Westbound Records was founded late in 1968 by Armen Boladian (at the suggestion of Mike Hanks) and became active in 1969. The label features much of the output from Funkadelic and the Detroit Emeralds, but attracted other well-known Soul and R&B singers. Boladian also set up Jazz and Gospel divisions. From 1970 to 1975, Westbound Records’ output was distributed by Chess/Janus Records. Then for two years, distribution was handled by 20 Century-Fox. In 1977 the label’s name became just Westbound, with distribution taken over by Atlantic, until 1983, when recording activities ceased. Surprisingly, given the presence of Holland, Dozier, Holland in the city, Boladian’s enterprise became the second biggest record company in Detroit, after Motown of course. The output from Westbound was consistently good, with a nod or two to past glories of Soul and R&B, but Boladian wasn’t afraid to experiment too. On the Ace Records UK website, Westbound is described as “one of the most adventurous mainstream record labels to commit music to vinyl”. Since the early nineties, Ace has been re-issuing much of Westbound’s catalogue, including some unreleased songs. Subsequent Ace compilations provide an excellent overview of the label’s strengths.
Funkadelic was the label’s main act. The company put out a series of nine Funkadelic albums between 1970 and 1976, before the band moved to Warner Brothers. In addition, they released seventeen singles during that time. A live album was later released by Westbound in 1996. 1971’s “Maggot Brain” album is the most significant. It set the agenda for much of Westbound’s output and took Detroit’s R&B music in a new direction.
In 1969, one of the band’s first Westbound recordings was “Can’t Shake It Loose”, a cover of Pat Lewis’ Golden World recording in 1966. It wasn’t released at the time, but can be found on some later compilations, including 1992’s “Music For Your Mother”. It is recognisably Detroit R&B. What they did release was the 1969 single “I’ll Bet You”, which is a different proposition altogether. Psychedelic Funk was about to burst onto the Detroit music scene. The 1970 single “I Wanna Know If It’s Good To You” confirmed that the new sound was no flash in the pan. The song was co-written by four members of the band, Billy Nelson (bass), Eddie Hazel (guitar), Fuzzy Haskins (vocals) and leader George Clinton, who also produced the track. The guitar playing and percussion create a psychedelic mood on the vocal track (Side A) and stand out even more on the instrumental version on the B-side.
The Detroit Emeralds came to Detroit as a trio, brothers Ivory and Abrim Tilmon plus their friend James Mitchell. They had their first chart entry with the single “Show Time” on Ric-Tic Records in 1968, but the follow-ups didn’t sell well. In 1969, the group moved to Westbound, where, within a year, they had racked up two more entries on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart with “If I Lose Your Love” (number thirty-two) and “I Can’t See Myself Doing Without You” (number forty-one). The backing tracks for their early Westbound releases were recorded at Willie Mitchell’s Hi Records studio in Memphis, with strings and vocals added in Detroit. The band were touring in Memphis at the time, and it seemed a good idea, given the quality of Willie Mitchell’s recordings. It was a successful arrangement, so it was repeated. A few other Westbound artists adopted the same approach. The string section was usually led by Carl Austin, while Johnny Trudell took charge of the horns.
1971 was an even better year for the band. They acquired a backing band, teaming up with Chapter 8, which seemed to work well. The Detroit Emeralds issued three singles during that year, all of which charted on both the Billboard R&B Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. The last of the three also gave the group their first UK success, when “You Want It, You Got It” reached number twelve on the Official UK Pop Singles Chart.
“Baby Let Me Take You (In My arms)” achieved their highest chart rankings to that point, reaching number twenty-four on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number four on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, although it failed to register in the UK. The song was written by group-member Abe Tilmon, arranged by Abe Tilmon and Johnny Allen, and produced by Katouzzion. That same team put together their next single, “Feel the Need in Me”, which put right the previous failure in the UK, with an entry at number four on the Official UK Pop Singles Chart in late 1972. Strangely, the Billboard entries for the song were not as good as that. In 1973, “You’re Getting’ a Little Too Smart” made it to number ten on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, but from there, the group’s success faded. Around 1974, the group split up. Abe Tilmon headed the new Detroit Emeralds and James Mitchell teamed up with his brother Paul in the Floaters. Later, James Mitchell, Ivory Tilmon and Marvin Willis reformed the Detroit Emeralds to tour the “Nostalgia” circuit.
Westbound issued three albums by the group between 1971 and 1973, all of which made low entries on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart but made the top forty on the Billboard R&B Albums Chart. After the band split up, the company released two further albums, which failed to chart.
The Ohio Players came together in 1959 in Dayton, Ohio, calling themselves the Ohio Untouchables. They were signed to Compass Records in New York in 1964 and later became the Ohio Players, before they moved to Capitol Records on the West Coast in the late sixties. The group was disbanded in 1970, but reformed the following year and joined Westbound Records. Between 1959 and 1971, there had been many changes in the group’s membership, which was now Leroy Bonner (guitar), Greg Webster (drums), Marshall Jones (bass), Clarence Satchell (saxophone, guitar), Bruce Napier (trumpet), Charles Dale Allen (vocals), Marvin Pierce (trombone), and Walter “Junie” Morrison (keyboards). James Johnson (saxophone & vocals) was soon added after their arrival at Westbound.
Between 1971 and 1973, Westbound issued five singles and three albums by the group. The first single, “Pain”, took them into the charts, reaching number sixty-four on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number thirty-five on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The two follow-up singles did less well in 1972, with just one low R&B entry, but there was a major breakthrough in 1973 with “Funky Worm” climbing to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, achieving gold certification from the RIAA. Their fifth Westbound single “Ecstasy” also sold well, reaching number thirty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number twelve on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart, consolidating their new-found success.
The Ohio Players 1975
Photo: Mercury Records Trade Ad (Wikimedia Commons)
The three albums also all made the charts, with 1972’s “Pain” selling a million copies. In 1974, the Ohio Players moved to Mercury Records where they had even greater success.
Denise LaSalle came to Westbound in 1970, after working at Chess Records for a while and then briefly at Tarpon Records. In 1969, she had set up a production company (Crajon Enterprises) and a record company (Crajon Records) with her then husband Bill Jones, the Chicago record producer, and recorded her fourth single “Too Late To Check Your Trap”/ “The Right Track” for the label. The A-side is probably a Chicago recording, whilst the B-side is pure Memphis, written by John D. Jones and arranged by Willie Mitchell. If the folk at Westbound heard “The Right Track”, it is no surprise that LaSalle was signed to the Detroit label in 1970.
Her first Westbound single takes the B-side of the Crajon release as its A-side, arranged by Chicago’s Eddie Silver and pairs it with a new B-side arranged by Willie Mitchell in Memphis. Both songs were written by LaSalle, using her first married name D. Craig for one and her second married name, Ora Denise Jones, for the other. The single failed to sell, but success wasn’t far away.
The second Westbound release was issued in 1971, with another LaSalle composition “Trapped By A Thing Called Love” on the A-side and “Keep It Coming” written by Martha Stubbs on the B-side, with both tracks arranged by Willie Mitchell. It was her strongest combination so far; the single sold over a million copies, reaching number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number one on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The Detroit/Memphis partnership was working well! The two follow-up singles from 1972 sold slightly less well but still made it into the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and the top four of the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. “Now Run and Tell That” and “A Man Sized Job” (which hit number one on the Cash Box R&B Singles Chart) are again Memphis/Detroit productions of LaSalle or Stubbs songs, with Memphis trumpeter Gene “Bowlegs” Miller added to the arrangements. LaSalle’s voice is stronger than ever.
Eleven more singles were released between 1973 and 1976, six of which entered the R&B chart, but none matched the success of the earlier songs. Westbound also released three studio albums between 1972 and 1975, with middling chart success, and a compilation album “Doin’ It Right” in 1973. There is an excellent compilation of LaSalle’s Westbound singles, “Making A Good Thing Better”, issued by Westbound in 2013. In 1976, LaSalle switched to ABC Records and relocated to Jackson, Tennessee. This was the last track that Denise LaSalle recorded with input from Willie Mitchell in Memphis. Later releases were Detroit-only recordings.
The Fantastic Four started out at Ric-Tic Records in 1967 (See Icons of Detroit Part 1). They moved to Motown Records as part of Berry Gordy’s acquisition of Ric-Tic in 1968 and had a Billboard R&B Singles Chart top twenty hit with “I Love You Madly”. Motown released several more singles but the group didn’t make any real progress and stopped working in 1970.
Three years later, Armen Boladian convinced them to start recording again, signing them first to his subsidiary label Eastbound and then to the main label. They stayed for five years, building up a solid body of work, which included four studio albums (one each year from 1975 to 1978), two Eastbound singles, nine Westbound singles and, later, two multiple album compilations on CD. The majority of the early songs are slow ballads with percussion adding a slight funky edge; all are good examples of Detroit Sweet Soul.
However, the best of the singles came in 1973 with the release of “Alvin Stone (The Birth And Death Of A Gangster)”, produced by Al Kent. The title is a clear indication that this is not a love song! The song was also written by Al Kent (a.k.a. Albert Hamilton) with Calvin Colbert, with a wonderful arrangement by Paul Riser that lifts the song to a higher level. By contrast, the B-side is a reprise of one of the Eastbound ballads, “I Believe In Miracles (I Believe In You)”, again the work of writer A. Hamilton with Norma Toney, Hamilton’s wife. Between them the two tracks sum up the Fantastic Four’s qualities.
1976’s “Hideaway” ups the tempo with a steady Northern Soul beat and 1977’s “I Got To Have Your Love” takes them into the world of Disco. That journey is completed with “B.Y.O.F. (Bring Your Own Funk)”, produced and arranged by ex-Motown guitarist Dennis Coffey. The single gave the group their only UK chart entry!
Westbound was the most important R&B label in Detroit, after Motown.
Header Image: Ace Records UK Westbound Compilation
