Category Archives: Collectors Soul

Joshie Jo Armstead in Brooklyn

As I’ve got older, the thought of another night spent listening to time warped oldies on New Year’s Eve drives me crazy, so imagine how my pulse jumped when I saw that Chicago Soulstress, Joshie Jo Armstead was going to perform in Brooklyn at the rather fine Dig Deeper. From then there was only one course of action – get the flights & hotel booked, check the credit card has a few $$$’s still left, promise Clare that New York at this time of year is very special & go . . . !

I had missed Joshie when she ‘joined the caravan’ & visited the UK back around 1990, performing to backing tapes at Southport & The Kilt in Scotland. It probably wasn’t her finest hour, but having the opportunity to sing in front of a real band, supported by a brass section & top drawer backing singers must have turned the lady, as it was her first live show in the US since 1981.

Dig Deeper has been keeping Brooklyn Soulful for the last 6 years constantly bringing wonderful acts to the stage at Littlefield. Run by Richard Lewis & Michael Robinson, this is a pretty up-front venue & when you factor in it was New Year’s Eve then it was only ever going to be electric. Continue reading Joshie Jo Armstead in Brooklyn →

Why do we collect records?

Why ask me?

I don’t know. Why do women look into a full wardrobes, sigh, and say ‘I’ve nothing to wear’.

Why do people take cars only couple of years old and in perfect working order and change them for a newer model? Why do people spend millions on a canvas with paint splattered on it?

It’s their money, they do what they want with it. Me? I’m happy buying records. I buy them because I like them. 1962 to 2010 couldn’t care less, as long as the vocal’s there, no problem. Get it in the collection. Photos too, especially the 60s ones, black & white photographs – magic. And the songsheets. And dentures, yeah, false teeth as worn by Sy Hightower. Continue reading Why do we collect records? →

Perk Of The Job

Little Milton “Don’t Leave Me” / “I’ll Never Turn My back On You” (Checker)
I don’t wheel out ‘incredible’ too often as music is a personal thing and what has me dancing around the warehouse and screaming WTF/OMG/FFS may leave others twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the next Tim Tam & the Turn Ons 45 to come alongThis then is not for all. However, for those who like to face the real roots of soul minus their under armour, come in friend, here’s a live on. “Don’t” is one of those sides that is so good, so soulful, I’ll wager it’s never had an airing at a venue. If it has, well, fair play to anyone who has championed it. Continue reading Perk Of The Job →

Collectors Soul

Bobby Banks “Read it and weep” (Gill)
Hal Tiore & The Soul Cook Books “Darling” (ALM 7”)
These two deep soul masterpieces have taken my record room by storm; Hal Tiore arrived Xmas morning, my usual vinyl offering from the wife courtesy of Voices main man Rod Dearlove.

Bobby Banks came from the net, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it and grabbed it immediately. It had to come from Austria and took bloody ages. Continue reading Collectors Soul →

Collectors Soul

Double O and his Demingos
“A thousand tears too late” (Split Records-1028)

When the record bug grabs you, one has to be reminded at the very least daily if not hourly why we’re bugger…. This 45 has done so so many times from the embryonic horn sections that filter
from the silent decks, pleading with the love scorned vocalist to hit the notes and vocalise his recent misfortune with his loved one, mild bass line gels rhythmatically with the second horn coming, inciting the somewhat custom made deep lyrics… “You’ve ruined a perfect love affair, way beyond repair” complement the funeral pace instrumentation that saturate your soul with a moving feel that leaves the likes of Ray Pollard“The Drifter” standing! (Ah a classic example of what most folk call deep soul..) Continue reading Collectors Soul →

ChiSoul’s ‘Deep Soul Delight’

Brown Sugar INC. “Sweet Love Of Mine” (IMPEL 7″)
So what do we have here then – a fairly well known label out of North Carolina, Impel, which is probably most famous for the original release of Ann Sexton’s, ‘You’ve been gone too long’. Here we have a priceless piece of Soul. Recorded at the Reflections Sound Studio’s in Charlotte, the whole project is produced by David Lee, the man responsible for the Impel label set-up, as well as for writing the Ann Sexton track. Inspired by the 50’s label, Imperial, David set things in motion by finding & recording local Carolina artists in any number of styles, from funk through pop, country & Soul. There are allegedly 10 releases on the label, although as yet, nothing really as Soulful as this 45 has been found. This ‘b’ side was written by Alan & Bill ‘Sugar Billy’ Jones, well known artists from the area. Continue reading ChiSoul’s ‘Deep Soul Delight’ →

Some time in the future…

I had give him his due; he was where he said he would be and he was on time. In fact, he’d been early. I’d staked out the meet a half-hour before and seen two other suckers approach him and make a purchase before scurrying away with that satisfied scuffle that fool who have only recently parted with their money make. He was leaning back again the old Piedmoor Bank building, his ankle length leather coat tails dancing in the cold midnight wind. Occasionally he lifted his head from within the depths of his upturned collar to see if any more prospective purchasers were braving the elements to make a hit. Then, like a praying mantis, he reteat back into his coat. Sheltering from the wind and a fine, misty rain that had given the city streets a slick, polished look, I witness proceeding from a disused shop doorway. Continue reading Some time in the future… →