Frank Collins and Sweet Soul Music
03/07/23 • 74 min
It's difficult to imagine now but back in the early sixties, soul was 'underground' music in the UK - rarely played on the radio, and only appreciated by a small number of aficionados.
Within a few years, records by artists on the Tamla Motown label would sell in their millions but in the very early 60s, very few people had heard of it.
Among a small cult of fans was a Liverpool teenager Frank Collins who went on to form a blue-eyed soul band The Excels who later played at the Cavern Club, not singing rock n roll or Merseybeat, but soul music with intricate harmonies.
Frank's 60-year career would take him onto the singles chart with the band Arrival then the British soul/funk pioneers Kokomo and later working with Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Tom Robinson and many more.
He's still writing and performing regularly today.
We're delighted to have Frank as our special guest on this month's Misadventures in Music with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord
'Bill Harry's Sixties Snapshots - on Arrival/Kokomo' - https://sixtiescity.net/Mbeat/mbfilms191.htm
BBC Four soul documentary- 'When Motown Came to Britain'.
Playlist :
Money - Barrett Strong
Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Friends - Arrival
I Will Survive - Arrival
A Little Bit Further Away - Kokomo
Romance in Durango -Bob Dylan
Swansong - Kokomo
It's difficult to imagine now but back in the early sixties, soul was 'underground' music in the UK - rarely played on the radio, and only appreciated by a small number of aficionados.
Within a few years, records by artists on the Tamla Motown label would sell in their millions but in the very early 60s, very few people had heard of it.
Among a small cult of fans was a Liverpool teenager Frank Collins who went on to form a blue-eyed soul band The Excels who later played at the Cavern Club, not singing rock n roll or Merseybeat, but soul music with intricate harmonies.
Frank's 60-year career would take him onto the singles chart with the band Arrival then the British soul/funk pioneers Kokomo and later working with Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Tom Robinson and many more.
He's still writing and performing regularly today.
We're delighted to have Frank as our special guest on this month's Misadventures in Music with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord
'Bill Harry's Sixties Snapshots - on Arrival/Kokomo' - https://sixtiescity.net/Mbeat/mbfilms191.htm
BBC Four soul documentary- 'When Motown Came to Britain'.
Playlist :
Money - Barrett Strong
Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Friends - Arrival
I Will Survive - Arrival
A Little Bit Further Away - Kokomo
Romance in Durango -Bob Dylan
Swansong - Kokomo
Previous Episode
MIM - S02 EP02 - James Campion
Millions of words have been written about The Beatles so why would James Campion spend 2 years writing ANOTHER one?
You could be excused for thinking, "Either he's jumping on the bandwagon to earn a quick buck or because he has something genuinely original and thought-provoking to say."
Thankfully 'Take a Sad Song - the Emotional Currency of Hey Jude' charges headlong into the latter category.
In Misadventures in Music episode #14 Ian Prowse and Mick Ord meet New York based author, journalist and broadcaster James who reveals many of the fascinating layers to Hey Jude.
Yes, it was written by Paul McCartney for John Lennon's son Julian who'd just seen his parents split up after John left the family home for Yoko Ono, but the song is SO more than that, as James explains in his critically-acclaimed book.
He takes us back to 1968 (the Year of Revolution, according to many social historians) when the band appeared on the David Frost show in front of the cameras to sing Hey Jude in front of a studio audience (well, THREE studio audiences actually) for the first time in 2 years, having given up touring in 1966.
James takes us behind the scenes of that performance and explains why and how the song became a worldwide number one single and why, in his view, it's the best song they ever recorded.
As one of the contributors to the book says, " It was 7 minutes we needed at the time'
Find out more on James' website - www.jamescampion.com
Next Episode
John Lingan
In 1969 they sold more records in America than any other band including the Beatles and the Stones but within a few years Creedence Clearwater Revival had split up with a bitterness rarely matched, even in the topsy-turvy world of rock music.
Fast forward 50 years, and former leader and main songwriter John Fogarty is back on tour, including the UK and Ireland, so now seems as good a time as any to look back on his former group's unique musical legacy and discover what made them one of the biggest bands in the world....and what destroyed them.
In 1993 Bruce Springsteen said that CCR were "not the hippest band in the world, but the best".
Writer John Lingan has written a critically-acclaimed biography of the band - 'A Song for Everyone - the Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival.' It's an engrossing tale.
John's our special guest in this month's episode of Misadventures in Music, with Ian Prowse and Mick Ord."
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