SOUL AND FUNK MUSIC FOR SALE!

A Different Kind of Post this Week, if any you have Read any of my Posts before, you will Know I Brought my First Soul Record Back in 1972!

The 7" Single was "I Get The Sweetest Feeling" by Jackie Wilson, it was Actually for my Dad who Wanted the Record, he gave 50p and told me to go to Woolworths on the Bus to Buy the Single!

That same Year I started Buying more Soul Music, Starting with Cassette Tapes, Mainly Motown, which Most of them I still have in my Loft, this lead on to Vinyl Around 1973/4, Starting with Albums, then 7 inch Singles and Eventually a few Years Later 12 inch Singles.

By the Time I Left School in 1975, I was Spending Most of my Money on Soul and Funk Music, Mostly all on Vinyl by Now, I Remember we had some Great Record Shops in Great Yarmouth, back then, Not like now, I think Apart from Supermarkets there is Only One Second Hand Shop that Sells Music in Town Now!

Norwich is Nearly as Bad, but there again I No Longer Buy Any Music Whatsoever, as for Vinyl, I Stopped Buying them about 1990 and as for  CD's, I First Brought a CD back in 1989, then Brought 100's of them, but now, I Don't think I have Brought a CD for about 18 Months now!

During the Very Early 1990's, I had about 3000 Items of Music, in all Formats, it was then I started to Sell some of my Vinyl Albums, this went on for a Couple of Years, it was Quite Hard to Sell back then Before E-Bay etc, but I Sold a Few, only to Regret this Later, then when CD's Started to become a bit More Cheaper, I Started Replacing the Vinyl Albums I had Sold!

I Eventually Ended up with about 750 CD's at Least, then about 3/4 Years ago I Brought a Couple of Digital Players, i.e a Creative Zen and a Phillips Streamium, and that has Changed my Music Collection Again, I now have Most of my Music on them in Digital Form!

So this has Brought me to the Reason for this Post, I have Sold Quite a few of my Vinyl Records over the Years, but Still have about 150 Vinyl Albums Left, about 200 12" and 7" Singles, I also have about 200 Albums on Tape, not to Mention many Blues and Soul Magazines and some Black Echoes Papers, added to these I am Now Going to Sell all my 750 CD's!

In fact I Started Listing my CD's on Ebay about 3/4 Months ago, to see how they would Sell, in Fact I've Sold Quite a Few, and Last Week I Decided to Advertise them on Discogs, as this is More of a Specialist Site for Selling Music, Rather than Ebay!

Obviously its Takes Time to Put All my Music on there, but its Seems to be Worth at the Moment, I have Sold as Much in 3 Days as I did in about 2 Months on Ebay!

I Hope Eventually to put Everything I have on Discogs, but this will Take Time, I have Soul, Funk, Jazz, Electro, Rap, Disco, Dance and R&B on All Formats, Dating Back from the Mid 60's Right up until about 3 Years Ago!

The Most up to Date Music I  have Purchased is All of John Legend's CD's, Can't say I go to Much on Today's R&B Music, but I have a Wide Choice of All the Great Soul Singer's and Funk Band's from the Past, so Please have a Look at what I have put on Discogs, and Come back in the Future, as More Music  will be Added in Time! 

        PLEASE HAVE A LOOK AT MY DISCOGS STORE 

PRESS BELOW 

FUNKY-SOUL-VINYLS DISCOGS STORE

DEATH IN THE FAMILY and JACKIE WILSON

So in a few Days (around the 2nd week in June of 1987) were Back Home in Great Yarmouth, in the same House we left about 3 Month's earlier, and with the "Old Boy" still ill in Hospital.

We didn't really know How Bad he was, as I said previously my Mother did not tell us that much, about his illness, we Learned more from the Hospital staff as time went by!

As time Passed, I began to Wonder whether He would ever get any Better, He was saying Strange things to the Hospital Staff, I Remember one time He was saying things about one of the Nurses, being Black, and Saying they were doing things to him, He also Refused to see his Youngest Sister, when She Visited!

I found out Later when my Wife "Susan" Worked in the very same Hospital, that a lot of times, people who are Too ill are just brought back to Life, virtually for the Family too Say Goodbye to them!

This as it turned out was the case for my Family and Father.

I did a couple of things for my "Old Boy" I had never done before in that Last Week of his Life, I Talked to Him, he had never been a Big Talker to me (before) I used take to the Hospital Window , so he could look out, over the Car Park and I actually Shaved him a Couple of Times!

This Week was a Very Busy time for us, as you could imagine, we had just Moved House, so when we was not Sorting the Kids out, we were either Sorting the House out (unpacking all our stuff) or We were up the Hospital.

As it happened my "Old Boy" Lasted Exactly a Week before He Died on Saturday 22nd June 1987 at 15.50pm, and I Remember the Sun was Shining Brightly!

I must Admit his Death Hit me Quite Hard, this was Very Surprising as I Never Really got on with him that Well, as I said previously, He never really Spoke to me that Much, and it Always seemed I had to try to Hard to make him Happy!

As I was the only Son with 3 Sister's, you may have thought I would Get on Better with Him than my Sister's did, this Was Not the case, he seemed to favour all of Them Better than me, and his Particular favorite was my Youngest Sister!

I have always Wondered what my other 2 Sister's thought of this Favoritism, it was never Hidden!

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As for some Music, has I have been posting about my Father this Week, One particular thing I remember about my Father and Music Happened over 40 years Ago, I have posted about this Subject  previously, but its worth another Mention, Under the Circumstances!

Its Nothing to do with Tom Jones, I Remember my Father liking Him as a Singer, the "Old Boy" used to say "that Tom Jones Sounds just a  Black Singer"

Anyway I Remember the Day, back in 1972, the "Old Boy" gave me a 50p Coin and said to me "get the Bus up to Town and go in "Wooly's and get me that Record by "Jackie Wilson" its Called "I Get The Sweetest Feeling"

I got a Copy of that Record and Played Hundreds of Times on the Family's Twin Speaker Record Player, I suppose there was 2 things that got me into Soul Music back then, this was one of them and the other was a Boy who I sometimes went around with, had an Older Brother, who always had Motown playing in his House, whenever I went round his! 

So perhaps my "Old Boy" did do something for me, after all!

Incidentally I still have the Single in my Loft, just like the Record to the Left!

A little bit about the Track, It was Written by Van McCoy and originally Released 4 Years earlier in 1968 across in the USA.
It was Produced by Carl Davis.

The Record was on the "MCA Label (in the UK)" and Reached number 9 on the Uk Pop Charts.

THE GREATEST SOUL SINGER OF ALL TIME....MARVIN GAYE

Marvin Gaye in 1973 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In this Series of Posts, I will writing about the Artist's who are in My "Greatest Ever Soul Singer of All-Time" Poll. 

The Poll is over to the Right of the Blog, it has been Running for a Couple of Weeks now, so if You haven't already Voted, Please do so!

In these Post's, I will write a few Facts, Figures, Stats and Interesting Stuff on the Artist in Question, I will also include a Playlist of their 20 Greatest Songs.

I will Write a Post on each Artist in Order of "Top to Bottom" of the Poll!

ARTIST NUMBER 2..................MARVIN GAYE 

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr was Born on April 2, 1939 in Washington DC, He was One of Four Children, His Father was a Minister and his Mother was a School Teacher.

He was Multi Talented being a Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Record Producer and a Multi Instrument Musician, including Keyboards, Drums, Percussion, Clavinet, Piano and Synthesizers. 

He only ever Recorded for 2 Record Labels, Motown and Columbia.

He started His Musical Career in the Late 50's, when He joined a Doo Wop Group Called "the Moonglows"

The Moonglows Disbanded in 1960, and Marvin Gay's Solo Career Started when He Joined "Motown" the same Year as a Session Drummer!


Marvin Gay's Early Singing Efforts were either Standard's and Jazz Recording's, the Opposite of Most of the Motown Act's of that Era, who Sang R&B.

Even at this Early stage Marvin Gay had plenty of Run-ins and Argument's with Motown Founder and Owner "Berry Gordy"


One of His First Professional Jobs for Motown was as a Drummer for "The Miracles" this is where MG struck up his Life Long Friendship with "Smokey Robinson"


Marvin Gay added an "E" to His Surname to coincide with His Debut Single Release in May 1961, the Track was called "Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide" it Flopped in the US apart from the Mid West!


His Second Single also Flopped in Early 1962, that was Called "Sandman" and the Debut Album Released the Previous Year also flopped, that was Called "The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye"


Around this Period "Marvin Gaye" was having more Success behind the Scenes, Session Drumming for the likes of: Mary Wells, Contours, The Marvellettes, Supremes, Martha Reeves and Little Stevie Wonder!

Three of Motown Hits around this time, Featured Marvin Gaye on the Drums, they were: Fingertips by Little Stevie Wonder, Please Mr Postman by The Marvellettes and Dancing In The Street by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas!


In 62 and 63 Marvin Gaye was part of "The Motortown Revue Show" this meant He was nearly certain to have His First Hit with His 4th Single Release in the Spring of 63, which was called "Pride & Joy" it Reached Number 10 on the US Hot 100 Chart.


Later that Same Year He had his Second Hit Single with "Can I Get A Witness" and more "Hits" were to follow over the next few Years!

In Early 1967 His First Duet Hit happened with "Kim Weston" it was called "It Takes Two" by Late 67 MG had teamed up with "Tammi Terrell" and Several Hit Duets were shortly to follow.


By 1970 Marvin Gaye has Released 10 Album's, all on the Motown/Tamla Record Label, but in 1971 He became the First Black Artist to Release an "Concept Album" it was called "What's Going On" most of the Tracks Segued into the next, and the Subject matter of the Album, was War, Drug Abuse, Polictics, Enviroment and Poverty. 

The Album was Marvin Gaye's First Number 1 on the US R&B Chart.


He would Release 6 more Albums Before His Untimely Death on 1st April 1984, he was Fatally Wounded by a Bullet, Shot by His Father!


His Last Studio Recorded Album was "Midnight Love" on the Columbia Record Label, 3 more Albums were Released after His Death, 2 on Columbia and 1 on Motown Record Label.


Throughout His Life, He had a Constant Battle with Depression, Money and Drugs, these all seemed to come together and were the Probable Cause of his Early Death.

Marvin Gaye's Complete Discography:

19  Studio Albums

7  Duet Albums

4  Live Albums

24  Compilation Albums

83  Single Releases.

Checkout my More In-Depth Post's concerning Marvin Gaye's Personal and Musical Life:  Press Here

Related articles

• Happy Birthday Marvin Gaye!

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• Let's Get It On...

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• Marvin Gaye, April 2, 1939 - April 1, 1984.

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• Remembering Marvin Gaye: The Man, His Music, The Struggle For Social Change Continues

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6 DUCKS and JOHNNY BRISTOL

Working on the Rigs was a bit of an Eye Opener (for somebody who had been used to their Home Comforts and Dry Land) I remember one Incident that Happened during either My First or Second Trip!


I used to Cook all the Meals for about 25 Blokes at any one time, so I had to (obviously) get most Foodstuffs ready in advance.


So I got a Maintenance Man to put a Big Padlock on the Food Chiller/Fridge Door, as I had been told by the Previous Chef,  that the Contractors I was looking after, were a Bunch of Animals! 

So one day, I thought  I would Cook about 6 Ducks for the next day and cook them Duck "A La Orange" for Dinner, after these were Cooked and Cooled off, they were put in the Chiller overnight (with the door Locked of course)!


The Kitchen area was left Unlocked at Night Times, for the Workers to get a Snack or Drink, I also used to leave a Tray of items in the Fridge, which were always Eaten by the next day!

Next Morning I went to Work, I could not believe what I saw, I put the Kitchen Lights on and there in front of me was the Big Chiller in the corner with both Doors hanging off!


Someone had been in the Kitchen during the Night before and took my Big Meat Cleaver out of the drawer and smashed off the Lock and both of the Fridge Doors, to get to the Food inside!

The 6 Cooked Ducks were all Half Eaten and all the Bones etc were thrown back into the Fridge, the previous Chef was right, these contractors were a bunch of Animals!


Of course Nobody ever owned up to Breaking into the Fridge or Eating the Ducks, but what did Happen was I Never Locked the Fridge at Night Times Anymore, nor did I ever leave them any more Treats (when I was off Duty) and I never  Cooked anything in Advance again, everything was Cooked and Served on the Day, and all Meals were Quick and Simple to Prepare (nothing to elaborate)!


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As for some  Music, in 1974 one of my Favorite All-Time Soul Tracks was released "Hang On In There Baby" by Songwriter, Producer and Singer "Johnny Bristol"


That was a Great Track, I remember this being played on the radio, the Year before I left School, it was taken from the Album of the same name, it turned out to be Johnny Bristol's Best Chart Placing Single and Album Ever!


The Single Charted in the US Pop Chart at Number 8, in the US R&B Chart at Number 2 and in the UK Pop Chart, it got to Number 3, the Albums Highest Placing was Number 7 in the US R&B Chart.


Johnny Bristol Re-recorded the Song in 1990 for Ian Levine's Record Label, have a look on the Page for a In- Depth Bio. incidentally, where the Video was Filmed, was in my Home Town! 

Johnny Bristol had a Great Voice, I'm Surprised He never Recorded more Albums than he did, only 6.


In the Mid Sixties he Worked for Motown as an In-House Writer and Producer, he Worked with some of the Top Acts at Motown, including Marvin Gaye, Junior Walker, Diana Ross and Smokey Robinson. 


Around 1973 he left Motown to work as a Producer for CBS, where He Worked with amongst others: Randy Crawford, Marlena Shaw, Tavares and even Tom Jones!  


Get The Album Here

THE BEST SOUL BANDS / ARTISTS OF THE ALL-TIME # 3...MARVIN GAYE Part 4

This Series of Post's concerns in my Opinion The Best Bands/Artists of all time.

I will write a Short Bio including  the Band Members/Artist, some Facts and figures, their Histories,  Links, Videos, The Tracks they made Famous, Links to Download etc etc

I will continue the series with the Best Soul Vocalist from Tamla Motown Records................MARVIN GAYE. Part 4.

In the Spring of  1977, Marvin Gaye Released "Got To Give It Up" some said this was his attempt at Disco Music, but whatever it was, it Reached Number 1 in US (his 3rd), and has it turned out, to be his Last in his Lifetime!

It was taken from the 2 Million Selling Album "Live at the London Palladium" it was the only Studio Track on there!

During March of 1977 MG's First Marriage to Anna Gordy finally came to an end (after about 13 years, although they were apart for about the last 4 years) and it was agreed that some of the Revenue from next Album, would go to his Ex Wife, it was a Double Album called "Here My Dear" most of the Tracks concerned the Marriage Break-Up.  It was Released in late 1978.

Only 1 Single was Released from the Album in early 1979, that was called "A Funky Space Re-incarnation" it reached Number 23 on the R&B Charts, but it failed to Chart on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, his First Failure for 17 Years!

During 1979 MG did the "Talk Show Circuit" in the US, he also Toured the US, England and Japan.

Also during middle to late 1979, MG again faced Financial Troubles and also Second Marriage Troubles, he was seeing Janis Hunter before his First Divorce and Married for the Second time soon after.

This Second Marriage lasted less than a Year, but they did not Divorce until February 1981.

After Performing  Concert's in Hawaii during September of 1979, MG decided to stay there for a while, he did not have to Pay Taxes there and he was also back into Drugs, plus he feared if he went back to the US, he would be Imprisoned by the IRS for Non-Payment of Taxes!

By 1980 Marvin Gaye had Re-Located to London England, he still Feared returning to US because of his Tax Evasion!

He did another European Tour during 1980, which included a "Royal Gala Charity Show" which MG turned up Late, and was then Sued by the Promoter "Jeffrey Kruger", this was later settled out of Court!

By late '80, Marvin Gaye (still living in UK) had been working on his next Album for a while, he had changed the Title several times and the some of the Tracks. He finally settled on the Title "In Our Lifetime" and sent the Tapes of the Album back to the US, for Motown to listen and respond to!

But Motown by now were tired of Waiting for MG to make New Music and soon as they got the Tapes, they went ahead and Remixed and Edited some of the Tracks and also Changed the Artwork on the Sleeve and slightly changed the Album Title, and then Released the Album on 15 January 1981.

Marvin Gaye was Livid and Vowed never to work for Motown again!

By the Summer of '81, negotiations were underway, with Motown for Marvin Gaye's Release, he was offered several different Deals by other Record Labels, but in the end he chose CBS Records, and joined them in March of 1982.

After Touring the UK and finishing with 2 Concert's in Belgium in Early 1981, Marvin Gaye decided (after advice from his Belgium Concert promoter) to move to Ostend in Belgium, it was Dual Purpose, he wanted to cut down on the Drugs, he was taking again and he wanted to get himself Fit again "Emotionally and Physically"

While in Belgium, Marvin Gaye had a Video of his time there, recorded, it was called "Transit Ostend" give it a look, its a Great Insight to Marvin's Life!

Download the Albums: "Live at the London Palladium"
                                       "Here My Dear"
                                       "In Our Lifetime" 
Also Download about 25 Marvin Gaye Album's

THE 96th MIX FOR F.S.V.B

Here's the 96th Mix selection for F.S.V.B, continuing the Marvin Gaye theme from the last Post. Its been submitted to the Website, Six Million Steps, by Alan Champ, its under the JJ Smoking Sessions # 20, there's some Classic Marvin Gaye Tracks on here, (either performing or Written), including What's Going On, Inner City Blues, Baby I'm For Real, Distant Lover and I Heard It Through The Grapevine! 

Check out page for Track Listing and Download!

Press play button below 

Marvin Gaye - Yesterday

Originals - Baby I'm For Real
Marvin Gaye - What's Happenin' Brother
Earl Klugh - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Marvin Gaye - Praise
Gil Scott Heron - Inner City Blues
Samarai Seven - 'Marvin' (I Want You)
Three Degrees - Distant Lover
Marvin Gaye - Where Are We Going
Undisputed Truth - What's Going On
Leon Ware - You Are What You Are
Marvin Gaye - Come Live With Me Angel
Marvin Gaye - Love Party
Marvin Gaye - My Love Is Waiting (alternative vocal mix)
Laura Nyro & Labelle - The Bells
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (bare-bones mix)