The Uptights – You Git’s None of This
Listen/Download -The Uptights – You Git’s None of This
Greetings all.
I come to you in-midweek with a very cool 45 I picked up at the Allentown, all-45 show.
I was flipping through a couple of boxes of records at the table of a dealer that I’ve been seeing at Allentown for years, who usually brings a less expensive, but always interesting selection to the show.
It was the Skye label that caught my eye first. Skye was owned/operated by heavies like Cal Tjader, Gary McFarland and Gabor Szabo, and over the years I’ve always tried to grab their stuff whenever I came across it in the field. Aside from the three principals listed above, Skye released albums by Lena Horne, Armando Peraza, Grady Tate, and the psyche pop of Wendy and Bonnie (among others).
Even if the Skye name meant nothing to me, I very well would have picked up the record in question, on account of what crate digger worth their salt could in good conscience pass up something called ‘You Git’s None of This’ by a group called the Uptights?
I couldn’t.*
I got the record out to the car, and discovered not a funk 45, but rather a powerful southern soul ballad with a fantastic lead vocal. There’s some gospel piano, subtle electric piano accents, horns and backing vocals that sound like the Sweet Inspirations. It has the sound of something written in the Memphis/Muscle Shoals style, but clearly recorded in either New York or Los Angeles.
But guess what?
I can find out NOTHING about the Uptights.
There is a Skye discography that dates the session to 1970, but nothing else. There are so few 45-only artists on the label (all of the other Skye 45s I’ve found are LP tracks) that you have to wonder not only who the Uptights were, but how they ended up on Skye.
Were they backup singers for a bigger artist’s session who impressed someone at the label? A nightclub act that someone saw and brought to Skye?
I just don’t know.
The publishing info on the label doesn’t turn up anything either. There are dozens of ‘Poindexters’ in the BMI database, but no first initials listed on the label.
The song itself (trying multiple variations in the spelling) fails to bring up any hits either.
I’m stumped, which sucks since I love this record and wish I could find the back-story, but it would appear that this isn’t going to happen today.
As always, I hope you dig the sounds, and I’ll be back on Friday with something cool.
Peace
Larry
*UPDATE – BIG thanks to my Facebook friend Joe Cristando who suggested to me that the vocalist on this 45 may in fact be Doris Duke, who recorded another 45 with a group called the Uptights (“Shy Guy”) in 1967. Sure sounds like her to me!
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Themocracy
I might have a little something for you. Robert and Richard Poindexter wrote tons of songs, quite a few with Jackie Members…and at least a handful with Ray Lewis.
The Persuaders…
ana..
Another clue!
Thanks Ana!
Great song, Larry! Keep up the good work
Thank you! Would fit well with the classic “Monica’s Feeling Bitchy” set over at ‘fmu….
Also, “Poindexter, Lewis, Poindexter”, which does make one wonder if someone went looking for another Holland, Dozier, Holland, are credited on (My Girl) She’s a Fox by the Icemen (Samar) out of Rochester, NY. (MG)SAF has been sampled by Amy Winehouse and John Legend. Jimi Hendrix is the lead guitar on it.
Hello I know this is a yr later but “The Upights” were a trio of young ladies that were put together in NY. And no the lead wasn’t Doris Duke but a lady named Barbara, with back ups Lokie, and my grandmother Ella may she RIP. I hope this helps even a yr later.