HORACE ANDY

Born Horace Hinds in Kingston, Jamaica in 1951, Andy came to the fore in the second wave of great Reggae singers, a continuation of the legacy created by legends such as John Holt and Delroy Wilson. What made Andy different from his peers was his distinctive powerful vocals coupled with an original delivery.

At age Twenty, Andy started his musical apprenticeship working at the legendry Studio One for Coxsone Dodd. It was Coxsone that put together the name Horace Andy a take off from Bob Andy, of “Young, Gifted and Black” fame. Dodd apparently saw a similar writing style and not doubt hoped his young charge might have some of the same success.
Andy’s first recording would be “Something on my Mind”, which did get much recognition in the Jamaican charts.
The first classic would soon come when Horace still only twenty-one. “Skylarking”, a simple record with a very catchy riff was his first commercial success. This was followed by “Love of a Woman” and “I Found Someone”.
By the early seventies he would be one of the most popular singers in Jamaica. He moved on to work with to work with Bunny Lee a good fit personally and creatively as Andy had just converted to the Rastafarian faith. The music recorded with Bunny had an earthier; roots feel as the Dub production style began to grow in popularity. Horace would also rework some of his back catalogue including “skylarking” which morphed into a heavy dub groove and was a massive hit all over again. Other greats like “you are my Angel” and “My Guiding Star” quickly followed.

Mid 70s saw Andy work with New York producer Everton Dasilva, this would prove to be a strongly creative period for Andy and Reggae music in general. Its culmination resulting in Andy delivering “In the Light”. An album acclaimed in the Reggae world but not a commercial success as Reggae music headed into its 1980s slump.

Most recently his work with Massive Attack would bring Andy into the light again... Horace would contribute to the Trip Hop outfit’s groundbreaking “Blue Lines”, “Protection” and “Mezzanine” albums. Outstanding vocals on tracks like “One Love” and “Hymn of the Big Wheel” would see him introduced to a whole new generation of roots ravers.

Top Tracks

1 Love of a Woman
2 Skylarking
3 Sea of Love
4 You are my Angel
5 Hymn of the Big Wheel

Recommended Albums (click to preview)

Skylarking: The Best of Horace Andy
In the Light/In the Light Dub
Living in the Flood

SMALL FACES

Small Faces came out of Manor Park, East London in the mid 60s.
The classic Small Faces lineup would be:

Steve Marriott – vocal
Ronnie Lane - Bass
Kenney Jones – Drums
Jimmy Winston - Organ (later replaced by McLagan)
Ian McLagan - keyboards

Their roots would begin as key players in the London mod movement. Later they would grow as one of the UKs most creative and groundbreaking psychedelic acts. Word has it that the band name came from the fact that the boys were all on the short side and the term “face” was slang for being popular and looking sharp.
Their musical output, during a four year period, is recognized as being one of the most inspirational of the era. They have been name checked by musicians such as Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher as a major influence. The band’s early song set included R&B/soul classics that were popular with many bands of that era. The band would also perform original compositions on which Marriott would display vocals that had been modeled on his own heroes, Otis Reading and Bobby Bland. Check out "Every Little Bit Hurts" for Steve Marroitt's voice at it's very best.

They signed a management contract with 60s impresario Don Arden who would secure a recording deal for the band with Decca Records. Jimmy Winston would be fired soon after to be replaced by Ian McLagan, whose look and keyboard playing was a perfect fit with the band.
The new line up would chart with their third release for Decca, “Sha-La-La-Lee”. Debut Album, “Small Faces” would also see success in the British Charts, as popularity grew the band would begin to feature on TV shows like Ready Steady Go.
The bands playing had improved considerably and they would have achieved so much more if it were not for their aggressive, yobbish attitude which would alienate industry insiders and concert promoters. Marriott managed to eventually get the group banned from Top of the Pops after swearing at the shows producer.

In 1966 the group achieved a number one record with, “All or Nothing “, regarded by many as a white soul classic. Don Arden had spent a lot of time and effort promoting the Small Faces. Now he was growing tired of their loutish behavior, they were wrecking a career that had only just begun. The band found themselves bogged down in a bitter, legal wrangle when they should have been delivering a follow up to “All or Nothing “.
Eventually they parted company with Arden and Decca and sign with Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate label.

The Immediate sessions saw the band progress rapidly. The fist single was “Here Come the Nice”, which was influenced by drug use and managed to escape censorship despite the fact that it openly referred to speed. 67/68 saw the group at a creative peak. “Itchycoo Park” was released in mid-1967 followed by “Tin Soldier” a song Marriott had intended for P.P. Arnold who, in the end, sang backing on the Small Faces version.
“Lazy Sunday” was released in 1968, a cockney music-hall styled song released against their wishes but another chart success.
By now their career was at an all time high with the release of the classic album “Ogden’s’ Nut Gone Flake”. It is recognized not only for it’s musical innovation but, also it’s inventive round cover. The album stayed at number one in the UK for six weeks.

A two-act concept album it was narrated between tracks by Stan Unwin who related a psychedelic fable about “Happiness Stan” and his quest to find out where the moon went when it waned. The album was acclaimed and sold well, but the band was confronted by the problem of how to perform a studio created work of art, live.

Through the fall of 1968 there had been strong rumors of the band splitting. Marriott made it official on New Year’s Eve 1969, walking off stage in middle of a live set.
Marriott already had plans for the future and the new band he was forming with Peter Frampton, Humble Pie.
The remaining members regrouped and recruited former members of the Jeff Beck Group, singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood. They would release one album as the small faces before enjoying some success as The Faces.
Kenny Jones would join The Who after Keith Moons death in 1978.
Steve Marriott would tragically die in his sleep when a fire tore through his home, on Saturday, April 20, 1991.
Ronnie Lane died in Trinidad, Colorado, in June 1997, after a long and brave fight with multiple sclerosis.

It is well worth checking out the impressive back catalogue left behind by this creative and groundbreaking group during an all too short career.

TOP TRACKS

1 All or Nothin'
2 Tin Soldier
3 Song of a baker
4 Here comes the Nice
5 Itchycoo Park

Recommended Albums (click to preview)

SMALL FACES ULTIMATE COLLECTION

OGDEN'S NUT GONE FLAKE

THE SMALL FACES

SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON

Sonny Boy Williamson was born on the Sara Jones Plantation near Glendora, Mississippi. He was given the birth name of Alex Miller.
Miller would live with his mother and father and work as a sharecropper until the 1930s.

In the early 1930s he embraced the hobo lifestyle, traveling around the south playing blues harmonica mixed with a generous amount of whisky, women and fighting along the way.
In the mid 30s he was going by the mane of Little Boy Blue and traveling the Delta, playing the usual juke joints and country suppers, working with other emerging blues legends such as Robert Johnson, Elmore James and Robert Jr. Lockwood.
In 1941 Miller was hired to play the King Biscuit Time show on radio station KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. This would be the first time America had heard a live blues show on the airwaves and also spawn one of the blues most legendary scams.
The show sponsor, Interstate Grocery Company, felt they could push more sacks of their King Biscuit Flour if Miller were to pose as Chicago Harmonica star John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, an act of amazing audacity when you consider that John Lee had already released dozens of successful and influential records. As fortune would have it when John Lee was murdered in Chicago, Miller became, in his own words, the original Sonny Boy.
Another major contribution to the history of Blues came about when Sonny Boy brought king Biscuit time guest Elmore James into the studio for a session. With Williamson blowing harp and the tape recording, Elmore recorded the first version of his signature tune “Dust My Broom”.

Twice Sonny Boy lived in Detroit playing with the Baby Boy Warren band among others. His popularity as a solo artist was also growing. A cunning, world weary delivery was broken by short, powerful bursts of laconic harp playing. Songs were about his life and experiences, full of caustic observations. His best work hangs on a swinging beat where blues harp, piano and guitar intertwine effortlessly. His use of space and tone would see him regarded as one of the blues greatest harp players.

In 1955 Williamson’s contract was sold to Chess Records in Chicago. Sonny Boys first recording session took place on August 12, and the single culled from it was “Don’t start me Talkin’,” which became his biggest hit so far on the R&B charts. A European tour took place in1963. Audiences craved the opportunity to hear authentic Blues and Williamson was more than happy to oblige. He loved the Adulation and freedom of 1960s Britain and started working the teenage Beat clubs between recording and touring with the Yardbirds and Animals. The record “Help Me” was a hit and charted throughout Europe.

Sonny travelled home to the Delta in 1965 and returned to playing many of the old haunts he had frequented as a boy. On May 25 he was found dead in his rooming house bed.
So ended the life of a true Blues legend, a simple Mississippi Delta share cropper who would go on to tour the world, host a radio show for 15 years, and had played with everyone from Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton.

Top Tracks

1 Help Me
2 Decoration Day
3 Bring it On Home
4 Don’t Start Me Talkin’
5 Lonesome Cabin

Recommended Albums (click to preview)

HIS BEST: SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON

ONE WAY OUT

NINE BELOW ZERO

FRONT COVER

i-shuffle


1 A Bell Will Ring -Oasis
2 All My Life -Foo Fighters
3 Barbara Ann -Beach Boys
4 Blue Orchid -The White Stripes
5 Boom Shack-A-Lack -Apache Indian
6 Boredom -Buzzcocks
7 Cemetry Gates -The Smiths
8 C'mon Everybody -Eddie Cochran
9 Come On -The Rolling Stones
10 Dear Prudence -Siousie & the Banshees
11 Discotheque -U2
12 Double Talkin' Baby -Stray Cats
13 Everything -Nitin Sawhney
14 Feel -Big Star
15 Feel Good Inc -Gorillaz
16 Fix You -Coldplay
17 Get Over You -The Undertones
18 Half Life -Athlete
19 Helicopter -Bloc Party
20 I Predict a Riot -Kaiser Chiefs

Thanks to Krishnan of London.

VIDEO FOOTAGE

NORTHERN SOUL

Northern Soul, a sub culture that grew out of Britain’s mid 60’s soul/mod scene. The music was characterized by its heavy stomping beat that people could not resist dancing to.
More earthy and less formulated than the commercially successful Motown. Northern Soul began to cultivate a fanatical and loyal following.

1960’s Britain still had a large American Military presence and the Soul and R’n’b records they brought with them would gradually work its way into the hungry and eager audience of mods and jazz freaks who strived to seek out something new and different.

Early Northern Soul fashion included bowling shirts, members began wearing patches representing their club nights held all over Britain.

The music was usually recorded by lesser known artists from Motown, Stax, Okeh and many more obscure record labels. Many of the artist’s would never know or enjoy success or hit records.

Two men are credited with how the term “northern soul” came to be. Journalist Dave Godin, of Blues and Soul magazine, is said to have coined they phrase on a long train journey to the Blackpool Mecca. The other is Tony Petheridge, in 1974 Tony was promoter of the country’s leading “alldayer”, held at Whitchurch Civic Centre each bank holiday. Tony came up with the phrase in retaliation to the “Southern Soul Club” that had been advertising venues in the south. It worked well for promoting events he had layed on in the North of England,”Northern Soul”.

The late 60’s and early 70’s saw a lively club scene develop. The first nightclub that carried the true Northern Soul spirit was Manchester’s Twisted Wheel Club. Other early clubs would have been The Mojo in Sheffield, The Catacombs in Wolverhampton, Golden Torch in Stoke and, of course, the famous Wigan Casino.

Chemically driven all-nighters became a must for all scenesters. The atmosphere was welcoming with little trouble, alcohol was a bit player as amphetamines kept the floor filled through the night. Northern Soul dancing was sweaty and athletic with flips, spins and backdrops.
Thousands visited the Casino every weekend, but the exclusive and underground appeal of the music was lost and many of the original soul fans drifted away. When the Wigan casino was shutdown in 1981, many thought it might be the end of the northern Soul scene but, this only encouraged fans to develop scenes of their own throughout Britain. These days’ clubs can be discovered around the globe in cities such as Berlin, New York and Sydney.

Floor Fillers

1 Marvin Gaye – Lonely Lover (Alt. Mix)
2 Jackie Wilson - Whispers
3 Sam Dees – Lonely for you Baby
4 Gene Chandler – Nothing can stop me
5 Don Thomas – Come on Train
6 Gloria Jones – Tainted Love
7 Al Wilson – The Snake
8 Doby Gray – Out on the Floor
9 Ocean Colour Scene – All Up
10 Stevie Wonder – Love A Go-Go

ALBUMS (click links to preview)

Northern Soul Essential Collection

The Northern Soul Scene

Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities