Larry Houston

Larry Houston Late 70's/Early 80's?

Larry Houston Mix

Once again, I have been prompted by a recent discussion on a website to post up a mix on one artist. This time around, I have featured Larry Houston who was the subject of discussion on Soul Source mainly about the various releases of his dancefloor classic "Let's Spend Sometime Together" on HFMP which was a massive track in the early 80's.

Here is the tracklisting:

1. I Need Love Ambassador

2. I Know We Can Make It Ambassador

3. Everything I Do Paula

4. I'm Coming Back To You Paula

5. I've Got To Start My Life Mobile

6. Let's Spend Some Time Together HFMP

7. Give Me Something To Go On HFMP

8. Spice HFMP

I am not aware that Larry Houston has ever been interviewed and as far as I know he hasn't released any sides since the early 80's. There was a short piece on him in Steve Guarnori's magazine New Blackbeat 1 in December 1982. When Steve spoke to him Larry then lived in Waukegan, Illinois which is North of Chicago. He owned the HFMP label and had previously owned the Mobile label whose name he had changed due to a name clash with another company.

Let's Spend Some Time Together is his best known 45 recorded in the late 70's and was covered up by DJ Richard Searling as Top Cat back in the early 80's. The 45 heralded a new generation of sounds which became the burgeoning Modern Soul scene of the early 80's in the UK. According to Steve Guarnori's article, Let's Spend Some Time Together sold some 10,000 copies. The 45 was pressed at least twice to start with, once with capital letters and once with small letters. Later when the record was popular on the UK soul scene, it would appear that Larry pressed the 45 at least twice more with different designs.

Larry did re-activate his HFMP label around 1981/82 and was supposed to be releasing an album but as far as I know only the Spice 45 and the Promises 12" saw light of day.

In recent years, I Need Love which he recorded in the early 70's has become a cult record and crops up on many mixes. I am not sure whether the John Davis who Larry worked with on his 2 Ambassador 45s is the same guy who recorded with Arrow Brown on Bandit and who was also a member of the Arrows.

Discography

Donte ? I'll Take The Blues/It's No Secret

Ambassador 1032 This World/?

Ambassador 1032 I Need Love/I Know We Can Make It

Paula 2453 I'm Coming Back To You/Everything I Do

Mobile 101 I've Got To Start My Life Voc/Instr

HFMP 001 Give Me Something To Go On/Let's Spend Some Time Together

HFMP 1001 Promises Vocal/Instr

HFMP 1002 Spice Vocal/Instr

HFMP 1005 Give Me Something To Go On/Let's Spend Some Time Together

Also mentioned in Steve Guarnori's article was the reissue of I've Got To Start My Life on HFMP but I have never seen one. The album was scheduled for 1983 on HFMP and had been laid down in 1982 - did it ever get released?

In the recent discussion on Soul Source, some contributors also mentioned another version of the Let's Spend Some Time Together on an all red issue and that it sounded a slightly different mix to the versions mentioned above and had General Crook's name as remixing the track.

A recent search of the Net has thrown up 2 titles being sold on CD-Rs by Vinyl Revolution called One Way feat. and Love Corporation by Larry. I would love to know whether it is him.