1. Ray Charles – Sticks And Stones
2. LaVern Baker – Bumble Bee
3. Mable John – You Made A Fool Out Of Me
4. The Ikettes – I’m Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)
5. Arthur Alexander – A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
6. The Mar-Keys – Last Night
7. Gladys Knight and The Pips – Letter Full of Tears
8. Little Milton – Saving My Love For You
9. Lee Dorsey – Ya Ya
10. Irma Thomas – It’s Raining
11. Bettye Lavette – My Man, He’s A Lovin’ Man
12. Ann Cole – Have Fun
13. Marvin Gaye – Get My Hands On Some Lovin’
14. Aretha Franklin – I’m Wandering
15. Solomon Burke – Go On Back To Him
16. Sam Cooke – Nothing Can Change This Love
17. Dee Dee Sharp – Village Of Love
18. The Marvelettes – Playboy
19. Joe Henderson – Snap Your Fingers
20. Betty Harris – It’s Dark Outside
21. Baby Washington – Who’s Gonna Take Care Of Me
22. Eddie Holland – Leaving Here
23. Doris Troy – But I Love Him
24. The Sapphires – Where Is Johnny Now
25. Stevie Wonder – Fingertips (live, full version)
26. Major Lance – Monkey Time
27. Barbara Lewis – Hello Stranger
28. Betty Everett – Gonna Be Ready
29. The Butlers – She Tried To Kiss Me

A while ago I compiled a series of mixes covering soul music from 1970 to 1989, all the links of which I’ve updated (till MF zapps them again). So it seems essential to also cover the 1960s – for many people the golden age of soul. We’ll start with 29 songs from 1960 to 1963. Some of them are classics, such as I’m Blue, It’s Raining, Ya Ya, Monkey Time or Fingertips (represented here in its full version). Others are lesser known, or album tracks or b-sides – but all, in my opinion, great songs.

Some of the names are well-known, and a few still at the beginning of great things, such as Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Eddie Holland, who’d have much bigger success as a songwriter and producer at Motown, on which his Leaving Here appeared.

Others have been widely forgotten. Among them are The Sapphires, whose debut single Where Is Johnny Now is a firm favourite of mine. The Philadelphia group was among Gamble & Huff’s earliest protégés; the song features Leon Huff as well as Thom Bell on keyboards.

There is no name on this tracklist that sounds more ’60s than Doris Troy. Discovered in New York by James Brown (who doesn’t like his music to be featured on blogs, hence his absence), she had a couple of hits, including a Top 40 hit in the UK in 1964 which The Beatles liked so much that they later signed her to the Apple label.

The Butlers are so obscure that they are a trivia question on Northern Soul pub nights. The group’s claim to fame, and this song’s, is that the lead vocalist is Frankie Beverley, who would become a soul legend as the frontman of Maze. ---AMD, halfhearteddude.com

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1. Gene Chandler – A Song Called Soul
2. Little Milton – Who’s Cheatin’ Who
3. The Miracles – Baby Don’t You Go
4. The Gems – All Of It
5. The Radiants – Voice Your Choice
6. Mitty Collier – I Had A Talk With My Man Last Night
7. The Impressions – I’m So Proud
8. Lou Johnson – (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me
9. Jerry Butler – I Stand Accused
10. Lavern Baker – Go Away
11. Irma Thomas – I Wish Someone Would Care
12. Anna King – Come On Home
13. Betty Everett – It Hurts To Be In Love
14. The Velvelettes – He Was Really Saying Somethin’
15. Dionne Warwick – Get Rid Of Him
16. Earl-Jean – Randy
17. Solomon Burke – Stupidity
18. Sam Cooke – Ain’t That Good News
19. Baby Washington – Your Fool
20. Linda Carr – Jackie, Bobby, Sonny, Billy
21. Brenda Holloway – Sad Song
22. Gladys Knight & The Pips – Giving Up
23. Stevie Wonder – Until You Come Back To Me (That’s What I’m Gonna Do)
24. The Marvelettes – Too Many Fish In The Sea
25. The Sapphires – Who Do You Love?
26. Bessie Banks – Go Now
27. Nina Simone – Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
28. Arthur Alexander – Black Night
29. The Supremes – Run, Run, Run

In the past I spread my soul selections over two years, or in the last instalment over four. Frankly, by that method, there is too much great stuff that must be left off. So from here on in we’ll run through the 1960s year-by-year.

Many acts here are well-known, though not all were famous at the time the featured song was released. The Supremes’ Run Run Run, in which Holland-Dozier-Holland tried to go for the Phil Spector sound, tanked at #93 when it was released in February 1964. Their next single, Where Did Our Love Go, went to #1, as did the following four.

Lou Johnson’s song would become famous in versions by other singers, especially Britain’s Sandie Shaw; Lou’s was the original (and here a special shout-out to the late Hal David seems appropriate). Meanwhile Hal and Burt’s muse, Dionne Warwick, chips in here with a song that conforms more to the girl-band sound that was already becoming passé. Though it was produced by Bacharach and David, Get Rid Of Him was written by Brill Building team Helen Miller and Howard Greenfield. It was only an album track and therefore not well-known. And lovely as it is, how could it compete with orther siongs from the LP, such as Walk On By, A House Is Not A Home, They Long To Be Close To You or Reach Out For Me?

Talking of girl bands, Earl-Jean used to be the singer of The Cookies, who featured twice in The Originals series, HERE and HERE, while Earl-Jean did the original of the Herman Hermits’ hit I’m Into Something Good. And talking of originals, the Bessie Banks’ song Go Now was later covered by the Moody Blues. Bessie’s version was produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

The Radiants were a Chicago group which included Leonard Caston Jr, who not only wrote the Mitty Collier song that follows The Radiants’ wonderful Voice Your Choice, but also hits such as Eddie Kendricks’ Keep On Trucking and The Supremes’ Nathan Jones, and played the piano on Fontellas Bass Rescue Me. The Radiants were once produced by the legendary Billy Davis (who wrote Rescue Me). Davis also wrote the song that precedes that group’s song. Listen to the lead singer of The Gems, who recorded on Chess – it is a young Minnie Riperton.

Linda Carr would go on to become a popular singer in Britain in the 1970s as the frontwoman of Linda and the Funky Boys; featured here is the lovely b-side of her debut solo single Sweet Talk.

Anna King had the distinction of being the only one of James Brown’s backing singers to have an album produced by the self-proclaimed hardest-working man in show business, with his band doing backing duties. Titled Back To Soul, it was also her only one. Come On Home is credited to Ted Wright – one of Brown’s pseudonyms. --- halfhearteddude.com

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1. The Impressions – Woman’s Got Soul
2. The Astors – Candy
3. Willie Tee – Teasin’ You
4. Don Covay – Mercy Mercy
5. Ben E. King – Cry No More
6. Lee Dorsey – Get Out Of My Life, Woman
7. Roy Head – Treat Her Right
8. Cannibal and the Headhunters – Land Of 1000 Dances
9. Joe Tex – Sweet Woman Like You
10. Sam & Dave – You Don’t Know Like I Know
11. Betty Harris – What A Sad Feeling
12. Barbara Mason – Yes I’m Ready
13. Mary Wells – Me And My Baby
14. Marlina Mars – Head And Shoulders
15. Jack Montgomery – Dearly Beloved
16. Dee Dee Sharp – There Ain’t Nothing That I Wouldn’t Do
17. The Contours – First I Look At The Purse
18. The Marvelettes – Don’t Mess With Bill
19. The Gems – He Makes Me Feel So Good
20. Brenda Holloway – I’ve Been Good To You
21. Dee Dee Warwick – We’re Doing Fine
22. Kris Peterson – Just As Much
23. Gerri Thomas – Look What I Got
24. The Sharpees – Tired Of Being Lonely
25. The Charts – Livin’ The Night Life
26. Kim Weston – Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)
27. The Supremes – My World is Empty Without You
28. Rozetta Johnson – That Hurts
29. Billy Prophet – What Can I Do
30. Baby Huey & the Babysitters – Monkey Man

Here is a mix of soul from 1965, though some tracks were released only in 1966. As before, there’s a mix of the well known and the forgotten and relatively obscure.

Cannibal and the Headhunters were the first Mexican-American R&B act to make a wider impression with their hit cover of Chris Kenner’s Land Of A Thousand Dances, to which lead singer Frankie “Cannibal” Garcia added the famous “na, na na na na” line when he forgot the lyrics. The group supported The Beatles during their second US tour.

Another caucasian singer in this lot is Roy Head, who was actually a rockabilly singer. But just as soul singers could do country – think Brook Benton, Joe Tex, Arthur Alexander, even Solomon Burke — so could some country singers do soul, as Charlie Rich proved in the 1960s. Roy Head’s Treat Her Right was a proper soul song; it was kept of the Billboard #1 spot by The Beatles’ Yesterday.

Hollywood-born and Detroit-based Kris Peterson might be best known to Frank Zappa fans for her involvement in the Waka Ja Waka album of 1972. For contractual reasons she was prevented from joining Holand-Dozier-Holland’s Invictus label, which is a pity, because her Just As Much shows an affinity with the Motown sound.

The Astors recorded on Stax, but don’t really sound like it. They recorded only five singles for the label between 1961 and 1967. Candy, co-written by Steve Cropper and Isaac Hayes, was their biggest hit, reaching #12 in the R&B charts.

Betty Harris featured on Any Major Soul 1960-63. By 1965 she recorded on the New Orleans Sansu label, where she was produced by Allen Toussaint. She recorded a lot, and her output is loved by soul fans, though that has not translated to great fame.

Marlina Mars (also known as Marlene Mack) was a member of a few New York-based girl-groups, including The Jaynetts, who had a #2 hit in 1963 with Sally Go ‘Round the Roses. At one point she performed as Peaches in live shows of Peaches & Herb. She released a few solo singles in the mid-‘60s on several labels, without much success.

Rozetta Johnson, who died last year at the age of 68, started out as a gospel singer, tried her hand at secular music, became disillusioned and returned to gospel and jazz. She was later inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame.

The Charts, a Harlem band, are said to be the only band to be booed off the stage at the Apollo’s amateur night and still go on to have some success. The gang members-turned-doo wop singers were freestyling vocally in ways the crowd did not appreciate that night in 1956, but a talent scout saw something in them and became their manager. They had a hit in the New York area with Everlast, which over the years sold more than a million copies. Another of their songs, Deserie, was later covered by Laura Nyro as Desirée. A year after Everlast, in 1958, The Charts disbanded for the first time. A reformed version recorded several singles in the 1960s and beyond, but never bothered the hit parade again before disbanding again. In the 1970s they reformed as The Twelfth Of Never and in the ’80s as The Charts again. ---halfhearteddude.com

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1. Arthur Conley – Funky Street
2. Eddie Floyd – Things Get Better
3. William Bell – Never Like This Before
4. The Poets – She Blew A Good Thing
5. The Five Stairsteps – Don’t Waste Your Time
6. Bobby Sheen – Dr. Love
7. Fontella Bass – I Surrender
8. The Isley Brothers – I Hear A Symphony
9. Dee Dee Warwick – Lover’s Chant
10. Betty Harris – What’d I Do Wrong
11. Chris Clark – Love’s Gone Bad
12. Martha Reeves & the Vandellas – No More Tearstained Make Up
13. Mable John – Your Good Thing (Is About To End)
14. Jean Wells – If You’ve Ever Loved Someone
15. Lou Rawls – A Whole Lotta Love
16. Don Covay – I Never Get Enough Of Your Love
17. Andrea Davis – You Gave Me Soul
18. Clarence Reid – I Refuse To Give Up
19. Ruby Johnson – I’ll Run Your Hurt Away
20. Baby Washington – Either You’re With Me (Or Either You’re Not)
21. Darrell Banks – Open The Door To Your Heart
22. Major Lance – Investigate
23. Billy Thompson – Black Eyed Girl
24. Roy Hamilton – Crackin’ Up Over You
25. The Sapphires – Slow Fizz
26. The Capitols – Cool Jerk
27. Rex Garvin & the Mighty Cravers – Sock It To ‘Em J.B., Pt. 1
28. Brenda Holloway – Hurt A Little Everyday
29. Devotions – The Devil’s Gotten Into My Baby
30. The Royalettes – Baby Are You Putting Me On

Soul music in 1966 — throughout the 1960s — was so rich in quality and diversity that one can cheerfully dispense with the year’s great hits of that genre. We need no Reach Out I’ll Be There, Hold On I’m Coming, Knock On Wood, Ain’t Too Proud To Beg, B-A-B-Y or When A Man Loves A Woman to serve a feast of mid-’60s soul.

Of course we have many well-known voices on this compilation: Eddie Floyd, Lou Rawls, The Isley Brothers (with their cover of The Supremes’ I Hear A Symphony), Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (with my favourite song of theirs) or Major Lance.

One voice is familiar, but the name is not: Andrea Davis. It was the name under which Minnie Riperton briefly recorded after leaving The Gems (who have featured previously) and joining The Rotary Connection.

The Five Stairsteps appear here with their debut single, a great slice of Curtis Mayfield-penned Chicago soul that served as a double A-side with You Waited Too Long.

The Poets, not to be confused with the Scottish outfit by that name or the forerunners of the Main Ingredient, provide what might well be my favourite track on this mix, She Blew A Good Thing. It was the only hit for the Brooklyn band, reaching #2 R&B and the Top 40 pop charts.

Almost as good is Bobby Sheen’s Dr Love (with that great tempo change halfway through). Sheen never had much success under his own name; he was more famous as Bob B Soxx, the nominal leader of the Phil Spector-produced Blue Jeans (who were Darlene Love and Fanita James). He also provided one of the voices on The Crystals’ He’s A Rebel. Fans of Phil Spector’s A Christmas Gift For You will know Sheen’s voice from the songs The Bells Of St Mary’s and Here Comes Santa Claus. Sheen died in 2000 at the age of 59.

Clarence Reid is better known as the sexually explicit novelty soul singer Blowfly, and as the co-writer of such soul classics as Betty Wright’s Clean Up Woman and Gwen McCrae’s Rockin’ Chair. The Blowfly moniker reportedly had its origins with Reid’s granny. Mishearing Reid’s singing of Do the Twist as “Suck My Dick”, she berated him: “You is nastier than a blowfly.”

There are not many soul singers from a Jewish background (and even Sammy Davis Jr was a convert to Judaism); one of the few is featured here: Ruby Johnson, who recorded on Stax with Isaac Hayes and David Porter.

Darrell Banks is featured here with his sole hit single, Open Your Heart, for which he falsely claimed songwriting credit; after litigation, the real writer, Donnie Elbert, got 50% credit. The singer came to a tragic end in 1970 when he was shot dead when he pulled a gun on a policeman who was having an affair with Banks’ girlfriend.

Fans of The Specials will know Rex Garvin & the Mighty Cravers’ Sock It To ’Em J.B., a clever song about one JB performed in the style of another JB — it’s a tribute to James Bond as James Brown might have rendered it. --- halfhearteddude.com

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