TOM JONES (Deco Hoffmann RM Pic). THE CREAM (RM Pic). L961 g lisnanv 6urnpue.11.1111[Al moom AtepsAntii.AllseA a vee 43N -pg -Jadedsmau 13.1030 Apiaom dod inoioa Sumas lsoBatri 2 RECORD MIRROR, Week ending August 5th, 1967 ...want Thenjust a linefstea JAMESm?Anyque CRAIG,stion LETTERSsaboutth EDITOR. Record Soul and R&B-the Mirror EVERY THURSDAY critics lashSOMEONE please tellout... me when thecurrent idiomof"commercial" soulislikelyto come to an end. We're fed up with the disc -type 116 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W.1. stuff which almost Controls the R. and B charts in these times. I'm Telephones GERrard 7942/3/4 not knocking these records as some are by my favourite artistes, but it's time the record companies which used to deal in the real aspects of soul started thinking about the other half of the public who would appreciate a bit more of the real thing. We rarely hear the more soulful numbers being plugged and they are lost in the mass of singles out each week. For instance, when did we last have a goodie from the Tops, Tempations and many others who once gaveussomething worth waiting for? At Dave Williams, President, Frankie least Stax has kept up thestandards but thisisone company out of LaineInt.FanClub, 31Hornsey many. If the companies have decided to cater only for the "ravers", then Street, Holloway Road, London, N.7: will some of these people widen their choice of artistes and take notice of So nice to read a review, by Peter Inbrief... realsoul.Then we'llget Inuresoulfulgoodies from Tamla. And also Jones, on Frankie Lathe . with hear more of such people as Maxine Brown, Irma Thomas, James Carr outtheoldcliches:"Thought he Barry Parkin, George and Dragon and Jimmy Holiday. - Kathy Thompson, 55 Humphrey Road, Old Trafford, retired,"or"Good tohearhim West beeping, Peterborough:Ipro- Manchester 16. AGAIN." Frankie is constantly testabout thelackof Bob Dylan to death ofthe rave reviews and comments on the so-called having new discs reviewed. All his I'M sick new singles are well up the Ameri- recordings. Recently we had 1 almighty soulsters on Tamla, Atlantic, Stax - notably Redding, The canchartsandhislatest "Leopard - skinPill - Box Hat" - Tops,Temptations,Conley,Pickett,Dorsy,JamesBrown,Stevie album why not alive version of "If You Wonder and Joe Tex. They are nothing more than a poor commercialisa- went high in the LP chart. Thanks, Gotta Go Go Now" or "John Birch tion of when the word "Soul" was justly applied. The late Sam Cooke, Peter Jones, for an honest and fair Society Blues", or the Dutch single Ben E. King, The Original Drifters, Shirelles, Little Richard and the blues review. "Mixed-up Confusion". Bob has at greatslikeBurdon and Domino. They arethefoundationsofallsoul Lisa Meissner (aged 12), 12 least20 songsunreleased ty him- music. The restisunprincipled, imitative, manufactured and "in -crowd" Alleyn Park, London, S.E.21: How self. - pandered garbage. Justacontrived loadof money -hooking cons. - dare YOu insult my favourite Gary Bachmann, 1Hillside, Tala- Roddie the Rocker, 24a County Road, Walton, Liverpool. Monkee. You spell Micky "Mickie" ton, Exeter, Devon. In Memoriam, twice, then on another page you've the Late Great Jim Reeves.July put "Mickey". Micky willbe hurt sure this reader must be extremely if you keep on insulting his name. 31,1964, FAME SITUATION relieved to have been cured of his William Gwynn: 6 Greenbank, terrible addiction to drugs.Itisa Miss J. A. Greenslade, 26 Craven Penzance, Cornwall:If the Flower- GEORGIE Fame isnowinthe Avenue, St. Judes, Plymouth, potMen,BillandBen, wantto samesort pity that a copy of this letter can- ofsituationashe not be distributed toall the coffee Devon:To date Ihaveascrap- make a come -back, they oughta do was before thereleaseofhis book ontheWalkers(singlyand it now . "Yeh Yeh" a few years back. Be- bars and discotheques where much asa Sithisdrug -peddlingisdone and group) which has 370 pages Gaby,253BeverleyDrive, Edg- foreit was released, everyone was measuring 13 in.by 8 in., with real ware, Middlesex: Anyone help me raving over hisfantasticauthentic notalwaysdonebypeoplewho pictures and autographs and numer- blues yet he never seemed to get a could be described asstillintheir ous cuttings. Anyone equal or beat get "loot Suit" by the High Num- . bers, "Circles" by the Fleur- de - commercialhituntil" r ehYeh youth . simply peopleoutto this? get -rich -quick by pushing dangerous Lys;"It's Alright", by the Rockin' Thenfollowedastringofchart Vickers; successes,"In The Meantime", drugs to teenagers unaware ofthe "Run, Run, Run" by the Mike"MohairSam"Kelly,39 . "Something", "Getaway", "Sunny," consequences. I know many will join Cat think the last is the "B" me in wishing "P" allthe bestin Long Grove Avenue, Dalton, Hud- side of "Club of Lights." "Sitting In The Park". Then when dersfield,Yorks:Can anyone help he parted from the Blue Flames to the future. - David E. Strawbridge, K. Vaughan, Station Hotel, Alfre- 21 Laurel Avenue, Mansfield, Notts. me obtain numbers seven and eight ton,Derbyshire:So Alan Bown is reformhisnewband,hischart "Rock 'n'Roll News" - will pay at last mentioned in RM - to say status seemed on the wane again. anything. Keep your paper rockin'! he's "no longer with Pye". Blimey, "Because I Love You" was a com- is that the most you could rake up? parative flop. With the album "The Ann Swanborough, 12A Cambridge Two Faces Of Fame",thereare Keep your Geno Washingtons'cos RITCHIE MEMORIES Crescent,Stapleford,Nottingham: whenJesssings,withthernost many unturnedfacetsofhisin- Why have people deserted the Dave phenomenal act on the scene today, credibletalent.Hisinterpretations AS the words say in the tribute Clark Five? How can a group make it'sheaven. of jazz numbers are great, especi- acomeback whennobodyseems ally"Bluesology"andhedoesa record"ThreeStars" . DianaCox, 15 BazehillRoad, young willing to support them. Even when tremendous Job on Percy Mayfield's "Ritchie Valens was a theyhadaminorhitwith "You Rottingdean, Brighton, Sussex: Billy "River's Invitation". AllI now hope boy,just seventeen" when he died GotWhatItTakes",therewas JoeRoyalisaveryunderrated is that Georgie Fame is re -accepted in that tragic and now historicair barely a word of encouragement or singer. His new record, "The by the general public and not just disaster of 1959. Some people have Praise from anyone. James Craig. Greatest Love"isreallybeautiful leftto be appreciated by his long- heard his name via the crash with EXCEPT In Record Mirror, Anne! and should be a hit - buy it! Love standing fans. - Terence Redpath, Buddy Holly and Big Bopper, but tohear from any otherBilly Joe 55 Bermondsey Wall East, London, how many have studiedhisgreat Alan J. Bates, Pendellswood, fans. S.E.16. talentor even heard hisrecords? Netherne Hospital, Coulsdon,Surrey : Dawn Enbelbrecht, 804 Connought On his way to being an international Any American reader a copy of the Flat, Jacob Mare's Street, Pretoria, singer, Ritchie was a prolific song- two -disc South Africa: Any of your readers writer.Covers of"Donna" and LP "TheBeatlesStory" MINI-ANITA theywishtosell?I'llpayany- liketo write to South Africa? Any "C'mon Let's Go" were hitshere thing.Incidentally,it was released letters will be passed to my friends GLAD for Marty Wilde and Tommy Steele. in the States to commemorate the out here. the fantastic Anita Harris has Only two Valens singles were issued Gill Moore, 37 Monument Road, herebeforehisdeath. Beatles' first anniversary there and ahitrecord. She must easily "Donna" subsequentlysoldamillion. Woking, Surrey:Thanks toDerek be the best - looking girl singer in and "Blue Birds Over The Moun- Boltwoodforthenicearticleon this country - and it won't be long tains" . his "Bamba" was the Stenhouse, 12 Wishful Thinking. They have a large firstcommercialarrangementof Heather J. Sunart before she's an even bigger inter- Gardens, Woodhill, Bishopbriggs, following, despite no hit yet, butI nationalnamethanCilia,Dusty, the South American folk -song, since hope their chart times will be here copiedover and overagain.I'm Glasgow: Would any male readers Sandie, At long last, England has a in London liketowriteto me? I soon._.Rigteous femalesingerwho reallylooks lucky enough to have a copy of his am 17 years old and I'm 5 ft. 11 in. Rick Winkley, 30 Terry good in a mini -skirt and shows how only LP-one of the best and most tall - soIlike males over six feet. Street,Nelson,Lanes:We've had well a pair of nylon stockings canoriginal half-hours of POP ever re- polls for instrumentalists and be filled. - George Sterling, Roneo leased. The only singles issued here Miss J.Oakley, 25 Briery Close, singers and songs. How about one Corner, Romford, Essex. sincehisdeathwere two re- releases of "La Bamba". But why Cradley Heath, Staffs: Can anyone for the ten most important American help me get a copy of "Jealousy" record labels... my choice; Colum- not issue, say, the LP track "Come by Billy Fury, or "Twinkletoes" by bia, Tamla, Atlantic,Capitol, RCA. BEST TO 'P' On Let's Go"? Buy the few Valens Roy Orbison - I'm desperate for Kapp, Philles, Mercury, Philips and tracks available for they are truly Liberty. 'VEreadtheletterfromyour cherished memories. - Simon E. them. Any Price. anonymousreader who signed Myers, 76 Brookfield Avenue, Poyn- SAM COOKE-a hitherto unpublished photo of the late Ihimself simply "P-'. Itis a very ton, Stockport, Cheshire great soul star when he visited Britain. See lead letters. well written story in itself and I'm Babe" if you want a rave-up. And Meade Lux Lewis's piano playing GROUP ABILITY beatsJerryLee Lewisanyday. I'm not knocking rock singers or CAN'T see how recording mana- theirfans,nor amIa mod. I'm ger John Burgess knows what justasking rock fansto wake up Kenny (witha near accidental heistalking about.He says andthink abit.-B.Splink, 15 that the best way to judge a singer Cumbrae Avenue, Putson, Hereford.