Okeh – A Northern Soul Obsession Volume 2 – Various Artists CD (Kent)

Code: CDKEND142

£12.75

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01 Ain’t Gonna Move – Larry Williams & Johnny Watson
02 End Up Crying – The Vibrations
03 I Can’t Work No Longer – Billy Butler & The Chanters
04 I’ll Leave It Up To You – The Artistics
05 Let My Heart And Soul Be Free – Tan Geers
06 Memories – The Triumphs
07 Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad – Cookie Jackson
08 Ask For One Good Reason – Larry Williams
09 Cool Breeze – Gerald Sims
10 Rhythm – Major Lance
11 You’re Gonna Be Sorry – The Opals
12 Just Another Dance – Marlina Mars
13 After You There Can Be Nothing – Walter Jackson
14 I Can’t Make It Without You – Malcolm Hayes
15 South Like West (Instrumental) – Johnny “Guitar” Watson
16 Let Me Show It To You – The Fundamentals
17 Yesterday Is Gone – The Variations
18 You Can’t Take It Away – Azie Mortimer
19 A Little Bit Of Something (Beats A Whole Lot Of Nothing) – Little Richard
20 Second Class Lover – Jean Dushon
21 The Train – The Belgianettes
22 Can’t Live Without Her – Billy Butler & The Chanters
23 Hello Heartaches, Goodbye Love – Joyce Davis
24 That’s What Mama Say – Walter Jackson

Weight 120 g
Title

Okeh – A Northern Soul Obsession Volume 2

Artist

Various Artists

Label

Format

Genre

,

Release Year

Condition

The OKeh label travelled a long and winding road in its 50-year history. Founded by Otto Heinemann in 1920, OKeh issued what is generally considered to be the first commercial blues recording in Mamie Smith’s Crazy Blues. It provided a musical home for Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson and Bessie Smith inter alia, and after World War II released gems by Johnnie Ray, Chuck Willis, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and the like. But even these musical milestones were over shadowed by the quality of OKeh’s output from 1962 (when Carl Davis took over as label manager) to 1970 when the parent Columbia company closed it down. His appointment coincided with the emergence of soul as the preferred dance music of black teenagers, and throughout the 60s the Chicago-based label did more than simply supply their requirements: Major Lance may have declared It’s The Beat but, with its combination of gifted singers, strong songwriters and crack arrangers and producers, OKeh issued a stream of singles whose appeal extended far beyond the dance floor. Sure, you could dance to them, but each one was a carefully crafted slab of soul artistry. Ironically, OKeh’s demise in its homeland coincided with an increased interest in its catalogue by young British soul fans.

By the early 70s, the label had achieved cult status in the North of England. In Stafford and Stoke, Blackpool and Wigan, soul fans danced the night away every Saturday to 60s soul sounds, and naturally OKeh outings like Major Lance’s The Beat and Billy Butler’s Right Track were among the favourite spins. One of those young fans from the 70s, Ady Croasdell, is now of course the driving force behind Britain’s leading northern soul label Kent Records. He’s already delivered vol 1 of OKeh – A Northern Soul Obsession, and hard on its heels came volume 2, packed with 24 of the best Saturday night soul sounds you could ever hope for. The hits are here, tracks like Billy Butler’s I Can’t Work No Longer and Major Lance’s Rhythm, two impeccably stylish calls to dance whose composer, arranger and producer credits read like a who’s who of Chi-Town soul-.-take a bow Riley Hampton, Curtis Mayfield and Carl Davis! But as usual Ady has gone beyond the obvious selections and mixed rarities and album tracks with the hits. Cuts like Walter Jackson’s chocolate-and-cream beat ballad After You There Can Be Nothing jostle for your attention with the high, crisp harmonies of Otis Leavill’s former backing girls The Opals on You’re Gonna Be Sorry, the sheer power of Little Richard on the surging A Little Bit Of Something and Cool Breeze by Gerald Sims. Who? Well, Mr Sims is best known in the UK as the lead singer of The Daylighters whose raving R&B workout Oh Mom Teach Me How To Uncle Willie saw issue on the Sue Label. Here, as befits the song title, he and The Daylighters are in more relaxed mood on a tune which has more than a hint of the Drifters about it. Just another ingredient in a rich Saturday night feast which will leave all OKeh obsessives replete. – Ace Records

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