HENRY MOORE : Sir Shambling’s Deep Soul Heaven

Raise your head - LLUVIA 5054

Henry Moore

Henry Moore may well have some from Louisiana as his first record appeared on Lluvia which was based in Farriday, LA even thought the tracks were recorded at ACA in Houston. ListenRaise Your Head is a fine early soul track, with some nice doo wop touches, but Moore is clearly from a bluesier tradition than the vocal group one, and the arrangement is pure Texas R & B.

In the mid 60s Moore cut a one-off for Hoss Allen’s Nashville based Hermitage label. “Let The World End Tomorrow” is a pleasant if unremarkable beat ballad while “She’s A Lover” is a very run of the mill uptempo rock ‘n’ roll tune. Later on in the decade Moore, like Charles Berry, was working for the odious Huey Meaux who released three 45s on the man, and in the later 70s an album. The initial release coupled a country style ballad “Am I Wrong” which has some nice blues guitar (Joey Long?) with “Welcome Home” which is very similar in feel and arrnagmewnt to “Let The World End Tomorrow”.

Nothing change - A FADA 1001"I Can’t Forget You" is another country soul ballad of considerable charm, but all his previous Jetstream 45s can’t hold a candle to the final one. The uptempo hard soul of “You Really Grab Me” has attracted the attention of the dancers and the other side has grabbed mine. ListenI’m Losing You is a really strong deep soul ballad on which Moore gives a fine vocal performance, full of gospel tricks and touches, showing a delicious sense of rhythm. The arrangement brings to mind the sides that Gashead cut in Houston – and that’s a pretty strong recommendation.

Although the album “It’s My Own Tears That Are Being Wasted” came out in the latter half of the 70s the tracks were obviously recorded a decade or so earlier. The first side of the set consists of demos on which Moore can be heard backed only by a piano and on several tracks what sounds like a guy hitting a sofa with a rolled up newspaper. And only Moore’s tasty version of Johnny Copeland’s LP title track is worth hearing. The other side of the set has fully realised tracks, including both sides of the final Jetstream 45, plus one killer deep tune. ListenI’ll Never Say Goodbye is a classic Texas R & B based soul ballad on which Moore gets grittier as the song develops – lovely!

Most sources put the A Fada 45 down as a different artist. But I’m not so sure. The sides were clearly cut in the 70s as the wah wah guitar on “Sock It To Me” shows, but the styling of the blues ballad ListenNothing Change sounds very similar to Moore’s other tracks, and the vocal is if anything even more in the same groove. So I’m taking a chance and including this fine cut on this page.

I'm losing you - JETSTREAM 731 Let the world end tomorrow - HERMITAGE 805

UPDATE ~ Conny Aidanpää (who is even more obsessed with Henry Moore than I am) has been in touch on several occasions concerning Moore's discogrphy. He writes:-

"Firstly, I agree with you that the Henry Moore heard on the Fada 45 is our man.  The Henry Moore on the King 45 on the other hand I believe is Henry "Hank" Moore who can be heard blowing his saxophone on f.i. the instrumental "Sour Mash". Hence, not our Henry Moore." I agree with Conny absolutely.

He writes further "And the biggest news...I finally found a copy of the Master 45! And it's definately our Henry Moore, which I suspected all along! My belief is that Henry Moore was a Texan, there's a whole lot pointing in that direction. He recorded for Huey Meaux, Home Cooking and Master- labels based in Texas."

Conny has very kindly supplied MP3s of both sides of the 45, as well as images. For my ears the simple R & B ballad of "I Believe In You" is rather better than the Texas boogie of Pretty Baby". The tracks have a basic small band instrumental accompaniment - no horns - credited to keyboard player Willard Burton. Judging by the rather crude recording I'd put the date as early 1960s.

Additionally we have between us found more recordings by Mr Moore. They are:-

1. "Can't sleep tonight" which can be found on the album "Beware Of The Texas Blues Vol 1" (Home Cookin'). This is an unfinished slow blues, more like demo than anything else - just guitar and piano behind Moore, but his vocal comes through loud and clear.

The notes about this track say "Henry Moore was very active on the Texas / Louisiana blues and soul scene up through the late 60s, and recorded his self-penned "Can't Sleep Tonight" with Guitar Slim. This is not the original Guitar Slim, the late Eddie Jones whose big hit was "The Things I Used To Do". There have been at least ten later guitarists to use the famous nickname - Alexander Seward of Virginia, another from North Carolina and so on. A couple of Johnny Winter's early records were put out under the pseudonyms Guitar Slim and Texas Guitar Slim (Moonlight 103, Diamond Jim 204). One is Raefield Jackson who appears with Clarence Green and went to Holland with him. The Guitar Slim with Henry Moore was a cat whose real name was Clarence Joseph. To the best of my knowledge this is the first time anything by Joseph has appeared on disc."

2. "Did you miss me" which can be found on the album "Houston's Deep Throat Vol 2" (P-Vine). This is another demo again with piano and guitar onnly and could well have been recorded at the same session as "Can't sleep tonight".

My particualr thanks to Conny Aidanpää without whose invaluable help this page would have been incomplete.

Discography

The things you do / ListenRaise your head ~ LLUVIA 5054 (1961)
Let the world end tomorrow / She’s a lover ~ HERMITAGE 805 / ATHENS 200 (1962/3)
Am I wrong / Welcome home ~ JETSTREAM 711 (1965)
I can’t forget you / You remember the face ~ JETSTREAM 720 (1965/6)
You really grab me / ListenI’m losing you ~ JETSTREAM 731 (1966)
ListenNothing change / Sock it to me ~ A FADA 1001 (1972)

LP

It’s my own tears that’s being wasted ~ CRAZY CAJUN 1051 (1978)

UNISSUED TRACKS

Can't sleep tonight ~ "Beware Of The Texas Blues Vol 1" (Home Cookin') (mid 60s?)
Did you miss me ~ "Houston's Deep Throat Vol 2" (P-Vine)
(mid 60s?)

 

 

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