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Sunday, July 29, 2012

BROTHERS OF SOUL - CAN'T GET YOU OFF OF MY MIND





Brothers Of Soul were Fred Bridges (the leader, who had been performing music since his early adolescence), Ben Knight and Robert Eaton. Shortly before the release of this disc they were known as The Creations ("A Dream") but the name change was inspired by graffiti from the Detroit riots; black business owners would have signs saying "soul brother" on their store fronts as a way to prevent their businesses from being vandalized. While these Brothers Of Soul performed music that was not political, their name was a powerful statement nonetheless.

As regular readers know, my love of Chicago and Detroit soul is unparalleled; I could never pick a "favorite" soul city, as the defining  sounds from ALL cities producing records during this era have their moments in the sun and unique beauty. The Brothers Of Soul combined Detroit (the musicians and backing track) with vocals cut in Chicago. A PERFECT match; the Detroit style "piston" drumming matched with the sweet strings and gorgeous Chicago style harmonies make for a listen that is a 2:30 slice of soul heaven.

from 1967...

BROTHERS OF SOUL - CAN'T GET YOU OFF OF MY MIND

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a killer record and you're right on point in regards to The Brothers of Soul fusion of Chicago and Detroit sounds.

I don't believe the Brothers of Soul, ever called themselves The Creations although those are certainly their voices on that record on Zodiac. The Creations were in fact a different group from Chicago who recorded on Globe. The story I'd heard is that the Creations came to Detroit to record a session, with songs written by BKE, but they'd slept the night over in a motel with the AC on full blast and the whole group woke up with colds, rendering them unable to sing. The Brothers Of Soul had to fill in for them and do the vocals, although apparently Gerald Dickerson, lead of The Creations was well enough to do background vocals. Nonetheless The Creations record on Zodiac is the first with all the original members of Brothers Of Soul singing and what a record it is.

Derek See said...

yep, you're right about the Creations; I had forgotten momentarily (I even posted "Dream" here a few years back)