Falcons 45

[Roburt]

Anyone here know the story behind the 45's featuring tracks from the Falcons on Kudo, Chess & Anna (RobbK perhaps)??

I know the story began in spring 1958 when the Falcons (Joe Stubbs, Eddie Floyd, Mack Rice, Willie Schofield and Lance Finnie) cut tracks for Detroit label Kudo Records (owned by Robert West ?). A 45 escaped, the 1st on the label with "This Heart Of Mine" being the top side. Almost immediately, Chess picked up the group's cuts and paid Kudo a decent sum. The group (who'd originally come together in 55 and had cut for Mercury & Silhouette ahead of Kudo) moved on and no actual 45 by them escaped on Chess. The group's next outing emerged on Flick ("You're So Fine") and was soon enjoying lots of action. UnArt picked it up for national distribution and it went Top 10 R&B / Top 20 pop on the US charts in summer 59. A follow up was put out  by Unart but a 45 on Chess also emerged in November 59. This featured their song that had come out on Kudu coupled with a Berry Gordy penned item ("Just For Your Love"). The old Kudo number though was assigned a different length (time-wise) this time around and had an extra writer credited. Then in February 1960, the same two tracks came out on an Anna 45.

I know that the Chess deal would have come about via Berry Gordy as Miracles tracks also appeared shortly afterwards on Chess.

MY QUESTION ... did Chess use the Kudo tracks they'd bought for $9000 or were both sides of the Falcons Chess 45 sourced from BG ...   . . . .  Kudo Records was for a while based out of United Artists building in Detroit so why didn't Unart pick up the Falcons disc for natonal distribution (as they did stuff made by Marv Johnson who had a Kudo 45 released at the same time as the Falcons Kudo 45 -- this & later Marv J outings having BG connections) ..... If Chess did utilise the Kudo cut track on Chess #1743, how did they land the BG track they coupled it with ? ... AND ... why after this pairing had come out on Chess, did it reappear on Anna just a few months later ?? 

               

[The Yank]

I don't have the answer to your question but wanted to clear up a few things-

1) Kudo was owned by Robert West with  William Lane as acting president.

2) The United Artists building in Detroit was built in 1928 as a movie theatre 

to show United Artists films along with those from other studios. I don't think

United Artists Records was based out of that building. I would almost swear they 

were New York City based.

3) The article below shows the Falcons 45 being picked up by Chess during May of 1958.

Edited July 30, 2018 by the yank

[The Yank]

I don't know why Chess picked up "This Heart Of Mine" in May of 1958 and waited over a year to release it. It might have been to cash in on 

the Falcon's success on UNART with "You're So Fine" and the followup "You're Mine". "You're Mine" came out in October of 1959 and "This Heart 

Of Mine" in November of that year. 

         Chess did a lot of strange releases on appearing on 2 different company labels. 

[Robbk]

Roburt, you have come to the right place to get your questions answered. 

In spring of 1958,  Chess Records made a production deal with Detroit producer, Robert West, hoping to put out records on his most promising artists (which included Stanley Mitchell and The Tornados, The Falcons, Sonny Woods, The Majestics, Joe Howard, The Playboys and, possibly others).  Soon after, Chess put out a 45 on The Tornadoes, which, I believe, was recorded by West in Detroit (probably at United Sound Studios).  The record didn't do well.  Chess decided not to release the 2 Falcons' Kudo sides immediately.  It got pushed to the back burner, and lost in the shuffle. 

Some months later, West was not satisfied with what he was getting out of his Chess deal (not much action with The Tornados, no Chess Falcons release, no release on his other artists).  In the meantime he had shut down Kudo Records, and started Flick, Bumble Bee, and Contour Records, and signed additional local Detroit talent.  When The Falcons' next release, on Flick, took off in early summer, 1959, he leased it to United Artists (out of New York), while making a new across the board production deal with them, to release all his new productions they wished to pick up.  UA released "You're So Fine" on their Unart Records subsidiary, and it took off nationally.  After a second Unart release, The Falcons were moved to the parent UA Records label, as were many other Robert West produced artists.  

In the meantime, Chess Records, who apparently, still had the rights to release "This Heart of Mine"(must have been a 2-year lease), decided to piggyback on The Falcons' success of "You're So Fine".  So, they decided to release "This Heart of Mine" on Chess Records.  But, the Kudo cuts sounded dated.  All of The Falcons, Robert West, and Chess A&R people (Leonard, Phil, Willie Dixon et al) probably agreed that they should have West re-record it, and record a new "B side".  West did so, probably again at United Sound.  During that time (mid - late 1959) Chess already had a record distribution deal going with West's protege, Berry Gordy(Motown's Miracles & Tamla's Ron & Bill), and the latter's sisters, Gwen and Anna, and Berry's songwriting partner, Billy "Roquel" Davis (who was also Berry's sisters' (co-owner) partner in Anna Records.  They, and Robert West Productions were Chess' producing arm in Detroit.  Robert West had been Berry Gordy's mentor in his entering the music business, and West's record distributing company had distributed Gordy's RayBer Records release by Wade Jones, as well as a couple other RayBer Music productions put out on one-shot labels.  So, West and The Gordys were good friends.

So, West agreed to use an Anna-produced song on the flip of the re-recorded, updated "This Heart of Mine", which became "Just For Your Love".  The recording session was probably run by Berry and Gwen, with West in attendance.  The latter was a businessman, who, I believe, didn't know enough about music, to run his own recording sessions.  He had always taken "executive producer" credits, but usually, if not always, had a music person run his recording sessions.  I read that his Silhouette and Kudo sessions were run by Sonny Woods (of The Dominoes), and Berry Gordy (Marv Johnson, Nancy Peters, Bryan(t) Holland).

The Chess Release had disappointing sales.  So, Chess, trying to get the record started through local, Detroit promotion, decided to have its local "branch" (distributed label) Anna Records, release it, so they could give it a local marketing push.  So, the record was "picked up" (released by) Anna Records, in mid stream, in Fall, 1959.  The Anna release sold more than The Chess record, due mainly to local, Detroit/Michigan/Toledo, Ohio promotion.  But, it was still not very successful, based on Chess' and West's expectations.  Artwise, it was a nice success.  Both sides were among The Falcons' best recordings (in my opinion). 

West's production deal with United Artists lasted until early 1962, when he signed a new production deal with Atantic Records, in which, The Falcons' releases appeared on Atlantic's main label, and West's current flagship label, LuPine Records, was distributed by The Atlantic-ATCO Distribution Group. 

 

As far as Chess releasing US national hit records on more than one of their labels, that had been a marketing strategy of theirs from as early as the early 1950s.  They didn't have a special "oldies" re-issue label until 1957, launching their "Golden Goodies" label.  They had previously (early 1957?) started re-issuing Chess and Checker "oldies" on gold-coloured labels which had the same design as their current labels.  But, the gold label issues, and Golden Goodies issues were not sold in big numbers.  Before that, and even through the period of Golden Goodies' releases, Chess also re-issued "oldies" (former hits) on a different Chess-owned label from the given original release label.  For example, "A Simple Prayer" by The Ravens was released on Argo, Chess, and Checker, as was "Tear Drops" by Lee Andrews & The Hearts, and "Billy's Blues" by Billy Stewart.  Hundreds of previous hits were released on at least 2 different Chess labels.  After Chess hired Billy "Roquel" Davis to run their new Detroit subsidiary, Check-Mate Records, there were several Check-Mate Records that were also released on Chess or Checker Records.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2018 by RobbK

[Roburt]

I knew you'd have the full story Robb. MANY THANX.

Only one version of "This Heart Of Mine"seems to be up on Youtube (the later Chess version) . . . . . . . does that sound much more up-to-date than the Kudo version ??

Yank, as your post confirms, the Chess deal for the Falcon's Kudo tracks was done in May 58 (see May 58 dated item in my 1st post -- stating Chess paid $9000 for those cuts).

Edited July 31, 2018 by Roburt

[Robbk]

21 minutes ago, Roburt said:

I knew you'd have the full story Robb. MANY THANX.

Only one version of "This Heart Of Mine"seems to be up on Youtube (the later Chess version) . . . . . . . does that sound much more up-to-date than the Kudo version ??

Yank, as your post confirms, the Chess deal for the Falcon's Kudo tracks was done in May 58 (see May 58 dated item in my 1st post -- stating Chess paid $9000 for those cuts).

To current ears, BOTH versions sound ancient.  But, remember that I was around at the time, listening to the Chicago and Detroit R&B radio stations, and buying records.  I had heard the Kudo record first, in 1958.  It still had the mid '50s R&B sound.  Both sides of the Chess/Anna 1959 version had the new, early 1960s more complicated instrumental sound.  and, even the vocal sound of the ballad side ("This Heart of Mine"), had less of the old vocal group harmony sound of the mid-to-late 1950s, but more of the new, 1959-1963 R&B/Soul transitional sound, which was less dependent upon 5 or 4-part harmony, but put more emphasis on the lead singer and the more complex instrumental track/tracks.   Lots of fans listen for, and thus, hear the singers more, and concentrate less on the instrumentation.  To ME, the instrumentation and harmony of the background singers is very important, along with the singing of the lead singer.

[The Yank]

Just wanted to add a correction to an earlier post. Sonny Woods was a member of the Midnighters

not the Dominoes. Both groups did record for Federal so its easy to have made a mistake.

Here's a picture of Sonny with the Midnighters. That's him in the middle

pointing at Hank Ballard.

[Robbk]

17 minutes ago, the yank said:

Just wanted to add a correction to an earlier post. Sonny Woods was a member of the Midnighters

not the Dominoes. Both groups did record for Federal so its easy to have made a mistake.

Here's a picture of Sonny with the Midnighters. That's him in the middle

pointing at Hank Ballard.

Yes, thanks, Yank.  I wrote down Royals/Midnighters first, then thought about it again, and thought I remembered him having been with The Dominoes.  Both were Detroit groups.  In the 1950s, King/Federal/DeLuxe had an office in Detroit.  They grabbed up a lot of Detroit's local talent.  The Ramblers were signed by Federal.  The Five Jets (with Famous Detroiters Billy "Roquel" Davis, Joe Murphy and Derek Martin) were signed by DeLuxe.

[April Floyd]

On 31/07/2018 at 04:03, Robbk said:

Roburt, you have come to the right place to get your questions answered. 

In spring of 1958,  Chess Records made a production deal with Detroit producer, Robert West, hoping to put out records on his most promising artists (which included Stanley Mitchell and The Tornados, The Falcons, Sonny Woods, The Majestics, Joe Howard, The Playboys and, possibly others).  Soon after, Chess put out a 45 on The Tornadoes, which, I believe, was recorded by West in Detroit (probably at United Sound Studios).  The record didn't do well.  Chess decided not to release the 2 Falcons' Kudo sides immediately.  It got pushed to the back burner, and lost in the shuffle. 

Some months later, West was not satisfied with what he was getting out of his Chess deal (not much action with The Tornados, no Chess Falcons release, no release on his other artists).  In the meantime he had shut down Kudo Records, and started Flick, Bumble Bee, and Contour Records, and signed additional local Detroit talent.  When The Falcons' next release, on Flick, took off in early summer, 1959, he leased it to United Artists (out of New York), while making a new across the board production deal with them, to release all his new productions they wished to pick up.  UA released "You're So Fine" on their Unart Records subsidiary, and it took off nationally.  After a second Unart release, The Falcons were moved to the parent UA Records label, as were many other Robert West produced artists.  

In the meantime, Chess Records, who apparently, still had the rights to release "This Heart of Mine"(must have been a 2-year lease), decided to piggyback on The Falcons' success of "You're So Fine".  So, they decided to release "This Heart of Mine" on Chess Records.  But, the Kudo cuts sounded dated.  All of The Falcons, Robert West, and Chess A&R people (Leonard, Phil, Willie Dixon et al) probably agreed that they should have West re-record it, and record a new "B side".  West did so, probably again at United Sound.  During that time (mid - late 1959) Chess already had a record distribution deal going with West's protege, Berry Gordy(Motown's Miracles & Tamla's Ron & Bill), and the latter's sisters, Gwen and Anna, and Berry's songwriting partner, Billy "Roquel" Davis (who was also Berry's sisters' (co-owner) partner in Anna Records.  They, and Robert West Productions were Chess' producing arm in Detroit.  Robert West had been Berry Gordy's mentor in his entering the music business, and West's record distributing company had distributed Gordy's RayBer Records release by Wade Jones, as well as a couple other RayBer Music productions put out on one-shot labels.  So, West and The Gordys were good friends.

So, West agreed to use an Anna-produced song on the flip of the re-recorded, updated "This Heart of Mine", which became "Just For Your Love".  The recording session was probably run by Berry and Gwen, with West in attendance.  The latter was a businessman, who, I believe, didn't know enough about music, to run his own recording sessions.  He had always taken "executive producer" credits, but usually, if not always, had a music person run his recording sessions.  I read that his Silhouette and Kudo sessions were run by Sonny Woods (of The Dominoes), and Berry Gordy (Marv Johnson, Nancy Peters, Bryan(t) Holland).

The Chess Release had disappointing sales.  So, Chess, trying to get the record started through local, Detroit promotion, decided to have its local "branch" (distributed label) Anna Records, release it, so they could give it a local marketing push.  So, the record was "picked up" (released by) Anna Records, in mid stream, in Fall, 1959.  The Anna release sold more than The Chess record, due mainly to local, Detroit/Michigan/Toledo, Ohio promotion.  But, it was still not very successful, based on Chess' and West's expectations.  Artwise, it was a nice success.  Both sides were among The Falcons' best recordings (in my opinion). 

West's production deal with United Artists lasted until early 1962, when he signed a new production deal with Atantic Records, in which, The Falcons' releases appeared on Atlantic's main label, and West's current flagship label, LuPine Records, was distributed by The Atlantic-ATCO Distribution Group. 

 

As far as Chess releasing US national hit records on more than one of their labels, that had been a marketing strategy of theirs from as early as the early 1950s.  They didn't have a special "oldies" re-issue label until 1957, launching their "Golden Goodies" label.  They had previously (early 1957?) started re-issuing Chess and Checker "oldies" on gold-coloured labels which had the same design as their current labels.  But, the gold label issues, and Golden Goodies issues were not sold in big numbers.  Before that, and even through the period of Golden Goodies' releases, Chess also re-issued "oldies" (former hits) on a different Chess-owned label from the given original release label.  For example, "A Simple Prayer" by The Ravens was released on Argo, Chess, and Checker, as was "Tear Drops" by Lee Andrews & The Hearts, and "Billy's Blues" by Billy Stewart.  Hundreds of previous hits were released on at least 2 different Chess labels.  After Chess hired Billy "Roquel" Davis to run their new Detroit subsidiary, Check-Mate Records, there were several Check-Mate Records that were also released on Chess or Checker Records.

 

 

 

 

RobbK, Thanks. This explains a lot about This Heart of Mine.  I wonder how did Robert West and Berry Gordy meet? 

[Robbk]

5 hours ago, April Floyd said:

RobbK, Thanks. This explains a lot about This Heart of Mine.  I wonder how did Robert West and Berry Gordy meet? 

Berry was a big Jazz fan, and he frequented The Flame Show Bar and Grill, where all the people in the music industry gathered.  Robert West was the biggest record producer in Detroit from 1954-1960.  Berry probably met him there.  He met Joe Hunter, Dr. Beans Bowles, and probably Carmen Murphy and Joe Von Battle (JVB Record Shop owner and who ran The JVB record label) there.  I'm sure he got advice from Mr. West on opening his Jazz record shop.  West was his mentor in starting up RayBer Music Company, and Tamla Records.  He was also Gwen's mentor when she started up Anna Records.

[April Floyd]

On 31/07/2018 at 04:03, Robbk said:

Roburt, you have come to the right place to get your questions answered. 

In spring of 1958,  Chess Records made a production deal with Detroit producer, Robert West, hoping to put out records on his most promising artists (which included Stanley Mitchell and The Tornados, The Falcons, Sonny Woods, The Majestics, Joe Howard, The Playboys and, possibly others).  Soon after, Chess put out a 45 on The Tornadoes, which, I believe, was recorded by West in Detroit (probably at United Sound Studios).  The record didn't do well.  Chess decided not to release the 2 Falcons' Kudo sides immediately.  It got pushed to the back burner, and lost in the shuffle. 

Some months later, West was not satisfied with what he was getting out of his Chess deal (not much action with The Tornados, no Chess Falcons release, no release on his other artists).  In the meantime he had shut down Kudo Records, and started Flick, Bumble Bee, and Contour Records, and signed additional local Detroit talent.  When The Falcons' next release, on Flick, took off in early summer, 1959, he leased it to United Artists (out of New York), while making a new across the board production deal with them, to release all his new productions they wished to pick up.  UA released "You're So Fine" on their Unart Records subsidiary, and it took off nationally.  After a second Unart release, The Falcons were moved to the parent UA Records label, as were many other Robert West produced artists.  

In the meantime, Chess Records, who apparently, still had the rights to release "This Heart of Mine"(must have been a 2-year lease), decided to piggyback on The Falcons' success of "You're So Fine".  So, they decided to release "This Heart of Mine" on Chess Records.  But, the Kudo cuts sounded dated.  All of The Falcons, Robert West, and Chess A&R people (Leonard, Phil, Willie Dixon et al) probably agreed that they should have West re-record it, and record a new "B side".  West did so, probably again at United Sound.  During that time (mid - late 1959) Chess already had a record distribution deal going with West's protege, Berry Gordy(Motown's Miracles & Tamla's Ron & Bill), and the latter's sisters, Gwen and Anna, and Berry's songwriting partner, Billy "Roquel" Davis (who was also Berry's sisters' (co-owner) partner in Anna Records.  They, and Robert West Productions were Chess' producing arm in Detroit.  Robert West had been Berry Gordy's mentor in his entering the music business, and West's record distributing company had distributed Gordy's RayBer Records release by Wade Jones, as well as a couple other RayBer Music productions put out on one-shot labels.  So, West and The Gordys were good friends.

So, West agreed to use an Anna-produced song on the flip of the re-recorded, updated "This Heart of Mine", which became "Just For Your Love".  The recording session was probably run by Berry and Gwen, with West in attendance.  The latter was a businessman, who, I believe, didn't know enough about music, to run his own recording sessions.  He had always taken "executive producer" credits, but usually, if not always, had a music person run his recording sessions.  I read that his Silhouette and Kudo sessions were run by Sonny Woods (of The Dominoes), and Berry Gordy (Marv Johnson, Nancy Peters, Bryan(t) Holland).

The Chess Release had disappointing sales.  So, Chess, trying to get the record started through local, Detroit promotion, decided to have its local "branch" (distributed label) Anna Records, release it, so they could give it a local marketing push.  So, the record was "picked up" (released by) Anna Records, in mid stream, in Fall, 1959.  The Anna release sold more than The Chess record, due mainly to local, Detroit/Michigan/Toledo, Ohio promotion.  But, it was still not very successful, based on Chess' and West's expectations.  Artwise, it was a nice success.  Both sides were among The Falcons' best recordings (in my opinion). 

West's production deal with United Artists lasted until early 1962, when he signed a new production deal with Atantic Records, in which, The Falcons' releases appeared on Atlantic's main label, and West's current flagship label, LuPine Records, was distributed by The Atlantic-ATCO Distribution Group. 

 

As far as Chess releasing US national hit records on more than one of their labels, that had been a marketing strategy of theirs from as early as the early 1950s.  They didn't have a special "oldies" re-issue label until 1957, launching their "Golden Goodies" label.  They had previously (early 1957?) started re-issuing Chess and Checker "oldies" on gold-coloured labels which had the same design as their current labels.  But, the gold label issues, and Golden Goodies issues were not sold in big numbers.  Before that, and even through the period of Golden Goodies' releases, Chess also re-issued "oldies" (former hits) on a different Chess-owned label from the given original release label.  For example, "A Simple Prayer" by The Ravens was released on Argo, Chess, and Checker, as was "Tear Drops" by Lee Andrews & The Hearts, and "Billy's Blues" by Billy Stewart.  Hundreds of previous hits were released on at least 2 different Chess labels.  After Chess hired Billy "Roquel" Davis to run their new Detroit subsidiary, Check-Mate Records, there were several Check-Mate Records that were also released on Chess or Checker Records.

 

 

 

 

RobbK, Thanks. This explains a lot about This Heart of Mine.  I wonder how did Robert West and Berry Gordy meet? 

Thanks. That makes since. Wonder what broke up the friendship? 

Thanks. That makes since. Wonder what broke up the friendship?