Sweet 7x7" box set of rare Shrine Records northern soul gems out May 31

Ace/Kent's seven 7" box of highly sought-after Shrine Records material "Rare Soul Sides" is due out May 31. 

Shrine Records - Rare Soul Sides: Washington DC 1965-1967

Set up by Eddie Singleton with Berry Gordy’s ex-wife and co-founder of Motown, Raynoma (Miss Ray) in 1964, the Shrine label, based in Washington DC, has been a buzzword for collectors for over fifty years. Shrine had no hits; in fact very few sales at all. What it did have was musical talent and a business plan that ended in glorious failure - inadvertently making the twenty singles that were pressed highly sought after by collectors.

Interest was first stirred when a few of the uptempo numbers were played on the Northern Soul scene of the 70s, notably Eddie Daye’s pounding ‘Guess Who Loves You’ spun by DJ Richard Searling at Wigan Casino. Then young Turk DJs like Keb Darge and Guy Hennigan at Stafford’s Top Of The World all-nighters in the 80s really took up Shrine’s cause and the search for the hidden gems was on. “People were buying the known records on Shrine, but no-one was buying the unknowns,” recalls Darge. Soon, copies of singles by the Cautions, Cairos and Les Chansonettes went “massive” on the scene - J.D. Bryant’s big ballad ‘I Won’t Be Coming Back’ sold for a fortune.

When the label went out of business in 1966, Singleton left the remaining stock in the office, before locking the door for the last time. Years later, after being introduced to Kent Records’ Ady Croasdell by Ian Levine, Eddie retrieved the original masters from the studio. These tapes revealed unissued gems from the Prophets (later to emerge as a 7”), Tippie & the Wisemen, Traci, Jimmy Armstrong and others.

Those first tape reissues came out on the short-lived Horace’s label and later Ace more comprehensively issued them on CD. Other labels intervened but now Shrine is back in its rightful home. To celebrate this, we issued “Shrine Northern - The 60s Rarest Dance Label” Kent LP, KENT 526 last year. We have looked at the tapes again, in greater depth, and found another 14 sides worthy of single releases.

Barbara Long’s great, but elusive, Shrine recording - issued on sister-label Jet Set - deservedly leads off the package and is coupled with the previously CD-only ‘Take It From Me’ by the mysterious Traci – an early tape find. Like Barbara Long, the Epsilons ‘Mind In A Bind’ was issued just after the label folded and sneaked out on Washington’s Hem imprint. It is re-released for the first time as a 7” with their ‘Mad At The World’ debuting as a UK 45. The same scenario applies to the Cautions’ marvellous mid-tempo single ‘Watch Your Step’. We have coupled it with their ever-in-demand ‘No Other Way’; long deleted from its 2009 repress.

Despite Shrine’s reputation for dance tracks, one of the labels most-revered recordings is the beautiful Tippie & The Wisemen ballad ‘Wait Til I Get There’. That previously unissued number came out on the first Horace’s LP in 1990. A decade later Ady Croasdell found the tape of their ‘I Wouldn’t Mind Crying’ in the Universal Studios vaults in Hollywood. This pleased the song’s writer Eddie Singleton who hadn’t heard this particular favourite of his since the recording date. Sidney Hall (of the Enjoyables) cut the impassioned beat ballad ‘I’m A Lover’ as a solo act; it has its first UK 45 release here. We have coupled it with the catchy, raucous groove of the incredibly rare Cavaliers Shrine 45 ‘Do What I Want’. this has improved audio from its previous releases.

The Prophets gorgeous harmony ballad ‘Huh Baby’ gets its first 45 re-release too and we have put a slightly alternate version, found in the tapes, of ‘If I Had One Gold Piece’, the original B side. Finally, another Shrine-recorded Jet Set 45 by Jimmy Armstrong ‘I Won’t Believe It Till I See It’ makes its Kent debut, along with his killer blues ballad ‘It’s Gonna Take Time’ which has never been released before.

Seven new Shrine 45s, complete with an attractively packaged box containing rarely seen photos; soul heaven! – Ady Croasdell

B-Side Wins Again: Claudine Clark

Cheers to Claudine Clark on her birthday. Her tune "Party Lights" was originally issued on the flipside of "Disappointed" in 1962. 

One For The Weekend: Pokey LaFarge

Check out "So Long Chicago" off Pokey LaFarge's new album Rhumba Country out May 10th via New West Records. 

You can pre-order a copy of Pokey's forthcoming album Rhumba Country right here.

Tokyo's TsuShiMaMire & Ichi Bons rock The Rivoli, Friday

TsuShiMaMire play a sold-out show at Rivoli on Friday with Ichi-Bons & Kingdom Of Birds. Check the clips!

Midweek Mixdown: DJ Babs & Derek Westerholm

Celebrating the birthday of DJ Babs with the latest Transmissions From Echo Beach show archived right here.   Photo:Teresinha Costa

Dr John's Atlantic singles comp "Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya" issued by Omnivore

The 26-track Dr. John singles collection Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya – issued as a limited RSD 2LP set – is out on CD April 26.

Here's the scoop...

Dr. John has proven to be one of music’s foremost generalists, a primary-care cat whose practice extends back some 60 years. The awards (six Grammys and counting) and accolades validated the quality of his output, but it’s the range of what he’s done that truly impresses. These Atco and Atlantic sides were clearly the right-place right-time recordings. They put Dr. John on the map and into the ears and minds of music enthusiasts the world over. —excerpt from liner notes by Gene Sculatti

Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr. lived an extraordinary life, from which we all benefitted. His combination of New Orleans R&B, blues, jazz, funk, and rock permeated the musical landscape of the late ’60s and beyond. While quite young, he was influenced by piano players, including Professor Longhair. As a teenage musical prodigy, Mac was a songwriter, arranger, A&R guy, and a producer for Ace Records, running sessions with legendary artists. During the 1960s, as a “first call” Los Angeles studio musician, he honed his chops doing session work for artists including Sonny & Cher, Canned Heat, and Frank Zappa.

Years later, he developed his persona of Dr. John The Night Tripper and his 1968 debut album, Gris Gris, was a phenomenon, attracting fans across the musical spectrum. Its “I Walk On Guilded Splinters” has been covered by The Allman Brothers, Cher, Paul Weller, The Neville Brothers, and was a centerpiece of Humble Pie’s classic Performance Rockin’ The Fillmore.

More singles and albums followed including “Iko Iko” (from Dr. John’s Gumbo) and “Right Place Wrong Time” (which hit #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973.) Both Gris Gris and Gumbo were listed on Rolling Stone’s Top 500 Albums of All Time, and Dr. John performed In The Right Place’s “Such A Night” at The Band’s 1976 farewell concert—immortalized in The Last Waltz. He would go on to win six Grammy awards and in 2011 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by John Legend.

Now, his singles from those early and influential Atco/Atlantic years have been collected on Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya: Singles 1968–1974. 26 sides of pure musical medicine from Dr. John. Available as a 2-LP on double Opaque Purple Vinyl for Record Store Day (CD to follow), the packaging contains liner notes from Gene Sculatti. Featuring the hits “Right Place Wrong Time,” “Iko Iko,” “Such A Night,” and rare single edits of other classics, Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya: Singles 1968–1974 is not only the right place to start your Dr. John journey, but the perfect place to relive the classic Atco/Atlantic albums. 

Get a copy directly from Omnivore Recordings right here. Check the track list below followed by the title track and a collection of Dr. John interview footage.  

Dr. John – Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya: Singles 1968-1974 

GRIS-GRIS GUMBO YA YA Dr. John The Night Tripper

I WALK ON GUILDED SPLINTERS (Part I)* Dr. – John The Night Tripper

I WALK ON GUILDED SPLINTERS (Part II)* – Dr. John The Night Tripper

MAMA ROUX – Dr. John The Night Tripper

JUMP STURDY – Dr. John The Night Tripper

THE PATRIOTIC FLAG WAVER (Mono Short Version)* – Dr. John The Night Tripper

WASH MAMA WASH – Dr. John The Night Tripper

LOOP GAROO – Dr. John The Night Tripper

IKO IKO*

HUEY SMITH MEDLEY: “HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE” “DON’T YOU JUST KNOW IT” “WELL I’LL BE JOHN BROWN”*

WANG DANG DOODLE

BIG CHIEF

A MAN OF MANY WORDS – Buddy Guy with Dr. John & Eric Clapton

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL (Edit)

STACK-A-LEE

RIGHT PLACE WRONG TIME

I’VE BEEN HOODOOD

SUCH A NIGHT

COLD COLD COLD

TRAVELING MOOD

SAME OLD SAME OLD

LIFE

(EVERYBODY WANNA GET RICH) RITE AWAY

MOS’ SCOCIOUS

LET’S MAKE A BETTER WORLD

ME – YOU = LONELINESS

Happy Birthday Joe Henderson!

Remembering tenor saxophone titan Joe Henderson on his birthday with an interview and two performance clips.