The other week we highlighted the Manchester mod group, The Toggery Five, and their excellent original from 1964, I'm Gonna Jump. Today, we return to Manchester and spin the third and final record from a sextuplet named The St. Louis Union. The song is the blue-eyed soul raver from October of 1966, East Side Story. East Side Story, it should be noted, was written and first recorded by Bob Seger for Hideout Records. (You may recall, this is the same label that hosted The Pleasure Seekers, whom we wrote about just last week.)
Not long after this recording, The St. Louis Union moved to a state of disunion and the members scattered to the wind. Those members were singer Tony Cassidy, guitarist Keith Millar -- who apparently played with Rod Stewart forever -- Saxophonist Lenni Zaksen, organ player Dave Tomlinson, Bassist John Nichols and drummer Dave Webb. I want to give special love to John Nichols who really lays down a beautiful sounding bass line.
One wonders how they came across the original single? Seems so improbable.
ReplyDeleteWho the heck knows. That is a great question. Bob Seger's version would have just come out on that tiny, local label out of Detroit. It didn't get picked up for national distribution on Cameo Parkway until one month AFTER The St. Louis Union did it. It had to be a record producer such as Tony Clarke who brought it to them. Just guessing. Going the opposite direction, I always wondered, how the heck did the Shadows of Knight get a hold of The Wheels' single Bad Little Woman?
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