Classic Soul Archives

Philadelphia – The Philly Sound

Philly Soul; The Masters Series

T.S.O.P. (The Sound of Philadelphia) Extended Version (From Love Train: The Sound of Ph...

From the people who did that great magazine ‘There’s That Beat!’

How Philly became the Epicenter of Black Music!

The passionate team behind the acclaimed Northern Soul magazine There’s That Beat!, presents here in over 690 lavishly designed pages, their in-depth investigation of how Philadelphia became the hottest city in the American pop and soul music industry, not only once, but twice!

This meticulously researched book tells the remarkable story of the music entrepreneurs, songwriters, arrangers, record labels, recording studios all of which contributed to what became known as The Philly Sound, all beautifully presented in full, sumptuous, coloured detail, including a multitude of rare Soul/R&B discs, vintage photographs and memorabilia.

A quality point of reference and and superb book for any serious soul music fanatics as well as a must for every true Northern Soul record collector!

Looks like this book is a ‘have to have item’ for all Soul fans, covering the entire scene from that great city that also gave us that spreading cheese.

Wikipedia: Philadelphia Soul

All Stars

Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

Best Songs Of Janis Joplin || Janis Joplin Collection

Janis Joplin - Me and Bobby McGee (Official Music Video)

Janis Joplin - Cry Baby (Official Audio)

Carefree and wonderful free spirit, taken from us all too soon. A white woman with a soulful voice. A Soul singer, a blues singer, a great singer, a Soulful singer. A life of great promise cut short by an addiction to drugs, a lonely Soul, she just needed support and love.

Cry Baby (original – Garnet Mimms)

Piece Of My Heart (original – Erma Franklin)

Wikipedia: Janis Joplin

Johnny Wyatt

Johnny Wyatt - This Thing Called Love

This Thing Called Love – 1966 Twisted Wheel track

I Wouldn’t Change A Thing

Johnny Wyatt started out as a Doo Wop singer and joined the group Rochell and The Candles as lead singer. This Thing Called Love was played regularly as The Twisted Wheel club, Manchester.

Johnny Wyatt – SoulfuKindaMusic

Deanie Parker

Each Step I Take

Each Step I Take

Deanie Parker was born in Mississippi a Stax artist, singer and songwriter.

She then became an Director or Publicity at the Stax. She also became the CEO of the Soulsville Stax Museum in Memphis.

The Soul Music of Civil Rights

Soul Music and the Civil Rights Movement - Tyina Steptoe

Music in Civil Rights Movement (excerpt from PBS "Let Freedom Sing", 2009)

Soul Deep; The Story of Black Popular Music. Episode 1.

SOUL MUSIC & CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE USA – an article on the subject.

The Soul Music of Civil Rights – Here we list some of the best and most interesting songs from the period in the sixties and later. Many artists had to hide the underlying meaning of their lyrics so as not to attract direct hostility.

Dr. Martin Luther King and his movement of course initiated a lot of it. Its an interesting story. The film Mississippi Burning tells a terrible story but it was those events, and the martyrdom of two white students supporting the black Civil Rights movement that particularly inflamed the KKK white supremacists and changed the entire dynamic of the times, a great film.

Motown Sound – The Sixties Albums

Motown Chartbusters Vol.3 (Into the Grooves Album Discussion #3)

4. British Motown Chartbusters - VARIOUS ARTISTS

Motown Sound albums were released in the sixties. One of the very best things about Motown in the sixties was that they issued LP’s with lots of their hit tracks on them. It was ideal for promoting there artists and for fans who could get lots and lots of great sounds relatively inexpensively.

Sneered at by 45 singles collectors at the time, these days these collections are very valuable on vinyl:

There were lots of compilations such as British Motown Chartbusters, Motown Magic etc., and even box sets like this USA release:

THE MOTOWN STORY 5 LP Box Set:

It has audio introductions and stories told by the artists.

Stateside issued Motown Live Tour recordings:

Also rare and hard to find CD collections keeps up the tradition:

The Newbeats

Run Baby Run - The Newbeats - HD STEREO

The Newbeats "Everything's Alright" & "Bread & Butter"

Newbeats
Run Baby Run

It was knowing they were white and that awful but popular song Bread and Butter that put us off these The Newbeats at the time in 1965. Yes as Soul Mods at that time we only recognized black artists in the main as being legitimate Soul singers. But of course with hindsight its a silly elitist view of things that blind you to the value of things. This type of selection or rejection of things based from a certain adopted ‘attitude’ is a sort of fault in human mentality; we all suffer from from time to time; PHEW!

Having said that The Northern scene adopted this record and Kev Roberts puts it into his Top 500 at position 355. However in that entry in his book he claims that Run Baby Run was accepted and that everyone wanted it – this is very far from correct – see above.

The lead voice (falsetto) in the group – Larry Henley – did a solo and this was another that the later-day Northern Soul scene adopted: Crying My Heart Out.

Hip Hop Soulbot

We love black ethnic music: Blues Soul, R&B Funk, it’s all here. But Hip Hop? Rap?

But there ain’t no Hip Hop Soulbot stuff here – The original Hip Hop artists started out sampling using their roots; our beloved Black America Music, these first Hip Hoppers used the roots; and were rapping and creatively using Soul and Funk sound bites: a lot of James Brown. That was OK.

Kanye West’s early stuff was sort of OK but then it deteriorated.

Puff Daddy- Notorious – BIG – 2 Pack – Dr Dray – Kanye West and loads of others, then focused in on nasty themes. Crime, prostitution, sexual, promiscuity; a low materialistic theme runs throughout it all. Oversized Gold chains. Degrading and debased videos: very sordid and mostly stupid inane lyrics a simpleton would mnemonically string together. What’s going on?

A rapper who commented on it was PROFESSOR GRIFF formerly a member of Public Enemy. He tells what he thinks is behind the dark agenda of Hip Hop. Having said that, Professor Griff himself was mired in controversy. He made several deeply anti-semetic diatribes which got him in serious trouble later in his career and could we have been the reason he was fired from Public Enemy.

Wikipedia: Professor Griff

The conspirator lobby would have us believe the occult is involved in this just to add a bit of juice. A weird book called The Music Of Time tells about Chubby Checker‘s massive hit Let’s Twist Again included subliminal sounds to enhance purchasing the ’45 – and Phil Spector was involved; the book points to involvement in the music industry by the CIA. Oh dear…

The Insane Clown Posse (Jugallows) ‘Wup Woo’ is an example of other crazed themes in pop music.

For uplifting music just look around and play the great Soul music on our site.

And for some alternative to mainstream Hip Hop try this:

Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

And as for Rappers….

RAPPERS Take or leave em – We choose to leave em. A good example of their inane meaningless vocabulary is Snoop Dogs hit “Signs” with lyrics going like this:

“I from Los Angelous where the helicopters got camerous”

and with a chorus line of: “Don’t F*** with me”

Billy Stewart

Billy Stewart - Sitting in the Park

Fat Boy
I Do love You
Because I Love You
Sitting In The Park
Summertime

Born 24th March 1937 – Washington, D.C.
Died 17th January 1970 – Neuse River, North Carolina

Billy Stewart nicknamed ‘The Fat Boy’ was a pianist and soul singer and writer – the other FAT MAN was of course Fats Domino. He was given his first chance by Bo Diddley who gave him a backing musician’s job after hearing him play backstage.

Billy is best remembered for SITTING IN THE PARK, I DO LOVE YOU, BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, and his biggest popular hit SUMMERTIME.

Summertime was a George Gershwin standard but never before or since treated in such a remarkably stuttering style as the Billy Stewart version.

SECRET LOVE attempted to copy the success of Summertime but was inferior. Billy Stewart Recorded on the CHESS label. He was tragically killed in a car crash 17 January 1970 at the age of 32. When 17 he was in a group – The Rainbows which also included: Marvin Gaye, Chester Simmons, John Berry and Don Covey.

The FAT BOY played live at Manchester Twisted Wheel on 11th January 1969 and it was a great show. I Do Love You was a massive hit at all the Manchester Soul clubs.

Billy Stewart – Wikipedia

Chuck Wood

Chuck Wood - Seven Days Too Long

Chuck Wood Seven Days is Too Long / Northern Soul Dancing

Seven Days Is Too Long - Chuck Wood-1967

SEVEN DAYS TOO LONG – Roulette, 1966, Transatlantic 1967

Chuck Wood is best remembered for a track that would become one of the favourite soul anthems of the sixties – Seven Days Too Long. Seven Days to the next Twisted Wheel all nighter was sometimes too long as well!

But we got through the working week to return the next Saturday night to swing and turn and dance and talk and groove to sounds like this fantastic track when we danced all night at the Twisted Wheel.

Chuck Wood – Soul Shing Aling (Roulette) the B side of Seven Days Too Long also had a lot of plays.

We never heard from him again. Who was he? where is he? We can’t find Chuck…Kev Roberts puts him at no:10 in his Top 500. And Dexy’s Midnight Runners did a version – always wondered what exactly inspired that name….? Dexies assisted dancing to Seven Days: OKay the games up!

I’ve Got My Lovelight Shining – Big D 107

The ‘B’ Side Baby You Win

Weblinks

Chuck Wood – Funky16

Listen to Chuck Wood – Last FM

Chuck Wood – Berlin Battery

Wikipedia: Chuck Wood

Philly Soul; The Masters Series

Janis Joplin - Piece Of My Heart

Cry Baby (original – Garnet Mimms)

Piece Of My Heart (original – Erma Franklin)

Johnny Wyatt - This Thing Called Love

This Thing Called Love – 1966 Twisted Wheel track

Each Step I Take

Each Step I Take

Soul Music and the Civil Rights Movement - Tyina Steptoe

Motown Chartbusters Vol.3 (Into the Grooves Album Discussion #3)

Run Baby Run - The Newbeats - HD STEREO

Billy Stewart - Sitting in the Park

Fat Boy I Do love You Because I Love You Sitting In The Park Summertime

Chuck Wood - Seven Days Too Long

SEVEN DAYS TOO LONG – Roulette, 1966, Transatlantic 1967

Weblinks

Fat Boy
I Do love You
Because I Love You
Sitting In The Park
Summertime