The Spinners - PBS Soundstage, WTTW Studios, Chicago, IL, 11-7-1976

Would you believe it? Another "PBS Soundstage" episode. This one stars the Spinners, from 1976.

The Spinners were one of the biggest soul groups of the 1970s. But they actually were formed back in 1954. They were signed to the legendary Motown record label from 1963 to 1972, but they were given a low priority and didn't have much success, other than the hit "It's a Shame" in 1970, which was co-written for them by Stevie Wonder. Things turned around in 1972, when they signed to Atlantic Records and began working closely with producer Thom Bell, who co-wrote most of their hit songs.

The band arguably reached their peak right when this concert took place. The band had multiple lead singers. However, their best known singer was Philippe Wynne. For instance, that's his voice on the hit "The Rubberband Man," which is my favorite song of theirs. By 1976, Wynne got so well known that he wanted the band to change their name to "Philippe Wynne and the Spinners." When the other band members refused, he left for a solo career (which wasn't that successful). He left in January 1977, so this was one of the last concerts with him in the group. The band did have success without him for a few more years, but I think it's nice to have him singing just like he did on many of their hits.

The band played most of their biggest hits up to that point in their career. However, one of their biggest, "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" from 1972, wasn't included for some reason.

This unreleased album is 53 minutes long.

01 It's a Shame (Spinners)
02 I've Got to Make It on My Own (Spinners)
03 The Rubberband Man (Spinners)
04 talk (Spinners)
05 Wake Up Susan (Spinners)
06 talk (Spinners)
07 Then Came You (Spinners)
08 Ghetto Child (Spinners)
09 I Don't Want to Lose You (Spinners)
10 One of a Kind [Love Affair] (Spinners)
11 Love or Leave (Spinners)
12 How Could I Let You Get Away (Spinners)
13 talk (Spinners)
14 Tenderly (Spinners)
15 talk (Spinners)
16 Games People Play [They Just Can't Stop It] (Spinners)
17 talk (Spinners)
18 Sadie (Spinners)
19 Mighty Love (Spinners)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/8vu3sRkJ

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/user/files/OvyEP2FsHrG91f7/file

The cover image is from this exact concert. I took a screenshot from a YouTube video. If you saw just how low-res the video was, I think you'd be amazed at the final result. I had to do a lot of clean up work in Photoshop. Then I ran the result through the Krea AI program multiple times. Philippe Wynne is the one with the glasses and the beard.

Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary - Madison Square Garden, New York City, 5-14-1988, Part 3: The MG’s, Carla Thomas, Paul Rodgers, Miki Howard, Paul Shaffer, Sam Moore, The Elwood Blues Review, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, The Spinners, & Wilson Pickett

Here's the third part of six-hour long version of the Atlantic Records 40th Anniversary concert. 

In the 1950s and 60s, Atlantic Records was mainly known as an R&B/ soul record label, though it broke out into other musical genres by the end of the decade. Most of this section served as a kind of concert within a concert that celebrated the 1960s soul music of the company. Atlantic Records distributed most of the music done by the Stax record label, so all of that was fair game here as well.

In the 1960s at Stax Records, the instrumental group the MG's backed up most of the other lead singers on the label, in addition to having some instrumental hits of their own. Later, key members of that band, like Steve Cropper and Donald 'Duck' Dunn, joined the Blue Brothers band in the late 1970s. Led by comedians/singers John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, they had a hit movie and some hit albums before Belushi died in the early 1980s. For most of this section of the concert, Cropper, Dunn, and other members of the MG's were the backing band. But for a portion of it, their name changed to the Elwood Blues Review, a sort of variant of the Blues Brothers because Aykroyd got involved in those songs too.

That backing band then supported some different lead singers. Carla Thomas was an original Stax star. Paul Rodgers, however, was a big star with Free and Bad Company (on Atlantic Records). Both both of those bands had ceased to exist by the time of this concert. So instead of singing any of his own hits, he sang "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" as a tribute to deceased Stax star Otis Redding. 1980s R&B star Miki Howard also sang a song associated with Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness."

Another big musical act for Stax was the soul duo Sam and Dave (Sam Moore and Dave Prater). Unfortunately, Dave Prater died several months prior to this concert (and the two of them had had a big falling out prior to that anyway). But Sam Moore was at this concert to represent Sam and Dave. Dave Prater was effectively replaced on some songs by Aykroyd, kind of bringing back the Blue Brothers, and was replaced by Phil Collins on two other songs. 

The only odd one out in this R&B section of the concert was Bob Geldof. I'm not sure why he was put where he was in the running order, if indeed this order is correct, but oh well. It was also a bit strange that instead of doing any of his own hits from his Boomtown Rats years, he did a cover of a relatively obscure song by Graham Parker.

The Spinners continued the R&B vibe of this portion of the show, even though they had much bigger success in the 1970s compared to the 1960s. I could only find one song they did. But they also played "Working My Way Back to You" and "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love."

Finally, Wilson Pickett was the star of the last couple of songs here. He was backed by the Elwood Blues Review. I looked at the video, and Dan Akroyd danced around on stage a lot and played some harmonica, but the lead vocals were basically all done by Pickett. Still, this must have kind of been a reunion for Pickett, because the Elwood Blues Review was basically the same as the MG's, and they were the backing band for most of Pickett's hits in the 1960s. Pickett even co-wrote one of the songs he performed here, "In the Midnight Hour," with the lead guitarist on stage, Steve Cropper.

This album is an hour and two minutes long.

043 talk (Dan Aykroyd)
044 Last Night [Instrumental] (MG's)
045 talk (Steve Cropper)
046 Gee Whiz (Carla Thomas & the MG's)
047 talk (Steve Cropper)
048 [Sittin' On] The Dock of the Bay (Paul Rodgers & the MG's)
049 talk (Steve Cropper)
050 Try a Little Tenderness (Miki Howard & the MG's)
051 talk (Steve Cropper)
052 Tramp (Carla Thomas, Paul Shaffer & the MG's)
053 Everybody Needs Somebody to Love (Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
054 talk (Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
055 Soul Man (Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
056 talk (Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
057 I've Been Loving You Too Long (Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
058 talk (Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
059 You Don't Know like I Know (Phil Collins, Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
060 talk (Phil Collins, Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
061 Knock On Wood (Phil Collins, Sam Moore & the Elwood Blues Review)
062 talk (Roberta Flack)
063 talk (Bob Geldof)
064 You Can't Be Too Strong (Bob Geldof)
065 Mighty Love (Spinners)
066 In the Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett & the Elwood Blues Review)
067 talk (Wilson Pickett & the Elwood Blues Review)
068 Land of 1000 Dances (Wilson Pickett & the Elwood Blues Review)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/zi3oxCsd

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/UMkqqccXBZLa7Di/file

The cover photo of Wilson Pickett is from this exact concert.