music : "Nothin' No
Sweeter Than Love" - Carl Carlton (Golden World
23a)
The success
of Little Stevie Wonder was obviously the springboard for Carl Carlton's debut
on Golden World.
Billed as
"the twelve year old wonder", Carl produced a storming performance on the
Savoy,
Wylie and Bratton song, "Nothin' No Sweeter Than Love".
The flip, "I
love true love", is also significant for employing the arrangements of the great
Dale Warren.
Carl was also
billed as Little Carl Carlton on Detroit's Lando label, and on Don Robey's
legendary Backbeat label, which was based in Houston, Texas.
Robey
released the action packed "Competition Ain't Nothing" in 1968.
In 1981 he
delivered a classic 45 for 20th Century Fox, in "She's A Bad Mama Jama" c/w
"This Feeling's Rated X-tra".
June through October '65,
proved to be the most productive period to date for Golden World with an average
of four releases per month.
The Golden World label, an in
particular the Reflections, had funded much of this progress but that would soon
change with the arrival of a little known artist by the name of Edwin Starr who
would gain his first release as a Ric-Tic artist in July 1965.
Rick Pack of Toronto
interviewed Edwin in 1981 and uncovered the circumstances behind his arrival at
Golden World.
"Born Charles Hatcher in
Nashville and brought up in Cleveland, Edwin's career began in the late fifties
with a group known as the Futuretones.
After a brief period in the
army, he would get his first real break by joining up with the Bill Doggett Band
who regularly toured
Detroit.
A chance meeting with Lebaron
Taylor gave Edwin the chance to show off some material he had written which was
based on the James Bond books and movies which were taking the world by storm.
Lebaron introduced Edwin to Ed
Wingate who liked the material and arranged a session with an evening schedule.
The final product "Agent O-O Soul" became a smash reaching Pop #21 and R&B #8
within a couple of weeks."
Behind the song were some
superb arrangements by Sonny Sanders, with production by Hitbound (Lebaron
Taylor). The credits on the song however were split with a Bill Sharply which
was an alias of Lebaron's. Edwin told Rick however that he was philosophical
about this as it was the opportunity he needed to get on the ladder to success.
This practice was not uncommon.
The same thing happened on the
follow-up in October. "Back Street" fared reasonably well by reaching Pop #95
and R&B #33. Arranged again by Sonny Sanders it was produced by Richard Parker,
"Back Street" is a great song which tells of Edwin's experiences on the streets
of Cleveland.
Edwin Starr
Two classic 45's followed in
"Stop Her On Sight (SOS)" (Pop #48, #9 R&B), and "Headline News" (Pop #84). The
former would even be re-cut as "Scott's On Swingers" for local Dee-Jay Scott
Regan.
The flip sides of these discs
were also powerful songs. "I Have Faith In You" and "Harlem" also carried the
production credits of Hitbound/Solid Hitbound.
Having provided vocals for a
Don Davis song "I'll Love You Forever", Edwin was surprised to hear his voice on
a Holidays record of the same name. Golden World36 reached #63 Pop and #7 R&B.
In late '66, while touring
England, Edwin would discover that his contract had been sold to Motown.
Some nice recordings would be
made there too, and the peak for me would be the release of two excellent albums
in "Soul Master" and "Twenty Five Miles."
However, his greatest chart
success would come in November 1970 with "War" which went to #1 Pop.
Edwin eventually moved to
England where he has made a good living on the Northern Soul Scene from his
legacy at Golden World.
Continued
