As an exception
to the accustomed order, compilations come now first. In recent months a
number of exceptionally strong projects has been released, which this time
gives me the opportunity to utilize my earlier features, too. In other words, the
Dells, Oscar Toney Jr. and Tommy Tate comment on some of the tracks
on those compilations. In addition to that, I hope you enjoy my fresh
interviews with Betty Harris and Lola, a new William Bell
protégé, and those from the vaults with Floyd Taylor, Vick Allen, Carl Sims and
Sterling Harrison.
THE DELLS
Verne Allison
(second tenor), Chuck Barksdale (bass), Johnny Funches (tenor,
lead), Marvin Junior (baritone, lead), Michael McGill (second
baritone) and Mike’s brother, Lucius McGill (tenor), formed the group in
a Chicago suburb named Harvey, in Illinois, in 1952 and had their first single
(Darling I Know/Christine) released on Checker in 1954 under the name of
the El Rays (meaning ‘the kings’, although, if correctly spelled, ‘the
king’ in Spanish is ‘el rey’). You can read the full, 3-part Dells story in
our printed magazines # 4/97, # 1/98 and # 2/98 (
http://shop.soulexpress.net/index.php?cat=Magazines).
Soon after the debut single Lucius left the group, and the remaining five boys
signed with
Vee-Jay in 1955, where during the next six years they had one album and twelve
singles released, including their first hit, Oh What a Nite, in 1956.
After a car accident in late ’58, the group went on hiatus for a couple of
years. During that time Chuck, however, who had been moonlighting with Otis
Williams and the Charms and the Moonglows already earlier in the
50s, hooked up with Harvey Fuqua and his New Moonglows again in
1959, and he also attended some recording sessions, like Dale Hawkins’ Class
Cutter and he recited the monologue on Jerry Butler’s A Lonely
Soldier.
When the group
came back together in 1960 – and first on part-time basis, only - on their ’61
come-back single on Vee-Jay (Swinging Teens) only Chuck and Verne are
singing, alongside two non-Dells guys. Shortly afterwards all five auditioned
for Dinah Washington in 1961, but Johnny Funches decided to leave and he
was replaced by Johnny Carter, and that cemented the line-up that still
exists, records and performs today – Verne, Chuck, Marvin, Michael and Johnny.
Till the mid-60s
the group kept on making good but still today underrated records for Argo and
Vee-Jay (four singles for both, including the original Stay In My Corner
in ’65), they sang background on many artists’ records (Bo Diddley, Barbara
Lewis, Betty Everett, Wade Flemons, Andre Williams, Etta James, Joe Murphy, Ted
Taylor, Cicero Blake, Jo Ann Garrett, Bobby Jones, the Players etc.), they
had protégés (the Opals) and they toured with Ray Charles in the
mid-60s.
And that brings
us to a great new CD titled Always Together/The Great Chess Ballads
(Shout 38; 21 tracks, 78 min.!;
www.shoutrecords.co.uk).
Liners by Clive Richardson, the set covers the period from 1967 to ’74
with two exceptions. A cover of the Five Keyes’ 1955 hit, Close Your
Eyes (track # 5), was cut during the groups’ spell at Argo in 1962-63.
Michael McGill: “They had to come up with the album (There Is), so they
went in the can and pulled some product out. Close Your Eyes was
recorded in ’62. It was cut at old Chess.” The Change We Go Through (track
# 2) was recorded in February ‘66, when the group still worked with producer Billy
Davis and arranger Phil Wright. It was released as the b-side to
their first Cadet single, Thinkin’ About You.
Michel: “Leonard Chess, who believed
in the Dells, told all the producers at the producers meeting ‘I want you to
select the artists. Get a hit record on these artists, and if you don’t get a
hit record on these artists, your job is on the line’… When Bobby Miller said
‘give me the Dells’, they all burst out laughing. At that time we were like
thirty years old. ‘You can have them’… We found out that he had great songs.”
Charles Stepney became the arranger. Verne Allison: “Charles made us enjoy our
craft. With Charles you had to be very disciplined. He was the creator, and
he liked the stuff to come off right. He didn’t want a whole lot of messing
around.”
The first track on this compilation was released in August ’67.
O-o I Love you (#22-r&b / # 61-pop) is a beautiful Bobby Miller ballad,
which introduced a massive and innovative arrangement - by slowly building up
from Chuck’s opening monologue into an emotive climax - and which utilizes
Marvin’s raspy baritone and Johnny’s soaring falsetto to the maximum for the first
time on record.
Another Bobby Miller composition, Please Don’t Change Me Now (track # 3),
was the flip to the infectious dance hit called Wear It on Our Face in 1968, and it
had Charley doing some experimenting with his arrangements. From the There
Is album (# 4-r&b / # 29-pop) comes still Love Is So Simple (track
# 4), another of those Bobby’s dramatic and powerful slowies, which was hidden
on the b-side of a huge hit, the majestic rework of Stay in My Corner.
The next three songs (tracks # 6 – 8) all derive from the early ’69 album,
The Dells Musical Menu / Always Together (# 9-r&b / # 146-pop), and all three were
picked up as consecutive singles with two first released in ’68 and the third one
in ’69. The title song (# 3-r&b / # 18-pop) is a heavy ballad with
thunderous arrangement and highly emotive vocalizing. Mike: “Always
Together for me typifies the Dells. We’ve been very blessed, and Always
reconfirms what we’re all about. I’ve known these guys since I was fourteen…
We still have our disagreements, but we’ve always been there for each other.”
The follow-up was equally outstanding, a thrilling Vietnam slowie named Does Anybody Know
I’m Here (# 15–r&b / # 38-pop), and the third Bobby Miller gem in a row
was I Can’t Do Enough (# 20-r&b / # 98-pop), again building from a
quiet swayer up to a soul thunder.
I guess the
biggest European hit for the group still is their ’69 medley of I Can Sing A
Rainbow/Love Is Blue (# 5-r&b / # 22-pop), and on this compilation it
is followed by the next ’69 single, a rework of their first hit from 1956, Oh
What A Night (# 1-r&b / # 10-pop). The monologue in the beginning was
added by Leonard Chess’ suggestion. Marvin Junior: “Chess always loved that
song, and he was responsible for us redoing it the second time.”
Both of these
songs were included on the ’69 album titled Love Is Blue (# 3-r&b /
# 54-pop) as well as A Little Understanding (track # 12) and The
Glory of Love (track # 14). A Little Understanding, an emotive
ballad and a real grower, was written by Michael McGill and Chuck Barksdale.
Michael: “I wrote it for my wife, but then she said ‘it’s the most chauvinistic
song I’ve ever heard’ (laughing).” The heavily orchestrated and dramatic cover
of The Glory of Love was belatedly released as a single in December 1970
(# 30-soul / # 92-pop), and for the second time in 1975.
Three songs – Open
Up My Heart (track # 11), Long Lonely Nights (track # 13) and Since
I Fell For You (track # 15) – are culled from the ’70 album, Like It Is,
Like It Was (# 7-soul / # 126-pop). Marvin: “We did a bunch of old tunes
that were out in the 50s. One side was modern tunes, one side was 50s tunes.”
The “modern” category includes Open up My Heart, Bobby Miller’s
glorious, haunting ballad, which together with a cover of Nadine on the
flip hit # 5-soul and # 51-pop. Long Lonely Nights (# 27-soul / #
74-pop) was a cover of Lee Andrew and the Hearts’ single on Main Line in
1956 (it became a hit a year later when leased to Chess), while with Since I
Fell for You we must go back to Buddy Johnson on Decca in 1945.
In 1970 Bobby
Miller left. Marvin: “Bobby Miller had an argument with Chess. He left and
went to Motown. He tried to get us to follow him over to Motown, but we didn’t
do it. He got very upset about that. When Bobby left, we weren’t really
thinking about leaving, because they gave us a new and better contract… We
ended up with Charles Stepney. He stopped being our arranger and started being
our arranger and our producer.” Michael: “When you get a trio like that, you
just turn out hit records so easy. We hated to see it dissolve. When Bobby
left for Motown, Chess was really on the decline. But we had a lot of faith in
Charles Stepney, but what he was lacking was material. We got lucky with The
Love We Had. Stepney was more of a technical person. Bobby went for the
feel of the song. They were two different types of individuals.”
In 1971 and ’72
the group released three albums on Cadet – Freedom Means, The Dells Sing
Dionne Warwick’s Greatest Hits and Sweet As Funk Can Be – and of
those LPs the Dionne Warwick one has been recently released in a CD format by
Dusty Groove America. Freedom still fared quite well – mainly because
of the hit single, The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind) – but the other
two were disappointments both in sales and in airplay.
On this CD there
are two songs from that period, which both remained un-issued at the time. A
soft and tender ballad called Since I Found You (track # 18) saw
the light of the day only in 1992 on a compilation titled On Their Corner.
Michael: “The song was written by Skip Scarborough… great song, great
production, great vocals. It was probably the same session as You Changed
My Life Around.” The latter song (track # 17) has never been released
before. It’s a worthwhile ballad and a fine vocal performance by the group.
Both songs were cut in 1972, but by that time Cadet was already losing faith in
Charles Stepney being able to come up with hits for the Dells. Michael: “You
Changed My Life Around, written by Michael McGill and Charles Barksdale,
was the last recording session with the Dells and Charles Stepney at Chess
Studios. It wasn’t previously released due to the demise of Chess Records and
was in the vault at Universal Music. Although it’s not one of the Dells’
strongest, it still has the Stepney/Dells magic, and I personally wish that the
Dells, Bobby Miller and Charles Stepney had recorded 100 more songs. There is
one more gem in Universal’s vault entitled Let Me Show You How to Love Again,
written by the l