Fantastic Johnny C

[D C]

Can anyone shed a light on whether Tom Moulton's extended mix of 'Waitin' For The Rain' ever came out on a 12" - legal or otherwise.

Cheers

DC

[tony98]

I bought the 7" at the time, but i could never find a 12" of it. I finaly came across a 7:21 mix by Tom Moulton on the "Soul Togetherness 2005" Lp. In thesleeve notes it says that "It's been transformed into a 7 min version" which gives the impression that it's a pretty recent mix.

[D C]

I bought the 7" at the time, but i could never find a 12" of it. I finaly came across a 7:21 mix by Tom Moulton on the "Soul Togetherness 2005" Lp. In thesleeve notes it says that "It's been transformed into a 7 min version" which gives the impression that it's a pretty recent mix.

Thanks Tony,

I've got it on a CD comp called Philly Steps. Although there's a bit of background about the actual track in respect of Johnny Corley hiring Baker, Harris & Young to produce him there's no mention about Tom Moulton extending the 3 minute 30 second 7" into version. I must admit the sound quality is very dull (the same as that on the Togetherness LP) like it's been re-edited from vinyl. I know Tom Moulton is a stickler for quality so I was really wondering if there is a 'proper' version out there somewhere which should warrant a full release.

DC

[Disco Funk]

PhilLA of Soul was the label that released the vocal version and later the instrumental mix under the artist Philly Sound, but as far as I know, they didn't last long enough to get out a 12". This song was recorded in early 73. I don't think Moulton had any access to the tapes, until the Philly Steps album.

Judging from the mix, it sounds like the song was intended to be long and probably for an album, because the vocals keep going for quite a long time. I think the Philly method of recording was to do the backing track first and then the vocals later, so if they had only intended as a single, they wouldn't have had Johnny singing beyond the 4 minute mark on the master tape.

I'd also love to find out the history of Tell Me What You See by Jimmy Ruffin. There's a 7 minute plus mix of it on a disco compilation CD by Universal, and it's also credited to Moulton. It also suffers from poor sound quality.

Come to think of it, I'm wondering if both tracks may have been mixed in secret back in the day? I mean, there might have been stereo mixes of the vocal and instrumental version of the Johnny C track, and for the Jimmy Ruffin track, an instrumental mix for either a B side or to play as background music to TV performances. Moulton could have then just taken those old mixes and re-edited them and then technically called them his own.

Disco Funk

[D C]

Cheers Disco Funk

I have the long version of Tell Me What You Want as an MP3 - the quality isn't too bad (much better than Fantastic Johnny C). Do you know what Universal compilation it's on?

It'd be great if Tom could give the background to these mixes. He contributes on here from time to time doesn't he?

DC

[QUINNY]

Jimmy Ruffin is on here:

Amazon.com: Disco Gold: Music: Various Artists

I have a copy of the CD and to me it sounds fine, especially when compared to the 7" release, which was very dull. One of my favourite records of all time, the background vocalists making my hairs stand up every time I play it.

[Disco Funk]

There's something weird about how the Disco Gold long version of Tell Me What You Want sounds. It's hard to describe. Like one channel is out of phase with the other, but not far enough apart to create a reverb effect. It's still better than nothing. I have the original mix on the Super Rare Disco series, and it sounds alright to me.

I like the way the song is written. The chorus section sounds like it's ascending and hasn't got a full cadence, if anyone knows what I'm talking about. The chord progression just feels like its floating. And then bam!, the verse/outro section which is bottom heavy and funky. Kind of jarring the way one section moves to the other, whereas most songs have clean segues. It sounds like two different song ideas that were stuck together to make one.

Disco Funk

[djsonic]

[quote=QUINNY;119038]Jimmy Ruffin is on here:

Amazon.com: Disco Gold: Music: Various Artists

The Amanda Orchestra did a verion of the jimmy ruffin song,Tell Me What You Want" on scepter records.
sonic.