Listen: Good Lovin’ / The Olympics
Good

One of the obscure RnB singles that got Top 40 play on WOLF, the miracle pumping AM radio anomaly transmitting 24/7 in upstate New York from ’64 – ’67. The station is referenced many times on this blog, and introduced endless English bands, as well American RnB acts to it’s teenage listenership. Myself included. Bless whoever was in charge.

‘Good Lovin’ rocked my little red transistor, and always sounded way dirtier being broadcast via a compressed AM signal than off my vinyl pressing at home. The single stalled at #81 nationally, like so many others did when from the wrong side of the tracks. Ironically, these records never seemed to get the BILLBOARD chart moves local airplay implied they should. As a result, The Olympics ‘Good Lovin’ disappeared off the airwaves rather fast and temporarily felt like an anthem never to be.

I picked up my copy in the 39¢ bin at W.T. Grants only weeks after initially hearing it.

Listen: Good Lovin’ / The Young Rascals
Good

Within a year though, the more established Atlantic Records issued The Young Rascals version, a result of band member Gene Cornish allegedly hearing The Olympics’ original and suggesting his band cover it live. Without question, they documented a livelier performance onto vinyl, added some garage rock, and went to #1 on the Hot 100.

Despite The Young Rascals having recorded the wilder, many I say better, version doesn’t take away from The Olympics tempered and understated cool. Both are lifers in this collection, convenient necessities for different occasions.

Listen: I’m The Lover Man / Little Jerry Williams
LittleJerryWilliamsLoverMan.mp3

Every much a writer and a producer as he is an artist, Jerry Williams began a long timeline of releasing 45′s as Little Jerry Williams in ’54. Ten years down the line from there, he recorded ‘I’m The Lover Man’ as a one off for Loma, the Warner Brothers imprint created primarily as an outlet for RnB/Soul and Bob Krasnow, who oversaw the operation.

By ’74, he was Swamp Dogg.

In a recent on-air interview for NPR, Jerry Williams claimed to be raised on country music.

“Black music didn’t start ’til 10 at night ending around 4 in the morning and I was in bed by then. If you strip my tracks, take away all the horns and guitar licks, what you have is a country song.”

In fact, as proof, he even earned a Grammy nomination in ’71, along with Gary US Bonds, for composing the Johnny Paycheck Country Single Of The Year, “She’s All I Got”.

‘I’m The Lover Man’ indeed seems to exemplify the template, while maintaining his signature tongue in cheek lyrics.

Listen: You’re Absolutely Right / The Apollas
ApollasAbsolutely.mp3

For the longest time, I couldn’t quite understand the addictive cult obsession with Northern Soul, and then one day the light went off in my head. I still can’t explain it easily, but I get it. And God, is it addicting. Like when I get into that moment and I really need a proper Northern tune, nothing else suffices.

The inventory of undiscovered Northern necessities is forever high. Undiscovered not meaning unheard of or without some crazy book value but instead, undiscovered in that I don’t have a copy yet. It’s just not enough to actually hear it via a cd comp or on youtube, but to hear it on record, that’s the mainline.

Another official addiction problem this past year in my little world became Loma Records, the Los Angeles based soul label Bob Krasnow headed up for Warner Brothers in the mid 60′s. And there, in the thick of that incredible catalog, sat an aforementioned, or should I say just described, Northern necessity. The Apollas ‘You’re Absolutely Right’, an early Ashford & Simpson co-write with Jo Armstead, formerly one of The Ikettes.

And this devil escaped me for months on eBay, I kept getting outbid by a dollar or two. Until I’d had quite enough and eSniped a crazy high limit price, resulting in this promo pressing beauty turning up last week while on tour with Matt & Kim. Trust me, I rang the house daily inquiring about it’s arrival. All three family members just stopped answering my calls until on Saturday, Lucy phoned with the news that a record had arrived.

I could not get home from JFK fast enough on Sunday.

Here it is, it’s mine. Life is now complete, temporarily that is.

Listen: Where’s The Place / Alton Joseph & The Jokers
AltonJosephWhersThePlace.mp3

Anything with Huey P. Meaux’s name attached should heighten your radar immediately. From what I know, he’s never made a bad record.

The former music director from a one of a kind, progressive 60′s / early 70′s Rochester AM Top 40, WSAY, brought me two massive burlap bags of promo 45′s when the station sadly lost steam in ’79, by then churning out a weak country format to deaf ears. The aged and nasty private owner was selling. Everyone was losing their jobs.

It was a drag, this guy was so distraught and worried, yet clearly wanted to share some decency via the truly unexpected gifts. He knew I had drooled over the thousands of singles locked behind management’s doors, and decided to just say fuck them, grabbing me several hundred. At the time, I was a local promotion rep for MCA, and always took good care of him while most others were dismissive and disinterested. It was a massive surprise when he buzzed me from my apartment building lobby, huge burlap bags in each fist and certainly a most kind repayment.

Impossible to wait, halfway up the stairs, I pulled out a couple. ‘Please Stay’ by The Cryin’ Shames on an orange swirl US London was one, this was the other.

About then, my interest in Loma was beginning to fully form, and anything from the label bugged my eyes. Alton Joseph & The Jokers, produced by Huey P. Meaux, well I couldn’t get upstairs and to my turntable fast enough.

This was April ’79. The thirteen year gap between a Spring ’66 release of ‘Where’s The Place’ and my first listen already created a euphoric walk back into time. Nowadays, it’s a total rocket ship ride to the past, in a good way.

I swear, this was a one take, live in the studio natural for these guys.

Listen: The Other Place / Alton Joseph & The Jokers
The

Never could I find any comprehensive information about Alton Joseph & The Jokers, their lineup or origins. Bob Krasnow, who ran Loma and years later, Elektra during my time there, couldn’t remember many details either, barring an almost complete certainty that they were Texas beer joint locals, and broke musician friends of Heuy P. Meaux on the three boogie woogie sets a night treadmill.

‘The Other Place’ might indeed verify Bob’s instinct, given it’s a penny pinching instrumental of the A side, only shortened a bit and given a slighty different mix.

Magic was made.

Listen: Tell Her I’m Not Home / Ike & Tina Turner
Tell Her I'm Not Home / Ike & Tina Turner

Embarrassing but true, during all the years I worked for Bob Krasnow at Elektra, I did not know of this record, although there were very many Ike & Tina Turner records I did know. In fact, the day Howard brought me in to meet him, essentially to get his blessing before joining the A&R staff, it was an Ike & Tina Turner single that probably helped get me the job.

I’d pretty much fumbled my way through some lop sided answer to his question, inquiring as to why I wanted an A&R job in the first place. Before leaving, I just had to get some details on one of the Ike & Tina Turner records Bob had produced, ‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’ from OUTTA SEASON, with it’s infamous white faced, watermelon eating cover art. It was clearly of great interest to him that I knew such a detail at all, and thus began our real relationship.

A year or so after young and foolishly leaving Elektra for Island, I stumbled on the UK stock copy, pictured above. How could I not buy any single by Ike & Tina Turner that I didn’t own, but as a great bonus, when the producer was Bob?

Easily, ‘Tell Her I’m Not Home’ stands the test of time as one of their finest, with it’s legendary spoken intro, and use of Tchaikovsky’s ’1812 Overture’ riff, beating The Move to it by a good six months. With both occurring before the song even really starts, what’s not to freak over?

I faxed a scan of the label to Bob’s office a week or so later, feeling a bit timid given we hadn’t had contact since I’d left, basically, complimenting him on my new found favorite song intro, to which he scribbled back something quite friendly. It was a nice moment.

Listen: The Damn Busted / Carl Hall
The Damn Busted / Carl Hall

Wikipedia has this to say about Carl Hall:

Carl Hall was an African-American singer, actor, and musical arranger. A member of Raymond Raspberry’s eponymous gospel group The Raspberry Singers, recording on the US Savoy Records label, he performed in theatre for three decades, beginning with Tambourines To Glory in ’63.

Beyond The Raspberry Singers, he recorded later that decade several singles for Mercury Records and cut the now much sought-after tracks, ‘You Don’t Know Nothing About Love’ / ‘Mean It Baby’ (Loma 2086, ’67) and ‘The Dam Busted’ / ‘I Don’t Want To Be Your Used To Be’ (Loma 2098, ’67) for the Warner Brothers subsidiary label, Loma Records, produced by leading producer Jerry Ragovoy. In ’73, he released a single on Columbia called ‘What About You’ (45813 ). Also appeared on Broadway in the stage production of the musical The Wiz among other shows.

The only thing I can add is his vocal delivery on the first lyric of the very first 45 I ever heard by Carl Hall told me everything I needed to know.

Listen: I Just Learned How To Swim / Sly Stewart SlySwim.mp3

This Swim dance craze cash-in is a nice low budget rip off of The Downliners Sect’s ‘Little Egypt’, at least to these ears. Sly Stewart was at the time (1965), a hip San Francisco dj as well as overseeing in house production for the city’s Autumn Reocrds and it’s subsidiary imprints, North Beach and Loma. Seemingly more tied to the Anglo rock and psychedelic scene than RnB or soul, it wouldn’t be long before he turned down his legendary path.

Listen: Scat Swim / Sly Stewart SlyScat.mp3

It’s on the single’s b side, ‘Scat Swim’, where those first indications of the funk leanings that would become Sly & The Family Stone can be heard. Check out the bluesy jazz breakdown about one third of the way in, and that first vocal moment of what would soon become Sly Stone.

Listen: Good Day Sunshine / Roy Redmond RoyRedmondGoodDay.mp3

Listen: That Old Time Feeling / Roy Redmond RoyRedmanThatOldTime.mp3

Part of the Loma Records roster in the mid 60′s, Roy Redmond’s path crossing with Jerry Ragovoy made perfect sense. He’d produced many acts for the label, almost like a house producer, most notably Lorraine Ellison. Warner Brothers, being the imprint’s parent label, obviously decided not to give them their own UK visibilty. To my knowledge, all those US Loma’s came out on WB over there, as with Roy Redmond’s.

Having recently gotten this as part of Tony King’s collection, it was the B side ‘That Old Time Feeling’ that drew me in based on the Ragovoy production. Plus it was co-written by Donnie Fritts, for years Kris Kristofferson’s keyboardist, having learned his craft at Muscle Shoals and with Rick Hall’s Fame Studios.

Until a few days ago, the A side ‘Good Day Sunshine’ was simply a repellant to my interest, being a most cheesy Beatles composition in an already crowded list. With ‘That Old Time Feeling’ being so good, I felt responsible to give it a spin. Wow. I should have trusted Jerry Ragovoy’s work way more. It’s terrific. Amongst the song’s many qualities – it sounds nothing like The Beatles original.