Today's post features a hybrid genre I'm a bit of a fan Psychedellic N. Soul - and the choice today has to be the best example I can think of - The Circus' take on "I'll Always Love You", which Jock Mitchell in Scarborough put me onto, and then gave me the record the last time I saw him - thanks and much appreciated. I reckon this has to have been released around 1966 - though of course it could a year or so either side - but it certainly sounds like it's from '66. The arrangement sticks pretty close The Detroit Spinners original - apart of course from the fuzz guitar solo mid-through, and I did notice that the song's credited to Mickey Stevenson and I Turner - although the latter should be Ivy Jo Hunter. The only other Pysche/N. Soul crossover I can think of the Seeds' seminal 'Pushin' To Hard'.
The flip side of this Circus offering is "Away From This World" and is more straightforward beat/garage type track. And apart from the it's penned by Kevin Murphy and produced by Jordan Miller & Morrie Parker- that's pretty much all I've managed to find out about this single, although whether this the same Circus responsible for the full on Pysche/Garage wowness that is 'Bad Seed (You're A Bad Seed)' I'm not sure. Even a search on the excellent Garagehangover blog draws a blank. Though of course that's not going to stop from continuing to look - and if anyone out there has any additional info please don't hesitate to get in touch.
The Circus on Offe is not related to the others and has long been a mystery, but I was recently contacted by the leader of the Circus and am working on a piece for my West Texas blog LoneStarStomp. Should be up in the next couple of months.
ReplyDeleteThe above record on the Jambee label was from the Chicago bar band Circus from the 1960's...that band had a rather interesting evolution before and afterwards...Rick Panzer and Kevin Murphy had previously been with one of the two touring versions of Jimmy Ford & The Executives which backed the vocal groups on Dick Clark's mid-1960's Caravan of Stars tours in the USA...Jimmy Stella came from his Chicago band(Jimmy Stella & The Ambassadors). The shifting of personnel and merging of band members from the disbanded American Breed after Circus produced a band moniker which you may more easily recognize...Rufus with Chaka Khan....(Rufus grew out of the Chicago bands The Circus (James Stella - vocals, Kevin Murphy - keyboards, Rick Panzer - piano, Larry McCabe - trombone/trumpet, Vern Pilder - guitar, Phil Michilson - guitar, and Ross Salamone - drums) and The American Breed. Pilder, Murphy, bassist Chuck Colbert, drummer Lee Graziano and the vocalists James Stella and Paulette McWilliams formed a new group, originally called Smoke. They changed their name to Ask Rufus when their management switched to Bob Monaco and Bill Trout. Pilder was replaced by Al Ciner and they also added Willie Weeks (bass). It was at this time that the band's name was shortened to Rufus. After the completion of recording their first album for Epic Records in 1970 (which was never released), this line-up remained until early 1971, when Weeks was replaced by Dennis Belfield.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-jcAJT3v64
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJo_HplbpPo
ReplyDeleteThe above link to a You Tube video is also from The Chicago band Circus on The Columbia Record label..writing credit to Rick Panzer...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFrom Wikipedia entry on Baby Huey and the Babysitters, there's this about a band called Goliath with Chaka Khan. Anyone ever hear of them? "Manager Marv Stuart would later take some former members, including Dave Cook, to form Goliath with Chaka Khan"
ReplyDelete