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60ts Soul, R'n'B, Mod, Northern Soul, New Breed and More
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"...Reach Out For Me..."
This is the kind of CD compilation you just know is going to be dripping class and quality – its swaying anthems of lad heartbreak and misery awash with a big old hunk of churning-burning lurve gone wrong (or just plain gone) - all of which, apparently, is entirely the woman's fault (no honestly).
Ace's 'Kent Soul' roster of CD compilations clocks up catalogue number 490 here and even after all these decades, we still get a wee flutter in the groin area at the mere mention of one. And so it is with "Soul Voices: 60s Big Ballads" – you pretty much get what it says on the tin - majestic male vocalists from the heyday of that swinging decade giving it some vocal silk and sophistication ably abetted by girly backing singers and heavy-on-the-mascara string arrangements where via US 45s words like 'cry' and 'gloomy' and 'wrong' and 'losing you' populate each and every mini opera.
And if that's not enough, five of these twenty-four pleaders are in the kind of jaw-dropping STEREO that only bigger studios like RCA and Columbia could provide – whilst another five are Previously Unreleased – even these with some genuinely great finds amongst them. Let's get to the river of tears, which is just outside the town of lonely, across the border from...etc.
UK released 29 May 2020 (delayed from April 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic) - "Soul Voices: 60s Big Ballads" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records/Kent Soul CDKEND 490 (Barcode 029667098120) is a CD compilation of 24-tracks that plays out as follows (68:59 minutes):
1. Forget The Girl - WALTER JACKSON (originally unissued 1968 Okeh recording, first appeared on the 2007 CD compilation "Speak Her Name: The Okeh Recordings, Vol. 3" by Walter Jackson on Ace Records/Kent Soul CDKEND 273)
2. They Say I'm Afraid (Of Losing You) - FREDDY BUTLER (from the 1967 US Mono LP "With A Dab Of Soul" on Kapp KL-1519)
3. Heartache (Hurry On By) - ROY HAMILTON (July 1965 US 45-single on RCA Victor 47-8641, A-side)
4. Like A Big Bad Rain - KENNY CARTER (2020, Previously Unissued 1966 RCA recording in STEREO)
5. (There's) No Place To Hide - BEN E. KING (August 1965 US 45-single on Atlantic 45-6371, A-side)
6. Lonely People Can't Afford To Cry - CLYDE McPHATTER (July 1967 US 45-single on Amy 993, B-side of "I Dreamt I Died")
7. Gloomy Day - HERB JOHNSON (August 1965 US 45-single on Arctic 109, A-side, co-write with Kenneth Gamble)
8. Just Outside Of Lonely - CLARENCE PINCKNEY (2020, Previously unissued Brass Parrot recording from 1973)
9. Seeing Is Believing - TONY MASON (February 1967 US 45-single on RCA Victor 47-9104, B-side of "Take Good Care"
10. Don't Make Me Over - TOMMY HUNT (originally unissued 1963 Scepter recording, first appeared on the October 1986 UK compilation LP "Your Man" by Tommy Hunt on Kent Records KENT 059)
11. Reach Out For Me - LOU JOHNSON (July 1963 US 45-single on Big Top 45-3153, A-side)
12. Now You Are Gone - BROOKS O'DELL (1968 US 45-single on Valentine VAL 104, A-side)
13. You Got Too Much Going For You - JIMMY BEAUMONT (June 1966 US 45-single on Bang B-525, A-side - Joe Simmons song)
14. A Day Or Two - GARRETT SAUNDERS (October 1962 US 45-single on Serock SR 2001, A-side)
15. Where Does Love Go - FREDDIE SCOTT (February 1964 US 45-single on Colpix CP-724, A-side)
16. I Can't Stand To See You Cry - CHUCK JACKSON (Originally Unissued 1965 Wand recording, first released on the September 1987 UK compilation LP "A Powerful Soul" by Chuck Jackson on Kent Records KENT 073)
17. Anytime You Want Me - GARNET MIMMS (February 1964 US 45-single on United Artists UA 694, A-side)
18. Can't Stand Your Fooling Around - GENE BURKS (October 1963 US 45-single on Arock AR-1001, B-side of "Monkey Man")
19. I Want To Be Loved - BILLY WATKINS (2020, Previously Unissued 1964 Kent recording)
20. Lover's Competition - JAMES CARR (February 1965 US 45-single on Goldwax GW-112, B-side of "I Can't Make It")
21. You Are A Lucky So And So - SAMMY SEVENS (July 1963 US 45-single on Swan 4146, A-side)
22. Good For A Lifetime - AL HIBBLER (January 1966 US 45-single on Satin S-401, A-side)
23. Through A Long And Sleepless Night - JIMMY RADCLIFFE (2020, Previously Unreleased 'Alternate Vocal' of a September 1963 US-issued 45-single on Musicor 1033, A-side)
24. I Love You So Much - JUNIOR LEWIS (2020, Previously Unreleased 1962 Arock recording)
Tracks 1, 4, 15, 16 and 17 in STEREO - all others in MONO
Tracks 4, 8, 19, 23 and 24 are PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED
Part of the joy of 'Kent Soul/Dance' CD compilations is the research and how classily Ace Records present it - always championing names that are criminally forgotten like Brooks O'Dell and Clarence Pinckney alongside others that are seriously sought-after like James Carr, Chuck Jackson and Garnet Mimms. And so it is with the 24-pages presented here - compiled and annotated by long-time Ace Records associate and genre lover ADY CROASDEL. Cool photos abound - an ageing ex Drifters and Atlantic Records vocal legend Clyde McPhatter still finding time to smile alongside Fame Records Studio hero Jim Hall - a suited and booted Freddy Butler looking dapper in a publicity black and white - trade adverts for Roy Hamilton and Freddie Scott 45s on RCA Victor and Colpix - Garnett Mimms letting it rip live at the Whisky A Go Go in 1967 - and even Gene Burks displaying more bling on his bejewelled fingers and shirt cufflinks than Fats Domino in his Aladdin Records prime. Every song gets a paragraph, facts and details unfurled and all of it alongside rare 45-labels repro'd between the texts. It's a typically classy job.
Ace's trusted Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS amps up the Remasters to truly lovely clarity. For sure one or two of the Mono singles feel like the tapes might not have survived as well as one would have hoped - but those stunning Stereo cuts, quality unreleased and seriously popular dancers (Clyde McPhatter) in this kind of audio quality is going to be a huge draw for Northern Soul fans galore. To the music...
"Soul Voices..." smartly opens with a Stereo winner where Walter Jackson realises that "...this time she's gone..." - if only he could "Forget The Girl". Amongst his final recordings for Columbia, it has beautiful production values and sets up the predominantly funereal pace of all to come. On the contrary, Freddy Butler doesn't feel ominous in any way as his girl could never be that cruel - flat out denying emotional catastrophe on the horizon in his gloriously camp LP cut "They Say I'm Afraid (Of Losing You)". Sweet as honey and deep as walnut, Roy Hamilton's fantastically expressive voice soars up and down in "Heartache (Hurry On By)" - a classic cross your arms across your heart dancefloor shuffler. Despite the hammy thunder and rain beginning, the first of five Previously Unreleased sides turns out to be a Stereo stunner from Kenny Carter - its top-notch RCA Victor production telling us that she's ready to move on again (what a find).
And while the Ben E. King B-side "(There's) No Place To Hide" is aided by Bert Barns arrangements - most NS fans will leap to Track 6 and Clyde McPhatter's "Lonely People Can't Afford To Cry" - another B-side discovered through crate trawls that became expensive in the 80ts collecting scene (very tasty my dear). Personally though, the Clarence Pinckney discovery "Just Outside Of Lonely" from 1973 is far more exciting in my book - a pleader to not break his heart that features Gwen Guthrie amidst its three backing singers (another bonus worthy of the moniker). Rounding out the first eleven cuts, you then get a sort of Soul Men take on Lounge Music perpetrators double-whammy. Tommy Hunts brings genuine class to his cover of Bacharach and David's "Don't Make Me Over" (originally their first 45 for Dionne Warwick) - while Lou Johnson also elevates B&D's "Reach Out For Me" (an original song for him). Bacharach provided the arrangements (and piano I think) on the sweet Lou Johnson session and it is as lovely as crossover Pop vs. Soul can get (both Tracks 10 and 11 with fabulous audio too).
Making melodrama sound so good, another clever choice comes in the shape of Brooks O'Dell whose "Now You Are Gone" is a 'you were my symphony' crier - whilst Jimmy Beaumont (another drama merchant) is clearly channelling Phil Spector is his production of Joe Simmons' "You Got Too Much Going For You". You will recognise Beaumont's superb voice from The Skyliner's huge 1958 Vocal Group hit "Since I Don't Have You" - he was the lead vocalist and melodist on that gorgeous Calico Records ballad. Speaking of misery adverted - Garrett Saunders could avoid it too if only the memories didn't linger on in his 48-hours pleader "A Day Or Two". And amongst the final run is breathtaking Stereo for Garnet Mimms on his "Anytime You Want" while gorgeous is the only word I can use to describe the Van McCoy-written Chuck Jackson offering "I Can't Stand To See You Cry" - a rarity only available on a long-deleted Kent Records LP from 1987. And on it goes, tune after tune...
As beautifully done and as swish as the photograph of Junior Lewis on the front cover of the booklet is - I also know that 24-cuts of this variety of shuffling 60s ballad might be someone's else idea of water-boarding. But I'm not one of them and I'm sure there will be legions more like me.
Tony Mason saw his girl '...kissing his best friend the night before...' so had to hide his face, shed a grievous tear and walk on by. Thank God Producer Richard Tee was on hand to record his vocal response the next day, is all I can say. Buy and behold baby...and shame on all those ladies who were entirely at fault...no honestly...
