The Intentions – Dig It (Shovel)
This is an interesting soul/funk 45 out of Chicago that would appear to date from about 1969/70. Not much is known about the group & I have been told by different people that they were & weren’t the same group that recorded for Blue Light as the Intensions, so that just really confuses things. It has also been mentioned that the group may be related in some way to the Pharaohs that have the Scarab & Capitol 45s? The A side is “Dig It (Shovel)” & it is a great piece of group funk while the flip “Blowing In The Wind” is a sublime piece of sweet soul. Recommended if you like records that sound like East of Underground.
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Update (July 28th 2008): It appears that The Intentions are essentially The Pharaohs under a different name. This 45 is likely to be from around 1971 and their guise of The Intentions doesn’t appear to have been used for anything other than this 45. Thanks to Rob Sevier for this extra info.
Update 2 (January 22nd 2009): The Intentions was actually a 5 man vocal group consisting of: Anthony Thomas, Maceo Thomas, Corneilus President, Richard Weddington and Reggie Cotton. They did all of the vocals on Dig it and Blowing With The Wind. The Pharaohs were the backing band in the studio. Members of The Pharaohs wrote the songs & musical arrangements while The Intentions did the vocal arrangements. The 45 was released in the winter of 1970. The song “Dig It” was actually co-written by D. Myrick who actually was Don Myrick of Earth,Wind & Fire, who was most famous not only for being a member of EWF but played the sax solo on the EWF hit song “Reasons” and Fred Walker (Derf Reklaw). Charles Handy composed the flip. The bassist of the Pharaohs also ended up as a member of EWF, as a trombone player in their horn section, his name was Louis Satterfield. Most of their horn section wound up becoming members of EWF. Both songs “Dig it” and “Blowing with the Wind” were done in one day, in one take. It was recorded at Les Tuckers Studio which was then located on the north side of Chicago. This is the same studio where the famous children’s Christmas classic Hardrock, CoCo & Joe was recorded and is still aired every Christmas in Chicago.
Thanks & much respect to Reggie Cotton for this new information & Rob Sevier for tracking people down & allowing information to become available.
6 Comments
Hi, I’m looking for a better scan of the Intentions: Dig it 45 for the use in the Funky Music Records Lexicon. I would need the full label about 600x600pixel/300dpi if possible. Also any deadwax-markings (signs/letters/numbers) which help me to decode the real year of release.
Any help is very much appreciated. Best, Peter
p.wermelinger@bluewin.ch
Holy shit – this is ace!
PS: i love your website
Best wishes,
Oliver
Is this band attached to the following link: http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/the_intentions the same group?
no
grade A funk! very nice…
Hello Everyone,
My name is Maceo Leon Thomas. I am one of the original members of “The Intentions” singing group. As indicated above, our singing group was comprised of five singers. Corneilus President (first tenor) sang lead on “Blowin With The Wind” (the flip side of “Dig It”). Anthony Thomas (first and second tenor) sang lead on “Dig It.” Richard Weddington (second tenor) was also a lead singer. Reginald Cotton sang everthing: first tenor, second tenor and baritone. I was the bass singer of the group.
We principally rehearsed at my house (my grandmother’s house) at 421 East 42nd Place, in Chicago. All of us attended Forrestville High School at 4401 South St. Lawrence Avenue. Our manager’s name was Arthur DuBois. Our assistant manager was a man by the named of Stan. I don’t remember Stan’s first name.
We appeared in a number of talent shows around Chicago. We also performed at various other venues during the 1970’s. And, as just about every other singing group of that day did, we patterned ourselves after the “Temptations.”
Have a magnificent day!
Maceo