By PhillyGroove (205.188.209.38) on Thursday, January 16, 2003 - 08:40 pm:

Hi Mr. Eli,

Do you know if Earl Young has been invited to check out this forum?

Also, do you recall if his drums generally had skins on both sides or just on the batter? (I understand that during the 70's lots of drummers had open toms.) As you know from some of our posts, Earl is a model for me as a beginning drummer, so I'm always interested in learning about his set-up and technique. Of course, it's been great to read Uriel's posts, too.

Thanks, as always.

By Eli (151.197.37.199) on Friday, January 17, 2003 - 01:37 am:

P.G.,

Regarding Earl,I will call him and get him on the forum. He will love the correspondence and the appreciation which he seldom received from the powers that be. In fact, none of us were really appreciated or embraced except in Thom Bell's case. He always showed his appreciation.

His snare had skins on both sides with a thick Kotex pad taped to the batter and originally miked with an Altec "saltshaker" mike and and later on a Shure sm 57.The toms were open and miked with Sennheiser 421's. The kick was a twenty eight or a thirty inch one with an open front stuffed with a blanket and the original mike was an RCA bk 5 ribbon mike and later a d12 or sometimes an re 20. The cymbals were miked by a 57 on the hi hat and km 84s on the overheads.
Earls sticks were like telephone polls and usually played with the back end.
Other drummers have played those drums trying to capture that sound but forget it, it never happened!!! There is only one Earl. Truly an original!!
There was a half three panel baffle

By BCNYC (64.12.97.7) on Friday, January 17, 2003 - 08:40 am:

Fascinating. Al Jackson, Jr. was also said to have played with the back end of his sticks at the time of the great Al Green records.

Everything about programmed and sampled dance music is about Earl's drumming -- entire songs have been written around one fill or pick-up, like "You Used To Hold Me" -- and what's not a direct reference to his playing is itself an indication of the difficult choice to make a record without the use of that kind of syncopation and human rhythmic feel.

By PhillyGroove (152.163.188.68) on Friday, January 17, 2003 - 09:46 am:

Dear Mr. Eli,

Thanks so much for the thorough answer! Trying to really duplicate Earl Young is unimaginable ... but I have been very impressed with every player on this board, and technicians, and writers, etc., who have shared what they've learned with those who want to step out in their own way.

I'd never picked up a stick until a year ago. But learning has made me hear a whole new world of music in my favorites from Motown and Philly.

Thanks again.

By Eli (151.197.37.148) on Friday, January 17, 2003 - 11:15 am:

Amazingly, Earl never really set out to be a drummer!! He was, infact the bass singer with the Exceptions/ Volcanos. Then one magical day during a Volcanos session at Virtue studios the drummer who we called Slim did not show up so Earl, in his bas voice said "hey man, let me try that" at which time Weldon chimed in with his bass voice and said" hey man, your're a singer, what do you know about playing the drums"??
So Earl sat down and show 'em what he knew and the rest is history!!

By Rich (12.90.17.43) on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 11:53 am:

Hey Bobby,

Would you know if that would be Earl who can be heard out front singing bass on parts of The Trammps "Zing Went the String .... "?

Peace

By Eli (151.197.5.157) on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 04:15 pm:

Rich,
Indeed it was, and it was the Trammps first ever record as the Trammps.
It was originally done on spec and Sigma gave BHY the time and the late, great studio manager Herry Chipetz secured the deal with Buddah and later Atlantic.
Harry did a lot of great things for a lot of people including myself.

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Saturday, January 18, 2003 - 07:57 pm:

Good to hear from you again BCNYC!

David

By Steve Litos (209.100.86.4) on Sunday, January 19, 2003 - 09:06 pm:

Earl Young gets a nod in the latest issue of Maxim
Blender magazine (With Mariah Carey on the cover).

The article is the top 50 Rock N' Roll Geniuses.

I believe he's #35 for inventing the disco beat!

-Steve

By 1wicked (64.32.154.94) on Monday, January 20, 2003 - 02:10 pm:

Eli....was Golden Fleece B,H,&Y's own (independent)imprint ? Was it ever folded into PIR or do Earl Young and perhaps the heirs of Harris & Baker still own all the rights (and the ability to reactivate the label) ?

Thanks...

By 1wicked (64.32.154.94) on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 01:04 pm:

Just taking this back to the top so Eli can answer the question above...

By Davie Gordon (193.122.21.26) on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 02:32 pm:

All the Trammps Golden Fleece material is on CD
from Sony's Legacy label so it looks as if
they've still some control over it.

By Eli (151.197.41.76) on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 02:42 pm:

Twicked,Golden Fleece was supposed to be a joint venture between BHY and G&H or so they thought. As it turned out it was just a PIR sub label for release of G.F. product and the titles were few.Unfortunately, the heirs are not compensated as it was a shrewd G&H move not to the advantage of the BHY crew.
Typical of Philly at the time.
All that glitters....you know the rest!!

The biz, being as glorfied and iconiclastic as it was, especially in the various regional recording meccas which we all know and love, has had it's share of skeletons and other "closet" happenstance
which I will not glorify at this time.
You do the math.

Nuff said.

By 1wicked (64.32.154.94) on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 03:49 pm:

Hmmmph...I guess the name "Golden Fleece" ended up being somewhat appropriate.....

By dvdmike (12.84.11.94) on Wednesday, February 05, 2003 - 05:10 pm:

Was there a lot of unissued Golden Fleece product? The only stuff I ever heard other than The Trammps was by Love Committee ("One Day Of Peace") and a record by Robert Upchurch, who later joined The Trammps. I saw The Trammps perform live once in early 1977 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago as the opening act for Bootsy's Rubber Band. "Disco Inferno" had just been recently released as a single, but it hadn't hit yet. As a matter of fact, they outperformed Bootsy that night.

By Eli (151.197.38.47) on Thursday, February 06, 2003 - 12:39 am:

Golden Fleece had only seven singles.

By Sly fan (67.119.52.232) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 06:57 pm:

Mr. Eli:I didnt realise Mr. Young had a bass voice until I saw an episode of Soul Train where The Trammps were performing "Where Do We Go From Here", I was like hey I thought you play drums but now reading this post it makes sense to me now. Mr. Young's style definetly set a standard and he inspired me to beg my mom for a drum set when I was little. Thats a baaaaadd dude!!

Does it matter what type of mic you use to capture a certain tone for drumming?

By Eli (151.197.40.162) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 09:45 pm:

Sly Fan,

The sound and tone of the drums are dependent on several factors.
1. The style and feel of the drummer
2.The hardware used, ie the drums and their skins and the tuning.
3.The room in which they were recorded and the spill into the other mikes
4. The mikes and their placement
5. The mood of the drummer that day

For the most part, Earl's snare was close miked with an Altec"saltshaker" podium style mike and later replaced with a Shure SM 57 and sometimes a Neumann 87 near the hi hat opposite the snare mike with a wallet or a sanitary pad taped to on the snare.
There were Sennheiser 421's on the toms, an RCA BK 5 ribbon mike on the kick and later an Electrovoice RE 20.
Overhead mikes were Neumann km 84's.

I hope that answers your question but in all honesty Earl can play in any room in any situation and with any mikes and stil sound great!

By Eli (151.197.40.162) on Wednesday, March 19, 2003 - 09:53 pm:

Heard today through a reliable source that the Funks are going to do some gigs in Philly soon maybe at the Tower??
Somebody fill me in please.

By JSmith (212.39.231.20) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 01:58 am:

Bobby,
I was listening the other nite to a great song --- "Love Has Found Its Way To Me" by Blue Magic.
As u know, you wrote this song (in 73 ?) and it was released on 45 in 74 (you also prod & arr the BM version).
Are there any other versions of it, either cut at the time or since ??????

By John Barry Sheffield (195.92.168.164) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 03:25 am:

Dear Bobbi

It is so much appreciated the time You have for us "Philly" Fans here on The Forum, Earl was like You another one of my hero's and I felt so fortuante that I did manage to see The Trampps Live! something I will never forget.

You depth of knowledge Bobbi is truly amazing and I could listen or read them all day long!

A sincere thanks Brother

John

By Sly fan (67.119.52.21) on Thursday, March 20, 2003 - 03:34 pm:

Thanx for the advice Mr. Eli, amazing techniques!! Is Mr. Young still playing?

By JSmith (195.93.50.9) on Monday, March 24, 2003 - 11:54 am:

Different subject Bobby........
I love the new CD from Vivian Green (A Love Story).
A nice modern Philly recording.
Do you know much about her or the guys in the studio with her ???