music : "I Got
The Power" - The Masqueraders (La Beat 6704a)
Fred met up with a guy called
Richard Knight at the Dodge Assembly Plant and found that they both got on well
together and in fact complemented each other's writing styles.
This was put to good use on La
Beat's first songs which were by Al Williams.
"Al was a big guy and the
nicest man you could ever meet. We were real good friends and played a lot of
chess together. He liked being around me when I was writing songs and for a
while he lived across the street from the studio in one of Beatty’s motels. Boy,
I miss him, we spent a lot of time together but I don’t know where he is now.
The tracks were "I am nothing"
and "Brand new love", the top side being an uptempo shuffling number which has
gained huge popularity on the Northern Soul scene in England where it commands
large sums on both La Beat and Palmer, the latter being a re-release on another
label in north west Detroit.
The next release on La Beat
was by James Shorter whom Fred remembers as being another likeable guy with a
big baritone voice who always on the move. This time the tunes were more laid
back but carried a lot of clout in terms of quality and innovation, especially
the flip "Modern day woman" which was also significant because a new songwriter
was in the mix, Robert Eaton.
This was therefore the start
of the era of Bridges, Knight and Eaton, a partnership which would forge over 50
songs in the next four years.
The first group that La Beat
auditioned were The Masqueraders. They had come from Dallas, Texas to try their
luck at Motown, and had stumbled across La Beat by accident after their audition
on West Grand Boulevard.
It was clear that Motown
wasn't going to work out and the industry norm of "don't call us we'll call
you" was still ringing in their ears when they stepped up to the mics on 14th
Street. A contract soon followed and the group found themselves in accommodation
across at the motel.
Over the next few months, The
Masqueraders would get some quality advice from Fred who worked relentlessly on
their harmonies and song writing skills.
And while their earliest songs
were written by either Beatty or Trusell and Mills, their finest moments on the
label were courtesy of Bridges and Knight with the classic double-sider "I got
the power" b/w "One more chance".
Fred recalls, "Man, on "Power"
I pushed their lead singer, Lee Jones, to the top of his range and he almost
didn't make it!
And you know, Stevie Wonder
used to come around that studio with Junior Glover, and he used to rave about
that song . Clay McMurray and Berry Gordy also expressed a lot of interest but
nothing came of it."
La Beat would soon expand to
include the Mary Jane and Cool School labels.
The product was flowing and
Fred had his hands full.
Hendrix's Carrie label also
made a fleeting appearance and with a new numbering system gave the impression
that this was an extension to the partnership. Carrie's key releases were by
Clifford Binns and Edward Hamilton.
Clifford Binns
Fred was now working closely
with Teddy Harris and between them they produced some great songs which which
were coming from the pens of Curtis Trusell, Johnny Mills, James Shorter, Don
Equhart (Don Hart), Melvin Davis and Junior Glover.
Beatty is also credited with
writing and producing a number of songs on his own, but I would imagine that
these were supervised due to him being completely new to the business.
Sadly, Fred and Richard would
also have to deal with clerical error at La Beat. “We wrote a song called 'I’m
coming home' for Edward Hamilton & the Arabians. They made a mistake and called
it 'Baby don’t you weep'. "
Edward Hamilton, one of Detroit's
great unsung heroes (scans Graham Finch)
This is one of a number of
songs which Fred lists as missing from the BMI database. It would be sad to
think that they had missed out on royalties for this classic song.
Continued
