The Chicago Soul thread

[loveless]

I was listening to Upchurch (and, indeed, Upchurch) after reading the article that G posted, and thinking about how these Cadet (and Cadet adjacent) players (Upchurch, Cleveland Eaton*, Morris Jennings, Maurice White, Lester Holt, etc.) have gained a stature in my mind similar to, say, Ron Carter, Tony Williams, or Herbie Hancock in that...when I see their names listed on album covers or in credits, it feels like such a guarantor of overall quality.

I was coming here to post just that very thing, when I saw a) Charlie's contribution, and b) rayge's.

*Eaton's playing, specifically, on (to name only two artists) Donald Byrd or Ramsey Lewis' late 60s/early 70s records, really caused me to consider the personal feelings I've developed for the era in which a) we're well into electric pianos, wah wah, and liberal use of echo/delay (sort of "spacy shit" before the fusion era), but also b) still in an era where a lot of producers, arrangers, and band leaders are still favoring the upright bass. I feel like if that (all too brief) crossover were an actual selection filter I could use in record stores or online retail, I might leave it on for a few months.

[rayge]

Jump tunes with concise yet corking sax solos and interesting vocal arrangements seem to be a speciality of the City. Not something I'd noticed until I started researching what doo-wop groups came from where.

[Stacy Heydon]

Time for a great Johnny Pate production..

[Charlie O.]

[davey]

Terry!

[fange]

Aug 31, 2024 16:13:02 GMT loveless said:

*Eaton's playing, specifically, on (to name only two artists) Donald Byrd or Ramsey Lewis' late 60s/early 70s records, really caused me to consider the personal feelings I've developed for the era in which a) we're well into electric pianos, wah wah, and liberal use of echo/delay (sort of "spacy shit" before the fusion era), but also b) still in an era where a lot of producers, arrangers, and band leaders are still favoring the upright bass. I feel like if that (all too brief) crossover were an actual selection filter I could use in record stores or online retail, I might leave it on for a few months.

Hell yeah.

Cleveland Eaton - Chi-town Theme

[rayge]

Seems thatmost everyone else is going for deep cuts, and some of them are mighty fine, but there's such a lot of great-but-obvious ones, too. I already picked Gypsy Woman by the Impressions (the first I ever heard from them), but they barely put a foot wrong in the 1960s, with some lovely, gospelly big hits. One of them I think of, melodramatically I suppose, as more or less saving my life. It was the winterof 1968-69, I was a student living in an out of the way cottage in East Kent. The (ironically named) Rayburn that was the only heating wasn't working, and it was so cold that icicles had formed on the inside of the bedroom window. I up from a nightmare and was swirling about in a pit of gloom and despondency (I was still in a very fragile state 18 months after my father's death) when, out of nowhere, this tune started unspooling in my head. I got up, shrugged on the ancient thrift shop teddy bear coat I used as a dressing gown, went downstairs and played it three times in a row. 

I felt a bit better. There was plenty more shit to come that year, but I never got as low as that again.

[Charlie O.]

I had planned to post an Impressions track today myself, and I'm gonna. We could do a whole thread just of great Impressions tracks.

[fange]

The Shells - 'Whiplash'

[davey]

Ivorys - Please Stay

[rayge]

I saw the Flamingos live in 1991, although I'm not sure whether any of that group were on this record, their first hit, 1953.

[Stacy Heydon]

[fange]

Little Milton - Moanin' For You Girl

[rayge]

Think this was before Charles Stepney took over recording her, but a lovely orchestrated soul version of a gospel song (I had a talk with my God last night) from 1964

[Stacy Heydon]

Fred Hughes didn't release all that much, but what he did do was all pretty great. This one in particular is a big personal favourite. A  Eugene Record and Carl Davis production. Often with Chicago Soul, as Loveless pointed out earlier, it's a case of 'follow the names'.