Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Luther Randolph & Johnny Stiles - Cross Roads (single)



Luther Randolph and Johnny Stiles were two-thirds of the trio (Weldon McDougal III was the other) behind the Philadelphia soul label Harthon in the 1960s. The label put out some great singles by Barbara Mason, Herb Ward and others.

Randolph, who played organ, and Stiles, a guitarist, also released at least three singles under their own names, including the two-part Cross Roads, issued on Harthon in 1960 and later picked up for national distribution by the leading Philadelphia label of the period, Cameo/Parkway. The Cameo 45 was re-released in 1963 when it bubbled under Billboard's Hot 100 (July-August), but never actually made the chart itself.


Cross Roads is a slice of funky soul-jazz with just organ, guitar and drums. You can grab it from the link below. For the MP3, taken from the Cameo 45, I edited the two parts together for a 4 1/2-minute jam.

Cross Roads (Parts 1 & 2) 

As far as I know Cross Roads has never made an appearance in a digital format. And it doesn't seem to have turned up on LP either. However, the 45 did appear with a rather odd picture sleeve when it was released in The Netherlands.



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