I can't lose your love - GLASS CITY 1317

Jimmy Holloway

Dante Carfagna’s excellent site devoted to Ohio soul recordings (see Links) shows only 2 other recordings from the Toledo based Glass City concern (named for the town’s moniker ) – but they’re not a patch on this beauty. ListenI Can’t Lose Your Love is one of those deep soul records that many fans know about – but is so rare that few have ever heard it, let alone own it. It’s a dead slow stop-go ballad with Jimmy tearing his lungs out over a gradually rising level of tension generated by the frantic drumming, powerful horns and a girl chorus. There’s so much going on in the background, this is far from an “open” southern arrangement, more like a big city ballad, but it’s Jimmy’s wrecked, heartbroken delivery that makes this a deep one to treasure. The flip is a rather messy funk item. Did Jimmy make another disc? I don’t know of one sadly.

UPDATE ~ My great friend Greg Burgess has spotted Jimmy on Youtube during a gig in Toledo, OH. You can find it here. He has also forwarded on to me an email from Robert Smith who knew Jimmy well. Robert says "As you've found out Mr. Holloway - now deceased - was a pretty good friend and we had a symbiotic relationship.  He was an entertainer and I was a DJ.  We worked a lot of shows together.  Jimmy traveled and opened for a lot of major acts and sometimes, when we were on the same playbill, I had the privilege of watching Jimmy set a room on fire.

Jimmy was a guy who had the unusual ability to ... sing in any key.  Seems impossible, but one of the local organist, Mr. Clayton "Bootsie" Ellis [deceased] shared that little phenomenon with me.

Jimmy was an entertainer. He loved the adulation, but really he loved to make people smile.  His repertroire ranged from the Blues to the Bluenotes [ that's Harold Melvin].  His personal favorite song was by a guy by the name of Little Willie John.  The first line of the song goes, "Let them talk if they want to, talk don't bother me.  The other part of the song, which he really hit hard was " .. idle gossip comes from the devil's workshop, but ... true love will make it stop!"

He also confirms that sadly Jimmy has now passed on.

 

Discography

ListenI can't lose your love / Prove my love to you ~ GLASS CITY 1317

 

 

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