Archive for the ‘Inez & Charlie Foxx’ Category

The Marvelettes

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game / The Marvelettes

Listen: The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game / The Marvelletes

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I loved The Supremes, who didn’t? But there’s something about the underdogs that make them even more appealing to me. Happens every time.

I guess The Rolling Stones (who I always preferred) were considered second to The Beatles for a while there; and then The Pretty Things to The Stones. Or as I mentioned in an earlier post, Inez & Charlie Foxx to Ike & Tina Turner.

Like Martha & The Vandellas, The Marvelettes were certainly playing second fiddle, at best, to The Supremes over at Motown. There’s a terrific book CALLING OUT AROUND THE WORLD / A MOTOWN READER by Kingsley Abbott, detailing (and I mean detailing) those heydays of Motown. It describes the songwriting rivalries, struggles for priorities, everything. It’s a fascinating read. According to Kingsley, William Robinson, or Smokey as we know him, was always under appreciated by Berry Gordy. Even when coming off of a hit, Smokey’d be starting over. Marvin Gaye too. The girl groups were in a constant struggle to get first dibs on the strongest new songs. It’s why Mary Wells left the fold – well at least according to this book.

In the case of The Marvelettes, there were few occasions when they got those gems. Like ‘The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game’ (another Smokey composition), many of The Marvelettes releases had a slight darkness to them – not quite as glistening with all the pop flash that those Supremes singles packed, hence their cult appeal? Probably.

I'll Keep Holding On / The Marvelettes

Listen: I’ll Keep Holding On / The Marvelletes

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Let’s face it – The Marvelettes were hip. Hats off to The Action for the brave and triumphant cover of ‘I’ll Keep Holding On’

My Baby Must Be A Magician / The Marvelettes

My Baby Must Be A Magician / The Marvelettes - UK

Listen: My Baby Must Be A Magician / The Marvelettes

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And thank you to Tony King for generously giving me the UK promocopy of ‘My Baby Must Be A Magician’ pictured above.

Posted in Berry Gordy, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Kingsley Abbott, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Motown, Smokey Robinson, The Action, The Marvelettes, The Pretty Things, The Rolling Stones, The Supremes, Tony King | No Comments »

Inez & Charlie Foxx

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days / Inez & Charlie Foxx

(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days / Inez & Charlie Foxx

Listen: (1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days / Inez & Charlie Foxx

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Not the first time I’ve posted about this unbeatable sister/brother duo, but it is the first time I’ve posted a song for a second time. Got a load of stories about Inez & Charlie Foxx elsewhere on the blog – but on this occasion, I’m just finding a half baked excuse to also let you have a look at the below tip sheet ad in the March 3, 1968 issue of Billboard:

This single still sounds as good as the day it was released. There isn’t one person I’ve played it to, upon hearing it for the first time, that has not loved ‘(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days’. Not ever. Not one.

As much as I cherish this trade ad, it’s a reminder of how pissed off I still am, all these years later, that it didn’t get over that payola airplay hump and go all the way. If ever a single deserved to be huge, this was it.

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Posted in Billboard, Direction, Dynamo, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Musicor | No Comments »

Swamp Dogg

Monday, May 17th, 2010

SwampDoggCreeping, Swamp Dogg, Jerry Williams, Elektra

Listen: Creeping Away / Swamp Dogg

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SwampDoggBelieve, Swamp Dogg, Elektra, Island, Jerry Williams

Listen: Do You Believe / Swamp Dogg

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I vividly recall my first look at the RAT ON! sleeve, his only album for Elektra from which both these single sides come. I thought, this is gonna be terrible.

There was nothing more I loved doing than checking every last record that came into our college station. I would sit for hours, well into the night, and instead of studying my class work – I studied records. Cataloging, suggesting cuts for airplay, deciding what to call into the labels for extra copies of, basically to fatten my collection. iIt was great being both MD and PD of a college station – loved it.

First listen, it went into the same space as Dr. John, meaning musical in a bit more grown up way, not unlike the occasional jazz or blues album that struck me, or The Crusaders, The Meters, The Blackbyrds and yeah, Dr. John.

I got slightly more interested when a 7″ showed up shortly thereafter. I loved this guys voice, and his name, terrific. Both sides segued nicely with ‘Wash Mama Wash’, a Dr. John single I liked playing on the occasional late, late shift I’d sit in for once in a while.

Gotta admit though, despite my liking of Swamp Dogg, I didn’t exactly did follow up accruing the next few releases, which I recall being on the Brut label. I just wasn’t interested in certain record companies as a kid, stuck up, knew it all – an early version of a Pitchfork contributor. Well, a word to the wise, wrong attitude – a lesson learned later in life having to backtrack filling in gaps in the colllection. The Swamp Dogg gap being one in particular.

SwampDoggUKA, Swamp Dogg

SwampDoggHomeTooSoon, Swamp Dogg, Elektra, Island, Jerry Williams

Listen: Did I Come Back Too Soon (Or Stay Away Too Long) / Swamp Dogg

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SwampDoggJukeboxTab, Swamp Dogg, Jerry Williams, Inez & Charlie Foxx

Above: Jukebox Tab filled out by Swamp Dogg

Come ‘74, Swamp Dogg is suddenly on Island, with a seriously happening album HAVE YOU HEARD THIS STORY?. I dug into every last track, could sing any one of ‘em for you on a dime. And the sleeve, in one way, another mess: out of focus shot of a very unkept Swamp Dogg in a very unkept room, surrounded by records and books, perched atop a bean bag chair. Yet in another way, completely inviting and totally descriptive of the music inside. His talent for some twisted lyrics, actually clever slants on slightly sleazy subjects drew me in further.

“Did I Come Back Too Soon (Or Stay Away Too Long)’ Have a listen. Can’t be said any better, kinda funny yet very true. Always take care of your partner. And again, that signature voice.

SwampDoggMind, Swamp Dogg, Elektra, Island, Jerry Williams

Listen: The Mind Does The Dancing / Swamp Dogg

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A second UK single from the album, and pressed promo only, this was a hard one to track down, Plus it’s an edit, even more necessary. The full 7:20 album version gets cut to 5:30, not that much of a radio friendly timing, but seems this was more aimed at clubs, given the disco leaning beat and a vocal that doesn’t come in until 2:22. Besides, Island UK only did five singles with this label design and the USA catalog number prefix, all aimed seemingly at clubs. Given the time period, Swamp Dogg wasn’t far from Ike Turner’s musical path, wah-wahs and revue horns still in place.

For fun, a press release below that was inside the album’s radio station shipping envelope, wisely saved. I had a habit of sticking all these type things inside the sleeves, making for sometimes fascinating reading nowadays.

SwampDoggLetter, Swamp Dogg, Danny Holloway, Island

Swamp Dogg indeed has many releases, starting in 1970. Prior, he used his real name, Jerry Williams. Well actually Little Jerry Williams until, I’m assuming, he grew up.

Nice closing trainspotter bit here: Jerry Williams co-wrote and had studio involvement with, to me, Inez & Charlie Foxx’s greatest ever single (and them’s big words as they had many): ‘(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days’. Well in fact, one of the greatest soul singles of all times, posted elsewhere on this blog if you care to have a listen. Go ahead, start the first day of the rest of your life.

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Posted in Danny Holloway, Elektra, Ike Turner, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Island, Jerry Williams, Jukebox Tab, Pitchfork, Swamp Dogg, The Blackbyrds | No Comments »

Aretha Franklin

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

ArethaTakeALook, Aretha Franklin, Columbia, Atlantic, John Hammond

Listen: Take A Look / Aretha Franklin

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It’s well known that Aretha Franklin and her family’s musical beginnings were in Gospel. Yet in early 1960, she signed with John Hammond at Coumbia, a historically well respected A&R executive, but oddly a musical mismatch for Aretha. Despite initially scoring a few semi-hits on the Billboard Pop and RnB Singles charts, those initial results began a slow downward spiral of misjudged A&R song choices, bland jazz leaning arrangements, tiringly safe, and quite frankly, dull results. However, by the end of ‘66, with little commercial success in those six years with Columbia, they threw her on the scrapheap, a policy that insensitively continued and in fact grew exponentially during my time there.

As the story goes, desperate for a sound of her own, she signed with Atlantic Records to work with producer Jerry Wexler. By ‘67, Aretha Franklin issued her first Atlantic single, ‘I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)’, a blues ballad that eliminated the safe musical stench Columbia forced her way, and introduced listeners to her original Gospel influences. Recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and produced by Wexler, the song became her true breakthrough single, reaching the Hot 100 Top 10 and holding the #1 spot for seven weeks on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart. In fact, the B-side, “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man”, charted on the R&B side as well, and again introduced a more Gospel element to Franklin’s developing sound. It also set a pattern for ballady bluesy B sides ahead.

Her next single, ‘Respect’, written and originally recorded by Otis Redding, instantly became her signature tune for life, reaching #1 on both the RnB and Pop charts—holding the top spot on the former for a then record eight weeks. In the next eighteen months, she released a number of singles we all know and love: ‘Baby I Love You’, ‘Chain of Fools’, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’, ‘The House That Jack Built’ and ‘Think’, to name the cream of her early successful, now decidedly upbeat run.

Part of all that fun in the spotlight was, behind the curtain, Columbia’s attempt to ride Atlantic’s successful coat tails by releasing what sure did sound to me like records parallel with her now current sound – from their vaults. Finally, at least, Coumbia was doing some work on her, and doing it pretty well. With just about everyone from the label then now long gone, it’s impossible to ever know if it was astute planning or random desperation.

A first of these, ‘Take A Look’, was a good vault find, and to be fair, probably previously released as an LP track. It was during that summer (‘67 – read past post on WMCR to understand) when the little local station, WMCR, was in the full-on groove of giving me all their non-easy listening singles during my regular Friday night visits to their studios. And I ended up loving it, as I did “Ain’t No Way’, B side of ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ – both interestingly recorded and performed in an almost identical style.

ArethaMockingbird, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Wexler, John Hammond

Listen: Mockingbird / Aretha Franklin

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Despite the play to piggy back onto Atlantic’s marketing spend toward making Aretha Franklin a household name, ‘Mockingbird’ was a great choice on Columbia’s part to compete with, yet actually compliment the groove her hits were in.

Written by Inez & Charlie Foxx, who had a Top 10 of their own with it in ‘63, Aretha shined on ‘Mockingbird’. Had it been released at the time, things may have turned out differently. A great song, it did Carly Simon no harm when she took it to #4 in ‘74.

ArethaSoulville, Aretha Franklin, Columbia, Atlantic, John Hammond

Listen: Soulville / Aretha Franklin

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This was originally an A side Columbia issue (reaching #121) in ‘64, then reissued in ‘68, coinciding timewise with ‘Think’, where it dragged it’s way to a tired #83. But I admit, I picked up the original as a closeout (it’s pictured above) on it’s title alone. In fact it was to be my first Aretha Franklin single, price: 10¢.

Although Columbia tried issuing a few more 7’s, none charted and basically they retreated, tail between legs.

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Posted in Aretha Franklin, Atlantic, Billboard, Carly Simon, Columbia, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Jerry Wexler, John Hammond, WMCR | No Comments »

Tiny

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

Ah! Shucks Baby / Tiny

Listen: Aw! Shucks Baby / Tiny

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Not unlike Big Maybelle, Tiny could belt it out. With only a few minor hits to claim, she came and went in relative obscurity. Despite being signed to King/Federal, and touring with, amongst others, Joe Turner, Bo Diddley, Little Willie John, Etta James and Ray Charles, it seems her star never properly shined. From the sound of this single, she was a powerhouse. Originally released in ‘57 (she was signed from ‘57 – ‘60), King decided on reissuing this, her most successful record in ‘63 which is pressing above.

I was in Washington DC in the early 90’s, returning to New York on a Sunday. Duane and I were there to see a band for Medicine, my label. Next morning, I scoured the yellow pages for a vinyl shop. One small listing was close by and sounded interesting, claiming doo-wop, gospel and blues amongst it’s specialties – so we gave it a go. It was in a pretty run down section of town and to be honest, we were the only two white folks in sight. The elderly man who ran the place, as he had for 30+ years, was behind the counter making small talk with a few women his age, all in their Sunday best, fresh from church. The shop was filled with cd’s and only a small section of 7″ vinyl in a back corner – not at all like he described his stock when I’d called earlier. Even more frustrating, the very vast majority of them were recent reissues – really dreadful. But I did notice a few Chess, Checker and King originals amongst them, all of which I selected and eventually made my way up to the counter with them in hand. Duane too had picked out a bunch. When I asked the price, he looked through them and said ‘They’re usually $4 but I think we should have a half price sale today – seeing as you boys have chosen some really nice stuff here”. We immediately launched into all kinds of questions – from both sides – how did we know about these records from him, and did you ever get to see Inez & Charlie Foxx or Slim Harpo from us. That kind of banter. We were having a great old time. Then he says it’s about time to close (2pm) but if you’d like, I’ll let you into the basement as I have a lot more records down there and you might find a few good ones. We were taking the shuttle home, they flew hourly and therefore in no hurry. Seemed a little odd to close your shop midday and invite the only two customers, clearly from a different part of town, behind the counter then down to the basement. We took the chance.

Oh my God, the place was heaving with boxlots of 45’s. Loads and loads, mostly Chess and King. He came down and started spinning Sonny Boy Williamson and Hank Marr records, so many others too. We were there for hours – high as kites on the buzz. I still ask Duane – what were we thinking? We should have bought them all. I came home with at least 200, all in company sleeves. Tiny’s ‘Aw! Shucks Baby’ was just one of the endless jems.

After all that – he drove us to the airport in his big old, polished, oversized 70’s car. No lie.

King Records Warehouse

Above: A shot of the King Records shipping room. I wonder if any of Tiny’s were being picked and packed?

Posted in Big Maybelle, Bo Diddley, Chess, Etta James, Federal, Hank Marr, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Joe Turner, King, Little Willie John, Ray Charles, Slim Harpo, Sonny Boy Williamson, Tiny | 1 Comment »

Jack Dupree

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

Tongue Tied Blues / Jack Dupree

Listen: Tongue Tied Blues / Jack Dupree

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This was a bizarre discovery from that very first pile of singles I blagged off WMCR, claiming to be from the local Children’s Hospital and needing donations. There were many greats in that stack of about 50 (The Others, The Pretty Things, Inez & Charlie Foxx, The Mickey Finn, The Hullaballoos, Ike & Tina Turner, Jimmy Reed), but this earned an immediate spot. I played it for everyone – all as baffled as myself on first listen. We were feeling confidently hip to this blues music The Rolling Stones and The Kinks claimed as their influences, even though we simply were not. A true and pure slice had yet to be served up until that very first spin of ‘Tongue Tied Blues’. Just listen and you’ll understand.

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Posted in Ike & Tina Turner, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Jack Dupree, Jimmy Reed, King, The Hullaballoos, The Kinks, The Others, The Pretty Things, The Rolling Stones, WMCR | No Comments »

Inez & Charlie Foxx

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

Listen: Come By Here / Inez & Charlie Foxx

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Starting the New Year off with a classic has to be good luck. There are about six desert island essentials by Inez & Charlie Foxx on my list – and ‘Come By Here’ is one. Now live, they were hard to beat. Crawling the sweaty chitlin circuit, crowds would urge Inez to even greater vocal heights while Charlie and the band drove a relentless groove. Their well oiled touring machine made for consistent studio performances. With it’s rich blend of blues and gospel, ‘Come By Here’ is one of the two songs they performed on Cleveland’s UPBEAT show in May ‘67 (the other was ‘(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days’ – see my post from 6/6/08 to listen). UPBEAT is a TV cult classic, and it would be huge if someone could free up all those episodes. Word is they still exist. There was a pretty weak website for the program at one time, but it focused on the bigger names (like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones) when in fact, many obscure acts were on as well (Love / The Seeds / The Hullaballoos / Terry Knight & The Pack / The Velvet Underground). A weekly hour long show, syndicated in many markets, it predated Shindig but then survived concurrently – and in short, any act passing through the Cleveland area got herded in to mime a couple of numbers. On this particular episode, Charlie, wearing a black shirt with matching carnation pink chino suit and tie, sang and danced on a small circular podium behind Inez. In her pink dress and heels, she sang a live vocal over the prerecorded bed, picking on a pink stratocaster and strutting not unlike The Duchess. Have mercy indeed.

Please God let this footage resurface.

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Posted in Direction, Dynamo, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Love, Musicor, Terry Knight & The Pack, The Hullaballoos, The Rolling Stones, The Seeds, The Velvet Underground, Upbeat | No Comments »

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

Sunday, December 28th, 2008

Zabadak / Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

Listen: Zabadak / Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

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KHJ chart 1-24-68

Last year around this time, Bob Lefsetz (who publishes a great subscription letter you should all Google and sign up for) wrote about hearing The Box Tops during Christmas break in Vermont, ‘67. It was a nice piece, time traveling me back to that Christmas/New Year’s week, growing up outside of Syracuse – a ten year old obsessed with records. I wrote him a response with much of the following, but don’t know if he ever read it, he never responded. That’s fine. It motivated me to start my own blog, so all good.

Basically, I still like the winter weather as it reminds of that week off school as a kid. Everyone wants to escape it here in NY nowadays but I love staying home, hanging around the deserted city, having friends over especially if they bring Christmas cookies, keeping the fireplace going and hoping for snow. Growing up near Syracuse was pretty drab but we had one remarkable perk: a Top 40 station, WOLF, that from ‘64 – ‘67 seemed to flawlessly play the good bits of Billboard’s chart alongside national non-hits, most of them British – and many rightfully considered classics today, including several each by The Who, Them, Manfred Mann, The Zombies, The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Pretty Things and The Move. So I’d spend that whole week glued to the radio, crawling the record shops and record departments at W.T. Grants & Woolworths, collecting chart handouts, asking for discarded Billboard magazines and stocking up on deletions. One of the UK bands whose label, Fontana, didn’t or couldn’t put the needed payola cash behind them on a national level, actually had hits upstate: Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. Some consider them too pop, or zany, but I just loved their image (paisley pants/flowered shirts) and music. Eventually, they switched US labels in late ‘67, to Imperial, who made a big attempt at breaking them here – and almost did. ‘Zabadak’ got a lot of play, charted in many markets – and got great reaction (KHJ in LA took it Top 10 – see chart above). I was feeling liberated. Finally they were having a hit, and The Small Faces too (‘Itchycoo Park’ was doing equally well). US radio was about to be on pulse – I didn’t need to move to England. Then THUD. ‘Zabadak’ stalls at #52. Seems it’s been all down hill ever since.

December 28th: it’s been 41 years today (the receipt is still in the sleeve) that I bought ‘Zabadak’ at Walt’s Records on Salina Street, doing my part. It’s a fantastic single – all jungle drums with haunting strings and chants. Sounded stunning on the radio – like nothing else – a lot of stations played it for a few weeks. The kind of record that zaps me right back, hence I always remember the date – and I’ll always remember that great shop. I can easily visualize the decor – it’s unique record shop smell – I wanted everything in the place – still do. One whole wall was lined with brackets that held 25+ copies of a single, where all the biggest sellers made it. But the obscure records – many of the ones I mentioned – would reside in the back – on a four sided carousel that swirled, and had slot like pockets, each able to hold 10 or so copies of a single. I would go straight to that unit every visit (usually once or twice a month), having to decide which two or three singles I could afford on a dollar a week allowance. Some of the ones I had to pass up took me years to locate (The Small Faces ‘All Or Nothing’ with the picture sleeve and The Riot Squad ‘How Is It Done’ come to mind). But there were many I did get (Pink Floyd ‘See Emily Play’, Them ‘Richard Corey’, The Yardbirds ‘Goodnight Sweet Josephine’ & The Herd ‘From The Underworld’). On December 28, 1967 I tore to that rack – and there it was – ‘Zabadak’. My Aunt Nancy, a grand lady, had brought me shopping and kindly paid, thereby allowing me to spend my dollar allowance to buy Inez & Charlie Foxx’s ‘Count The Days’. We went on to visit another relative that afternoon where I was tortured, staring at these jems, jonesing to get home and play them.

Now I’m convinced Hot Chip could do a killer remake of ‘Zabadak’. Please consider it guys.

Oh and one other tid bit about Walt’s. I ran there to buy Traffic’s ‘Hole In My Shoe’ the day after seeing them at Syracuse University’s Jabberwocky Club on their first tour. As I walked in, out came Traffic, with loads of soul and jazz albums. They patiently waited as I bought the single then signed it’s picture sleeve.

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Posted in Bob Lefsetz, Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich, Fontana, Hot Chip, Imperial, Inez & Charlie Foxx, KHJ, The Box Tops, The Herd, The Pink Floyd, The Riot Squad, The Small Faces, The Yardbirds, Them, Traffic, WOLF, WT Grants, Walt's Records, Woolworth | 1 Comment »

SWAMP DOGG

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

Did I Come Back Too Soon? / Swamp Dogg

Did I Come Back Too Soon? / Swamp Dogg

Listen: Listen: Did I Come Back Too Soon? / Swamp Dogg

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Seemingly an ever present bargain bin resident, like everyone else, I just passed all his releases by in the day. Then I read he and Jerry Williams were one in the same. Wait, the Jerry Williams who had produced Inez & Charlie Foxx? It pays to read label credits. Before that stuff vanished from those bins for good, I picked up a bunch. It was down and dirty. I liked this guy. The great list of singles he’s written or produced or both is pretty impressive: ZZ Hill, Patti La Belle & The Bluebells, Arthur Conley, Ruth Brown, Gene Pitney etc etc. Being the Inez & Charlie freak, stalker, that I am – he’s a saint in my book, having cowritten my all time favorite ‘Count The Days’ (see previous post). In the 70’s he signed to Island, and released a great album from which they pulled two singles. This is one – with a fun story line that sounds as country as it does funky – was oddly a US B side but UK A side. If only it had been a hit. Check out the CD compilation of his work on Ace: Blame It On The Dogg – The Swamp Dogg Anthology.

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Posted in Ace Records, Arthur Conley, Gene Pitney, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Island, Jerry Williams, Patti La Belle, Ruth Brown, ZZ Hill | No Comments »

Inez & Charlie Foxx

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days / Inez & Charlie Foxx

(1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days / Inez & Charlie Foxx

Listen: (1-2-3-4-5-6-7) Count The Days / Inez & Charlie Foxx

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There’s not a person I play this to who doesn’t, after one spin, decide they need a copy. I was always a bit partial to the poor man’s Ike & Tina Turner, as I’d seen them referred to. They had their biggest love in the UK, like so many before and after would too. But it was seeing them perform on Cleveland’s ‘Upbeat’ show in the 60’s that confirmed my loyalty. UPBEAT was a weekly music program, with a good 6 – 10 acts miming to their latest releases on every episode. I guess the local network cornered all of them as they passed through Cleveland, happy to get any TV exposure. It was syndicated to various cities in the US, including Syracuse hence I got to see it every Sunday. There is a website for the show, and it is particularly boring to navigate – I believe the producer’s son deals with the estate, and basically highlights only the name acts, when the true interest in the show would be the many obscure ones that were on. Hopefully that footage was preserved and will be freed up. There is definitely a goldmine there. So it was May of ‘67 when I saw Inez & Charlie on that very show. We had recently upgraded to a family color TV, so everything was a technicolor dream come true. No bigger one than Inez in a skin tight floor length carnation pink dress playing a matching pink Stratocaster; and brother Charlie off behind her to the left singing and dancing on a very small riser perfectly clad in a matching pink chino suit, black shirt and pink tie. Talk about having your visual together. And this was a song they played. Produced and written by Charlie and Swamp Dogg, they had Gene Pitney cover it a year or so later. As great a singer as Gene definitely was, it was no match for Inez’s delivery. Along with Inez & Charlie Foxx’s ‘Come By Here’, ‘Tightrope’ and ‘Hurt By Love’, it’s a life long favorite.

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Posted in Direction, Dynamo, Gene Pitney, Ike & Tina Turner, Inez & Charlie Foxx, Swamp Dogg, Upbeat | No Comments »