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The Indianapolis soul album that should-have-been – The Hamilton Movement’s complete recordings, presented in an album form and a bundle including Bernie Grundman’s all-analog lacquered 7″ of their legendary single “She’s Gone” while stock lasts!
You’d be hard pressed to name a song with the driving, emotional intensity and raw energy of the Hamilton Movement’s anthemic ode to heartbreak, “She’s Gone.” Issued as the B-side of the band’s 1976 single “We’re Gonna Party,” and distributed in and around Indianapolis, there is no evidence the song garnered significant attention upon release — yet over the past fifty years it has amassed a cult of devotees across the globe.
But while interest in the group’s music remains strong, little information has surfaced about the Hamilton Movement’s history, and until now, there have been no official reissues of their work. This collection presents the band’s discography, alongside previously unreleased music discovered on tape.
The keys to the Hamilton Movement’s mystery can be found in central Indiana, where promoter Dick Melvin has lived the past few decades, in a rural suburb of Indianapolis, amidst forests and cornfields. Melvin served as the group’s manager throughout their entire existence, but his involvement extended far beyond typical managerial duties. He co-wrote and co-arranged the band’s music; he produced and released their recordings on his Look Out label.
Dick Melvin is also the Hamilton Movement’s archivist. His home is filled with boxes of demo sessions, live tapes, contracts, posters, and promotional photos documenting his work with the Hamilton Movement. He entrusted his archive to Now-Again’s care and we assembled this album under his watch. Dicks’s story, and the story of his band, are presented in an extensive, oversized booklet with Dick’s rarely-seen photos and ephemera and words by Now-Again’s Egon and Naptown historian Kyle Long.
Tracklist:
1. Introduction (Love Man)
2. Love Circuit
3. Send Me Some Love
4. Having A Set At The Disco
5. Your Love (Brings Out The Man In Me)
6. We’re Gonna Party
7. She’s Gone
8. That’s How Strong My Love Is
9. Love Man (That’s What I Long To Be)
10. Dick’s Theme
Credits:
Original sessions produced by Dick Melvin for Pure/Soul Productions.
This anthology produced by Eothen Alapatt.
Liner notes and coordination by Kyle Long.
Licensed from, and all images courtesy of, Dick Melvin.
Restoration and remastering by Jason Bitner.
Production Coordination and Vinyl Transfers by Tanner McCrary.
Tape Transfers by Dan Johnson.
Art Direction by Errol F. Richardson.
“She’s Gone” 7″ cut in an all-analog lacquer by Bernie Grundman.
LP. 2026. NA5287.