If SOTW did a rhythm and blues compilation...

[Rob Hall]

I notice a shortage of vocal groups in the suggestions so far. A personal favourite - I'm not sure how obscure/popular it is or was - is "Sincerely" by the Moonglows.

[Adam Blake]

Maybe we could have a separate SOTW doo wop compilation but in the absence of same I'll nominate my favourite:
"I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos, and I don't care how famous it is. It's a perfect record.

[Alan Balfour]

A few more ladies have crossed the turntable (yep I did mean "turntable")

Big Maybelle - Gabbin' Blues
Betty James - I'm A Little Mixed Up
Marie Adams - I'm Gonna Play The Honly Tonks
Barbara George - I Know

This is a great way to reacquaint oneself with long forgotten faves...

[taiyo no otosan]

Has anybody mentioned Paul Gayten yet? I reckon you should chuck 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' into the mix.

And how about Wynonie Harris 'Lovin' Machine'.

But, again, I'm with Gordon - all those 'famous' tracks you've mentioned, I hardly know any of them. Looking forward to when the CD makes the rounds. It might have to be a box set though.....

[Adam Blake]

OK - how about the original version of "Land Of A Thousand Dances" by Chris Kenner (an Allan Toussaint production I believe, that's definitely him on piano) that has a groove about five years ahead of its time, plus the original version of "Big Chief" by Professor Longhair with Earl King singing - another futuristic groove, or "I Can't Believe What You Say" by Ike and Tina Turner where the beginning sounds like drum'n'bass.

[Dayna]

Walk On By-Dionne Warwick


Is that too famous?

[Alan Balfour]

Mention of Wynonie Harris got me playing:

Eddie Vinson - Person To Person (later copied by Elmore James)
Tiny Bradshaw - The Train Kept A Rollin' (popularised in 60s by a UK beat group can't recall which)

[LATER EDIT: An issue of Greg Shaw's 70s magazine, Who Put The Bomp, reliably informs me that "the UK beat group" was Screamin' Lord Sutch & His Savages who apparently got it from a Johnny Burnett record. No sleepless nights for me on this one. laugh]

[Jamie Renton]

Lavender Coffin - Lional Hampton (a jazz jive jukebox gem & the cheeriest death song that ever there was)

[Adam Blake]

Walk On By-Dionne Warwick


Is that too famous?

That's POP, Dayna! Maybe we could get into a discussion on where r'n'b becomes pop and vice-versa. We'd be here all night because all the records we've mentioned were released as singles with the express intention of selling as many copies as possible and thereby being pop hits.

[Alan Balfour]

Maybe we could get into a discussion on where r'n'b becomes pop and vice-versa.

Please, no! Leave it to other internet discussion groups. Life's too short.

[Rob Hall]

Maybe we could get into a discussion on where r'n'b becomes pop and vice-versa.

Please, no! Leave it to other internet discussion groups. Life's too short.

Agreed. Let's just stick to Gordon's original idea:

But nothing too obvious. Nothing that turns up on every blues compilation, nothing by the obvious big hitters like Muddy, Wolf etc.... Nothing too modern, because everything modern is rubbish (!) Let's say that it should sound as if it was recorded in the 50s, even if it wasn't. And it has to be truly great. Stuff that would make a bald man buy a comb.

As Gordon also says, this is an exercise in subjectivity. I therefore nominate Gordon's subjective opinion as to what is or what isn't sufficiently r'n'b for the purposes of this discussion. He may make no claims to be an expert, but I'd just as soon have the say-so of a non-expert than some interminable attempt to pin down something that will inevitably defy meaningful definition.

Oh, and another thing: "Witchcraft" by Shirley & Lee.

[NormanD]

Nothing yet by Bobby 'Blue' Bland. A lot to choose from, but I'll go for "Don't Cry No More" because it's a stomper.

[Adam Blake]

There ya go, Dayna. No Pop allowed. By order.

As for you lot: I didn't say I WANTED to get into a discussion about it!

[Rob Hall]

No need to shout Adam. And nobody's issuing orders either. Apologies if my earlier note came on a little too strong; it's just that - well, we've all been there and done that and got the t-shirts as far as trying to decide what is or what isn't fit to be included in a particular genre, and if my knee jerked, it was at the thought of this fun thread degenerating into something along those lines. I'm happy to listen to Dionne Warwick singing "Walk On By" all day, I don't care what anybody calls it. But for the purposes of this thread, I'd have thought the fact that it was a massive hit and doesn't paticularly sound as if it was recorded in the 50s would discount it. And Dionne would probably fall into the category of a "big hitter" anyway.

[NormanD]

Maybe Dionne Warwick's version of "You Can Have Him" would fit into this compilation, though. A very minor hit, and an R&B belter.

all my recommendations available in MP3 format, Gordon