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John Harris And The Soul Sayers Now Out On 45

John Harris And The Soul Sayers Now Out On 45 magazine cover

Looks like Bear Records of Germany have just pushed out a legal re-issue of 500 copies of this much wanted 45. Comes complete with a look a like pic cover and says sourced from the original tapes

This 45 does have quite an odd background, as it is one of those of obscure releases that has originated from US forces stationed overseas.

Here's the blurb from Bear Records

British Northern Soul DJ Paul Sadot was probably the first to spin Hangin’ In by John Harris & The Soul Sayers. Over a period of several years, the track became a verified hit in that small underground soul community that has since extended all over Europe. At first, there only appeared to be a few copies, all found in America. This is not surprising since John Harris was a black GI. But he was stationed in the Rhineland and played in a GI band, and the song was recorded in Germany. The group toured a little through the Chitlin' Circuit of Europe's U.S. bases, from Germany to Belgium to northern France.

One day, the band showed up at Kerston Records, a label founded by Alfred Kersten. There you could record and take the recordings home pressed as singles. Former sound engineer Kersten remembers an edition of 250 copies. When the Soul Sayers disbanded, the band members probably took the remaining copies back to America. So far, only two copies have ever been found in Germany.

Collectors who have scared up a copy of the original single will have had to dig deep into their pockets. Recently a copy was sold at auction on Ebay for $ 2,900. But now Cree Records / Bear Family Records has unearthed the original tapes. Limited edition of 500 copies, complete with a picture sleeve.

Some of above may be a bit different than some of our own members takes

They can be read via the tag feature...

purchase via Bear Family Records Site

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And as I understand matters, if a song is designated as copyright control, the royalties (for the record release & radio plays) goes into a central kitty that eventually gets doled out to impoverished British ex-recording artists (down on their luck).

So for all the US recorded UK released soul tracks that were MCPS copyright control, not one penny in royalties has ever found its way to any of those US recording artists.

MAY BE WRONG HERE but don't believe I am. 

That's why US artists need to be signed to a decent label (Ace / Kent, etc) or be represented by Paul Mooney or his like over here.

No, MCPS looks after the publishing (song rights) only.

They are not set up to distribute royalties for the use of the master reording. That is the obligation of the record label that releases the master. So a SONG COULD be designated copyright control by MCPS, but that does not mean whoever owns the recording master (which may or may not be the artist) which contains the song, will not have been paid an advance against master royalties, or future royalties when that advance is recouped by the label against sales.

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On 06/09/2013 at 04:09, Wolfgang Fercher said:

Obviously there are two different kinds of limited reissues.

So the total available number is now 1000 copies :g:

https://www.discogs.com/John-Harris-And-The-Soul-Sayers-Hangin-In-What-Can-I-Do/release/4756790

I just got the reissue that has the Kerston logo (versus the Cree logo). It also has a number written on it (282/500). Does anyone know if this reissue is legal? (as I know the Cree/BearFamily is) 

At least it sounds good and clear. 

Thanks!  

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