Screamin' Joe Neal - Screamin' Joe Neal (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.5)

 

There's not much details surrounding shouter/pianist Screamin' Joe Neal's life. He is thought to have come from the Greenville Mississippi to St. Louis. Joe Neal's first two-sider recorded for Archie Shippings in 1959. Both cuts are first rate pretenders to the Little Richard's throne monsters, to yours truly only Kid Thomas reached the same throat shredding heights - I mean ever! In 1966 accompanied by the Cooper bros, Tim and Glen recorded his second and last (known at least) session and produced by Tony Knitting. Another pair of wild R&B romp, full of echo drenched madness but flopped commercially again. Maybe the world wasn't ready for such crudeness. What became of Screamin' Joe Neal is unknown it is rumored he had moved to Kansas City. He played briefly at the start with Junior Walker and in St. Louis he was tearing up the venues with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Any update/correction on his life and recordings is certainly welcome. 

The Standells by Greg Shaw (Bomp! Magazine, Summer 1974)

For Larry Tamblyn (1943-2025)

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The Pretty Things - Mayhem In The BBC (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.4)

It pisses me off that the wildest 60s combo at least in the UK, only has a bunch of BBC live recordings to document their legendary untamed performance. The 15 recordings I've compiled are, as the title suggests, from officially released sources and pretty well recycled over the years. But if you're looking for a place where all their recordings up to 1966 are packed into one place, here's your chance. Not nearly what I've read over the years of the witnesses to their gruesome rituals, but fierce enough for British broadcast, I guess. There's a Dutch TV performance on YouTube, but as far as I know there's never been a proper bootleg release. 

The Five Royales - 1960-66 (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.3)

There's no need to introduce the sheer brilliance and the importance of The 5 Royales to anyone who's visiting this space. What could I possibly write for a band that is hugely influential and successful and hadn't been written before my attempt? There's no bad period on the Royales journey over the years. Every era (Apollo, King, Home of the Blues etc.) had something new to offer. All these sides are true classics of a group whose early singles predated the birth of rock & roll and withdrawn as R&B was making its way for what became better known as soul. 

This time my home-made offering is concentrated on the 1960s age of this black music/heritage monsters as they slide from one record company to another (Home of the Blues, Vee-Jay, Smash, Todd, King among others). Soul music exploded at this point and a young Stax Records guitarist under the name of Steve Cropper was using Pauling’s licks all the time to form a whole new tributary of Memphis R&B, but the group inexplicably failed to catch on. The production of James Brown and Willie Mitchell came up bare. Ironically enough their songs became hits by other artists' recordings (The Shirelles, Ray Charles, James Brown, Mamas & The Papas).  

I know most people would probably prefer their 50s King sides, but I strongly believe these are underrated jewels. 

Dorothy Berry - The Planetary Sides (WTS Soul No.6)

Miss Dorothy Berry has an impressive CV and some of the most wonderful and sadly underrated R&B/Soul sides ever recorded! I mean, this gal was a Jefferson High School student in the South Central Los Angeles where people like Richard Berry, Etta James, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Young Jessie, Cornell Gunter, O.C. Smith were upper-classmates, Roy Ayers was in her class and Barry White and Merry Clayton came after (as I learned from the always cool rock'n'soul preacher Jonathan Toubin)! In fact Dorothy dated and married Mr. "Louie Louie" and "Have Love Will Travel" guy. She was even a Raelette at some point!!

Anyway, every single song she recorded (for Challenge, Little Star, Planetary, USA etc.) was worthy making her at least a superstar and I mean EVERY SINGLE ONE but the four sides on Dot subsidiary Planetary are her peak. All booming, highly danceable and fast moving. The drums are pounding and the horns are like a filthy Motown secret session/production that Berry Gordy would have never let come out of his studios. And Dorothy is wailing all over, man... 

Little Richard – The Scream by Darius James (Vibe Magazine, June/July 1997)

 

 

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OLYMPIACOS PIRAEUS - 100 YEARS

"So many great moments for this club, founded on March 10th 1925. Last year they reportedly surpassed Barcelona as the most successful multi-sport club on the continent of Europe with over 300 titles! The name Olympiacos inspired by the ancient Olympic Games for the club initially established to give a sense of identity to the working class an emblem for the poor city of Piraeus, nicknamed THRYLOS or in English THE LEGEND!"

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...