John Ellison - U From Funk (2013)

Tracklist
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01. You Better Check Yourself
02. I Neeed You Yes I Do
03. Dont't Neglect Your Baby
04. See You Later, Baby
05. I Want to Make Love to You
06. Willie John's Funk
07. Play With Fire
08. Keep On Making Love to Me
09. Don't Let Nobody Have None of My Love
10. You Make Life So Wonderful
11. Spend the Rest of My Life Making Love to You
12. Sure the Rest of My Life Making Love to You
13. I Don't Want to Cry
14. Magic Touch
15. Wild and Free
16. I Take That Back
17. Mellow Mood
18. She's Hot, She's Some Kind of Wonderful
19. I'll Be Loving You
20. Money Is Freedom
21. We Can Work It Out
22. Sex Is Sex
23. Leave Me Alone
24. Your Place or Mine
25. A Kiss in the Wind
26. You Picked the Right Time Baby
27. Times Like These
28. Let Your Hair Hang Down


The sky-high level of soulful intensity John Ellison brought to his lead vocals with the Soul Brothers Six came straight from the church. No surprise there, since he grew up in a religious household. But the way Ellison harnessed that sanctified passion on the group's secular sides was anything but common.

Leaving the coal mines of West Virginia for a more musically opportune Rochester, NY, at age 18, Ellison sang soul and styled hair before hooking up with four brothers named Armstrong (Sam, Charles, Harry, and Moses) and bassist Vonell Benjamin. The Soul Brothers Six were a completely self-contained unit; they played their own instruments in addition to singing. Their first 45s on Fine (1965's "Move Girl") and Lyndell ("Don't Neglect Your Baby" the following year) veritably dripped gospel-soaked inspiration but went nowhere.

The sextet decided to relocate to Philadelphia. On the way there, Ellison wrote the magnificent "Some Kind of Wonderful," the song that put the group on the map. Atlantic Records issued the irresistible soul workout in 1967, and it slipped onto the pop charts (becoming their only hit). Deserving encores on Atlantic didn't recapture the 45's success, and the original lineup broke up in 1969. Ellison assembled another band by the same name and soldiered on at Phil L.A. of Soul Records during 1972-1973. Meanwhile, Grand Funk Railroad's graceless cover of "Some Kind of Wonderful" proved a gigantic pop smash in 1974.

The John Ellison story might have ended there (he's mostly been ensconced in Canada since then). But not too long ago, After Hours Records bosses Marty Duda and Gregory Townson happened upon the long-lost legend sitting in at a Rochester gin mill with bluesman Joe Beard. The upshot was a 1993 solo Ellison disc, Welcome Back, that reintroduced the singer to the American market. Two tracks, including a remade "Some Kind of Wonderful," even reunited the singer with the Armstrong brothers. Pretty wonderful, eh?

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