#1436: Try My Love Again by Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces

Peak Month: December 1966
7 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #97
YouTube.com: “Try My Love Again”
Lyrics: “Try My Love Again”

Robert “Bobby” Moore was born in 1930 in New Orleans. When he was a teenager he joined the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia. While in basic training, Moore learned to play the tenor saxophone. In 1952 he formed a band on the base called the Rhythm Aces made up of members of the marching band. He finished his service to the Army in 1961 and moved to Montgomery, Alabama. It was there he re-formed the Rhythm Aces with his brother Larry Moore on alto sax, Chico Jenkins on vocals and guitar, Marion Sledge on guitar, Joe Frank on bass, Clifford Laws on organ, and John Baldwin Junior on drums.

The Rhythm Aces began to perform around Alabama and further afield as they variously backed Etta James, Kim Weston, Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Otis Redding on the chittlin’ circuit. Gaining a reputation as an excellent band, at the end of 1965 they drove from Montgomery to the Muscle Shoals studio in Florence, Alabama.

At Muscle Shoals they recorded their debut album Searching For My Love. It featured the title track with Moore’s infectious saxophone and Chico Jenkins persuasive vocals. Wayback Machine writer Michael Jack Kirby notes “When “Searching For My Love” came out, many who hadn’t seen them in person assumed Moore was the singer on the record, since the label didn’t show any differently, but it was Chico who gave the group its distinctive sound.” “Searching For My Love” climbed to #1 in Vancouver (BC), in August 1966, and #27 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The next release for Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces was in the fall of 1966. It was a non-album single titled “Try My Love Again”.

“Try My Love Again” was written by Bobby Moore and credited to Robert Moore, his first name – Bobby being his nickname. The lyrics include “Your sweet loving is better than a kiss, and after you leave me baby, sweet kisses I’ll miss.” This is a virtual copy from the lyrics of the 1957 hit by Mickey and Sylvia titled “Love Is Strange”. In that song the duo sang “Your sweet loving is better than a kiss, when you leave me, sweet kisses I’ll miss.” However, there is no indication that any plagiarism lawsuit resulted.

“Try My Love Again” has some evident influences from the emerging sound of music from Jamaica, with early ska influences mixed in with funk and soul. The song involves a pitch from a guy for the one he adores to come back and try his love again. He wants to hear her tell him that she loves him and promises to “always be your man.” He pleads that he’ll treat her right a number of times throughout the song. It may be that she left the first time because he was coming up short in that department. His focus – “I’ve got to make you mine” – reflects a pre-women’s lib sentiment as he adds “I’ll always take care of you.” Of course, back in the mid-sixties far more women were housewives when having a single income with a husband being the breadwinner was still viable, unlike for most families in today’s economy.

“Try My Love Again” peaked at #1 in Charleston, West Virginia, #11 in Los Angeles and #17 in Vancouver (BC) and Wickford, Rhode Island.

In 1967 two of the tracks from Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces debut album, “Mr. Starlight” and “We’ve Got It” were released as a single in Italy. And another track from their debut album, “How Can You Do It Baby”, was released in Belgium. These releases got the band some international appeal, with “Searching For My Love” being snapped up by European record buyers.

In late summer of 1967 Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces had a huge local hit in Tucson, Arizona, titled “Reaching Out” which spent seven weeks in the Top Ten, peaking at #2. The flip side, “Chained To Your Heart” did well in some R&B radio station markets, especially in South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. In the spring of 1968 “I Wanna Be Your Man” made the Top 30 in Pointe Claire, Quebec. After a few more  single releases Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces were released from Checker Records. However, Moore’s group prompted Chess-Checker to sign other R&B recording artists. They gave Etta James a comeback with “Tell Mama”, “Security” and other hits in the late 60s. Chess also signed a fifties doo-wop group called The Dells in 1966. They had a revival of their 1956 hit “Oh What A Night” in 1969.

Michael Jack Kirby notes that based on the popularity of “Searching For My Love”, “the band continued “performing for decades afterward, using their hit song as a drawing card.”

In 1976 Bobby Moore’s Rhythm Aces released their second album, Dedication Of Love. Moore wrote in the liner notes “Bobby Moore and The Rhythm Aces have come a long way since our first recording session ten years ago. It took plenty of hard times and a lot of hard work to get from good too great. But without the help of a group of friends who “believed” in me and the Rhythm Aces, our newest album, Dedication Of Love, would not have been possible.” By 1976 the lineup was altered with Howard Kidd on organ and vocals, Presley Strong on lead guitar and vocals, James Burquette on bass guitar and vocals and Chuck Strong as lead vocalist had replaced Jenkins, Frank, Laws and Sledge. Bobby Moore, his brother Larry Moore and John Baldwin Jr. remained the constants in the lineup.

Dedication Of Love “was a flop of untold proportions. So little copies of that record were sold that it is near impossible to find an original copy anywhere. It’s become a seriously collectible piece that the few copies that remain fetch upwards of $2000 on the used market. Thankfully Jazzman has come on the scene to right this wrong and offer up the first ever reissue of this funk, blues and soul filled album. The label was able to find Bobby Moore Jr. and this release includes extensive liner notes, an exclusive interview and previously unseen vintage photos of the band.”

Bobby Moore died of kidney failure in 2006. The Rhythm Aces have continued to perform since then, with Moore’s son, Bobby Moore Jr., taking over as front man for the band. Crescent Moon Entertainment who represents the band comments that Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces “continues to perform for wedding receptions, fraternity and sorority parties, clubs and corporate events throughout the South.”

October 27, 2019
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Bobby Moore: Leader of the Rhythm Aces,” Independent, UK, March 18, 2006.
Michael Jack Kirby, “Bobby Moore And The Rhythm Aces: Searching For My Love,” Wayback Machine.com.
“Bobby Moore and the Rhythm Aces Bio,” Crescent Moon Entertainment.com.
“Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces “Dedication Of Love 1976 US Soul Funk Masterpiece…!” Johnkatsmc5.blogspot.com, May 13, 2018.
“Boss 30,” CKLG 730 AM, Vancouver, BC, December 31, 1966.

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