Time Has Come Today!

The Chambers Brothers - The Time Has Come
COLUMBIA Records - CL 2722 - 1967

Side A
All Strung Out Over You
People Get Ready
I Can't Stand It
Romeo And Juliet
In The Midnight Hour
So Tired

Side B
Uptown
Please Don't Leave Me
What The World Needs Now Is Love
Time Has Come Today

By 1967 when the Chambers Brothers recorded this, their third album, they had been performing together for twelve years. Up until this point their music was mostly gospel based and they enjoyed a lot of popularity on the folk circuit and had recorded two albums for Vault Records (blog post to come). However, when they signed to Columbia their music shifted away from the folk scene to land smack in the middle of the burgeoning psychedelic scene of the 'Summer Of Love'.

The album is a fantastic mix of soul and psychedelic rock with covers of soul and pop hits as well as their own tunes. Storming soul tracks, such as 'All Strung Out Over You', 'The Midnight Hour' and 'I Can't Stand It' are interspersed with tracks that hark back to their gospel roots, including a beautiful version of 'People Get Ready'. But it is the last track on the album, the epic 'Time Has Come Today', that this album is most remembered for. At just over 11 minutes long this psychedelic opus has everything you could possibly want in a psychedelic record. The alternate striking of cowbells creates a tick-tock effect running through the whole track, with the edition of phasing, distortion, echo, fuzz guitars, screaming, manic laughing and a widely varying tempo it's quite disconcerting. There's even a few bars of 'Little Drummer Boy' in there. There are few records more psychedelic.

'The Time Has Come' is much more than just a vehicle for 'Time Has Come Today' though, it works very well as an album and stands many, many listens. It remains one of my all time favourites. So marvel at the beauty of 'People Get Ready', groove to 'I Can't Stand It' then prepare to have your soul psychedelicised by 'Time Has Come Today'........

Arthur Alexander - The Greatest

Arthur Alexander - The Greatest
Ace Records - CDCHD 922 - 1989

Tracks:
01 - Anna
02 - You're The Reason
03 - Soldier Of Love
04 - I Hang My Head And Cry
05 - You Don't Care
06 - Dream Girl
07 - Call Me Lonesome
08 - After You
09 - Where Have You Been
10 - A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
11 - Don't You Know It
12 - You Better Move On
13 - All I Need Is You
14 - Detroit City
15 - Keep Her Guessing
16 - Go Home Girl
17 - In The Middle Of It All
18 - Whole Lot Of Trouble
19 - Without A Song
20 - I Wonder Where You Are Tonight
21 - Black Night

Arthur Alexander is quite rightly seen as a pioneer of the country-soul sound. In 1961 he recorded 'You Better Move On/A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues' at a fledgling Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Producer Rick Hall was convinced he had a hit and shopped it around to the major record companies in Nashville but none were interested. So he played it for influential DJ Noel Ball, who was a scout for Dot Records. He agreed with Hall's conviction and sent a copy to Dot's president Randy Wood, who gave it the go ahead. By early 1962 'You Better Move On/A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues' was heading up the Billboard charts, peaking at 24 after Arthur appeared on American Bandstand. This started a run of highly influential (if not overly successful) singles and albums for Arthur on Dot throughout the early sixties.

This CD contains the best of the recordings made by Arthur during his time at Dot Records, 1961 to 1965. The music is a glorious mix of R&B, country, early soul and pop which may explain why he didn't have great success. The American music industry was still very segregated at the time and music that had crossed divisions tended to fall down the cracks. This was not the case in the UK, most of the singles were released on the London label in the UK, but the market was limited. However, many that did buy the singles were in bands themselves and Arthur's songs became staples of the beat groups. Most famously 'You Better Move On' was covered by the Rolling Stones, 'Anna' by the Beatles and 'A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues' by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates.

Incidently, Rick Hall had a 2% lease deal on the master of 'You Better Move On/A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues'. This amounted to $10,000 which was enough to begin construction of a new Fame Studios where he would record two dozen million selling singles including Aretha Franklin's first major hit 'I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)'.

Here for your listening pleasure is Arthur singing 'You Better Move On', 'Anna' and 'Soldier Of Love'. Enjoy, you'll hear nothing better all day................

Boss Soul

Various Artists - Boss Soul: The Genius Of Barry White
VAMPISOUL Records - VAMPI CD 007

Tracks:
01 - I Don't Need It - Barry White
02 - A Man Ain't Nothin' - Barry White
03 - I Got Love - Viola Wills
04 - Lost Without The Love Of My Guy - Viola Wills
05 - This Thing Called Love - Johnny Wyatt
06 - To Whom It May Concern - Johnny Wyatt
07 - Together Forever - Viola Wills
08 - Don't Kiss Me Hello - Viola Wills
09 - It May Be Winter Outside - Felice Taylor
10 - Everybody's Going Mod - Johnny Wyatt
11 - I Feel Love Coming On - Felice Taylor
12 - You're Out Of My Mind - Viola Wills
13 - Under The Influence Of Love - Felice Taylor
14 - All In The Run Of The Day - Barry White
15 - Don't Take Your Love From Me - Barry White
16 - Love Theme - Barry White

Before Barry White became disco's 'Walrus of Love' he had a varied career. He played piano on Jesse Belvin's 'Goodnight My Love' at age 11 and sang with various vocal groups in the Los Angeles area. He also had a career outside of the law and was jailed for four months at age 16 for stealing $30,000 worth of Cadillac tyres. In 1966 he was hired by Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records as a songwriter/producer/artist for his Bronco, Mustang and Downey subsidiaries, for the princely sum of $40 a week. This album collects the best of his work for Del-Fi and all the songs are written by him. As an artist he released singles under his own name and the name Lee Barry. His first big success was with Viola Wills's 'Lost Without The Love Of My Guy/I Got Love' which got into the R&B Top 20 and pushed his wages up to $60 a week. But it was another female singer that Barry had the most success with, Felice Taylor. Her popularity, particularly in Britain, reputedly caused Barry's wages to rise to $600 a week.

Del-Fi ceased trading in 1967 and Barry went on to bigger things, but many of the singles that Barry had a hand in for Del-Fi are now soul and northern soul classics. Here's three of my favourites; Lee Barry 'I Don't Need It', Viola Wills 'I Got Love' and Felice Taylor performing 'I Feel Love Coming On' on Germany's Beat Club.....

Testify!

The Parliaments - Testify!: The Best Of The Early Years
CONNOISSEUR COLLECTION - VSOP CD 286

Tracks:
01 - (I Wanna) Testify
02 - I Can Feel The Ice Melting
03 - All Your Goodies Are Gone
04 - Don't Be Sore At Me
05 - Little Man
06 - The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg
07 - Look At What I Almost Missed
08 - What You Been Growing
09 - Good Old Music
10 - Time
11 - A New Day Begins
12 - I'll Wait
13 - I'll Wait (inst.)
14 - All Your Goodies Are Gone (inst.)
15 - Baby I Owe You Something (inst.)
16 - Lets Make It Last - The Fellows
17 - She's Always There - The Fellows
18 - Heart Trouble
19 - That Was My Girl

The roots of George Clinton's Parliaments stretch back to the mid 1950's and a barber shop in New Jersey, where a group of teenagers formed a doo-wop group named after Parliament cigarettes. As a doo-wop group they released 'Poor Willie/Party Boys' on Apt Records in 1958 and 'Lonely Island/You Make Me Wanna Cry' on Flipp Records in 1960, without much success. In 1962 George got a job as a songwriter and producer for Motown in their New York office. Obviously George pitched The Parliaments to Motown, but a 1964 session in Detroit was rejected. That same year George teamed up with two other Motown employees, Sidney Barnes and Andrew 'Mike' Terry to form GEO-SI-MIK Productions. They sold their services to the newly formed Golden World/Ric-Tic/Wingate record labels of Detroit. As well as production and song writing duties, this resulted in a single for The Parliaments. 'Heart Trouble/That Was My Girl' was released in 1965 on Golden World and is included on this CD, although it says the tracks are demo versions I can't tell the difference. For me 'Heart Trouble' was the first Parliaments track I heard and is one of my all time favourite soul songs.

In 1966 GEO-SI-MIK began working for Revilot/Solid Hit Records, also in Detroit. While contributing to many numbers on this label, George and the latest version of The Parliaments recorded '(I Wanna) Testify/I Can Feel The Ice Melting' in 1966. This single spent so long on the shelf before it's release in 1967, that George went back to barbering in Newark for a while. When it was finally released it was a hit, reaching No.3 in the R&B charts. The band rushed back to Detroit and recorded the rest of The Parliaments tracks on this CD, allegedly in one mammoth session. The Parliaments released a total of six singles on Revilot between 1967 and 1969, none doing quite as well as '(I Wanna) Testify' but all great (in my opinion). The instrumental tracks were used as B-sides for other artists on Revilot/Solid Hit and the two tracks by The Fellows were recorded by a Temptations sounding group produced by George.

Unfortunately George got caught in a contractual dispute surrounding the bankruptcy of Revilot/Solid Hit and was no longer able to use the name The Parliaments. In order to keep recording for other labels George renamed the band Funkadelic and headed off in a whole other direction. But that's another story for another day, in the mean time enjoy some top notch vocal group soul from The Parliaments....

Tell Mama

Etta James - Tell Mama: The Complete Muscle Shoals Sessions
CHESS Records - 2001
Original Release CADET Records - 1968

Tracks:
Original Album:
01 - Tell Mama
02 - I'd Rather Go Blind
03 - Watch Dog
04 - The Love Of My Man
05 - I'm Gonna Take What He's Got
06 - The Same Rope
07 - Security
08 - Steal Away
09 - My Mother In Law
10 - Don't Lose Your Good Thing
11 - It Hurts So Much
12 - Just A Little Bit
Bonus Tracks:
13 - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
14 - You Took It
15 - I Worship The Ground You Walk On
16 - I Got You Babe
17 - You Got It
18 - I've Gone Too Far
19 - Misty
20 - Almost Persuaded
21 - Fire
22 - Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (alternate)

Despite having a string of hits for Chess between 1960 and '63, by 1967 Etta James had not had a significant seller for four years. Leonard Chess always believed in his favourite female singer, so he sent Etta to Rick Hall's Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama to see if they could work the same magic for her that they had for Aretha Franklin. In August 1967 Leonard went with a pregnant Etta, her Boyfriend and two poodles to the first of four sessions at Fame. The results were some of the finest work she ever recorded. The first release from these sessions was the hard sockin' single 'Tell Mama' backed with the sublime 'I'd Rather Go Blind'. 'Tell Mama' a reworking of Clarence Carter's 'Tell Daddy' was a top ten R&B hit and 'I'd Rather Go Blind' became a blues/soul classic. The original Queen Of Soul was back. The album was released in January 1968, went to number 21 in the R&B chart and produced another single 'Security'. Her take on the Otis Redding classic got to 11 in the R&B charts. Subsequent singles from the sessions, 'You Got It' and 'Almost Persuaded' didn't do quite so well, in fact none of her future singles ever charted so high.

For me the songs Etta recorded at Fame Studios captured her at her best. From the upbeat, hard driving, gutsy dance tunes of 'Tell Mama', 'Watchdog' and 'Fire' to the heart wrenching soul of 'I'd Rather Go Blind', 'The Love Of My Man' and 'Steal Away' and all points in between she was rarely better.

Enjoy both sides of the single 'Tell Mama'/'I'd Rather Go Blind' and the downright funky 'Fire'.....

The Soul Of Ike & Tina

Ike & Tina Turner - The Soul Of Ike & Tina Turner - KENT - 014
Originally Released On KENT (US) 1964-1966

Side A
Goodbye So Long
If I Can't Be First
Chicken Shack
I Don't Need
I Wish My Dreams Would Come True
Hard Times
Flee Flee Fla

Side B
It's Crazy Baby
Gonna Have Fun
Am I A Fool In Love
Something Came Over Me
Hurt Is All You Gave Me
Don't You Blame It On Me
I Can't Believe What You Say

This is a compilation of tracks Ike & Tina recorded between 1964 and 1966 for the Bihari brothers' KENT records of L.A. Containing upbeat r&b and a few ballads, these tunes are definitely geared towards the dance floor. Their big hit 'A fool In Love' is revisited with 'Am I A Fool In Love' and the very similar sounding 'Hard Times' which features Tina testifying at the start. 'It's Gonna Work Out Fine' (their other big hit) is also revisited with 'Something Came Over Me' featuring Ike's vocals and tremello heavy guitar. Unfortunately none of the tracks on this album crossed over into the Billboard chart's top 40, which was always Ike's goal, but today they are considered classics.

All the tracks on this album are great but for me the best are three tracks below, 'I Can't Believe What You Say', 'Chicken Shack' and 'Flee, Flee, Fla' enjoy....

Doin' Mickey's Monkey

The Miracles - Doin' Mickey's Monkey - MOTOWN M5-217V1
Originally released on TAMLA TM245 - 1963

Side A
Mickey's Monkey
Dance What You Wanna
The Wah-Watusi
The Twist
Dancin' Holiday
Land Of 1000 Dances

Side B
I Gotta Dance To Keep From Cryin'
The Monkey Time
The Groovey Thing
Twist And Shout
Do You Love Me

This 1963 Miracles album is all about dancing and contains the smash hit 'Mickey's Monkey', their take on the monkey dance craze. 'Mickey's Monkey' was their third million selling single in as many years and made it to No. 3 on the US R&B charts and No. 10 on the Billboard charts. As well as the Miracles, members of the Supremes, Marvelettes and Temptations can be heard singing in the background. The follow up single 'I Gotta Dance To Keep From Cryin' didn't do quite as well on the charts (No. 35 on Billboard) but is probably better remembered as it has been covered by so many bands since. Both the singles were written by Holland, Dozier, Holland, 'The Groovey Thing' by Smokey and 'Dancin' Holiday' by Miracle Bobby Rogers. The rest of the album is made up of cover versions of popular dance tunes. Not that there's any filler in this album the whole thing is designed to keep you dancing from start to finish.

Just in case you don't remember or don't know how, here's how to do the monkey....

Now you've mastered that, put it to good use with this.......

And here's the other single from the album, 'I Gotta Dance To Keep From Cryin'.....

I Need Help (Live On Stage)

Bobby Byrd - I Need Help (Live On Stage)
POLYDOR Records PD 1118 - 1970

Side A
I Need Help (I Can't Do It Alone) Part 1
I Need Help (I Can't Do It Alone) Part 2
It's I Who Love You (Not Him Anymore)

Funky Soul Part 1

I Found Out

You've Got To Change Your Mind

Side B

You Got To Have A Job (If You Don't Work You Can't Eat)

I'm Not To Blame

I'll Lose My Mind

My Concerto

Hang Ups We Don't Need (The Hungry We Got To Feed)

You Gave My Heart A Chance To Sing

I have often thought that although James Brown assumed leadership of Bobby Byrd's band, Bobby may have got the better deal. He still got to perform the great music that he (often uncredited) and James created, he released material under his own name, he was M.C. and musical director to the James Brown Show, he was a featured performer in that show, sang duets with James and crucially it was him who James often asked if he could "take it to the bridge" or "count it off"! He got to do all of that without the pressure of being James Brown (which must have been immense) and he always seemed to be having a damn good time.

This great live album from 1970 goes a long way to prove that theory. Musically it's a mix of upbeat funk, ballads and social commentary. The JBs are on fine form, there's strings on 'I Found Out' and he sings a duet with James Brown on 'You've Got To Change You're Mind'.

So here's Bobby, introduced by James, on a couple of funk classics.......

Dylan's Gospel

The Brothers & Sisters - Dylan's Gospel - SEQUEL Records NEMCD 404
Originally released on ODE Records 1969

Tracks:
01 - The Times They Are A-Changin'
02 - I Shall Be Released
03 - Lay Lady Lay
04 - Mr. Tambourine Man
05 - All Along The Watchtower
06 - The Mighty Quinn
07 - Chimes Of Freedom
08 - I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
09 - My Back Pages
10 - Just Like A Woman

This is not just another Dylan-sploitation album, this really is something special. The songs of Bob Dylan sung by a soulful gospel choir, and not just any old choir. The 27 strong choir featured in its numbers such soul luminaries as Clydie King, Merry Clayton, Patrice Holloway and Gloria Jones. The musical backing and arrangement is handled by Gene Page and is kept simple leaving the choir to the fore. The result is wonderful and gives a whole new dimension to Dylan's music. Don't take my word for it though, listen for yourself........

Pure Genius

 

Ray Charles - Pure Genius - The Complete Atlantic Recordings (1952-1959)
Luxury Box Set 7 CD, 1 DVD & 80 Page Hardback Book
RHINO Records - R2 74731 - 2005

If there was an award for the best designed box set ever, this would surely win it as it really is a thing of beauty. Designed to look like a vintage portable record player with the Ray Charles single 'Mess Around' on the turntable, this set contains 7 CDs, 1 DVD and an 80 page hardback book. The first 6 CDs contain every track Ray released on Atlantic records, both studio and live and even includes the album 'Fathead' by David 'Fathead' Newman that Ray played piano on. Disc 7 contains a rehearsal session with Ahmet Ertegun from 1953, recording session outtakes from 1958 and Ray's arrangement suggestions for 'The Genius of Ray Charles' album also from 1958. Most of the tracks on this disc were previously unissued at the time. The DVD contains previously unissued footage of Ray performing 9 tracks at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival and an interview with Ahmet Ertegun from 2005. The book contains essays about Rays time with Atlantic, the sleeve notes from all his Atlantic albums and a comprehensive discography/sessionography.

Released in 2005 shortly after Ray's death in 2004, this box set is a fitting monument to the man they called 'Genius'. However, I think this set can also be seen as one of the last hurrahs of the luxury CD box set. The industry at the time was in decline, the value of CDs were dropping rapidly and it would soon no longer be viable to spend so much time and money creating works of art such as this. In fact this set was released again in 2012 in a much more basic form with no DVD. At the end of the day it's the music that counts not the packaging, but a little luxury doesn't hurt now and then.

Just in case you needed a reminder of why everyone needs Ray's music in their life, here's 'Tell The Truth' from 1959..........

Rocky Roberts And The Airedales

Rocky Roberts & Les Airedales - Monkey, Bird & Riviera - 1964
BARCLAY Records 80233 S

Side A
T. Bird (Bird)
I'll Take Care Of You (Blues)
Looking For A Love (Bird)
Non Ho L'Eta (Yes Yes My Love) (Slow)
I Got Money (Monkey)

Side B
Monkey A Valbonne (Monkey)
My Tears (Bird)
Somebody Mentioned Your Name (Slow)
Mov' On (Monkey)
Shout PT 1 (Monkey)
Shout PT 2 (Bird)

After leaving the US Navy, Rocky (Charles) Roberts decided to settle in Europe to be a singer with his band the Airedales. Clad in sharp suits and shades, with all the latest dance moves they became an instant success. Their brand of high energy R&B and soul cover were very popular in Europe, particularly Italy where Rocky went on to have solo hits. In fact their sound is not dissimilar to the live albums of another US ex-serviceman, Geno Washington. This album, recorded live in person at Club du Valbonne in the south of France, is typical of their output and is great. Handily they note the dance required for each song (which I've replicated above) so you don't end up looking a fool at your local disco.

Here's Rocky and the boys performing 'T. Bird' in 1966.......

Souled Out

The Righteous Brothers - Souled Out - Verve Records - 1967

Tracks:
01 - Been So Nice
02 - Stranded In The Middle Of No Place
03 - If Loving You Is Wrong (I'm So Sorry)
04 - Here I Am
05 - It's Up To You
06 - So Many Lonely Nights Ahead
07 - I Don't Believe In Losing
08 - Love Keeps Callin' My Name
09 - (I Need) Someone Like You
10 - You Bent My Mind
11 - Without You I'd Be Lost

The Righteous Brothers are mostly remembered for their big ballads such as 'Ebb Tide', 'Unchained Melody' and 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling' but in 1967 they recorded this blue eyed soul classic for MGM/Verve. Produced by former Motown producer Mickey Stevenson, with songs mostly by Stevenson or Leon Ware, this is an album of 'four to the floor' Motown style grooves and a couple of soulful big ballads. Unfortunately the album and it's single 'Stranded In The Middle Of No Place / Been So Nice' failed to capture the public's attention at the time and they parted company soon after.

So listen to the amazing voices of Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley at their most soulful and wonder what could have been if the album was a hit.....

"Live" Full House

The J. Geils Band - "Live" Full House - ATLANTIC - 1972

Tracks:

01 - First I Look At The Purse
02 - Homework
03 - Pack Fair And Square
04 - Whammer Jammer
05 - Hard Drivin' Man
06 - Serves You Right To Suffer
07 - Cruisin' For A Love
08 - Lookin' For A Love

If ever a party was captured on an album this is it, the J. Geils Band's first live album. Starting with a storming cover of the Contours' ode to gold digging, 'First I Look At The Purse', they blast through a mix of covers and originals hardly pausing for breath. The only criticism of this album is that it's too short. If ever an album needed a deluxe reissue of the full concert, this one does.

Listen to the album on Spotify here, or the YouTube video below and crank up the volume....