Sleeve Notes

The Coalitions story began with a 11 year old child prodigy Little Tony Talent (real name William Anderson) a change of name was soon to follow. So in 1969 with the guys choosing a name that they thought was more relevant to the times they were living in, the Deltones became “The Coalitions”. At this juncture Carl Smith left the group to be replaced by the late Dwight Mitchell.
The Coalitions were to record a song written for them by Wilbert Hart of the Delfonics entitled “Freedom” although this was reputedly never released.
Their big break came in 1974 when under the guidance of producer Michael Nise they recorded “Instead … How Are You/I Don’t Mind Doin’ It (Instrumental)” for Leon Dunbar’s local “Re Dun” label. Michael Nise was later responsible for taking “Instead… How Are You to Jamie/Guyden who picked up the release for national distribution on their Phil. LA Of Soul label (367). The Coalitions hit the road, touring the chitlin circuit to help promote their release. A second release (371) of “Instead … How Are You” was issued in early 1975 this time dropping the instrumental flipside in favour of a vocal outing “Later Than You Think”.
The highlight of this period for the group was being invited to open a concert in Philadelphia for The Jackson Five. After the Phil. LA Of Soul adventure closed The Coalition entered a barren period recording wise during which time Bruce Dunbar left the group. His position would later be filled by Bruce Fauntleroy, with a fifth member Stephen Ferguson also joining the group. In 1979 with the group line up of Tony Anderson (Talent), Alan Williams, Bruce Fauntleroy, Milton Williams and Stephen Ferguson the Coalitions embarked on a vanity project to record the “Colour Me Blue” album which they spent most of their spare time on over the next two years until the project was completed. But due to lack of finance the finished product was sadly never issued.
Following a decade of relative inactivity the Coalitions rediscovered their passion to perform once again. So in 1995 under the new group name of “Ol’ Heads” Tony with former Coalition members Alan Williams and Bruce Fauntleroy and additional member Alfonso Smith recorded the “Before You Go” album. The Late Donald Murphy was the producer on the “Before You Go “project. He also featured as a songwriter on the project along with Marty Sutton. The album was recorded at Gerald Levert’s “Trevel” studio in Cleveland Ohio.
A further name change and album project followed in 2003 when under the pseudonym of “The Rheel Menn” the group recorded the “Keepin’ It Rheel” album. The group had by now grown to six members with Tony McFarland and Leonard Deans (both former members of the group, Maximum Level) joining Tony Anderson (Talent), Bruce Fauntleroy, Alan Williams and Milton Williams (who later left the group).
Returning to the previously mentioned “Colour Me Blue” unissued album. After lying dormant in the can for circa 30 years it was recently rescued from obscurity by Soul Junction’s Philadelphia A&R representative, Charles Anderson. A lead 45 featuring two of the album tracks “The Memory Of You” and “On The Block” was released for the first time during 2011 ( SJ512).
David Welding 2013