Really Saying Something, Memoirs of a Soul Survivor

[Alan Balfour]

Soul/Soul Music Monthly/Soul Music/Shout were all the brainchild of Tony Cummings starting 1965. Charlie got his music journalism start when they serialised his nascent Sound of the City. Over the years I occasionally knocked out the odd review. Clive took over as editor with issue 44, June 1969. CG stopped contributing when the Record Mirror "gig' was offered to him.

Clive Richardson - Really Saying Something, Memoirs of a Soul Survivor - Bankhouse Books ISBN9 781904 408758

Precisely what it says on the cover. The memoirs of someone who has been involved with the enjoyment and promotion of Soul music since the very early days back in the 1960s. Clive Richardson has since a diverse involvement in Soul music that he probably had trouble getting everything into the one volume. But he’s managed it, and his eloquent command of English means this is an easy read as well. Perhaps a little too much focus on what was in (What appears to be) every issue of Shout magazine, but hey, I’ve been there as an Editor, so know exactly how much it means. Overall, this is a very personal view of a lifetime spent in Soul music appreciation, by someone who is from London (and that is a key point here) that I enjoyed reading and will in all likelihood read again.

Here's Clive's YouTube promo!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Eae2YyvlA

[john poole]

Charlie wrote in 1972 -

"Of the British magazines, Shout is the longest-established and best-researched, and so probably demands the highest standard of its contributors, at least in terms of the information they have. But it's duplicated, and for a while I devised a crafty way of getting my stuff published, by typing it straight onto a stencil, so all the editor had to do was run it off and he had a lot of work saved."

I've read Clive's book, which is of course of interest, although I would have liked to have had some reproductions of pieces from the original magazines.

[Alan Balfour]

I've read Clive's book, which is of course of interest, although I would have liked to have had some reproductions of pieces from the original magazines.

Would be kind enough to expand a bit on the content? Or does the promo say it all? I've only just heard about this and very unlike CliveR not to have notified me of its existence.

[john poole]

The book was published in 2010 and I think I read it during the following year. The YouTube promo gives a fair idea of the contents - 200 pages basically covering Clive's involvement with soul music from hearing the Contours in 1963, through to his CD reissue label Shout! Records, and his radio work. It's split into chapters for fan clubs; fanzines; record shops; funk; sleevenotes etc. There's also about 30 pages of photos (not glossy), memorabilia etc, and a six page "Where Are They Now?" appendix (but no index).

It was generally well received by soul fans I think, although not everyone was enthusiastic about the detailing of the contents of seemingly each issue of "Shout" - that would have been better suited to an appendix, I think, rather than including in the text, and as I said before I would have liked to have read some extracts from the original magazines. In the sections on live shows he sometimes notes that he saw an artist at a certain venue, but cannot remember anything about the show...

Not much blues content as I recall, although he did see the 1968 & 1969 American Folk Blues Festivals and the Jazz Expo tours in the same years including Muddy Waters. Here's a reference to CG that I noted on just flicking through the book -

"It might be churlish to recall that the parchment scroll-style logo on the Deep Soul label was once described by Charlie Gillett as being, somewhat ironically, of similar style to the personal letterhead of a deep-south plantation owner ...

[Alan Balfour]

Thank you John for taking the time and trouble with your useful summary of Clive's book. I'll probably pass on it given I own all issues of Soul Music Monthly/Soul/Shout.

Re: The Jazz Expo/AFBF reviews by CG. I OCR'd them for Charlie to use in his book and I think actually posted one to SOTW.

[john poole]

Re: The Jazz Expo/AFBF reviews by CG. I OCR'd them for Charlie to use in his book and I think actually posted one to SOTW.

Yes, you did -
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