Flickr never fails to surprise.

We’ve already featured DC Soul’s fabulous archive and if you haven’t seen it already you can now add this collection of 60s soul ads, we presume taken from Billboard and Cashbox back issues.

Quite how the Who qualify as a soul band is something of a mystery but their inclusion won’t spoil your enjoyment of these 60s graphic gems.

Although they traded in all types of soul and R&B they began to specialise in British released Tamla-Motown records and published a massive fifteen page catalogue.

Such was the interest that they were inspired to look to the US for Motown group singles that collectors were asking for. This resulted in thirteen titles, in batches of twenty five copies being delivered. I suspect that although they specified what titles they wanted they had a mixed response as a couple of them, Paul Petersen on Motown 1108 Debbie Dean on VIP 25044 were not exactly brilliant but sure enough they did hit lucky with others such as Earl Van Dyke, `Six by Six` and `I Can’t Help Myself` and Frances Nero `Keep on Loving Me` on Soul, Kim Weston, `A Thrill a Moment` and the Darnells, `Come on Home` on Gordy.

At 13/- each, post free they were reasonably priced and of course the in demand titles sold out very quickly.

Do you know anything further about this great little record shop?

Another foot soldier of the sixties soul army has sadly died.

Guitarist Charles Pitts, who created two of the greatest R&B grooves of the 60s and 70s – the Isley Brothers’ chugging ‘It’s Your Thing’ and Isaac Hayes’ inimitable ‘Theme From Shaft’ passed on 1 May in Memphis.

A constant at Stax sessions, Charles played on sides for the Temprees, Rufus Thomas, the Soul Children and Albert King amongst many others, and continued to work with Hayes’ band until Ike died in 2008.

And like so many of the unsung musicians, his signature riffs were sampled in later years by all and sundry.

Our two featured clips pay tribute to the man. Pitts’ began his studio career aged just seventeen playing on Gene Chandler’s hit ‘Rainbow 65′ and later penned the song ‘Soul Music’, here sung by Anthony Hamilton for the movie Soul Man.

Haywood `Little Sonny` Warner hailed from Fall Church, Virginia, and joined the Four Sons Gospel group as a teenager. The group were quite successful and under their new name the Rockets found themselves at the Apollo in New York where Atlantic Records’ Armet Ertegun spotted them and signed them to the label. Their only recordings were as backing vocalists to pianist Van Walls on a couple of releases: `After Midnight` #980 and `Open the Door` #988 in 1952 and ’53 respectively.

Sonny then split with the group and moved to the Lloyd Price road show alongside Larry Williams who was, in Sonny’s view always favoured by Price and in ’57 Sonny left and relocated in Washington DC where he met Big Jay McNealy which lead to a four year relationship commencing with a Top 50 hit, `There’s Something on Your Mind`, Swinging #614 in 1959.

Five further 45s followed before Sonny moved on in 1961 and joined Bill Boskent’s Bee Bee label in Washington DC which issued one 45 by him: `Wallflower` #130 and a couple of duets with Marie Allen in ’62.

Sonny then switched to Lloyd Price’s Concertone label and a lone single, `My Love for You` #200 that was no more successful than the Bee Bee sides. It was now the mid-60s and the fashion was soul and an inspired Sonny Warner made his way to Chicago and the Checker label in ’66 and under Ted Bodner he recorded two songs – `Bell Bottom Blue Jeans` and `Been so Long` Checker #1151. The A-side was penned by Gene Barge and Maurice McAllister with Barge and Charles Stepney arranging and Barge in charge of production. The record was released in October and despite the likes of the Temptations `Beauty’s Only Skin Deep` dominating the Windy City air waves Sonny’s record became popular in the Midwest but obviously not sufficiently so to warrant any further studio work for the label.

The record did however attract attention in Britain where the A-side was popular with soul fans in the London area but as with all US imports at the time was incredibly hard to find. The B-side `Been so Long` also gained a following and made its way to a British outing on a Marble Arch LP, Blues & Soul #664 in 1966. Marble Arch was a budget subsidiary of Pye Records.

No more recordings followed but Sonny did embark upon a busy live performance career in the Washington area including a reunion with Big Jay in 1997. Sadly Sonny Warner passed away in April 2007.

After Bo’s ‘shave and a haircut, two bits’ rhythm crossed the Atlantic any British R&B band worth its salt added rumba shakers to their line-up – the Rolling Stones, the Pretty Things, the Animals… right through to Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant. Yet before he joined Bo Diddley’s early set-up, the Langley Avenue Jive Cats, Jerome was a tuba player who to be persuaded to change to percussion duties. As most of the band’s performances were on street corners, Green was not keen to to lug a drum kit around, so he chose the maracas and R&B history was made.

After Bo signed to Chess in the early 50s, Jerome would play on recordings by Chuck Berry, Billy Boy Arnold, Billy Stewart, and Willie Dixon, yet his greatest moment is the thundering ‘Bring It To Jerome’ where he shares vocal duties with Diddley.

The track was recorded 14 July 1955 at Bill Putnam’s Universal Recording Studios in Chicago and as well as Jerome and Diddley, Willie Dixon played upright bass, Clifton James was behind the drum kit while Lester ‘Mad Dog’ Davenport played the harmonica. And according to Bo Diddley expert George R. White there is also an unknown player on woodblock!

Issued on Checker 827 as the flip to ‘Pretty Thing’ in November 1955 the record reached #4 on the R&B charts in January ’56.

Three years later, Bo and Jerome traded good natured insults on ‘Say Man’ which became Bo’s biggest pop hit, but the turbo powered drive of ‘Bring It To Jerome’ knocks it into a cocked hat.

Jerome left Bo in 1964 to get married and is believed to have died in New York in the early 70s.

Val Shively’s record store in Upper Darby was, and probably still is, one of the first ports-of-call for UK vinyl collectors hitting Philadelphia. Val has run his business since 1962 and he boasts an encyclopaedic knowledge of doo-wop and vocal group R&B.

Ever eccentric, Val doesn’t really like browsers in his store, as the posters in this video show.

With millions of records stacked to the ceiling, Val can have no idea of what he’s got despite maintaining that all the Northern soul records are in the UK! In the second film he’s accompanied by the late record business veteran Weldon McDougal III.

From what I can gather, in other countries that have an established soul collecting scene such as Canada, Australia or France they do not appear to be preoccupied with their home issued product and prefer the American original. In Britain, if I were to generalise I would suggest that most sub 45-year-olds also want the US originals but many 55+ guys still have a hankering for the British equivalent, with the most in-demand era being the 60s.

The only explanation I can offer revolves around nostalgia. In 60s Britain it was very rare indeed to see an American import soul record, even towards the end of the decade, they still turned heads. The only imports that I came across, certainly before about 1969 were French such as Bunny Sigler’s `Let the Good Times Roll`. Therefore, until the advent of mass importation by the likes of Tesco, Woolworths, F L Moore and Contempo, UK releases were all there was.

My theory is that there are five strands of British label collectors; firstly the original soul collector who might typically have been around eighteen in the mid-60s and therefore has first claim on the status as they began buying soul back then on UK labels and simply wish to continue to do so. The next category is the guys who were eighteen some five years later, around 1970 and were getting into soul via the newly emerging Northern scene and as imports were still hard to find, they sought Northern titles on UK labels and this habit continued. These collectors tend to only buy Northern soul on British labels as the earlier era of blue Stax or red Atlantic held little attraction for them. My next suggested category is not very flattering I’m afraid as it involves a level of deception; these are collectors who were old enough to have bought soul on UK labels in the 60s but didn’t and wished they had. They want to give the impression that, by having a large British label collection and being of an era that made it feasible that they were buying back then, it gives them the apparent credibility of being into to it when they should have been.

This latter category isn’t very charitable so may I offer an olive branch that amalgamates elements of all these three for the next category and probably presents a more conciliatory answer; that is collectors who were of an age in the 60s to buy or at least appreciate these records but, being at school or college or in a low paid job, could only afford one 45 per week at a time when there were probably more than a dozen being issued each Friday. They would therefore have roots in the first category and then they might then go on to have more funds for the second category and so almost involuntarily inherit aspects of the third.

My final group incorporates more than just soul music but a whole youth culture and life style of 60s Modernism. I am reluctant to use the term Mod because, if the truth be known to the typical Mod the Who and Small Faces probably had slightly higher status than soul acts. Aging Modernists still typically live the life; American Ivy League influenced clothes and of course soul music and to be as authentic as the foundations of the movement demand, these records have to be on the format of the day, UK labels.

But just how many 60+ guys are out there still up holding this obsessive torch is questionable.

This British phenomenon is known about and occasionally aired in specialist fanzines, the two publications illustrated are about 30 years apart; the first was from the late Chris Savory who ran early soul fanzines Hot Buttered Soul and Soul Cargo, prior to these Chris had a column in SMG, a general oldies mag run by Barry Lazell back in the early 70s and Chris produced a list of shops that specialised in oldies in London and the southeast and his passion for bargain oldies grew from there culminating in being the soul advisor for Record Collector magazine’s famous price guide.

The second is a highly detailed and organised price guide from John Manship. Although there have been a few dealers who have specialised in British releases over the years, most of these have disappeared but John didn’t and has become the world’s premier dealer in British releases.

Due to the geographic and age related restrictions to the world of British label soul, it will be interesting to see during the next ten years or so what happens to these collections when their owners are too frail to pull the 45 from its sleeve. Who is going to buy a full set of Red Atlantic 45s? Or the entire UK Drifters output?

“He couldn’t sing that well, couldn’t keep time with the music. Al went down to Willie Mitchell’s studio and cut a smash hit, so I said, if this man can make Al sound that good, that’s where I’m going.”

The record in question, ‘I Don’t Want To Lose’, despite what LaSalle said, was only a moderate hit in early 1972, yet for someone not particularly talented as a singer, this was one of many 45s issued throughout a colourful career. Because if singing wasn’t going to make his name then Al had other strings to his bow.

Perkins was born in Brookhaven, Mississippi on 1st August 1930 and during the late fifties and early sixties ran a band, cutting sides for CJ, Salem, Jive and USA, where he duetted with Betty Bibbs on a version of the song he penned with R&B impressario Dave Clark – ‘Homework’. (Otis Rush’s version was issued on Duke in 1962 and became the definitive version.)

Al had over half a dozen sides released at USA alone, and wrote songs for other acts at the label including Detroit Junior.

Al moved into running a recording studio for Paul Glass, the owner of USA, and whilst there he cut bluesman G.L. Crockett on ‘It’s A Man Down There’ which he took to Four Brothers, a fledgling Chicago label set-up by Willie Barney and Jack Daniels. The song was an early Top 10 R&B hit for the company in the summer of 1965.

Al made contact with other soul luminaries at the time and with Bobby Womack and Jimmy Holiday wrote the song ‘Yes My Goodness Yes’ which became a minor hit on Soul Fox for Willie Hobbs and was later covered by Jerry Butler on his The Soul Goes On album. Al recorded the track himself on Buddah and the song was picked up by Atco reaching #48 on the R&B charts in August 1969. This proved to be Al’s most successful release.

A succession of sides appeared on Atco including ‘Trust Me’, ‘I Don’t Want No (Second Hand Love); ‘Snap Your Fingers’ and ‘Need To Belong’. The B-side of the last two ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ had a few spins over the years on the Northern soul scene and despite Perkins’ unassured lead, the girl backing singers and the driving arrangement make it one of Al’s best outings.

While he continued to put out the odd 45, once again Al changed direction, becoming a radio personality in Memphis. He moved to Detroit radio station WJLB and listeners back in the day will recognise the title of today’s blog from his show.

Perkins developed his interest in production and management and worked with Hot Sauce for Stax/Volt, Na Allen for GRT, Little Miton at Mier, more successfully with Al Hudson & The Soul Partners (later One Way) and their ex-lead vocalist Alicia Myers when she pursued a solo career.

However, in 1979 Perkins was embroiled in the investigations into payola at both WJLB and rock station WMZK. Al had earlier gone into partnership with Detroit producer and label owner Earnest Kelley, who recalled hairy moments working with Al when disgruntled acts who had paid him to play or promote records fired shots at their office when the discs were not aired!

It seemed that some of Al’s business ventures were a little on the shady side and Al’s life ended when he was shot on 13th February 1983.

The competition for collectors to photograph their vinyl has now closed but the entries can be viewed here.

You don’t need to speak the language to be blown away by this ten minute clip of a French documentary made in 1969.

Featuring footage shot inside Fame and Stax studios, there’s Brook Benton recording the Ben E King song ‘She Knows What To Do For Me’, Isaac Hayes and the Mar-Keys arranging horn parts for the Emotions’ breakthrough hit on Volt ‘So I Can Love You’, and Booker T & The MGs running through ‘Time Is Tight’.

Benton had such an incredible voice, he was the ‘go-to-man’ for songwriters of the 50s and 60s to demo their compositions. And interesting to hear how Benton’s almost gospel rendition ended up on the finished Cotillion album.