Sunday, March 23, 2008

Hank "Soul Man" Mullen He Upset Your Dreams

A new imprint from the Daptone peeps:

We are proud to announce the launch of our new imprint, EVER-SOUL Records, extending a careful selection of timeless vintage recordings to our customers. Daptone Records house of soul is musician-owned and run, as much as we see our reflection in the sound of bygone powerhouses like Stax and Motown, we also feel special empathy and affection for the smaller independent soul artist and effort. Daptone owes a special debt and feels a warm kinship to the example and aesthetic of these past artists and their recordings. Daptone’s Gabe Roth, Neal Sugarman, joined with David Griffiths in common accord to produce this past year’s Bob & Gene/ MODO project, in likeminded interest the trio hope to extend that vision here. So, Daptone goes forward, anxious to use this new arm of our company to tell the story of some of Soulful music’s little known sounds that continue to guide us today.

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 Grover concerning the saddest subject of all; not one, but two broken hearts.

An excellent 45 - give it a blast over on the Ever-Soul MySpace.

Here's some info on Hank "Soul Man" Mullen:

The Avengers formed in Buffalo, NY in the mid ‘60s and toured as a dynamic show with three very different vocalists: Hank Mullen, Moe Jones and Carlena Weaver; they released two singles in fall of 1970 on the homegrown/financed Audel imprint. 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. “Listen” & “He Upset Your Dreams” 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 lone 45 on William Nunn’s MO-DO imprint and spent time singing with the Ikettes. Sadly, soon after the records release, Hank Mullen, then in his mid twenties, died tragically due to a heart attack.

1 comment:

  1. Hello, He was the oldest brother of eleven of us. We all looked up to him. When I heard my brother's voice this brought tears to my eyes. I miss him so much. My family are deeply sadden. He taught my sisters and I to sing and have stage presents at a young age. His music lives within us. I love it!! Thank You so much for putting this here. We miss and Love him. Love his baby sister Carol.

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