Our story begins... CHS sophomores in 1962 and singing together as The Gems, we stumbled into an opportunity when a Long Island producer, seeking to capitalize on Little Eva's hit, "The Locomotion," was looking for a young male group to record his novelty tribute song, "Little Eva," as The Locomotions. We recorded at O.D.O. Studios in Manhattan, with Butch singing lead on both the A and the B side, "Adios My Love."

Our parents actually had to chip in a few hundred bucks to cover the session... a red flag should've gone up immediately, but what did we know? In those days, the industry suits were holding all the cards. The record was released on George Goldner's now-legendary Gone label, a division of Roulette Records. They were in such a hurry to get it out to radio that there was a grotesque editing error in "Adios," adding a beat right where the trombone solo begins, and they literally forgot to fade the track at the end... it just stopped! Thanks to editing software, I've fixed both on this version.

"Little Eva" won the competition for the night and for the week on Murray The K's 1010-WINS "Swingin' Soirée," beating some name artists. We know a lot of our Copiague friends called in to vote for us, but we couldn't discount the suspicion that, since Murray The K's compilation LPs were all on the Roulette label, someone just might have had his thumb on the scale! We had a pretty good idea how well it sold locally, if only based on sales at the record shop in the old Farmer's Market (bring back memories?), so we didn't take it well when they literally sent us each a "royalty" check for a dollar and change! I know that a couple of us refused to cash the checks, figuring we'd cost them more than that in bookkeeping time.

In addition to WINS, "Little Eva" got airplay (and won competitions) on WMCA. The group made a number of appearances, including Palisades Park and St. Michael's High School in Brooklyn, with the WMCA "Good Guys" who regularly hosted shows there. One of the more memorable St. Michael's shows we did was headlined by Johnny Mathis.

The record vanished as quickly as it had appeared, but it's become a recurring footnote in the late Eva Boyd's recording history and is included as a tribute on the 1997 CD, "L-L-L-L-Little Eva - The Complete Dimension Recordings."

Interestingly, many retrospectives on Little Eva's career (including the liner notes with the above-mentioned CD), credit the record and the group to Leon Huff, half of the famed Philadelphia writing/producing partnership with Kenny Gamble, reporting that he assembled the group using studio musicians. If that doesn't come as a big surprise to him, it sure does to us! There's no accounting for urban legends.

— Paul

After "Little Eva" had run its course, things went quiet for a time but Butch, Jack and I still had the bug. Through our junior and senior years ('63 - '64) and beyond, we were singing, off-and-on, including a rewarding (and instructive) period singing with Fred Miller and Tony Jones of The Universals. We never made it into the studio as a group, but it was a great experience. On one memorable occasion, Fred took us to meet his friend, Ruby & The Romantics' guitarist, Butch Mann, in the group's hotel suite during one of their New York appearances. We were doing some singing, with Mann accompanying, and actually had the brass to sing "Young Wings Can Fly." Heads popped out from an adjoining room and, whatever they were really thinking, the guys in The Romantics appeared both amused and impressed.

* An historical correction — (added 7/07)

I realized, not long ago, that there was a little more to the collaboration with Freddie Miller which I'd omitted... so it was back to the archives. In fact, Butch, Freddie, Tony and Plinio Ruiz traveled to Detroit and recorded two songs — "Speak Words Of Love", written by Freddie, and "Before I Walk Out The Door", written by Bob Gioia — as The Fiats. Butch, Jack and I had rehearsed the songs with Freddie and Tony but, when the opportunity arose to record in Detroit, Jack recalls that his father wouldn't let him go, and Butch remembers that my mother also slammed on the brakes. Sounds about right!

Presented below, out of sequence, are (1) my home rehearsal recording of "Speak Words Of Love" (Freddie singing lead, Butch, Jack and I singing background, Jimmy Neal on guitar and Kenny Neal on bass — it sounds like Tony wasn't there that day) and, (2) The Fiats' version, released on Universal Records, which I actually found online in RealMedia format — after a lot of searching — and converted to MP3.

... and (3), the flip side! (added 9/08)

Through the kind efforts of Jeff Beckman (co-author of "Soul Harmony Singles 1960 - 1990", Three On Three Publishing), the Fiats' flip side, "Before I Walk Out The Door", has been generously provided by his friend and fellow collector, Bob Abrahamian. I'm deeply indebted to both Bob and Jeff for their valued contribution... with special thanks to Bob for going the extra mile. A second edition of Jeff's book, lauded as a "bible" for collectors of 'Soul' group vocal recordings, is in the works. The details will be posted here upon publication.

An additional home recording of another Miller tune, "Sweeter Than A Honey Bee", still remains at large, thus far defeating my best efforts to find it among too many tapes stashed in too many places... but hope springs eternal!

The collaboration with Fred and Tony eventually ended. In 1966, the three of us were introduced to Joe Webb, producer of The Bobbettes ("Mr. Lee"), by another Amityville native, Neal Hollander, who was managing The Bobbettes and also managed The Casualeers (our paths would soon cross with the Casualeers again). Webb got excited about three white kids from Long Island who sang authentic R&B (hence the name, The Lost Souls). With two songs written by Donald Height, an established R&B recording artist, Joe put us in the studio.

It was our first of several experiences with some of the top R&B studio musicians (that would ultimately include Bernard Purdie, Eric Gale, J.J. Jackson, Cornell Dupree, Richard Tee, Ray Lucas and Chuck Rainey). Our arranger was Jimmy Tyrell, a renowned session bassist (the signature bass line on "Speak Her Name" by Walter Jackson comes to mind) and later a Columbia Records executive. One of my recollections of that session was being asked by pianist J.J. Jackson to quietly sing the lead to "It Won't Work Out, Baby" in his ear as a guide while they laid down the band tracks. We would record again with some of these legendary musicians before it was over, and we were always as excited about watching them put down the music tracks as we were about doing the vocals!

Here, it gets a little muddy. Jack Kunz sang background, along with Butch and I, on the original recordings of "It Won't Work Out, Baby" and "Give Me Your Love" (I also sang the leads), and that version was actually released by Tommy Glascoe on a blue Glasco Records label. Then it happened... with the war in Vietnam raging, Jack was drafted! Beyond our obvious concern for him personally, the group was stopped cold with a record already in distribution. Joe Webb, anxious to save the group, introduced Butch and I to Eddie Lebron and Gene Serina, two guys who lived near Joe on the Lower East Side. One of those meetings took place, memorably, in a basement rehearsal room at the world-famous Apollo Theater.

Both were veterans of other recorded groups and we hit it off immediately. With an additional voice in the mix, we re-recorded more elaborate background vocals on "It Won't Work Out, Baby" and the record was re-released, this time on a red Glasco label, the "official" version. They must have pressed a truckload of both releases since both are still in circulation and regularly turn up on eBay. And so — for the detail freaks — Jack's voice is on both releases of "Give Me Your Love" and on the blue label (original) release of "It Won't Work Out, Baby", included above.

"It Won't Work Out" got considerable airplay in 1966, almost exclusively on R&B stations, but it never crossed over to the pop market. The group performed live at The Cheetah, headlined by Billy Stewart ("I Do Love You" and "Sitting In The Park"), and appeared on local TV in Washington, DC and on the nationally-syndicated Upbeat show that originated in Cleveland. A second release, "I'm Your Love Man" b/w "If A Change Don't Come Soon," just didn't connect. (While the instrumental and vocal performances were solid enough, neither side will win any awards for mixing and mastering!)

The Lost Souls had run out their string.

— Paul

~ A Sidebar On The Lost Souls: Doris Willingham ~

With Jack safely back from the service, it was only a matter of time before the bug bit again. The three of us connected in 1968 with Rod McBrien and John Giametta. Rod, an Amityville native, had co-written and co-produced The Casualeers' "Dance, Dance, Dance" with John and was a busy studio engineer at Century Sound in New York, recording big-name artists. I brought three songs I'd written and Rod and John, along with arranger Meco Monardo, liked both the songs and the group and decided to record us.

The sessions, co-produced by Rod and John and engineered by Rod at Century, were like a Who's Who of studio musicians — Bernard Purdie on drums, Eric Gale and Cornell Dupree on guitars, Richard Tee on piano, Chuck Rainey on bass — arranged and conducted by Meco, who also played trombone with the horn section (if the name sounds familiar, Meco later made plenty of noise with his disco "Star Wars" series and other hits). The horn and string sections were comprised of veteran symphonic and Broadway musicians who moonlighted regularly as session sidemen.

By way of explanation, the name, Bachelors III, is used here simply to differentiate from the earlier Lost Souls. In fact, the name actually came into existence a year later, in '69, when we almost (but not quite) closed a sponsorship/production deal with NY Jet Joe Namath who was a partner in two clubs by that same name.

I'm singing lead on "A New Dawn Is Breaking" and "She's Yours." On "Don't Let Go," we trade leads in each verse (sequence is Butch - me - Jack - me), and the three of us did all the background vocals. As it turned out, these three recordings were never released but, frankly, they're my favorites. Rod also recorded The Casualeers singing "Don't Let Go" and "A New Dawn Is Breaking" over the same music tracks, and their versions are presented below. Arnold sang lead on "Don't Let Go" and Ollie did the lead on "New Dawn"... their versions also were never released.

In the ensuing years, each of us was involved in other recording and band projects, but the tracks presented here constitute a series that can be traced most directly to our days at Copiague High and, of course, to "Little Eva".

— Paul

These versions were transcribed from a copy of the original Festival 45 that I found on eBay. It wasn't in pristine condition, but the tracks cleaned up reasonably well in software. It remains an irony to me that, as important as this record was in my life, I'd heard it many times but had never actually bought a copy of my own when it was first released! Go figure...

Here's to the guys who led the way!

— Paul

(added 4/08)

One more goody from the archives... confirmed with Bob Deloney that The Universals only recorded one additional studio track as a group: "Kisses In My Dreams", written by Gene Pitney. It was never released on a 45 but was apparently bootlegged and has appeared on a couple of oldies compilation CDs. Took a shot and — sure enough — found it on YouTube, mixed in with "Love Bound", "Dreaming" and a couple of other tracks recorded by different groups using the same name.

Seems it's all out there... somewhere!

(added 8/08)

More historical detail, again courtesy of Bob Deloney...as fate would have it, just before the recording date for "Love Bound", original members Ralph Darden and Alan Watson had to leave for college, so Ollie Johnson and his stepbrother, Kenny Leatherberry, stepped in at the last minute for the session. Ollie would subsequently appear as a member of The Casualeers.

(added 7/09)

It is all out there... somewhere!

Author Jeff Beckman (who generously provided The Fiats' "Before I Walk Out The Door") also turned up the second (above, right) photo of The Universals, acquired years ago by his partner, Jim Hunt. Obviously shot some time after our high school years, it threw Jeff a little since the guys looked older, and he wondered if it was the same group. It is, indeed, including original member Alan Watson (in this photo, Tony Jones is missing).

(added 1/10)

... and it never ends!

Found a second version of "Love Bound" on YouTube! Same exact label, but with "SAMPLE" printed on the right side. This is clearly a remix with a much cleaner lead vocal performance by Fred Miller, more prominent strings and a "wetter" (reverb), more transparent sound. Have to believe that this was the intended final release, suggesting the version I'd found on eBay was an initial release, quickly replaced in the distribution chain. Same thing happened to us as The Lost Souls with "It Won't Work Out, Baby", only with more ambitious background vocals in the re-release.

What next?