Star West Record Label

[Russ Vickers]

Hi

 

Can anyone please supply a Discography for West Star records outta Hollywood Ca. 

 

This is the label with the Wes Black - I Feel Good release.  As a slight aside, can anyone also remind me of the other label Wes Black came out on please.

 

Best Russ

[Guest]

Hi Russ : That Wes Black track is the business : definitely has potential to be massive : other label is 'highland' I believe. I hope someone can dig out the label discography  

[Guest Nick Harrison]

"I Feel Good" was released on both Highland and Star West (1980) and was featured heavily within the modern soul scene during the eighties, as a new and recent release. Had it's birth already certified and classed now as a modern oldie.  So for those who missed it the first time around - enjoy it's second coming.

 

Thanks.   

[Steve G]

Yes agree with Nick. At the time it was the only Star West / wes Black record imported.

Memories of "Rotters" in Sheffield!

[Russ Vickers]

Played as a new release at Bradford amongst other places, agreed top tune, I dug it out again about 5 years ago & have given it an odd play since to great dance floor reactions.

 

Thanks for reminding me of the other label Nick.

 

I only mentioned the Wes Black release, as a way of indentifying the label as such, its the Star West  Discography that Im after please, if anyone can help.

 

Many thanks

 

Russ

Edited April 19, 2013 by Russ Vickers

[Sebastian]

its the Star West  Discography that Im after please, if anyone can help.

 

Here's a start:

 

STAR WEST 104 - Allice Richerdson - Double Parked / Punish

STAR WEST 145 - Bill Stanton - Let’s Get It Together / Peace And Joy

STAR WEST 149 - Wes Black - I Feel Good (Feeling Good) / I'll Always Be In Love With You

STAR WEST 150/151 - Roy Dodson - A Spark Of Fire / This World Today  

STAR WEST 152/153 - Richard Adams - What A Way To Say Goodbye / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)

STAR WEST 153 - Mel Adams - Hello My Friend / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)

 

Apparently the real title for the Richard Adams flipside is "Inside Out". All copies are misprinted.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Sebastian

[Roburt]

Well most of the posts are about the Wes Black cut, so here goes ..........

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPp2KJlG1BI

 

........ MIND YOU ...........

regarding these releases ...........

STAR WEST 152/153 - Richard Adams - What A Way To Say Goodbye / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)
STAR WEST 153 - Mel Adams - Hello My Friend / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)

 

I would say that these have to be by my old mate Rich Adams.

Rich was originally from St Louis and fronted the group Mal Adams & the Cashmeres (Emerge) back in the 60's.

He moved to LA in the 70's and did work with Total Experience there. He then ran his own labels & I have loads of released / unreleased stuff he has sent me down the years.

 

I used to meet up with Rich in Vegas when I was over there ... AND .... he (along with John Wilson of S,S&W) and Lou Ragland attended John Phillips (& Carols) wedding celebration dinner in the city after I was his best man at their ceremony.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Roburt

[Russ Vickers]

Here's a start:

 

STAR WEST 104 - Allice Richerdson - Double Parked / Punish

STAR WEST 145 - Bill Stanton - Let’s Get It Together / Peace And Joy

STAR WEST 149 - Wes Black - I Feel Good (Feeling Good) / I'll Always Be In Love With You

STAR WEST 150/151 - Roy Dodson - A Spark Of Fire / This World Today  

STAR WEST 152/153 - Richard Adams - What A Way To Say Goodbye / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)

STAR WEST 153 - Mel Adams - Hello My Friend / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)

 

Apparently the real title for the Richard Adams flipside is "Inside Out". All copies are misprinted.

 

Thank you very much Seb....& Roburt

 

Best Russ

Edited April 19, 2013 by Russ Vickers

[Russ Vickers]

Any more info appreciated guys...thx

 

Russ

[Roburt]

Any more info appreciated guys...thx

 

Russ

 

I've winged off an e-mail to Rich Adams.

As I said above I suspect, that he's the Richard & Mel Adams who cut for Star West.

I'm sure (if it is him) that he'll let me have the info on the recording sessions (studio), label ownership, etc.

[Jordirip]

Any more info appreciated guys...thx

 

Russ

 

The Roy Dodson is a killer that I reckon has a very rosey future on both the modern and northern scenes. Very much in the Tony Fox - 'Love, let love' mould of feel good uptempo dancers.

[Russ Vickers]

Im looking for the Roy Dodson if anyone can help pse.  BTW sounded great at SF Jordi.

 

Russ

[Russ Vickers]

Thanks Roburt.

 

Russ

[Roburt]

The Richard Adams track ...........

 

[Corbett80]

Roy Dodson is great - was previously covered up until now. I got one a while back from an all round nice guy and brilliant record dealer. Is quite an obscure record by all accounts.

Edited April 19, 2013 by corbett80

[Jordirip]

Roy Dodson is great - was previously covered up until now. I got one a while back from an all round nice guy and brilliant record dealer. Is quite an obscure record by all accounts.

 

I know it was covered up Joel, I assumed it had been uncovered by now. But yes you're right, it's a hard one for the label and mine also came from that top guy and dealer as yours did.

[Corbett80]

Sorry mate - didn't mean it to sound like that - i didn't know if it was uncovered or not so just meant i knew it had been previously covered at some point. I don't get out enough :)

 

ps. The Tavares-esque break down in it is good - reminds me of the similar bit in Second Ressurrection. Glad to hear Dodson is getting action - I haven't had a chance to play it out yet - does it get a good response?

Edited April 19, 2013 by corbett80

[Jordirip]

Sorry mate - didn't mean it to sound like that - i didn't know if it was uncovered or not so just meant i knew it had been previously covered at some point. I don't get out enough :)

 

ps. The Tavares-esque break down in it is good - reminds me of the similar bit in Second Ressurrection. Glad to hear Dodson is getting action - I haven't had a chance to play it out yet - does it get a good response?

 

I played it at the last Soul Funkshun all nighter and it went down very well, had quite a few enquiries about what it was. If it had been discovered on our scene as a new release back in the late 70's/early 80's, the breakdown in it would have had the stompers and fast feet shufflers in a frenzy.

[Guest Nick Harrison]

The Richard Adams track ...........

 

Rather like the above 45, short sound clip only - shame. A very contemporary sound offering from that period, has crisp clear production for a little local label indie.  Would not of sounded out of place on a major label back then.  

 

Was this ever picked up in any quantity by UK dealers, or even listed for sale in the UK - or not due to it's misplaced title ?

 

Thanks. 

Edited April 20, 2013 by Nick Harrison

[Guest Nick Harrison]

Star West 153 x 2 releases - who was Mel Adams or should that be Richard ? 

 

Or was he reverting back to his Mal and the Cashmere days ?

 

Edited April 20, 2013 by Nick Harrison

[Roburt]

Got in touch with my mate Rich Adams re: these records ........

 

.......... STAR WEST 152/153 - Richard Adams - What A Way To Say Goodbye / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)
.......... STAR WEST 153 - Mel Adams - Hello My Friend / Your Love Is (Ecstacy)

Rich was originally from St Louis and fronted the group Mal Adams & the Cashmeres (signed to Emerge) back in the 60's.

So in the music biz he has gone by both the name Mal Adams & Rich / Richard Adams.

He has confirmed that it was him that cut these tracks ... AND .... that he still has possession of the original master tapes for the tracks.

........... BITS OF THE STORY .......... in no particular order .........  

the 45 that featured  Mel Adams - Hello My Friend / Your Love Is (Ecstacy) was pulled before release due to Mal's name being listed as Mel on the label. The majority of copies of this single were destroyed due to the name error and therefore this will be quite a rare item.

Star West Productions (& label) was owned by an old guy, Owen Garris, that Rich got to know in the mid to late 70's (he recalls that Owen had Motown connections of some kind). Anyway, Owen & Rich became friends when Rich was based in the LA area and was running a 'Richfield Oil' Gas (Filling) Station. Owen was looking for artists to sign to his Star West label and so Rich signed up. Roy Dodson was a bass player that Owen had already used on some recordings and so Rich got to meet him as well. Roy Dodson obviously also got to cut some tracks himself & had the 45 out on Star West that's also sought after now. 

Also at that time, members of the Gap Band were using his service station on a regular basis and Rich became friends with some members, mainly Malvin "Dino" Vice, and Robert Wilson. The Wilson brothers had a long time friend, Charles Townsend (they all grew up together) and Charles (who went by the name of Chuck then) lived very close to Rich's gas station. Charlie, Robert and "Dino" would visit Chuck almost daily and that's how Rich's friendship with the members of the Gap Band began. Owen, seeing Rich was getting connected, made an agreement with Rich to release a record on him. The song "What A Way to Say Goodbye" was written by Rich in conjunction with Rudy Rodgers (DJ Rodgers brother). Another song written at the time was "Inside Out" (penned by Rich and Fred Jenkins), But some conditions attached to the song (publishing rights maybe, Rich didn't go into the details) weren't right and so Rich had to re-write the song. The initial song, with changes, thus became "Your Love is Ecstacy", hence the fact that the title of the 'Ecstasy' song still seems to be "Inside Out". Rich also wrote "Hello My Friend" but that, when cut, had very limited availability due to the name error on the 45 when it was pressed up. The 'Mel Adams' 45 was never promoted and copies should never have escaped the 'junking process' (though a few obviously did). 

Rich did try to track Owen Garris down some years back but believes he passed some time ago (what happened to the other Star West track master tapes he has no idea about). Rich is still involved with the music biz and runs an outfit by the name of Playyosong. 

Check out their web site ............  .https://www.playyosong.com/

 

I posted a couple of tracks up yesterday (on the Soul Source Record Club Groovin into Summer thread) that Playyosong put out; both have major input from Malvin 'Dino' Vice and feature female singers Maia & DeNitria Chance. ....... both are also great cuts IMHO.

Rich is willing to 'do a deal' on a reissue of his Star West tracks and so, any interested parties should contact him via his e-mail addy

.............    playyosong@live.com

 

 

 

 

                                       

 

 

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Edited April 20, 2013 by Roburt

[Roburt]

BTW, Rich tells me that he has had a number of enquiries from people in France over recent years about his Star West records.

The guys there though wanted him to press up new copies of the original Star West 45's BUT as he has no rights to use that label name, he didn't progress the proposal at all.

NOW if some UK indie record label guy wants to put a couple of these cuts out on their own label, that would be a totally different matter.

[Russ Vickers]

Great information Roburt thank you.

 

Russ

[Russ Vickers]

Sorry mate - didn't mean it to sound like that - i didn't know if it was uncovered or not so just meant i knew it had been previously covered at some point. I don't get out enough :)

 

ps. The Tavares-esque break down in it is good - reminds me of the similar bit in Second Ressurrection. Glad to hear Dodson is getting action - I haven't had a chance to play it out yet - does it get a good response?

 

Must say it sounded very good over a big system, I heard this some time ago & whilst it sounded nice over the PC speakers, it didnt really do it justice as a dance record in a venue, as is often the case. 

 

Best Russ

Edited April 20, 2013 by Russ Vickers