Sunday, January 20, 2008

New Label Ever-Soul From Daptone



Daptone have announced a new label Ever-Soul with the first release as follows:

HANK "SOULMAN" MULLEN He Upset Your Dreams b/w Listen
Listen:SIDE A SIDE B

Daptone Records is proud to announce the launch of our new re-issue imprint, EVER-SOUL Records. As avid fans of Rhythm and Blues, Funk, Gospel, Latin, African, and all forms of Soulful Music, we are anxious to use this new arm of our company to extend some of our favorite rare and unreleased records to our customers. Our debut release, Hank Mullen’s ‘He Upset Your Dreams’ b/w ‘Listen’, is a record for which we have special affection . . .

The A side is an up-tempo groover concerning the saddest subject of all; not one, but two broken hearts. This is an effort from the Avengers on the Audel imprint out of Buffalo NY. The band formed in the mid-sixties and toured a dynamic show with three very different vocalists: Hank Mullen, Moe Jones and Carlena Weaver; they released two singles in the fall of 1970 on the homegrown/financed label. Through then manager, all around music hustler and Macon, Georgia native James Reese, the Avengers traveled to Capricorn Records Studio (Macon, GA) for a session in October of ’70. ‘He Upset Your Dreams’ & ‘Listen” were penned by two staff writers: Earl Simms & Alan Osborne for then Walden Artists and Productions, under the publishing Redwal Music. (Redwal was formed in 1965 by Otis Redding, Phil & Alan Walden. Earl Simms was first Otis Redding’s, later Arthur Conley’s road manager and wrote Conley’s 1968 hit, ‘Funky Street’.)

In the ‘70s the group toured the Midwest and the South as backing band for Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Betty Wright and Betty Swan. Carlena additionally has a 45 on William Nunn’s MODO imprint and spent time working and singing for the Ikettes. Sadly, soon after the records release, Hank Mullen, then in his mid-twenties, died tragically due to a heart attack.

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