1966
Darrell Banks had one of the greatest voices in soul music – and plagiarised his biggest hit from the equally great Donnie Elbert in their hometown of Buffalo, New York.
This has to be one of the most impassioned vocals of all time, Nelson Sanders’s sobbing, heartfelt interpretation of the song title – I’m Lonely.
Not just a deep cut – this psych-garage gem is positively subterranean. And I’m only posting it for the title. It’s rubbish, of course, but I’m intrigued by what little I know of the perpetrators, The Driving Stupid.
Earl Van Dyke was never a household name but he was one of the key figures in the success of Motown in the Sixties.
Few figures from the music world personified the drug-fuelled excesses of the Sixties more than David Crosby, who has died at the age of 81.
The first time I heard this song was when The Clash did it as the lead track on their Cost Of Living EP in 1979. Before long it sent me back to this, the original hit by the Bobby Fuller Four.
The rarest of rare grooves, T’Ain’t No Big Thing was the only single by The Jovialetts. Who were they? A vocal girl group of the mid-1960s. Beyond that… who knows.
A bit of a soul classic featuring the Funk Brothers, Motown’ peerless house band, Cool Jerk reached No.7 for one-hit wonders The Capitols in 1966.
Soul music comes in many guises but I think the one I love best is slow-burning deep soul from the Deep South. This is a prime example by Mable John, who died on 25 August at the ripe old age of 91. (more…)