Bobby Verne's super rare sax-blastin' rockabilly B-side "Red Hot Car" (on Doc Holiday Records) just got reissued by Ace – thanks to Keb Darge!
Here's the scoop from Ace on their 7" reissue...
The third release on Uprising pairs a late sax driven rockabilly thumper with one of the coolest dance craze records of the mid-60s. ‘Red Hot Car’ was Bobby Verne’s only recording and came out on the tiny Indio, California-based label Doc Holiday in 1962. Judging by the current price and collector demand for an original copy only a small quantity were pressed. This is a powerhouse of a tune that has been filling dance floors across the globe for some time now.
As for the flip, in 1965, Buddy Wayne added self-penned lyrics to Gary Paxton’s rendition of the James Bond theme. Released on the Big Ben label – that only put out four records − it sat unwanted for decades. Then the rockabilly scene picked up on it in a big way when they discovered that it was the perfect stroller. This was closely followed by the northern soul and mod scenes. Today, it is at last crossing over to a more mainstream audience.
By putting both tracks on one 7”, Keb Darge is not only saving collectors hundreds of pounds but introducing this music to a wider audience and a new generation.
Get a reissue copy of Bobby Verne's "Red Hot Car" with Buddy Wayne's "Agent 007 Dance" on the flip directly from Ace Records UK right here. Have a listen to Bobby Verne's original of "Red Hot Car" and Buddy Wayne's tribute to James Bond below.
Ace Records has gathered 19 stellar covers of songs by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan for Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow.
Here's the scoop...
With undeniable cultural gravity, the team of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan join luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Randy Newman, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, Brian Wilson and Laura Nyro in Ace Records’ long-running series of multi-artist compilations celebrating the great American songwriters of the modern era. Hundreds of artists from all walks of music have recorded songs from Waits and Brennan’s matchless catalogue, 19 of the finest of which comprise the hand-picked selection Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow (out May 29th), including many chosen by the songwriters themselves.
Few artists have remapped the terrain of popular music, and culture at large, like Tom Waits. Over the course of five decades, he has forged a singular aesthetic that defies genre and turns the marginal into myth. His work is neither fully inside nor outside the mainstream tradition but moves restlessly between them, drawing from vaudeville, blues, jazz, folk, theatre – and just about anything else that catches his ear – to craft something wholly his own. His influence reverberates not just through the underground and avant-garde, but across theatre, film, literature, and visual art. With his long-time creative partner and wife Kathleen Brennan, he has dismantled and reassembled the idea of song itself, crafting works that exist as both raw expression and high art. This collection honours not only the extraordinary versatility of Waits and Brennan’s songwriting, but the importance of an artist who continues to haunt and inspire from the edges inward.
Ace’s selection is sequenced chronologically by song, opening with Bruce Springsteen’s live recording of ‘Jersey Girl’, Waits’ ode to Brennan from 1980’s Heartattack And Vine, and closing with folk matriarch Joan Baez’s version of Waits and Brennan’s anti-war ‘Day After Tomorrow’ from Waits’ more recent Real Gone. “All the great things that came out of New Jersey don’t hold a candle to Kathleen Brennan, at least not in Tom’s eyes,” Bob Dylan said on his Theme Time Radio Hour show. “She rescued me,” reflected Waits in an interview for The Guardian. “Maybe I rescued her too, that’s often how it works. Upshot is that we both got into the same leaky boat. Everybody knows she’s the brains behind Pa, as Dylan might have said. I’m just the figurehead. She’s the one who’s steering the ship.”
In addition to “steering the ship”, Brennan became Waits’ songwriting partner. The couple’s first-released joint composition, ‘Hang Down Your Head’ from Rain Dogs, is heard here in a raunchy rendition by country-blues heroine Lucinda Williams. Elsewhere, performers from the worlds of jazz, blues, gospel, soul and rock put their own stamps on great songs with which Waits devotees will be familiar on Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Franks Wild Years, Big Time, Bone Machine, Mule Variations, Real Gone and Orphans. Pride of place – because it’s a particular favourite of Waits and proved incredibly challenging to license – goes to the heart-wrenching recording of ‘Down There By The Train’ from Johnny Cash’s late-life masterpiece American Recordings.
Made with the blessing, approval and involvement of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow is an essential collection for any fan of this remarkable artist’s unique work.
Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow:
Words & Music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
1. JERSEY GIRL - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND
2. 16 SHELLS FROM A THIRTY-OUGHT-SIX - BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND
3. GIN-SOAKED BOY - SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES
4. JOCKEY FULL OF BOURBON - LOS LOBOS
5. HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD - LUCINDA WILLIAMS
6. TEMPTATION - DIANA KRALL
7. YESTERDAY IS HERE - BETTYE LAVETTE
8. WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE - THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
9. STRANGE WEATHER - MARIANNE FAITHFULL
10. I DON'T WANNA GROW UP - RAMONES
11. DOWN THERE BY THE TRAIN - JOHNNY CASH
12. HOUSE WHERE NOBODY LIVES - KING ERNEST
13. PICTURE IN A FRAME - WILLIE NELSON
14. HOLD ON - MADISON CUNNINGHAM
15. THE LONG WAY HOME - NORAH JONES
16. 2:19 - JOHN HAMMOND
17. DIAMOND IN YOUR MIND - SOLOMON BURKE
18. TRAMPLED ROSE - ALISON KRAUSS / ROBERT PLANT
19. DAY AFTER TOMORROW - JOAN BAEZ
Get a copy of Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow directly from Ace Records right here. Check out a few alternate performances by some of the artists included.
Championed by Paul Weller and Snowboy, Jon Lucien's 1969 recording session is being released as "Search For The Inner Self."
Here's the scoop from Mark "Snowboy" Cotgrove...
"This work of beauty is finally out after nearly 60 years.
"I was fortunate to have played a series of concerts at the Jazz Café with the incredible Jon Lucien in 1995. I could hardly believe my luck. There’s no bigger fan of Jon than me. Along with his manager and the famous drummer, Kim Plainfield, was Jon’s wonderful wife, Delesa. We bonded immediately. And with Jon, Kim and Nik Cohen on bass we had 3 or 4 incredible days playing music. I still have a fantastic recording of one of those shows.
"That week Jon gave me an unreleased album on cassette from 1969 and asked if I could try and get it released somehow. It was a beautiful folky kind of album, quite unlike his later albums, but typical of his early singles. However there was a potentially huge Soul bomb on there called ‘We Got Love’ of which I immediately cut on to acetate and played out everywhere these past 31 years (an anthem at my beloved ‘Good Foot’ residency). As promised, I tried all the Soul labels in the UK but to no interest.
"The next time I saw Jon a year or two later out of frustration he’d manufactured 100 himself on CD to sell at gigs.
"Anyway, I remained friends with Jon and Delesa until we lost them both. They were both wonderful, kind, warm and genuine people and I’m so proud to have known them.
"Funnily enough Jon told me once that he used to always take my current cd then to any house parties they went to, to get the party going! What a sweet thing to do.
"Here we are 31 years later and this beautiful album is finally out. I had considered releasing it myself in the past, but at last it’s found it’s perfect home now on the right label, ACE.
"Well done to Ady Croasdell and team on such an incredible job."
Jon Lucien – Search For The Inner Self
Jon Lucien’s ‘Search For The Inner Self’ was one of the highlights of Paul Weller’s recently complied Ace CD “That Sweet, Sweet Music”. When also issuing it as a single, we included ‘We Got Love’, a track from his self-financed CD “Precious Is Love”, which proved to be as feted a choice as the top side.
Due to this and further encouragement from soul fans, DJs and the Lucien family, we licensed the rest of the Beau Ray Fleming produced 1969 recordings for LP and CD reissue. Here is the very start of Lucien’s songwriting creativity − ‘Precious Is My Love’, ‘A Heart In Love’, ‘Flower Garden’ and ‘The Season Of Spring’ are accomplished and captivating creations, equal to his later much-admired work.
The choice of cover songs was inspired. ‘Strawberries Don't Know Cherries’ was an unknown song that had yet to be covered, the reading of Barry and Robin Gibb’s ‘To Love Somebody’ is exemplary and the out-of-left-field ‘Only An Illusion’ is a number perfect for Lucien’s mystical approach to soul. Producer Fleming contributed ‘It’s Bigger Than I’ the previously undigitized flip to the ‘Search For The Inner Self’ 45, as well as the catchy dancer ‘We Got Love’, that DJ Snowboy has championed for years.
When Jon Lucien released the original CD in 1999, he only made about 100 copies; demand has rocketed for it ever since. It was never on vinyl originally. We have commissioned sleeve notes from acclaimed US scribe Kevin Goins to enhance the packaging of both formats.
Get a copy of Jon Lucien's "Search For The Inner Self" album via Ace Records UK right here. Listen to the title track "Search For The Inner Self" and "We Got Love" below.
The boffo 20-track Charles Stepney comp Eternal Journey – put together by Dean Rudland – has been in the works since 2017.
Here's the scoop...
"Eternal Journey – The Arrangements And Productions Of Charles Stepney" a compilation we started work on back in 2017 will finally be released tomorrow (Friday, March 5). One not to miss, particularly for fans of Terry Callier, Rotary Connection, The Dells, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ramsey Lewis, Phil Upchurch, Marlena Shaw and Buddy Guy!
Charles Stepney gained worldwide success as the producer for Earth Wind & Fire and Deniece Williams but the producer and arranger’s earlier work at Chess is now regarded as some of the most original ever laid to tape, and in the past 20 years has become a primary influence on scores of producers and arrangers, with his records being sought after by DJs and collectors. Despite a couple of attempts, his most important work has never been compiled on one volume until now. This compilation gathers up his most famous productions for the likes of Rotary Connection - and their singer Minnie Riperton, Ramsey Lewis, Terry Callier, Marlena Shaw and the Dells.
An influence on everyone from Masters At Work to Radiohead, Charles Stepney’s production for the Chess labels captured the spirit of the era by mixing soul, jazz, electronics, composed music and a touch of psychedelia, all arranged brilliantly and produced to an incredibly high standard. Shockingly there has never been a compilation dedicated to this area of his work, something that we are rectifying with “Eternal Journey.”
Stepney was a jobbing arranger when Marshall Chess recruited him to co-produce his new project Rotary Connection, which allowed him to realise his symphonic productions. With the success of their debut album, Stepney was recruited to work on many of the labels most important artists including Ramsey Lewis, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and The Dells. He also took on his own projects working with Phil Upchurch, Terry Callier and others.
Beautifully remastered and housed in a sleeve based on a 1960s Rotary Connection Billboard Magazine advert, this is 16 tracks of Chicago brilliance. Compilation producer Dean Rudland has told the story of Stepney's emergence through his most dazzling work and also their building blocks in the day to day arrangements from R&B and soul stars such as Little Milton and Buddy Guy. His in depth sleeve note includes interview with many of those who worked with Stepney including the author's conversations with both Terry Callier and Marshall Chess.
Get a copy of "Eternal Journey" directly from Ace/BGP UK right here. Check out the tracklisting followed by a few audio clips below.
Eternal Journey – The Arrangements and Productions of Charles Stepney
1. DEAR PRUDENCE - RAMSEY LEWIS
2. LES FLEUR - MINNIE RIPERTON
3. IT'S ALL UP TO YOU - THE DELLS
4. BY THE TIME I GET TO PHOENIX - BILLY STEWART
5. STAND UP AND BE COUNTED - MEDITATION SINGERS
6. LOVE HAS FALLEN ON ME - THE NEW ROTARY CONNECTION
7. WHAT COLOR IS LOVE - TERRY CALLIER
8. BROTHER WHERE ARE YOU - MARLENA SHAW
9. MORE AND MORE - LITTLE MILTON
10. ETERNAL JOURNEY - RAMSEY LEWIS
11. CALIFORNIA SOUL - MARLENA SHAW
12. CAN'T CATCH THE TRANE - TERRY CALLIER
13. THE LOVE WE HAD (STAYS ON MY MIND) - THE DELLS
14. TEACH ME HOW TO FLY - ROTARY CONNECTION
15. MORE AND MORE - PHIL UPCHURCH
16. I'M HIGH AGAIN - BO DIDDLEY
17. LET'S SPEND THE NIGHT TOGETHER - MUDDY WATERS
18. SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING (1969 version) - HOWLIN' WOLF
The 10 funky soul tracks on Ronnie McNeir's Makes A Move album were found in Mickey Stevenson's vault
Here's the scoop from ACE Records UK...
The tapes for “Ronnie McNeir Makes A Move” were found in Mickey Stevenson’s extensive master tape collection. A full new LP of classic McNeir is an absolute treat for his many soul fans; particularly in Europe where he is so admired.
Ronnie recorded over twenty tracks with Mickey Stevenson’s production company in 1971. Eleven of these were featured on his RCA LP “Ronnie McNeir”, but another ten were left in the vaults.
The title track, ‘Let’s Make A Move’ is an urgent, exciting funk sound, composed with Ronnie’s frequent writing partner, Andre Moore. ‘I’m Sorry’ is an earlier version of ‘Gone Away’ which featured on the 1972 RCA “Ronnie McNeir” LP, without the female singer’s vocal response track.
‘Say You’ is the Motown song first recorded by the Monitors in 1965. It has a more laid-back treatment here, giving it a whole new dimension. We issued the single version on a Kent Select 45 in 2022; both versions are featured on the CD. Another re-envisaged Motown number is ‘The Girl’s Alright With Me’ which features Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford’s backing vocals − as do other tracks on this album. Surprisingly, Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing In The Wind’ is also covered; in a pleasing, jaunty treatment.
‘My Day Will Come’ is a slow-burning number Ronnie co-wrote with his wife Mona. It is one he is particularly proud of and has been picked up by moderns soul DJs as a potential crossover hit. ‘Tell Your Mama’ is a sensuous, Marvin Gaye-influenced groove, while ‘East Side, West Side’ is more streetwise, dealing with the social problems that face many young people.
As a multi-instrumentalist, heavily influenced by jazz, it comes as no surprise that Ronnie would record two jazz / soul instrumental jams which he simply named ‘Ronnie’s Bag #1’ and ‘Ronnie’s Bag #2’. The tracks are keyboard-lead, piano and possibly organ – or more likely one of the early synthesisers that Ronnie pioneered. ‘Ronnie’s Bag #1’ is more jazz-oriented, while ‘Ronnie’s Bag #2’ goes funky.
The CD comes with new publicity photos and a career overview from David Cole as featured in the In The Basement magazine. Get a copy directly from ACE Records UK right here.
Check out "Let's Make A Move" followed by a Soul Train performance of "Sagittarian Affair" off his self-titled 1975 album for the Detroit-based Prodigal Records founded by former Motown sales exec Barney Ales. Motown bought Prodigal in 1976 but wisely kept Ales running it.
Dean Rudland holds the upgraded 50th anniversary reissue of Lonnie Liston Smith's expansions and Eddie Piller has the tape.
Writes Ace Records' Dean Rudland...
It's taken nearly a year from tapes in hand to the realization of this very special 50th Anniversary Edition of one of the most influential jazz albums of the 1970s: Lonnie Liston Smith's "Expansions."
Recorded in late 1974 and released in March the following year, this album was the full realisation of Lonnie's cosmic spiritual music - and in its title track combined all Lonnie's knowledge til that date, picked up during tenures with Roland Kirk, Gato Barbieri, Miles Davis and as a founder member of the groundbreaking Pharaoh Sanders group of the late 60s.
The title track obviously became a foundation tune in UK clubland, and influenced producers around the world - which is carefully examined in the sleeve notes that Frank Tope has written for the inner sleeve.
Of course the whole album is astounding, and it may never have sounded better than with this Frank Merritt all analogue cut edition, which is housed in a glorious gatefold tip on sleeve, which we like to think reflects its importance.
This continues my work with Ace Records on the Flying Dutchman catalogue and this will be released through their BGP label on Friday (March 28).
The pics show Eddie Piller guarding the master tapes for me at The Nellie Dean Pub in Dean Street and then me with the finished article.
Get a copy of the 50th anniversary AAA edition of Lonnie Liston Smith's jazz funk classic Expansions album directly from Ace Records right here. Listen to a digital version of the title track below.
Paul Weller's selection of his fave soul records includes Jon Lucien's hard-to-find Ampex 45 and Archie Turner's Blackrock gem.
Here's the scoop...
Soul music has always been in Paul Weller’s blood from early Jam covers of Martha & the Vandellas 1963 classic ‘Heatwave’. Along with other forms of music, soul found its way into Paul’s record collection, nourishing his ears and informing his own songwriting.
We don’t need to recap a questing musical career from the Jam to the Style Council which then blossomed into one of the most productive and revered careers of any UK solo artist. Paul has written anthems, standards and a songbook that have always developed from his own feelings.
Whilst Paul has talked about his love of soul music he has, before now, simply been too busy to sit down and curate a collection of his favourite tracks and get it into the record racks.
Ace Records are honoured and delighted to finally release that Paul Weller curated collection which he has aptly titled, “That Sweet Sweet Music”.
This limited edition 2-LP set and CD open the curtains on 26 tracks that are some of Paul’s favourite soul records most of which nestle on vinyl in his own collection. He can still recall paying £70 for his copy of Jon Lucien’s 1971 ‘Search For The Inner Self’ 7” at a record shop in Leicester in the 90s. Some of these tracks are soul classics like James Carr’s 1966 ‘Pouring Water On A Drowning Man’ and Brother to Brother's brilliant take on Gil Scott Heron and Brian Jackson’s ‘In The Bottle’ from 1975. Others are deliciously obscure gems like the A-side of Blackrock’s sole 1971 single 'Blackrock “Yeah, Yeah,” ‘Life Walked Out’ from the same year by The Mist or Syl Johnson’s ‘Black Balloons’ taken from his 1970 album “Is It Because I’m Black?”.
There are plenty of big vocal hitters such as Darrell Banks, Spinners, Joe Simon, O.C. Smith, the Dells and Betty Davis. Whilst the core is vocal soul the music does branch out with Paul selecting a wicked instrumental from the flipside of the Isley Brothers’ ‘Twist & Shout’ from 1962 and the funky jazz of the Headhunters ‘God Made Me Funky’, the A-side of their first 1975 seven-inch.
Paul has not only written an introduction but the way he has curated the music allows each side of the vinyl and the CD to flow like a river taking the listener on a journey through some of his favourite music.
You can pre-order a copy of That Sweet Sweet Music via Ace Records UK right here. Check out the track list, Paul Weller's liner notes and a few tunes below.
The Goldwax 7x7' singles box Memphis Soul Rarities 1964-1969 is due from Ace on November 29. Check the tracklist below.
Here's the scoop from Ace Records...
The renowned Memphis 60s soul label Goldwax was a medium-sized operation with just short of a hundred releases. Though it ran a tight ship, inevitably some of their recordings fell by the wayside.
The label is revered by fans of the classic age of soul music around the world. In the late 70s the Japanese Vivid Sound label contacted Goldwax owner, Quinton Claunch and accessed his tapes. They found a dozen excellent, previously unheard, tracks and issued them, along with Goldwax favourites on a short series of LPs in 1977. In 2000 Ace Records purchased the label from Claunch and his partners gaining full ownership of the tapes, which lead to more musical discoveries.
Dan Greer and George Jackson appear as George & Greer.
Our releases on Ace and Kent over the past twenty plus years have seen most of these recordings featured, primarily on CD - the medium of the early years of the 21st century. More recently the renewed demand for vinyl has led to new 12” compilations and to augment those we have come up with a neat, boxed collection of seven singles that will appeal to the soul collectors who live for this format.
Of the 14 tracks, only three have been singles before - the sublime harmony vocals of the Vel-Tones and the Lyrics with their mid-60s Goldwax releases and Barbara Perry’s R&B explosion ‘A Man Is A Mean Thing’ first released on Kent but now long gone and craved for.
Goldwax’s star James Carr kicks us off with ‘Your Love Made A U-Turn,’ a funk groove from 1969. This would surely have prolonged his and the label’s lifespans had it been issued at the time. Our flip however would have needed to be an underground hit; it is doubtful that any radio station would have entertained such smutty lyrics in the 60s. Connoisseurs of the mid-60s Detroit soul sound will be thrilled to have the Ovations ‘I Miss You’ on a 45 at last; it really has all the ingredients of a Motor City classic. ‘What Did I Do Wrong’ makes a great stomping B side - complete with virtuoso harmonica.
The label was known for its gritty southern sound, so ‘To Me It’s Storming’ is an atypical, softly melodic, mid-tempo song sung by, but oddly not penned by, George Jackson and Dan Greer. George does get to sing his own, tougher, composition ‘Let The Best Man Win’ on the flip. Apart from her aforementioned New Breed classic, Barbara Perry’s 45 features the charming, country-soul beat ballad ‘Welcome Home Baby’, which is a real grower.
We do have one exclusive debutant with Willie Walker’s original take on the Homer Banks written ‘Lucky Loser’. This version is in the classic Goldwax southern sound and groove, recorded two years before his funked-up version was released on Chess. James Carr’s rendition of this song was recorded at the same session but did not have the splendid brass section Willie’s boasts. The flip is a southern rave-up from Chicagoan Lee “Shot” Williams who regularly visited Memphis and was given a two-song contract and recording session which didn’t earn a release until we belatedly found the tape.
The Lyrics/Vel-Tones original releases make up our sixth disc. The “ender” is a dramatic big city-style ballad from Phillip & The Faithfuls, which was clearly inspired by the Righteous Brothers. It is coupled with a beguiling oddity from an unknown artist. ‘It’s Really Alright’ is as catchy as they come and despite its limited orchestration makes a wonderful 45 and a mystery to be solved.
You can pre-order a copy directly from Ace Records right here.
Bob Stanley has collected a number of futuristic gems from the vaults of De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell.
Here's the scoop...
Nothing said new or modern or futuristic quite like a synthesiser in the 70s and 80s. If you were shooting an advert and you wanted your product or your company to appear forward-thinking and ahead of the game, then you would want something electronic, something out of the ordinary. When TV producers and advertising directors started searching for music that sounded like “Tubular Bells” – and then Tomita, and later Jean Michel Jarre – music libraries such De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell had to have the tracks readily available.
Compiled by Bob Stanley, “Tomorrow’s Fashions” varies from advertising jingles and TV themes to space exploration and gorgeous, beatless ambience. Though it’s 40-to-50 years old there’s a real freshness to this music. Older jazz players Brian Bennett, John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw and others seized the chance to operate a synth; younger pups including John Saunders and Monica Beale were simply intrigued by the new technology being wheeled into the studios. There’s a tangible sense of adventure.
“Tomorrow’s Fashions’” brand of electronica anticipated new age and ambient music. It also had both a direct and indirect influence on pop – the early Human League and the future sounds of Warp Records are all over this collection. Electronic library tracks have been sampled by everyone from MF Doom to Kendrick Lamar.
One person’s primitive and experimental is another person’s space-age lullaby. This was music made in the shadows – in Soho’s secretive music library studios – that has now become desirable and influential. The chances are chunks of it will be sampled and used on hit records that have yet to be written. If the musicians’ aim was to soundtrack tomorrow’s fashions, they couldn’t have got it more right.
Get a double LP copy of Tomorrow's Fashions: Library Electronica 1972-1987 directly from Ace Records right here. Check the tracklisting along with a few audio clips below. Listen to an Ace Records podcast chat with Bob Stanley discussing Tomorrow's Fashions right here.
Jon Savage's new digital retrospective, The Art Of Things To Come covers 1980-82 and mercifully avoids much of the chart dross.
Here's the scoop from Ace Records HQ...
With the new collection 1980-1982 The Art Of Things To Come, Ace Records continues Jon Savage’s highly respected year-by-year series documenting the music scene on a world stage, which began with a volume based on his successful 1966 book for Faber.
A genre-spanning two-disc array of pivotal singles, extended mixes, context-providers, scene-stealers and lost gems from disco, b-boy, new wave, rap, indie and synth: these are the decks that defined the dawn of the 80s, captured the mood and crystallized Jon’s personal experiences of these years. Artists include the Associates, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, the Human League, Grace Jones, New Order, Yello, the Peech Boys and Zapp.
Living in Manchester, working for Granada TV in tandem with Tony Wilson and spinning discs at Joy Division and New Order gigs, this was a time where clubs were key for Jon. It’s no surprise that this is the first volume where 12-inch singles make their mark in the series.
The 80s began with Thatcher in power, the rise of the New Right in America and the death of Ian Curtis, but by 1982 the world was travelling out of post-punk darkness into the light of a bright new decade. It was beginning of the art of things to come. Get a copy from Ace right here. Check out the track list below.
For some reason, Funkadelic's classic whumper "Funky Dollar Bill" was originally issued as a B-side back in 1971.
Ace is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Funkadelic's "Funky Dollar Bill" original release with a reissue of the 7-inch single.
Here's the scoop from Ace Records...
To mark the 50th anniversary of its first release, a 7-inch vinyl reissue of the George Clinton crew’s gloriously insane funk rock song – the original single version, now with previously unheard B-side.
Originally the flip of ‘You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks’ from April 1971, this is funk rock at its finest. It first appeared in a different version on the “Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow” LP, but here we have the single version. And on the B-side of this release, we debut a previously unheard backing track.
With lyrics by Ray Davis allegedly written about his bandmates fried on drugs, and the need for those dollar bills for that and indeed a whole list of things that the mighty dollar buys, the song condemns the malign influence that it brings to bear on life. Billy Nelson rips through the vocal as apparently the most ripped member of the band.
Underpinning the whole thing is Eddie Hazel’s wah-wah wild guitar and Tawl Ross’ answering riff that echoes Led Zeppelin’s ‘Whole Lotta Love’ as much as that song echoed the Small Faces’ ‘You Need Loving’, itself fairly closely related to Willie Dixon’s ‘You Need Love’, as performed by Muddy Waters, and so the vernacular tradition goes on.
Indeed, said vernacular tradition is thoroughly reworked in Bernie Worrell’s deconstruction of barrelhouse piano with the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. Bernie had just joined the band, but was obviously a fast learner. The backing track displays the full insanity of this gloriously insane song.
Get a copy of the reissue directly from Ace Records right here.
Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities, Vol. 7 – due February 26th – boasts loads of unheard and lesser known gems from the vaults.
Here's the scoop...
This latest episode of the high-quality end of the Northern Soul world is as varied as the scene has become, featuring manic funk, Detroit grooves, doo wop-inspired ballads, neo-Motown and pure soul stompers.
Los Angeles features strongly throughout. As a taster of the pleasures to come over the next couple of years, the opening tracks by ex-Motowners Carolyn Crawford and Kim Weston, along with the Joe Buckner & Major IV number, are from Mickey Stevenson’s late 60s Los Angeles operation; and the Lovers’ acetate-only ‘She’s Supreme’ and John Wesley & the Four Tees’ stomping version of the Williams & Watson LP track ‘Love Is Such A Funny Thing’ were recorded under the aegis of the city’s great arranger Arthur Wright.
Researching the tape vaults during lockdown has proved fruitful. The first version of Claude Huey’s ‘Why Would You Blow It’ by the unknown Isaiah Smith was discovered among the Galaxy tapes, as was the Brothers Of Soul’s ‘I Need Your Love’ – any previously unheard track by this redoubtable outfit is big soul news. I had originally thought that Buck Ram’s group Two Cats & A Mouse would be 50s sounding, like most of his acts, but ‘Love In My Heart’ proved to be a classy cover of the Oracles’ 1967 rarity on OM.
Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds
From Milwaukee, the Badger State, we have two little-known 1963 recordings from the Cuca label. ‘You Don’t Care’ by the Esquires (aka Betty Moorer’s brothers’ group the Ambassadors) first appeared on “Badger A-Go-Go”, a compilation album issued on Cuca’s Night Owl subsidiary in 1968, while Harvey (Scales) & Seven Sounds’ beat ballad ‘It’s Midnight’ was finally made available as a download-only in 2020.
Jack Ashford’s influence is also strong. ‘Crazy Things’ by the unknown Joe Douglas, one of Jack’s earliest productions, was cut in Philly with a Motor City backing track. Jack’s Pied Piper set-up produced the Hesitations’ ‘Soul Kind Of Love’, the second 45 from their superlative “Soul Superman” LP, and his later work with Detroiters Lorraine Chandler and George Rountree is represented by Philly singer Ray Gant’s update of Eddie Parker’s ‘I Need A True Love’, and the Family Brick’s vocal group version of ‘I’ll Fly To Your Open Arms’, which Jack sang on his “Hotel Sheets” LP.
Other soul legends include Major Lance with ‘Girl, Come On Home’ (the original flip of ‘Since I Lost My Baby’s Love’) and the Exits’ ‘Under The Street Lamp’, which epitomised the aspirations of black street corner vocal groups. Joe Hicks’ ‘Don’t It Make You Feel Funky’ is adrenalin-driven soul, adored by the Northern Soul crowd. Rocky Gil’s ‘It’s Not The End’ and Little Nicky Soul’s ‘You Said’ are both mega-money items, but the rarest and most-desired track has to be ‘The Intruder’ by Melvin Hicks & the Versatiles, which was thought to exist only on acetate but is actually a missing number on a collectible soul label – all will be revealed. – ADY CROASDELL
Pre-order a copy of the CD right here. Listen to the uptempo Joe Hicks banger "Don't It Make You Feel Funky" and Little Nicky Soul's "You Said" arranged by Richard Tee and the Jack Ashford & Mike Terry-penned "Crazy Things" by the little known Joe Douglas.
Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities, Vol. 7
01 Ready Or Not Here Comes Love - Carolyn Crawford
02 It Takes A Lotta Teardrops - Kim Weston
03 The Intruder - Melvin Hicks & The Versatiles
04 She's Supreme - The Lovers
05 Why Would You Blow It - Isaiah Smith
06 It's Not The End - Rocky Gil & The Bishops
07 It's Midnight - Harvey Scales & The Seven Sounds
08 You Said - Little Nicky Soul
09 You Don't Care - The Esquires
10 I Need Your Love - Brothers Of Soul
11 I Wish I Knew - Joe Buckner & Major IV
12 I'll Fly To Your Open Arms - The Family Brick
13 I Need A True Love - Ray Gant & The Arabian Knights
14 Don't It Make You Feel Funky - Joe Hicks
15 Love Is Such A Funny Thing - John Wesley & The Four Tees
16 Soul Kind Of Love - The Hesitations
17 Crazy Things - Joe Douglas
18 Love In My Heart - Cats 'n' Mouse
19 Farewell Goodbye My Love (Edit) - The Performers
Ace vault sleuth Alec Palao turned up the original Zakary Thaks tapes for the 22-track It's The End comp.
Although our hometown Corpus Christi is somewhat isolated on the Texas coast, in the 1960s it had a very active local music scene, which turned out to be the proving ground for the Zakary Thaks to develop a unique style and sound. From the outset, we were hell-bent on growing a reputation of being one of the rowdiest yet tightest bands around.
It’s hard to imagine it has been almost 50 years since the nucleus of the Zakary Thaks was formed. What is equally notable is in that time we have seen over a half-dozen compilations of our vintage recordings. Still, there were a number of tracks which had never been sourced from the original master tapes. When we briefly reunited in 2005 and found ourselves back in Sugarhill Studios in Houston, chief engineer Andy Bradley played us a song we had totally forgotten about recording – ‘A Passage To India’. We were shocked!
Even more exciting was the news Alec Palao had unearthed several more lost Thaks masters, in addition to those missing tape reels. With their discovery, Alec felt the time had come to put out a definitive anthology of our material – and we couldn’t agree more! It feels as though new life has been breathed into our songs, now that they’ve been professionally presented from the original sources.
We have never been more proud than with the release of this collection. The new discoveries, the title track, "It’s The End" along with "She’s Got You," have elevated the Thaks brand to the next level, and hopefully cemented our legacy in the annals of garage rock. The Zakary Thaks raison d’etre was and always will be making unabashed yet well-executed music. And now finally, Ace Records has captured that.
Chris Gerniottis, Zakary Thaks vocalist and founding member
Zakary Thaks - It's The End: The Definitive Collection (Big Beat)
1. She's Got You
2. Bad Girl
3. Face To Face
4. Won't Come Back
5. It's The End
6. I Need You
7. Please
8. A Passage To India
9. Mirror Of Yesterday
10. My Door
11. Can You Hear Your Daddy's Footprints
12. Green Crystal Ties
13. Outprint
14. Weekday Blues
15. Everybody Wants To Be Somebody
16. Face To Face (Alternate Version Take 12)
17. Please (Alternate Stereo Mix)
18. Mirror Of Yesterday (Alternate Stereo Mix)
19. Can You Hear Your Daddy's Footprints (Alternate Stereo Version)
20. I'd Only Laugh (Alternate Version)
21. People Sec. IV
22. Gotta Make My Heart Turn Away
