By phillysoulman (152.163.205.58 - 152.163.205.58) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 04:55 pm: |
A LOT OF PEOPLE MAY BE UNAWARE THAT FOR A TIME, IN THE MID SEVENTIES, AS AN EXPERIMENT THOM BELL
HAD AN IDEA TO USE SOME DETROIT MUSICIANS ALONG WITH SOME OF US IN PHILLY. SO HE CONTACTED BASSIST BOB BABBITT AND DRUMMER, THE LATE ANDREW SMITH AND THE RESULTS WERE PHENOMINAL.
IT WAS BASICALLY BABBITT, ANDREW, MYSELF AND THOM BELL'S BROTHER TONY ON GUITARS, ED SHEA ON VIBES, LARRY WASHINGTON ON CONGAS AND BONGOS AND THOM ON KEYBOARDS. WE DID A LOT OF WORK TOGETHER INCLUDING SEVERAL ALBUMS BY THE SPINNERS INCLUDING RUBBERBAND MAN, LOVE DON'T LOVE NOBODY,SWEET LOVE OF MINE AND MANY MORE.
ALSO, THERE HAVE BEEN OCCASIONS WHERE SOME SPINNERS VOCALS WERE RECORDED IN DETROIT, I BELIEVE FOR I'LL BE AROUND AND COULD IT BE I'M FALLING IN LOVE AND THE ACCOMPANYING B SIDES.
I AM NOT SURE OF THE STUDIO BUT I THINK IT WAS A PLACE CALLED G.M. STUDIOS.
THE FEMALE VOCALS WERE DONE IN PHILLY.
THOM, AS WELL AS MYSELF HAVE ALWAYS BEEN DETROIT - O-PHILES SO WHEN HE ASKED ME WHAT I THOUGHT OF THE IDEA I OF COURSE CONCURRED.
THAT RHYTHM SECTION COMBO WENT ON TO WORK WITH ELTON JOHN, PHYLLIS HYMAN THE O'JAYS, THE STYLISTICS, LOU RAWLS AND MANY MORE.
THE JUXTAPOSITION OF DETROIT AND PHILLY WAS TRULY MAGICAL. BABBITT AND ANDY USED TO TALK IN SOME KIND OF PIG LATINISH CODE THAT WAS INVENTED BY THE FUNK BROTHERS, BUT I SOON DECIPHERED IT.
I MISS WORKING WITH THOSE GUYS. THE MEMORY WILL FOREVER BE IMBEDDED IN MY MIND
BOBBY ELI
By Julian (152.163.197.73 - 152.163.197.73) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 06:45 pm: |
Wow!
By david, glasgow, scotland (62.252.128.5 - 62.252.128.5) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 07:22 pm: |
thanks for that one bobby.
'g.m. bumpshops' studios will be featured when i came back from detroit in april.
it was one of the few studios based on the east side of detroit - up on 9 mile road.
By John Lester (213.1.135.41 - 213.1.135.41) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 07:45 pm: |
.....and there was me thinking that I had been unfaithful to Motown when I bought "Love don't Love Nobody....that has made me feel good!
I bought all Thom Bells stuff as well as Motown...
By Ritchie (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 08:34 pm: |
John - "unfaithful to motown?" - I do know what you mean ;o)
I stacked my later Spinners albums next to TML 11060* and Second Time Around - a small island of Atlantic in an ocean of Motown. They looked slightly "out of place" to me, but it seemed silly to split the collection of my favourite vocal group for such trivial reasons! (And I never felt "guilty" about buying them... especially as I preferred the Motown stuff. No disrespect to the Atlantic cuts, wonderful songs and Phillippe was superb. But I'd have preferred to hear more of the Spinners and less Linda Creed & co - sorry, girls!)
--Ritchie--
*The Spinners' first for Motown is STILL my all-time-favourite album!
By phillysoulman (205.188.192.24 - 205.188.192.24) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 09:56 pm: |
RITCHIE,
THE GIRLS WERE BARBARA INGRAM, YVETTE BENTON AND CARLA BENSON. THEY APPEARED ON ALL OF THE SEVENTIES PHILLY OUTPUT. IN MY OPINION, PHILLIPE WYNNE INJECTED THE SPINNERS WITH NEW BLOOD.
AS FAR AS RECORD SALES GO, THE ONLY QUALIFIED HIT
THE SPINNERS HAD ON MOTOWN WAS IT'S A SHAME.
ACCORDING TO THE GUYS, THEY TOLD ME PERSONALLY THAT THEY WERE TREATED AS STEPCHILDREN BY MOTOWN.
G.C. CAMERON'S EGO GOT OUT OF CONTROL AND PHILLIPE WAS DISCOVERED IN A CHURCH SITUATION.
INCIDENTALLY, THEY HATED I'LL BE AROUND AT FIRST BUT CHANGED THEIR MINDS WHEN THE MONEY STARTED COMING IN AND IT CATAPULTED THEM INTO STARDOM.
By Ritchie Hardin (62.254.0.6 - 62.254.0.6) on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 10:39 pm: |
Hi Bobby -
yes, I'm well aware of the Spinners' unhappy times at Motown. They WERE treated like poor relations, and I think that's to Motown's eternal shame. (I wrote all about this on my own site.) Even so, I still love that first album, purely on musical quality. Whatever the circumstances were, it's still a superb vocal group on show, irrespective of what was or wasn't a hit.
No disrepect to the ladies, but I felt that on many of the Atlantic sides, the group's harmonies were too far back in the mix. On some tracks, I find it hard to discern their presence at all. OK, I suppose it'd be like the Temptations' records featuring Dennis or David plus the Andantes (or whoever, John!) but no discernable male backup. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the Atlantic material and still do. I also have their much later Volt album. I was always a fan of Tom Bell, right from the first time I heard the Delfonics. It's those spine-tingling harmonies that I'm a sucker for, and when they're buried deep in the mix, I feel something is missing.
- Just my opinion of course, right or wrong :o)
--Ritchie--
By phillysoulman (205.188.195.54 - 205.188.195.54) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 01:08 am: |
RITCHIE, I AGREE WITH YOU ON THE LACK OF PRESENCE
IN THE SPINNERS' VOCALS. UNFORTUNATELY MANY OF THE PHILLY GROUPS SUCH AS BLUE MAGIC AND TRHE STYLISTICS WERE INEPT AT DOING THEIR BACKING VOCALS. IN ALL HONESTY THEY SOUNDED LIKE FOGHORNS. SO WE HAD TO USE SESSION PROS OIN THE STUDIO. STUDIO SINGING DIFFERS FROM LIVE PERFORMING. YOU MUST HAVE PERFECTION AND PERFECTION IS WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FOR,AND NO LESS THAN THAT. THOM BELL SAID THAT THE GIRLS SMOOTHED OUT THEIR ROUGH EDGES AND I CAN BELIEVE THAT, AS I HEARD A LOT OF THE STUFF PRIOR TO THE SWEETENING. VERY FEW IF ANY DID THEIR OWN VOCALS . THE DELFONICS DID EITH THE HELP OF THOM BELLS' VOCALS WITH THEM OTHERWISE FORGET IT.
BOBBY ELI
By Rich (162.33.235.234 - 162.33.235.234) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 05:11 pm: |
Lotta Philly-Detroit similarities musically speaking. Bob Babbit & Tiki Fullwood were the primary rhythm section on the very first Funkadelic album in 1969. Billy Nelson was out on the road with Bill Doggetts band at the time. I've heard that Tiki was the house drummer at The Uptown Theatre in North Philly in 1967 which was where Eddie & Billy found him and convinced him to join their band. Motown's Earl Van Dyke & Ivy Hunter played keyboards on that album even though Mickey Atkins was credited and Bernie Worrell was pictured on the jacket. Rare Earth's Ray Monette also played on the album as well
By phillysoulman (152.163.205.83 - 152.163.205.83) on Monday, January 28, 2002 - 07:32 pm: |
HI RICH,
I ACTUALLY GOT TIKI A GIG WITH VIBRATIONS AND WHILE WE WERE APPEARING AT THE 20 GRAND IS WHERE HE MET EDDIE HAZEL AND EDDIE TOLD ME OF HIS IDEA CALLED "FUNKADELIC" I SAID "WOW WHAT A CONCEPT. FUNK WITH PSYCHEDELIA!!!!!" AND THE REST IS HISTOY OR IS IT A MYSTERY.
TIKI WAS THE WORLDS LOUDEST DRUMMER. HE ACTUALLY GOT ANOTHER GROUP WE WERE IN FIRED UP IN NEWBURGH NEW YORK BECAUSE OF IT . WE HAD TO THROW OUR BAGS OUT OF OUR HOTEL WINDOW TO AN AWAITING CAR BECAUSE WE COULD NOT PAY OUR BILL.
THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND.
By Rich (162.33.235.101 - 162.33.235.101) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 01:25 pm: |
Great Great Story Bobby, LOL. Do you remember which band were you guys in at the time? I think Tiki was the House drummer at the Uptown while Earl Young went on on the road with Stevie Wonder around '67. Stevie taught Earl a lot of Benny Benjamin's tricks. Then Earl brought Benny's bag-o-tricks back to Philly and applied his craft on a million-and-one classic recordings at Sigma. Meanwhile Tiki took his heavy pocket drumming to Detroit playing on loads of sessions up there. Yet another Philly-Detroit Connection.
By phillysoulman (64.12.104.33 - 64.12.104.33) on Tuesday, January 29, 2002 - 02:34 pm: |
RICH,
I FORGOT THE NAME OF THE GROUP IN NEWBURGH. THE DID NOT RECORD . AN AGENT CONTACTED ME AND I GOT TIKI AND BASSIST RALPH DOWNS WHO WAS NICKNAMED
" MOTOWN " BECAUSE OF HIS STYLE ALBEIT BUSIER. A SERIES OF EVENTS TRANSPIRED ON THE WAY TO THE GIG.
WE WERE ALL PILED UP IN AN ANCIENT LATE 50'S ESTATE, AND THIS WAS IN 1967 WITH THE FIVE SINGERS, THREE MUSICIANS, TWO GIRLFRIENDS AND THE INSTRUMENTS. ON THE WAY IN NEW JERSEY THE WATER PUMP FAILED. NO ONE HAD ANY MONEY SO I HAD TO LEAVE MY FENDER SUPER REVERB AMP AS COLLATERAL. THE NEXT DAY THEY DROVE ALLTHE WAY BACK TO RETRIEVE IT. WE WERE FIRED AFTER THREE DAYS OF A WEEK LONG GIG AND WITHOUT ANY PAY AND AS I SAID BEFORE THE BAGS WERE THROWN OUT OF THE WINDOW.
I WAS DRIVEN RELUCTANTLY TO NYC AND PLEADED FOR ENOUGH MONEY FOR A BUS TO PHILLY AND WITH MY GUITAR
, MY AMP AND BAGS AND I HAD TO HITCH A RIDE TO MY HOUSE FROM THERE. WHAT A NIGHTMARE. RIGHT AFTER THAT , I GOT THE VIOBRATIONS GIG AND NEVER LOOKED BACK.
By Vickie (64.12.103.171 - 64.12.103.171) on Monday, February 04, 2002 - 10:29 pm: |
Hello All,
I am writing Tammi Terrell's Biography and I am
interviewing her friends, family, collegues, and fans..If anyone has any information they would like to share, I would love to hear from you..
TammiProject@aol.com
By david, glasgow, scotland (62.7.107.47 - 62.7.107.47) on Tuesday, February 05, 2002 - 09:04 am: |
hi vickie
welcome to the forum.
as you can see tammi has many friends on here.
hope you get to the publisher soon!