Dean Parrish - Brooklyn Northern Soul 1964-67 (WTS Soul No.5)

Philip Anastasi was born and raised in the Bronx area of New York City. Dean Parrish was the name that he adopted when trying to be in the same league with Italian-American pretty faced lads such as Frankie Valli, Bobby Rydell or Dion DiMucci. 

He studied at the School of Industrial Design and sang with doo wop bands on the street. He soon frequented the Peppermint Lounge where he befriended the members of the (fabulous) Ronettes. It was apparently Veronica Bennett (Ronnie Spector to her friends and fans), who suggested the young Phil that he should change his stage name. 

He signed a contract with the much loved New York soul label Laurie and set out to become a star. His deep, soulful voice boomed from his mouth every time would open it. Dean achieved some minor success with the singles "I'm On My Way", "Tell Her", "Determination" and "Skate". He performed alongside the likes of Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, The Capitols and Lou Christie, hell he even appeared in a Motown revue with the Supremes! The big time beckoned, but his singing career began to fade. In 1967, Dean returned to his original name, abandoned soul and became an actor. 

He remained completely unaware of the Northern Soul scene in England and the legendary status he received over there ("I'm On My Way" was the last record that was played at the Northern Soul all-nighters at the Wigan Casino). Since he had changed his name back to what he was christened when he was born no one had been able to track him. His US labels had long since lost touch with him.

After being rediscovered "I’m on My Way" was reissued in 1975 by Jonathan King’s UK Records label and reached at #38 in the British pop chart, it was even said to have sold more than 200.000 copies! In 2001 Parrish made his first trip to UK, appearing at a northern soul weekend in Prestatyn and Paul Weller's guitarist and Ocean Colour Scene member Steve Craddock hooked up with Dean for new recording of an unreleased Weller song, that The Jam leader had composed at the age of fifteen ("Left Right and Centre") on the Acid Jazz label. 

In 2006 as Philip Anastasia, he appeared in the 5th episode of the 6th season of The Sopranos, playing a suave, silver-haired MC at a lavish wedding reception. While Johnny Sack, the father of the bride, is persuading his fellow mobster Tony Soprano to arrange the murder of a rival, played by Valli, Anastasia serenades the happy couple with a rendering of Daddy’s Little Girl!

Anyway, here's gathered most of the sides I was sitting on or I was able to locate from my downloaded music files in my hard drives and the Brooklyn Soul legend released in the 60s.

Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers - I Gotta Go Now: 1961-1968 (WTS Soul No.4)

Rex Garvin was born in Harlem and grew up in the Bronx, where his neighbor Zelma Sanders introduced him to the music business in his early teens. Having one of the coolest band names ever (even though mr. Raw Funky himself was kinda embarrased about it), he has released countless singles especially during the 60s that are undisputed classics today. I thought he would have lived a comfortable life once he decided to leave music business. Unfortunately, his story is another one of the countless of an era with bad contracts and the exploitation of black kids in particular (anyone remembers the episode in The Sopranos first season?). He ended up living his last years of his life as a janitor for fuck's sake! 

[That's why I hate with passion capitalism and racism and I'm sharing thoughts and music. In most cases the artists never had a penny out of them.]

As a teen he wrote and arranged adjective hours of music (Rex’s inspiring intro to "Any Day Now" a song writren by the master of melodies Burt Bacharach that became a hit in 1962 - he got paid just for the session and with no credit even though our guy created it without having much time to plan or compose). 

Garvin’s gritty sound of the early 60s evolved into soul and funk over time, before his recording career waned at the end of the decade. Unlike many fallen stars of its time, he never had any interest in a comeback and remained reclusive until his passing. So here's a gathering of all of his 60s sides and once again as far as I know there's no such compilation around (I really wanted to include the amazing black rock'n'roller "Oh Yeah" but it wasn't in the aforementioned era). To make a long story short what I have to offer is an astonishing output of the most driving raw soul dance party anthems of all time! Bless his beautiful black soul...

Little Richard - Brunswick Lost Soul (WTS Soul No.3)

For some strange reason Little Richard's recordings on Brunswick have never been officially reissued, apart from a few scattered tracks on compilations here and there (some of them also bootlegs). As he said in his autobiography, Larry Williams was trying to make him a Motown artist during his stint on Okeh and for sure he wasn't one. Don't know what made him think like that, perhaps the lacking of success but Ricardito was as fabulous recording rock'n'soul as playing rock'n'roll! 

Despite his supposedly disdain for the horn-powered soul sound of his Okeh years, Little Richard displayed no aversion to brass immediately after signed out with Larry Williams. So in September 1967 he signed a one year deal with Brunswick Records. The three singles he recorded over the next twelve months doubled his commitment to the funky soul sound with horn sections that came into their own on hot numbers like "Soul Train", "Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes" or the Esquerita co-penned "Stingy Jenny". 

Unfortunately none of the amazing Brunswick singles cracked the charts and once again Mr. Penniman found himself in search of another label and chapter (with the Reprise era rejuvenation waiting around the corner). So, enter White Trash Soul to the picture to correct the mistake until someone, somewhere with a good taste decide to touch his hands to the previously mentioned material and finally make an official reissue. 

Stacy Lane - Nine Sides 1967-73 (WTS Soul No.2)

I can provide little to no information about Stacy Lane. This Wilson Pickett-esque screamer had, as far as I know (and Discogs confirms), only four singles in his arsenal, two on the Excello touchstone and one more each for BAR and Playboy Records. I first became aware of him on the "Buttshakers Vol. 6" compilation and from then on I was on a never-ending rollercoaster ride for updated information on his life and recordings (no luck unfortunately). On the BAR single, the black sheep of the Stax family, Charles 'Packy' Axton, is seriously involved, which makes me think that this cat wasn't just a man and a half copycat. In fact, all the known/released recordings are excellent templates of a blend of southern soul and gritty proto-funk.

Thanks Andy!

 

I'm a huge fan of Shindig! magazine and Jon "Mojo' Mills output in general (Nuthins included of course). And Andy Morten along with Lenny Helsing are my favorite penmen all these years (I leave aside their rock'n'roll adventures and credentials which of course have a special place in my music library). So, imagine my surprise when George Rigas of The Walking Screams vibered me a previous July night the photo of a Julian Cope article with this blog's name credited on! (Fun fact, I do had already purchased the issue but hadn't yet found the time to dive in). Since I revived my interest in this space I felt the need to express my gratitude. Honored! 

Cops 'N' Robbers - Cops 'N' Robbers (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.1)

The Cops 'N' Robbers (named after the Bo Diddley song obviously) issued just three singles in the mid-’60s lifetime, as well as a French-only EP. 

Their chief claim to fame is recording and writing the original version of "You’ll Never Do It Baby" the infamous and nasty R&B raver that was covered by The Pretty Things on their second LP. "Oh My Love" was recorded by The Artwoods and it was as well another Cops 'n' Robbers original. 

Here's gathered all their A's & B's. 

The Ideals - Mo-Gorilla (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.2)

Here's another one I made for the iconic Ideals from Chicago Illinois. 

Let's make clear something right from the start: The Ideals on Checker/Chess wasn't them. 

The Ideals, who had been around since 1952, when they were barely in their teens (all but Spraggins attended Crane High School). At their inception, they were lead Frank Cowan, tenors Leonard Mitchell and Wes Spraggins, baritone Robert Tharp, and bass Clifford Clayborn, though he was soon replaced by Sam Steward while Reggie Jackson supplanted Cowan.

Fred Pettis came in as lead singer around 1956 and left a couple of years later. Future soul star Major Lance briefly floated through also. Jackson returned from the military to rejoin Mitchell, Tharp, and Steward. The Ideals made their 1961 vinyl debut on Richard Stamz's Paso label with "Together b/w What's The Matter With You Sam" and encored with "Magic b/w Teens". By the time they made it back into a recording studio in 1963, they'd acquired a new lead singer Eddie Williams.

Howard Pitman, a former member of The Five Chances (they recorded for Chance and Blue Lake in the mid-'50s), started his own Concord label and came up with "The Gorilla" along with lead singer Williams and Jerry Murray. With dj Herb Kent behind it, "The Gorilla" sold well enough locally that Pitman handed it to Bill Erman's Cortland label. With the Donald Jenkins-penned ballad "Don Juan" on the flip, "The Gorilla" made a lot of Chi-Town noise. None of their Cortland followups, notably a remake of Henry Lumpkin's "Mojo Hanna" and the fake live sequel "Mo Gorilla", went anywhere.

The Ideals moved to the St. Lawrence label in 1965 for the R&B sizzler "Go Get A Wig". They were down to just Jackson, Mitchell, and Stewart when they ventured in a Windy City soul direction for "I Got Lucky (When I Found You)" and then "You Lost And I Won", the latter on St. Lawrence's Satellite imprint. Meanwhile, Tharp joined with Murray to form the duo Tom and Jerry-O, posting a 1965 hit with their "Boo-Ga-Loo" for ABC-Paramount. The Ideals would finally dent the R&B charts with "Kissin'", their second soul-soaked outing on Satellite, in early 1966. A smoother remake of "Go Go Gorilla" closed out their Satellite stay, and a 1967 outing for Boo-Ga-Loo, "The Mighty Lover", completed The Ideals' recording career. 

*Information on The Ideals story taken from Street Corner Symphonies compilation, thanks!

Of course the whole cover idea was shamelessly nicked from Norton's amazing 45 reissue from 2011 but I wasn't able to locate a cool picture of them. Whatever. 

The Olympics - Good Lovin': The Olympics on Loma (WTS Soul No.1)

Hey there! 

Hope everyone's doing fine since the last time.

So, since I never really stopped doing compilations for my own pleasure I decided to upload them after I was kinda forced by you people by seeing my stories and posts on Instagram. I mean, why not right?!

Let's start with The Olympics' quick stint on legendary LOMA label and their three singles. As far as I know, there's no compilation around including all of them sides. [Some co-produced by Mighty Hannibal!]

Cheers!