“Before people starting taking an interest in the record I hadn’t seen these girls in around twenty years,” states Alvin Lofton as we pull out of car park of a local Rochester record store. Three of the girls he’s referring to are sitting in the car in front of us. Kim Mcfadden, Helen McGowen and Beverly Howard, who along with Beverly’s sister Salena, were collectively known as the Darling Dears.

Softly spoken and generous to the hilt, Alvin, the group’s producer and appointed trustee of the Darling Dears legacy, has spent the last few weeks on the phone to lawyers, local radio DJs and any journalist willing to lend him an ear. Since their 1972 opus started peppering DJ playlists, bootleg soul compilations and Ebay auctions he’s made it his mission to make sure that he and the girls are done right by once and for all.

“If we manage to make any money from all this interest I want to first lot to go to the group,” he tells me as we wait at the lights.

Both Alvin and the Darling Dears are Rochester born and bred. The city sits a laborious but picturesque eight hour train ride up state from New York City. Over the years it has been for known for Eastman Kodak, flowers and its music scene. From, garage bands, rock n roll Johnny Cash wannabes, jazz cats and R&B bands, Rochester has produced more than its fair share of musical talent; most of which found a home on local legend Vince Jan’s Fine Records.

In his early ’20s Alvin was making a buck promoting soul artists such as Black Ivory, Carla Thomas and Barbara Mason. He can still regale you for hours in affectionate manner about the tantrums, talents and vices of the various artists he worked with and still maintains an extensive cache of photos from the golden era of soul.

As a producer thought-out the ’70s his name graced but a smattering of 45s. At least, Lawrence and Lopton do, not aliases, just regrettable typos. Lofton never made it to print. The last record he produced was for a local Rochester band, Clarence and the Speed of Sound. The groups 1979 release “Come Party” verges on the bus stop funk sound that was pulling up to the bumper as the shitty but pretty era began to clean up its act.

Back in ’72, whilst holding court as the president of the Carla Thomas Fan Club, he met Mary Ann Bradford; Kim McFadden’s elder sister and Darlings Dears’ manager. Together Alvin and Mary pulled together the $200 needed to book the group a few hours in the Fine Records basement studio on Thurston Road.

When they made their way down the steep steps to Vince’s studio, the high school friends were joined by local R&B band Funky Heavy. With Vince on the boards manicuring the sound on the most basic of studio equipment, they recorded two songs, “And I Love You” and “I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another;” two sides of unique sounding soul full of the energy and naivety associated with youth.

“We used to go down to this place called St Monica’s,” remembers Beverly Howard of how they first got together with Funky Heavy. “They used to be down there practicing so we said ‘let’s go down there and see what they’re doing.’”

“They didn’t dance,” she smiles, “we put them how to dance and told them they need to move when they’re playing their instruments.”

“We encouraged them,” states Funky Heavy’s drummer Bruce Pitts remembering things a little differently. “They looked up to us; we were all the same age but we had a little name here in the city. They could dance and Beverly could sing. They took it upon themselves to start a singing group; they were really good and they performed with us a little bit.”

“We all used to hang out together, just hanging around dancing and stuff,” recalls Helen. “Then the Jackson 5 came out and we started getting into them.”

“We started getting into their mode of singing and way of dancing,” recalls Beverly of the time spent studying and emulating the brother’s footwork.

“Everybody used to love our choreography,” states Helen proudly as she recalls the admiration the group received from their High School peers.

“I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another,” originally written by Joe Tate, an artist Alvin was promoting at the time, is a usual ballad of heartbreak and the vagaries of love. What makes it stand out from the usual fare is a combination of clever studio techniques such as the reverberated ethereal harmonies, all augmented by Pitts’ vehement drum beat.

“I just played what I felt,” remembers Bruce. “I’m not a reader and I’m sixteen years old on that track. I was just trying to be dynamic and forceful; that’s all.”

“I actually wanted to turn it [the drums] down but we couldn’t,” Alvin recalls. “We dealt with an 8-track so there wasn’t too much we could do. They had one or two mics, the band had their mics, the drummer had a mic and that was it.”

“I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another” was backed with a Lofton and Funky Heavy original, “And I Love You”.

“The band had the music,” states Alvin, “and I took the music home, listened to it and wrote the lyrics to it.”

Throughout the song the reverberated wah-wah guitar and clamorous drums again underpin the Darling Dears’ sweet soul vocals and harmonies whilst the Funky Heavy horn section adds a celebratory element to this paean of newfound love.

“[At school] they were amazed that we’d cut a hit record,” smiles Helen. “They had always looked at us like, ‘oh they’re doing the Jackson 5,’ but when we came out with the record we had our own name.”

1000 copies were pressed on Flower City Records and a number were distributed amongst local radio stations, record shops, family and friends. The rest sat in the Fine Studios basement. After the fire and subsequent flooding that destroyed the studio in 1977 only fifty or so copies of the record survived setting it up to become a holy grail of rare and collectable soul.

“Unfortunately the only real station that played the record was WCMF,” remembers Alvin, “and they were two guys, Herb Hamlet and Little John. They helped us but that was only played on Saturday mornings. I think we did get a little airplay from the college stations.”

For the Darling Dears whatever fame was generated from the release of the record remained of the local variety. Much beyond high school peer admiration and family pride failed to materialise for the young quartet. Funky Heavy on the other hand faired more successfully. Already a more established group when they recorded with the Darling Dears they’d always had their eyes focused on a career on the music business. They soon left Rochester for New Jersey, spent some time in Rock Island, dined with Led Zeppelin and eventually found fame in the late ’70s as The Voltage Brothers.

Before heading back to New York City, Alvin treats me a pizza from a small Italian cafe. Whilst tucking in slurping cokes we school each other on our individual expertise; him on the history of soul music in general, me on the capriciousness of the modern day record collecting market.

“What are people looking for nowadays?” he asks.

“Stuff with drums”! I reply. “That’s what makes that Darling Dears record standout.”

“Really,” he ponders. “I thought it was the guitar.”

“I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Love Another” and “And I Love You” are being reissued by Culture of Soul in March.

http://www.culturesofsoul.com/