Gerald Alston / The Manhattans

[heikki]

Hi!

The final part of the Manhattans story, covering the past two decades, is available at
http://www.soulexpress.net/manhattans_part5.htm

Gerald Alston's solo career is covered, and all of a sudden there are two sets of the Manhattans.

Best regards
Heikki

[paladin]

Thanks, yes it is two groups....:-[[

[Jerry Oz]

Thanks for the link! The Manhattans will always be one of my favorite groups. In my opinion, Gerald Albright is one of the most underrated soul singers, regardless of era. Their "Love Talk" LP was played constantly in my house as a young man for most of a year and I can still listen to it and enjoy every song.

[paladin]

Gerald Albright is one of the most underrated soul singers, regardless of era.

Jerry I'm just messing with you , but as I was reading your post I couldn't help but laugh out loud.... thanks.....

[Jerry Oz]

Jerry I'm just messing with you , but as I was reading your post I couldn't help but laugh out loud.... thanks.....
Alston. I meant ALSTON! I swear I did!!

Oh, and I think Gerald Albright is one of the most underrated contemporary jazz sax men. Duh.

[heikki]

Hi Jerry!

When writing, I did the same mistake once, before I corrected it. After all, they both appear in the feature.

Best regards
Heikki

[MIKEW-UK]

Heikki, great article on The Manhattans as always.

I remember seeing them in Boston at The Copley Square Hotel about 1988 - only an audience of some 20 people turned up! Not the fault of The Manhattans, there was simply zero promotion. They still gave a great show, and it was a full show, not truncated at all.

I got talking to them after the show and they were kind enough to give me a copy of their new Valley Vue album. The lead singer for them at that time was indeed Roger Harris, and he told me that he was formally very much involved with Larry Blackmon of Cameo. In addition to Cameo, Larry was doing stuff with Cashflow, I seem to recall Roger had some involvement.

Prior to joining The Manhattans he was the lead singer with LA Connection . Again Larry Blackmon wrote / co-wrote all 7 tunes on the LA Connection album.

http://www.discogs.com/LA-Connection-Now-Appearing/release/1510633

Notwithstanding his funk background, Roger Harris was an accomplished Manhattans performer.

On a down note, I was disappointed to read at the end of the article the comments by Blue which confirm what we all know - there are diminishing opportunities for soul artists to record and perform.

Eddie Levert's new album was just released to practically zero publicity / recognition !!!!!!!

http://singersroom.com/content/2012-05-09/Eddie-Levert-on-RB-Lyrics-Not-Every-Girl-is-a-Freak/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/07/eddie-levert-solo-debut-i-still-have-it-kanye-west_n_1497848.html

cheers Mike

[jaybs]

It has been sad how so little has been heard of Gerald I used to keep in touch with him regular and he seemed to drift away< and also The Manhattans.

Gerald has such an amazing vocal with great warmth!

[heikki]

Hi Mike!

Thank you.
I wrote a short bio on Roger in the 4th part of the story. I tried to find him for this article, but nobody seems to know where he is these days.
I'm hoping to be in touch with Eddie in a couple of weeks.

Best regards
Heikki

[MIKEW-UK]

Hi Heikki,

I completely overlooked part 4 of your Manhattans epic!. Sorry, I don't know how that happened. I had read the previous 3 episodes when published. So of course I missed the piece on Roger, and therefore my post was redundant in some parts.

Meticulously researched, I have to compliment you on the breadth and depth of your coverage.

cheers Mike

[Jerry Oz]

It has been sad how so little has been heard of Gerald I used to keep in touch with him regular and he seemed to drift away< and also The Manhattans.

Gerald has such an amazing vocal with great warmth!
There are only a handful of performances that I feel were done to perfection [[perfect "10s", if you will). Gerald Alston's rendition of "Memories" on "Love Talk" was definitely one of them as it took a familiar song and perfected it. So much emotion and, as you stated, warmth resonates in that song. The Manhattans were like the Spinners and Maze feat. Frankie Beverly in that those who appreciate the bands absolutlely love them even though the mainstream never embraced them. It's the mainstream's loss.