"Loma Northern Soul: Classics & Revelations 1964-1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS - Classic Dancers and Tape Vault Discovery Exclusives from Warner Brothers' Famed label (27 January 2023 UK Ace/Kent Soul CD Compilation with Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...It's Your Love That I Need..."

Bubbling under as far back as November 2022 as a forthcoming release, Ace Records of the UK announced this bouncing dancefloor baby as being available sometime in the first month of the New Year (2023). And true to their (slightly late) word - it is. 

 

Also marked out as a special release so to speak - "Loma Northern Soul: Classics & Revelations 1964-1968" has received the British reissue label's first ever 7" Singles Box Set treatment as a 'Limited Edition' retailing at about £45 (or less). Seven by seven 45s have their own 'Kent Soul 40' label bags and include sides not on the CD variant (see details below).

As an imprint of the mighty Warner Brothers catalogue, 'LOMA Records' was active mainly on the American Soul singles front from 1964 to 1968. Fans of its dancers and Northern Soul shuffler sides bought the Warner three-volume series "After Hours" series that began in 2002, each containing super desirable LOMA 45-sides  - with all three of those CDs also reissued on very tasty 2LP VINYL sets too. 

 

But outside of the Light In The Attic/Future Days Recordings VINYL Series in the USA in 2016 (Tracks 3, 6 and 7 on this CD feature from them) - this late January 2023 appears to me to be the first time the LOMA Label has received a full on decent CD retrospective of its own. Ace has even discovered gems in the vaults (there's six unreleased here). There's a ton of talcum powder shimmy shaking to get through, so let's have at it...

 

UK released Friday, 27 January 2023 - "Loma Northern Soul: Classics & Revelations 1964-1968" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace/Kent Soul 40 CDTOP 511 (Barcode 029667107723) is a 25-Track American Label Retrospective CD Compilation that plays out as follows (63:25 minutes):

 

1. It's Your Love That I Need - THE MARVELLOS (Previously Unissued 1966 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

2. Go For Yourself - LARRY LASTER (June 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2043, B-side to "Help Yourself")

 

3. Heartstrings - THE INVINCIBLES (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording, first issued on the 2016 US VINYL LP "Loma (A Soul Music Love Affair) - Volume 4" on Future Days Recordings FDR 627) 

 

4. You Can't Outsmart A Woman - KELL OSBORNE (December 1965 US 45-single on Loma Records 2023, A-side)

 

5. Lies - BOBBY FREEMAN (October 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2080, B-side of "I Got A Good Thing")

 

6. That's All You Gotta Do - BEN AIKEN (Originally Unissued 1968 Loma Recording, first issued on the 2016 US VINYL LP "Loma (A Soul Music Love Affair) - Volume 4" on Future Days Recordings FDR 627) 

 

7. I Need You - THE MARVELLOS (Originally Unissued 1966 Loma Recording, first issued on the 2016 US VINYL LP "Loma (A Soul Music Love Affair) - Volume 4" on Future Days Recordings FDR 627)

 

8. Mean It Baby - CARL HALL (November 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2086, B-side of "You Don't Know Nothing About Love")

 

9. I'm Getting Weaker - THE SOUL SHAKERS (July 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2047, A-side)

 

10. Just A Little Longer - THE ENCHANTERS (Previously Unissued 1965 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

11. Please Be True - THE INVINCIBLES (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording, 2023) 

 

12. If You Should See Her - BEN AIKEN (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording, 2023) 

 

13. My Heart Needs A Break - LINDA JONES (February 1968 US 45-single on Loma Records 2091, A-side)

 

14. See The Silver Moon - THE APOLLAS (Originally Unissued 1967 Loma Recording first released on the 2012 UK Apollas CD Compilation "Absolutely Right! The Complete Tiger, Loma and Warner Bros. Recordings" on Ace/Kent Soul CDKEND 365)

 

15. Bright Lights - DELILAH KENNEBRUEW (June 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2049, A-side)

 

16. Something's Burnin' - THE MARVELLOS (May 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2045, A-side)

 

17. Satisfied - BEN AIKEN (November 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2084, B-side of "The Life Of A Clown")

 

18. Runnin' Around - TONY AMARO & THE CHARIOTS (March 1967 US 45-single on Loma Records 2068, B-side of "Hey Baby")

 

19. Got A Thing Goin' - THE INVINCIBLES (Previously Unissued 1966 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

20. The Man With The Golden Touch - CHARLES THOMAS (March 1966 US 45-single on Loma Records 2031, B-side of "Looking For Love")

 

21. Baby, Don't Look Down - BILLY STORM (September 1964 US 45-single on Loma Records 2001, B-side of "I Never Want To Dream Again (There In A Garden)")

 

22. I Finally Got A Break - THE OLYMPICS (Previously Unissued 1965 Loma Recording, 2023)

 

23. The Big Jerk, Part 1 - CLYDE & THE BLUE JAYS (October 1964 US 45-single on Loma Records 2003, A-side)

 

24. I'll Find A Way - BOBBY REED (January1968 US 45-single on Loma Records 2089, B-side of "I Wanna Love You So Bad")

 

25. Better Think Of What You're Losing - TOMMY STARR (April 1968 US 45-single on Loma Records 2095, A-side)

 

NOTES:

All Tracks are MONO

Tracks 1, 10, 11, 12, 19 and 22 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

Compiler and genre afficiando ALEC PALAO gets into detial-Nirvana in his 20-page booklet - this time only showing one Loma Records label (Bobby Reed's "I'll Find A Way") and filling the rest of the text pages with Trade Adverts/Reviews and a slurry of Promo Photos - Bobby Freeman, The Enchanters, The Invincibles, The Apollas and more. Apparently tearing up the clubs he DJs at, Palao has been singing the virtues of Ace's latest vault-trawl find - "It's Your Love That I Need" by The Marvellos - and it's not difficult to hear why. Alec also tells us of the superb Soul writers Loma tapped into - Willie Hutch, Lorraine Ellison, Sam Bell, Gene Page, Leon Sylvers, Mort Shuman, Jerry Ragovoy, Van McCoy, Sammy Turner and even Randy Newman (the Billy Storm track). Productions came courtesy of famous names like Richard Tee, Gene Page, James Carmichael and many more. Not surprisingly - and given the prestige Ace Records are affording the release - it's a stonking read. 

Long-time associate Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS does the Remasters and all are in punchy MONO health. To the music...    

It's easy to hear why joyful struts like "Lies" by Bobby Freeman (man was Tom Jones listening to this when he did "It's Not Unusual") and the make up your mind dancer "Go For Yourself" by Larry Laster send Northern Soul guys and gals into a frenzy - they are fantastic dancers. Kell Osborne channels his inner Jackie Wilson on Brunswick on "You Can't Outsmart A Woman" as he Adam and Eve's his brassy tale of womanly attraction to which no mere mortal (like him) has any defense. 

 

More manly advise is forthcoming during Ben Aiken's "That's All You Gotta Do" giving other lothario-types the big lowdown on Love (what a find this is - stuck in a vault until it was issued on an obscure 2016 US album). And again an amazing find in the relentless Bass, Vibes and Drums of "I Need You" by The Marvellos - the sort of floor-shaker that must have them wild in the Wigan Casinos of the North. Speaking of Aiken - fans who flipped the weaker A-side "The Life Of A Clown" must have been cock-of-the-hoop when they clapped eager ears on its wildly popular flipside "Satisfied". Same B-side head space belongs to the obscure Tony Amaro & The Chariots track "Runnin' Around" - a manic 'sock-it-to-me-baby' floor-stabber that could so easily have been a Motown A-sider. And not for the first time do The Marvellos thrill - their wonderfully upbeat "Something's Burnin'" the kind of official Loma 7" single that must send auction sites into sprinkler-need. And on it goes to the very 007 vibe in "The Man With The Golden Touch" by Charles Thomas while Billy Storm lives up his name in the instrument-packed wall of sound that comes at you for his fabulous full-on dance-meets-guitar-freak-out of "Baby, Don't Look Down". And on it goes...

Also UK released 27 January 2023, the seven by seven-inch Singles Box of "Loma Northern Soul..." is catalogue number Ace/Kent Soul 40 LTDBOX 020 (Barcode 029667031172) and has the following tracks (some as you can see are not on the CD):

 

Single 1

A: It's Your Love That I Need - THE MARVELLOS 

B: It's Your Love That I Need (Instrumental) - THE MARVELLOS

Single 2

A: Heartstrings - THE INVINCIBLES

B: Got A Thing Goin' - THE INVINCIBLES

 

Single 3

A: That's All You Gotta Do - BEN AIKEN

B: Satisfied - BEN AIKEN

 

Single 4

A:  Like I Told You - CARL HALL

B: Mean It Baby - CARL HALL

Single 5

A: Just A Little Longer - THE ENCHANTERS

B: I'll Find A Way - BOBBY REED

Single 6 

A: See The Silver Moon - THE APOLLAS

B: Go For Yourself - LARRY LASTER

Single 7 

A: If You Should See Her - BEN AIKEN

B: Lies - BOBBY FREEMAN

"Don't Be Bad! 60s Punk Recorded In Texas" by VARIOUS ARTISTS - featuring The Passions, Driving Wheels, Gaylan Ladd, The Pirates, Eccentrics, The People, The Dodads and more (April 2015 Ace/Big Beat Records CD Compilation – Nick Robbins Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

This review and hundreds more like it can also be found in my 

SOUNDS GOOD MUSIC BOOK...

SOMETHING'S HAPPENING HERE 
Volume 5 of 6 

1960s and 1970s MUSIC on CD
Exceptional CD Reissues and Remasters

It contains 170 in-depth reviews (over 1,000 e-Pages) 

And is available to buy/download at Amazon at the following link...

"...Lost In A Crowd..."

"...Raunchy Gulf Coast garage from the vaults of Huey Purvis Meaux’s Crazy Cajun empire – 26 tracks sourced from the original master tapes featuring 10 Previously Unreleased..." - it says on the rear inlay for "Don't Be Bad!" and who am I to disagree.

Covering young acts recorded by Pasadena's notoriously eccentric Entrepreneur and local-band Producer Huey Meaux between 1964 and 1967 (at either Pasadena Sounds or Gold Star Studios) – what you get here is angry young American Men growling 26 times about girls they love but who lie and cheat on them all the time (apparently its always their fault too). The music is very Sir Douglas Quintet – "She's About A Mover" territory. What I wasn't expecting though is the quality – track-after-track of stormingly great Sixties Garage that lovers of guitar thrashers and bashers will have to own. It's not all unmitigated genius for sure – but the good stiff far outweighs the ordinary. Here are the Topless Guitar details...

UK released 27 April 2015 (May 2015 in the USA) – "Don't Be Bad! 60s Punk Recorded In Texas" by VARIOUS ARTISTS is a 26-track CD compilation on Ace/Big Beat Records CDWIKD 327 (Barcode 029667432726) and rocks out as follows (63:32 minutes):

1. Top-Less Girl – BARRY & LIFE (1967 USA 7" single on Pic 1 142, A)

2. Don’t Be Bad – THE DRIVING WHEELS (2015, Previously Unreleased)

3. The Fall Of The Queen – DESTINY’S CHILDREN (1966 USA 7" single on Ventural V-730, A)

4. Girl Said No – WHAT'S LEFT (1966 USA 7" single on Capri 520, A)

5. Cuttin' Out – THE PIRATES (1965 USA 7" single on Back Stage 5001, A)

6. Her Loving Way – GAYLANN LADD (1965 USA 7" single on MGM 13435, A)

7. I Don't Need Help – THE SANDS (2015, Previously Unreleased)

8. Again – THE PEOPLE (1965 USA 7" single on Ventural V-724, A)

9. Lively One – THE PASSIONS (1965 USA 7" single on Pic 1 117, A)

10. Better Come Get Her – THE TRIUMPHS (1966 USA 7” single on Pacemaker PM-238, A)

11. It's You – THE ACTIONEERS (1965 USA 7" single (1965 USA 7” single on Shane 57, A)

12. Lost In A Crowd – THE DODADS (2015, Previously Unreleased)

13. To No Place Of Its Own – THE PHINX (2015, Previously Unreleased)

14. Farmer John – THE ARGYLES (1966 USA 7" single on Pic 1 136, A)

15. Baby, I Need You – THE ECCENTRICS (1966 USA 7” single on Shane 60, A)

16. She Comes Running – THE DRIVING WHEELS (2015, Previously Unreleased)

17. Gotta Tell Her – THE BLUE DIAMONDS (2015, Previously Unreleased)

18. Dirty Dirty Game – GAYLAN LADD & THE EAST SIDE TRANSFER (2015, Previously Unreleased)

19. Open Your Eyes – THE SANDS (1966 USA 7” single on Capri 522, A)

20. Don't Tell Me – THE CHANCELLORS (1965 USA 7” single Caddo 102, A)

21. Honey Hush – THE LOAFERS (1964 USA 7" single on Tear Drop 3028, A)

22. Mona/Who Do You Love – THE PIRATES (2015, Previously Unreleased)

23. Don't Go In My Room Girl – BOB & GAYLAN [Bob Sharp and Gaylan Ladd] (2015, Previously Unreleased) 

24. Everything's Right – THE PHINX (2015, Previously Unreleased)

25. Hour Glass – BURNER AMBURN (2015, Previously Unreleased)

26. Bring me – THE DODADS (2015, Previously Unreleased)

[Notes: All Tracks are MONO - Tracks 2, 7, 12, 13, 17, 18, 22, 24, 25 and 26 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED]

The 16-page booklet has typically indepth and fact-filled info from noted fan and music writer ALEC PALAO (of El Cerrito, California) that includes recollections and memorabilia from those who were there. There are label repros of rare US 45s on Ventural, Back Stage, Tear Drop, Pic 1, Capri and Caddo – as well as publicity photos for The Triumphs (rear cover) and The Chancellors, Scotch Tape boxes, a press release for Bob & Gaylon and even a handwritten letter from The Driving Wheels to Huey Meaux. Wonderfully illuminating as always with Ace. NICK ROBBINS does his best with grungy Sixties recordings and frankly most pack a wallop you wouldn’t expect. The audio does dip in and out as each recording varies from very good to great – but overall stuff like the superb "Cuttin' Out" from The Pirates sounds amazing.

"Top-Less Girl" starts out with some dude telling us "...no ugly stick for you...it's prevention of cruelty to wood week..." as he waxes lyrical about a girl with not a lot of clothing on her upper parts to a backdrop of suitably grungy guitars and Doors-like keyboards. What a winner! But that's as nothing to the compilation's first discovery of worth – the title track by The Driving Wheels recorded in October 1966 and stuck in a vault all these decades. It's a fantastic driving shaking fuzzed-up guitar thrasher with guitarist Tommy Bolton giving his tremolo-arm some torture – a proper Punk/Garage gem. Speaking of angst-guitar playing – "The Fall Of The Queen" features a properly great solo from Tom Maxton of Destiny's Children (he'd formerly been with Pasadena's Lord Wellington Five) while you wonder why the ludicrously catchy "Cuttin' Out" by The Pirates wasn't huge (very Them in its own way).

We get some Dylan "Blonde On Blonde" harmonica wailing on the warbling "Lost In A Crowd" while we go Association almost Mamas and Papas for the pleasingly melodic "To No Place Of Its Own" (both excellent unreleased tracks). "Farmer John" continues in Troggs fashion where The Argyles are in love with a daughter with Champaign Eyes. British youngster Bob Sharp (then 21) teamed up with Waco's Gaylan Ladd (when 18 both were with Waco's local band The Dawgs) for "Don't Go In My Room Girl" – a good stab at mid Sixties pop commerciality. Not all of the unreleased stuff is super-brill and you can hear why they were left in the can. But it fascinating after all these years to discover that there is stuff still left to discover...

A superlative release from Ace's label imprint Big Beat Records and recommended with a big T for Texas...

"Pushin' Too Hard: The Seeds - Original Soundtrack" by THE SEEDS (UK February 2019 Big Beat CD Remaster) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Try To Understand..."

Now here's a sweetie for fans of 60ts Garage and Psych (and even a bit of 50ts Blues) - "Pushin' Too Hard: The Seeds" – another Big Beat Records compilation - but this time offering an aural CD companion to the 2019 Neil Norman Directed/Alec Palao Produced Documentary Movie and Soundtrack of the same name celebrating the explosive career of THE SEEDS who took L.A. by storm in the latter half of that amazing decade.

You get twenty-one tracks that include an impressive thirteen previously unreleased – mouth-watering and saucy stuff indeed for such a sought after and influential group. In the words of the song - let’s try to understand - here are the skyward details…

UK released Wednesday, 27 February 2019 - "Pushin' Too Hard: The Seeds – Original Soundtrack" by THE SEEDS [and Other Artists] on Big Beat CDWIKD 342 (Barcode 029667093224) is a CD compilation that offers up 21 tracks (including unreleased) as follows (73:23 minutes):

1. Pushin' Too Hard

(November 1965 Debut US 7" single on GNP Crescendo GNP 364X, A-side originally credited as "You're Pushing Too Hard" by The Seeds Featuring Sky Saxon with "Out Of The Question" on the flipside - reissued July 1966 again as The Seeds Featuring Sky Saxon on GNP 372X as "Pushin' Too Hard" with "Try To Understand" on the B-side)

2. They Say by RITCHIE MARSH (1963 USA 7" single on Shepherd SR-2203, A-side)

3. No Escape (Take 3) (recorded 20 July 1965, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

4. Can't Seem To Make You Mine (February 1967 USA 7" single on GNP Crescendo GNP 354, A-side)

5. Try To Understand (Take 3) (recorded January 1966, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

6. Out Of The Question (Alternative Mix) (Take 8 recorded 14 Sep 1965, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

7. The Perfect Wave by NEIL NORMAN (from the 1982 US compilation LP "Bustin' Surfboards" on GNP Crescendo GNPS 2152)

8. Tripmaker (Live) (recorded 29 April 1967 at the Hollywood Bowl, intro by "Humble Harve" Miller, 2019 unreleased)

9. Evil Hoodoo (Full Length Stereo Mix) (from the April 2011 10" EP "Evil Hoodoo" on Big Beat LTDEP 101)

10. Mr. Farmer (Stereo Album Version) (from the 1966 "A Web Of Sound" US Stereo LP on GNP Crescendo GNPS 2033)

11. Up in Her Dream (Take 1, recorded 2 April 1968, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

12. Satisfy You (Version 3) (Take 6, recording details as per Track 11)

13. Night Time Girl (Take 8) (Take 8, recording details as per Track 11)

14. Baby Please Don't Go (Live) by MUDDY WATERS (1954 live recording performed for GNP's Gene Norman in Los Angeles - 2019 Previously Unreleased)

15. The Gardener (Take 1) (recorded 4 October 1966, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

16. A Faded Picture (Stereo Album Version) (from the 1966 "A Web Of Sound" US Stereo LP on GNP Crescendo GNPS 2033)

17. Fallin' Off the Edge Of My Mind (Take 12) (recorded 3 September 1968, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

18. The Wind Blows Your Hair (Version 3) (Take 6, recorded 10 August 1967, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

19. A Thousand Shadows (1993 Mix) (from the 1993 CD compilation "Travel With Your Mind" on GNP Crescendo GNPD 2218)

20. Ballad Of Sky Saxon by KIM FOWLEY (1:20 minute monologue recorded 2009, 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording)

21. YMCA Spot/ SKY Speaks (1:03 minute Radio Promo Advert) 2019 Previously Unreleased GNP Crescendo recording

Tracks 1 to 6, 8,14 and 21 are MONO - all others in STEREO

The three-way foldout card digipak sleeve features a festooned 24-page booklet inside rammed to the gills with period photos, trade adverts, mastertape boxes and even a fan's Fact Sheet on the back page from the September 1967 issue of Teen Set. Beneath the see-through CD tray is a repro photo of the second issue US single for "Pushin' Too Hard" on GNP Crescendo GNP 372. Alec's notes talk of the songs in recording order with additional notes on the stragglers - the Kim Fowley monologue and the 1954 Muddy Waters live recording (is that Little Walter warbling on the Harmonica). It's very tastefully done and the artwork gives it that Garage/Psych look too. Long-time Audio Engineer NICK ROBBINS has once again done the honours and even the rougher stuff sounds tickettyboo...

Historically accurate or not - the Ritchie March inclusion feels unnecessary and a tad lame (Sky Saxon’s real name). Not so the Neil Norman hey big bird frat surf of "The Perfect Wave" (so cool) and the live reasonably well recorded Muddy Waters cut of "Baby Please Don't Go" before the fabulous bluesy Take 1 of "The Gardener" are cleverly placed. Even better are the two superlative sounding Stereo cuts from the "Weed..." LP of 1966 - "Mr. Farmer" and "A Faded Picture" – those keyboards and guitars so fantastically clear (like a Them recording). The phased Kim Fowley vocals for "Ballad Of Sky Saxon" is backed by cool fuzzed-up boogie guitar while old Kim waffles on about leather jackets and Sky’s arrival on the West Coast. The flower children and colours and really groovy talk in the YMCA slot is a hoot – Sky telling the kids to drop wars and get down with the vibe of love.

For sure its not all brill, but there's more than enough in those unreleased versions to keep fans happy and the uninitiated understanding why the band was held in such affection then and still is now. Very cool indeed...