey & the Bees went over to Josie (best known as the home of the Meters' first three albums) and knocked out an LP for them plus another half dozen or so singles. With both labels the group had the backing of musicians that played on classic ‘70s Gamble-Huff productions. These included Leon Huff himself on piano, and Ron Baker, Earl Young, Bobby Eli, and Norman Harris in the rhythm section; Harris and Thom Bell were among those who contributed to the songwriting. As such, though the Supremes are an obvious point of comparison, they had far better production that the vast majority of girl group aspirants from the same era. Honey & the Bees spent years on the club circuit, opening for bigger soul acts in Philadelphia and throughout the East Coast before disbanding in 1973. Group member Gwen Oliver married Fred Wesley of the JB's, whom she met when Honey & the Bees opened for James Brown in 1971 (rumour has it that their headstrong, take-no-b.s. attitude eventually came into conflict with Brown's own strong-armed control over his players and he had Wesley remove the group off tour). This set compiles the material released by Honey & the Bees on Josie from 1970-1971. Most of the thirteen songs here are from their 1970 album Love, the remaining being releases in 1971. Titles include ‘Make Love to Me’, ‘Please Have Mercy Baby’, ‘Now That I Know’, ‘We Got to Stay Together’, and ‘Medley: It's Gonna Take a Miracle/Goin' Out of My Head/Hurt So Bad’ and ‘Help Me (Get Over My Used to be Lover)’. http://soul-sides.com/, http://www.allmusic.

uu

Barbara Mason: Yes, I'm Ready (1997)

Barbara Mason came from Philadelphia with a giant hit in the mid-'60s that outsold some of the records made by the Beatles at the height of their popularity. She was born in Philadelphia in 1947 and used to sing in impromptu talent shows as a child. They were held at a playground near where she lived. Barbara could sing well, and her reputation as a good singer began to grow around Philadelphia. Producer/talent scout Weldon Arthur McDougual caught her act and brought her to the studio. She started with a small local label called Charger, then moved on to the Arctic label in Philadelphia, which had a better shot at distributing her records. Jimmy Bishop founded and owned Arctic and was a disc jockey at a large Philadelphia radio station. Barbara wrote all of her own songs while with Arctic and recorded in a small back room there. One of those records, originally titled 'Are You Ready?', would propel her into stardom. Barbara had been a big fan of Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, who were making some good music in Chicago in the late '50s and early '60s. One song that Curtis had written and given to Major Lance, 'The Monkey Time', had particularly impressed her and became her inspiration for her own tune, which was re-titled 'Yes, I'm Ready'. In the Spring of 1965 it was recorded by Barbara in the back room at Arctic in two takes, and the next day Jimmy Bishop began to play it on his radio show. More and more requests came in, and other DJ's that Jimmy knew picked up on the song. Before too long, it reached the top forty and stayed there for ten weeks, peaking at the number five position. With her voice sounding young and innocent in its thinness and flatness, Barbara Mason became an international recording sensation before she was out of her teens. After that, she still cut some excellent follow-ups on Arctic, like 'Sad, Sad Girl' (R&B number 12/pop Top 30, 1965), 'I Need Love' (R&B number 25, 1966) and 'Oh, How It Hurts' (R&B number 11, 1968). This compilation of 27 songs gathers these early sides for the label; it's not complete, but the rest of her Arctic stuff appears on Oh How It Hurts, also on Bear Family, posted here half a year ago. With both volumes you should have everything she recorded at Arctic. She cut as many remakes and originals, some were standards, which suggests Arctic had hopes of crossing her over to the pop market, which never happened to any significant degree. The remakes run the gamut from Archie Bell's 'Tighten Up' to the Supremes' 'Come See About Me', a perfectly suited vehicle for Mason's innocent, sweet, aching voice. Other highlights include 'Come to Me', 'Keep Him', 'Trouble Child', 'Bobby Is My Baby', 'Change Me If You Can', 'Hello Baby', '(You Can) Depend on Me', 'Don't Ever Want to Lose Your Love', 'You Never Loved Me at All', and 'Half a Love'. http://www.answers.com/, http://www.tsimon.com/.

LaVern Baker: Saved (1961) ... plus

LaVern Baker was one of the sexiest divas gracing the mid-'50s rock & roll circuit, boasting a brashly seductive vocal delivery tailor-made for belting the catchy novelties 'Tweedlee Dee,' 'Bop-Ting-a-Ling,' and 'Tra La La' for Atlantic Records during rock's first wave of prominence. Born Delores Williams, she was singing at the Club DeLisa on Chicago's south side at age 17, decked out in raggedy attire and billed as "Little Miss Sharecropper". She changed her name briefly to Bea Baker when recording for Okeh in 1951 with Maurice King's Wolverines, then settled on the first name of LaVern when she joined Todd Rhodes' band as featured vocalist in 1952. LaVern signed with Atlantic as a solo in 1953, debuting with the incendiary 'Soul on Fire.' The coy, Latin-tempo 'Tweedlee Dee' was a smash in 1955 on both the R&B and pop charts, although her impact on the latter was blunted when squeaky-clean Georgia Gibbs covered it for Mercury. An infuriated Baker filed suit over the whitewashing, but she lost. By that time, though, her star had ascended: Baker's 'Bop-Ting-A-Ling,' 'Play It Fair,' 'Still,' and the rocking 'Jim Dandy' all vaulted into the R&B Top Ten over the next couple of years. Her Atlantic records remained popular throughout the decade: she hit big in 1958 with the ballad 'I Cried a Tear,' adopted a pseudo-sanctified bellow for the rousing Leiber & Stoller-penned gospel sendup 'Saved' in 1960, and cut two more albums before leaving Atlantic in 1964. I included here the first, also titled Saved, from 1961, which consisted basically on early-'60s jazz, pop-tinged soul and R&B material. There was an interesting crew of guest stars on these sessions, among them Phil Spector on guitar, Sticks Evans on bass drums, and Taft Jordan on trumpet. Baker had a hit with a single from some earlier sessions, 'You're the Boss', with Jimmy Ricks. I added this song as a bonus track, along with six more which where released on a 1997 cd reissue by Sequel Records, the only one existing of this album, as far as I know. All these songs where recorded between 1959 and 1962 and include 'Bumble Bee', 'Shake a Hand', 'Shadows of Love' and 'Hey Memphis'. http://www.allmusic.com/

a

LaVern Baker performing 'Jim Dandy Got Married':

a

Doris Allen: A Shell of a Woman - The Legendary Playground Sessions

Doris Allen is a powerhouse soul from singer who made a bit of a splash in the late ‘60s southern soul scene with duet partner Big John Hamilton, but whose own work from that time and a couple decades later have been under acknowledged in the digital era until now. The first half of this compilation features her wonderful late-‘60s work. Produced by Finley Duncan at Duncan's Playground Studios, it features a couple of the Hamilton duets, but it's Doris' show. She can both shout out soulfully to the heavens and reign it in for more delicate numbers, and the often gritty soul backing of drums, organ and horns are of the finest caliber. The second half of the set jumps to the mid-‘80s, and the cleaner, smoother sounds of that era. This later work was still produced by Duncan and Allen's voice as impeccable as earlier. Titles include ‘A Shell of a Woman’, ‘Kiss Yourself For Me’, ‘Let a Little Love In’, ‘Hanging Heavy In My Mind’, ‘A Place in My Heart’, ‘Them Changes’, ‘Bright Star’, ‘Candy from a Baby', ‘Treat Me Like a Woman’, ‘Full Time Fool’, ‘Night Time Is the Right Time’ and more, plus 9 previously unreleased tracks, including ‘Clean Up Woman’, ‘Birmingham Jail’, ‘Ashes Won't Burn’ and more. 23 tracks in all! http://www.dustygroove.com/

yyy

Etta James: Come a Little Closer (1974) ... plus

Etta James was fighting serious substance-abuse problems when this album was recorded, commuting to the sessions from a rehab center. It was a triumph simply to complete the record at all. But although James' life may have been in rough shape outside of the studio, she delivered a fairly strong set that fused forceful '70s soul arrangements with some rock, jazz, and New Orleans R&B, making even more evident that she was one of the most versatile vocalists of her era.. Helmed by Gabriel Mekler, who'd produced Steppenwolf and Three Dog Night, the record features Etta James supported by a slew of hotshot L.A. session men, including Little Feat's Lowell George. The song selection ranges from ‘St. Louis Blues’ to Randy Newman's perverse ‘Let's Burn Down the Cornfield’ to the dramatic, melismatic ‘Feeling Uneasy,’ in which James improvised wordlessly over a suitably languorous, melancholy blues-jazz arrangement. The liner notes tell that she recorded this song while being sick with severe withdrawal symptoms. The result is simply harrowing and it counts, in fact, as one of the unsung highlights of her career. Other strong cuts here are the rousing ‘Sookie Sookie’, the upbeat ‘Gonna Have Some Fun Tonight’ and ‘Out on the Street Again,’ with its slightly sinister funk groove. This reissue adds a couple of interesting bonus tracks: the 1975 single ‘Lovin' Arms,’ a good rootsy ballad, and a single edit of one of the tracks from the album, ‘Out on the Street Again.’ http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.amazon.com/, http://rateyourmusic.com/.

HOLIDAY TIME! I'll be back soon ...

I’m leaving on holidays, so there will be no more blog postings for a while.

aa

See you all in a few weeks! ;D

Bessie Banks: The Original "Go Now" Girl (1959-1976)

Bessie Banks is primarily remembered by rock history buffs for her 1964 recording of 'Go Now,' but her career extended well into the '70s and beyond. She was born Bessie White in North Carolina, and later raised in Brooklyn, NY. She loved to sing, and by the mid-'50s her voice's sensuality had begun attracting attention from various groups and managers. For a short time, she'd sung with a quartet called Three Guys and a Doll, who subsequently became the Four Fellows without her; while a member of the group, she met bass/baritone singer Larry Banks, who was the de facto leader of the group, and married him. As Toni Banks, she performed and recorded during the mid-'50s and, by the end of the decade, she sung lead on the single 'Why, Oh Why Baby / I Didn't Know (You Got Married)' by The Companions, a group who also included her husband in their line-up. Taking back the name Bessie Banks, she recorded in the first half of the '60s, starting with 'Do It Now'/'(You Should Have Been a) Doctor' in 1963. In 1964, Larry and Bessie decided to make a new push to establish her with a song that Larry had written specifically for the purpose of breaking her nationally: 'Go Now.' Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller the record did moderately well and even got released in England, but it was the song's fate that doomed Banks' chances for major national exposure. A Birmingham-spawned band called the Moody Blues did a version of the song, driven by Denny Laine's tortured lead vocal, Mike Pinder's rippling piano, and beautiful harmonies. It was the era of the homegrown beat bands in England and the British Invasion in America, and the band's version was irresistible under the circumstances. The Moody Blues were given their first taste of international success, while Bessie Banks was forgotten by most listeners. In subsequent years, she recorded singles for Verve Records ('I Can't Make It (Without You Baby)') and Volt Records ('Try To Leave Me If You Can (I Bet You Can't Do It)'), and was still releasing records as late as 1976 with 'Baby You Sure Know How to Get to Me' and 'Don't Worry Baby, the Best Is Yet to Come'. Here's a selection of Bessie Banks' most notable recordings, including her only 45 with The Companions, from 1959. http://www.artistdirect.com/ *Note Cissy Houston's recognizable backing vocals on this sample:

Timi Yuro: Volume 2 - The Voice That Got Away (1996)

If you want more Yuro than what you can find on The Lost Voice of Soul, this 26-track compilation is the next stop. Drawn primarily from her Liberty material (from both the early and late '60s), it also has a few obscure '70s sides that hold up much better than expected. B-sides, non-hit singles, and album tracks abound, and the songs are of nearly equal quality to her more celebrated performances. It also showcases her remarkable versatility, which may have been both an asset and a hindrance, as listeners found it difficult to match a solid musical identity with that magnificent voice. She does blue-eyed soul, orchestral pop ballads, pop-rock, and country with assurance, but rarely latches onto a classic bit of material. There are original songs here, but also great covers of ‘It's Just a Matter of Time’ (Brook Benton), ‘I'll Never Fall in Love Again’ (Tom Jones), ‘When Something Is Wrong With My Baby’ (Sam and Dave), ‘Hallelujah I Love Him So’ (Ray Charles), ‘I Apologize’ (originally recorded by Bing Crosby in 1931 and revived by Billy Eckstine in 1951, but a sixties hit for P J Proby - Timi's version was the B-side of Hurt so pre-dates P J Proby), ‘All My Love Belongs to You’ (Little Willie John), ‘If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody’ (an American hit for James Ray and a British hit for Freddie and the Dreamers) and ‘I Waited Too Long’ (LaVern Baker). There are only two country songs here, these being ‘I Just Got Back from There’ (Billy Walker) and ‘When You Were Mine’ (Justin Tubb). The 52 tracks on The Lost Voice of Soul! and The Voice That Got Away still remain the most comprehensive study of Timi's music available. http://www.allmusic.com/, http://www.amazon.com/

Timi Yuro: The Lost Voice of Soul! (1993)

When the big, BIG voice of Timi Yuro burst onto an unsuspecting American public with the million selling ‘Hurt’ on Liberty Records in July 1961, most people assumed firstly that she was a man, and secondly that she was black. Her subsequent appearances on TV were greeted with astonishment: it just didn’t seem conceivable that those full-throated anguised howls could possibly have emanated from such a petite frame. But, of course, they had – and they continued to do so as she racked up hits like ‘Smile’, 'What’s a Matter Baby’ (beautifully covered by the Small Faces in 1965), ‘Insult to Injury’, ‘Make the World Go Away’ and ‘Gotta Travel On’ (several of these crossed over to the R&B charts, at a time when it was unusual for a white artist to do so) – until she left Liberty in 1964, at which point her run of success abruptly dried up. She returned to the label briefly in 1968 and cut the highly-acclaimed Something Bad on My Mind album, which yieded the fiercely-collectable ‘It’ll Never Be Over for me’, nowadays one of the rarest Northern Soul singles of all. This compilation of Timi’s Liberty material includes all her hits, plus the pick of her B-sides and album tracks. Timi Yuro was America's finest white soul singer of the ‘60s and her finest records deserve mention in the same breath as Aretha Franklin, Irma Thomas, and the other soul queens of the era. Taken from the original liner notes.

a

aa

Timi Yuro singing her signature song, 'Hurt':

aa

Tommie Young: Do You Still Feel the Same Way? (1973) / A Woman Called Moses OST (1978) ... plus

Deep soul diva Tommie Young was born and raised in Dallas. While performing at a local nightclub in 1972, she was discovered by Bobby Patterson, a Shreveport, Louisiana-based performer and producer who, with fellow composer Jerry Strickland, operated the fledgling Soul Power label. Patterson signed Young virtually on the spot, and returned to Shreveport to mastermind instrumental versions of O.V. Wright's ‘That's How Strong My Love Is,’ and Percy Sledge's ‘Take Time to Know Her/Him’. Young then traveled to Shreveport to record vocals, completing each track in just one take each; the end result was her debut single, now a southern cult classic. Boasting a remarkable soprano deeply rooted in the gospel tradition, her delivery also bears the deep influence of Aretha Franklin's secular efforts, yet never sounds the least bit derivative. For Young's next single, Patterson and Strickland co-authored the original ballad ‘Do You Still Feel the Same Way’; a major hit in Memphis and New Orleans, the single also cracked the national R&B Top 30, and would prove her biggest commercial hit. The follow-up, Patterson's ‘She Don't Have to See You (to See Through You)’ is, in many respects, her masterpiece, although it was only a minor chart hit. Her lone secular LP, also titled Do You Still Feel the Same Way?, appeared soon after, generating the singles ‘You Brought It All on Yourself’ and ‘You Came Just in Time.’ Hampered by Soul Power's ongoing distribution problems, Young's commercial hopes were further diminished by her disinterest in promoting her recordings, preferring instead to return to the relative anonymity of performing in her father's Dallas church. Ultimately, she abandoned her secular career altogether; one last single, ‘Get Out of My Life,’ appeared in 1975, and was Soul Power's final release. Young briefly returned to prominence in 1978 when she headlined the soundtrack to the NBC tele-film A Woman Called Moses, a biography of slave leader Harriet Tubman. After marrying, she began using the name Tommye Young-West professionally, recording a series of gospel albums, and virtually disowning her early Soul Power work, despite widespread acclaim from latter-day deep soul aficionados. Here I included her masterpiece album from 1973 (plus five bonus tracks), and the Van McCoy's OST of A Woman Called Moses, where she sings 4 of the songs. http://www.answers.com/

aa