1977 Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly “Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly” on Capitol Records.

1970 7” 45 The “Raw Soul” With Frankie Beverly “You Left Me / Open Up, Your Heart” on Eldorado Records.

The day after Frankie passed I was in my local postal spot and my man Dennis was behind the counter with his huge smile, because Dennis loves to talk about music and he knows a square circle when he sees one, even in a mailer, although he doesn’t give a crap about vinyl, it’s all “that sweet old soul”.  So he always asks me what I’m slinging and why I’m giving it away, haha, and do I have any recommendations, and if I’ve ever heard of Bill Withers, because Bill Withers is his man, even though I’ve told him about 632 times that if you’re going to have a man, Bill Withers is a fine choice, and anyway on this day I was probably sending some monotonous Krautrock to Florida, and Dennis said “You heard about Frankie?” and we both sort of bowed our heads, there was nothing to say. He sighed and I sighed and he nodded and I nodded and he said “Welp” and I said “Yeah” and that was that, but in a way it was more heartfelt an encomium than could have been given at a pulpit.

​That night I spun this record about 631 times in a row. For starters, if you’ve never heard of Raw Soul, which was Frankie pre-Maze, let alone seen the B&W live clip of Raw Soul in SF at, I believe, the Fillmore, you must do yourself a favor now, as it’s mind-blowingly good. After that, Frankie moved the band to SF, and then they got a gig opening for Marvin and Marvin loved them but said halfway through the tour, “Look, cat, you got to change that name”, so they became “Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly” because when Marvin Gaye tells you to do something, you do it. Anyway, this record is The Bomb and Maze pure liquid gold and Frankie dearly missed. Oh hell yea.