Walk Tall - The Fraternity Recordings

Description

The career of the duo 2 Of Clubs, formed by Linda Parrish and Patti Valentine, was brief but memorable. This 10-inch vinyl mini-album brings together all of their recordings for the first time. Many years after the initial release of their records, the duo 2 Of Clubs left a great memory in Cincinnati, thanks to a few very good 45s released in the mid-60s on Fraternity Records. Patti sang for fun with various groups when she landed her first paid engagement at Guys & Dolls, a very popular club. It was there that she met Linda, who was also performing there and whose husband, Carl Edmondson, led the resident orchestra, the Driving Winds. While the two young women initially sang solo, they formed a duo after discovering that their voices blended beautifully. In the 50s and 60s, the music scene in Cincinnati was dominated by the King Records label. In its shadow operated Fraternity, a more modest structure founded by Harry Carlson. In addition to her engagements at Guys & Dolls, Carl Edmondson was actively working for Fraternity, notably producing the Charmaines and Lonnie Mack. Harry Carlson visited the club to see the duo 2 Of Clubs perform; captivated by their performance, he decided to include them in the label's catalog, with Carl taking on the roles of manager and producer. Recorded at the King studio, the duo's cover of the song "Heart" by Petula Clark was released in August 1966. The B-side featured "My First Heart Break," a track written by Carl and Linda. The record enjoyed some success, charting on the airwaves of Cincinnati, Chicago, and other areas, before reaching the 125th position on the national Billboard chart in October. Without wasting any time, the Fraternity label quickly released the next title that same month: "Walk Tall Like A Man" - a song previously recorded by Verdelle Smith - with the B-side "So Blue Is Fall," composed by Linda while she was in high school. Although it took time to take off, this record achieved even more success than "Heart," climbing to the 75th position on the Cash Box chart, the 62nd on Record World, and finally, five months after its release, to the 92nd position on the Billboard Hot 100. By the end of 1967, Fraternity had released three more singles by the duo 2 Of Clubs, all recorded at the RCA studios in Nashville. Each record included covers of songs by established songwriters, with B-sides written by Carl and Linda. "Let Me Walk With You," originally recorded by Jody Miller, would become Linda's favorite recording within the duo 2 Of Clubs, but the waltz tempo of the piece likely hindered its success with the general public. The version of "River Deep - Mountain High" by Ike and Tina Turner had enjoyed immense success in the UK and elsewhere but had flopped in the United States. The 2 Of Clubs version, while lacking the original's big-budget production, still found its audience in Cincinnati. "Look Away" had charted in the pop and R&B charts for Garnet Mimms in 1964. Patti and Linda performed the song with their usual flair, right up to the fast-paced finale, but this remarkable recording would prove to be the last single of the duo 2 Of Clubs for Fraternity. In addition to the titles released during their collaboration with the label, recent research in the original Fraternity tape archives has uncovered the duo's versions of "I'll Come Running Over" - a song previously recorded by Lulu - and "He Calls Me Child," whose authors have not been definitively identified. These two tracks are included in this compilation bringing together all known recordings of the group 2 Of Clubs. The breakup of Linda and Carl's marriage marked the end of the duo 2 Of Clubs' activity. Patti continued to perform in clubs with Carl's orchestra for a few years until she married and settled in Illinois. However, the two women remained friends and reunited under the name 2 Of Clubs for occasional concerts, notably at a major "oldies" festival organized by the WGRR station in Cincinnati in 1999, featuring Little Richard as the headliner. Female duos were too rare in the pop landscape of the 1960s. Let us pay tribute to 2 Of Clubs, one of the best of them.