Loma: A Soul Music Love Affair - Vinyl Box Set

Whoever compiled this hasn't got a clue! I'm guessing American? More interesting for what is missing than for what is there. No ENCHANTERS you were meant to be my baby (or by BEN AITKEN), no LARRY LASTER Go for yourself, no CARL HALL Mean it baby, no OLYMPICS No more will I cry, no SOUL SHAKERS Get hip to yourself, no VOICE BOX I want it back your love, no APOLLOS Lock me in your heart, no J.J. JACKSON Sho nuff got a good thing going or But it's alright, no MARVELLOS You're such a sweet thing and no DOLLS at all. With that lot missing it will probably suffer.

Yes quite, and why bother putting the awful Billy Storm on at all!

Perhaps with the previously mentioned admissions plus The C-Clefts (x2), The Appollas Sorry Mama, Artie Lewis, Bobby Freeman Lies, Bobby Reed I'll Find A Way, etc etc They have a second box set planned.

Such is the size of the Loma catalogue, just a thought ?

Dave

 

omissions?

I love it when us Brits get all uppity about compilations and what they should or shouldn't contain. Americans "do" northern soul how very dare they!! Clearly only one of the 4 albums produced is aimed at the "northern" market. Pretty much got all of the Loma singles here bar about 3-4 mystery ones and so can say with some confidence that there was a huge diversity of styles produced. Yes a few of the choices aren't ones I would have selected, and some great tracks have been missed. It is a bigger shame however that no matter how many Loma compilations get done,  we don't seem to be able to get beyond the issued product and into the vaults at the unissued product. As Dave says hopefully a second box set to come. 

1 hour ago, Steve G said:

I love it when us Brits get all uppity about compilations and what they should or shouldn't contain. Americans "do" northern soul how very dare they!! Clearly only one of the 4 albums produced is aimed at the "northern" market. Pretty much got all of the Loma singles here bar about 3-4 mystery ones and so can say with some confidence that there was a huge diversity of styles produced. Yes a few of the choices aren't ones I would have selected, and some great tracks have been missed. It is a bigger shame however that no matter how many Loma compilations get done,  we don't seem to be able to get beyond the issued product and into the vaults at the unissued product. As Dave says hopefully a second box set to come. 

Wait till you hear the Marvellos 'I Need You' I've been playing down the 100 Club.

Excellent LPs IMO. Enjoying them. And I counted about 8 unreleased tracks across the four volumes....the two Carl Hall tracks they claim are unreleased is wrong though as both were included on a CD on him recently...

31 minutes ago, johndelve said:

Excellent LPs IMO. Enjoying them. And I counted about 8 unreleased tracks across the four volumes....the two Carl Hall tracks they claim are unreleased is wrong though as both were included on a CD on him recently...

I stand corrected then, I shall go and have a closer look but just assumed it was all issued material. 

10 minutes ago, Steve G said:

I stand corrected then, I shall go and have a closer look but just assumed it was all issued material. 

They also have the missing Bob & Earl that never came out and was dropped from the UK 45 that did

Steve G's spot on in saying that people shouldn't look at this from a "Northern Soul" perspective. Loma's diversity of output goes well beyond such narrow pigeon-holing. Also, no matter which tracks the compilers chose, someone's always going to complain about what's out rather than celebrate what's in.

In this case you get a number of unreleased tracks, which, considering the attention this relatively minor label has received over the years, is a long time coming. What's it been? The 7-LP compilation courtesy of Claude Nobs and WEA in the '70s; the Best Of Loma Records CD from 1995 (featuring a few tracks that were actually WB rather than Loma releases), and the possibly countless "Northern Soul" CD comps featuring dance floor faves from the label. Loma's had a pretty good time of being in the spotlight.

That said, all the attention has been focused only on Loma's soul output (that said, vol 3 of the This is Loma series did concentrate on the R&B side of the label's releases), which is bit of a shame, although I expect that's a sentiment not shared by many on here.

About half a dozen years ago, I had an exchange of emails with someone at reissue label Rhino (itself a part of the Warner empire) who was working on a project to put out a complete anthology of the Loma label. They were just about ready to go digging in the archives for unlreleased material when Rhino announced cutbacks and redundancies, so I've always presumed that the anthology project was shelved.

I don't have a set of the LPs yet, but understand the liner notes include rare ephemera, so that's an extra bonus.

More importantly, new generations of music lovers have been born since the 7-LP set came out in the 70s. And even the Loma CD was over 20 years ago. While people on here may have very long memories (not to mention a sometimes very tight focus in terms of musical preferences), there's a whole world out there for whom Loma is (and to quote Kim Fowley's Loma release from 1966) something new and different.

 

 

3 minutes ago, ady croasdell said:

They also have the missing Bob & Earl that never came out and was dropped from the UK 45 that did

Ah, that is one of my missing ones! So with unissued tracks too, it makes a mockery of the "guy who did it hasn't got a clue" comment. 

Pity you can't stick to the issues brought up in this discussion without resorting to petty insults. I'm sure the compiler can defend himself without your support.

The only problem I've got is the price....but that's the Yorkshire in me 

Okay Mr G, we have been here before, but when you say the Bob And Earl being your missing one, I assume you don't think it actually exists on Loma, or have you seen differently. I thought we had concluded it didn't exist. Over 30 years of collecting the label I had bought everyone but that, and in most cases at some point had bought an issue and  demo for all but 20 of them, wasn't sure demo existed for all?

Now you have time on your hands Mr G you could put a listing of issues and demos actually seen together and we could start from there :-)

Im back, but only for things like this before anyone asks.

I agree with Russell wholeheartedly, it deserves more than a Northern look and therefore actually think the compiler has got it spot on. Never going to satisfy everyone.

Is it likely to come out on CD's does anyone know? Did I really say that out loud....

 

2 hours ago, ady croasdell said:

They also have the missing Bob & Earl that never came out and was dropped from the UK 45 that did

It came out on European release though didn't it?

4 hours ago, ady croasdell said:

Wait till you hear the Marvellos 'I Need You' I've been playing down the 100 Club.

Unissued Loma? The very kind of thing that will make me that trip again that me and Mr Law were discussing last night!

16 hours ago, Tony Smith said:

Yes quite, and why bother putting the awful Billy Storm on at all!

Wash your mouth out, that was an old cover up of mines, maybe not my finest moment but a decent strangulated screaming singing kind of uptempo rocker. Or are my glasses romantic flower tinted?

38 minutes ago, jocko said:

...and in most cases at some point had bought an issue and  demo for all but 20 of them, wasn't sure demo existed for all?

Now you have time on your hands Mr G you could put a listing of issues and demos actually seen together and we could start from there :-)

Are there any releases for which a demo doesn't exist? To my mind the only exception as such is Lucky Carmichael's Hey girl/Blues with a feeling (Loma 2006), which is unusual in that it's the only yellow-labelled release with 'promo' stars on one side (Hey girl) indicating to DJs which is the plug side. Thus it's both a promo and an issue. Would love to be corrected on that.

Scans here...

https://www.lomarecords.com/loma2006-lucky-carmicheal.html

1 hour ago, jocko said:

Okay Mr G, we have been here before, but when you say the Bob And Earl being your missing one, I assume you don't think it actually exists on Loma, or have you seen differently. I thought we had concluded it didn't exist. Over 30 years of collecting the label I had bought everyone but that, and in most cases at some point had bought an issue and  demo for all but 20 of them, wasn't sure demo existed for all?

Now you have time on your hands Mr G you could put a listing of issues and demos actually seen together and we could start from there :-)

Im back, but only for things like this before anyone asks.

I agree with Russell wholeheartedly, it deserves more than a Northern look and therefore actually think the compiler has got it spot on. Never going to satisfy everyone.

Is it likely to come out on CD's does anyone know? Did I really say that out loud....

 

Hello James,

I am missing about 3-4 last time I looked, and I practice the school of thought that says one might turn up one day….although I realise that with the passage of time any hope diminishes to the point of near non-existence. Still we live in hope. Time on my hands? I've never been busier, what with work, a house move and a complete resort of my collection. No time for making lists here I am afraid. 

Hope you are well. 

33 minutes ago, Russell Gilbert said:

Are there any releases for which a demo doesn't exist? To my mind the only exception as such is Lucky Carmichael's Hey girl/Blues with a feeling (Loma 2006), which is unusual in that it's the only yellow-labelled release with 'promo' stars on one side (Hey girl) indicating to DJs which is the plug side. Thus it's both a promo and an issue. Would love to be corrected on that.

Scans here...

https://www.lomarecords.com/loma2006-lucky-carmicheal.html

As I say I think there was about 20 I never got, so not saying they don't exist, just scarcer. Agree on 2006, I think 2003 also, I think one of the Dick Jensen ones and also I seem to remember never getting one of the Linda Jones ones bizarrely. However most of it was pre internet days, and pre memory loss days, interestingly I sort of got bored of when I finally having discovered internet I scored 2 2006's in a month when having struggled to get any in the previous 20 years :-)

So not saying they don't exist, but saying it would be nice to see proof they did. The ever cynical collector always wants to see to believe, but secretly thinks there is a 2004 out there with my name on it.

Ooh you do forget the beauty and aural excitement collecting can give you having stopped :-)

1 hour ago, jocko said:

It came out on European release though didn't it?

Unissued Loma? The very kind of thing that will make me that trip again that me and Mr Law were discussing last night!

Just One Look In Your Eyes? Not that I ever saw.

Feel free to drop in whenever you get the urge, there's always something new (that is old)

1 hour ago, jocko said:

Agree on 2006, I think 2003 also, I think one of the Dick Jensen ones and also I seem to remember never getting one of the Linda Jones ones bizarrely. However most of it was pre internet days, and pre memory loss days, interestingly I sort of got bored of when I finally having discovered internet I scored 2 2006's in a month when having struggled to get any in the previous 20 years :-)

So not saying they don't exist, but saying it would be nice to see proof they did.

Lucky Carmichael's definitely one of the toughest on the label to find. As for the others you mention, they all have demos. I've had a complete label run for a few years (minus the Bob & Earl, of course), although chose not to collect both issues and demos. Just to confirm the existence of the demos you mentioned, I had a quick trawl online a little while ago and scans are readily available for Clyde & the Blue Jays and all of Dick Jensen's and Linda's 45s.

As you say, there's a huge difference between now and pre-internet days. Even with the internet it took me ages to create a complete discography for Loma as there wasn't a single source available online. I had to make do with snippets culled from multiple sources. Little did I know at that point that the label's complete output had already been catalogued in a couple of "old-fashioned" music fanzines a good few years before the digital age! 

^  ^  ^  ^  ^ This.

Stak-O-Wax and the like which take up valuable room, can probably throw them in the bin now with 45Cat.com etc. 

Steve

6 hours ago, Rob Moss said:

Pity you can't stick to the issues brought up in this discussion without resorting to petty insults. I'm sure the compiler can defend himself without your support.

What issues brought up Rob? The only one I could see was your complaint that the set didn't feature some tracks that you thought it should. Then the comments about the compiler not having a clue, possibly being "American" (!) and your view that it'll suffer because it doesn't have certain tracks that have probably already been out more than once. Some bold statements from you that I thought were off colour. that's all. 

4 hours ago, jocko said:

Wash your mouth out, that was an old cover up of mines, maybe not my finest moment but a decent strangulated screaming singing kind of uptempo rocker. Or are my glasses romantic flower tinted?

"Don't Look Down" is okay, but the flip is ruined by some awful guitar overdub, would sound good without it.

Isnt it great to find out that there are unissued Loma cuts and to hear them.I wouldnt have thought there would be any because so much stuff was leased in!

Hearing Ben Aikens version of Patrice Holloway is great thank you very much.

 

Tricky

I have the 70's 'Loma' LP set BUT am told the audio quality on these new ones mean I can throw those away ... PLUS .. theres the unissued stuff .... I'd go with this new release being a real goodie !!!  

3 minutes ago, Roburt said:

I have the 70's 'Loma' LP set BUT am told the audio quality on these new ones mean I can throw those away ... PLUS .. theres the unissued stuff .... I'd go with this new release being a real goodie !!!  

Fine, if there are a load of track you no longer wish to have. Plus, the 7-LP set has wonderful sleeve notes that prove a rich insight into the history of the label, even if some of the observations proved to be inaccurate. The new 4-LP set is a fantastic addition to the history of Loma, and I look forward to reading the revised interpretation of its existence and any new insights to come from the paper archives, but wow, what an ambitious and truly wonderful labour of love that 70s compilation was.

It'll be a real pleasure to have both sets of albums on my shelves.

My ,My what over hyped armchair critic's we have become, back in the day, those Loma LP's were fantastic as were most  soul albums. Their covers were they only way you got to see what some of your soul hero's actually looked like and any morsel of information on the sleeve notes was to be cherished. Unlike today when any numpty can just goole it !

Dave

9 hours ago, Roburt said:

I have the 70's 'Loma' LP set BUT am told the audio quality on these new ones mean I can throw those away ... PLUS .. theres the unissued stuff .... I'd go with this new release being a real goodie !!!  

Don't listen to everything you are told John…..plenty of excellent tracks on those LPs. Live a little, have both the album set and the new set. 

Going to give it a go, have all the Lp comps that came out, they are fabulous...But this has tons not on that series...

especially interested in in hearing the Marvellows track Ady Croasdell mentioned...

great label, and fabulous music, what's not to like folks...

I've purchased the first...look forward to it and the subsequent editions.

Is the Marvellos of Ady's on the Lps?

7 minutes ago, chalky said:

I've purchased the first...look forward to it and the subsequent editions.

Is the Marvellos of Ady's on the Lps?

Yes Karl, Volume 4.

I bought all my Loma's back in the 70's when like minded others did also, as I tried to find anything vaguely Northern (and/or Danceable), so maybe this has since been found, but back then I think the only WDJ's of Loma 2086 had the same track on both sides (You Don't Know Nothing About Love) so if you wanted the brilliant " Mean It Baby " you had to buy the issue. I remember thinking what a pain in the a*se it was because I'd got all the others on WDJ's (after that I gave up and bought some more issues)
I cannot think off the top of my head of any other 45 on the label where this happened?

btw is there any relevance to the different yellow labels, personally I prefer the more mustard one to the more lemon one. Does anybody know, does it relate to different pressing plants or ????

3 hours ago, chalky said:

I've purchased the first...look forward to it and the subsequent editions.

Is the Marvellos of Ady's on the Lps?

Steve answered you Chalky. I'm sure you'll probably by the LP anyway but just to let you know it's going to be on a Kent 7" you'll want to buy for the A side alone

The LPs were compiled by Alec Palao, the man who turned up the Magicians vocal to Double Cookin' and many other great Northern discoveries

5 hours ago, Mal C said:

Going to give it a go, have all the Lp comps that came out, they are fabulous...But this has tons not on that series...

especially interested in in hearing the Marvellows track Ady Croasdell mentioned...

great label, and fabulous music, what's not to like folks...

You mean "Marvellos' track".  The Marvelows were the Chicago group.  The Exodus/Loma/WB/Modern Marvellos group was an L.A. group.  There was an early '50s Marvellos group in Chicago.  As far as I know, there was never any group called "The Marvellows".

47 minutes ago, ady croasdell said:

Steve answered you Chalky. I'm sure you'll probably by the LP anyway but just to let you know it's going to be on a Kent 7" you'll want to buy for the A side alone

The LPs were compiled by Alec Palao, the man who turned up the Magicians vocal to Double Cookin' and many other great Northern discoveries

Nice one Ady, will await the 45 but will be purchasing the LPs as well, one a week I think  

Dare I say it is a retrograde step doing this type of thing on vinyl ? - I have got use to the many fantastic CD box sets that have been able to include anything and everything.  Eight tracks a side was always pushing it on vinyl and it was the real downside to those early Loma albums - the Linda Jones LP been on one single side!    Buy the originals on vinyl - remaster, document and re-issue on CD if you ask me.

22 hours ago, RobbK said:

You mean "Marvellos' track".  The Marvelows were the Chicago group.  The Exodus/Loma/WB/Modern Marvellos group was an L.A. group.  There was an early '50s Marvellos group in Chicago.  As far as I know, there was never any group called "The Marvellows".

Assumed it was west coat one Robb, I don't always remember the finer details of names, but I try my best... :-)))

On 4/23/2016 at 09:57, Steve G said:

Don't listen to everything you are told John…..plenty of excellent tracks on those LPs. Live a little, have both the album set and the new set. 

I'm not complaining about the tracks ... just about the audio quality on those 70's albums (which was a bit shite !!).