The Elgins Street Scene Valiant

The Elgins Early 60's

Street Scene

I have been tidying up my archives over the break and I have fallen upon many forgotten sides - well to me anyways! One of those was The Elgins "Street Scene" on Valiant.I always liked the moody songs about places - Rosey Grier's "In My Tenement", "Sonny Craver's "Outside Of Memphis", Edwin Starr's "Harlem", The Tymes's "Street Talk", The Exits's "Under The Street Lamp" etc.

I put the Elgins's "Street Scene" Valiant in the same bag. A bag which may have started with The Drifter's "Under The Boardwalk" and "On Broadway " which gave a song a definite place and time and gave plenty of scope for future writers to pen their songs of their own streets and cities. It certainly helps the listener to conjure up a picture in their mind as they listen.

This Elgins are not to be confused with the Motown group. The group was formed in 1959 and originally consisted of of Jimmy Smith, Kenny Sinclair, Darryl Lewis who had all been The Six Teens plus Oscar McDonald and William DeVase. They started life as the Elements on Titan before becoming the Elgins on Flip, Titan, Lummtome, The Bagdads on Double Shot and one release as the Daniels on Lantam. You can read their story on Harmony Train.

The Bagdads

The groups Double Shot releases have been best covered by Kent on their CD Double Shot Of Soul which features the unissued "Push Me Baby", "Green Power", "Jelly", "Love Has Two Faces" and "Livin' In Fear". The group then consisted of leader Kenni Sinclair, Oscar McDonald and William DeVase from the original group and were joined by Barry Little. After Double Shot, Kenni Sinclair joined the Olympics while the rest of the group became Cold Water Flat with a release on the Outburst label.

The Elgins decided to reunite in the mid 1990s because of popular demand. They were one of the few oldies groups with all original members. Unfortunately, Harmony Train tells us that Kenny Sinclair died in 2003.

Discography

The Elements

Titan 1708 Lonely Hearts Club / Bad Man 1960

The Elgins

Flip 353 Uncle Sam's Call / Casey's Cop 1960

Titan 1724 Extra, Extra / My Illness 1961

Lummetone 109 A Winner Quits / Johnny I'm Sorry 1962

Lummetone 110 You Got Your Magnet On Me / Johnny I'm Sorry 1962

Lummetone 112 Finally / I Lost My Love 1963

Lummetone 113 Your Lovely Ways / Finding A Sweetheart 1963

Valiant 712 Street Scene / Find Yourself Another Fool 1965

The Bagdads

Double Shot 128 Living In Fear / Let's Talk About the Bad Times 1968

Double Shot 133 Bring Back Those Doo-wopps / Green Power 1968

Double Shot 140 Love Has Two Faces / Jelly 1969

Double Shot 151 Keep Those Mini Skirts Up / Let's Talk About the Bad Times 1970

The Daniels

Lantam 01 Finally / (Lost My Love In) The Big City ????