Got a recent copy of "There's That Beat" fanzine last week. Didn't know what to expect, but man is this a good read. Extremely in depth run downs of records and personnel with a ton of info to help you dig.
The Johnny Brantley article alone got me searching for a bunch of records I never would have even looked at. Maple Records, Pre-Westbound Ohio Players, on and on.
A quick trip to a classic rock dinosaur shop got me this copy of allegedly early Hendrix. But thanks to TTB I realize I am holding a Herman Hitson album with him backed up by the Ohio Players and with most of his vocals scrubbed. Stumbling into research and knowledge on this level makes me feel like a kid at the adults table.
"All I want" is a killer track with most(?) vocals intact. Tracks run the gamut from up tempo blues to southern soul. "Psycho" closes it out with some fuzzed out horn driven instrumental madness. No Sonics cover, but not a slacker with Lonnie Youngblood honking away.
The best thing about this record is that almost anyone would overlook it assuming it is some bargain basement Hendrix rehash. It should be easy enough to find-much more so than Herman Hitson 45s or Maple originals! Also a good dose of "buyer's beware" cause if you were there are only trace amounts of Jimi Hendrix on this record.
Just goes to show you if you want to collect records, you've got to keep track of everyone's names on those 45s -then you might start making the connections.
Hat's off to There's That Beat for being a kick ass magazine and adding a half dozen or so records to my want list.
1 comment:
You know I was just thinking about Herman and decided to google his name and boy did I get a suprise.
In the middle 70's Herman played in a band called the Royals They played in Atlanta at The Plantation Club.. It was owned by guy named Tommy Starr. Anyway I became very good friends with most of the guy's in the band. Herman, Lee Moses, Dabney, Sloopy and Richard "Mr. Blue" sorry can't remember his last name. They also had a Fine Lady singer and her name was Jo Ann Glass. They were quite the Band.
Enough Rambling, To get back to this album, Herman and Lee had told me that they were going to New York to record an album with a guitar play named Jimi Hendrix. At that time I really didn't know who he was. They came back the following week and Herman was play riffs from Purple Haze, and other soon to be Hendrix classic's. I really didn't know anything about the album until several years later and found this Hendrix "Roots" album in the bargin bin at K-Mart or somewhere . I always tried to tell friends "oh yea I know those guy's Herman and Lee and they would just look at you kind of strange. But it'snice to know that Herman is getting some reconition of some of his work.
Thanks for letting me ramble on.
Oh Yea, Herman if you read any of these blogs if you remeber any of us. Jimmy T, Stan, Judy,Pam and a bunch of people I have a hard time thinking of. email me.jimtpsi@yahoo.com
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