S4L Showdown II: "The Charmels vs. The Emotions"

For the second chapter of the "S4L Showdown" I'm puttin' Washington's own Charmels up against the ladies from the Windy City; The Emotions. In the spotlight, we have the soulful, "As Long As I've Got You," penned by Stax hitmakers, Issac Hayes & David Porter.

Both groups recorded for the Stax subsidiary, Volt and both versions were produced by Hayes & Porter but only The Charmels 1967 recording ever saw a commercial release. Two years later, during their very first session for Stax, The Emotions began recording their cover. Unfortunately, the one-take song was scrapped and the tapes wound up locked away in the Stax vaults as an unfinished demo.

The bad news is The Charmels 45 is hard as hell to find and even more so if you're not willing to fork over at least $100-$200. The good news is, over the years, the song has popped up on quite a few compilations. You can find it here on Stax/Volt: The Complete Singles, Vol. 9 or here on the 2004 comp, Stax Breaks.

The Emotions version can be found on the 2004 collection of rare and unreleased material; Songs of Innocence & Experience, available here.

Listen (password req'd)

Major Harris - Jealousy

Sorry this one's a little late folks. I was holdin' off posting it until I could clean up the vinyl a bit. Never got around it, but no matter.
Born on February 9, 1947 in Richmond, VA, Major Harris III (yup, that IS his birth name) represents the continuation of a long musical legacy, with vaudeville-performing grandparents, a professional guitarist father, choir-directing mother, and talented sibling (Joe Jefferson, Philly songsmith who penned major hits for the Detroit Spinners) and cousin (legendary guitarist, songwriter, and super-producer Norman Harris). With a lineage like that, it was pretty much predestined for Major to make his mark on the music world. It would, however be twenty-eight long years of dues paying before he'd make that mark.

Major started out, like so many other soul legends, singing in church and later in junior high school, where he'd sing in the bathroom, "cause you know, it had that sound in there," he explained in a 2001 chat session over at SoulPatrol.com (you can read the complete transcript here).

In following years, Harris performed with numerous R&B groups, including The Charmers, Frankie Lymon's Teenagers, and The Jarmels. He recorded as the lead with Philly group The Nat Turner Rebellion, and released a few solo sides for both Okeh and Laurie labels; none of these efforts, however, garnered much success. In 1970, Major joined The Delfonics as a replacement for Randy Cain (who would later go on to help form the group Blue Magic).

In 1974 he left the group and put together his own band [in an effort] to try his hand as the frontman for a new act. He successfully landed a deal with WMOT (We Men Of Talent) Productions, which in turn quickly led to a label signing with Atlantic records, and release of the single "Each Morning I Wake Up," credited to The Major Harris Boogie Blues Band. The outfit, comprised of Harris, Allison Hobbs, Phyllis Newman & Karen Dempsey, enjoyed minimal success with the single, but it was to be Harris's next release as a solo act that would become his first big hit.

Pulled from on his '75 debut album My Way, the timeless ballad, "Love Won't Let Me Wait," penned by guitarist Bobby Eli, skyrocketed to the top spot on the R&B chart and climbed as high as number five on Billboard's pop chart. The song would go on to sell 8 million copies worldwide.





The following year, Major released his second LP for Atlantic. Sticking to the formula that created his first album, Jealousy was loaded with the usual Philly soul ingredients, lush orchestration by MFSB, arrangements by Norman Harris, Ron Kersey, and Bobby Eli, and background vocals by "The Sweethearts of Sigma," a trio of made up of Barbara Ingram, Carla & Yvette Benson, also known as "The Sweeties," (basically Philly soul's equivalent of the southern soul's Sweet Inspirations) all cooked down at Joe Tarisa's Sigma Sound Studio for that signature, silky-smooth, slick sound. [How's that for alliteration?]

Still, with all that going for it, the album stalled on the charts. The same year, Major hit the stage with labelmates Blue Magic and Margie Joseph at New Jersey's Latin Casino; the end result was the 2-LP set, Live.





In 1978, Major signed with RCA records, where he teamed up with producer Jerry Ragavoy for his next solo lp, How Do You Take Your Love. After the solo hits stopped coming, Harris reunited with the The Delfonics and enjoyed a busy touring schedule.





In 1984, Harris took another break from the group and went back into the studio as a soloist, this time with Butch Ingram (brother to Barbara (see above)). Butch, former lead member of the family group The Ingram Kingdom (later redubbed Ingram), took the helm as the project's sole producer and arranger. The end result was the Streetwave records release, I Believe In Love.


Throughout the next two decades, Harris reunited with The Delfonics several times and was featured on the group's 1999 album, Forever New. As of this writing, he continues to tour both as a solo act, as well as part of The Delfonics with original members William Hart & Randy Cain.

If you're looking for Major Harris reissue material, the best place to go iz 'zon or Dusty Groove-- at either you can track down his first solo LP, My Way, as a Japanese import and the WMOT Live album with Margie Joseph & Blue Magic as an affordable US reissue on Collectables. As for Jealousy... sorry this one's still in the vaults. On the bright side, you can easily find low-cost original vinyl pressings of it and most of Major's other albums on the bay or GEMM pretty easily.

Featured cut: "Jealousy"

Help yourself to my vinyl rip here. [Note: this one's a li'l dusty in spots, but who cares; if you're really into this kinda stuff, a little needle noise shouldn't matter right? It comes with the territory.] Anyway, judge for yourself. The audio is more than good enough to decide whether or not you wanna drop coin on yer own copy. Who knows... if time allows, maybe I'll re-rip it after a good scrubbing.

[Sidebar: It's a long story with more than I care to get into but I'll boil it down and try not to bore y'all with the details. It goes like this....

I'd been putting it off for years because of the ridiculous price tag, but a flooded basement and a few crates of mildew-ridden vinyl made it a necessity, so I gave in and nabbed one of those pricey record cleaning machines for a steal on a certain auction site. Great right? Wrong!! The seller pulled a fast one on me and I wound up gettin' got. Well... kinda. . He had a high enough positive rating for selling high-end audio gear, so I didn't balk when, after shellin' out my hard-earned shekels, 2 weeks pass by with no deliveries from my friendly neighborhood postal carrier. It looked like he was playing some kinda waiting game that stretched on for about four weeks. When I finally spoke up, he claimed stories like he was out of town, missed the end of the auction then had a friend ship it; then the friend went on holiday and couldn't be reached for info. Really?? All the while he maintained he had no idea where it could be and that I should keep waiting for it to arrive. After a few more letters from me, he offered me a refund and said if it showed up we'd deal with it later. Now lemme get this straight, you sell something worth almost $400, have no idea where it is and cheerfully offer to give up the only thing you have to show for it?? That's so nice.....too nice. Maybe I'm wrong, but something just doesn't sound right about that. I have absolutely no way of proving it, but my conspiratorial gut tells me he probably wanted a bigger fish and decided to throw me back. I guess I have no real beef since I did get my dough back. But still...]

Betty Everett - There'll Come A Time

Most folks remember Betty Everett primarily for one huge pop hit in the 60's, but she was also a phenomenal soul singer who, like so many others, has amassed a huge catalog of excellent sides that have been ignored by the general public.

Betty, born in Greenwood, Mississippi in 1939, started playing the piano and singing in church at the age of nine. She continued singing in gospel choirs as she grew up, finally moving to Chicago in 1957.

She recorded songs on some of the local Chicago labels such as C.J., Cobra and OneDerful in the late 50s and early 60s, scoring local hits such as "I'll Be There" and "I've Got A Claim On You." In the early sixties she signed with Vee-Jay records. One of her first releases for the label was "You're No Good," a midtempo number that stalled just short of the Top 50 late in 1963.

[Sidebar: In 1974, cover queen Linda Ronstadt's rendition of "You're No Good" skyrocketed to number one in the United States.]

Everett finally hit pay dirt when she recorded the Top 10 smash, "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" in the Spring of 1964.

[Sidebar: "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" was covered by Linda Lewis and made it to the Top 10 in the UK. Cher took a turn at covering "The Shoop Shoop Song" in 1990 and reached #33 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart in the U.S., #3 in Germany and France, #5 in Australia and #1 in the UK making it her most successful single to date, selling more than six million copies worldwide.]

Her follow-up Vee-Jay releases,including "I Can't Hear You" and "Getting Mighty Crowded" didn't fare as well, however.

Later in 1964, Betty performed a duet with another prominent Chicago-area singer, Jerry Butler, that landed her her second Top 10 hit. Other Everett/Butler singles followed, as well an entire album of duets entitled Delicious Together.

After Vee Jay folded in 1966, Betty signed to ABC records but found no commercial success. Finally, in 1969, Everett signed with Uni records, where she released her 1969 LP, There'll Come A Time. The title track would wind up being both her last top forty hit as well as her first entry in the soul charts, climbing to the number two spot.

In the following years, Betty continued recording and managed to place five more records onto the soul charts among her releases for Uni, Fantasy, and Sound Stage 7 labels between 1970 and 1977.

From the 1980s until her death, Everett resided in Beloit, Wisconsin, where she was involved in the Rhythm & Blues Foundation and the churches of the Fountain of Life and New Covenant. In 2000, she made her last public appearance on the PBS special Doo Wop 51.

Everett died in her home in Beloit on August 19, 2001; she was 61 years old.

For this week's post, I've pulled out Betty Everett's 1969 Uni LP, "There'll Come a Time". AllMusic.com reviewer Richie Unterberger gives his $.02 about the album. [There'll Come a Time] ...has much more of a sweet soul flavor than her Vee-Jay sides, at times blending the trademarks of her brassy native Chicago scene with a Philadelphia influence. It's far from too sweet, though, with strong material, punchy arrangements, and Everett's always dependably energetic and warm vocals. It also contains the R&B hit "I Can't Say No to You."

If you can find it, the now out of print 1995 Varese Sarabande CD reissue includes three hard-to-find singles released between 1969 and 1970 that were previously unavailable on any album, including the Top 20 R&B hit "It's Been a Long Time," penned by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Jerry Butler with arrangements handled masterfully by Donny Hathaway.

If you're looking for the CD reissue, the last time I checked there was a pricey copy still up for grabs on Amazon.com but you can always try your luck here instead.

You could also try to snag an original vinyl copy on the 'bay or maybe even GEMM.

Featured cut: "1900 Yesterday"


Listen to the full album here

S4L Showdown I: "Dee Dee Sharp vs. The Ambassadors"

First of a new series I'm puttin' together for the site. The "S4L Showdown" will feature two versions of the same song by different acts.

For this showdown I thought I'd start with a Philly soul nugget written by Jimmy Bishop & Kenny Gamble. With production handled by Gamble alongside partner Leon Huff, "I Really Love You" was first recorded in 1965 by Dee Dee Sharp for Cameo Records as one of her last for the label. Three years later, the team of Gamble & Huff found themselves re-cutting the record with the Philadelphia soul group, The Ambassadors. The cover version was released as a 45 and earned the group a minor R&B hit. The song was also used to lead off their full-length Arctic records LP, Soul Summit.

Neither of these records are very hard to find nowadays. With a bit of patience, each 45 can be yours via eBay for a decent price. Both are available on CD as well. The Dee Dee Sharp version can be found here on the 2005 Abkco records collection, The Best of Dee Dee Sharp 1962-1966 and the 1997 reissue of The Ambassadors' Soul Summit album is available here.

Listen (password req'd)

The Sweet Inspirations - Sweet Sweet Soul

The Sweet Inspirations were formed by Emily "Cissy" Drinkard (later taking the surname Houston after marriage). In the fifties, Cissy, her sister Lee (mother to Dee Dee & Dionne Warwick), along with Judy Guions (who later became Judy Clay), Marie Epps, Larry Drinkard, Nicholas Drinkard, Ann Moss were members of The Drinkard Singers, a family-based group that marked history in 1958 by having the first gospel album to appear on a major label.

In the early sixties, a collection of female vocalists consisting of Doris Troy, Dee Dee & Dionne Warwick found themselves in great demand by producers and songwriters throughout the industry. Around 1963, Doris and Dionne dropped out of the outfit to pursure solo careers and Sylvia Shemwell (sister to Judy Clay) and Cissy Houston stepped in to fill the gap with Cissy as leader of the troupe. When Dee Dee bowed out of the group in 1965 to nurture her own recording carreer, Myrna Smith served as her replacement. Shortly after, Soon after, Estelle Brown joined the group to complete the line-up.

In March 1967, the girls provided back up vocals for Van Morrison's classic, "Brown Eyed Girl". At this time the group still didn't have a name so one day at the suggestion of R&B crooner Chuck Jackson, the quartet was dubbed The Sweet Inspirations. One month later after the Morrison recording, the group recorded its first sides for Atlantic records. One of the tunes was a cover of the Staples Singers song, "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)". You can hear Sweet's version of "Why" on the jukebox featured on this site. While the singles did little in the way of sales, Atlantic stuck with the group and released their self-titled debut LP.

A few months later, The Sweets headed back into the studio again to work on their follow-up LP, a Gospel set entitled, Songs Of Faith & Inspiration. It was released in 1968 under the name "Cissy Drinkard & The Sweet Inspirations".

Not wasting any time, fresh off the Gospel album release, the ladies quickly got to work on their next project. The end product was the 1968 album, "What The World Needs Now Is Love". The LP featured two charting cuts the first, a cover of "To Love Somebody" originally recoded by the Bee Gees and the second, a soulful reading of the Righteous Brothers hit, "Unchained Melody". By this time, the Sweets had begun working with Elvis Presley in dual roles as backup singers and opening act.

The group's 4th Atlantic LP Sweets For My Sweet was issued early in 1969. For this set, the followed the formula of their first LP utilizing Alabama's Muscle Shoals rhythm section as the main backing band.

The ladies ventured into Philly's Sigma Sound Studio where they hooked up with Gamble & Huff staff producer, Ugene Dozier to begin laying groundwork for their next LP. Cissy's last recording date with the quartet was in October 1969, since left the group to pursue a solo career and put more focus on raising a family (I didn't bother to mention eaerlier that Cissy is the mother of Whitney Houston, I figured it was common knowledge already). The session produced the girls' next R&B hit, "Gotta Find Me A Brand New Lover" penned by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff. With Cissy's departure, Ann Williams signed on to finish the rest of the recordings that would make up the group's fifth and final album for Atlantic; Sweet Sweet Soul, released in 1970.

Williams left the group during a 1971 tour with Elvis. The girls pressed on as a trio recording the album, Estelle, Myrna and Sylvia for Stax in 1973.

In 1977, the Sweets teamed up with Philadelphia producer/arranger Richie Rome to record the one-off single, "Black Sunday". Released on CBS subsidiary, Caribou Records, the song was a disco take on a John Williams composition for the motion picture of the same name.

In 1979, another line-up change saw Gloria Brown replacing Estelle Smith. Brown toured with the group but didn't actually sing on their last album, Hot Butterfly issued in 1979 on RSO records. After a tour as the featured act on the Bee Gees' Spirit's Having Flown Tour, the Sweets disbanded.

The group reformed in 1994 with new member, Portia Griffin. In 2005, an all new full-length project entitled, In The Right Place was released on Frixion records. For the latest info on the group, visit their official website here.

In 2002, Sweet Sweet Soul was reissued on CD alongside Sweets For My Sweet as part of a 2-fer series on Spy Records (a division of Rhino). If you're interested, click here and grab a copy now...it's been out for six years already...who knows when it'll go OOP.

If CDs aren't for you and you just gotta have that flat black plastic, then you can get it right here.

Featured cut: "At Last I've Found A Love"

For the full album, listen here (password req'd)

Quickie: Joyce Hopson - This Time

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about the voice behind this quickie post. I only know that I grew up with this 45 as part of my Pop's collection and I always dug it. I'm guessing it was a one-off single circa 1968 recorded for Revue (a division of MCA) as I haven't come across any other records by her so far. I ripped it for my SOUL4Life.com 60s page about 5 years ago and the 45 is now far out of reach, else I would've ripped the flipside, "I Surrender To You" too. If anyone has any info about Joyce Hopson, drop a line.

While this single is a kinda on the rare side, you can still track down your own copy here or if you're lucky, here.

Dee Dee Warwick - Turning Around

Delia Mae Warrick was born on September 25, 1945 in Newark, New Jersey. Like her older sister Dionne, Delia (nicknamed Dee Dee) decided to change her last name from Warrick to Warwick in the early sixties.

In 1964, she signed to Mercury records subsidiary, Blue Rock Records where she saw her first charting single, "We're Doing Fine". The record was produced by Ed Townsend, who enjoyed his own chart success with his 1958 recording of "For Your Love". In years to follow, Townsend would go on to pen and produce mega-hits for Marvin Gaye, The Impressions and a host of others.

However, before any of that would happen he teamed up with Warwick once again in 1968 and the pair delivered the Grammy-nominated, Top 20 scorcher, "Foolish Fool" on the Mercury parent label. The single served as the lead release for Warwick's second album which soon followed.

Despite this success, none of her follow-up Mercury sides made much noise in the marketplace. She kept recording for another two years before making a move to Atco Records in 1970 where she released her third and final LP, Turning Around. She scored a Top Ten single on the R&B charts with "She Didn't Know (She Kept On Talking)". Backed largely by the Dixie Flyers rhythm section and backup vocal supergroup The Sweet Inspirations, Turning showcased a rawer, grittier, southern sound than her more polished Mercury sides.

Beatheads and crate diggers have long been familiar with the LP for the oft-sampled open drum break at the top of "I'm Glad I'm A Woman". Other album bright spots include, "Who Will The Next Fool Be?" and a completely reworked cover of the 1969 Spiral Staircase pop hit, "More Today Than Yesterday". Warwick continued to release singles for Atco over the next few years with minimal chart success but, unfortunately, the bulk of her output for the label never seemed to resonate with the record buying public. In later interviews she would attibute the lack of commercial success to Atlantic (Atco's parent company) throwing most of its promotional weight for female soul singers behind Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack.

In 1973 Warwick re-signed with Mercury records for a short time and released the single "All The Love That Went To Waste".

Throughout the remainder of the decade, Dee Dee recorded for Sutra, RCA (under the name Dede Schwartz), and Private Stock where she had her last charting record in 1975, "Get Out Of My Life" released under the name Dede Warwick.

After being inactive as a recording artist for the years that followed, in 1999, Dee Dee finally received some recognition for her years as a soulful recording artist in the form the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. Towards the end of 2006 Warwick returned to her performing career, singing background for sister Dionne on tour and contributing vocals to a song for the Tyler Perry film, "Daddy's Little Girls" entitled, "Family First".

In 1996 Ichiban Records compiled all of her Atco recordings and released, She Didn't Know- The Atco Sessions as part of their Soul Classics Series. The 22-track CD contained all the songs from the Turning Around album as well as a few non-LP singles and seven unreleased tracks from the vaults.

In 2001 Mercury followed suit and came up with, I Want to Be With You: The Mercury/Blue Rock Sessions although there are one or two missing tunes it's still the your best bet for getting on some of her rarer cuts on CD.

As of today, both CDs are out of print and tend to fetch top dollar. There is, however, some glimmer of hope for the budget conscious . The Mercury collection has been made available as a digital download via iTunes or Buy.com.

If what you desire is more of a tangible sort, you can try your luck at picking up the Atco sessions CD here or the Mercury sessions CD here.

If what you're really after is an OG vinyl pressing of Turning Around, then you can usually find one here or here.

Featured cut: "I'm Glad I'm A Woman"

For the full album, listen here (password req'd)