Soul Detective Burning Questions

2011-03-26T20:48:00.000-07:00

QUESTION SEVEN - Tommy Young - 'No Explanation'?

2011-03-19T04:51:00.000-07:00

Ok folks, this one's been on the back burner here for a while... Soul Detective Marc from Belgium contacted me a while back with this:

"I'm in touch with former Soul singer Tommie Young (nowadays Tommye Young-West)... I found this ad for 'No Explanation' by Tommy (yes, with a Y at the end) Young in Billboard (21 November 1970). Tommye doesn't remember that song, however she recognizes her picture in the advert. I'm trying to find out if some 'Pompei' 45's on 'Tommy Young' were ever issued (titles and issue numbers and more). I wonder if you would be so kind to help us with our enquiries. Any info is really appreciated."

Yes, as we've talked about in the past, the fact that almost every issue of Billboard is now part of the searchable database at Google Books is truly amazing, and provides an invaluable window into the week-to-week goings on in the record business back in the day. The issue in question, from 11/21/70, included a 'Spotlight On Texas' section, and an outfit called Pompeii Records from Dallas was all over it. They were featured in a full page profile, and bought up a bunch of ad space in addition to the 'Tommy Young' ad above.

Founded in 1968 by a nightclub owner and entrepreneur named Pat Morgan, Pompeii was nothing if not ambitious. After merging with something called 'Computer Systems Management', Morgan soon had his own record pressing plant, and created subsidiary labels Vesuvius and Turtle Creek. His bread and butter was apparently in High School 'athletic albums' and 'a series of patriotic records'. The 'executive producer for the R&B division of Pompeii records and publishing' (and only black person in the room in the staff photo at left) was named Paul Kirk.

A quick look at the listing for Pompeii over at the Texas Soul Recordings site reveals no sign of 'No Explanation', nor any other release by 'Tommy' Young. Hmm...

Tommie Young, on the other hand, was born and raised in Dallas, the daughter of a Superintendent and Bishop in the Dallas/Mid-Cities District Church of God in Christ. According to soulwalking, she "started singing in her fathers’ (Bishop T. L. Young) church, at the age of five years. Since an adolescent, she has worked and performed nationally in the Church..."

When local Dallas label Jet Star folded in 1970, Bobby Patterson signed with Stan Lewis in Shreveport, Louisiana. In addition to continuing to record his own great records on Paula, he served as an in-house A&R director, songwriter and producer for Stan's growing roster of artists. In 1972, Patterson worked out a deal with Lewis which gave him and his songwriting partner Jerry Strickland half interest in (and full creative control of) his own label, Soul Power. After cutting records on Louisiana natives Shay Holiday, George Perkins and the African Music Machine, Bobby was on the lookout for some new talent for the label.

As he told David Cole (in In The Basement #56), "...when I found Tommie Young, I was doing an album on myself and I heard Tommie singing in The Flying Fox Club [in Dallas] one night and I said, 'I'm going to make you a star' because she had a natural ability, like Aretha Franklin. She was just a natural... I said, 'I'm going to cut a record on you' and, two weeks later, I came back with the track for 'That's How Strong My Love Is'... we did a moderate number of records on that."

Her second 45 for the label was featured over on good ol' detective Dan Phillips' Home of the Groove way back in 2005, where he had this to say:

SOUL POWER 112 B

Everybody's Got A Little Devil In Their Soul

"It’s hard not to invoke Aretha when hearing Tommie Young, as they have similar vocal qualities in tone, strength, flexibility, and evident gospel roots. This song is probably not the best for a study of her voice, as it doesn’t demand much of her; but it’s mid-level funk factor made me pick it. The deep soul flip side certainly makes more clear the high quality and expressiveness of her voice..."

SOUL POWER 112 A

Do You Still Feel The Same Way

Indeed it does. This great record would break into the R&B top forty in early 1973, climbing as high as #28, and putting Soul Power on the map. (I apologize for my totally 'skated' copy here!) The follow-up, She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You) charted as well, going to #69 R&B that summer.

SOUL POWER 116 A

You Brought It All On Yourself

These great Bobby Patterson/Jerry Strickland tunes are 'deep' Southern Soul of the highest order, and Tommie's impassioned delivery certainly earns her those comparisons with Aretha... what a voice! Those great background vocalists, by the way, include 'Poppies' Dorothy Moore, Jewel Bass and Fern McKinney. There would be only two more Soul Power releases on Ms. Young, which is a cryin' shame...

Bobby was in the process of cutting an LP on Tommie in 1973 and, as he told David Cole, "Her Daddy was a preacher and he had a lot of influence on her, and they saw this record 'Do You Feel The Same Way' taking off, and they thought Tommie was going to be a big star, and they wanted to use her as a drawing card at her Daddy's church, so they talked her into going back and singing at her Daddy's church and it made her feel bad about singing secular music... I supported Tommie in her transition to Gospel, and we're still good friends to this day."

As Marc said, Ms. Young is now known as Tommye Young-West, and she's been singing Gospel ever since. In 1978, she worked on the soundtrack for A Woman Called Moses, and has released four Gospel albums over the past eighteen years, all of which are still available at Amazon. Her latest, Created To Worship, was issued in 2008. There are a few videos on YouTube of her performing live at the Antioch Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, and her vocal powers remain undiminished.

Here's what she told Marc about all of this:

"So elated to hear from you. My husband says that the only other song that I recorded was "He Ain't Heavy", but we don't know if it was ever released. My real secular career didn't start until I signed with Soul Power-Jewel Records, in 1972, and I don't recall the song "No Explanation". If you have a copy of that track, would you pls send me an MP3 copy? Thank you very much for your interest. Look forward to hearing from you again.

God bless
Tommye"

So, there ya go... only there is one thing. Here's a promotional photo of Tommie that ran in Billboard in 1973:

...and here is the cover of a Pompeii compilation LP called 'Abreast of Soul' that was released in 1970:

I've looked at the cover of this record a thousand times, and I'm still not sure, but it kind of looks like Tommie (or Tommy, if you will) there on the cover to me (even though there aren't any cuts by her listed on the album). What do you think? (Larry Grogan has already weighed in with his opinion that it is definitely not her). I don't know... Tommye has acknowledged that the photo in the ad that started all of this is indeed her, which would seem to indicate that she had some involvement with the label prior to the beginning of her 'real secular career'... Do you think it's possible that 'No Explanation' was recorded, but somehow never released?

Perhaps the truth lies with the gentleman we mentioned earlier, Pompeii's 'executive producer for the R&B division', Paul Kirk. This ad ran in that same 'Spotlight On Texas' issue of Billboard that started all of this in 1970:

Genius? Well then, I figured we needed to take a closer look... The first mention of him in Billboard appears to be from 1966:

I'm not sure if there actually is a person named Kevin Knox or not, but Kirk sure had some ambitious plans for his Enterprises! Check out the name of the inaugural release on 'the R&B label' - "NO EXPLANATION" by a group named The Jobettes. Well, whaddya know? The March article goes out of its way to point out that the group has no connection with Tamla-Motown's publishing arm, Jobete Music (one has to wonder why they chose that name in the first place), but Berry Gordy sued them anyway, and by July they had changed their name to The Dorales. I can find no record of either the Jobettes or the Dorales, and they apparently faded from the scene with 'No Explanation'...

Permit me now, dear detective, to go off on a slight tangent here, as that is essentially what it is I do:

Bert Russell Berns was involved, either as a writer or producer (or both) in some of the most hard-hitting and influential records of all time. From the Jarmels' A Little Bit Of Soap, to The Isley Brothers' Twist and Shout or The Exciters' Tell Him to the positively incomparable Cry Baby by Garnett Mimms and the Enchanters, Berns left his indelible stamp on the New York R&B scene of the early sixties. The crew at Atlantic Records was paying attention, and brought Berns in to work with artists like Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Wilson Pickett and The Drifters, resulting in some of the biggest hits (and best records) the company would release during that period in their history.

In 1965 they made Bert an equal partner in their newly formed publishing company, WEB IV - the IV standing for the number of partners, and the WEB representing their last names, Wexler, Ertegun and Berns.

Shortly after that, they gave Berns his own subsidiary label, BANG - an acronym for (what else?) their first names Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi and Gerald. They hit paydirt with their first release when The Strangeloves just missed the top ten with Berns composition I Want Candy (yes, the same song as the 80's Bow Wow Wow remake) in June of 1965. By August, Bang had taken over the top slot with another Berns tune, Hang On Sloopy by The McCoys. By the following Summer, Bang had brought Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich discovery Neil Diamond into the Pop Top 10 as well.

That Summer of 1966, Berns decided to go back to doing what he did best, making Soul records. Forming his own Shout label, he hit the R&B top twenty that Fall with Donald Height's My Baby's Gone. As 1966 gave way to 1967, Berns broke things wide open with one of the best tunes he'd ever written.

SHOUT 207 A

Are You Lonely For Me

Berns knew Freddie Scott from his Brill Building days, when Scott was working both as an artist and songwriter for Colpix Records. He had charted three times in the early sixties for Colpix, but this was different. The absolute ferocity of Freddie's voice on here was reportedly achieved after Berns drove him on over 100 takes until he got what he wanted. The record buying public 'got it' as well, and this amazing song would spend an entire month at #1 R&B, while breaking into the Pop Top 40. They just don't come much better than this one, boys and girls!

Never content to just sit around, Bert Berns had spent time in the U.K. (where he was somewhat of a celebrity) and produced hit records for the European Decca label on Lulu and a Northern Irish garage band named Them. After the group broke up, Berns flew the lead singer to New York in March of 1967 to create what may just be his most heard production ever. He brought in The Sweet Inspirations and cut Brown Eyed Girl on Van Morrison the first day of the session. It would spend the entire Summer of Love on the charts, while climbing into the Pop Top 10. It has been played to death ever since. I only bring this up to kind of put all of this in context... Berns was on fire.

Erma Frankln had been around the record scene in New York for years, and had recorded some truly middle-of-the-road material for Epic in the early sixties, just as her sister had been doing for Epic's parent label, Columbia. She had become a part of Lloyd Price's revue in 1961, and stayed with them until she got a 'day job' at IBM in 1966. Jerry Wexler had brought her in to sing background (along with her other sister Carolyn and Cissy Houston) on Aretha's breakthrough album I've Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You in February of 1967 (that's them on those "RE-RE-RE-RE - RE-RE-RE-RE-SPECTs..."). Erma's manager wanted her to record on her own again, and got her signed to Shout on the condition that she could keep her job at IBM. After a single that didn't do much, Berns brought her in one night after work that Fall to cut what many consider to be his (and Erma's) crowning achievement.

SHOUT 221 A

Piece Of My Heart

As good as the Freddie Scott record was, this one's better. Written with Berns' sometimes collaborator Jerry Ragovoy, Erma shows just what an amazing singer she really was, joining with Cissy's Sweet Inspirations to build a record as good as anything Aretha ever recorded. Wow! I don't have any session details here, but check out that bass player! Any of you detectives out there know who that might be?

Piece Of My Heart went Top 10 R&B that November. "...they put the record out and I didn't think too much about it," she recalled, "Next thing I knew, I started getting calls at home about it and one day, Bert phoned up and told me to get down to the office - and fast! When I got there, I found the record was on the Top 100 and I was just knocked out... I began having a real mental tussle trying to decide what to do. We did three or four sessions in all. I think. I remember the one where we cut the follow-up, 'Open Up My Soul' in particular -remember we did this during my lunch hour at IBM! After a great deal of thought, seeing the reaction to the record, I reluctantly decided to quit my job..."

"Bert had called me up and told me we ought to work on an album. I had rehearsed some of the material and... when I called up the office, there was no reply and I thought it was strange because everyone had told me how important it all was to get out an LP to capitalize on 'Piece Of My Heart's success... so I tried Queen Booking, who were in the same building. Imagine my shock when they said 'Didn't you know? Bert Berns died this morning!' I was really crushed, because aside from the fact that he'd been helping me build my career, he had been a really wonderful guy, and this came at a time when it looked like things would really happen for me..."

Just terrible news, as Berns was truly 'at the top of his game'.

Here's that follow-up single:

SHOUT 230 A

Open Up Your Soul

Again written with Jerry Ragovoy, and obviously employing the same studio musicians as on Piece Of My Heart, it's somehow not as monumental a recording. It remains interesting nonetheless as it was apparently Bert Berns' final production. According to Erma, "After Bert died his wife Ilene took over the company but frankly, she didn't know what to do... Then Shout Records lost the master tapes from some of the sessions..." Imagine? Apparently left without a B Side for this follow up single, Ilene turned to Freddie Scott.

SHOUT 230 B

I'm Just Not Ready For Love

Produced by Scott with a more immediate rock & roll sound, this one just cooks, with Erma belting it out at the top of her range. Very soulful, indeed, and once again, check out that bass player! I don't think Mrs. Berns appreciated what she had, and at that point Erma says she decided to 'sit out her contract'.

Now, here's where things really get interesting...

After the whole 'Jobettes' debacle, our man Paul Kirk had gotten a job with Billboard writing the R&B industry gossip column and news round-up, Soul Sauce. In April of 1968, he handed the reins to a guy named Ed Ochs.

In May he was out there hobnobbing with the stars, and is stiil referred to as 'Billboard's Paul Kirk' in the photo above.

By July, he was 'formerly of Billboard' in the press release he sent to Ed Ochs informing him that he was now Shout Records' Executive Producer. Kirk also makes it a point to mention ol' Kevin Knox Enterprises as well. Ed goes on to say that Kirk has "polished off what Freddie Scott began - Erma Franklin's latest, 'I'm Just Not Ready For Love'..."- huh?

SHOUT 234 A?

I'm Just Not Ready For Love (remix)

Kirk had apparently remixed Scott's production, and added background vocals to it. The first thing you notice is that it's been slowed down considerably... the next thing is that the ladies singing background are most definitely no Sweet Inspirations. Despite Kirk's assertion that the record now had 'all the drive of Aretha's Think', it seems Ochs was having a little fun when he said that Kirk had 'polished off' the record, rather than 'polished' it!

Apparently everyone else agreed, as a month later Kirk contacted Ochs to flip the record over to plug the other side.

SHOUT 234 A?

The Right To Cry

Although there is no mention of it on the label, this is obviously a Berns production, Sweet Inspirations and all. I'm guessing that Ilene must have turned this one up among those 'lost' session tapes. Written by Berns compatriots Carole King and Gerry Goffin, this is New York Soul all the way, if perhaps a trifle over-dramatic. Great guitar! Any idea who's playing it?

Erma Franklin signed with Brunswick after her Shout contract ran out and, although she hit the R&B top 40 for them in 1969, the label was unable to reach the heights she had ascended with Bert Berns at Shout. She passed away in 2002.

By October of 1968, Paul Kirk was no longer affiliated with Shout, and Ed Ochs reported that he had just finished producing a guy named Al Volpe for a label called Divinis. I can find no record (literally) of either one, and the next time there is mention of him is when he is proclaimed a genius by Pompeii in November of 1970.

POMPEII 7002 B

Get Your Own

Here is Paul Kirk's lone release on Pompeii. Not much of a record, at only a minute and 44 seconds, the label says it was produced by 'Wayne Money & Kevin Knox Enterprises, Ltd'. I'm beginning to believe that Kevin Knox was Kirk's corporate alias, and that he used it to avoid any personal responsibility. Anyway, it sounds to me like the drummer and the bass player are playing two different songs on here or something... definitely not the work of a genius, my friends.

So - is there 'No Explanation'?

Thanks!

3/17/11

This just in!!

An anonymous tip down there in the comments alerted us to the existence of this:

How do you like that? The Jobettes single of 'No Explanation' actually was released after all... written by Kevin Knox, it was a 'Kevin Knox Ent. Ltd. Production, on a label named Kevin which was a division of Kevin Knox Enterprises, Ltd. Got that?

Our anonymous benefactor goes on to say that the flip of the 45 was called 'What You Gonna Do', and that "both sides were released on Cd's. "No Explanation" was released in 2005 in the U. K. on a GOLDMINE Cd 'Rare Soul Review' GSCD173. While the flip 'What You Gonna Do' was released in 2004 on a CRYSTAL BALL Cd of dubious origin 'Rarest Of The Rare The Girl Groups Vol. 1' #1056."

Any of you deep-crated detectives out there have a copy of these sides?

You can't make this stuff up! Thank You!

3/19/11

OK, Detective Marc (the guy who started all of this in the first place) came through for us with this:

KEVIN 2268A

No Explanation

With an arrangement essentially lifted from Martha & The Vandellas' Nowhere To Run, it's a small wonder why Kirk went out of his way to try and pre-empt Berry Gordy's legal interest in the group's name. As I said earlier, I don't understand why they went with that moniker in the first place... once again, it's not much of a song, with the same kind of background vocal whoops that he would later use on the Erma remix (you think maybe that was the Jobettes - or, excuse me, Dorales - on there?). It's hard to imagine Tommie Young singing this one. Perhaps it's best that it wasn't released.

Thanks, Marc!

2010-10-10T19:53:00.001-07:00

Closer To You

QUESTION SIX - Did Rick Hall Produce Ben E. King in 1966?

2010-08-18T07:07:00.000-07:00

Latest Update: 8/18/10

So Much Love

Alright folks, here's an interesting query for you... in a recent B Side post on Ben E. King, a gentleman named Noel- 23 asked:

"In the liners to [Sequel's Ben E. King Anthology] Volume 4 it states that the song "So Much Love" was produced by none other than Rick Hall, but in New York City, not Muscle Shoals. The liners state that it was Hall producing not Carole King as was long thought. But the Atlantic discography you mention in the post says it was Carole King. I've seen discographies and heard people that list one or the other but I'd love to know definitively: Do you know if it really was Rick Hall? "

I've been asking around in a few places, but so far have been unable to come up with much. Here's what it said in those liner notes, which were written by someone named Peter Burns in 1996:

Hmmm... the song itself (the definitive version of which would be recorded by Dusty Springfield in Memphis a few years later), didn't do much upon its initial release, totally missing the R&B charts, and stalling at #96 on the Hot 100 in May of 1966.

Oddly, it was also cut by Steve Alaimo around the same time, and put out by ABC-Paramount a couple of weeks before King's ATCO version. Alaimo's didn't fare much better, finishing at #92. [check out Chips Moman's early American Sound production on The Gentrys doing Arthur Alexander's 'Everyday I Have To Cry' (a song which Alaimo had taken into the top ten in 1963) at #95!]

I asked the guys over at the Southern Soul Group about the possible Rick Hall connection here, and the incredibly knowledgeable Peter N. had this to say:

"I have checked on the Atlantic discog...
...You can see it is actually headed up "Ben E King with Carole King's orchestra". Carole plays piano and is given a "dir." credit (presumably meaning director). There is no mention here of Rick Hall at all. All the musicians stem from NY...

Hall would have been in Wexler's good books for his part in getting Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" onto Atlantic around this time (according to Peter Guralnick, Hall made more off the back of the record than Quin Ivy who cut it). However, whether this new 'connection' between Hall and Wexler would have brought Hall up from the South to the Big Apple as early as March 1966 still seems strange as even the Percy Sledge record didn't hit the charts till 9th April that year (Pop) and 16th April (R&B). So neither Hall nor Wexler would have already been celebrating a million-seller anything like as early as March. Indeed Sledge had only cut the side at Norala/Quinvy on 17 February. Once the side hit big, Wexler's regard for Hall caused him to bring Wilson Pickett to Fame in July/Aug that year for Land of 1000 Dances etc.. But, unless Hall was in NY in March to 'hands on' tie up some last minute dealing over Sledge's record, I can't think why else he would have been there and why Wexler (who almost presonally ran the Atco subsidiary at this time) would have let him produce a Carole King-influenced Ben King Atco recording session. Again, I'll be quite happy to be proved wrong but, if so, I would love to know the background to it."

So would I.

I will say that the record is slightly reminiscent of Hall's production on the earliest Jimmy Hughes sides, like I'm Qualified.

What do you think?

8/18/10

Hello there. Maybe you've heard about the exciting deal that Fame Studios has made with Ace Records in the UK that will allow them to sift through the priceless tapes they have in their vaults and at long last release them to the public. This amazing news has become the talk of the 'Soul Community', and I (for one) am just shivering with anticipation... be that as it may, I got this email back in June:

Well, Tony (who's been just like the proverbial 'kid in the candy store' down there) did indeed get to visit O.V.'s grave, and was kind enough to ask Rick Hall our burning question here point blank; "Did You Produce Ben E. King's 'So Much Love' in New York in 1966?"

In a word, the answer was "No," which I think we all kind of expected...

Now, in Tony's original email he said "Benny did, of course, record a session at FAME at the very end of his Atco career, and I think that’s where the confusion lies." Well, according to the Atlantic Session Discography, Ben E. did indeed cut down in Muscle Shoals in 1967, but it wasn't at FAME...
It was at Quin Ivy's Norala Studio, where Atlantic had been having such success with Percy Sledge (if you haven't already, be sure to check out detective Pete Nickols' great article over at Deep Soul Heaven, Quin Ivy And His Norala and Quinvy Studios).

ATCO 6527

She Knows What To Do For Me

Produced by Ivy and his partner Marlin Greene, this is just an awesome record, folks. If it seems to have a little bit of a New Orleans vibe to it, that's because it does. Check out the songwriters - none other than Mac Rebbenack and Jessie Hill, who had formed a team out on the West Coast, working on other ATCO releases by folks like Buffalo Springfield and Sonny & Cher before they busted things wide open with the whole Night Tripper thing the following year. Another name that jumps out at you from the session 'overdub' credits is Melvin Lastie, who had been an original member of the AFO All Stars before making the move to Los Angeles with Harold Battiste to work at Sam Cooke's 'Soul Stations'. As we've mentioned before, Ahmet Ertegun (to his eternal credit) brought the whole bunch of them to his West Coast ATCO operation after Sam was murdered in late 1964. Lastie's fellow horn men on this session include, interestingly, King Curtis and David 'Fathead' Newman - which kind of makes me think that this 45 may have been a bi-coastal affair, with layers of horns added both in L.A. and N.Y.

So, like, where did this whole idea that Rick Hall produced Ben E. King come from in the first place?

Well, Tony Rounce asked Rick Hall about that and had this to say -

Rick definitely didn’t produce “So Much Love” – that’s straight from the horse’s mouth. He remembers Benny coming to Muscle Shoals to record, not long before Wexler stopped using FAME studios on a regular basis and moved to Criteria, but he never went up to New York to produce anything on him.

He did recall cutting “So Much Love” with Maurice & Mac at FAME, though. Maybe that’s where the confusion starts.

Maurice & Mac?

As we all know, Leonard Chess made a deal with Rick Hall shortly after Jerry Wexler left the building in the wake of the Aretha debacle. Rick cut some truly epic recordings down there on Chess artists like Etta James, Irma Thomas and Laura Lee. It's a commonly accepted fact that Lee's Dirty Man, which was released in September of 1967, came from the earliest of these sessions... but I'm thinking Maurice & Mac might have gotten there first. The criminally under-appreciated Soul Duo, who came up out of The Radiants in 1966, had what may be the definitive version of You Left The Water Running released on Checker in early 1968. The version of "So Much Love" that Rick told Tony about appears to have been issued almost a year earlier.

In Nadine Cohoda's excellent Spinning Blues Into Gold she said; "...Hall learned a valuable lesson from Leonard about what a producer should do. When he told Leonard that he didn't have any songs he was excited about for another Chess act, Leonard chided him. 'I thought that's what a producer's job was, finding the songs.' 'No one had ever put it to me that way,' Hall said later, 'I thought he was right. Leonard talked like that- Get off your ass and find the damn song!''

Having Ben E. King in the neighborhood might just have been Rick's inspiration for finding this one:

Checker 1179

So Much Love

Just top shelf Southern Soul my friends, with Rick's 'second rhythm section' just cranking it out. Think that's Eddie Hinton on the guitar? Yet another example of a truly great record that somehow fell through the cracks. If it took this whole crazy convoluted process to find it, then so be it!

Thank You Tony Rounce, Rick Hall and Noel-23 for getting us there!

QUESTION FIVE - THE TRUTHS INC.

2008-05-20T06:26:00.000-07:00

Alright, everybody, this question was submitted to us by good ol' Jim Lancaster, the 'Chief' down at Playground Recording Studios in Valparaiso, Florida. Jim, as you may know, came up as a bass playing studio musician who eventually settled in as a disciple of Johnny Vincent at his digs in Jackson, Mississippi. His latest venture has been the resurrection and renovation of the legendary Playground Studio, which had been started up in 1969 by Shelby Singleton and Finley Duncan.

Over the last couple of years, Lancaster has gotten the place up and running again and great new records by folks like The WaCo Ramblers and Wiley & The Checkmates have restored Playground's reputation as a cutting edge facility. In addition to all of that, Jim has also been sifting through hours and hours of tape that Duncan left behind (much of it in crumbling water damaged boxes) and finding some absolutely incredible stuff. Last year's fantastic Soul Resurrection Volume One was the first installment of the results of all that hard work, and one of my favorite CDs in recent memory.

Well, the digging continues, and the Chief has been kind enough to let us all in on it:

Lancaster said he came across a couple of boxes labeled 'The Dudes', and put off listening to them as he figured they were a 'white group' (surfer types, no doubt). On further inspection, though, he found some references on the boxes to 'The Truths Inc.', which may or may not be the name of the band but, at this point, it's the one Jim's decided to go with. If you look at the photo of the tape box label above, it appears to be an already sequenced (Quad!) mix of 'The Dudes (Side One)'... do you think it's possible that 'The Dudes' was going to be the name of the album? Hmmm...

Here's a cut from side one:

Why Then

Beautiful stuff, it puts me in mind of The Masqueraders in a 1973 sort of way. I'll let Jim take up the story:

"Gabby Bruce (ex-local DJ and Playground Participant) claims to have produced the records, Which I do believe he was sitting in the chair. The Candymen, including David Adkins, were on the road with BJ Thomas and could only come down on Sundays... So David and John Rainey Adkins were playing guitars and keys. David was probably playing the drums. Bobby Sexton played flute and sax... Not sure who the horns were. The group was actually brought into Playground as a result of Phyliss Hasty who was married to Jimmy Louis. Jimmy was a country Playground artist who had a couple of records on the Plantation label. Phyliss was teaching elementary school with Venetia Jones. Venetia had a group that later recorded here called 'Crescendo' haven't gotten to their tapes yet... BUT she was married to Paul Jones of Montgomery. Paul was the leader of the Truths Inc. Paul Jones is the only name anyone can come up with for The Truths Inc. members."

Got that?

Up in the right hand corner of this 'Track Sheet' it reads "TRUTH" (JOHN, PAUL JONES, & ARCHIE), so there's at least two more members of the group... here's an even better cut from Side Two (the multi-track master of which was found unexpectedly on another reel of tape entirely!):

Society

This one is just money, man! A 'message song', it could hang with some of the best from that era like Hercules, or Freddie's Dead, or the Masqueraders' Love, Peace & Understanding. So why wasn't it a hit? Check this out:

"Following the completion of the tracks, Finley took the stuff to Neil Bogart of Buddha Records. Buddha loved the material and was scheduled to sign them based on what happened with their newly signed artists in which they already had a substantial investment and a release was scheduled. As it turned out the release was 'Midnight Train to Georgia' by Gladys Knight and the Pips... and the rest is history... and the Dudes disappeared."

Bogart (pictured here with the 1910 Fruitgum Company), was the man behind the 'bubblegum' sound at Buddah (which was apparently purposely mis-spelled) Records. He had come up through the ranks at MGM and Cameo-Parkway, and found himself at the right place at the right time. A true legend of the music business, he was involved with an incredible number of hit records at the label on everyone from Sha Na Na and The Brooklyn Bridge to Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers. In addition to their own soul records (like the Five Stairsteps 'Ooh Child'), Buddah also became the distributor for Sussex (with hits by Bill Withers and Dennis Coffey), Holland-Dozier-Holland's Hot Wax and Invictus labels (think Flaming Ember, Laura Lee, and The Chairmen of the Board), as well as Curtis Mayfield's Curtom imprint, which broke out in a big way with the aforementioned Freddie's Dead and Superfly in the early seventies.

According to both Wikipedia and the incredibly in-depth article on Both Sides Now, Bogart's leaving the label coincided with Buddah's signing of Gladys Knight, which may be why the Truth/Dudes masters never saw the light of day. Bogart's partner, Art Kass, was the prime mover behind the Knight deal, and he probably didn't want anything to do with a group he viewed as Bogart's. When Bogart started up his own Casablanca label later that year, he remained a major player in the industry with Disco superstars like Donna Summer and Rock bad boys like Kiss making him millions. I'm sure he forgot all about those tapes ol' Finley Duncan had brought him...

Anyway, we're looking here for any information we can find about whatever became of these Dudes who sang The Truth. Jim Lancaster has "done checks on Venetia Jones in the Montgomery county school system to no avail..."

Detectives?

Question Four - Joni Wilson

2008-03-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

LATEST UPDATE: 6/10/08

Hi, folks. I was out trolling the ol' blogosphere a while back and came across this incredible song over at Darcy's great Feel It (which is currently celebrating its two year anniversary):

VOLT 4070 B

Flame Flame Flame

My kind of stuff, this one just lays me out... Joni's slow burn delivery is simply top shelf. You mean you're not familiar with Joni Wilson? Well, join the club! In the accompanying post, Darcy said; "Nearly two years after my original post on Joni Wilson and I have still been unable to find out anything more about her or this 45. Can anybody help?" He had re-activated the audio on that original post, and so (being the curious type) I clicked on over:

VOLT 4070 A

(Let Hurt Put You In The) Loser's Seat

I was astonished to see my own comments there on that post... talking about how this could be a job for Soul Detective (I had totally zoned on the whole thing, apparently). Well, better late than never, I guess... so here we go!

Here's the original Feel It post:

"Every now and then I get obsessed with a particular record - if you have become a regular reader of my humble offerings then the chances are you are also something of a vinyl junkie and will therefore probably have been there too. In the Volt discography, in 1971, sandwiched between releases from more well known acts - Major Lance and The Dramatics – came the one and only release on the label (or anywhere?) from one Joni Wilson - 'Loser’s Seat', and this was the object of a recent obsession of mine. The initial attraction came during an ebay trawl about 18 months ago, and for three reasons: a) I liked the title, b) the scan showed G.Clinton etc in the writing credit - I had only recently become aware of pre 70s George Clinton - so was this The Parliaments 'All Your Goodies Are Gone' ? , and c) it had a sound clip of both A and B side. I downloaded the clips and was hooked. All the usual tell tale symptoms applied - the hairs on the back of the neck standing on end, a fluttery feeling inside, eyes closed and whisperings of “oh yes” under the breath. And that was just listening to a sound clip! I needed this record. Unfortunately the bidding ran away from me. It eventually went for either $80 or £80 I can’t remember which, but anyways it was out of my league.

"For some months following I searched for other copies for sale, but to no avail, and so made do with playing and replaying the one minute clips I had downloaded. Then last summer up popped another copy on ebay. From the description it seemed it wasn’t in great shape and maybe that put bidders off, in any event I was the only bidder and picked it up for only $10. When a couple of weeks later it arrived on my turntable I was pleased to find it wasn’t in terrible shape - there is surface noise but not too much to detract from the music, and it all adds to the atmosphere anyway (it sounds better on my turntable than the mp3 copy, sorry). So now it proudly sits as a jewel in my collection.

"I think Joni Wilson, and how this record came to be released, would be something that the Soul Detective could really get his teeth into, because I can find no information at all that sheds any real light. Perhaps my obsession with it is due in part to the mystery of it. The (also excellent) B side is Flame, Flame, Flame' – a real slow burner - and is credited to Liz Bacone. Don’t know who that is. As for Joni Wilson, well she is a she - so that narrows it down a bit! There was a (large) group called Joni Wilson & The Debonaires that recorded in the 60s, Pittsburgh based(?) and had a couple of albums released on the Gateway label. I have seen a cover of one of these albums and it looks like an all male group to me.

"The only possible clue I can come up with is a George Clinton connection. By coincidence a girl group called the Debonair(e)s recorded for Ed Wingate’s Golden World and Solid Hit labels in the mid sixties. George Clinton and The Parliaments were at the labels at the same time and wrote songs for and produced(?) the Debonaires. A member of the Debonaires at that time was a Joyce Vincent Wilson. There is some doubt about other members of the group although Joyce Wilson’s cousin was a member. Maybe Joni was another relation and another group member, or just hung about the label?

"By 1971 Clinton had left Revilot and the Parliafunkadelicment tripout had launched and landed at Invictus (Parliament) and Westbound (Funkadelic). Somehow Volt seems an odd label for a Clinton song to turn up on. Ron Banks sang on an early Parliaments release 'Heart Trouble' and then went onto be in The Dramatics – who recorded on Volt. At that time if Clinton was on the credit then the chances were he also had a hand in the production - the production credit is 'Enigmatic Productions', an enigma indeed but just the sort of name Clinton might hide behind. Maybe Joni was a side project he just touted around, or then again maybe there was no Clinton connection beyond the fact that he wrote the song. I’m chasing shadows I know, but that’s all I can offer..."

Here's the original Parliaments version from 1967:

REVILOT 211 A

All Your Goodies Are Gone (The Loser's Seat)

It definitely is the same backing track, including the background vocals. What a trip, right? In the comments on that post, we went on to establish that Rob Bowman (aka Mr. Stax/Volt) had failed to mention this 45 either in Soulsville USA or the liner notes of The Complete Stax/Volt Singles Volume Two. Our man Larry Grogan also added; "Joyce Vincent Wilson (and Telma Hopkins) who later ended up singing with Tony Orlando as Dawn, also sang backup on some of Jerry-O's Shout singles (like Karate Boogaloo)."

OK.

The song is a take off on the Hertz rent-a-car commercials that were begun in 1966...

After I (rather belatedly) told Darcy I was going to take on the 'case', here I asked him if he had a scan of the 45. He didn't, but suggested that I check eBay. It's funny how these things happen... while I couldn't find one, I was able to locate a scan of the flip side, 'Don't Be Sore At Me':

If you look there on the left, you'll notice the publishing credit listed as 'Groovesville Music'... now, as we all know, Groovesville can only mean one thing: Don Davis! I'm not sure how a George Clinton song came to be published by Davis (as I admit I'm not that schooled in the intricacies of Detroit Soul), but there, I believe, is your Detroit/Memphis connection.

After Al Bell imported Davis to Stax, he had made his mark as a proven hitmaker, producing Johhnie Taylor's unprecedented string of consecutive top ten R&B hits. In the three years between 1968 and 1971, Taylor's Stax 45s would spend 131 weeks on the Billboard charts... that's over 2 1/2 years! Suffice it to say that by the time Volt 4070 was released, Davis could do whatever he wanted at the company. Maybe he was doing someone back home a favor? Hmmm...

One more thing I was able to find out; Elizabeth Bacone (the composer of Flame, Flame, Flame) is listed in the BMI database as having written 38 other songs. She is also listed in the Songwriter's Hall of Fame as having co-written two songs with Kenneth Gamble. So now we've got Philadelphia added to the mix...

Any ideas?

Thanks, Darcy, this should be interesting!

6/10/08

Alright, everybody. I've actually been working on this question since early April, but a record I ordered back then just showed up last week! Talk about 'media mail', huh?

Anyway, let's take a closer look...

According to the wonderful Soulful Detroit website; "The Debonaires had started out as a trio consisting of Elsie Baker, Dorothy Garland and Joyce Vincent...

GOLDEN WORLD 26

Please Don't Say We're Through

"Please Don't Say We're Through... was released on Golden World 17 in October 1964. Both songs were Sammy Lowe arrangements, written by the Hamilton Brothers and Freddie Gorman. The song was performed without a lead singer." It was apparently also issued as the B side of Golden World 26, Eenie Meenie Gypsalinie, which is where this decidedly lo-fi rip we have here came from.

The site goes on to say that the Debonaires added a lead vocalist named Diane Hogan, who would record with them for their final two Golden World releases in 1966. No mention of anyone named Joni.

After Golden World was bought up By Motown, The Debonaires would release two more singles on a label called Solid Hit in 1967. According to this label scan of Loving You Takes All My Time (#102), it was written and produced by George Clinton, published by Groovesville, and distributed by 'Revilot Productions, Inc. Detroit'. Just to add to the confusion, somebody left off the 'e' in 'Debonaires' as well.

By the time we get to #104, Headache In My Heart, the distributor is now listed as 'Groovesville-Revilot Productions, Inc. Detroit'. This, in my opinion, establishes the direct connection between Don Davis, George Clinton, The Debonaires, and the Revilot label which, as you may recall, was home to the original Parliaments version of All Your Goodies are Gone:

According to Dave Moore over at the Hitsville Soul Club (which is where I finally found this scan); "The label was owned by LeBaron Taylor and Don Davis and was based out of Detroit. There are a number of 'theories' about the name Revilot. Some say it was Taylor's middle name TOLIVER spelt backwards (I can find no existence of his middle name) and others believe it was the name of a club in Buffalo NY where Darrell Banks played..." Be that as it may, by mid 1968, Davis was at Stax...

OK.

Now, this is one of those things you really can't make up. As Darcy pointed out earlier, a Google on Joni Wilson invariably pulls up a reference to the 'Exciting Debonaires'. Bingo! I mean, that's got to be our girl, right?

Well, after much searching, I found us an affordable copy of an album on the Gateway label out of Pittsburgh by none other than Joni Wilson and the aforementioned Exciting Debonaires... but, wait a minute, I don't see any ladies on the album cover. What gives?

Joni's Idea

Well, according to the short biography of Wilson on the back jacket, this Joni is a he! The album was released in 1965, and while it's not bad, I think it would be safe to say that this Joni Wilson and these Debonaires are totally unrelated to the ones we've been discussing here.

So, where does that leave us? Well, judging from all of the Don Davis/George Clinton/Debonaires connections I'd be tempted to go with the hypothesis that the Volt single is actually by our girl JOYCE Wilson, and that they got the name wrong when they printed the label down in Memphis... except for one thing:

In a 2002 post in the Soulful Detroit Forum that was apparently written by Mike Terry (famed Detroit producer) it says: "To add a little more to the fire, after the original Debonair group broke up (marriages, etc), Joyce and her sister teamed with Telma {Hopkins - who, along with Joyce, would become Tony Orlando's Dawn} and they became 'The Main Rent', a background girls group... I used them on many sessions..."

So, there you have it. Joyce Wilson had a sister. A sister that sang. Think she was named Joni?

QUESTION THREE - The Ideals featuring Tim Maia?

2007-11-07T14:57:00.000-08:00

LATEST UPDATE: 12/18/07

Hi Red,

I'm a huge fan of Brazilian soul music (yes, it does exist with quite a catalogue to support the claim too) and the giant in this field is known as Tim Maia. He spent several years in the U.S. before returning to Brazil and launching his career in earnest. During this time in the states he sang with a couple of vocal groups. This was the early 1960s. He claims to have founded a multi-racial group called "The Ideals" during this time, either living in Tarrytown, NY or maybe even NYC. He claims to have recorded a song he later re-recorded in Brazil, called "New Love."

I have never found anything to confirm the existence of this record other than Tim Maia's insistence that he recorded it during his time in the US. He is also known for saying, "I don't burn, I don't snort, and I don't drink. My only problem is that sometimes I lie a little." (Often said with a joint in hand)

The style of the group was probably Doo-wop and Tim may or may not have sung lead with his deep voice and possible portuguese accent.

There is a Tim Maia compilation coming out on Luaka Bop next year that I helped work on. See it here: www.timmaia.com

Thanks,

Allen

OK, detectives, you really have to check out the Tim Maia story...

This guy was indeed larger than life, and personally responsible for importing real soul music to Brazil. He was also an absolute trip! The Ideals 45 is kind of like a 'holy grail' to fans of this music... let's see what we can find out!

11/9/07

OK folks, we've had some input here (although some of it is in Portugese), and it looks like Tim's son Carmelo will be joining us in our quest. In the meantime, Allen Thayer (the guy who started us on all of this) has submitted the Brazilian remake Maia did of the Ideals' song back in 1973:

New Love

As Allen said, "it's not my favorite song of Tim's," but maybe it will jog somebody's memory. Taken from Maia's fourth solo LP, it's got this whole lounge thing happening... break out the Caipirinhas, baby! I'll tell ya, this whole inquiry has been an eye opener for me. I had read Allen's article 'Black Rio' in Waxpoetics back in April of last year, but never really dug any deeper than that. This is getting interesting!

Be sure to check out Soul Spectrum, 'the Ambassador's' new Brazilian Soul site where he's 'cross-posted' our investigation.

It's all good.

12/18/07

OK folks, I'm not sure if you've been following the 'comments' here, but there's been a major breakthrough in this case. As reported by Allen over on Soul Spectrum, he was able to track down the co-writer of 'New Love' (and original member of The Ideals), Roger Bruno, through the (continually amazing) internet...

"Hello Intrepid Investigators -
I met with Roger Bruno and his lovely partner Ellen in Tarrytown last night and talked with them for an hour and a half about Tim Maia. There's a lot to share here, but I don't have my notes in front of me and the best stuff is still yet to come. But let me share with you that indeed a recording exists of "New Love" but its an acetate in the possession of a past girlfriend of Roger's. The song was never released commercially. The Ideals were planning on shopping it around to different labels, but Tim got arrested and deported before they had a chance! Roger confirmed that the famous Brazilian drummer Milton Banana played on the session as did well-known jazz and rock bassist Don Payne (look him up). Roger said that this song was an attempt to get in with the then burgeoning appreciation for Brazilian Bossa Nova, but fused with a soul vocal harmony sound. He's in the process of tracking down the acetate and he'll get me a copy as soon as he is able...."

How cool is that? I can't wait to hear the record!

In the meantime, you can check out the full details of their meeting at Allen's site, but I just couldn't resist putting up the cool photo Roger gave him of The Ideals in the studio back in the day...

That's our man Tim (aka 'Jimmy the Brazilian') there in the middle.

Allen says he's working up an article about this whole amazing story for Waxpoetics.

You can't make this stuff up.

QUESTION TWO - Randy & The Soul Survivors

2007-10-11T04:50:00.000-07:00

Hi. My name is Brian Toscano.

I am trying to find out more about an R&B singer named Randy Madison. In the 1960's, Randy worked in Boston and led a band in 1965/1966 called Randy And The Soul Survivors.

The band was made up of local Boston musicians who were going to Berklee College Of Music at the time. The band included saxophonist Jack Schroer (1944-1995) and bassist John Klingberg (also deceased), who are both best known for playing in Van Morrison's band in the late 1960's/early 1970's.

At the time of the Soul Survivors, John Klingberg was playing trumpet. Besides him and Jack, the band also included Steve Hall (guitar), Al Leto (bass), and Tom Hall (drums)

Tom Hall left The Soul Survivors shortly after the band formed and moved to Florida. Drummer Jim 'Bat' Kaddy, a friend of Jack Schroer and John Klingberg, was his replacement.

Randy And The Soul Survivors played James Brown and Otis Redding covers. They played at such venues as Izzy Ort's Golden Nugget Bar, which was located in a part of Boston known as 'The Combat Zone.'

Guitarist Steve Hall remembers Randy as being a great leader. When speaking to me about Randy, Steve said...

'Randy Madison was extremely organized, knew what he wanted to accomplish and knew how to get others to pull towards the same goal. He would lead the rehearsals and sing everybody's part to them. He was a very good intuitive musician. I learned a lot from him.'

Randy And The Soul Survivors never recorded, but Steve Hall said that Randy was working with a musician/producer named Teddy on a project that was completely separate from The Soul Survivors.

Teddy had an office near the Boston Commons and sang with a large group that had 4 vocalists, hammond organ, guitar, drums, etc. This group played regularly at Hurley's in Revere Beach.

Steve Hall says Randy didn't say much about the project with Teddy, but recordings might have been made, or there might have been rehearsals for recordings. I don't know if anything ever came of Randy and Teddy's partnership.

No one seems to know whatever happened to Randy Madison. If anyone reading this knew, or knows anything about, Randy Madison, please leave a message at Soul Detective. I want to find out anything I can about Randy, and any help you can offer would be very appreciated.

-detectives?

Question One: Toussaint in 1953?

2007-10-02T05:14:00.000-07:00

LATEST UPDATE: 12/18/07

OK -

Detective Tim G. of New Orleans wrote me with this thorny dilemma:

"Great blog! I just happened across it while trying to research a 1953-ish B-side of my father's creation that Allen Toussaint did the A-side for. The record, sadly, was lost years ago, and my dad (who's about to turn 80) has been pining to hear it again since I was little.

I'm an Internet search maven, and *nothing* has turned up through traditional channels, and judging from your own blog, few people even realize Toussaint pressed recordings (on the "Mallory" label, my father says) prior to the 1960's.

This is a long shot, but is there any chance you have access to resources that we mere mortals don't? I'm trying to do this research in my spare time, and only have these specifics to go by:

Year: circa 1952-1953
A-Side: Toussaint ( et al ) "All These Things (You Do That Make You Mine)" [title not precise]
B-Side: The Four Sharps "Seeing is Believing"
Publisher: Mallory
Format: 45 RPM

I've found plenty of "Four Sharps", none of whom seem to resemble the group in question, and I've found virtually zero leads on any "Mallory" publishing (except a modern-day one in Nashville).

Allen Toussaint himself recently told a friend of my father's that he recalls the album in question, so I should probably follow up on that angle and see if "anybody knows anybody with a copy" etc. But, for now, since I see only dead ends before me, it made sense to drop you a line.

Clues, please? :-)"

To which I (rather arrogantly) replied:

"Tim -

That certainly opens a can of worms!

Allen Toussaint is currently 69 years old, which would put his birthday in January of 1938. In 1952, he would have been 14. I only point this out, as the dates you're looking for seem to be off by about a decade... maybe that will help.

As far as I know, "All These Things" was first released on INSTANT 3246 - ART NEVILLE - All These Things / Come Back Love in 1962.

At that time, Toussaint was using the 'pen-name' of "Naomi Neville", which was his mother's maiden name.

The original publishing was held by a company called "Tune-Kel" that was set up by Instant/Minit label owner Joe Banashak... according to BMI, it is now owned by 'Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc.'

All These Things was a big regional hit, and was covered by a whole bunch of folks in the area, becoming an obligatory number at any club date, as 'the slow-dance'.

I DID, however find this listing on BMI:

MALLORY MUSIC PUBLICATIONS
CAE/IPI #: 19268377
Phone:
(205) 234-2173

Contact:
MALLORY MUSIC
PUBLICATIONS
C/O MELVIN A MALLORY
AND MARGOT MALLORY HENSON
111 CACTUS DRIVE
BOURG, LA 70343-362

Maybe that's the lead you need, brother!

Good Luck!"

Well, Tim got back to me and:

"Hi Red,

And many, many thanks for the info you provided. The net result was my father called and spoke with Mel Mallory (Jr.) about the pressing in hopes of further leads turning up. Let's hope a copy survives somewhere!

After confirming with my father, I can assure you that 1953 is the correct year. He recalls Toussaint already being a known entity, even if he was only 14. Furthermore, the Korean War interceded, marking Dad's memory indelibly of the occasion. What's more, my mother recalls clearly that he had the album in hand when they married just a few years later.

Check the Wikipedia page for Snooks Eaglin, and you will note that the two artists comprised the group The Flamingoes, which Toussaint began in 1952 (at age 13). I've yet to discover whether the A-side recording would've been under this monicker (but that would make sense), nor whether Snooks might've participated at all.

Just think: Such a recording would be precious to any collector now! My father has been lamenting for years its loss, and I'm beginning to understand why now."

There you have it, detectives. Anybody ever hear of the New Orleans version of The Four Sharps? Is it possible that Toussaint may have recorded much earlier than previously thought (currently, I believe the legendary 1958 album The Wild Sounds Of New Orleans by Tousan is considered his initial appearance on vinyl)?

Let's help Tim's dad find out!

10/5/07

Detective Cies (the Just Moving On king) had this to say:

"No Mallory label in the R&B Indies. But on the Meladee label out of New Orleans there is a Four Sharps 45 with the title 'Seein's Believing' Meladee 109. The flip is 'I've told every little star'. Meladee 107 is also by the Four Sharps. Only one side title known, 'Crazy mixed up heart'...

No mention of Toussaint in the Meladee discography or a song title that's close to 'All Those Things You Do That Make You Mine'. The Meladee label owners were Lou & Mel Mallory."

To which Tim (who brought all this up in the first place) replied:

"Well, according to my father, it appears we're making progress! He asks whether there's any possibility of finding this particular record [Meladee 109]...

Note the following reference...

SEEIN S BELIEVIN BMI Work #1308110
Songwriter/Composer Current Affiliation CAE/IPI #
BARRETT RICHARD BMI 2173733
ELLIOTT BILL BMI 9214609

Publishers
MALLORY MUSIC PUBLICATIONS BMI 19268377

... my father's name is misspelled (should be 'Garrett'). However, this provides at least a clue. Obviously this comes from the BMI Repertoire Database, and shows no dates or flip side material, but I figured you'd know better than I what to do with it.

I sure do appreciate your assistance throughout."

Any leads on finding a copy of these 45s guys?

11/11/07

Alright... an anonymous benefactor has pointed out the fact that Night Train issued a Best Of Meladee compilation a few years back:

I just ordered us a copy, and we'll see if the liner notes shed any light here. You know sometimes it seems like no matter what dark corner of Louisiana music we might find ourselves in here on SD, Aaron Fuchs (the owner of Tuff City Records) has been there first... contact information for the company was left in the 'comments' below. If you decide to get in touch with them, Tim, please let us know what you find out!

Thanks Mr. Anonymous, it's all good!

12/18/07

Hey everybody, I've been meaning to update things here on Question One for awhile. Like I told you, I sent for a copy of the Meladee CD... guess what? There ARE no liner notes.

Nothing.

Zilch.

Needless to say, Tim's Dad's song was not on there either.

Oh well.

BURNING QUESTIONS

2007-10-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

A new area of the original 'soul detective', where we will search together for the answers to some thought provoking questions.