Jr. Walker 1967 unissued track - artist ??

[snakepit]

The Unissued Motown set from 1967 has a track called "Nothing for Nothing", credited to Jr. Walker & the All Stars...details from DFTMC

3.12 Nothing For Nothing - Jr. Walker & the All Stars
[[Henry Cosby-Sylvia Moy-Stevie Wonder-Cornelius Grant)
Produced by Henry Cosby
Track recorded June 21, 1967, instrumentation added June 26, strings added July 7, 1967

It sounds like an early working of :

I'm More Than Happy [[I'm Satisfied) [[Henry Cosby-Sylvia Moy-Stevie Wonder-Cornelius Grant) published Jobete 01-Nov-67

alt title: Nothing For Nothing

Stevie Wonder; recorded Hitsville-GW, completed 19-Dec-67 ; produced by Henry Cosby ; arranged by Henry Cosby, Paul Riser ; [v1]


The vocal on this track doesn't sound like Jr. Walker to me.
Any thoughts on this?

[Roger Polhill]

Good one snakepit!
I recently burnt another Jr. Walker Unreleased CD and omitted this track because it didn`t sound like Jr. No saxophone from Jr. either. Could it be Hank Cosby as a demo?

[snakepit]

Roger
that thought crossed my mind too.

[lockhartgary]

[snakepit]

lockhartgary

Thanks for the youtube post

any thoughts?

[Sotosound]

That's definitely the backing track to IMTH[IS]. I'm just glad that it received further attention.

The vocalist sounds familiar-ish but I'm not really sure who it is. If Hank Cosby is the singer accompanying Stevie on "Blowing In The Wind" then it isn't him on this track.

[snakepit]

Clarence Paul backs Stevie on "Blowin' in the wind"

[lockhartgary]

lockhartgary

Thanks for the youtube post

any thoughts?

You are welcome. I haven't anything to add; agree that it is definitely not Jr. Walker.

[Sotosound]

Clarence Paul backs Stevie on "Blowin' in the wind"

Oh well.

On holiday right now. I'll have to listen properly when I get home.

[motony]

not Jr. Walker for sure.Might be a writer/producer.

[psychedelic jacques]

i've just played this track again [it's one of my favourites from the 'unreleased 1967' set]. I just fail to see why this could have been credited in any way to Walker & the All Stars - not only does the vocal, as mentioned, not sound like Junior, there is nothing in the instrumentation that makes it sound like anything more than a fairly raw demo that neither Walker or the All Stars contributed to.

Sadly, with Keith Hughes' death, one person who was involved in the Unreleased sets is no longer able to shed light on things for us, but I wonder if any of the other contributors to this forum who have worked in/on the vaults in the past knows any more about the attribution on this track?

[theboyfromxtown]

It's Willie Woods. Mrs Cosby recognised Willie and confirmed it after speaking with Cornelius Grant. :-)

Mystery solved

[snakepit]

Thanks Crosstown...nice to know these things

[theboyfromxtown]

It was bugging me for the longest time but I knew that Mrs Cosby would be able to come through on this one.

[paul_nixon]

It was bugging me for the longest time but I knew that Mrs Cosby would be able to come through on this one.

Great investigatory work

[psychedelic jacques]

Yes, thanks John, for solving that one. It's interesting to think that, unearthed somewhere in the vault, there might be a version with Junior on vocals.

[theboyfromxtown]

Yes, thanks John, for solving that one. It's interesting to think that, unearthed somewhere in the vault, there might be a version with Junior on vocals.

Pleasure!

If it's there, we've not found it....and we've looked.

[Roger Polhill]

Great work team!!

[jboy88]

It's Willie Woods. Mrs Cosby recognised Willie and confirmed it after speaking with Cornelius Grant. :-)

Mystery solved

It all makes perfect sense now! Technically it is Jr. Walker AND the All-stars. Might have been an attempt to let someone else do the singing.

[robb_k]

I KNEW I had never heard this voice before. I don't remember Willie Woods singing on any cuts
I've ever heard. But, he was a Motown songwriter, along with Autery DeWalt [[r. Walker), so this is him, singing a demo, for another Motown artist to use as a guide to sing this song. But, it just doersn't sound like a Jr. Walker and The All Stars' song.

I DO remember coming across this song in The Master tapes. and also listened to an acetate of the unfinished instrumental tracks of it. I'll have to admit that I liked the instrumentals alone better than Willie Woods singing it. The vocal melody is too "dirgey" foir my taste. Not Willie's fault; just too "Bluesy" and sung with no emotion.