CD Review: "Canada's Message To The Meters - The Best of Frank Motley & King Herbert"
(Originally released by Jazzman on LP as JMANLP001 in 1998, CD in 1993)
Article by Keltie Harding.
"Canada's Message To The Meters - The Best of Frank Motley & King Herbert" is a compilation of deep funk tracks recorded by trumpeter Frank Motley, sax player King Herbert and their respective backing bands, for the small independent Canadian label Paragon in the early 1970's. This CD from UK label Jazzman collects 10 songs from the 3 original Paragon albums and a 1971 single only release, "Mr. Fortune", originally released on Toronto indie "Heart Records."
Frank Motley was a North Carolina trumpeter who took lessons from Dizzy Gillespie as a young man and developed a technique for playing two trumpets at the same time, which led to his being nicknamed "Dual Trumpeter" and "Two Horn" Motley. After some time spent in the navy, Motley formed his own group, The Motley Crew, which included drummer T.N.T. Tribble. In the mid-'50's, with rock and roll crowding out the traditional big band sound, Motley moved to Toronto, cut a few records and continued to record and perform until he retired in 1984 and moved back to North Carolina. (Courtesy of the website "Five Bucks On By-Tor.") Motley passed away in 1998,
Not much is known about King Herbert except that they were part of the burgeoning Toronto R&B / Hard Funk scene that sprung up in the late 60's. "King" Herbert Whittaker has recorded as early as 1951, and had played with Frank Motley in The Motley Crew in the 1950's Herbert passed away in 1995 at age 66 . (courtesy of http://artists.letssingit.com/frank-motley-lghv5/biography & http://www.brainyhistory.com/topics/s/sax.html).
Somehow, Motley & Herbert were spotted by record producer Jack Boswell, owner of Allied/Paragon records based out of Toronto. Allied was a small indie that served as Canada's distributor for a number of US labels including Elektra records. Allied, as a label released a handful of singles and some (now) sought-after LP's by Ontario bands The Plastic Cloud, The Folklords & Reign Ghost. Boswell started Paragon as a subsidiary of Allied in the late 60's. Though he was more of a country and western man (one of his biggest finds was Newfoundland singer Roy Payne,) Boswell appreciated all types of music. Knowing the potential of both Motley and Herbert, he offered to record them and release a few records. Around 1971-72, Allied was shut down and Boswell created Marathon Music, another label. Paragon's distribution switched from Allied to Marathon. Circa 1972-73, Paragon folded and Boswell kept Marathon Music running for a while longer, before morphing it into yet another label.
Boswell's studio of choice was the small Spectra Sound Studios, located in the basement of engineer (and former CBC personality) Bill Bessey's home. Spectra was a 4-track facility, better set up for country rather than raucious rock, psychedelic and funk. Bessey had recorded the aforementioned Plastic Cloud, The Folklords, Christmas and Reign Ghost at Spectra. The quality of the studio was passable in the late 60's but with the turn of the decade, the sound quality improved, as evidenced on the second Reign Ghost LP and the debut LP by Canadian progressive psych band Christmas. Bessey (usually) recorded the band live onto 2 or 3 tracks of the 4 track tape, leaving 1 or 2 open tracks for overdubs, if necessary. Seeing how time was money, no more than a couple of takes were ever recorded.
Upon release, the Paragon LP's were not promoted and sank, soon relegated to the cut out & bargain bins. Some of Paragon's faults lay in poor promotion, poor distribution & small quantities of records pressed. Other Boswell-signed bands like The Plastic Cloud, Spring Fever and The Folklords suffered the same fate. And probably no more than 500 copies of the original albums were probably pressed. (Mike Cadieux of the Plastic Cloud mentioned that thier album was only pressed to 500 copies.)
Flash forward to the late 1990's, UK label Jazzman secured rights from Jack Boswell and put out this kicking compilation, the first time these masters have been dusted off since the 1970's. The sound of "Canada's Message To The Meters" is quite good, but many of the master tape's limitations are revealed. Some drop outs and tape stretches are very audible. (Many of Allied & Paragon's recordings suffer the same audio limitations.) Something tells me that either the masters have not been well taken care of, or the recording tapes used by Boswell and Bessey weren't of the highest quality. Still, the bass is deep and full, and the instruments are well defined with just the right amount of reverb. (Bessey's engineering skills did improve as he went along!) Although the drums do sound as if they were well recorded, they are a little buried in the mix at times.
This CD was issued in 2003 & was a straight re-issue of the Jazzman LP of the same name. Since the CD (much like the LP counterpart) is now sold out & long out of print, its now commanding high prices on the collector's market. I'm lucky I found a new copy at a very affordable price from a US seller. Luck of the draw and a long time searching, I guess.
The original Paragon LP's (as with most of the important & notable Allied/Paragon rock, psych and soul records) now command an arm and leg on the collector's market. While "Canada's Message To The Meters" collects the best of these recordings, I would still love to see a label re-issue these seminal recordings on CD. Seeing how as there were only 3 albums worth of material, All 3 original Paragon records could be easily put onto a 2 CD set.
Below is a full King Herbert & Frank Motley "Paragon" discography. Note that there were a total of 5 Paragon LP's. 3 were of all original material, one ("Hell Bent") was a compilation culled from the 3 original LP's and the other ("Let It Be") was a re-issue with a different title and sleeve.
Discography:
"King Herbert & The Knights, with Jack Hardin" (Paragon ALS 248) (Distributed in Canada by Allied Record Corp.)
Side - 1
1 Sing a Simple Song
2 You Make Me So Very Happy
3 Lucille
4 Sissy Strut
5 Let It Be
Side - 2
1 Let's Get Together
2 Amen
3 Chicken Strut
4 Ooga Boogaloo
5 I Believe
6 Odd to Billy Joe
Frank Motley and the Hitch-Hikers featuring The Mighty Pope - "The Hitch Hikers" (Paragon #20) (Distruibuted in Canada by Allied Record Corp.)
(3 vocal tracks by Mighty Pope, 2 vocals by Val Bent & 1 vocal by Wally Blair. Remaining are Instrumentals.)
Side - 1
1 A Stranger In Your Own World
2 Memory Lane
3 Let It Be
4 Comin' Home
Side - 2
1 Smile Maria Smile
2 You Got The Green Light
3 Hell Bent
4 What Does It Take
5 Hook And Sling
Frank Motley & The Hitch Hikers / King Herbert & The Knights - "Hell Bent" (COMPILATION) ( Paragon ALS 279) (Manufactured by Allied Records)
Side - 1
1 Frank Motley & The Hitch-Hikers* – Hell Bent 3:27
2 Frank Motley & The Hitch-Hikers* – Hook & Sling 5:47
3 Frank Motley & The Hitch-Hikers* – Comin' Home 5:19
Side -2-
1 King Herbert & The Knights – Amen 3:20
2 King Herbert & The Knights – Chicken Strut 3:39
3 King Herbert & The Knights – Ooga Boogaloo 3:11
4 King Herbert & The Knights – Ode To Billy Joe
Frank Motley & The Bridge Crossings - "Chip Dip" (Paragon ALS 303) (Distributed in Canada by Marathon Music)
Side - 1
1 Ya Ya
2 Rock and Soul
3 Cryin' All Alone
4 Wanda Unda Landa
5 Chip's Groove
Side - 2
1 Grazin' in the Grass
2 Walkin' the Dog
3 Summertime
4 Listen Here
Frank Motley Orchestra - "Let It Be" (Paragon ALS 323)
(Reissue of "The Hitch Hikers" [Paragon #20] with different artwork)
Side - 1
1 A Stranger In Your Own World
2 Memory Lane
3 Let It Be
4 Comin' Home
Side - 2
1 Smile Maria Smile
2 You Got The Green Light
3 Hell Bent
4 What Does It Take
5 Hook And Sling
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