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Five Special were a five-man harmony vocal group from Detroit whose members included Mike Pattillo, Steve Harris, Zeke Stanley, Greg Finlay and Bryan Banks (the younger brother of Dramatics’ main man Ron Banks). The aim of these five young men was to create a group with the potential of anyone of its members to be able to step up to sing lead on any given song, something which they went on to achieve to great aplomb.

Ron Banks was very instrumental in the founding of Five Special introducing them to his long-time friend Charles “Chuck” Underwood, a one-time former road manager of the Dramatics and by then the owner of the independent T.E.A.I Record Corporation label (T.E.A.I being an abbreviation for “Tellin’ Everybody About It”). Five Special’s first release for T.E.A.I was the 1976 joyously uplifting dancer “The More I Get To Know You” a Jimmy Roach and Marcella Henderson composition featuring Bryan on lead, released as a part I and part II deemed to be a more disc-jockey friendly practice at the time. The record was popular with radio stations throughout the Detroit metropolis leading Chuck to precure a deal with Polygram which resulted in the song gaining release on their nationally distributed Mercury label. A second Five Special Mercury release followed in 1977, the Jimmy Roach penned mellifluous “(Let’s Stop Making) Small Talk” backed with the Ron Banks/Paul Clark penned psychedelic soul styled “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with Greg Finley and Zeke Stanley exchanging tenor and baritone parts throughout.

Through our ongoing working relationship with T.E.A.I Soul Junction have gained access to some previously unissued master tapes on Five Special which were recorded for an intended album project that was never finished. From these tapes we took “The More I Get To Know You” in its 5:50 minutes entirety (not split into parts 1 & 2) backed with the previously unissued mid-tempo delight “You Got To Be The One That I Love” with interchanging leads from Bryan and Steve coupled with the released psychedelic soul “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with interchanging leads between Greg and Zeke, catalogue number SJ565, currently a very popular release amongst Collectors and DJ’s alike. For our second and follow up Five Special 45 release, we have chosen to lead with the gorgeous, previously unissued “Two OF A Kind” penned by Ron Banks with lead vocals being provided by Steve Harris. The B-side of this release opens with another unissued psychedelic song, the Ron Banks/Chuck Underwood composed “Stone Chain Reaction” featuring punchy interchanging lead vocals from Greg Finley and Zeke Stanley, this is coupled together with the released mid 1970’s sweet soul masterpiece from the pen of Jimmy Roach “(Let’s Stop Making) Small Talk” making this yet another quality three track release from Soul Junction.

Five Special were a five-man harmony vocal group all from Detroit, formed during 1975. Founding members Mike Pattillo of ‘The Explosions’ and Steve Harris of the group ‘Trouble’ both unhappy with their then situations decided to unite to form their own group. They were soon to be joined by Zeke Stanley of “Deep Velvet”. As a threesome, the sound they created was fantastic but they all agreed a five-man group with five potential lead singers was the way forward.

It was around this time that Mike Pattillo’s lifelong neighbour Ron Banks (of The Dramatics’) introduced the guys to Charles “Chuck” Underwood. Chuck had been involved in the music business from the early 60’s as a show promotor, one of many acts he promoted was The Dramatics. Chuck had known the group from their earliest days and later became their road manager. After a failed attempt to buy the Dramatics contracts from Groovesville Music, Chuck pressed ahead with his plans to form T.E.A.I Record Corporation (T.E.A.I being an abbreviation for “Tellin’ Everybody About It”) with Ron Banks joining the label in an executive role only. This young and aspiring record company sprung into production during 1974 with initial releases on a local artist’s Renee Williams “Special To Me/Are You My Brother”, followed by ‘The Gaslight’ “Just Because Of You/It’s Just Like Magic” in 1975.

Now under the auspice of Chuck, Mike, Steve and Zeke were introduced to Greg Finley formerly of the ‘Innovations’. Now four, the quest for a fifth member continued. After months of disappointing auditions, Ron Banks decide it was time for his younger brother Bryan to embark on a professional career after initially resisting due to him being a 16-year-old school boy. After many daily rehearsals in each other’s respective basements until Bryan’s graduation the full and dynamic sound of these five young men was finally honed. Still nameless, it was Steve Harris that came up with the group’s name ‘Five Special’ stating that these five young men were “very special and unique entertainers, with each member being a complete show in himself” with Bryan on lead they sometimes sounded like “The Dramatics” with Mike they sometimes sounded like “The Temptations” high comparisons indeed.

Five Special’s first recording for T.E.A.I was the 1976 joyously uplifting dancer “The More I Get To Know You” a Jimmy Roach and Marcella Henderson composition featuring Bryan on lead, released as a part I and part II deemed to be a more disc-jockey friendly practice at the time. The record was popular with radio stations throughout the Detroit metropolis and Chuck went on to precure a deal with Polygram which resulted in a release on their nationally distributed Mercury label. A second Five Special release followed in 1977, the Jimmy Roach penned mellifluous “(Let’s Stop Making) Small Talk” backed with the Ron Banks/Paul Clark penned psychedelic soul styled “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with Greg Finley and Zeke Stanley exchanging tenor and baritone parts throughout.

Through our ongoing working relationship with T.E.A.I we have gained access to some previously unissued material on Five Special. From the tapes we have taken “The More I Get To Know You” in its 5:50 minutes entirety backed with the previously unissued mid-tempo delight “You Got To Be The One That I Love” with interchanging leads from Bryan and Steve. The second b-side track is the psychedelic soul “Oh, Oh (Look What We’ve Done)” with interchanging leads between Greg and Zeke. Three songs, three different styles all of the highest quality, with more to come from Five Special, so watch this space!

Nothing said new or modern or futuristic quite like a synthesiser in the 70s and 80s. If you were shooting an advert and you wanted your product or your company to appear forward-thinking and ahead of the game, then you would want something electronic, something out of the ordinary. When TV producers and advertising directors started searching for music that sounded like “Tubular Bells” – and then Tomita, and later Jean Michel Jarre – music libraries such De Wolfe, Bruton, Parry and Chappell had to have the tracks readily available.

Compiled by Bob Stanley, “Tomorrow’s Fashions” varies from advertising jingles and TV themes to space exploration and gorgeous, beatless ambience. Though it’s 40-to-50 years old there’s a real freshness to this music. Older jazz players Brian Bennett, John Cameron, Alan Hawkshaw and others seized the chance to operate a synth; younger pups including John Saunders and Monica Beale were simply intrigued by the new technology being wheeled into the studios. There’s a tangible sense of adventure.

“Tomorrow’s Fashions’” brand of electronica anticipated new age and ambient music. It also had both a direct and indirect influence on pop – the early Human League and the future sounds of Warp Records are all over this collection. Electronic library tracks have been sampled by everyone from MF Doom to Kendrick Lamar.

One person’s primitive and experimental is another person’s space-age lullaby. This was music made in the shadows – in Soho’s secretive music library studios – that has now become desirable and influential. The chances are chunks of it will be sampled and used on hit records that have yet to be written. If the musicians’ aim was to soundtrack tomorrow’s fashions, they couldn’t have got it more right.