John Gary Williams, William Brown, Julius Green, and Robert Phillips were students at Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis during the early Sixties when they formed a vocal group called the Emeralds. They soon came to the attention of Stax/Volt Records, whose publicity director, Deanie Parker came up with a new name for the group.

"We were practical jokers," John Gary recalls. "We played a lot of jokes around the company. If a telephone would ring, one of us might come out of a briefcase with a receiver-stuff like that. And Deanie said, ‘You guys are mad. Y’all should be the Mad Lads instead of the Emeralds.’"

The Mad Lads made their recording debut on the Stax label in 1964 with a number titled "The Sidewalk Surf." It flopped at the time but is now one of the most sought-after collector’s items of all Stax releases. The following year, however, the group was transferred to the Volt label and scored immediately with "Don’t Have to Shop Around." Stylistically atypical for the company, this combination of the group’s soft soul harmonies and the Stax/ Volt house band’s crisp accompaniment proved a winner and paved the way for such subsequent hits as "I Want Someone," "I Want a Girl," "Patch My Heart," "Whatever Hurts You," "So Nice," and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."

The quartet’s first major concert appearance, a Florida date with the Temptations, left a lasting impression on the Mad Lads’ choreography. "The Temps set us down in some chairs and we watched them," John Gary remembers. "They taught us a lot of moves. They and Gladys Knight and the Pips gave us a lot of encouragement. We would try to see the ideology behind their steps. It came down to every emotion and every feeling having a move."

The Vietnam-era draft took John Gary Williams and William Brown, but the Mad Lads continued, using temporary replacements for live appearances and recording only when Williams and Brown were on leave. Julius Green left the fold in 1969 and was replaced by current member Freddie Rogan.

John Gary Williams, who’d returned to the Mad Lads after his army stint, left again in 1972 and recorded one solo album and two singles for Stax and one single for the Truth subsidiary; he also wrote and produced sides for such artists on the Stax/Volt roster as Rance Allen, Albert King, and the Soul Children. Meanwhile, Richard Williams and his own singing group, Everyday People, along with Julius Green, formed a new act of Mad Lads with John Gary’s blessing. Although this edition recorded one album for Volt in 1974, it was never released. The company was by then deep in bankruptcy court.

The demise of Stax/Volt dealt a heavy blow to both John Gary and the new Mad Lads. While still honing his songwriting skills, John Gary left Memphis, working in a Waterloo, Iowa packing plant for a period, then as a cab driver in Los Angeles. Richard’s group broke up around 1976.

"It was a dry spell," John Gary states. "We always hoped that Stax would come back. That was my contention-I’m gonna stay in shape, write some songs, and when the company opens back up, we can get down again. That was the lowest point in my life."

Because of an ongoing demand for performances by the Mad Lads, Richard Williams reactivated the group in 1984. The following year, they recorded a new single, "You Blew It," for the Memphis-based Express label-one of only two Mad Lads records not to have originally appeared on the Volt label. John Gary rejoined them soon thereafter and the group has been performing frequently, often on package shows with such other soul music veterans as James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, the Impressions, the Intruders, and the Stylistics.

Fantasy Records, which had acquired the Stax/Volt catalog, issued The Best of the Mad Lads, compiled by vocal group connoisseur and Fantasy national sales manager Kirk Roberts, in 1984. Roberts was then contacted by Lindsey Donaldson, the Mad Lads’ former road manager, who put him in touch with the reorganized group. Roberts sent the group a box of albums and the Mad Lads sent him a tape. Finally, after Fantasy reactivated the Volt label and recorded the Dramatics, then the Spinners, the Mad Lads seemed like the next logical choice. Madder Than Ever, the group’s first Volt release in over 15 years, is the result.

John Gary Williams’s patience finally paid off. "I feel blessed," he says, "to be back on Volt again-the original label."

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Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 18, 2007 at 6:30pm
Stepfather i just love finding those underrated groups...Next on my list is The Fuzz, i can't find anything on them.
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 18, 2007 at 6:29pm
Thank you Mama Edie...SMILE
Comment by stepfatherofsoul on December 18, 2007 at 9:27am
Glad to see the Mad Lads featured :) They were so underrated. Records like "I Want Someone" and "Come Closer To Me" are fine sweet soul harmony records that should've been bigger than they were.
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 17, 2007 at 5:37am
Excellent post...

Introspection

Entr'acte

  1. play Norman Brown — Night Drive
  2. play Norman Brown — Feeling
  3. play Norman Brown — Still
  4. play Miles Davis — miles 1
  5. play miles 2
  6. play miles 3
  7. play miles 4
  8. play miles 5
  9. play Marvin Gaye — I Met A Little Girl
  10. play Santana — 01 Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
  11. play Santana — 02 Black Magic Woman-Gypsy Queen
  12. play Mongo — 02. Afro Blue



The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. If, by chance, you know of a way to get in touch with Frankie Beverly or his management, please drop me an e-mail. It would be absolutely great to do an interview with him about his pre-Maze work. He's still playing out, most recently doing a New Year's Eve show in Atlanta.
:: Funkinsoulman ::

Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪

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