BABY, HOUSE and JOB!

By about July /August 1979 Three Major things were happening in our Life!

Baby, House & Job!

Firstly Susan was Pregnant, the baby was due March 1980, Nathan was'nt quite one yet, so two small Babies together , anyway the new Baby was planned!

Our One Bedroomed place in a shared House, was alright but as you can imagine, very cramped, but as I said in previous post we got on well with a couple of different people, one being the unofficial Person in Charge of the House, Shirley was her name, the other Person was the Head Council Woman in Charge of our House, a Woman by the name of Phyllis Flaxman, who I mentioned her in a previous Post!

Now Mrs Flaxman had said she had a Landlady Friend who was soon having a Property empty, & would we be interested in a Move!

Of course we said "Yes" to her, and now just had to wait for news on the possible move!

The Third about to happen was concerning my Job, I had just found out I had Passed my Catering Exams, I had taken them about May / June earlier that year!

In the Exams I took to become a Fully Qualfied Chef, you had Three Levels of Pass,

1. Distinction 2. Credit 3. Pass

I got a "PASS"...................... so not the Best Brains!

But I could Handle working under Pressure in a Hot Steamy Kitchen as good as most, & thats what really mattered, A person can have as many Qualifications as he wants, but when it comes to the Nitty Gritty of Hard Work in a under pressure situation of a Hot Kitchen, can he handle it!

& the answer in most cases was................ "NO"

So with the Passing of my Final Exams, We had to make our Minds up what was I going to do for a Job!

I definately knew I was finishing with being a Chef, seems strange after doing 4 Years at College on day release from Work and 1 year when at School (at college) that I finally passed all my Exams and the first I do when finally being a Qualfied Chef, was Leave the Trade!

But when I started 5 years previous I was a single man, now I was Married with a Kid & one on the way, Cooking was not a Married Man's Job!

Too many Long Hours and too many differing Split Shifts!

So I decided to either try to become a Butcher or a Baker, so I set about writing off loads of letters to different Butcher's & Bakery's in my Home Town!

20th SOUL MIX SELECTION FOR FSVB

Here's the 20th Mix for F.S.V.B, Its been Mixed by Eclectic Groove, there's some classic Soul Tracks on here, Its a tribute Mix to Teddy Pendergrass!

Either press play to listen or press link to go to Tru & Dre's Podomatic page and download to your pc.

see the podcast page for full track listing!

Eclectic Groove Tribute to TEDDY PENDERGRASS 1-15-2010 P...

Eclectic Groove

BARRY WHITE Pt 1 / Love Unlimited

Barry White was born on 12/09/44 as Barrence Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas, USA.
He was one of the biggest selling Soul Singers of the 1970's!

But before he had Hits in his own right he discovered a All Girl Group called "Love Unlimited" they had formed in 1969, but the First Hit did'nt happen until 1972!

They comprised of 2 Sisters" Glodean & Linda James & Diane Taylor, Barry White later married Glodean James!

Barry White was financed by his friend & Music Industry Business "Larry Nunes"

The first Hit was "Walking in the Rain" from the Album "From a Girls Point of View we give to you -Love Unlimited" this charted in the US R&B @ Number 35 and number 11 in UK!

Love Unlimited had 6 (produced by Barry White) Albums altogether, the final Album being a "Best Of"

The biggest UK Hit was in 1973 "It may be Winter Outside" it peaked @ 11 in National Top 40!

This track is always featured on Christmas Albums for some reason!

The biggest selling Album in US was "Under the Influence" it made number 3 in R&B Chart, going Gold in the process!

In 1972 Barry White also formed the "Love Unlimited Orchestra" more of this next time!

Here are the Release Dates & Album Titles:

1972..."From a Girls point of view"
1973..."Under the Influence of "
1974..."In Heat"
1977..." He's all I got"
1979..." Love is back"
1997...." Best Of"


Download "The Best of Love Unlimited"

19th MIX SELECTION FOR FSVB

Here's the 19th Mix for F.S.V.B, Its been Mixed by BLICK, he's from Germany , its called "Early 80's British Soul And Funk Mix " This is among several Mixes by Blick, so I shall be including some of the other mixes shortly!

He also has some Great Mixes including Soul, Funk, Disco, Jazz, Jazz/Funk, reggae etc, I will put a selection on here over the coming month's!

On this MIX there are some classic British Funk/Soul Tracks, including..
Level 42, Imagination, Light of the World, I-Level & Second Image!


Either press play to listen or press link to go to page and Download!

Summer of '79

The Summer of 1979, we were still living in the same place (one room really) we used to go out as much as possible, as I remember it was a decent Summer weather wise!

I was still working as a Trainee Chef in the same Hotel, I got on with most of the Chefs, but the difference was they were all single and I was Married with a Baby, so I didnt go out with any of them, they would be drinking at the Bar attached to the Hotel, during working hours & sometimes when they had time off!

Fournately that Summer, we had a new Chef came to work at the Hotel, he was about 26 years old, about 6 years older than me, but married with a couple of kids, so I had quite a bit in common with him, his name was Bob Gaunt & he only lived around the corner from us, so that Summer we see quite a bit of him & his family, although Susan says she cant ever remember going around anyones at that time!

I cant remember his Wifes or his Kids names though, must be old age!

He at that time was a good colleague & friend to us but I cant remember what happened to him, whether he left the Hotel, although later that year, I left the Hotel & Catering Trade for a few years!

Perhaps one day he will read this Blog!

Another Trainee Chef I got on really well was a lad by the name of Mark Davidson, he was only about 18 & from Sheffield, I wander what happened to him also!

TEDDY PENDERGRASS

I generally as you may know, put a mix on my Blog around this time, but this week is a bit different!

As you probably know by now Teddy Pendergrass has just died!

I bet their isnt anyone out there who likes Soul Music, who hasnt got a TP Album!
He has made some Great Soul Music for the last 40 odd years!

I had a Poll on this Blog last year "Who's the Greatest Soul Singer" Teddy Pendergrass came in 2nd just behind the Great Al Green!

I found a selection of his tracks and an interview (about his life & car accident)

The interview with Art Fennell from the US News Network is fascinating! enjoy the great music.

Also check this out!

Teddy Pendergrass 1950 - 2010 RIP

Build your own custom video playlist at embedr.com

HAPPY IST BIRTHDAY!

Today is the 1st Birthday for this blog!

Its gone quick this first year, to think when I first published a few posts I was getting less than 5 viewers per day, then after 6 months it had gone up to about 100 per day, now its nearer 150 per day!

I know some Blogs get over 1000 viewers per day,but a lot of these have free Albums to download, I dont have these, apart from the weekly mixes!

I didnt really intend writing about my early life, thats just how it turned out, but this had been Great trying to think of all them things that happened years ago, in fact between me & the Wife, we have remembered things we had long forgotten!

The fortnightly Music entries have also been great, obviously I dont remember everything I write about, thats where the internet comes in handy!

I think the only thing that sometimes gets me annoyed doing this Blog, is when nobody ever write any comments about the posts , that sometimes takes age to do!

As you all know, we all liked to be appreciated sometimes!

Anyway to you reading this now, and all Viewers in the past & the readers in the future,

THANK YOU! and keep visiting this Blog!

SLAVE Part 5

The 1985 release was called "Unchained at Last" it reached number "56" in US R&B Chart!

In UK it was on the "Certain Record Label"

My couple of Favorite tracks on Album were : "Thrill Me" and "Dont Waste My Tyme"

Group members had changed slighty, the Main 3 Members were still in Slave, Mark Adams,Floyd Miller & Danny Webster, 2 members from previous album, Keith Nash & Aubrey Rivers and 2 new members, Kenny Anderson & Billy Beck.

The 1987 release "Make Believe" on Ichiban, was Slaves last Studio Album to Chart in US (@ No:44)

My favorite Tracks were " Juicy "O" & "You Take My Breathe Away"

Band Members were now down to 4, including Adams, Nash, Webster & Miller, also back for this Album was Charles Cedell Carter (from "Hall of Fame") he was on Sax Keyboards & Vocals, but strangely enough was not on Album Cover photo shoot!

1988 saw "Slave 88" released on Ichiban, it contained a new version of "Slide" not a patch on the original version.

The same line up as previous Album, but with 2 additions, one was Charles Carter's Brother"Sam" also from "Hall of Fame" & back was Mark"Drac" Hicks, the original Lead Guitarist!

1990 saw the release of "Rebirth" on Ichiban, 2 great tracks were "Thrill Me" & "Andys Ways"

But what always amazed me about this Album, and I have never seen anything written about it either! was the fact that the rear Album Shot was the same Photo Shoot as the 1987 release "Make Believe"

What was even stranger was Slaves line up was " Adams, Webster, Nash, Hicks & Sam Carter, but the rear Album cover had Floyd Miller with his Trumbone on it!

I cant find nothing of Floyd Miller in Slave at this time, but as I said this was a photo for 3 years previous, so perhaps money was tight!

I have found some cheap Downloads! of most of Slaves Albums, Click the Links below!



Or check this out , look for "download this torrent" on left hand side of page!

18th MIX SELECTION FOR FSVB

Here's the 18th Mix for F.S.V.B, Its been Mixed by BLICK, he's from Germany , its called "80's & 90's Soul And Funk Mix 01" This is a 10 Part Mix, so I shall be including some of the other mixes shortly!

He also has some Great Mixes including Soul, Funk, Disco, Jazz, Jazz/Funk, reggae etc, I will put a selection on here over the coming month's!

On this MIX there are some classic Funk/Soul Tracks, including..

00:00 - Loose Ends - Hold Tight - 1990
03:38 - Soul II Soul - Courtney Blows - 1990
07:00 - Loose Ends - Love Controversy Pt. 1 - 1990
09:37 - A.B.'s - Deja Vu - 1983
15:34 - William DeVaughn - Creme De Creme - 1982
20:45 - Ruth Joy - Feel - 1991
25:30 - At Jazz - Storm - 1999
29:14 - Soul II Soull - Keep On Moving - 1989
34:12 - At Jazz - Eastern Sound - 1999
41:22 - Keni Burke - Risin' To The Top - 1982
46:20 - Wilton Felder - Inherit The Wind - 1980
53:06 - Alexander O'Neal - If You Were Here Tonight - 1985
58:35 - Roy Ayres - Programmed For Love - 1985
63:07 - The Isley Brothers - It Takes A Good Woman - 1987
65:45 - The Isley Brothers - Between The Sheets - 1983
70:39 - Natalie Cole - I Wanna Be That Woman - 1988
75:00 - Stanley Clarke - Let Me know You - 1982
79:26 - William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What Got - 1980
86:12 - Miss Jones - Where I Wanna Be Boy - 1994
88:42 - Loose Ends - Feel The Vibe - 1990
91:40 - Movement. 98 - Joy And Heartbreak - 1990
97:04 - Maxi Priest - Groovin' In The Moonlight - 1992
100:28 - Sade - Super Bien Total - 1988
105:45 - Eugene Wilde - Gotta Get You Home Tonight - 1984
110:18 - Sade - Siempre Hay Esperanza - 1988
113:48 - Yasuko Agawa - L.A. Nights - 1986
119:15 - Light Of The World - London Town - 1980

Either press play to listen or press link to go to page and Download!

TO ALL READERS OF THIS BLOG!

Somehow I have lost my Blog List, which was quite large with at least 100 blogs listed!

I shall over the coming weeks, be re-doing my BlogList, but remembering all listed Blogs will be difficult!

So if you were on the list please drop me an E-Mail @ funkysoulvinyls@gmail.com so I can put you back on list, asap!

or use my Cbox to leave your details!

UPDATE 04/01/10

JUST SPENT 3 HOURS GOING THROUGH MY E-REFERRER LIST & OTHER LIST, GOT MOST OF YOUR BLOGS, BUT I THINK I MUST HAVE MISSED SOME, PLEASE CHECK LIST FOR YOUR BLOG, IF ITS NOT ON LIST PLZ LET ME KNOW, I WILL PUT YOU BACK ON STRAIGHT AWAY!

WELCOME TO 1979!

1979 was the Year of change for us, Nathan finally came out of Hospital for good! but this did'nt happen until April, so we still had around 4 months of Hospital visits etc still to come!

This was a very testing time for us, we were both still only 20 years old and what with Nathan still not right and we were still living in a 1 room place! and not too much help off anybody!

One thing me and Susan can say is, we have never treated our Children , liked how we were ! even to this Day we treat our Kids, how we would have liked to have been treated ourselves!

I was still working at the same Hotel and going to College every week, but my 4 year Course was coming to an end, so I had to make my mind up what I wanted to do, work wise, do I stay as a Chef, working long and un-socialable hours or do I go into something different!

One funny event of early 1979 I remember was, My Father had a Volkswagon Van like the one in the picture above, and as we had sold my Car, the previous Year, any chance to Drive the Van was a welcome change!

So one Day we went to the local Town Centre and parked on the main Town Car Park, right in front of a Butchers Shop ( a few years later, I worked in this Shop) now I dont remember if we did this before we went round the Shops or after the Shops!

Anyway I remember I drove into a parking space next to another Car, and had to reverse back and forth to straighten the Van up, well on about the third movement I jammed the van into the Car next to us, the Volkswagon had these big door hinges on the side of it and we could'nt move forward or backward, and as I said we were in full view of the Butcher's Shop and the people inside the shop!

Anyway to cut a long story short , the only way out of this spot, was to drive forward very quickly, but there were quite high concrete edgings to this Car Park, about 6inch high at least!

So we drive back as far as we could, scraping along side this parked car, then I stuck my toe has hard as I could!

We came out of the car park, like Starsky & Hutch, bumped up & down the car park edgings at about 30 mile an hour and off the car park, we were laughing so much, we forgot about the people watching in the Shop!

Luckily for us, the Old Mans Van was'nt damaged that much and he thought he had done the damage anyway, and nobody ever reported the incident the the Police either!

So we got away with it!