From the discard bin: Black Music

Black Music , Gavin Petrie Editor and Designer (New York: Hamlyn, 1974) came out of the discard bin last week.  Confident from my new-found ventriloquism skills and cheered on by Paul's suggestion that I make this a feature I went looking for more trashed treasures.  And how could I NOT grab a book with Billy Preston on the front?  Sorry I forgot to scan the front before I released it back into the wild, but I did get the awesome one to the right.

In a world of top 5 lists it is refreshing that Gavin Petrie comes up with his top 21 black artists of the day (1974).  As I flipped through the pages, most of the artists made sense. There were a few-- three to be exact-- that I had to read up on. Can you guess which three?

Here's the list:

1. James Brown
   
2. Ray Charles
3. Staple Singers
4. O'Jays
5. 3 Degrees
6. Chi Lites
7. Thom Bell
8. Bill Withers
9. Pointer Sisters
10. Barry White
11. Maytals
12. John Holt
13. Isley Brothers
14. Harold Melvin
15. Smokey Robinson
16. Stylistics
    

    O'Jays in hoodies
17. War
18. Al Green
19. Bobby Bland
20. Dandy Livingstone
21. Billy Preston

Here are the ones I had to look up:
 7, 12, and 20.

And here's what I learned.

I'm a little ashamed that I did not recognize Thom Bell's name.  He was a producer and arranger of the Philadelpia Soul Sound. He worked on countless Philly soul hits (with The Delfonics, The Stylistics, and The Spinners ) and wrote a few songs you'll recognize:  "I'm Stone in Love With You," "La La Means I Love You," "Living a Little, Laughing a Little," "Rubber Band Man," and so on.  Parenthetically, I did not realize that there is a direct connection between the sound of Philadelphia and strings and horns of smooth jazz.  I really need to read that book House on Fire and catch up on my Gamble/Huff/Philly knowledge. Yeah, Archie Bell says that they're from Houston but the song was produced and recorded in Philadelphia. Like that's not confusing enough.

John Holt is "The Barry White of reggae," according to Petrie at least.  (And we ALL know how cool Barry White is.  He has all the smoothest pix in Black Music.)  Early in Holt's career he worked with The Paragons. I've got "The Tide is High" from 1967 and a couple of later things.

Dandy Livingstone came to England from Kingston, Jamaica in 1959. He had hits with  "Reggae in Your Jeggae," "I'm Your Puppet," and "Rudy A Message To You." I am excitedly on the lookout for two of his songs: "Move Your Mule" (1968, Down Town) and "Donkey Returns" (1968, Trojan, as Dandy & Brother Dan All Stars).  Dandy appears to be my kind of guy!

Well, that's what we scrounged out of the discard bin this week.  Black Music by Gavin Petrie.  It was a pretty dull and flimsy book on what should be a pretty juicy bit of music history.  But as usual, I learned something.  Books don't have to be good to teach you something.  Go figure.