Tracks such as Marva Holiday’s ‘It’s Written All Over My Face’ and Darrow Fletcher’s Detroit-produced ‘What Good Am I Without You’ were played at the famous Northern Soul venues of yesteryear but got lost in the waves of 70s discoveries. They have improved with age.
Later discoveries are just plain elusive or horrifically expensive. Salt & Pepper, a multiracial group of US GIs stationed in Bangkok, pressed the 250-500 run of ‘A Man Of My Word’ in Thailand in 1970 – an extremely scarce record that took many years to find before becoming a rare soul standard. The Antellects’ ‘Love Slave’ was played by 100 Club DJ Shifty in the 90s and very few copies have found their way into the hands of collectors. Karmello Brooks’ jazz-infused ‘Tell Me, Baby’ now fetches a similar multi-thousand pound price tag (although when I sold two for £40 in the 90s it hadn’t quite taken off – dagnabbit!).
Tracklist
- The Antellects Love Slave
- Karmello Brooks Tell Me, Baby
- Marva Holiday It's Written All Over My Face
- Jeanette Jones Cut Loose
- The Fidels I Only Cry Once A Day Now
- Troy Dodds Try My Love
- Eddie Whitehead Just Your Fool
- Salt & Pepper (4) A Man Of My Word
- Houston Outlaws Ain't No Telling
- Ty Karim You Just Don't Know
- Pat Powdrill Do It
- Mary Saxton Losing Control
- Darrow Fletcher What Good Am I Without You
- The Imaginations (3) Strange Neighborhood
