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One of two 7" reissue singles this season by music giants Alton Ellis and Slim Smith. Featuring Smith's reggae soul cover of the Curtis Mayfield-penned 'We Must Be In Love', originally performed by The Five Stairsteps in 1969, followed by The Impressions' version the following year. On the B-side, Alton Ellis' sought-after soul cut 'I Wish I Could Make You Mine' - both tracks were originally released by A&M Records on a UK-only 7" in 1973 and miscredited to another Studio One regular, Ken Parker.
"A third of the trio who get Workhouse Productions' recent deal with A&M underway, Ken Parker is a Jamaican who knows his reggae. He says it’s a “totally original sound” and just to prove the point comes up with a “totally original” version of Curtis Mayfield’s “We Must Be In Love” (AMS 7092). Ken’s flexible baritone voice, a smooth strings section and the compulsive chugga-chugga beat make you think that Mayfield never meant the song as anything else but reggae and Ken will convince you too."
(A&M Press Release, 16th November, 1973)
Recorded in 1971 at Chalk Farm Studios, producer Stanley Pemberton recounts the timeline of events that led to the initial studio session, supplying Ellis with early mixes to release in Jamaica, overdubbing the masters south of the river at Manfred Mann's Workhouse Studios, to gaining a major production deal and two singles on A&M Records:
"I first met Alton Ellis in 1966 when he toured the UK with Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One package, including Ken Boothe and the Soul Vendors led by Jackie Mittoo. We spoke after the concert and agreed to keep in touch. Alton returned to the UK in 1971 for a series of shows booked by Ellis Beary who ran the Pama Records Booking Agency. Slim Smith was already here doing some shows with the same agency, and most of Slim and Alton’s product was released by Pama Records.
Alton and I got together and decided to collaborate on a few songs, which I would record with him using his British-based touring band, Luna Funk. The members were Maurice on guitar, Derrick on bass, Mello on drums and Kirk on sax. On the recordings, Alton played piano. We later had Mike Hugg (Manfred Mann) replace the piano parts on ‘Sho-Be-Do-Be-Do I Love You’ and ‘We Must Be in Love’, as we planned to add some string arrangements to the tracks.
The original 8-track recording sessions took place at Chalk Farm Studios engineered by Vic Keary. The Songs recorded at that session are, ‘Sho-Be-Do-Be-Do...’, ‘We Must Be In Love’, ‘I Wish I Could Make You Mine, ‘I Love You True’, ‘Be True To Yourself’, ‘I’m Trying’, and ‘Since I Fell For You’. The reason we recorded at Chalk Farm was because our usual spot Maximum Sound on the Old Kent Road was undergoing some renovations, both structurally and for equipment, from 8-track to 24-track. It was then renamed The Workhouse Studios, hence the A&M deal signed as Workhouse Productions, as seen on the original label.
I released ‘Be True to Yourself’ on Trojan subsidiary Big Shot with my then partner, Sylvan 'Ben-Up' Bryan who managed Trojan Music City record shop in Portobello Road. It was a vocal cut with Alton backed by Luna Funk.
As soon as The Workhouse was up and running, I got first use of the studio and recorded some tracks with Slim Smith singing, and Gonzalez backing him. We had Steve Ferrone on drums, Allan Sharpe on percussion, Phillip Chin on bass, Gordon Hunt on Guitar, Roy Davis on keys and Mike Hugg also on keys. These tracks have never been released and I plan to use them for a belated Slim Smith Soul album.
In 1971, I gave Alton the first mixed versions of the Chalk Farm recorded songs (except ‘Since I Fell For You’, which was never finished), along with my permission to release them in Jamaica, hence the early Melrose and All Tone releases featuring different mixes.
In the meantime, I met Winston Francis (aka Billy Cole), who was here doing some shows. We agreed to do a couple of songs in late 1971. We recorded at The Workhouse which was now fully operational. We recorded two songs, ‘Yours’ and ‘Sitting In The Park’. The musicians on the session were Maurice Ellis on drums, Franklin Dunn on bass, Locksley Gichie on guitar, Ranford "Rannie Bop" Williams on guitar and Mike Hugg on piano.
With these two tracks, along with the finished mixes of ‘Sho-Be-Do-Be-Do I Love You’ and ‘We Must Be in Love’ containing added strings, I began looking for a production deal with the added attachment to the studio. DJ Greg Edwards was the promotions manager for the Philadelphia Label at the time and he introduced me to Dave Maggresion, an A&R who’d left CBS Records to work for A&M, and we were duly signed the production deal.
Then Slim Smith tragically died in Jamaica. I had to get a replacement for Slim Smith so I chose Ken Parker, and brought him and Alton to England to join Winston Francis on the deal. This is why ‘We Must Be In Love’ and ‘Wish I Could Make You Mine’ are credited to Ken Parker and the deal resulted in only two releases. It folded due to Winston Francis, by which time we'd started recording follow-up singles for Alton Ellis, Ken Parker and Winston’s debut single. Musicians on those sessions for Winston Francis (Billy Cole) were Richard Bailey on drums, Philip Chin on bass, Gordon Hunt on guitar, Roy Davis on Fender Rhodes, Mike Hugg on Piano and Allan Sharpe on Percussion. For Alton Ellis and Ken Parker, Philip Chin is replaced by Lyle Harper Unfortunately I only recorded two songs with Ken Parker which have never seen the light of day, but I have enough Alton tracks for a new Alton Ellis Album and the same with Winston (Billy Cole) Francis". |
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