LARRY PAUL, "ALL RIGHT" C/W "YOU'RE SO FAR AWAY," MALA 411 (REL. 12/1959)

Nothing exists about Larry Paul—which may have been a stage name for this vocalist who made two records, three years apart, for Mala Records. This recent find strikes me as an early forecaster of things to come in Black music. This performer has a style that anticipates the shift from rhythm and blues to soul music, which would happen by 1963. R&B never went away, and for three or four years both approaches co-existed in Black music with equal success.

Rhythm and blues made a major stylistic change in 1951, when performers such as The Clovers and The “5” Royales pushed past the more genteel, jazz-influenced approach of 1940s performers. This new breed stressed the gospel and blues quotient of Black music and delivered it with a harder-edged rhythm. By 1954, this sound was everywhere in r&b and it would continue for another decade as a vital force in American music.

Nothing stays the same for long in popular music, and styles mutate via new performers who didn’t have the link of their predecessors to earlier modes of expression. Larry Paul was one of these newcomers—steeped in the 1950s modes of r&b but eager to do something different within that framework.

Jackie Wilson’s emergence in 1957 was the first harbinger of a change in Black music. His approach anticipates the soul sound and was soon as inescapable an influence as Clyde McPhatter had been three years earlier. Both voices became part of the soul movement in the 1960s (though McPhatter’s ego alienated enough people to stall his career). Both influence this singer’s voice: he has the energy of Wilson and the showmanship of McPhatter as he belts out “All Right,” a rousing bopper penned by Ollie Jones, a Black songwriter who first had his work recorded in 1946. His songs were recorded by Billy Eckstine, Johnnie Ray, LaVern Baker, Nat “King” Cole and many others. As those performers suggest, Jones had success in the pop field and contributed to the rock ‘n’ roll songbook as the ‘50s rolled on.

“All Right” is in the Otis Blackwell mode, with a bright, energetic melody that hangs on the tension of the IV and V chords (in the key of C, F and G) and fleet lyrics that Paul sings with verve and finesse. Add a bouncy sound from the backing band, an occasional femme chorus and studio ambience and you’ve got a delightful record that Cash Box made one of its Pick of the Week items for December 5, 1959. This sounds like a hit to these ears, and the Bestway pressings favored by Mala and its adjacent labels delivers a big, hard sound with impressive dynamics.

>>> Hear it HERE! <<<

“You’re So Far Away” was the intended A-side, and, as Cash Box notes, it’s got that mysterious “fish-beat” thing going. Penned by Betty Leach and Larry Harrison, it was copyrighted on November 5, 1959, which gives us an idea of when Paul’s record was produced.  Its dreamy ballad vibe is more of a piece with the late 1950s sound and Paul delivers its flowing melody with grace. His performance goes that extra mile and pushes into proto-soul territory, in the manner of a Jerry Butler. (Young vocalists had a lot of influences to contend with in 1959!)

>>> Hear it HERE! <<<

Paul made a second single for Mala in April 1962, which suggests he may have done military service, become religious or been incarcerated (among other possible reasons for this long absence). Cash Box gave his second single another thumbs-up, but it too went nowhere. Copies of that record are far more common than this one. The faint trail fades out after this second disc. I hope he had a good life; he may still be with us. One never knows.

Tomorrow: one of the best doo-wop sides I know of, coupled with a bizarre experimental B-side, from The Ivy Tones, via a 1958 Red Top Records 45. Must-hear material!