The Persuasions
Tower Theater,
Upper Darby PA 11/16/74

1. All I Have To Do Is Dream
2. Another Night With The Boys
3. Don't Let Him Take Your Love
4. I've Got To Use My Imagination
5. Just Because
6. Up On The Roof
7. Shoppin' For Clothes
8. Loves Me Like A Rock

Source: AUD (analog) > ? > CD-R
Transfer: CD-R > EAC (secure/offset correct) > WAV > Flac Frontend > FLAC

Time: 34:06
Size: 182 MB

Jerry Lawson - Lead
Jayotis Washington - First Tenor
Joseph Russell - Second Tenor
Jimmy Hayes - Bass
Herbert Rhoad - Baritone

The Persuasions have been a happy mystery in popular music for the past 41 years. While groups such as the Nylons and Take 6 and have made slick, tight a cappella or nearly-a cappella sounds slightly more mainstream, the Persuasions have defied every popular convention on their way to near cult status. Eschewing trends, they’ve sung raw, soulful a cappella with clear gospel roots, never compromising – really never even changing their basic sound – over the course of their careers. What they have done is apply their trademark sound to country, blues, pop, children’s music, rock, gospel and, of course, classic soul in their many albums. More amazing is that this group, which has had zero hits and has only barely charted an album in the Top 100 once (1972’s Street Corner Symphony), has continued to record almost an album per year over the past 30 years for a dozen labels.

The Persuasions were formed in Brooklyn as a group of five 20-something guys who sang on the street corner after work. Jerry Lawson was a store detective, Jimmy Hayes was an elevator operator, Joe Russell was a butcher, Jayotis Washington was a plumber and Toubo Rhodes was a shoe salesman. At first they tried to hire a band, but when the guitar player didn’t show up to their first major performance, they decided to sing it a cappella and they never looked back again. For a few years they sang in local clubs, ultimately getting a break to open for Dionne Warwick in a New York show.

The Persuasions found an unexpected admirer and supporter in avant garde musician Frank Zappa, and in 1969 recorded their first album, A Cappella, on his Bizarre Records. The group then signed with Capitol Records and released three outstanding albums in the early 70s. Two of them, Street Corner Symphony and We Came To Play, are essential. The next few years brought a solid album on MCA and two lesser discs on A&M in which producers tried modern soul musical arrangements in an attempt to transform the group from an a cappella group to a more conventional soul group. In 1977, they recorded perhaps their seminal album, Chirpin’, on, of all labels, the California rock haven, Elektra/Asylum. While diverse in material, these albums stuck more closely to their soul/gospel roots than their later albums would, and hit especially high points on their knockout interpretations of Motown (particularly Temptations) material.

The Persuasions continued to record solid albums along the same lines for the next two decades, generally on smaller labels. More recently, they’ve mixed it up a bit, recording a children’s album, On the Good Ship Lollipop, in 1999, followed by successive tribute albums to Frank Zappa, the Grateful Dead and the Beatles. Over these years they've amassed a collection of fans more diverse than just about any soul group you'll find. They're a real treasure.

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The story of the Persuasions begins in February or March of 1962 as Jimmy "Bro" Hayes remembers it. It was one of those beginnings which seemed serendipitous at the time, yet in retrospect seems fated. You see, all the future members of the Persuasions moved to New York City independently, from different states. They hadn't gone to school together or grown up together. Yet starting about 1960, every day they all went to a basketball court at Green and Washington (pictured on the We Came To Play album) to play with about thirty or forty other guys. After playing, everyone would sing together. Jimmy Hayes heard some of the voices were singing in harmony, but he couldn't identify the individuals. One evening he invited the group as a whole to come to his apartment to have a rehearsal and get together a little group, knowing that his tiny apartment couldn't hold everyone, nor would everyone show up. Four other guys showed up that night. They began to sing before even knowing one another's names. We know them as the Persuasions. They feel it was a spiritual thing.

For a few years they sang in basements, garages and in the subway, where they found a great echo. One of their garage sessions was recorded while they were "just messing around." It was being played in a Jersey City record store which piped the sound onto the street (Stan Krause's?) when David Dashev walked by, heard it and sent the tape to Frank Zappa, who loved it. The decision to go to California and record was a momentous one as a couple of the group had families and they all had jobs. When they said OK they didn't even have a name. Jimmy Hayes was reading the Bible and saw Persuader in it. When he explained to the group his idea, because they were going to have to persuade people to follow a cappella music, everyone agreed immediately. At the time lots of groups ended their names with ions (Temptations, Impressions, etc.) so rather than Persuaders they became Persuasions. Frank flew the guys to California in 1968 to record on his Straight Records label. The album released was a combination of the studio recordings and some very early live tracks. It was a beginning.

In 1969 the Persuasions recorded an album in two tiny studios in Jersey City, NJ. It wasn't released until ten years later. The big label to pick them up was Capitol Records, who released three albums in the early 1970s, including "Street Corner Symphony," which had some tunes listed on the charts and has been their best selling album. The middle of the seventies was a time of upheaval and experimentation. Record labels just didn't know how to market the group. A&M Records tried to make them into a pop group on a couple of instrumentally accompanied albums. Jayotis Washington left the group for a while to be replaced by Willie C. Daniels. The guys zeroed back into their a cappella roots on their one release on Elektra, "Chirpin'," and have never strayed since, though they have done various background gigs for Joni Mitchell, Ned Sublette and many others.

It hasn't been a smooth path for the five Persuasions. Both the ups and downs have been in their lives aplenty. It was as low as it could be when Herbert "Toubo" Rhoad passed away, on the road, in December of 1988. It was up when Spike Lee had them perform on the television special about a cappella music in 1990. That show and the CD released, entitled "Do It A Cappella," was an important moment for both the Persuasions and a cappella music. For the field in general, it put it on the map in a way that had never been done before. For the Persuasions, it established their position in the field as the premier group. They had sung their songs through the decades of a cappella drought and kept the spirit of a vital music alive. Now, as the field of a cappella music flourishes once more, we have to thank these five guys. Jerry Lawson is the lead singer, one of the best ever, who also was primarily responsible for creation of their original music. Jayotis Washington is the first/second tenor who came from Detroit and adds the Motown sensibility to the group, in addition to the beautiful, soaring, high tenor. Perhaps "Sweet" Joe Russell has the most powerful voice at second tenor, but for sure, though all but Jayotis began their singing in southern churches, he adds the gospel element to the group. Jimmy "Mr. Bass Man" Hayes is, well, the bass singer. Not only is his one of the deepest voices singing a cappella but the foundation of all their music begins with his vocal line. As he's the one who initiated the whole thing, so his role as foundation of the group has dual meaning. Then there was Herbert "Toubo" Rhoad, whose solid baritone just glued everything together. Thanks guys.