Ever-reliable, boutique soul reissue specialist, SOUL DIRECTION are lining up a luscious new 7” for early August release. The disc pairs two very different tracks from a group simply called UNITY!
Soul anoraks will know right away that Unity were originally called THE DECISIONS and indeed the Soul Direction team have already released two successful singles on them; they were ‘We’re In Love’ / ‘I Love You’ and ‘ That Girl’/ ‘Come Round Here’.
When the 45s were released we learned that The Decisions were formed in 1965 in Atlanta and consisted of Hildred Thomason, Fred White, Henry Little, Howard Simpson and Harvey Poole who soon left to join the military. To get their music out there, the quartet formed their own label, York Records and on that label they enjoyed two local hits which brought the boys to the attention of Sussex Records where they had some success with ‘I Can’t Forget About You’ and ‘Stop Playing Around’. The Soul Direction singles on the group featured previously unreleased York tracks.
In 1973 The Decisions left Sussex and became Unity and signed to the Apex label. Their best known Apex single is ‘We Can Make It’ / ‘Too Young’ which now sells for upwards of £300!. The new Soul Direction single pairs ‘The Other Side of You’ with ‘Going To A Carnival’ and the SD team tell us that both songs were recorded between 1973 and 1975. ‘The Other Side of You’ is a slick but soulful disco flavoured dancer with Henry Little Jr on lead vocal. ‘Going To A Carnival is a sweet Philly flavoured ballad with a Delfonics feel and Fred White on lead; Fred also wrote both songs.
We’re told that Unity recorded several more sweet soul ballads and crossover soul tracks that until now have remained untouched. SD are hinting that they could be on their way to vinyl soon. In the meantime, ‘The Other Side of You’ / ‘Going To A Carnival’ is released by Soul Direction on August 4th. Find out more @ https://soul-direction.co.uk/
