Lee Harris / I Need A Kind Of Love / Forte Blank

[Guest Daddy]

Rare one that turned up in that Forte find a few years ago. It has no label, just a white paper blank. Apparently there was an issue problem at the time, something Marva Whitney related, that meant the labels were peeled off.

Gorgeous track. Ballad/deep. Flip is an unremarkable mid-tempo funk effort.

Open to offers.

Edited August 17, 2010 by Daddy

[Garethx]

What a great record. Some labelled copies have escaped.

[Guest Daddy]

What a great record. Some labelled copies have escaped.

The plot thickens. What price a labelled copy Gareth?

[Diamondjim]

The plot thickens. What price a labelled copy Gareth?

don't know what value but I have this on Pink Forte A-108-C styrene press stamped ZTSC-126178

I've got to have somebodys love/skate, boobaloo and karate too

hope the above is of some use.

[Garethx]

The plot thickens. What price a labelled copy Gareth?

Foolishly I didn't save a scan but It definitely exists. Here's the original soul-source link to the (now missing) auction:

To add more mystery the Lee Harris ballad is also listed on a later number and with a different b-side:

1114 Lee Harris "Everybody Groove With A New Bag/ I've Got To Have Somebody"

The 'blank' is

107/ 8 Lee Harris "Skate Boogaloo And Karate Too/ I've Got To Have Somebody's Love"

(this matches the production log at Columbia Custom where the 45 was pressed as ZTSC 126177-1A / ZTSC 126178-1A in July 1967)

I have no idea whether "Groove" and "Skate" are the same track. Anyone know for sure?

The labels were reportedly removed because it was the one record on the label to feature the specific credit "Produced by Marva Whitney". Label owner Ellis Taylor reportedly soaked the labels himself after his divorce from Ms. Whitney. Whether it was at her insistence or under his own steam is unclear.

The timescale for all this is a bit weird to say the least. The height of Marva Whitney's fame on King records would have been 1968-71. By the early 70s Taylor was still releasing MW product on Forte (as Marva W. Taylor and the MWT Express on different 45s) or leasing her material to other labels (Marva's version of "Don't Let Our Love Fade Away" on Excello). "Daddy Don't Know About Sugar Bear" on Forte sounds like a much older recording and shares the same backing as Lee Harris's other Forte 45, Whatever You Do, Do It Good" (Forte 1111).

A collector in Kansas City named Jim Kelly was pointed in the direction of the remaining Forte stock by Mr Taylor's grand-daughter a few years ago. In total a sealed container in her yard contained around three and a half thousand records, around 300 of which were reportedly the blank of the Lee Harris 45.

As to a value for a labelled copy; who knows? I don't think the boogaloo side is particularly in-demand, but as I said above the downbeat track is really good in my opinion.

Edited August 17, 2010 by garethx

[Sebastian]

To add more mystery the Lee Harris ballad is also listed on a later number and with a different b-side:

1114 Lee Harris "Everybody Groove With A New Bag/ I've Got To Have Somebody"

The 'blank' is

107/ 8 Lee Harris "Skate Boogaloo And Karate Too/ I've Got To Have Somebody's Love"

(this matches the production log at Columbia Custom where the 45 was pressed as ZTSC 126177-1A / ZTSC 126178-1A in July 1967)

I have no idea whether "Groove" and "Skate" are the same track. Anyone know for sure?

The labels were reportedly removed because it was the one record on the label to feature the specific credit "Produced by Marva Whitney". Label owner Ellis Taylor reportedly soaked the labels himself after his divorce from Ms. Whitney. Whether it was at her insistence or under his own steam is unclear.

I haven't heard FORTE 1114, but I just found a scan of it on the net and its label also states "A Marva Whitney Production":

[Garethx]

^

Wow. Never seen that release before Sebastian.

It looks like the labels have been stuck on afterward, rather than at the time of pressing.

Could it be that the story about the original labels being soaked off is slightly wrong and that the reason for re-labelling was to add a Marva Whitney credit, rather than remove one.

It would be great if diamondjim could scan his pink-labelled ZTSC copy.

This would make more sense of the timeline. Marva and Ellis seem to have been together after her career at King, T-Neck etc. rather than before it.

Edited August 17, 2010 by garethx

[Garethx]

With many thanks to diamondjim here is the scan of the pink label copy of Lee Harris:

No mention of Marva Whitney. As I speculated in the post above it seems the story about label removal was to include Marva Whitney's name rather than remove it.

If anyone owns the yellow label copy as posted above by Sebastian it would be interesting to find out if it is simply a re-labelled copy of the 1967 ZTSC stock or a complete re-press with a different b-side. It might even be a re-recording of "I've Got To Have Somebody's Love." Still some questions to answer.

Edited August 17, 2010 by garethx

[Guest Daddy]

Matrix on the blank is ZTSC126 178-1A / 177 -1A too.

No offers yet, would take £50.