Various - Footstompers (Kent 017)

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Boomp3.com

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Kent Footstompers
1984

74.5 MB
256+ VBR LAME mp3
Vinyl rip & scans from Kent 017


Another highly sought-after comp from the kids at Kent and another request filled. This time the focus is on obscure singles from the MCA/Decca vaults of the 60s. It's a little more pop-oriented and has a higher blue-eyed-soul content than usual (almost 50/50) but so it was with certain pockets of the Northern Soul scene itself. Needless to say, the soul sound still abounds and more familiar artists like the ubiquitous Patti Austin, Whitney's mum Cissy Houston and Harlem Apollo prodigy Eddie Holman get the chance to shine with some lesser-known tunes from their catalogue.


01 Ritchie Adams - I Can't Escape From You
02 Jean Carter - Like One
03 Patti Austin - Take Away The Pain Stain
04 The Spindles - Ten Shades Of Blue
05 Eddie Regan - Playin' Hide & Seek
06 7th Avenue Aviators - You Should O' Held On
07 Sissie Houston - Bring Him Back
08 Johnny Caswell - You Don't Love Me Anymore
09 The Sons Of Moses - Soul Symphony
10 Lada Edmund Jr. - The La Rue
11 Len Barry - I'll Always Need You
12 Lee Roye - Tears (Nothing But Tears)
13 Danny White - Cracked Up Over You
14 Rubin - You've Been Away
15 August & Deneen - We Go Together
16 Eddie Holman - I Surrender


Ritchie Adams' roots in the music biz go quite deep but you have to dig a bit to follow the trail. He originally came from the 50s Detroit doo-wop group The Fireflies and is most famous for co-writing Bobby Lewis' monster hit "Tossin' and Turnin'" on the Manahattan-based label Beltone in 1961 with label head, Malou (Joe) Rene. After that, there's reference to Adams' work with composer Larry Kusik in 1965, uncle of Nuggets compiler and Patti Smith Group member Lenny Kaye (whose first recording in a Times Square studio was of a Kusik/Adams song). In fact, Adams' name also pops up in the Nuggets series as a writer for The Blues Magoos and Deep Purple at the same time he was penning pop songs for Lulu and Petula Clark. Next thing you know, he's got credits for cartoon pop bands The Banana Splits and The Archies at the tail end of the 60s.

Jean Carter is so low profile I can only find her name attached to the 7" from which this tune was taken. Granted, the name is pretty generic for a North American but it doesn't even appear in most of the regular resources used to research Soundological.

Eddie Regan's story seems to be lost to the sands of time as well. The 7" this is taken from appears to be the only thing he ever recorded but it, like most of the tracks here, was also released on ABC/Paramount at some point.

The 7th Avenue Aviators were also known as Frankie Karl & The Chevrons and had worked with the Doziers in Philly for a while. Although both are the same recording by the same group, the 7" version of this track under the Aviators name goes for about $750 and the one under the Chevrons fetches about $1,000.

Lee Roye is another obscure artist and if he's not the same cat as the one in Lee Roye & His Emeralds (one 7" on Red Bug Records from Dayton, Ohio) then this track is taken from his only single not only on MCA, but anywhere.

Rubin is a complete question mark. Outside of this song from the MCA196 single, that's all the info floating around out there. The only other Rubin I could connect to MCA around the same period was drummer Eddie Rubin but as for whether it might be the same person, that slim sliver of circumstantial evidence is far from convincing.


What is convincing is the infectious fun to be found on this fine Kent release! If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet with Soundological HERE or HERE.