The Valdons Stop, Wait A Minute Girl / Whatcha Gonna Do

In 1971 The Valdons released their one and only record, “All Day Long” b/w “Love Me, Leave Me.” While it never earned them massive commercial success, today it is remembered by many as an incredible display of soul music. In late 2012 Secret Stash Records helped reform The Valdons to commemorate the release of the Twin Cities Funk & Soul compilation. After working closely with the band for months, one of The Valdons brought a stack of old rehearsal tapes into the label’s offices. They spent countless hours repairing, digitizing, and cataloging the beat up tapes. Many of the recordings contained only short song ideas and performances that were taped over half way through. Secret Stash’s house band, The Lakers, teamed up with the 4 piece vocal group to complete arrangements of some of these lost songs. In the spring of 2013 The Valdons hit the studio to finally make proper recordings of songs they’d written over 40 years ago. “Stop, Wait A Minute Girl” B/W “Whatcha Gonna Do” is the first release drawn from those sessions. The A side is an upbeat number that finds lead vocalist Clifton Curtis (with help of the fabulous Valdons) pleading with his lover to open her eyes and see that he’s the one for her. The flip side sticks with the same theme, but this time it’s found in the form of a slow burning soul number. The sentiment of the song can be summed up by this one lyric, “It’s love that makes a woman. And the woman makes the man. And I love you. Won’t you reach out and take my hand?”