ƸӜƷ I Love The Lord: He Heard My Cry ƸӜƷ..♪♫♪

...Someday We'll All Be Free
(A Tribute To Donny Hathaway)

Excerpt from the linear notes to Extension Of A Man By Donny Hathaway:

"I decided to call this album "Extension Of A Man" because I am in the process of expanding and developing styles. I love music, period. So, consequently I would like to record as many styles as humanly possible for one person. The following is a sketch of the album.

When I was growing up, I used to hear, in my church, Black chants of devotion to God. They had been written by Dr. Isaac Watts, who was one of the anthem innovators of his time. There were various 'modes' to sing the anthems on---according to the leader of the chant.
They were based on the pentatonic scale, either major or minor in concept, for example: Major: ♪ F ♪ G ♪ A ♪ C ♪ D ♪ F -or- Minor: ♪ D ♪ F ♪ G ♪ A ♪ C ♪ D. In the midwest and the south (Alabama, Louisiana, etc.), the minor mode was used often to express the pain and anxiety of the hard times suffered by the people.

I chose, however, to depict the anthem, or chant, if you wish, in the major mode, which is more jubilant in sound.

My composition is called "I Love The Lord and is very "impressionistic" in sound---a style taken from the Romantic Period, where composers painted musical pictures (tone poems), of life and nature in general----birds, trees, hillsides, etc. Composers famous for this kind of writing were Debussy, Ravel, Satie and others during the late 1800's and early 1900's. (My writing was also inspired by George Gershwin.)

The words shaping my writing go as follows: "I Love The Lord; He Heard My Cry And pitied every groan
Long as I live while trouble rise
I'll hasten to his throne"

Section A: Adante
The tone poem is divided into two sections; the slower section being the adante. The theme is stated, then developed by 45 men in the orchestra.

Section B: Allegro (Jubilation)
The second section is written in five/four (5/4) meter, which is broken down even further to 2½/4. The melody is restated in the allegro with a solo by your's truly.

It is then sequed into a song I wrote entitled, 'Someday We'll All Be Free', which is basically a tune of "standard" quality, in my opinion."

---DONNY HATHAWAY

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Comment by Edie Antoinette on May 29, 2015 at 7:59am

Beautifully expressed Lydell!

Comment by Lydell Jackson on September 13, 2014 at 11:03pm

I had forgotten about this magnificent piece of work from a genius of a man...the beautiful musical composition sums up the emotions of blackness in America so well...I feel it speaks to me and for me and my life experience. It also addresses my hopes as a Black Man in America! LOVE IT SO MUCH..."SOME DAY WE WILL ALL BE FREE"

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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