Chart entered : 22 August 1970
Chart peak : 3
Number of hits : 10
This lot are the last group whose hit career was largely "before my time" and consequently the last for some time that I don't know much about.
The band was formed around General Norman Johnson ( apparently his real name ) who was born in Virginia in 1943. He formed his first band The Humdingers at 12 who were apparently recorded by Atlantic but the results were never released. In 1961 they became The Showmen, perhaps at the behest of their label Minit and immediately had a hit in the US with General's song "It Will Stand". This rock and roll meets doo-wop hybrid stands out for its unusual crabbed rhythm matching the glottal stops in General's already recognisable singing style. It reached number 61 when first released and 80 on reissue 3 years later. That proved to be their high point though their other singles ( all written by Johnson ) are not without merit.
1962's follow-up "The Wrong Girl" has General, if it is him , sounding a lot like Ben E King though the pulsing bassline which has made it a Northern Soul favourite makes it unlike anything The Drifters recorded. There is a promo film in which the band members have a very small part, lurking uncomfortably to the sides while some groovy white chicks do their thing centre stage . "I Love You Can't You See" is a doo wop song with a relentless one-note guitar riff pulling it slightly out of kilter. "True Fine Mama" works some New Orleans jazz into their music. Minit were rewarded for their patience when their final single "39-21-46 ", a paean to teenage lust , was a hit in March 1963. It's another doo wop number revved up by an insistent rhythm guitar.
They re-surfaced at the back end of the year with "Valley Of Love" on Airecords which sounds like Jackie Wilson trying to do R & B with a Wurlitzer organ. Apart from the successful re-release of "It Will Stand" there was an eighteen month gap to the next single "In Paradise" on Swan which sounds very like The Drifters and is another Northern Soul favourite. "You're Everything" is more straight up Motown-esque R & B with The Four Tops as the more obvious inspiration. 1966's "The Honey House" was a co-write with Leon Huff and is a relatively crude and badly-produced Motown-y stomper. It was their last for Swan. Two more one-off singles followed . 1967's "Take It Baby" is in the same vein and I haven't heard "Action" their only cover from 1968. The band had palpably run out of steam and there was little opposition to General taking up Holand Dozier and Holland's invitation to form a band for their new label Invictus.
General was allowed to pick his own sidemen. He brought over Danny Woods who had latterly been in The Showmen but not from the start and then Eddie Custis and Harrison Kennedy.
Danny had a solo single out in 1968 "I Want To Thank You" which is a very convincing Marvin Gaye impersonation that more than justifies hi place in the line up. Eddie was a 31 year old Philadelphian who'd been in the doo wop group The Fabulaires . They put out the song " While Walking " in 1957, not a hit but much sought after when the Four Seasons revived the style. Eddie recorded a solo single "Let It Live" ( written by Van McCoy ) in 1961 to little effect then became a respected session singer working with Lee Andrews and Huey "Piano" Smith. By contrast Harrison was a 22-year old Canadian who'd caught the eye in a production of Hair.
Lena's take on the single is here Chairmen on the grounds that it was an NME number two , a policy which unfortunately stymies anyone who might have thought of following on with number three hits. It's not like the song won't come around again for her anyway.
I'm surprised these guys had so many hits! I only know of this one and "Working on a Building of Love".
ReplyDeleteA certain teenager in Wolverhampton was certainly paying attention, though.