I was inspired by DJ Gary T's Show tonight. He played a track from the album--so what did I do? I thought about Ronn Nichols and went and bought the album! LOL! I'll be back with it when I upload it..in the meantime...here's the album cover and some bio on Mr. Prysock. I LOVE his voice ♥

Arthur Prysock was perfectly at home singing jazz, blues, or R&B, but his smooth-as-silk baritone made him a superbly effective (and underappreciated) pop crooner in the manner of his chief influence, Billy Eckstine. Prysock was born January 2, 1929, in Spartanburg, SC, and was the brother of saxophonist Red Prysock. As a teenager, he moved to Hartford, CT, where he worked in the aviation industry and sang with several small bands by night. He was discovered in 1944 by jump blues bandleader Buddy Johnson, who signed him as lead male vocalist and brought him to Harlem.


Prysock sang on a number of Johnson's
hits for the Decca label before going solo in 1952 to tour the chitlin circuit
(sometimes with his brother). He quickly landed an R&B hit with
"I Didn't Sleep a Wink Last Night," and subsequently made his name among
black audiences as an emotive balladeer. During the '50s, Prysock
recorded for several smaller labels, but his popularity in concert
gradually gained him more exposure. He began a long relationship with
the Old Town label, scoring R&B hits with "I Worry 'Bout You" in
1958, Ray Noble's old ballad "The Very Thought of You" in 1960, and
"It's Too Late Baby, It's Too Late" in 1965. That year, he fulfilled a
dream by recording an album with Count Basie on Verve, the label he
remained with for most of the '60s. Prysock performed at Carnegie Hall
in 1966, and hosted his own TV show for a short time. By the end of the
'60s, Prysock had returned to Old Town, where he recorded several
albums while touring the club circuit. He had an unexpected disco hit
in 1976 with "When Love Is New," but otherwise remained largely out of
sight. Prysock returned to active recording in 1985 with the
well-received A Rockin' Good Way album on Milestone, and also sang a
well-known jingle for Lowenbrau beer. Two more albums for Milestone
followed, 1986's This Guy's in Love With You and 1987's Today's Love
Songs, Tomorrow's Blues, before Prysock receded from the limelight
again. He died on June 21, 1997. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Arthur Prysock image

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Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 11, 2009 at 11:36am
I prefer ...this...version. Herbie/Harvey's version sounds more 'campy' to me. I can definitely relate to your affinity to the one you were first exposed to however. There is NOTHING like the first of everything---first kiss, first love, etc.

Arthur puts me right there...Laurence takes me to the movies. LOL! Both are nice though. And "how you doin'"? with ya little handsome butt?
Comment by Ronn Nichols on December 11, 2009 at 11:29am
Yeah.................Baby Girl! I always did like Arthur's version of this great poem. But because I was first exposed to the Herbie Mann/Laurence Harvey version, I developed a fondness for the dramatic performance of that version. Prysock's is less dramatic ........more "STREET WISE" .....more "READ"and Harvey's is more Dramatic as only an accomplished actor can deliver!

Perhaps Gary woll listen to both and share thoughts about the similarities and differences between the two. In fact, I would like to hear your and everybody's take. No Offense but I still prefer the version I posted!!! How abouteverybody else?
Comment by Edie Antoinette on December 11, 2009 at 11:08am
Sole, that shot of the sky is BEAUTIFUL! You could sell your work Suggah. Such talent! Stunning photo!

Gary, I had a ball listening to your entire show last night. It was streaming live from the Main Page and the Chat Room. I was also inspired to go hunt down Zoom-Love Seasons as well. It's now playing on the Main Page. I really enjoy you and your style. Very down-to-earth. A few years ago, one of our members, Ronn Nichols, put up several blogs featuring the Herbie Mann-Laurence Harvery version of this album. I immediately thought about him when I heard Arthur's version on your show and the rest is history. Spoken Word at it's BEST! I love Arthur Prysock too.

I would love to raid your collection Gary and let you raid mine. I think you would be VERY impressed.
In fact, alot of it is embraced and shared right here on our site. Maybe we can do something soon in the way of a live broadcast now that I know how to stream it here. In any event, OOTP is honored to have you with us.

Bravo on your show last night.
Comment by Gary on December 11, 2009 at 10:53am
Wow! Thanks Edie for not only opening up the chat room last night,but that I was able to inspire you with the Authur Prysock selection I played last night.
This is a classic album,and you will be surprise who few people either forgot or never heard the album before.
I almost ran out of time and didn't get a chance to play it last night, (lol) but thanks to the next DJ,she was nice to let me go over a few minutes of her time.
As you and the people will discover listening to the spoken word recording of Authur Prysock,this was a record that recieved much airplay,when it was out. Various stations (mainly Jazz) would play it. I just found out that it's still in print on CD. What you heard last night on the show was my vinyl copy. (yes, I still own records albums and 45s LOL! :-) )
Thanks again Edie,and I hope you have discover a new audience for Authur Prysock. :-)
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on December 11, 2009 at 10:49am
WOW....This is nice. I can picture listening to this while looking at this pic i took last night from the front porch

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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