Christmas 1986, I Remember this Time, for a Couple of Reasons!
As it turned out, it was My Father's Last Christmas, Before Dying!
I Remember what He Brought Me and Susan, that Christmas, Usually Christmas Presents were my Mother's Job to Sort Out, but that Year, He Brought Us and my Sister's a "Microwave" each!
Household Microwave's had not been out that Long and they were still Expensive, I Remember, My First Employer's at the "Imperial Hotel" in Great Yarmouth, had one back in the Early 70's, but they were Huge in Size, Similar Size to an Electric Cooker!
So it was a "Surprise" when we see the Microwave that Christmas, in Hindsight, we Wondered if He knew more of His Health Issues, than We did!
He had also in that Previous Year Brought a "Job Lot of Carpets" which we were Given some to Carpet Our Stairs and Hallway, this was Strange Behaviour from my Father, as He was not that Type of Father!
I also Remember during the Summer Month's of 1986, My Parent's were having a lot of Work Renovation Carried out on their House in Great Yarmouth, for example, Rooms Knocked into one, a New Stair-Case etc etc.
It was During this Several Weeks Period, that My Parents came to Live with us, it was Alright to start with, but things soon got on Our Nerves!
Me and Susan gave Up our Bed for them, for the Whole Period they were Staying, We Slept in Nathan's Single Bed and Nathan was Sharing Natalie's Single Bed, Would they Have Done the Same for us, if We Needed Somewhere to Stay!........... I Very Much Doubt it!
Plus My Old Boy used to Stay up Watching TV for Hours on End, in the End I had to tell Him, I came down one Night & Switched the TV Off and Told him to go to Bed, He Didn't Like That Too Much!
So when you Look at these Things that Had Happened (Spending all this Money), as I said perhaps he Knew what was going to Happen in a Few Month's Time!
Anyway 1987 was going to be a Big Year of Changes for Me Susan and the Kids, Both Work and Family Wise!
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Music Wise, Back in 1980, Jazz Trumpeter "Tom Browne" had Both, His Biggest Hit to Date and His Biggest Hit Ever Released !
Here's the 137th Mix selection for F.S.V.B, Its been Submitted to the Website "6 Million Steps", by Alan Champ, Its from a Series of 5 Mixes, Featuring Music from the Great Record Label "Philadelphia International" its called "6MS Philly Mix-1" I will be Featuring All the Mixes over the Next Month, there's some Classic Philly Tracks on here, including some Lou Rawls, O'Jays, M.F.S.B, Archie Bell & the Drells, and Dexter Wansel!
Press play button below or Download from Kadoo, check Full playlist here!
In this Series of Posts, I will writing about a Particular Classic Soul/Funk Album from the 60's 70's and 80's
The LP's that stand out in my Mind, as The Best Albums ever Released. All of them, I have purchased on Vinyl many Years ago and now have them on CD or Download today.
You may have Differing view's (as we all do) on these Choices, but these are my Favorites!
The O'Jays were a Quartet by this time, including Original Member's Eddie Levert, Walter Williams and William Powell, incidentally this was William Powell's Last Contribution to the O'Jays, as He was to Leave the Band through ill Health, and Sadly Die the following Year in 1977.
The remaining Original O'Jays are still going Strong to this Day!
All Written and Produced by Gamble and Huff, apart from: Track 7 = Bunny Sigler and Track 8 = McFadden, Whitehead and Carstarphen.
My Favorite Tracks were 1, 4, 6 and the Best Track 8.
The Album Reached Number 20 on the US Billboard Chart and Number 3 on the US Billboard Soul Chart.
Two Singles were Released, "Message in Our Music" which Reached Number 49 on Billboard Pop Chart, also Darlin' Darlin' Baby Reached Number 72, but Both Reached Number 1 on the US R&B Singles Chart.
Here's the 136th Mix for F.S.V.B, Its been Mixed by Ray Bausa, its called Lonely Lover, there's some Classic Old Soul on here, featuring, Four Tops, Bobby Womack, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, & Herb Alpert.
Press play button below to Listen or to Download and see Full Track Listing's go to Ray's Podomatic Page!
Following on from my Last Life Post, Around the Period I was Working at "King's Casino" I Started Doing some Work, to Earn Extra Money, by Making Homemade Pies and Salads for Shops, Butchers, etc etc.
I used to Make Cornish Pasties, Sausage Rolls and All sorts of Different Pies, as well as Ready Mixed Salad Stuffs, i.e Mixed Salads in Sealed Bowls, Coleslaw, Potato Salad etc etc, Nowadays places like Asda and Tesco Sell Plenty of these Pre-Packed Salads, but in the Early to Mid 80's, you never saw this in Supermarket's!
I had 2 Main Customer's on a Weekly Basis, they were a Fish & Chip Shop in Town and The Head Waiter at "King's Casino" had a Butcher's Shop in the nearby Village of "Acle"
The Butcher was Easy to Sort out as he used to come round once a Week to Collect the Pies and Paid when He did, but the Fish & Chip was a bit Harder, I at this time Still only had my "Racer Bike"
So I used to get "Nathan" on the Crossbar of the "Bike" and we used to pedal there, it was about 2 Miles away, so quite a Journey with all those Pies/Salads & Nathan.
The Money from this Little Venture came in very Handy and Worthwhile at that time, and was to Lead on to Further Work, a little later on in my Life!
As for some Music, a Single released back in 1975, and would be in my Top 20 Soul singles of All-Time, it was by the Great Soul Vocal Group The Dramatics, the Track was Called "(I'm Going by) the Stars In Your Eyes"
What a Great Song this was and still is, Sweet Soul Music at it's Best!
It was from The Dramatics 5th Studio Album Entitled "The Dramatic Jackpot" it was also their First of 6 Albums to be Released on the ABC Record Label.
The Single Reached Number 81 on the US Pop Chart and Number 22 on the US R&B Chart.
Sagittarius, Virgo maybe Scorpio I wouldn't care if you were Aquarius I'm still in love with you As sure as you were born you could be Gemini or even if you were a Capricorn I could never let you go
Chorus: O I ain't going by those stars in the sky I'm going by those stars in your eyes and I love you O I don't need a second look Cause you're what's happening in my book and I love you
Taurus, Leo, Pisces It makes no difference, girl if you're in love with me
O that's all I need to know I will give all my heart and all my love and I don't care about the stars my love just grows and grows
Cause I ain't going by those stars in the sky I'm going by those stars in your eyes I don't give a heck about that old Zodiac because it's what's in your heart girl that's where it's at and I love you I need you, I need you I don't need a second look cause you're what's happening in my book (Repeat)
Here's the 135th Mix Selection for F.S.V.B, Its been Selected by JP The Ape Man, its called Burn Baby Burn, A Tribute to The Trammps, there's some Classic Disco Music on here, including, Disco Inferno, Love Epedemic and Where The Happy People Go!
Press play button below to Listen or to Download go to The Ape Man's SoundcloudWebPage!
TTracklisting: 1. Trammps' Disco Theme 2. Soul Searchin' Time 3. Love Epidemic 4. Where Do We Go From Here 5. Just Say The Word 6. That's Where The Happy People Go 7. The Night The Lights Went Out 8. Disco Party 9. Body Contact Contract 10. Disco Inferno 11. Penguin At The Big Apple (Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart)
In this Series of Posts, I will writing about a Particular Classic Soul/Funk Album from the 60's 70's and 80's
The LP's that stand out in my Mind, as The Best Albums ever Released. All of them, I have purchased on Vinyl many Years ago and now have them on CD or Download today.
You may have Differing view's (as we all do) on these Choices, but these are my Favorites!
In 1975, The Impressions Released their 17th Studio Album (out of a Career of 21), it was entitled "First Impressions"
It would be their Last Album on Curtis Mayfield's "Curtom Record Label" it was Written and Produced by Ed Townsend (Except Track 6 which was Written by Van McCoy.
The Impressions were Sam Gooden, Fred Cash, Ralph Johnson and Reggie Torian, incidentally Gooden and Cash were Original Members with Curtis Mayfield, and are still going Today at the Ages of 77 and 71.
This was a Great Album, My favorites Tracks were in Order of Preference: Track 1, 4, 2 and 5.
3 Singles were Released from the Album: First Impressions, Same Thing it Took and Sooner or Later, with only "First Impressions" Making the US Charts, Reaching Number 16 and spending 10 Weeks on the Chart!
Curtis Mayfield had Left The Impressions, 5 Years Earlier in 1970, He and Jerry Butler had Joined a Band Called "The Roosters" in 1957, In 1958 they Changed their name to Jerry Butler and The Impressions.
They had a Minor Hit in 1963, it was called "Gypsy Woman" there were a few Line-Up Changes early on, then in 1963 Two things happened, they Changed their Name again, this time to "The Impressions" and they had their First Big Hit, it was Called "It's Alright"
The First Album under the Name "The Impressions" was Released in 1963, it was Entitled "The Impressions" by now the Band Consisted of Curtis Sam and Fred!
I Clearly Remember Buying this Album from "Groove Records" in Greek Street, Soho, London.
I have Posted about this Before, have a Read! Related articles
