Kent Dance Funk | Soul 19 Items

This Kent single has been eagerly awaited for some time. Plays at the 100 Club and other venues of ill-repute, has made it a must-play, dancefloor-filling track.

Best known for ‘Gonna Hang On In There’, its storming Northern Soul flip side, the more subtle ‘Night Bloomin’ Jasmin’’ also has admirers on the rare soul scene. Modernists, in particular, will go for the suave jazz-elegance of this recording which is even scarcer than its original A side - due to being one of two different flips.

‘This Is My Chance’ lay dormant until the late 90s when it was included on an Ace CD of Excello southern soul material. That series was aimed mainly at ballad fans but Gentry’s mid-tempo charms made it ideal for the modern soul dance scene. The Kent promo 12” issued at the time is now an in-demand piece of vinyl. Mystery surrounds who wrote Shirley Brown’s ‘Even If The Signs Are Wrong’ but this splendid, lilting soul song deserves a vinyl release.

‘Hope For Love’ turned up on a one-off master tape which arrived at Ace HQ courtesy of Grapevine Records, who knew we were working with Darrow. Darrow thought the tape was one he and his stepfather Johnnie Haygood made to interest Ray Charles. Ray eventually signed Darrow to his Crossover label. Darrow remembered cutting it in the early 70s, a period when he was relatively inactive recording wise. It has proved to be very popular with the two-step crowd and a vinyl single version will be very welcome.

Darrow’s original recording of the Grey & Hanks’ song ‘No Limit’ was issued by Kent in 2012 on CD and as a single. That limited-run 45 sold out quickly but demand has continued to grow, making the current price upwards of £100. ‘No Limit’ was also recorded and released by both Jean Terrell and Breakwater in 1979.

The recent find of four Joe Graham recordings in the GRC/Aware tapes has shown there was much more to Joe’s talents than the southern soul of his 60s Chant recordings and the synthesiser, electro pop he recorded for various Atlanta labels in the 80s. ‘Higher Than High’ is a soulful disco number featuring a relentless beat. The track already has a strong following, thanks to advance plays in Europe and the UK from DJ Dave Thorley. This track, along with three other numbers, were recorded around 1976 for the GRC stable – just as the company was floundering so badly that the songs were left as unmixed multi-track tapes. Now mixed the demand for this one will be high.

We’ve taken the opportunity of including another excellent, unreleased at the time, recording from the revered John Edwards. ‘It’s Got To Be The Real Thing For Me This Time’ is an uptempo Sam Dees song, unheard until the 1990s release of the first batch of GRC/Aware tapes

The Houston Outlaws ‘Ain’t No Telling’ is re-released due to the constant demand for this atmospheric dance track. It has been coupled with their in-demand harmony ballad ‘It’s No Fun Being Alone’ from the same year; though they were originally two separate US releases.

Yet again a new 100 Club Anniversary 45 has been instantly acclaimed and has become highly sought-after on release. Warren Raye’s ‘It’s The Feeling I Get’ is now available on a commercial pressing and this superb crossover number will be one of the biggest sellers of the year.

Warren Raye delivers the definitive version and his singing is equally masterful on the flip side - ‘I Can’t Turn You Down’ - a song that recently featured on a Kent Masterpieces CD by Melanie Burke. Both recordings are discoveries from Mickey Stevenson’s unissued tapes cache.

Co-writer Charles Spurling sang and wrote at King in the late 60s, providing songs for James Brown, Hank Ballard, Junior McCants and Peggy & Artie among others. ‘Ball Of Fire’ is an exceptional song, first recorded by Connie Austin as a smouldering mid-tempo number on which she pours her heart out. It would be updated a year later by Marva Whitney who took it at a faster funkier pace. Charles Spurling remembers Connie as a good-looking, fast-living girl who was murdered in Los Angeles soon after.

Spurling was a good singer himself and had five King releases between 1967 and 1969. The excellent ‘You’ve Got Love On Top Of Love’ failed to make it to wax until now. Kent found the tape in the King vaults and issued it on CD in 2001; now it is on a righteous single.

Dennis Coffey and Mike Theodore’s productions on the Detroit group CJ & CO were mainly in the disco field but Westbound’s tapes also revealed a superb version of the Moods’ ‘Rainmaker’ and a glorious mid-tempo number ‘Let Them Talk’. Diggin’ Deep’s limited release of ‘Let Them Talk’ sold out in days so here it is to satisfy demand, coupled with a first time on vinyl for ‘Rainmaker’.

George Jackson’s beautiful ‘Talking About The Love I Have For You’ has become increasingly in-demand in recent years and the original pressing is now fetching hundreds of pounds. To make this release even more tempting we have added his late 60s recording ‘It’s Not Safe To Mess Over Me’, a real southern soul stomper that was a star track on our “Fame Northern Soul” CD and debuts here on vinyl.

Those Merced Blue Notes were hep Californians from the San Joaquin Valley whose live shows were a major feature of teenage life in the early 60s there; “music with a beat that just won’t stop” as they quite rightly claimed. Top Mod DJ Lee Miller picked up the previously unissued ‘Sundown’ track from the Merced Blue Notes Ace release and won over that scene’s dancers with the infectious mover. We’ve also included ‘Whole Lotta Something’ on the flip to introduce you personally to these hip music hounds.

Mirwood Records’ second release was Jackie Lee’s ‘The Duck’, an uptempo soul swinger that became a big hit and established the Mirwood sound. The house team of producer Fred Smith, arranger James Carmichael, songwriter and backing voices arranger Sherlie Matthews, along with contributions from veteran singer/songwriters Bobby Relf and Earl Nelson (Bob & Earl), made for uptempo soul perfection and they played that beat throughout 1965 and 1966.

More US chart action occurred for Mirwood with the Olympics and Bob & Earl but much of their superlative work fell on deaf American ears. It was the British soul aficionados of the early 70s who discovered these masterpieces and played them on the burgeoning Northern Soul scene with dancers revelling in the relentless beats, pleading vocals and sassy female backing. Virtually any Jackie Lee track was a worthy contender and although they never repeated his ‘Duck’ success, the company created soul classics like ‘Do The Temptation Walk’, the later master tape discovery ‘Anything You Want (Any Way You Want It)’ and the anthemic ‘Oh My Darlin’’.

Bob & Earl’s hottest number was actually the backing track to Bob’s speedy ‘My Little Girl’, discovered as an accidental LP track in the late 60s. Under the same alias, Bobby Garrett, he had another monster sound with ‘I Can’t Get Away’. Sherlie Matthews composed the hit ‘Mine Exclusively’ for the Olympics and, in a similar stomping vein, wrote ‘The Same Old Thing’ for the group. She penned ‘Don’t Pretend’ for mystery trio the Belles, a studio group consisting of herself along with the Holloway sisters Brenda and Patrice, who were moonlighting while under contract at Motown and Capitol, respectively.

Another Los Angeles stable under the auspices of Henry “Hank” Graham threw the Performers into the mix with ‘I Can’t Stop You’ and renamed singer Jimmy Conwell as Richard Temple for a 45 that epitomises Northern Soul ‘That Beatin’ Rhythm’; a credo for a cult. More indie productions came from Eddie LaShae with the Sheppards’ redoubtable ‘Stubborn Heart’ and Sonny Knight’s production of Curtis Lee on his own ‘Is She In Your Town’.

Ex-Ike Turner sideman Jimmy Thomas landed at Mirwood in 1966 where Bob Relf recorded him on his own ‘Where There’s A Will (There’s A Way)’. Thomas brought the Ikettes along with him; the company switched their name to the Mirettes for the Sherlie Matthews’ song ‘I Wanna Do Everything For You Baby’.

14 vital mid-60s dance records which exemplify why Mirwood is a byword for the best of Northern Soul.

Modernism goes vinyl! After two successful CD volumes, Kent’s look at the sort of R&B and club soul that could have been danced to by the original mods – if only they had known about it – arrives with a special vinyl edition.

Gathering up favourite discoveries from the CDs, this 14-track LP is augmented by other tracks culled from the mod jazz series together with a couple of exclusives.

This compilation is a selection of high spots, with something for every mod fan whatever the style. Classic club soul from Bob & Earl, Bessie Banks and Jeb Stuart jostles with jazzy R&B from Floyd White and Clarence Daniels plus some almost-funk from Chuck Higgins and Chet Ivey.

Three tracks are released on vinyl for the first time whilst many others are seeing their first reissue on the format. One of these is the super rare ‘Go’ by Little Johnny Hamilton and the Creators, a band that would go on to become 1970s chart-toppers War.

You have to really search through the Doré catalogue to find the soul 45s, but when you do it is hugely rewarding. Its jewels have only been revealed to Northern Soul collectors over time and several are ridiculously scarce; Little Johnny Hamilton’s ‘Keep On Movin’’ and the Swans’ ‘Nitty Gritty City’ remain one-off disc discoveries. Guaranteed dancefloor classics abound, including Rita & the Tiaras’ ‘Gone With The Wind Is My Love’, Little Johnny Hamilton’s ‘Oh How I Love You’ and the Puffs’ ‘I Only Cry Once A Day Now’.

The Superbs’ ‘Wind In My Sails’ and Milton James’ mesmeric ‘My Lonely Feeling’ represent the funkier end of the Northern Soul sound, while tracks by Ray Marchand and the Shades Of Jade are subtle mid-tempo soul of the highest quality. Nearly all are rare, expensive and beautiful, while Kenard’s ‘What Did You Gain By That’ is highly imaginative, and the Fidels’ ‘I’m Givin’ You Notice Baby’ is just a classic 60s soul stomper.

All together on beautiful 12-inch vinyl, they are irresistible.

This pairing was slated to be Event 218 in late 1974, but as no copies have emerged, it can be assumed that the single was pulled. It is hard to know why, but judging by its rarity the Anderson Brothers GSF release of ‘I Can See Him Loving You’ was a commercial failure - perhaps Event didn’t want to suffer a similar fate.

This reading of producer Ray Dahrouge’s song is more soulful and vital than the Anderson Brothers which was huge on the Northern Soul scene, but without this take for competition at the time.

Maybe the steamy finale to the Mayberry’s version was a bit too much for radio play, but surely the brilliance of the ballad A side would have compensated for that. Their loss; our gain.

Dee Ervin suffered collateral damage from GRC/Aware’s bankruptcy. He only got to release two mediocre sides on Hotlanta but these recordings match anything he created in a successful career throughout the 60s & 70s.

By 1974 he was as much a composer as artist, but he excels at both on these two numbers that were fully produced and ready for release. ‘You Make Me Happy’ is a terrific uptempo dance track that recently featured on Cdkend 512 “Masterpieces Of Modern Soul; Vol 6”.

‘Give Me One More Day’ was issued erroneously in 1975 as a Tribe LP track on ABC, but the session details clearly have it as a Dee Ervin recorded number.

Clydene Jackson’s 1975 debut LP for Ray Charles Crossover imprint failed to make much noise on its release. It is largely a smooth jazz-based album, half the tracks of which were written by Clydene. One track, in particular, broke the sophisticated music mould and was picked up by UK DJs on the Modern Soul scene.

‘I Need Your Love’ became popular in the UK and eventually Europe, leading to the track’s release on a single-sided 45 in 2001 That pressing did not satisfy demand however and the song’s popularity has continued to grow and grow. Kent are making it available with the excellent ‘We’re In Love’, another self-penned track from the same LP, on the flip.