Groovesville USA: The Detroit Soul & R&B Index - Tapa blanda

"Rylatt wrote a great first book on Manchester's Twisted Wheel called Central 1179 and has equalled that with his second, a detailed dissection of the Motor City soul scene interspersed with rarely seen pics, reproduced flyers, label scans and a chunky A-Z of singers/groups and imprints. Motown gets a mention, of course, along with John Lee Hooker and Edwin Starr, but for the most part it's the rarely sung and their role in shaping the sonicscape who grab the space here... --Lois Wilson, Mojo

"Detroit soul To many, Detroit soul means Motown, which dominated the city s recording scene throughout soul s golden era. But the city s big, vibrant music scene threw up dozens of hopeful contenders. Some, such as Ric Tic and Anna, got too successful, so Motown bought them out. Others, including Fortune, stayed for the long haul but were largely local mom-and-pop operations. Still more burned briefly but brightly, leaving a few precious soul classics for posterity. Keith Rylatt devotes the first 140 pages of this lavishly-illustrated book to the artists, labels and movers-and-shakers on the scene, from TJ Fowler and John Lee Hooker to the late-blooming Invictus label. Some chapters, such as that on Golden World, are deeply informative, some are perfunctory: surely singer/songwriter/producer Lorraine Chandler deserved more than one page? But let Rylatt loose on a gruellingly-researched directory of Detroit s R&B and soul artists and there s no stopping him: 120 pages list every known name, personnel of vocal groups, and every label for which they recorded, along with informative capsules (did you know that The Lamp Sisters of Woman With The Blues fame were not sisters, just Buddy Lamp s backing singers?). He follows this with a 40-page knockout punch, listing every Motor City label which ever issued soul records, with full artist listings for each. These sections are the book s strengths, and the reasons why every Detroit fan should head for GroovesvilleUSA.com and get a copy." --Mike Atherton, Record Collector

KEITH RYLATT was born 1950 in Rotherham, UK. After a diet of mainstream R&B, soul and Motown during the 60s, Keith left his native Yorkshire aged eighteen to attend Manchester College of Art and, much to the frustration of his tutors, the infamous Twisted Wheel Club. In the early 70s he moved to Kent, in the south of England, which was then something of a soul wasteland, but school days friend Bob Foster helped to keep him in touch via a regular supply of soul music cassettes. Bob was one of the country s leading Detroit soul collectors and became a great influence. Keith began to import Detroit 45s in bulk from Martin Koppel in Toronto for his own mail order set-up, Premium Stuff, which in turn brought him into contact with other Detroit connoisseurs such as Tom Creeden and Lars Nilsson. As well as collecting and selling soul 45s, Keith also DJed and wrote articles for fanzines such as Hot Buttered Soul and Midnite Express and in the early 80s, along with a small band of other Detroit enthusiasts, contributed to The Collector s Guide to Detroit, which until now has remained the main reference for Detroit soul. He went on to edit his own fanzine, Come & Get These Memories as well as amassing a large collection of Detroit 45s, many of which were obtained on trips to the USA. By the start of the 90s Keith began researching for a book about the Twisted Wheel Club, universally regarded as being the cradle of the Northern Soul scene and along with co-author, Phil Scott had the book published in 2001. CENtral 1179 is unfortunately now out of print. Since then he has become a regular columnist for Manifesto magazine and devoted the rest of his time to researching and producing Groovesville USA.