Walter Spriggs & The Five Echoes - I'm Not Your Fool Anymore / Week End Man (Mod) Music CD

The Chicago based Five Echoes are best known for having been the vocal group that both Earl Lewis (lead singer for The Flamingos) and Johnnie Taylor (a hit-making phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s) both passed through - Lewis joined the group in 1952 when the group was called The Flames, Taylor joined in 1954 when they changed their name to The Five Echoes. The group eventually met up with musician/manager/songwriter/hustler Walter Spriggs, who helped get them their first booking on the club circuit. During the first weekend, they traveled up to Kenosha, WI, and performed at a club called the Right Spot, where they did so well that they were asked to stay for an entire year. By early 1954, with Taylor on board, The Five Echoes became regulars on the Chicago club circuit. On October 1st of 1954, the group backed Walter Spriggs on the single "I'm Not Your Fool Anymore" b/w "Week End Man" for Al Benson's Blue Lake label. A band of Chicago's best were recruited for the session including Sonny Cohn (trumpet), Leon Washington (tenor sax), McKinley Easton (baritone sax), Earl Washington (piano), Jimmy Richardson (bass), and leader Red Saunders (drums). The lineup of The Five Echoes at this session was Earl Lewis (first tenor), Johnnie Taylor (second tenor), Constant "Count" Sims (baritone), Herbert Lewis (baritone) and Jimmy Marshall (bass). The A-side of the single ("I'm Not Your Fool Anymore") is a powerful ballad featuring Spriggs lead vocal, reminiscent of Percy Mayfield - with The Five Echoes coming in dramatically towards the last third of the song. The B-side ("Week End Man") is a catchy horn-driven jump blues delivered nicely by Spriggs with the back-up band firing on all cylinders and The Five Echoes doing their thing. Eventually released a few months later in 1955, this rare gem has been lovingly remastered for this long-awaited reissue.