Bob & Earl - Loma 2004 & Mirwood 5507

[45cellar]

In 2013 are these considered to be Ultra Rare or simply not there.

[45cellar]

Mirwood 5517 but was there a Mirwood 5507 ?

 

[45cellar]

Released in the UK & Germany

 

[Roburt]

Hasn't it already been established that the B&E Loma release doesn't actually exist. 

Edited March 23, 2013 by Roburt

[45cellar]

Wasn't aware of that

 

As both appear on Label Listings, they must have been shelved as a release quite early.

It would be Incredible if after all these years a copy was to turn up, I must admit.

 

Have these now been 100% sorted as not there in any form, either Loma or Mirwood.

[Roburt]

There was a long Loma thread on the old RARESOULFORUM .......... sadly that's now lost to us.

[45cellar]

That is a shame as there's very little on the Internet regarding these two releases, hence the question.

As Bob & Earl left their mark in the 60s and Loma & Mirwood are well known labels, I'm surprised that more Isn't known.

[Dave Moore]

Hi Roger,

 

The Loma 45 was discussed heavily on the old Hitsville forum as well as the raresoulforum   Plus the article in There's That Beat! failed to reach a conclusion as the validity of the US 45. Wasn't there a flaw in the track on the European release?   I seem to remember either poor quality or an actual skip (?) in the Euro release? Maybe that has something to do with it maybe being shelved? 

 

You're right though, I think one would have shown by now if it wa sout there eh?

 

Dave

 

PS....  You know the score though, the minute "it was never released", someone will post a scan (Hopefully!)

[45cellar]

Hi Dave

Yes, I remember this being discussed on Hitsville forum.

 

It is strange that Warner Bros decided to release it in other countries and not in USA.

 

Makes me wonder how this happened when many tracks were simply unreleased and left in the Vaults.

If there was no airplay in the USA then that wasn't the driving force behind the UK & German release.

The track must have been known by someone at the time or heard somewhere to request its release.

Therefore Master Tapes must have been used as no disc available to Dub from.

It's a bit Unusual to say the least.

 

Could be a quality issue as you mention.

 

As for a copy turning up on Loma ?

Agree that you can never say never in the collecting world.

[Roburt]

Bob & Earl were always big in the UK (& in other parts of Europe) .........

"Harlem Shuffle" sold solidly from its 1st release here (1965) right thru to 1969 and beyond .....

.... so any label with access to Bob & Earl tracks were putting them out to get some easy sales off the back of HS.

That was why, IMO, UK Warner Bros released "Everybody Jerk" in 69 (when "Harlem Shuffle" was on the pop charts).

[Amsterdam Russ]

Harlem Shuffle saw lots of action across Europe when it was released for the second time in 1969. It climbed as high as number seven in the UK charts, and - according to one online source - rose to eight in the Dutch charts, and 14 in Belgium (scans, anyone?). It must also have done well in Germany at this time.

It was exactly because of this success that Warner's released Everybody jerk (but not the original flip, Just one look in your eyes).

Does Loma 2004 exist? Well, I've been keeping an eye out for it for a good 10 years now - still am - but haven't had a sniff of its existence. I suspect though that there is (or was) at least a WB acetate or two of it. How else would you play cuts at in-house meetings when discussing forthcoming releases?

Having said that, there is one small clue, of sorts, that makes me think that copies do exist somewhere.

In issue 50 of the music fanzine Hot Buttered Soul, published in 1977, Chris Savory wrote a detailed article on Loma - this coinciding with the release of the ambitious 7-LP anthology, a project overseen by the late Claude Nobs.

Chris very kindly gave me permission to reprint that article on my site. While there are numerous factual errors - generally assumptions made with the limited knowledge of the day - Chris had one great advantage when doing his research on the label: he'd been sent a copy of the Loma archive files by Dave Walters of WEA.

https://www.lomarecords.com/loma-story.html

Towards the end of the piece, Chris mentions in passing the fact that the label has another 'missing' release - Ike & Tina Turner - Recorded Live (vol 1), which actually came out on the parent label. Here's what he wrote:

"Loma managed to release five albums — three by Redd Foxx, one by Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes, and one by Ike and Tina Turner. The latter album is a ‘Vol 2 recorded live’ and as the issue number before this album shows no release, I suppose you could safely assume that this was scheduled to be ‘Vol 1 recorded live’. "

See what I mean about the errors? That aside, the clue, or rather, the half-clue, is in the fact that the 'missing' album didn't get a release number in the Loma catalogue. A precedent is set. No release - no release number.

It's weak, of course, but the fact is that the Loma archives do show a release number for Bob and Earl. There is no mention in the files of Loma 2004 being withdrawn or shelved - otherwise Chris Savory would have mentioned it. Quite the opposite, he mentions the track safe in the assumption (based on the archive information he has to hand) that it did get a release.

This isn't proof, of course, but - and presuming there was some consistency in the Loma administration - it does offer the tantalising possibility that, no matter how elusive it's proven to be for nearly 50 years, Loma 2004 - Bob and Earl: Everybody Jerk, is out there... somewhere...

[45cellar]

Many Thanks for the Information Russell.

 

I too think that something must be out there, maybe Test Press or acetate.