Denise & Abe/ Arthur Alexander - Ain't That Lovin / You Better Listen To Me

Our Ace anniversary soul release is rich in music history. Arthur Alexander was a founding father of soul, his emotional, laconic songs and vocals were influential across the pop world. He was a firm favourite of the Beatles, Stones, Dusty and other, soon to be successful, acts. Atlanta music business entrepreneur Bill Haney had managed Arthur since shortly after his first record, 'You Better Move On', charted in 1962. By 1965 Arthur had been released from his Dot contract when the hits dried and Bill cut him on two sides, 'You Better Listen To Me' and 'You Ain't For Real'. Bill's Chant label was not fully operational then and they could not get a deal with other companies Bill licensed to such as Jamie/Guyden. The recordings remained unreleased until Kent accessed them in the late 90s; this is the vinyl debut. Westbound Records took over as Detroit's main label once Motown headed west. In the early 70s, their biggest acts were the Detroit Emeralds and Denise LaSalle, who regularly hit the R&B and Hot 100 charts. It was a good idea to team Denise up with Abe Tilmon, the Emeralds' lead singer, and the songs 'Ain't That Lovin' and 'Tender Moments' were strong selections which recorded well; they were given the full, string overdub treatment. However, the company inexplicably shelved the project and it was left to Kent to ride to the rescue in 2010, releasing this mid-tempo dance track on CD; here is the 45 it was destined to be.