Various New Breed R&B - Saturday Night Special (CD)

(Ace) 24 tracks

The master tapes reveal more great New Breed R&B dance exclusives – plus rare records and elusive CD offerings from the past.

New Breed is back with a historical bang. The opening track and title inspiration is Aaron Collins & the Teen Queens’ ‘Every Saturday Night’. Its R&B pedigree is inestimable; Collins was a member of Los Angeles vocal group the Flairs/Flares and wrote songs for Z.Z. Hill, Jackie Day, Cookie Jackson and others. Ray Charles recorded his ‘Every Saturday Night’ for ABC in 1972. The Modern tape vaults have given up this original 1966 R&B take of the song with Collins and his sisters, the Teen Queens, performing at their best – all the more remarkable as Rosie and Betty had not recorded since 1962 and it was to be their last session, both dying tragically a few years later.

More unissued beauties come from East Coast outfit the Corvairs with ‘I’ll Never Do It Again’, ‘Satisfied’ by Oakland’s funky bluesman Johnny Talbot, Gay Meadows’ Atlanta-recorded ‘Head Doctor’, and gems by obscure Ohio R&B outfits Pee Wee Foster, Little Macey & the Valiants and Big Charley & the Domans. Rare 45s come in the shape of Curly Mays’ ‘I’m Walkin’ On’, Pat Garvis’ ‘Turn Your Lamp Down Low’, ‘Triple Zero’ by Esko Wallace and ‘Your Yah-Yah Is Gone’ by New Jersey girl group the Tren-Teens. There are tracks from Ace CDs that went largely undiscovered by the New Breed crowd from Prince Conley, the Lon-Genes and Rob Robinson. Other highlights include the very recently discovered Freddie Williams track ‘Purty Little Mama’ recorded for Norman Petty in New York, Slim & the Twilights’ New Orleans-sounding ‘Family Man’ and Tony Clarke’s early Detroit rocker ‘Love Must Be Taboo’, all presented digitally from master tape for the first time. The booklet features stunning photos of Margaret Lewis, Flora D, the Metallics, Rob Robinson and Johnny “Guitar” Watson, along with some fax ’n’ info for the serious Breeder.