Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Mystery Of Bobby Wright




Blood Of An American
Everyone Should Have His Day

Few records that I've found over the years have inspired as much awe, curiousity and frustration on my part as this sublimely beautiful and utterly obscure folk-soul 45 from the Bronx.


The awe part is self-explanatory, or at least should be after you've listened to the mp3s and assuming your musical tastes are somewhat in sync with my own. The curiousity and frustration stem from not being able to place Bobby Wright's musical contribution in a fuller, more meaningful context. In other words, who was/is this guy, did he ever issue any other recordings, and is there unreleased material existing somewhere in a dark corner of this earthly plane.

If so, it absolutely needs to see the light of day, so here's to hoping anyone with some knowledge to share reads this blog and is kind enough to contact me (either by posting on the blog or via email at kidinquisitive@gmail.com). I know some people who run great record labels who would almost assuredly be interested in reissuing this music. For now I thought I'd share these sounds with the very tiny sliver of humanity that reads soulpersuasion.blogspot. Also, if anyone has a clean copy of this 45 to spare (I know, fat chance), I would love to be able to upgrade my copy someday.

My guess would be that this came out sometime in the early to mid-1970s. There's a little BMI stamp on the label but researching their database yielded nothing. And the trail pretty much ends there, as far as I know. I live in California so poking around the Bronx in search of clues has not been feasible, and anyway the trail is probably pretty cold by now.

I've been meaning to write something about this record for a long while, and finally decided to do so after sitting down today with my brand new copy of Willie Wright's Telling The Truth LP, expertly researched and reissued by the Numero Group record label. Besides sharing a last name, Bobby and Willie's music are similar enough in style and temperament that drawing a connection between the two seemed somewhat obvious. You can hear snippets of Willie Wright's music at the Numero Website.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Spinning at Grow Up At Madrone On Feb. 2




If you're in San Francisco come through! I'll be playing boogie, modern soul, disco, etc

Monday, January 24, 2011

Just A Lil' Mellow Something



Well, it's been a long, long hiatus for soulpersuasion, but I'm back now and hopefully will be posting mixes again on a more regular basis. To start off 2011, here's a little mix I did featuring some mellow 70s and 80s (and 10s!) soul gems. Nothing to shatter the world but great music nonetheless, and certainly in sync with the summery nautical theme represented in the photos. To listen just click on the post title, or right click to download.



Tracklist:

O'Conner - Too Sweet To Lose
Checkmates, Ltd - All Alone By The Telephone
The Moments - Sugar Sugar
Sonya Spence - Let Love Flow On
David Simmons - Hooked On You
The Natural Four - Count On Me
The Classic Sullivans - I Don't Want To Lose You
Kings Go Forth - High On Your Love
Lowrell - Mellow, Mellow Right On
Brief Encounter - Human
Lamont Dozier - Playing For Keeps
Debow Brothers - Genuine