The Salsoul Orchestra- Up The Yellow Brick Road

Here is a record I got for $5.  I got it not only for the cover but for the songs. Also because it is from the 70’s.  I get a lot of stuff on here from the 60’s and 50’s (as well as the 40’s), so I jumped at the chance to go to the other side of the dial.  Technically speaking, I guess I am a 70’s kid but it never really felt it.  I was born in 1974 so I always associated myself with the 80’s. Also I spent most of the 70’s in England developing cognitive thought so US pop culture from the time does not make any memory for me.

So here is this thing from Salsoul Orchestra, the backing band for the record label of the same name.  Led by Vincent Montana JR (1928-2013), the band formed from the studio band from Philadelphia International, MFSB, after a depute with Gamble and Huff. From 1974 to 1982, this group backed many Salsoul artists while sporadically releasing their own records.

This record came out in 1978 to modest chart success. It contains songs from Broadway, movies, and rock and roll.  It was an alright record.  Liked all the songs.  It was just hard not to forget that this is 70’s music. But that aside, I thought the two medleys were both well constructed.

It is for one of those medleys that I bought this record.  That one is “West Side Story Medley”.  I am submitting this medley as a sample.  Medley.

 

 

Satisfactory record.

Van Morrison – It’s Too Late To Stop Now

Here is a good record for Saturday that I bought for a dollar.  From the Fat Monk himself.  Not an overtly huge Van Morrison fan myself but I do like a lot of his songs, some of which were on this album.  Another gatefold album.  I noticed this while taking pictures of the record covers fro this month.  I felt that there were a lot of gatefolds when I got to this one.  I did not realize that more was to come.  Too many gatefold this month. Need to get better about that ( they are a pain in the rear to edit and post).

This was recorded live at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and the Rainbow in London during the summer of 1973.  It was released by Warner Brothers a year later.  Critics have called it one of the greatest live recordings ever.  Which is weird because two years prior, Morrison started experiencing stage fright after ten years of previous stage work.  He took a brief break from performing and when he returned, he favored smaller venues.  

With an eleven piece band with horns and strings, Morrison embarked on a three month tour .  Again, this time is said to be his greatest period as a live performer according to whatever source  Wikapedia used. Decent album.  Kind of all over the place for Morrison’s career at the time as far as track selection.

Lot of good tracks on here, but ultimately went with what is probably one of my favorite Morrison tunes, “Here Comes The Night”.  “Gloria” is probably my favorite but nothing really beats the original.  This track does skip a bit but all the tracks skipped.  Whoever owned this last sure did play it a lot.

Satisfactory.  I would suggest getting yourself a clean copy.

VA- Motown Chartbusters Vol 5

Here is the perfect record to end the month and perhaps my shortest post to date.  I bought this Motown sampler for $3.  It contains many of the folk that made Motown famous: Jackson 5, The Spinners, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye among others. Released in 1971.

Could have used any song but decided to showcase two for one with “River Deep- Mountain High”  featuring the combined talents of the Supremes and the Four Tops.  Again, it could have been any cut on this record.

Great little record.  Satisfactory.  See you next month.

Dee Dee Sharp- It’s Mashed Potato Time

Here we are with another week.  $3 is the new $1.  I had an idea of how this album would sound so I pulled the trigger on buying it.  Well, at $3, it is still somewhat of an easy purchase to justify.  Big letters on the front tell you that this record was owned by Lee Gastin. This past weekend was a busy one (technically still in the future at the time of this writing).  Anyway, by the time you read this, I will have had seen both West Side Story and Hamilton.  More on these sometime this month.

Dee Dee Sharp, born in 1945 in the city of Brotherly Love, was an R&B singer.  According to both Wikipedia ad the back of this album, she started as a background singer and was featured on Chubby Checkers’ single “Slow Twistin'”.  She was soon picked up by Checker’s manager and recorded a string of top ten hits in the early sixties as well as a slight career re-emergence in the disco era.

This album was her first, released in 1962.  It features two of her biggest singles “Mashed Potato Time” (#2), and “Gravy” (#9).  Both songs reference the popular dance at the time, the Mashed Potato.  The dance, a variation of the Twist, was first popularized by James Brown in 1959.  Besides, Sharp, various musicians have paid tribute to the dance in such classics as “Do You Love Me”, “Land of 1,000 Dances”, and “Shake A Tail Feather”.  I could explain how to do it in words,, but the videos do such a better job.

Anyway, back to this, here is Sharp’s debut.  Pretty good little record.  The liner notes were written by Checker’s, with some further notes from Sharp/.  The songs are some nice early sixties R&B.  I liked a lot of it.  Produced by her manager Kal Mann and released on Cameo records, there are enough really good aspects of this album to keep it from being a novelty record (which it easily could have turned into).

AT first, I really wanted to use “(Dee Dee) Be My Girl” which was Sharp’s version of “Duke of Earl”.  I was already settling on this as the sample when I heard the second to last song, “Hurry On Down” and then there was no question.  Here it is as the sample. How can you not lie this.  In fact, I am thinking of stealing it for my country act.

Satisfactory.

 

Change- Got To Get Up 12″ single

We are finishing up this week’s theme of records I purchased without close inspection, took home and found different discs inside the cover.  In most cases, this happens with the $1 his record I actually spent a pretty penny for.  400 pennies to be exact. 

And why not, for an early record from the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.  I do not have enough soul records on this site and this would have been an excellent addition.

Well what I got is just awful.  I got a 12″ single from Italian/American post disco group Change, a group that would feature Luther Vandross and Deborah Cooper, who would later form C+C Music Factory .  It was a promo single form 1983 “Got To Get Up” that did not chart, perhaps because of the promo nature. So not only was this not what I was expecting, but there was only two songs per side and they were basically the same song.  I listened to both sides to try to find the differences and they were few.

bargai vinylI understand that this is not fair to Change nor producer Jacques Fred Petrus as the group had several #1 songs.  However, this is completely the opposite of what I was expecting and I paid $4 for this screw job.

Well, here is the only song on this record, “Got To Get Up”.  Again, apologies to the group is this is a pretty good representative of work from 1983, but I am quite disappointed with this transaction.  If I got a full record, perhaps I would feel differently or if I paid a dollar.

The Temptations- Greatest Hits

Keeping with this week’s theme of records I bought that were different than there covers, I submit this, previously owned by one Rich Ortiz.  When I saw this album by a young Stevie Wonder for only a dollar, I flipped out.  When I saw the track listing and saw “Sunny”, ” Everybody’s Talking”, “I’ve Got To Be Me”, “Blowin’ In The Wind”, By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “For Once In My Life”, I thought this was a major score and was really excited to listen to this record.

I also probably would have really enjoyed writing a post on Wonder.  I would have noted how remarkable he is and how he could have played it safe and continued this style of music into the 70’s, but instead he chose to reinvent himself and his music in that decade and beyond.  Would have been a fun post to write.

Well, instead of this record, I got the Temptation’s Greatest Hits, which is not a bad collection.  The Detroit vocal group who are perhaps most famous for :My Girl” were a smash hit in the 60’s and dominated the RnB charts of that period. Released on Gordy Records, a division of Motown.  All the classic hits from this legendary vocal group are here. And there is not a bad moment on here. This record, released in 1966 would go to #1 on the RnB Charts and #5 on the overall US charts.

For a sample, I could have gone with any song.  As with the more established artists whose albums I post on this blog, I like to do less known pieces of work but that is almost impossible on this record.  So I went with “Don’t Look Back”, a single released in 1966 that went to #15 on the RnB charts.

I really wanted to hear that Stevie Wonder album so I am actually quite disappointed with that . However, this is a really good album as well.  So this transaction washes out.  Satisfactory.

 

Four Tops- Reach Out

So why wouldn’t you buy this album? Seriously?  It was only $4.  Well this is my last post from Amsterdam, despite being written in Houston weeks earlier.  Hopefully, I will get home by the next post.  More about this vacation in January.

Truth be told, this is not the original record I had planned for this month.  I originally had an early Aretha Franklin album picked.  However, when I pulled out the record and found out it was not Franklin, my heart dropped.  This was the second such incident this month as I went thru the same thing with Doris Day’s movie version of The Pajama Game. Next month, I plan to dedicate a week to these mis-labeled records.

Well, if I had to get a replacement, this would be a mighty fine substitute from the vocal quartet from Detroit.  Released in 1967, this was I believe their most successful album going #11 in the US and #6 in the UK. It also spawned six Top 20 singles including the #1 title track.  It was the last Four Tops record to feature Motown’s production/song writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland.  On top of their contributions, the album also features (2) songs from the Monkees as well as one from The Association.

For a sample, I went with “Walk Away Renee” as was suggested by my neighbor. This was a tough call as I also really liked “7 Rooms Of Gloom” as well as about the rest of this album.

Great record. And in decent condition as well.  Top Rated.

Three Degrees- ST

This little gem was $4.  I got it to diversify the blog which is much needed given where the second half of September is heading.  What is this you say?  Well, stay tuned to find out.

Formed in Philadelphia, and rising up with the Philadelphia Sound of the 1970’s, The Three Degrees started their career in 1963..  This is the second studio album and the first on Philadelphia International Records, the label of Gamble and Huff (and Thom Bell).  Released in 1973, this features the group with the lineup that brought them their biggest hits.  This lineup, which formed from 1967- 1976, featured original member Fayette Pinkney along with Valerie Holiday, and Shelia Ferguson.  Consequently, a version led by Holiday still performs today.

Link to The Three Degrees’ Web Site

Anyway, back to the record, it was among one of their most successful and spawned four singles; “Dirty Ol’ Man”, “I Didn’t Know”, “Year of Decision” and ” When Will I See You Again”, which went to #2 in the US and #1 in the UK.

For a sample, I decided to go with “Can’t You See What You Are Doing To Me”.

Pretty good album.  Satisfactory.

 

Isaac Hayes- The Isaac Hayes Movement

Happy Saturday.  This gem was only $1.

This was Isaac Hayes’ third album, released in 1970, fresh off the heels of the massive success of Hot Buttered Soul.  I did not want to write about HBS but since I already have a copy and find it very unlikely that I would find one for under $5, I might as well note it here that after dismal sales of his first album, Hayes was prepared to go back behind the scenes, writing and producing.  The label’s executive, Al Bell, had different plans.

As Stax had lost its entire back catalog following a split with Atlantic, Bell was tasked with building the catalog back up and pressed Hayes to make another record.  Hayes insisted on creative control. which he received, and as a result, a massive and heavily influential record was born.

This was the follow up album, which was also a hit, reaching #1 on the Soul charts.  The album features only four songs , heavily arranged and orchestrated with the signature sound Hayes crafted on the previous album.

For a sample, I went with “Something” despite being 12 minutes in length.  It should be noted that “Something” is the most covered Beatles’ song after “Yesterday”.

Great album. Top Rated.

VA- This is Soul

This was $3 at a record show. Look at the names on this and tell me if you are going pass this up.  Anyway, this is that brief day between St Patrick’s Day and my birthday so I am going to make this one of my shortest posts. 

This piece came out on Atlantic Records in 1968 and features various hits from such luminaries of soul as Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and Ray Charles among others.  All of this is previously recorder material.  For a sample, I wanted to use a song which I felt was a fitting tribute to soul and actually discussed in last months blog, Arthur Conley with “Sweet Soul Music”.  As discussed, Conley used Sam Cooke’s “Yeah, Man” (used as a sample for that blog post) as the basis for a tribute to the big names of soul.

A lot of great songs on here.  Top Rated.  See, this is short, like I said.