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60s soul and R&B mix we did for our pal Ray.

I first met Ray “the thinking man’s skinhead” buying reggae 45s from his stall in the aladdin’s treasure cave that is Wood Street Indoor Market in Upper Walthamstow. His shop is called ‘Nobby Lawtons Olde Football Emporium’ and sells a winning combination of football memorabilia (mainly old programmes from the 70s and 80s), secondhand vinyl and music books. Ray explained that he’d started the shop after he’d retired as a milkman to earn a bit of extra money, but quickly realised that he was losing money on a regular basis, so had to start a little painting and decorating business on the side, but kept the shop running as it enabled him to get his hands on some pretty tasty vinyl!

Partly inspired by the great dub singles I was picking up in his shop, I started doing a monthly night in a local Walthamstow pub, the Victoria, with my mate Dan, which we christened General Echo in tribute to the deceased Jamaican deejay with a moniker that succintly summed up our approach to the music policy. In the manner of all great record sellers, Ray hooked me in slowly but surely, taking note of the kind of sounds I was into and putting a little stash of tunes aside each month that he was sure I’d buy (and he was right). Aside from being a great source of quality records, it was apparent from the get-go that Ray knew far more about this music than I did, having been collecting Blue Beat 7”s since the mid-60s and his days as a sharply dressed East Ham mod. I asked Ray if he’d come down to the pub one month and play a few of his original singles. He was slightly reticent at first, having not DJed in public for a few years beyond family parties, but a little gentle arm-bending got him down to the Victoria with a box of singles, and it’s no understatement to say he absolutely blew us away with his set - tune after tune of life-affirmingly amazing music. I had to stop myself from going up to him after literally every record to ask him what he was playing.

We’ve had him back at General Echo on several occasions since, all of which have seen him magically produce further sets of killer record after killer record. Ray is an inspiration and a mentor to our fledging reggae disco and we always feel blessed by his presence. When he asked me to spin some tunes at his new soul & reggae night in a pub in East Ham last Saturday I couldn’t refuse, and it’s given me a good excuse to dig out some crackly soul & r&b 45s I haven’t played for years. Here’s a mix of some of the tunes I put in my box. One day I’ll get one of Ray’s DJ sets recorded and it will piss all over this one. If you see Ray in the E6 ‘Spoons or the Victoria at one of our nights, he’s drinking Guinness.

Selected track notes:

Rose Mitchell - Baby Please Don’t Go

- Dramatic version of a blues standard that can be traced back to the 1930s and possibly earlier, most people are familiar with the revved-up and deservedly classic Them version from 1964. The percussion on this take is somewhat reminiscent of the nyabinghi hand drumming found on a lot of Jamaican sides, particularly the work of the great Count Ossie.

The Nightriders - Lookin’ For My Baby

Gene Thompson & The Counts - You Don’t Love Me

- Lots of people claim authorship of this tune but this is the earliest example I have on record. There’s loads of R&B variations out there, though the most well known version these days is Dawn Penn’s magisterial reggae take “No No No”, excellent in both it’s original 60s rocksteady and chart-topping 90s pop-reggae variations.

Howlin’ Wolf - You’ll Be Mine

Bo Diddley - Let The Kids Dance

- Bleak view of old age by Elias McDaniels on one of his typically cooking 60s 45s (well worth checking out all his Checker albums from the period): “while you are young you better have your fun cause when you get old your fun is done”. I witnessed Bo Diddley’s last ever live concert at the Jazz Cafe in London and whilst he wasn’t all that mobile, did look like he was having some fun up there. Then again he died a week later, so he does have a point.

The Crystals - Walkin’ Along (La La La)

Nick & The Jaguars - Ich-I-Bon #1

- The first white act ever to release a record on Motown, this group came from Pontiac, Michigan and put out this bezerk surf-dance number on Berry Gordy’s Tamla imprint. Later covered to great effect by 80s Detroit garage act The Gories.

Sandy Nelson - Let There Be Drums

Ray Charles - I Don’t Need No Doctor

Barry St.John - I’ve Been Crying

- A fave rave since discovering the track on the ‘girls with guitars’ comp in the secondhand branch of Selectadisc in Nottingham in the early 90s. They used to have 3 branches in the same street - a singles shop at the bottom, a secondhand shop in the middle and a a 2-floor shop of new albums at the top - four floors of vinyl!!! I grew up in Leicester but used to save up money from whatever horrible saturday or holiday jobs I could find and get the train over to Nottingham every few months because they had better record shops there. I’d spend all day going through the racks and carefully weigh up how to get the best return for my money. On the day I bought the comp with the Barry St.John tune on I also bought a slightly battered copy of the self-titled first album by the New Age Steppers, also the first release on the On-U Sound label, basically because I was intrigued by the mad cut-up collage sleeve and I recognised the name of a couple of The Slits on the back. Luckily it turned out to be great and even helped me get a job a lot further down the line. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have turned out like had I bought the Napalm Death record instead.  Anyway, back to Barry St.John, an extraordinarily under-rated Glaswegian singer who put out some great 60s singles, including this absolute belter with teen angst lyrics about sitting jilted in a bedsit, capped off with a totally wild 12-second guitar break. She went on to to do backing vocals in the 70s for Bryan Ferry and Mott The Hoople amongst many others, and is even on ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’! This track is produced by Andrew Loog Oldham, best known for managing the Rolling Stones and his genius as a hype man, but probably one of my favourite 1960s producers - check his work with Del Shannon, The Poets, Twice As Much, not to mention the ‘UK wall of sound’ stuff he did with Mick and Keef on the songwriting demos later compiled on the ‘Metamorphosis’ album.

R. Dean Taylor - There’s A Ghost In My House

- Another motown oddity, Taylor is a Canadian songwriter and producer who formed part of in-house production crew ‘The Clan’ for the Detroit label, helping to put together the arrangements for hits such as “Love Child” for the Supremes. Mark E. Smith was a big fan, scoring a hit with the Fall’s cover of this fuzz-soul scorcher, and regularly featuring rainy night death disc “Gotta See Jane” in his occasional DJ sets. I saw M.E.S play the latter tune one time at 333 in Old Street in between some random Italian piano-house, before being forcibly removed by security for scratching the needle across each record when he got bored of playing it and throwing the records at the crowd. WE WILL NOT SEE HIS LIKE AGAIN.

Big Maybelle - 96 Tears

- Sassy as all hell cover of the ? & The Mysterions garage heater, I first heard this version in a pub in Great Yarmouth of all places, truly the coastal town they forgot to bomb, but with a surprisngly amazing psych/soul DJ duo lurking in a local hostelry.

Doris Troy - What ‘Cha Gonna Do About It

- I should have maybe seguewayed this into the Barry St.John track, as Doris also sang backing vocals on ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ (I honestly had no idea when I started this mix that there was going to be any kind of accidental Pink Floyd theme going on), or maybe the Beatles cover at the end as she later signed to Apple. Nothing to do with the Small Faces hit of the same name but surely they nicked the title from this as it was a hit the year before. I like the Small Faces but this is by far the better tune imo.

The Sand Pebbles - Love Power

- Licensed in the UK on Track Records, the label run by the Who’s management, Dusty Springfield did a nice cover of this on one of her Phillips albums. Despite the sheer joy laid down in the vocal booth here, the Sand Pebbles were sadly archetypal one hit wonders. Best use of handbells outside of a Christmas record.

Sam & Kitty - I’ve Got Something Good

Freda Payne - Unhooked Generation

- I love Freda Payne’s voice and the opening riff to this was sampled on my all time favourite hip-hop record, “Strong Island” by J.V.C Force.

Etta James - I Got You Babe

- Etta somehow manages to shred all trace of sappiness from the Sonny & Cher song and doesn’t even need anyone to duet with - stand aside and let this woman through!

Gene Chandler - There Was A Time

- Postively frenetic cover of the James Brown classic by the Duke Of Earl. “There was a time when I used to dance, there was a time when I used to prance”. I hear you mate. Well, don’t think I did any prancing actually but there are some blank spots in my memory if I’m being honest.

Mad Dog & The Pups - Hip Squeeze

- Purchased in Steve Hill’s Timebox Records (r.i.p.) in Leicester, probably my greatest source of great but affordable vinyl until I stumbled across Wood Street Indoor Market.

Jean Knight - You Think You’re Hot Stuff

The Emotions - Me And My Honey

- Both this and the previous track are 45s on Stax, can’t really do a soul mix without some Stax in there innit.

Al Brown - Here I Am...Come And Take Me

- This mix was originally going to be on more of a soul-meets-reggae tip but I got a bit carried away with playing soul/R&B/60s singles I hadn’t dug out for a long time, but brought it back at the end with versions of soul hits by Al Green and William Devaughn. Shout out to the genius in the Trojan marketing department who decided to re-christen this poor guy Al Brown.

Bunny Rugs - Be Thankful

Roslyn Sweat & The Paragons - Black Birds Singing

- Fittingly ending on a 45 that I bought from Ray on his recommendation - how could you NOT buy a single by a group called Roslyn Sweat & The Paragons? They mess with the harmonies in this White Album classic to gorgeous effect. Also, he’s awful in so many ways I know, but Macca is the best solo beatle amiright? OK, there’s “Back Off Boogaloo” and “Instant Karma” and that but they all made shit albums whereas Macca was straight out of the gates with a DIY home-recorded gem of an album with “Momma Miss America” on, and even managed to repeat the trick a decade later with “Coming Up”. We’ll gloss over “Mull Of Kintyre”, the Frog Chorus, and most of all, collaborating with D*** G***l. Apologies to my brother who is a big F** F******s fan. Actually I’m not sorry, they’re shit.