"This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – Compilation Featuring Artists on Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman Records Label including Gil Scott-Heron, Leon Thomas, Bob Thiele Emergency, Cesar, Esther Marrow, Lonnie Liston Smith, Gato Barbieri, Ornette Coleman, Oliver Nelson, Harold Alexander, Bernard Pretty Purdie and Steve Allen – Guest Musicians include Brian Jackson, Ron Carter, Hubert Laws, Pee Wee Ellis, Little Rock, Joe Farrell, Tom Scott, Stanley Clarke, Airto Moreira, Willie Bobo and more (31 March 2023 UK Ace/Beat Goes Public (BGP) 16-Track Compilation with Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B0BSVDQRK1&asins=B0BSVDQRK1&linkId=f7eb49e12011244c3efc9fa0a747fde3&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Expansions..."

 

Delayed from February 2023 to the last day in March 2023 – you only have to look at the track list to "This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975" as a 16-song compilation and you can understand why Ace of the UK have also released it as a 2LP BLACK VINYL set (Ace/Beat Goes Public BGP2 314 - Barcode 029667013611).

 

Link to the VINYL Version

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B0BSVDKD6L&asins=B0BSVDKD6L&linkId=75fcb1e338436d98b8a49361d5bbfd0e&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

This is the kind of Jazz, Fusion, Latin, Jazz Funk and Political Soul mash up covering 1969 to 1975 that chappies of my expanded vintage love. The names alone - Gil Scott-Heron, Leon Thomas, Lonnie Liston Smith, Ornette Coleman and Gato Barbieri – with guests like guitarist Brian Jackson, Saxophonists Tom Scott and Pee Wee Ellis, Hubert Laws and Joe Farrell on Flute, Ron Carter on Bass and loads more. There is mucho to discuss, so let us go flying and make it Dutch. Here are the details...

 

UK released Friday, 31 March 2023 (delayed from 24 February 2023) - "This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 314 (Barcode 029667103329) is a 16-Track CD Compilation of Remasters that plays out as follows (72:51 minutes):

 

1. The Revolution Wil Not Be Televised – GIL SCOTT-HERON (from the December 1971 US Album "Pieces Of A Man" on Flying Dutchman Records FD 10143)

2. Just In Time To See The Sun – LEON THOMAS (from the December 1973 US Album "Full Circle" on Flying Dutchman Records FD 10167)

3. Head Start – BOB THIELE EMERGENCY (from the 1969 US 2LP-set "Head Start" on Flying Dutchman Records FDS-104 in Stereo)

4. See Saw Affair – CESAR (from the November 1975 US Album "Cesar 830" on Flying Dutchman Records BDL1-0830)

5. Peaceful Man – ESTHER MARROW (from the 1969 US Album "Newport News, Virginia" on Flying Dutchman Records FDS-113 in Stereo)

6. Expansions – LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (from the May 1975 US Album "Expansions" on Flying Dutchman Records BDL1-0934)

7. Bolivia – GATO BARBIERI (from the 1974 album "Bolivia" on Flying Dutchman Records FD 10158)

8. Friends And Neighbours – ORNETTE COLEMAN (from the 1970 US Album "Friends And Neighbours" on Flying Dutchman FDS 123 in Stereo)

9. 125^th St & 7^th Ave – OLIVER NELSON (from the 1975 US Album "Skull Session" on Flying Dutchman Records BDL1-0825)

10. Mama Soul – HAROLD ALEXANDER (from the 1971 US Album "Sunshine Man" on Flying Dutchman Records FD 10145)

11. Heavy Soul Slinger – PRETTY PURDIE (from the 1972 US Album "Soul Is..." on Flying Dutchman Records FD 10154)

12. Soulful Strut – STEVE ALLEN (from the 1969 US Album "Soul Brass No.2" on Flying Dutchman FDS 101 in Stereo)

13. Whitey On The Moon – GIL SCOTT HERON (from the 1970 US Album "Small Talk At 125^th And Lenox" on Flying Dutchman FDS 131)

14. Lament For John Coltrane (Take 1) – BOB THIELE EMERGENCY (Previously Unreleased outtake recorded 29 April 1969 during the album sessions for the "Head Start" 2LP set released in 1969. Take 1 first issued on the April 2013 UK CD Compilation "Liberation Music: Spiritual Jazz And The Art Of Protest on Flying Dutchman Records 1969-1974" on Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPD 259 – Barcode 029667525923)

15. Peaceful Ones – LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (from the 1974 US Album "Cosmic Funk" on Flying Dutchman Records BDL1-0591)

16. Echoes – LEON THOMAS (from the 1969 US Album "Spirits Known And Unknown" on Flying Dutchman Records FDS-115)

 

The 20-page colour booklet has new liner notes from Genre-Lover and long-time associate with Ace Records – DEAN RUDLAND – and he (quite rightly) sings the praises of Jazz Musician and Producer BOB THIELE who formed Flying Dutchman Records – a label he hoped would expand the Jazz Genre into all manner of different areas. With artists like Gil Scott-Heron and Lonnie Liston Smith – two heroes for many lovers of music that entwines Soul and Jazz into something new yet still accessible – you could call a lot of the FD output as Spiritual Jazz, Protest Soul with a few dollops of spoken word and Be-Bop Poetry thrown in.

 

Rudland tackles his notes by giving you the profile on each artist and the couple of tunes the compilation affords them. Black and White publicity photos, live period shots and album covers abound. A very clever discography touch is that each track lists all the musicians when it could have taken the lazy way out – guest names included too. So we see that a virtual who's-who went through the FD studios doors - including guitarists Brian Jackson, Burt Jones and John Abercrombie, Bassists Richard Davis and Charlie Haden, flautists Hubert Laws and Joe Farrell, Soprano Saxophonist Pee Wee Ellis, Tenor Saxophonist Little Rock, Alto Saxophonist Tom Scott, Bass and Keyboards Stanley Clarke, Drummers Roy Haines, Ed Blackwell and Airto Moreira, Willie Bobo on Percussion and loads more.

 

NICK ROBBINS – one of the resident Audio Engineers Ace Records uses regularly – has handled the transfers - and the sound is never less than great and in some cases all shiny brilliant and uplifting. Also for a Jazz-infused compilation spanning six years of experimentation with the genre – the uniformity of excellent sound is a pleasure to listen to. To the music...

 

Leon Thomas was one of the first signings to Flying Dutchman Records and between 1969 and 1973 made five albums for the label under his own name and appeared with Johnny Hodges and H Rap Brown on two others. This compilation features two tracks – "Echoes" is from the famous 1969 debut album "Spirits Known And Unknown" and his fifth and last record for Bob Thiele "Full Circle" from late 1973 that features his cover of the 1972 Santana Caravanserai LP song "Just In Time To See The Sun".

 

I must admit I have never had the time (or a copy) of the Bob Thiele double-album "Head Start" – but what a blast the Saxophone and Horn led the instrumental title track is – all Blood, Sweat & Tears funky – and in stunning neck-jerking audio. That is followed by the treated echoed guitar of "See Saw Affair" – a very Sly & The Family Stone funky dancer circa 1971 made by the Bolivian piano-player Cesar in 1975. Cesar Ascarrunz employs the talents of Jim Vincent, Joe Jammer and Stephen Busfield who play the amazing guitar parts, Merle Saunders on Piano with impassioned vocals about finding a solution from Linda Tillery and a background-punching Horn Section of Six.

 

She later became a Gospel Singer after a stalled career, but for her 1969 outing with FD Records, Esther Marrow gives her deep voice and obvious passion to the message song "Peaceful Man" – hoping he will bring it to her land. There will not be many Seventies kids who will not get a little tingle in the arm-hairs as the tinkering beginning of "Expansions" slides in – then the drums and keys – and we are off. Lonnie Liston Smith’s clarion call for all of us to live in peace (Love to all mankind) was a weekly playlist in Reckless Records in London’s Berwick Street shop and always had punters demanding to be pointed in the direction of this Jazz Funk/Humanist Soul gem. And you get the full album cut of 6:05 minutes.

 

One of the pleasures of a compilation like this is discoveries – and if you haven’t heard the Terry Callier-slinky Santana-shimmering rhythms of "Bolivia" by Tenor Saxophonist Gato Barbieri – then you are in for a 7:46 minute instrumental treat. He is ably abetted in the tune’s trance-like sonic sins by a seriously great crew – Lonnie Listen Smith on Piano, John Abercrombie on Acoustic Guitar, Stanley Clarke on Bass, Airto Moreira on Drums with James Mtume on Congas – all names that would go on to have huge careers in Jazz Funk, Soul and New Age Music.

 

Can’t say I am a huge fan of the Ornette Coleman track "Friends And Neighbours" – her free-form Jazz, Horns and Drums will either be music to your ears or a sort of indulgence guiltily born on a Saturday morning. Things lift up immediately into a 6:20 minute Piano Funky groover from Oliver Nelson – the seriously cool Mission Impossible Ocean’s Eleven instrumental "125^th St & 7^th Ave" – yeah baby –and in spectacular audio too. The New York Streets and Avenues track also employs a massive 15-or-so Horn players including Bud Shank on Tenor Saxophone alongside the ever-lurking Lonnie Liston Smith on Keyboards. Things get scat-crazy with Saxophonist and Flautist Harold Alexander going vocally ape on "Mama Soul" during Flute notes – the tight and funky rhythm section of Richard Davis on Bass and Bernard Pretty Purdie on Drums keeping it in check.

 

Beautiful Production values on "Heavy Soul Slinger" where ace session player Bernard Pretty Purdie is dreaming of Steely Dan and "Aja" in 1977 as he whacks his kit - Harold Ott getting seriously Donny Hathaway funky on his electric piano (chune!). Although good in its very 60ts elevator music way, the instrumental of Young Holts "Soul Strutt" (as used in so many movies) is a little too brass heavy and probably the least representative track of FD Records (still expect to hear it in some cool flick soon). But that rare blip moment is properly whomped by the ethereal Flute, Bass and Drums only "Lament For John Coltrane". This astonishing Bob Thiele Emergency "Take 1" instrumental of 5:19 minutes first surfaced on the 2013 Ace/Beat Goes Public CD Reissue and Remaster as a Bonus Track. It’s gorgeous stuff and seriously well produced too - Joe Farrell sifting over the warm mood with Flute, Wilbur Little playing bass with Elvin Jones shuffling those drums and high-hats.

 

The "This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975" 16-Track CD and 2LP compilation comes to a joyful/mellow finish with two smooth gems - "Peaceful Ones" by Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes featuring Donald Smith on Lead Vocals – a 1974 Jazz sweetheart track beloved by Seventies fans. The mellow beautiful things vibe continues with yeah-e yeah-e-o vocals of Leon Thomas getting seriously creative with his voice on "Echoes".

 

"This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975" is a winner and a fabulous way to access music that has always been fringe and hard to find – music that has seeped its way back into kids of the Naughties and onwards. Check it out...and the VINYL 2LP set looks like a proper winner to me...

 

Titles in the 'Flying Dutchman Jazz Classics' Series of CD Reissues 

by Ace/Beat Goes Public of the UK include

 

1. Fenix - GATO BARBIERI (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 268)

2. The Third World - GATO BARBIERI (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 272)

3. El Pampero – GATO BARBIERI (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 283)

4. Cesar 830 – CESAR (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 261)

5. Friends And Neighbors: Ornette Live At Prince Street – ORNETTE COLEMAN (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 266)

6. Afrique – COUNT BASIE (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 271)

7. Barefoot Boy - LARRY CORYELL (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 269)

8. George Russell Presents… - THE ESOTERIC CIRCLE (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 284)

9. Small Talk At 125th & Lenox - GIL SCOTT-HERON (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 290) - see REVIEW

10. Pieces Of A Man – GIL SCOTT-HERON (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 274)

11. Free Will – GIL SCOTT-HERON (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 281)

12. Astral Traveling – LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 273)

13. Cosmic Funk - LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 278)

14. Expansions – LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 263 – Barcode 029667526326)

15. Visions Of A New World – LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 294)

16. Reflections Of A Golden Dream – LONNIE LISTON SMITH & THE COSMIC ECHOES (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 296)

17. Cosmic Funk And Spiritual Sounds; The Best Of The Flying Dutchman Years – LONNIE LISTON SMITH (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 254)

18. Newport News, Virginia – ESTHER MARROW (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 264)

19. Swiss Suite: Recorded Live At The Montreaux Jazz Festival - OLIVER NELSON (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 279)

20. Soul Is… - (Bernard) PRETTY PURDIE (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 282)

21. Head Start – BOB THIELE EMERGENCY (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 265)

22. Spirits Known And Unknown – LEON THOMAS (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 262)

23. The Leon Thomas Album - LEON THOMAS (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 270)

24. Blues And The Soulful Truth – LEON THOMAS (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPM 277)

25. The Creator: The Best Of The Flying Dutchman Masters – LEON THOMAS (Ace/BGP Records CDBGPD 257)

"Loma Northern Soul: Classics & Revelations 1964-1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS - Classic Dancers and Tape Vault Discovery Exclusives from Warner Brothers' Famed label (27 January 2023 UK Ace/Kent Soul CD Compilation with Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B0BNYXXCM6&asins=B0BNYXXCM6&linkId=8034d9daae45ac5c9b9923d1a7779fcc&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
 

"...It's Your Love That I Need..."

Bubbling under as far back as November 2022 as a forthcoming release, Ace Records of the UK announced this bouncing dancefloor baby as being available sometime in the first month of the New Year (2023). And true to their (slightly late) word - it is. 

 

Also marked out as a special release so to speak - "Loma Northern Soul: Classics & Revelations 1964-1968" has received the British reissue label's first ever 7" Singles Box Set treatment as a 'Limited Edition' retailing at about £45 (or less). Seven by seven 45s have their own 'Kent Soul 40' label bags and include sides not on the CD variant (see details below).

As an imprint of the mighty Warner Brothers catalogue, 'LOMA Records' was active mainly on the American Soul singles front from 1964 to 1968. Fans of its dancers and Northern Soul shuffler sides bought the Warner three-volume series "After Hours" series that began in 2002, each containing super desirable LOMA 45-sides  - with all three of those CDs also reissued on very tasty 2LP VINYL sets too. 

 

But outside of the Light In The Attic/Future Days Recordings VINYL Series in the USA in 2016 (Tracks 3, 6 and 7 on this CD feature from them) - this late January 2023 appears to me to be the first time the LOMA Label has received a full on decent CD retrospective of its own. Ace has even discovered gems in the vaults (there's six unreleased here). There's a ton of talcum powder shimmy shaking to get through, so let's have at it...

 

UK released Friday, 27 January 2023 - "Loma Northern Soul: Classics & Revelations 1964-1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Kent Soul 40 CDTOP 511 (Barcode 029667107723) is a 25-Track American Label Retrospective CD Compilation that plays out as follows (63:25 minutes):

 

1. It's Your Love That I Need - THE MARVELLOS (Previously Unissued 1966 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

2. Go For Yourself - LARRY LASTER (June 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2043, B-side to "Help Yourself")

 

3. Heartstrings - THE INVINCIBLES (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording, first issued on the 2016 US VINYL LP "Loma (A Soul Music Love Affair) - Volume 4" on Future Days Recordings FDR 627) 

 

4. You Can't Outsmart A Woman - KELL OSBORNE (December 1965 US 45-single on Loma Records 2023, A-side)

 

5. Lies - BOBBY FREEMAN (October 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2080, B-side of "I Got A Good Thing")

 

6. That's All You Gotta Do - BEN AIKEN (Originally Unissued 1968 Loma Recording, first issued on the 2016 US VINYL LP "Loma (A Soul Music Love Affair) - Volume 4" on Future Days Recordings FDR 627) 

 

7. I Need You - THE MARVELLOS (Originally Unissued 1966 Loma Recording, first issued on the 2016 US VINYL LP "Loma (A Soul Music Love Affair) - Volume 4" on Future Days Recordings FDR 627)

 

8. Mean It Baby - CARL HALL (November 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2086, B-side of "You Don't Know Nothing About Love")

 

9. I'm Getting Weaker - THE SOUL SHAKERS (July 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2047, A-side)

 

10. Just A Little Longer - THE ENCHANTERS (Previously Unissued 1965 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

11. Please Be True - THE INVINCIBLES (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording, 2023) 

 

12. If You Should See Her - BEN AIKEN (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording, 2023) 

 

13. My Heart Needs A Break - LINDA JONES (February 1968 US 45-single on Loma Records 2091, A-side)

 

14. See The Silver Moon - THE APOLLAS (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording first released on the 2012 UK Apollas CD Compilation "Absolutely Right! The Complete Tiger, Loma and Warner Bros. Recordings" on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 365)

 

15. Bright Lights - DELILAH KENNEBRUEW (June 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2049, A-side)

 

16. Something's Burnin' - THE MARVELLOS (May 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2045, A-side)

 

17. Satisfied - BEN AIKEN (November 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2084, B-side of "The Life Of A Clown")

 

18. Runnin' Around - TONY AMARO & THE CHARIOTS (March 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2068, B-side of "Hey Baby")

 

19. Got A Thing Goin' - THE INVINCIBLES (Previously Unissued 1966 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

20. The Man With The Golden Touch - CHARLES THOMAS (March 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2031, B-side of "Looking For Love")

 

21. Baby, Don't Look Down - BILLY STORM (September 1964 US 45-single on Loma Records 2001, B-side of "I Never Want To Dream Again (There In A Garden)")

 

22. I Finally Got A Break - THE OLYMPICS (Previously Unissued 1965 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

23. The Big Jerk, Part 1 - CLYDE & THE BLUE JAYS (October 1964 US 45-single on Loma Records 2003, A-side)

 

24. I'll Find A Way - BOBBY REED (January1968 US 45-single on Loma Records 2089, B-side of "I Wanna Love You So Bad")

 

25. Better Think Of What You're Losing - TOMMY STARR (April 1968 US 45-single on Loma Records 2095, A-side)

 

NOTES:

All Tracks are MONO

Tracks 1, 10, 11, 12, 19 and 22 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

Compiler and genre afficiando ALEC PALAO gets into detial-Nirvana in his 20-page booklet - this time only showing one Loma Records label (Bobby Reed's "I'll Find A Way") and filling the rest of the text pages with Trade Adverts/Reviews and a slurry of Promo Photos - Bobby Freeman, The Enchanters, The Invincibles, The Apollas and more. Apparently tearing up the clubs he DJs at, Palao has been singing the virtues of Ace's latest vault-trawl find - "It's Your Love That I Need" by The Marvellos - and it's not difficult to hear why. Alec also tells us of the superb Soul writers Loma tapped into - Willie Hutch, Lorraine Ellison, Sam Bell, Gene Page, Leon Sylvers, Mort Shuman, Jerry Ragovoy, Van McCoy, Sammy Turner and even Randy Newman (the Billy Storm track). Productions came courtesy of famous names like Richard Tee, Gene Page, James Carmichael and many more. Not surprisingly - and given the prestige Ace Records are affording the release - it's a stonking read. 

Long-time associate Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS does the Remasters and all are in punchy MONO health. To the music...    

It's easy to hear why joyful struts like "Lies" by Bobby Freeman (man was Tom Jones listening to this when he did "It's Not Unusual") and the make up your mind dancer "Go For Yourself" by Larry Laster send Northern Soul guys and gals into a frenzy - they are fantastic dancers. Kell Osborne channels his inner Jackie Wilson on Brunswick on "You Can't Outsmart A Woman" as he Adam and Eve's his brassy tale of womanly attraction to which no mere mortal (like him) has any defense. 

 

More manly advise is forthcoming during Ben Aiken's "That's All You Gotta Do" giving other lothario-types the big lowdown on Love (what a find this is - stuck in a vault until it was issued on an obscure 2016 US album). And again an amazing find in the relentless Bass, Vibes and Drums of "I Need You" by The Marvellos - the sort of floor-shaker that must have them wild in the Wigan Casinos of the North. Speaking of Aiken - fans who flipped the weaker A-side "The Life Of A Clown" must have been cock-of-the-hoop when they clapped eager ears on its wildly popular flipside "Satisfied". Same B-side head space belongs to the obscure Tony Amaro & The Chariots track "Runnin' Around" - a manic 'sock-it-to-me-baby' floor-stabber that could so easily have been a Motown A-sider. And not for the first time do The Marvellos thrill - their wonderfully upbeat "Something's Burnin'" the kind of official Loma 7" single that must send auction sites into sprinkler-need. And on it goes to the very 007 vibe in "The Man With The Golden Touch" by Charles Thomas while Billy Storm lives up his name in the instrument-packed wall of sound that comes at you for his fabulous full-on dance-meets-guitar-freak-out of "Baby, Don't Look Down". And on it goes...

Also UK released 27 January 2023, the seven by seven-inch Singles Box of "Loma Northern Soul..." is catalogue number Ace/Kent Soul 40 LTDBOX 020 (Barcode 029667031172) and has the following tracks (some as you can see are not on the CD):

 

Single 1

A: It's Your Love That I Need - THE MARVELLOS 

B: It's Your Love That I Need (Instrumental) - THE MARVELLOS

Single 2

A: Heartstrings - THE INVINCIBLES

B: Got A Thing Goin' - THE INVINCIBLES

 

Single 3

A: That's All You Gotta Do - BEN AIKEN

B: Satisfied - BEN AIKEN

 

Single 4

A:  Like I Told You - CARL HALL

B: Mean It Baby - CARL HALL

Single 5

A: Just A Little Longer - THE ENCHANTERS

B: I'll Find A Way - BOBBY REED

Single 6 

A: See The Silver Moon - THE APOLLAS

B: Go For Yourself - LARRY LASTER

Single 7 

A: If You Should See Her - BEN AIKEN

B: Lies - BOBBY FREEMAN

"Clowns Exit Laughing: The JIMMY WEBB Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS - featuring Glen Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Nocturnes, Shane martin, Chuck Jackson, Walker Brothers, Everything But The Girl, Nina Simone and many more (September 2022 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

<iframe sandbox="allow-popups allow-scripts allow-modals allow-forms allow-same-origin" style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B0B6XJBJHV&asins=B0B6XJBJHV&linkId=811dbe379cb7924b134c7f2e4582d08c&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>
 

"...If Anybody Could..."

 

I'm a long time fan of England's Ace Records - surely one of the best reissue labels in the world - and I've bought, collected and reviewed their 'Songbook' or 'Songwriter' series up to a nerd-head pencil-pusher point.

 

But I've always had my suspicions about anyone telling me that Jimmy Webb is one the premier songwriting geniuses of the 20th Century – I think they need to get out more. Undoubtedly Tony Rounce - whose typically brilliant and informative liner notes grace yet another exceptional Ace release - would disagree and sends the boys around with implements to 'persuade' me of my momentary moment of well, insanity?

 

And with 180 or more cover versions of "Wichita Lineman" beside 175 more covers of "Up, Up And Away" along with Frank Sinatra's appraisal of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" as 'the greatest torch song ever' will dissuade our Tone from accepting my dissing on Jimmy. But Webb has always felt like an easy-listening lightweight to me and I find some of the material on this otherwise brilliant CD bares that out. Anyway, to the finite details...

 

UK released Friday, 2 September 2022 - "Clowns Exit Laughing: The JIMMY WEBB Songbook" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1620 (Barcode 029667106320) is a 24-Track CD-only compilation of Stereo and Mono Remasters (most are 60ts tracks) that plays out as follows (75:29 minutes):

 

1. By The Time I Get To Phoenix - GLEN CAMPBELL (November 1967 US LP "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" on Capitol ST 2851 in Stereo)

 

2. Up, Up And Away - DIONNE WARWICK (March 1968 US "Valley Of The Dolls" LP on Sceptre SPS 568 in Stereo) 

 

3. Carpet Man - THE NOCTURNES (July 1968 UK 45-single on Columbia DB 8453, A-side in Mono)

 

4. When Eddie Comes Home - THE EVERLY BROTHERS (1966 unreleased Warner Brothers Stereo Demo recording first appeared on the 2006 Bear Family 8CD Box Set "Chained to A Memory" on Bear Family BCD 16791 1M)

 

5. I Need You - SHANE MARTIN (August 1968 US 45-single on Epic 5-10384, Mono B-side of "You're So Young")

 

6. Honey Come Back - CHUCK JACKSON (August 1969 US 45-single on Motown M-1152, Mono A-side)

 

7. Where's The Playground Susie? - EVERYTHING BUT THE GIRL (September 1986 UK 12"-Single on Blanco Y Negro NEG 23T, Stereo B-side of "Don't Leave Me Behind" with Ben Watts on Lead Vocals)

 

8. Midnight Mail - JOEY SCARBURY (August 1969 US 45-single on Dunhill D-4209, Mono B-side of "House Of The Rising Sun")

9. The Moon's A Harsh Mistress - THE WALKER BROTHERS (Recorded 1975 in Stereo with Scott on Lead Vocals, first issued 2001 on the CD Compilation "If You Could Hear Me Now" on Columbia 503302 2)

10. Wichita Lineman - TONY JOE WHITE (July 1969 UMS Debut LP "Black And White" on Monument Records SLP 18114 in Stereo)

11. Didn't We - JAMES DARREN (June 1967 Us 45-single on Warner Brothers 7053, Mono A-side)

12. MacArthur Park - WAYLON JENNINGS and THE KIMBERLYS (July 1969 US 45-single on RCA Victor 74-0210, Stereo A-side - also on the 1969 "Country-Folk" US LP on RCA Victor LSP-4180)

13. I Keep It Hid - THE SUPREMES (November 1972 US LP "Produced And Arranged by Jimmy Webb" on Motown M-756L)

14. Do What You Gotta Do - NINA SIMONE (August 1968 US 45-single on RCA Victor 47-9602, Stereo A-side - September 1968 UK 45-single on RCA Victor RCA 1743, B-side to "Ain't Got No - I Got Life")

15. Galveston - DON HO (December 1968 US 45-single on Reprise Records 0800, Mono B-side of "Has Anybody Lost A Love?")

16. The Worst That Could Happen - B.J. THOMAS (June 1969 US LP "Young And In Love" on Scepter SPS 576 in Stereo)

17. Requiem: 820 Latham - MEL TORME (February 1970 US 45-single on Capitol 2743, Stereo A-side)

18. Magic Garden - DUSTY SPRINGFIELD (August 1968 UK 4-Track 45 EP "If You Go Away" on Philips BE 12605, Track 2 on Side 1 in Mono)

19. Rosecrans Blvd. - THE 5th DIMENSION (August 1967 US 45-single on Soul City 755, Stereo B-side of "Another Day, Another Heartache" - also on the Stereo LP "Up, Up And Away" on Soul City SCS-92000)

20. Which Way To Nowhere - THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE (March 1969 US Debut LP "Brooklyn Bridge" on Buddah BDS 5034 in Stereo)

21. Clowns Exit Laughing - THE FORTUNES (1970 US LP "That Same Old Feeling" on World Pacific Records WPS 21904 in Stereo)

22. P.F. Sloan - RUMER (from the May 2012 CD album "Boys Don't Cry" on Atlantic 5053105230853)

 

23. Highwayman - WAYLON JENNINGS, WILLIE NELSON, JOHNNY CASH, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON (from the 1985 US LP "Highwayman" on Columbia FC 40056)

 

24. If This Was The Last Song - DEE DEE WARWICK with THE DIXIE FLYERS (September 1970 Us 45-single on Atco 44-6769, Stereo A-Side)

 

Tracks 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 to 24 - STEREO

Tracks 3, 5, 6, 11, 15 and 18 - MONO 

 

A beautifully laid-out 20-page booklet pours on the photos, memorabilia and period shots aided and abetted by TONY ROUNCE who seems to know more about Sixties Pop and Soul than the artists themselves who recorded it. NICK ROBBINS did the superb Remasters – very clear, punchy and full – despite the myriad sources – this is a cohesively great sounding CD compilation. To the tunes...

 

"Clowns Exit Laughing..." not surprisingly opens with the artist most associated with Jimmy Webb - Glen Campbell - and Webb's most covered tune of all time "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". A smart move too opening the CD with two Stereo cuts even if Dionne Warwick's rendition of "Up, Up And Away" (a song more associated with The 5th Dimension) is a big syrupy. First seriously clever choice comes in the form of "Carpet Man" by England's Nocturnes - itself a cover of a 5th Dimension Webb song they'd put out Stateside in early 1968. The tune is very upbeat, even Motownish (more of that later) and The Nocturnes featured both Lyn Paul and Eve Graham who went on to be with The New Seekers. Can't say I'm too enamoured with the schlock of "When Eddie Comes Home" even if the mighty pipes of The Everly Brothers are going at it in Demo form (took 40 years for it to appear on Bear Family's magnificent "Chained To A Memory" 8CD Box Set).

 

Far better is the first of a trio of B-sides that British Northern Soul boys latched on to - and given their sexy Motown-vibing Soul shuffles - hardly surprising they did. New Orleans lad Shane Martin recorded a series of 45s for Epic and Columbia between 1967 and 1970, but when a British DJ flipped Epic 5-10384 to find "I Need You" - talcum powder dancers practically lost it (been a big-ticket item on the scene ever since). The second big-drums, brass and tinkling vibes dancer is the 14-year-old Joey Scarbury who punched out "Midnight Mail" on ABC's Dunhill label imprint - thereafter discovered by the scene's legendary Ian Levine and championed - great stuff. Number three is the much-missed Tony Joe White going at "Wichita Lineman" with a sincerity only his voice and swamp guitar could emulate - gorgeous audio too as the piano and brass arrangements kick in (want you for all time).

 

Genius choices must also go to "Where's The Playground Susie?" done as a twelve-inch Blanco Y Negro B-side in 1986 by England's Everything But The Girl - Ben Watts taking a rare lead vocal over Tracy Thorn (she adds harmonies on this truly lovely version). Recorded in 1975 as one of four outtakes for the "No Regrets" reunion album but unreleased - "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress" is a truly gorgeous cover with Scott Walker (of The Walker Brothers) adding a bottom-of-the-sea deep lead vocal. Beautifully recorded, it would not be heard until the 2001 CD compilation "If You Could Hear Me Now" on Columbia Records. Things go downhill with Time Tunnel actor James Darren doing "Didn't We" and Waylon Jennings with The Kimberley's going at "MacArthur Park" - a very hissy piece of overdone. And I can't understand why Tony didn't use the gorgeous "5:15" over "I Keep It Hid" from The Supremes LP Written and Arranged by JW. Nina Simone souls up "Do What You Gotta Do", but it feels forced-into-doing-this-song to me and Don Ho's "Galveston" comes at you like Perry Como fodder that's pretty and not much else.

 

And on it goes to Dusty giving it some big-haired melodrama on "Magic Garden" (a 5th Dimension hit) - better is the lyrically-unsettling "Rosecrans Blvd." by the aforementioned 5th Dimension (produced by Johnny Rivers) and The Brooklyn Bridge doing their musically excellent album cut of "Which Way To Brooklyn" - a song picked by British White Soul Boy James Royal in 1969. Beautiful production values too on 1970's "Clowns Exit Laughing" courtesy of Noel Walker and Billy Davis while Rumer's 2012 acoustic take on "P.F. Sloan" is almost Carpenters beautiful.

 

It's not all genius - but there's enough to satisfy and plenty to please and even at times amaze. The Wichita Lineman is still on the line. Nice...

"You Showed Me: The Songs Of Gene Clark" by VARIOUS ARTISTS – featuring The Rose Garden, The Thyme, Linda Ronstadt, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, Iain Matthews, Starry Eyed & Laughing, Pure Prairie League, Roxy Music, Flamin' Groovies, Juice Newton, This Mortal Coil, Death in Vegas with Paul Weller, Echo In The Canyon with Jakob Dylan and Cat Power, and his son Kai Clark (March 2022 UK Ace Records CD Compilation of Remastered Cover Versions) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

<iframe style="width:120px;height:240px;" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" src="//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=mabasreofcdbl-21&language=en_GB&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B09SPCRCJZ&asins=B09SPCRCJZ&linkId=8e74641c2dfbfba4c77ef0b6e8a82385&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true"></iframe>

 

"...Train Leaves This Morning..."

 

True to form for these Various Artists CD compilations, Ace's stab at the mercurial Gene Clark of The Byrds and Dillard & Clark fame has its own bizarre mix of cover-version winners and near-misses - thankfully holding its head up proud more times than shame pushes it south into a droop.

 

Part of Ace's ongoing Songwriter Series and covering a huge time range (1964 to 2019), I've had this generously-packed CD since day of release (it encompasses Country, Country Rock, Bluegrass, Indie and Pop). And while I've been obsessing over the John Barry set "The More Things Change..." and Dusty Springfield's "Dusty Sings Soul" which came out on the same Friday, 25 March 2022 (see separate reviews) - I've found myself going back to this eclectic slightly unloved Country Rock brat and bawler more and more. Time to feel a whole lot better, to the details...

 

UK released Friday, 25 March 2022 - "You Showed Me: The Songs of Gene Clark" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDTOP 1611 (Barcode 029667104722) is a 21-Track CD Compilation of Remastered Cover Versions that plays out as follows (77:12 minutes):

 

1. You Showed Me - ECHO IN THE CANYON with JAKOB DYLAN and CAT POWER (2019)

2. Feel A Whole Lot Better - JUICE NEWTON (1988)

3. I Knew I'd Want You - THIN WHITE HOPE (1989)

4. She Don't Care About Time - FLAMIN' GROOVIES (1984)

5. Eight Miles High - ROXY MUSIC (1980)

6. Till Today - THE ROSE GARDEN (1968)

7. Echoes - STARRY EYED & LAUGHING (2015)

8. Elevator Operator - VELVET CRUSH (2001)

9. I Found You - THE THYME (1968 recording, issued 2008)

10. So You Say You Lost Your Baby - DEATH IN VEGAS featuring PAUL WELLER (2002)

11. Tried So Hard - THE FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS (1971)

12. In The Plan - NEW GRASS REVIVAL (1979)

13. Train Leaves Here This Morning - KAI CLARK (2020)

14. He Darked The Sun - LINDA RONSTADT (1970)

15. Kansas City Southern - PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE

16. Polly - IAIN MATTHEWS (1974)

17. Why Not Your Baby - THE MOTHER HIPS (2011)

18. Full Circle - BYRDS (1973)

19. Silver Raven - THE BAIRD SISTERS (2008)

20. Some Misunderstanding - SOULSAVERS featuring MARK LANEGAN (2009)

21. Strength Of Strings - THIS MORTAL COIL (1985)

 

KRIS NEEDS has been a great writer for some time now, providing quality liner notes for countless mucho-praised reissues - but man oh man - the Kris-ter outdoes himself here. As a self-professed Byrds fanatic, Needs pours on the facts and details in a stunning 28-page booklet - the text aligned with photos of the pertinent albums and CDs and black/whites of our hero both solo and with the spec-festooned Byrds. One of thirteen kids, Harold Eugene of Tipton, Missouri (his real name) is undoubtedly nodding appreciation up there in post-flyte Heaven. 

 

NICK ROBBINS does the masters and they all rock, but then as many are from the 90's onwards, it's hardly surprising that they do. Those 60ts tracks jump and pop but the 80ts cuts are dragged down by that smarmy studio-polish they all seemed to have. To the music...

 

"You Showed Me" opens strongly with a title track done by Echo In The Canyon for their 2019 BMG Records CD album of the same name. Bob's boy Jakob Dylan and Cat Power duet on this discarded early Byrds song written in 1964 that then became a minor hit for The Turtles in 1967. "You Showed Me" has also been covered by Salt 'N' Pepa and The Lightning Seeds while its co-writer Roger McGuinn revisited it too on his "Live From Mars" set in 1996. "You Showed Me" is a lovely song, great Clark melody warming your heart. But then things dip into 'that' 80ts sound for Juice Newton's "I Feel A Whole Lot Better" and I can't help thinking there must have been a better version of this fantastic song somewhere else.

 

I have no time for Thin White Hope's version of "I Knew I'd Want You" or The Flamin' Groovies sounding like a note-for-note Byrds pastiche covers band on their pointless "She Don't Care About Time". Far better is the surprisingly excellent Rose Garden doing "Till Today" (a forgotten 1968 gem) while England's Starry Eyed & Laughing turn in a stunning "Echoes" - a 1974 recording that first appeared in 2015 aping those Byrds-sounding backwards jangling guitars. Velvet Crush do a suitably grungy Rock stab at "Elevator Operator" - gonna have to get along without her now. Paul Weller rocks it out for the very Blind Faith organ-driven "So You Say You Lost Your Baby" where Death In Vegas are joined by strings as well as the Modfather in great form and clearly wanting to respect a songwriter he admires.

 

Clever segue into pure Country Rock with the pedal-steel picking "Tried So Hard" - The Flying Burrito Brothers sounding amazing for a 1971 recording. Updating that sound to the banjo picking of New Grass Revival in 1979, they do a great Eagles circa "One Of These Nights" Country stab at "In The Plan" - beautiful remastered audio too. Pure Prairie League doe a lonesome sound solid for "Kansas City Southern" – fun like The Ozark Mountain Daredevils meets Souther-Furey-Hillman. Can't quite work out (still) in my mind if "Full Cycle" from the poor "Byrds" album of 1973 is good or just acceptable filler that isn't awful - though I can understand why Needs has included its mandolins and harmonies here.

 

But for me the compilation has three out-and-out gems that shine above all the rest – the first is Iain Matthews formerly of Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort and Plainsong doing a gorgeous lilting take on "Poly". The compilers could have opted for the cooler Alison Krauss and Robert Plant version on their much-praised "Raising Sand" album from 2017, but instead went for something much older – a 1974 track from Iain Matthews' "Journeys From Gospel Oak" LP on Mooncrest Records that imbibes his take with just the right amount of Gene Clark Country twang to make it go beyond copyist to actually moving. Smart choice.

 

There then comes an extraordinary moment when a near eight-minute Neil Young-type-guitar-grunges the buggery out of everything in sight for "Some Misunderstanding" – Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan letting rip. His doped-up dirty vocals ("...you might need a friend at a time like this...") and wild guitar solo playing throughout literally infuses this searching heavy-heavy song with the pain that has always been at its core – capturing the darker side of Gene's demons in a new way.

 

But they are trumped by how own son Kai Clark doing a truly heart-warming take on "Train Leaving Here This Morning" where his New Country Rock vocals and band makes him sound like and tap into his Dad somehow (Ryan Adams and The Cardinals could have done this to the same effect). The tune will be familiar to most of us via the Eagles debut album on Asylum Records in 1972 – "Train Leaves Here This Morning" being one of the lesser-aired LP nuggets on that auspicious start. Kai Clark did this version on his self-published CD album "Silver Raven" in 2019 and I think after this compilation that will be my next port of digital call for Gene Clark-fulfilling-nourishment.

 

"You Showed Me: The Songs Of Gene Clark" is not all brilliant, but then again, in reality, how could it be. Still, Ace Records of the UK and compiler Kris Needs are to be praised for combining The Baird Sisters with Roxy Music and This Mortal Coil and somehow making it gel. And in the end, this Singer-Songwriter tribute CD comp makes me want more of the great man Gene Clark (and I'll be seeking out that Kai Clark set too), so in that respect, a job well done.

 

"There's a train leaving here this morning, I don't know what I might be on..." 

 

Well, maybe seek out this journey's reinterpreted platform and give its sympathetically polished compartments a lonesome whistle on your amped-up rig...because I think the effort (like Ace have clearly made) will pay off...