St. Louis Union was a
Manchester six piece fronted by singer
Tony Cassidy. They won a
Melody Maker beat contest in 1965 which scored them a deal with
Decca. They were billed as "THE Group on the Northern Soul Scene." Their sound was centered around
Alex Kirby's tenor saxophone and
Keith Millar's electric guitar backed by some serious organ by
Dave Tomlinson and
Dave Webb on the skins.
Their live set was built around
"Turn On Your Lovelight," "Woke Up This Morning," "Every Day I Have the Blues" and
"Get On the Right Track Baby."
Their name seems to be a reference to the
St. Louis Union Station, a train station famous, like many things in St. Louis, as having been the biggest and busiest thing in its field way back when. Its archways are designed so that one can whisper into them and someone else can hear you clearly on the other end, a design feature with no apparent practical applications, save simple amusements in a simpler time. It was largely built of
limestone taken from Indiana, probably just to remind the Hoosiers who's boss, as the state of Missouri is entirely made of limestone and they're the nation's leader in
lime production.

Truman having a laugh at St. Louis Union Station
In the 1970s, the station was bought by
Amtrak. They ended operations soon afterward and relocated their operations to a building the unhealthily train-obsessed refer to as Amshack. Now it's a mall where tourists watch the guys at the Fudge Factory
put on a show and the Footlocker has a basketball hoop with the backboard autographed by the
D.O.C.