Six lonely days - MICA 2067

 

Ray & Dave

I’m a really big fan of that strange soul format of male duos – and here’s another one. Ray & Dave only had just he one release on Al Benson’s Mica label in 1966 which was produced by the legendary Windy City music man Bob Lee. Both sides are well worth hearing. “Wrong wrong wrong” was one of those easy paced beat ballads so prevalent in Chicago in the mid 60s, just oozing charm, no wonder it sold so well. But the flip ListenSix Lonely Days is even better. The song is based on classic doo wop chord changes and has a highly memorable melody – you’ll find it sticks in the mind like glue. A wonderful arrangement from Mr G Patterson (check out those superb horn charts) is matched by some great harmonies from the guys. And their gritty interplay is right on the money too. Apart from the fact that they came from the South Side I know nothing about Ray & Dave at all – but I wish they’d made many more tracks like this one.

UPDATE ~ My friend Naoya has pointed me in the direction of Bob Abrahamian's excellent "Sittin' In The Park" website which contains a whole lot of playlists which majors on Bob's Chicago home territory, groups in particular. But more relevant is the wonderful series of interviews that Bob has conducted with Chicago artists. One of these is with Ray Caldwell, the "Ray" of "Ray & Dave". You can find the full interview here scroll down to 1 / 24 / 10. You really ought to listen to the whole interview - and indeed all the other interviews as well - but the key points for this page are:-

He thinks that "Dave" is named "Dave Brown" but he is not sure.

The Ray & Dave 45 and Jimmy Dobbins 45 were all cut at the same sessions at Chess studios. All 3 of Jimmy, Ray and Dave sang on all tracks (except "What Is Love" Jimmy solo), and Sugar Pie DeSanto also sang on "Little Miss Perfect"! So it was strange that 1 45 was credited to "Ray & Dave" and 1 45 credited to "Ray & Dave".

Jimmy Dobbins came from Mississippi and he was really called "James Brown". He was not a keyboard player just a singer.

Ray Caldwell wrote all the songs.

The records were released in late 1965.


I'm very grateful to Bob Abrahamian for the music qand the interviews - and to Naoya for providing me with the link.

Discography

Wrong wrong wrong / ListenSix lonely days ~ MICA 2067 (1966)

 

 

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