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Mel-o-dy 112 (A), March 1964
b/w That’s What’s Happenin’
(Written by Joe Hayes and Jack Rhodes)
The world of pop music in early 1964 may seem a strange and alien place for modern observers, but some maxims hold true then as now. A year in pop music is a long time; two years is a lifetime. Tomorrow’s next big thing quickly becomes yesterday’s old news. One-hit wonders have always been in ready supply, storming to the top of the charts and then fading away, never to be heard from again.
Bruce McMeans, rechristened “Bruce Channel” (to be pronounced Chanel like the couturier), had blazed that trail in 1962 with Hey! Baby, a bouncy, enjoyable rockabilly-pop hit co-written by McMeans himself, riding Delbert McClinton’s great harmonica all the way to the top; from local distribution on a tiny Texas indie to a Number One on Smash Records in less than four months. But that was 1962, and “Channel” had failed to repeat the feat. By the end of 1963, after a string of follow-up singles that only briefly grazed the lower reaches of the Hot 100, it was clear Bruce’s big moment had been a flash in the pan, and Smash let him go.
As ever, the chance to sign up a “name” artist from the sphere of pop and MOR – especially a white one – was too much to pass up for Berry Gordy, who promptly assigned him to Mel-o-dy Records, a label usually thought of as Motown’s Country & Western subsidiary. Unusually for a Mel-o-dy release, Bruce’s Motown début was cut in Detroit, backed by the Funk Brothers and under the supervision of the great Mickey Stevenson. That it didn’t appear on Motown Records is an enduring mystery; the association with the country pap on Mel-o-dy’s roster might have harmed the record’s success, because this is energetic pop music all the way.
Channel’s vocal style is just the same as it had been on his big hit, a weird semi-shouted sort of drawl that sounds as though he was struggling to get his mouth around the words – but it doesn’t work as well here, coming across as thin and underpowered in the face of the musical pounding going on around him. (I still can’t even work out what he’s actually saying in the very first line – something something something / Go on and boogie, and have a good time! – answers on a postcard?)
It starts very effectively, this, with a big thumping drum riff, bashed tambourine and handclaps marking out the beat for eight long bars while Bruce toasts (unintelligibly) over the top of it. But it’s a great opening all the same.
Soon enough we’re into the song proper, with horns, gospel choir backing vocals, piano glisses and all the other trappings of a capable Motown B-side. It’s not a killer tune and it’s not a great single – but it’s very danceable, and it’s got a super groove, such that it’s difficult to stop yourself clicking your fingers while it’s playing.
In many ways, it’s the energy of the music, the physical thump and clatter and the soaring BVs of a solid Motown cut, that upstages Bruce on his own record. Back on Hey! Baby, he’d only really had to compete for attention with McClinton’s mouth organ, and the harmonica riff was so captivating that it didn’t really matter if Bruce lost out now and again. By contrast, here he’s very much the weakest link on the record, and the tune just isn’t strong enough to make up for it; without the riveting harmonica part, Bruce is left exposed, despite – no, because of – the capable musicians with whom Motown had surrounded him.
Still, it’s not a case of doom and gloom – this remains a lively and quirky pop record, even if Channel’s vocal is nothing to write home about, and the band track is worth listening to as Stevenson and the Funk Brothers stretch their repertoire to take in a whole new field. A small-scale pop dancer that mostly succeeds on its own merits, ending up as a half-decent little record – it’s just a pity everyone’s sights weren’t aimed a little higher.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
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Could the line be…”Don’t worry about that bread, children”? Probably not right but it’s closer than something something something. Anyhow, this one I never heard before TCMS and my first reaction after going through the other Mel-o-dy country tunes was that this one had a good beat and moved, so I thought, “was this done at Motown?” Happy to know my ears didn’t fail me.
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It’s as close as we’re going to get, I fear; the line in question doesn’t appear in Porter Wagoner’s version (below).
According to the TCMS 4 liner notes, Bruce claims to have recorded “about six sides” at Hitsville, including some with the involvement of HDH, but this one is the only product of those sessions that was ever released to the public.
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The previously unreleased HDH track “I Wanted to Cry” appears on the new Kent CD “Satisfaction Guaranteed Motown Guys 1961-69” and as might be expected is a lot stronger than the two Melody singles.
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A bit of history here..
The song was written by a Texan named Jack Rhodes and became a hit for Porter Wagoner in 1955 on RCA. I’m not sure if Rhodes recorded it himself but either he or someone connected with the Starday label of Texas may have done it since Starday is the publisher. Rhodes also wrote “Woman Love” which he had recorded for Starday in late 1955, and was duly covered by Gene Vincent on the B-side of BE BOP A LULA. Satisfied Mind was a 3/4 country waltz. Bob Dylan recorded it in 1980 during his brief sojourn into gospel rock. Bruce tried to make into a dance tune as you have noted. Clearly, it does not come across as well as expected. Perhaps, he needed Delbert on Blues Harp–heck, the Beatles took that HEY BABY riff and made themselves a sound out of it!!!! [Chanell and McClinton toured with the Fabs in ’63]
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Gosh, I completely forgot to mention it was a cover – and a radically different cover at that. Thanks Ed!
The Mel-o-dy connection makes more sense in the light of that version, I guess – but Bruce’s version is practically a different song.
Bob Dylan covering this is funny, because the How many at the beginning of Porter Wagoner’s version sounds exactly like the How many at the start of Blowin’ In The Wind.
I’ve read that Beatles thing a lot, but “Love Me Do” already had the harp on it in the spring of ’62 as per the demo version on Anthology 1, and I haven’t got time to dig out my old Beatles Chronicle to see when they toured together and whether all the dates match up; all the quotes I’ve ever read about McClinton’s influence on the Beatles are third party “and did you know?” type things – in the absence of a hard quote from Lennon or McCartney (perhaps if Mark Lewisohn’s book ever appears!), I’m filing it under “possible” rather than “proven fact”.
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Yeah –see what you mean but play Hey Baby and I Should’ve Known Better back to back—but I digress
However, Bruce cut better records for Smash. and once you get to another Mel-O-Dy artist, Dorsey Burnette, you’ll mfind that rings true there as well.
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I don’t know about “proof,” but there certainly is a similarity in sound, and much evidence to point in the direction that McClinton was influential on Lennon’s 62-63 harmonica style.
“Hey! Baby” was recorded in late ’61, and it was on Lennon’s jukebox. There was a TV special a while back dedicated to exploring the contents of Lennon’s jukebox, and to interviewing the artists that appeared on it. Channel and McClinton were interviewed on the show, and McClinton said that Lennon took a liking to his style and told him so. McClinton also emphatically pointed out that while he felt he was influential on Lennon’s early style, he did not teach Lennon how to play the harmonica. There also is a recorded interview on the show of Lennon himself discussing covering the song in the early days of the Beatles, and the “Hey! Baby” harmonica sound. Check it out, I think it’s on YouTube.
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If this was Benny Benjamin on drums, the man deserves a Grammy. The first time I heard this cut on “24:7 Motown” streaming radio, the beat took me right in- especially during the intro and the “breakdown”.The backing vocals (Andantes plus Rayber Voices?) give it that old jukejoint-meets-pentacostal flavor. It’s one of my favorite obscure Motown cuts.
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I like Dorsey Burnette’s “Everybody’s Angel” on Mel-O-dy, better than “Hey Little One” and his other Era cuts.
Why would anyone think that The Rayber Voices were singing backup as late as 1964? Their last credit was in late 1960 (or, maybe around the beginning of 1961). In 1963, The Andantes were the primary female back-up group at Motown, and The Love-Tones were the primary male back-up group. The Four Tops also provided some help.
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The Rayber Voices were out by 1962, I think. To me, the back-ups sound like The Andantes and The Originals (even though The Originals weren’t formed until 1966, it’s still possible Freddie Gorman is on this record). The male back-ups could also be the Four Tops like you said. Maybe both Gorman and the Tops are on here. But for sure The Andantes are the female back-ups.
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The male back-ups could well have included a lot more of The Originals than just Freddie Gorman. C.P. Spencer, Henry (Hank) Dixon, and Walter Gaines had ALL come to Motown in early 1962, after Billy “Roquel” Davis at Chess Records dropped them (formerly called The Voice Masters) from Chess’ Detroit subsidiary, Check-Mate Records. That occurred because Chess wanted Davis to concentrate only on Chess’ main production in Chicago. Davis took The Voice Masters’ lead singer, Ty Hunter, as well as Johnny and Jackey’s Jacky Beavers, and Tony Clarke with him to Chess, in Chicago. All of them, as well as several other Anna Records artists had gone with Billy to Check-Mate in 1961, along with David Ruffin, Alan Story, Lamont Dozier, Johnny Bristol, Willie Kendrick and others. The rest of Anna’s people went with Gwen Gordy and Harvey Fuqua’s new Tri Phi and Harvey Records.
When Check-Mate was dissolved, David Ruffin, The Del-Phi’s(later known as Martha & Vandellas), Lamont Dozier, Alan Story and Spencer, Dixen and Gaines were signed by Motown as writers. Ruffin was also signed as a singing artist, and the three ex-Voice Masters (later-to-be-Originals) probably got some work with Motown as back-up singers, starting in late 1962 or early 1963.
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Could it be possible, then, that The Originals were actually formed as early as 1963, instead of 1966 as popularly believed?
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No. The Originals were formed in 1965 when Freddie gorman joined those ex-Voice Masters, after he returned from working with Ed Wingate at Golden World/Ric Tic. But, just because those future originals were not signed to Motown as a group, did not mean that they couldn’t get paid for singing backgrounds. They probably helped make percussion sounds on recordings, and did chauffeuring, labour and grunt work for Motown, as did David Ruffin and Alan Story and Clyde Wilson (Steve Mancha). Motown had almost no grunt workers who weren’t also songwriters, background singers or had other artistic duties. Even the secretaries also were singers and/or had other artistic or technical duties. Gordy didn’t have money in the early days to give full salaries in separate jobs to so many people. So, most of the people working there had multiple duties.
Dennis Edwards had a similar situation, hanging around recording as a solo artist and being bounced from The Countours to The Temptations before settling in. Same for Saundra Mallett Edwards, who had been a failed solo artist and hung around until paired with The Downbeats, to form The Elgins.
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This is a terrific blog, I’m just discovering it now! It’s excellent to see people out there passionate about such incredibly obscure music. You’re doing a great service with these reviews.
On the whole, I agree with your rating of Channel’s “Satisfied Mind” single. Ultimately, it probably is about average. That said, I wouldn’t describe Channel’s voice as the “weak link.” I feel that the “radical departure” arrangement wasn’t well suited to the song, and the message is kind of lost, even though the playing and singing are good.
Channel had a unique sound, and a feel for bluesy material that most white singers did not possess. He just never latched on to another piece of material after “Hey! Baby” that could hit in a big way, even though he did have a few other worthwhile sides.
At the time, many actually assumed that the singer of “Hey! Baby” was Black. (I wonder if this had anything to do with his signing to Motown?) The tune also reached #2 on the R&B listings.
If you get a chance, listen to Blind Willie Johnson’s old recording “Let Your Light Shine On Me.” Johnson was also from Texas, and I always thought there was similarity between their voices. Channel’s voice was reedy, but there have been many quality blues and soul vocalists possessing lighter tone.
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If you get a chance, listen to Blind Willie Johnson’s old recording “Let Your Light Shine On Me.” Johnson was also from Texas,
HMMMM I don’t recall Bruce ever sounding like Popeye the Sailor —LOL!!!
Channel is probably trying to sound like Buddy Holly trying to be soulful–every Texas artist by this time had been heavily influenced by Holly=–still this version is still better than what Bob Dylan later did to it.
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lol, yeah, I’m talking about Johnson’s lighter voice, not the raspy “fake-bass” one he also employs which sounds nothing like Channel!
I think I can see the Holly comparison as well, especially in the chord changes and tempo. He was very influential on artists from the region, though Channel had more of an R&B sound. Vocally, the Holly influence is apparent though, especially on ballads. Check out Channel’s “Somewhere In This Town,” which sounds like a cross between Holly and Roy Orbison.
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Hans, we’re gonna get whupped for going off topic but yeah that’s a great record. So was his OH BABY, COME ON BABY, and NO OTHER BABY [which was a duet I believe with Ray Hildebrand of Paul and Paula fame]–okay back to Motown –all of these records were great ….so why was his Motown stuff weak???
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My bad 🙂 Excellent recordings though.
As for the lack of success on Motown, I think it comes down to the material. Channel’s voice certainly could have handled Motown material, but he either was unable to write appropriate songs at the time, or did not receive quality material from the Hitsville stable. He also may have been a difficult singer to categorize. He could handle blues, soul, country, rock and pop very well, but really, what audience were they trying to reach with this release? It’s pretty offbeat in comparison to the Motown soul hits of the time – forcing a country tune into a completely different tempo and arrangement. I’m not saying it couldn’t have worked, I mean Ray Charles had much success “souling up” country, but this particular song seems to lose its meaning in this arrangement.
On the other hand, I have never heard the “six sides” alluded to by Nixon, and who knows? There may be an unreleased gem buried that no one has ever heard. Good luck getting that material released though! Until then, the story is incomplete.
Wasn’t “You Make Me Happy” also released on Motown? I assume it wasn’t recorded there, as its kind of a rip-off of “Hey! Baby.”
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“At the time, many actually assumed that the singer of “Hey! Baby” was Black. (I wonder if this had anything to do with his signing to Motown?) The tune also reached #2 on the R&B listings. ”
I doubt that “Hey Baby” sounding “soulful” had anything to do with Channel’s signing to Motown, as I suspect that he was signed by Al Klein to sing C & W music. If he had come to Motown through a separate connection (as Dorsey Burnette had) and it was with him singing “slightly Pop-tinged Soul music”, they should have had him sing HDH, Stevenson-Hunter and Fuqua-Bristol songs and recorded him in Detroit, rather than have him sing those poor-quality C & W songs, and recording him in Texas.
Interestingly, there was a fantastic Black group re-make of “Hey Baby!” by The Ban-Lons made in Channel’s own Texas less than a year after Channel’s version.
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Here’s a link to The Ban-Lons’ version:
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You ought to hear the original hit version from 1954 by Porter Wagoner on RCA-Victor. Then you’ll see why this song was released on this label…
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You’re absolutely right, Bill, but a little late – check out Ed Pauli’s post from 2011 up there and my reply, which originally contained a link to Porter’s version. But thanks for a great comment, I hope you’re enjoying the blog and that you can stick around
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I wonder if the pronounciation is Chanel why none of the American jocks said it that way?
Also all of your links are down and have been all day. There are large, vacuous spaces where youtube should be. Is this on my end or yours. Even Damecia’s “My Guy” video disappeared.
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Yours.
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They were down on mine as well. They’re back now.
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i knew it wasnt just me. I’m back also but i had to sign in as a newcomer.
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Every time an old post like this one gets comments, there’s a jump in visitors, usually enough to pull an old entry into the “Most Popular Right Now” chart for a couple of hours. I like the idea of Bruce Channel fans seeing “Satisfied Mind” leaping up the rankings and clicking excitedly on the link to see what we’re saying, only to find it’s some people talking about a technical issue.
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As I recall, virtually all of the DJs in New York City were pronouncing Bruce’s surname correctly when “Hey Baby” was high on the charts.
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Channel was his mother’s maiden name and it was prounced like a Tv channel or the English Channel but Bruce apparently wanted to sound more Cajun hence the sha-Nell pronunciation
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