Whole Lotta Soul - The Ambassadors

"Whole Lotta Soul" by The Ambassadors is the B-side of 45 rpm "Too Much Of A Good Thing". The Ambassadors were a group of musicians from local high schools who wrote and recorded some notable records in the early to mid-’60s. Noteworthy because they were an all-white band playing mostly black soul music on the dance floors throughout the Lancaster area. The band started out as the Seven Dwarfs in 1963 and with the Vietnam war drafting young men, it became necessary to shuffle members to and from the group. Bud Hill and Eric Spitzer were the first new arrivals followed by a wonderful lead vocalist, Don Hodgen. A breakthrough for the band was opening for the nationally hot and charted band “The Kingsmen” whose song ‘Louie Louie’ was on the top of the charts. The venue, the Stahr Armory in Lancaster to a filled arena, announced the coming of a new large local group as the opening act called The New Seven Dwarfs. This was big for Lancaster as well as local musicians. Two things happened that night. First, our cheap transistor keyboard got drenched and refused to play. Fortunately, the Kingsmen pushed their large Hammond B-3 organ with a powerful Leslie speaker in front of the band to use with much success. Secondly, although we played well with the big Hammond, it became apparent that something was missing ...The Magnificent Men a great band from Harrisburg had horns and we realized we also needed them to fill out our sound. With the addition of both sax and trumpet, along with a new Hammond/Leslie, the band became the Ambassadors with a powerful new lineup. Personnel included vocalists Don Hodgen, Lenny Clawges, and Rick Reardon along with Eric Spitzer on lead guitar, Don Senft on bass, Charlie Evans on drums, Burton ‘Bud’ Hill on Hammond and Bob Weaver on sax with Tony Purcell on trumpet. This lineup would remain mostly intact for about three years from 1964 through 1966. During that time, The Ambassadors moved into a series of recording studios including Sigma Sound Studios which became Philly International Records to produce some quality records. Most of the writing was done by Spitzer and Hill with a few exceptions. Spitzer and Hill’s “Too Young For Me” sung by Lenny was the first record that the band released backed up by a hot instrumental called “Pork Chops” written by new drummer Jimmy Hoar. Both of these songs were strong local hits and were often played on the region’s radio networks. The band was getting attention. Other songs followed. “ Those Things Called Girls” backed up by a Lenny Clawges penned song “I Want A Love” was next. This was Lenny’s song and could have been big as it was very heartfelt. But for various reasons, we decided not to release either song at this time. But then the most important song with a great vocal by Don, “Too Much of a Good Thing” was recorded on the Pee Vee label and followed by side two “Whole Lotta Soul.” “Too Much of a Good Thing” received extensive airplay which made the band even more popular. Then both “Too Much of a Good Thing” as well as “Too Young for Me” were picked up by the Northern Soul music fans in Europe. These folks love soul music and made the songs popular worldwide. The records are now expensive collector's items. We wrote several other songs that never made it to vinyl. Like all bands of that time, personnel changes followed. Bill Parmer who had been with the Tranells became the new bass player, Bobby Bitts who came via the Respectables played drums and Mike Sultzbach was added as a second sax. The band reunited several years later and had a long run although it produced no new music. The Ambassadors: One of the first important recording bands from Lancaster PA. These notes come from Eric Spitzer and Burton ‘Bud’ Hill.

Видео Whole Lotta Soul - The Ambassadors канала Joe Seibert