|
The City of
California, Usa can also claim to having a major
development into the shaping of Soul music. With the diverse
musical influences and the many recording studios of
Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco. They
were able to offer a rich mixture of sounds, which young
blacks of the area and of the time were beginning to turn
to instead of the rough, self pity sounds of the "Blues".
They wanted to hear something a little
more sophisticated.2 x major influences from the West
Coast which Soul music fans from that area can say that
this is "Our Input into Soul music", would have
to be Barry White, and the successful
Solar Records label run by Dick Griffey
These 2 major influences
coming from the West Coast of America
with regards to Soul music. Made the "West
coast" enjoy success that was only thought
possible in the other "Traditional"
musical driven cities within America.
In recent years Barry White
has featured in the hit USA T.V series
called Alley Mcbeal. You may have seen
some of his cameo appearances?
However the West Coast of
America, maybe the whole of America, were to wake up to
this on the 4th July, 2003.
LOS ANGELES, California
(CNN) -- Velvet-voiced singer Barry White, the two-time
Grammy winner who inspired millions to get in the mood
with such hits as "Can't Get Enough of Your Love,
Babe," died Friday, his manager told CNN. He was
58.
The crooner died at 9:35 a.m.
(12:35 p.m. EDT) at Cedars Sinai Hospital, said
White's manager since 1973, Ned Shankman.
He was alone when he died.
"It was just a series of
things brought on by his high blood pressure, which triggered
kidney failure and a mild stroke and ongoing low-grade
infections that they just couldn't get on top of,"
Shankman said.
White had been on dialysis, but had been
doing some studio work.
"He had a most unique voice,
a most unique appearance," Shankman said.
"He was just a very unique guy."
Once, he said, researchers played his
music to whales. "It absolutely made them
mate more," he said.
The singer's bass, sultry tones graced
such hits as "Can't Get Enough of Your Love,
Babe" and "You're My First, My Last, My Everything."
White, his songs sensual, was the love
machine to millions of fans.His
biggest hits came during the disco days of the 1970s,
with hits like, "I'm Gonna Love You Just
a Little More, Baby," which he referred to as "my
anthem."
During the 1980s and 1990s,
he converted subsequent generations into admirers, too.White
credited the fact that he wrote and produced the songs,
and worked long and hard, for his staying power.
"I sleep music, I eat music,
I'm never without it, I'm never without music, that's
my first lady," he once told a reporter.
White insisted he was a homebody, happiest
in the studio he had built in his house. "I
am passionate, I am romantic, I am thrilled throughout
my soul to be creating music," he said.
White, who married and divorced
twice, leaves eight children.
Sad News indeed.
Please click on this link below
to witness a great interview
with the great Barry White.
It is must listen to interview!
Barry
White at the Oxford Union, Oxford, England
(A big thank goes
out to the BBC for a great interview - please click here!)
The West Coast area have since then been
inspired by talented other artists such as Rose
Royce, Whispers, Atlantic Star, Womack and Womack, Karen
White and Tony,Toni,Tone. So the West Coast can more then
hold its head high when it comes to Soul music talent. |
| New York City,
USA (the City that doesn't sleep, the Big Apple)........
America's most populous city, and probably
the country's major trading center.So
it comes to no surprise to find its place in the evolution
of Soul music very important indeed. But with so many
diverse cultures living there, or moving into the city
on a daily basis. This could mean though, that in some
cases that New York City hasn't really
been able to create a truly diverse "sound"
of its own.
New York City,
is in fact very,similar to London, England
in that way of things - musically. However, if New York
critics stay firm to the argument that due to New York
vastness, and multitude of different cultures. It prevents
them coming up with another "Sound of Philadelphia"
or the Memphis's Stax Sound or Detroit's Motown record
Soul Sound
Then New Yorkers can
claim this one back, by naming one building that would
put they minds at ease on that score. The legendary Apollo
theatre in Harlem, New York City, Usa.
This building could make or break you
(*Musicially). It was the most threatening, but then again
the most revered building for "black acts" for
many decades within the Usa.
It was here that many famous solo artists,
groups, etc (*that we take for granted today), made or
got their first break.
The "infamous"
amateur nights have passed in to folklore legend. Audiences
within Harlem, New York, were unashamedly hostile to any
act they deemed "useless". Stagehands
helped the unlucky performers off the stage with large
hooked poles!!!
However, if their performance/s was to
the meeting of the Strong Apollocrowd, then you were usually
on your way to bring singed up by the many musical entrepreneurs,
record label bosses, etc alike!!
New Yorkers also claim the Brill
Building on Broadway as a other major source
of the city's musical output. Known as the original Tin
pan alley came a steady following of great songwriters,
such as Bert Bacharach and Hal David and Leiber
and Stroller Probably New York most famous label
was Atlantic Records
This label tried to cover the daunting
task of covering the whole gauntlet of black music from
its humble beginnings right from blues orientated music
to doo-wop soul to the present day Soul Sound.
Atlantic Records though part
of the Warner Brothers Group has managed to preserve
much of its independence and remains a major center for
Black music today.
Levert, Keith Sweat,
Intro and Mary.J. Blige have all been influenced
from this vibe - and fly the flag for New York
city - with regards to Soul Music.
But New York's Modern day International
Soul Superstar is none other than Luther Vandross
He keeps the City Soul music vibe within the minds of
Soul music fanatics around the globe.
He is the Modern day Balladeerer of all balladeerers,
within Soul Music. New York City can hold its head
proud
It is these regional areas of the USA, which has seen
Soul music originally taking its lead from Gospel music
that has made it the cornerstone within modern day Black
music. The Dance music that we like, or in some cases
"love" what ever that maybe (*Garage
and Soulful House music owes a great deal to this!).
Vocalists that are nowadays taken for
common within the Garage world owe their careers to Soul
and Gospel. Artists such as Randy Crawford, Aretha
Franklin, Jocelyn Brown, Thelma Houston come
to prove my point!!!
For those of you reading
this and are from the Southern states of the Usa,
and feel that you have been left out then never fear.
We have some here that will more then make up for your
worries. If the name of James Brown
doesn't bring a smile to your face, then nothing else
will.
James Brown was
born in Barnwell, South Carolina, as an only child in
1933. His father was a filling station attendant.
When James was four, his parents separated and he grew
up in the brothel of his aunt, a poor woman in Augusta,
Georgia. Brown left school in the seventh grade.
He picked cotton, was a shoe-shine boy, washed cars and
dishes and swept out stores. At the age of 16,
he took part in an armed robbery and was caught breaking
into a car. James was sentenced to eight to sixteen years'
hard labor. He served a short period in the county
jail before being transferred to juvenile work farms.
He spent three years in a community home.
Afterwards, he tried to
work as a boxer. His ambitions to make
a career as a baseball pitcher ended
with a leg injury. He had been a pitcher for the
prison team and that's where he first met Bobby
Byrd who played against him in a local game.
James Brown started to work with pianist Bobby
Byrd in bars and clubs in Toccoa, Georgia. Little
Richard's manager Clint Brantley took
him under contract and sent him to the Twospot
Nightclub in Macon, Georgia. During the day,
he worked at Lawson's Motor Company in town,
in the evenings, he worked as a drummer
and organ player in the club's house
band which accompanied Bill Johnson,
the Four Steps of Rhythm and the Gospel Starlighters.
At that time, they switched from gospel to r&b which
was then in the air. Later, James Brown became a member
of Bobby Byrd's gospel group Three Swanees
which became the Swanee Quintet and later
the Swanees. In 1955, the singer Sylvester
Keels and the guitarist Nafloyd Scott where part
of the group. The band toured Georgia and developed into
the Famous Flames, a black music
revue in which all members had at least to play two instruments
and to act as dancers and singers. In 1956, James Brown
took over the direction of the Famous Flames
which consisted of Keels and Scott, but also Johnny Terry
and Nashpendle Knox (both vocals), Wilbert Smith and Ray
Felder (both saxophone), Clarence Mack (bass) and Edison
Gore (drums).
The Famous Flames
caught the attention of King Records
and, in April 1956, they released the
single Please, Please, Please which soared
into the R&B top ten. James Brown
rapidly made himself the center of the revue. In 1958
record sales dropped and King Records
threatened to cancel the contract if the next single did
not become a did. Try Me was released in September
1958 and became a #58 hit in
the US charts and a #1 in the r&b charts.
It was the beginning of James Brown's career. On October
24, 1962, he performed at the Apollo
and the recording Live At The Apollo, which he
paid for himself since Syd Nathan did
not want to advance money on a live record, made him a
star. With the Famous Flames, now led by saxophonist
J.C. Davis, he broke all concert records. Several
months after its release, on June 29, 1963,
the album entered the pop charts.
In 1964,
James Brown had several hits in the US charts: Think
(#33), Night Train (#35), Prisoner of Love (#18).
His album Live at the Apollo climbed to US#2
and became the first LP in pop history to sell
more than a million copies. Pure Dynamite
was a US#10 album. "Mr. Dynamite"
was another nickname for James Brown who was one of the
first black stars to be able to break out of the black
music ghetto and his band was the number one r&b attraction.
His greatest hits of that period were Papa's Got
A Brand New Bag (US#6, UK#21), I Got You (I Feel Good)
(US#1, UK#18), It's a Man's World (US#3, UK#17), Cold
Sweat (US#4), I Got The Feelin' (US#5), Say It Loud -
I'm Black and Proud (US#9) and Mother Popcorn (US#7).
His best selling albums in 1966 were
I Got You (US#20) and in 1968 I Can't Stand Myself (US#16).
Papa's Got A Brand New Bag earned him
a Grammy. James Brown was able to buy
a private jet, a villa, four radio stations, a restaurant
chain, a moated castle and a music publishing house. He
performed 300 times a year which made
him "the hardest working man in showbiz".
James Brown transformed
popular music. He not only added gospel dialogues
and a jazzy saxophone played by Maceo
Parker, but as well as being the "Godfather
of Soul" he is the "Godfather
of Funk" since he invented the style long
before George Clinton came along. His
decline began when musicians like Maceo Parker,
Pee Wee Ellis, Fred Wesley and Bootsy Collins left
him in order to join, with the exception of Ellis,
George Clinton's bands Parliament and Funkadelic.
The irony was that George Clinton had
looked up to James Brown as his model. James Brown was
also a role model for ghetto kids. He made political statements,
donated money to colored organizations, supported programs
against drug abuse and fought for the ideas of Martin
Luther King.
In 1969, Look magazine
called him "the most important black man
in America", LeRoi Jones "our
number one black poet". In 1970,
James Brown's hits included It's a New Day (US#26),
Brother Rapp (US#26), Get Up (I Feel Like Being A Sex
Machine) (US#17, UK#20, Germany#29) and Super Bad (US#9).
The album Sex Machine was a #24
hit in the United States. The same year, Mr. Dynamite
married Deirdre Jenkins. Until 1974,
James Brown stayed on the winning road with hit singles
such as Hot Pants, Part 1 (US#14), Make It Funky,
Part 1 (US#18), Good Foot, Part 1 (US#9), My Thang (US#30)
and The Payback (US#27). The albums Hot Pants (US#20),
Black Caesar (US#21) and Hell (US#24).
In the mid-1970s,
the picture darkened. The IRS was was
asking James Brown to pay $4,5 million back tax.
He was involved in a radio station bribery scandal,
his marriage broke up and his son Teddy died in a car
accident. Until 1980, James Brown had only two
more notable successes, the single Get Up Offa
That Thing (US#49, UK#22) and the album
Reality (US#53). The tax debt forced him to sell
his radio station and his airplane. In order to overcome
his financial difficulties, he had to tour Japan and Africa.
Until then, he had sold over 100 million records.
James Brown became a victim
of the disco revolution. A guest part
in the cult movie The Blues Brothers in 1980
allowed him a comeback that led to a success with the
title Rapp Payback (GB#30). The contract
with Island Records was cancelled. He
switched to RCA Records. In 1983
he had two singles in the UK charts, Bring It
On - Bring It On (UK#42) and, together with Africa Bambaataa,
Unity, Part 1 (UK#38).
In 1985,
James Brown had a hit with the title song to Sylvester
Stallone's Rocky IV. His patriotic hymn Living
in America (US#4, UK#4, Germany#12) caught the
attention of the teenagers, but not of his old fans. In
the summer of 1985, Sex Machine was re-released and made
it into the UK charts (#30). In February 1987,
Living in America earned a Grammy. In 1986,
together with Steve Winwood, Stevie Ray Vaughan
and Alison Moyet, James Brown made the critically
acclaimed album Gravity (Germany#23)
which had no success with the public in the US and the
UK. In 1988, the album I'm Real
(US#96, UK#27, Germany#39) and its title song
I'm Real (UK#31) sold better. The master
of funk wanted to prove to the rap and hip-hop generation,
who played his songs, that nobody could play his music
like he himself.
In 1987,
James Brown was arrested for drug abuse for the
fifth time in ten months. His resistance to the
police, an attack on his wife and the illegal
possession of arms made it worse. In December
1988 he was convicted of the attempted
murder of his wife and sent to prison for six years.
[On February 9, 2001, Curtis Martin sent us the following
comment: In the article on James Brown in your ish # 11
you state that JB was convicted of the attempted murder
of his wife. He was in prison for threatening people in
an office rental property of his, and then trying to evade
the cops in a cross-state chase. Still not cool, but also
not murder. Otherwise--very cool article. - Cosmopolis
response: You are right: In 1988, Brown was accused by
his wife of assault and battery. After a year of legal
and personal troubles, he led the police on an interstate
car chase after allegedly threatening people with a handgun.
The episode ended in a six-year prison sentence; he was
paroled after serving two years].
In April 1990,
after only having spent 15 months at the State
Park Prison in Columbia, South Carolina, James
Brown was moved to a reintegration center for good conduct.
During that period, he produced radio and television contributions
warning against alcohol and drug abuse. In February
1991, he was released on the condition that he
neither drove or possessed firearms.
In the summer of 1991, James Brown made
his comeback on the scene of the Wiltern Theatre
in Los Angeles. Together with a twelve-man band
and a dynamic show, he enchanted a public which included
Mick Jagger, Quincy Jones and MC Hammer.
In November 1991, Sex Machine was released for the fourth
time and made it to #69 in the UK. The album Love
Over-Due was a return to his roots. In 1993
he received a Grammy for his life-time achievements.
The same year, his album Universal James
tried to reconcile tradition and contemporary styles by
mixing soul with hip-hop. Neither the
critics nor the public liked it. Only the single
Can't Get Any Harder made it into the UK charts
(#59). James Brown's latest release is the album I'm
Back, 1998.
Soul Brother Number
One, the Godfather of Soul, the Hardest Working Man in
Show Business, Mr. Dynamite -- those are mighty
titles, but no one can question that James Brown has earned
them more than any other performer. Other singers
were more popular, others were equally
skilled, but no other African-American musician
has been so influential on the course
of popular music in the past several
decades. And no other musician, pop or otherwise,
put on a more exciting, exhilarating stage show -- Brown's
performances were marvels of athletic stamina
and split-second timing.
Through the gospel-impassioned fury of
his vocals and the complex polyrhythms
of his beats, Brown was a crucial midwife
in not just one, but two revolutions in American
Black music. He was one of the figures most responsible
for turning R&B into soul; he was,
most would agree, the figure most responsible for turning
soul music into the funk of the late '60s and early '70s.
Maybe hasn't got the finesse within his voice as Jackie
Wilson or Marvin Gaye
However, through his exploits and hard work he helped
to change black music direction almost on his own. South
Carlonia, you can put this man forward to Champion your
city within this gender of music.
Another Southern Soul Singer,
that needs to be mentioned within these pages with regards
to this article is simply Al Green. This
Silky Smooth, Soul singer, is a must whom Soul music fans
of the Southern states of America can proudly put hold
him up as proof that the Southern states have a singer
who could match the vocal delievery of Marvin Gaye!
Al Green
was the first great soul singer of the 1970s
and arguably the last great Southern soul singer
to come from that area of the Usa. With his seductive
singles for Hi Records in the early 1970s,
Green bridged the gap between deep soul and smooth
Philadelphia soul. He incorporated elements of gospel,
interjecting his performances with wild moans and wails,
but his records were stylish, boasting immaculate productions
that rolled along with a tight beat, sexy backing vocals,
and lush strings.
Al Greene,
was born on the 13 April 1946, Forrest City, Arkansas,
USA. Having served his musical apprenticeship
in the Greene Brothers, a fraternal gospel quartet, this
urbane singer made his first recordings in 1960. Four
years later he helped form the Creations with
Curtis Rogers and Palmer Jones.
These two companions subsequently
wrote and produced "Back Up Train",
a simple, effective ballad and a 1967 R&B hit for
his new group, Al Greene And The Soul Mates.
Similar releases fared less well, prompting Green's decision
to work solo. In 1969 he shared a bill with bandleader
Willie Mitchell, who took the singer
to Hi Records. The combination of a crack house band,
Mitchell's tight production and Green's silky, sensuous
voice, resulted in some of soul's definitive moments.
The combination took a little time to gel, but with the
release of "I Can't Get Next To You"
(1970), they were clearly on course. Previously
a hit for the Temptations, this slower,
blues-like interpretation established an early pattern.
However, the success of
"Tired Of Being Alone" (1971),
a Green original, introduced a smoother perspective. A
US number 11 and a UK number 4, it was
followed by "Let's Stay Together" (1971),
"I'm Still In Love With You" (1972), "Call
Me (Come Back Home)", "Here I Am (Come And Take
Me)" (both 1973), each of which increased
Green's stature as a major artist.
His personal life, however, was rocked in October
1974. Following an argument, his girlfriend,
Mary Woodson, burst in while the singer was taking
a bath and poured boiling grits over his back.
She then shot herself dead. Although
he occasionally recorded gospel material, a scarred and
shaken Green vowed to devote more time to God.
His singles, meanwhile, remained popular, "L-O-V-E
(Love)" and "Full Of Fire" were
both R&B chart toppers in 1975, but his work grew
increasingly predictable and lacked the passion of his
earlier records.
The solution was drastic.
The partnership with Mitchell was dissolved and Green
opened his own recording studio, American Music. The first
single was the majestic "Belle" (a US
R&B Top 10 hit), although the accompanying
album was a departure from his commercial formula and
something of a "critics favourite", as were
the later Hi collections. The failure of further singles
suggested that the problem was more than simply a tired
working relationship. In 1979 Green fell from
a Cincinnati stage, which he took as a further
religious sign.
The Lord Will Make A Way
was the first of several gospel-only recordings, which
included a 1985 reunion with Mitchell
for He Is The Light. Green has since continued to record
sacred material. A practising minister, he nonetheless
reached the UK singles chart in 1989 with the distinctly
secular "Put A Little Love In Your Heart". His
Hi albums, Al Green Gets Next To You, Let's Stay Together,
I'm Still In Love With You and Call Me, are particularly
recommended. Greatest Hits and Take Me To The River (Greatest
Hits Volume 2) offer the simplest overview, with
the former being reissued on CD in an expanded form with
15 tracks. Truth 'N' Time (1978) best
represents the post-Mitchell, pre-gospel recordings. Don't
Look Back, released in 1993, was a sparkling
return after many years away from recording new R&B/soul
material, and some critics rated it as high as albums
such as Let's Stay Together. The US release
was delayed for nearly three years, until In Good
Hands was issued, containing eight tracks from
Don't Look Back.
In recent years Al Green
has featured in the hit USA T.V series
called Alley Mcbeal. You may have seen
some of his cameo appearances?
|
| Soul music
traditional home is within the Usa. So lets not try and
attemt to change or try to distort the facts. However,
there has been a few moments in time over the years, that
the Uk with its obsession with Black American and Black
Jamaican music, has decided enough, is enough. Groups
such as the Average White Band to Heatwave, and
from Soul 2 Soul to Omar have given us (
US in ENGLAND ) just a linger hope of matching
the wealth of Soul music talent that heralds from the
originators - The Usa. However, one group from the Uk,
more then any other did just that. They shocked everyone
along the way with 12 inch release after 12 inch release,
and album release after album release. No it wasn't Soul
2 Soul, though they influence was immense. However,
the group that I am reffering to is none other then the
South London, group called LOOSE ENDS!
The story
begins with Steve Nichol, keyboards and
trumpet player, whom was educated at the "Guildhall
School Of Music". After doing a few recordings and
live gigs himself , he wanted to form a SOUL group.
He met Jane Eugene (Lead Singer of Loose Ends),
a then student at the "London College Of
Fashion". Wanting to become a model, Eugene
was persuaded her love of becoming a model with that of
music. The duo became a trio; when jazz-bass guitar player
- Carl McIntosh (Macca) was also persuaded
to join up and form "LOOSE END",
signed in 1981 by VIRGIN (UK)
and in 1984 with MCA (USA).
The initial 3 were formed
into a band as we know them in the year of 1980.
Jane Eugene, Steve Nichol and Carl McIntosh,
as Loose End they became the first
all black UK band to be signed to the Virgin record label.
Steve Nichol worked as a keyboard and trumpet
player for the rock band The Jam on their album 'The Gift'.
After several successful
12inch single releases within the Uk, beginning with 'In
The Sky' / 'Only A Day Away', they changed their
name to Loose Ends, enlisted the help
of USA producer, Nick Martinelli.
Chris and Eddie
Amoo (*The Real Thing) were ALSO instrumental
in starting Loose Ends upon their recording
career, writing 'In The Sky' for the group in
1981.
"A
Little Spice" (VIRGIN CDV2301, produced by Nick Martinelli)
album project saw LOOSE END becoming LOOSE ENDS... . Steve
Nichol often
referred to American Nick Martinelli (from
Philadelphia) as "the fourth member", putting
the "SOS Band" or "Change" sound into
their music. Staying in Philly, Carl
McIntosh
was kept busy with the
local law, who mistaken him for a local gang-member.
So where are
you ?" (VIRGIN CDV2340, produced by Nick Martinelli)
album project
saw the group performing
at the very first Uk Version of "Soul Train"
on British TV. The hit-album included two massive hits
singles - "Hangin' On a String "(VIRGIN
107278) and David Bowie's "Golden Years" from
the set. "Hangin' On a String " became
Soul music classic and made Loose Ends the first British
act to conquer the American Black Charts, July 13, 1985,
R&B nr.1.
The story of this album revolves around
an unlikely, but true series of events involving pioneering
UK soul group (Loose Ends). At the time Carl McIntosh,
Jane Eugene and Steve Nichol were in town working on a
project with producer Nick Martinelli, the sessions in
fact which were responsible for the trio's biggest hit
'Hanging On A String'.
While taking a break from their recording,
the group went for a wander round a Philadelphia shopping
district and called into a jewellery shop where
Joanna had taken a part time job as an assistant.
Fascinated by their Clothes and
English accents, Joanna ended up talking to them
at length and revealed that she could also sing and promptly
gave a demonstration.
Soon, Nick Martinelli was to hear her
voice, and within five days after that she was signed
to the Philly World label that operated out of the same
building as the studio where Loose Ends were recording!
In fact she sang on the backgrounds of
'Hanging On A Sing' before making her
Philly World debut as a guest of Harold Melvin
& The Blue Notes on 'Today's Your Lucky Day'.
"Zagora" (VIRGIN CDV2384,
MCA 5745, gold in the USA) album project saw
Carl, Steve and Jane are in the Moroccan desert for the
album cover photo shoot.
The car breaks down, they are
out of water, lost and in the distance they can hear the
faint crack of gun shots. The gun shots comes from a tribe
of nomads, who give the water and send them in the direction
of a nearby village, called "Zagora"...a real
paradise in the middle of nowhere. - was the promotional
pitich for this album.
Again working with Nick
Martinelli,
topping' the R&B-charts with the track "Slow
Down" (VIRGIN 88412), March 7, 1987, R&B nr.1
- and with "Stay a little while child"
(VIRGIN 5819).
Car lMcIntosh added at the time - "We do
3,000 seater venues already with the track dates. The
last one we did in L.A. had 1,000 inside and 1,500 outside
trying to get in. It was a total roadblock in L.A. !"
"The Real ChuckeeBoo" (VIRGIN CDV2528,
published by brampton/virgin music, gold in the USA)
album project Saw many asking the menaing of "ChuckeeBoo".
No not an obscure rhythm, but a Caribbean street
word meaning "GOOD".
Saving their pennies for the cover of
the new single "Mr. Bachelor",
doing promotion and cover photographs, the trio find themselves
in the swimming pool (in the West Indies) at the Caribbean
retreat of VIRGIN record-label-boss Richard Branson
- which also includes the street hit called "Watching
You".
"Look How Long" (TEN
RECORDS DIXCD94, produced by Carl McIntosh at age 28)
album project saw a mighty change. And there was one,
Carl, was now the only survivor of the original line!
In the summer of 1990, the single "Don't
Be A Fool" (TENCD312) scored, and the band
was back on the tracks.
Carl McIntosh tried to explain at the
time; "I think Jane, Steve and myself had
come to an end, because it got to the stage where we were
always arguing and having disagreements and somewhere
in the succes the direction was lost....there were some
real musical conflicts. Jane wanted to do an American
type of thing, working with people like LA & BabyFace
and Jam & Lewis..."
Carl McIntosh added ;"We
three might still get back together, I Still believe in
Steve and I still believe in Jane" Carl
also added an insight into to own private life at the
time (1990).
"Apart from the difficulties
I encountered with the company my missus left me, two
of my closest friends and partners died and suddenly I
was all on my own. My life had completely changed. I was
completely numb and burnt out"
Carl McIntosh was joined on this Album
project (*"Look How Long")
by Linda Carriere, Sunay Suleyman, Christine and
Trisha Lewin.
"The Loose Ends Tighten
Up Volume 1" (TEN REC. DIXCD112, compilation by TEN
RECORDS) album project working in the studio
with Caron Wheeler (female singer of Soul II Soul),
Robert Palmer, Maxi Priest and many others, picked
up where Loose Ends left off two years
ago. Now Frankie Knuckles (*The GodFather of House)
rewarded the fans with his remix on "Hangin'
On A String" (TENX406), produced by Nick
Martinelli. This compilation also includes a
remix production by P.M. DAWN of "Ooh You
Make Me Feel".
The Music Of Black Origin (MOBO)
Awards II, in 1998; saw Carl McIntosh/Loose Ends
were awared: The MOBO Awards "Contribution
To Black Music".
*read the full interview by Jon-Andre
Holly in Blues & Soul magazine 713
The Annual IAAAM Awards III (London); guest apperarance
of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis......and an award for his
services to black music in honour of his career...."Carl
McIntosh"
"I wanted to take Loose Ends back to where we came
from - the neighbourhood. I wanted to please the people
like me that came from the street, whereas Jane and Steve
wanted to keep that same old Loose Ends Sound (Nick Martinelli
productions), ....so we wentour separate ways. It's as
simple as that".
Alot of people around the
world might be surprised by my choice of Loose
Ends. Maybe they are right? There are so many
groups I haven't mention that do deserve a mention here,
and haven't been. Maybe making
you think that I I am "nuts".
However, Loose Ends were chosen for inclusion
on this page ( in my opinion) - because
they had managed to create a "sound",
that had to, not only had to please "a market
that loves mostly American and Jamaican music"
(*And that is England!).
The Loose End sound,
also had to try and hold its own against the mighty
American Soul artists in their own back yard at a time
when American artist didn't really know that Soul music
artists were making this music in the first place!
What Loose Ends managed
to achieve, was that "sound"
that was unique. It was a sound that sounded polished.
Yet it sounded pop enough to enter the charts of the the
Uk and the Usa. And added to that it pocessed a raw Underground
silky Soul groove that just made you nod your head. Know
what I mean?
There are in my opinion
the greatest Soul band from England has yet produce so
far. With the help of Nick
Martinelli, the Usa, Soul music Producer.
They became a English version of
SOS BAND, MTUME and CHANGE - all mixed into one.
Together with that they had included a certain South
London/Jamaican musical feel within their music.
For many people my inclusion
not to add Soul 2 Soul ( also from London, England)
in the same breath of Loose Ends grates of madness.
But my argument to this is, just listen to the singles
and the albums that LOOSE ENDS made over
Soul 2 Soul and you will see what I mean!
Group/artists such as
Omar and Soul 2 Soul have often paid great credence
to Loose Ends. They state that the group
helped give Soul music acts within the Uk, the confidence
to keep trying against prejudices within the Uk, via their
own Record labels, in their preference in signing up Usa
Soul music acts!
During the 1980's, England
finally had a Soul group that they could be proud of and
shout out to the Americans. And that was Loose
Ends! However, they haven't been better since then (Loose
Ends) |
