Nick Soule

Looking for a clean copy of: Terry Warren - I Don't Know / It's Written All Over Your Face (Ric-Tic 106)

Years ago Bob Abrahamian told me that The Creations from Toledo, who recorded one single for Motown's Mel-o-dy label, evolved into Eastbound's Unique Blend, but the information that I can find about members of either group is contradictory. I'm hoping that someone can help me with the lineups of both groups. The lineup that I have for The Creations is Tom Lipkins, Charles Holman, Robert Williams, Juan Wingard, and Michael Farland. The lineup for Unique Blend on Discogs that appears to be taken from an Ace CD is Howard Kinnibrew, Milton Overton, and Lorenzo Smith. Some other sources include Charles Holman in the lineup, and he does have writing credits on 3/4 of their released recordings. The link between the two groups appears to be Charles Holman. I have a photo of the Creations, and comparing it to the photo I can find online of Unique Blend, I'm positive that the two members in the Creations picture (bottom row, left-to-right) are the same people in the Unique Blend picture (center and right) - I also see similarities with the Creations member on the top left and the Unique Blend member on the left, but I'm not 100% that it's the same person. Anyway, is there anyone out there that has actually talked to either group and confirm the lineups? The Creations: Unique Blend:

My old copy on Star Track had the labels on the correct side.

I understand what you're saying about tapered vs. flat edges, but it took me almost no time to find several examples that go against your theory: Mad Dog & The Pups "Hep Squeeze" on Magic City 007 has no Archer stamp, but has a tapered edge Gino Washington "I'll Be Around..." on Atac 7823 (red/white label) has an Archer stamp, but has a flat edge I even found an example where the edge differs despite both promo and stock copies having the Archer stamp: The Superlatives "I Don't Know How..." Dynamics 1016 (WLP) has an Archer stamp, and has a tapered edge The Superlatives "I Don't Know How..." Dynamics 1016 (Stock) has an Archer stamp, but has a flat edge The Superlatives is also a great example because it's the original run with the shorter title before the larger repress where they added "Don't Walk Away..." to the title, so it would've been made at the same time as the promo before it became a local hit, got reissued, and eventually leased to Westbound. The differences you're seeing regarding the edges are simply from the different record pressing machines Archer had and used as @Chalky correctly stated. And all of your above-mentioned records were pressed at Archer. Archer was and still is cheaper than any other plants within a reasonable distance from Detroit. They would've been operating at a loss if they had to mail stampers to another plant, have them press the record, and then get the records mailed records back. They would also be liable for the quality of those pressings, which would likely be pretty poor if they were able to find a plant cheaper than themselves. And if they did, you would see an identifier from the other plant in the runout.

My copy of the Four Sonics on Sepia with no 'ARCHER' stamp came from a 100-count box that was sent to a distributor from Archer... I don't know what else I can say or do short of inventing a time machine to help you understand that Archer had multiple pressing machines, added the stamp by hand, and would press larger orders concurrently on different machines.

This is incorrect. Sure, it would help in identifying counterfeits, but for the pressing plants, it was just a way of signing their work. Similar to mastering engineers etching their initials as Mack Evans has done on the Eddie Parker. Pressing plants had no stake in whether or not a record became a hit. They didn't get royalties, they pressed records for a fee and moved on. The types of records that got bootlegged in the 60s were million-sellers on major-ish labels, not the small independent records that Archer was pressing. Some would achieve local hit status, sure, but then the label would either press up another batch at Archer or if it was a bigger hit, license the record to a larger/national label, who would press it elsewhere. Nashville Matrix plated records for Archer, ARP, Southern Plastics, NRC, Sim's, and multiple other pressing plants and labels around the country. The Nashville Matrix stamp alone is not indicative of any one pressing plant. With the absence of a pressing plant identifier stamp, the only way to tell which pressing plant Nashville Matrix made the stamper for is the client code, which in the Tomangoe's case is '95' for Archer. There are also numerous examples of records pressed at Archer with no 'ARCHER' stamp and no Nashville Matrix stamp as well. Take Johnnie Mae Matthews' "I Have No Choice" on Big Hit: A-side: TZ-105A 95 GM RECORDING DET. MG B B-side: TX-105B 95 GM RECORDING DET. M.G.B. The above marks are all etched, it was mastered at GM in Detroit, plated by Nashville Matrix for Archer (95), and pressed at Archer. This is widely known and accepted because of the client code, but by your logic, anyone could bootleg JMM and we would have no idea because there's no stamp. Again, you're giving too much credit to Archer in that the presence or lack of an 'ARCHER' stamp is deliberate. As I've already said, the stamps were done by hand in a very busy shop pressing tens of thousands of records every day, and all parts of the pressing process were prone to human error. Have you never encountered a record with labels that were reversed or used the stamper for a completely different record on one side? If you really want to see how disorganized a pressing plant can get, you should look into Apex Pressing in Chicago - the Creations on "ZODICA" is one of my favorite error records. Anyway, you've been presented with multiple examples of well-known Archer-pressed records that have a stamp, a varying stamp, or no stamp at all. It's apparent that you own an 'ARCHER' stamped copy and don't want to change your long-held view that your copy is the one, true original. Fine, I've already conceded that it's possible that the non-stamped copies are a close second pressing, but continuing to argue that the non-stamped copies are not Archer pressings without proof is pointless. Also, I'm happy to provide you with images of several ARP-pressed records that were both pressed using stampers taken from the same metal mother with the ARP stamp that was added at the pressing plant present on one copy, and absent on the other if necessary to prove that two identical stampers can be made and human error can occur at any pressing plant. ARP was also significantly larger and far more organized than Archer.

Mack Evans or Nashville Record Productions mastered almost every record pressed at Archer from the 60s through the 80s. The relationship with these mastering facilities came from their proximity to Nashville Matrix who plated pretty much every record that Archer pressed. Archer was and still is a one-stop/full-service pressing plant, which includes mastering if needed. Hundreds of Detroit labels took master tapes to Archer in the 60s, who ordered the mastering services for them. It was rare for an independent label to do their own mastering, but if they did, they usually went with a local company like Sound Patterns DXM or GM. Again, it is extremely unlikely that Jack Ashford specifically sought out Mack Evans to master this or any other record, but even if he did, the fact that '95' is etched in the runout on both 'ARCHER' stamped and non-stamped copies means that the stampers were ordered by Archer - not Jack, and not Southern Plastics. If Southern Plastics were responsible for any part of the non-stamped copies, there would be either an etched '5' or an SP job number (SP-####) in the runout, which there isn't.

I have collected, researched, and documented records pressed at Archer for the last 16 years. I love all things Archer, but you are giving them far too much credit with this idea that they're a meticulous and organized pressing plant that carefully adds an 'ARCHER' stamp to every pressing. Why isn't the stamp on both sides of the Eddie Parker then? Why do records like the Magictones on Westbound 145 exist with an 'ARCHER' stamp on the A-side only on some copies while other copies of the same record have it on the B-side only? Why do records pressed at Archer exist with no 'ARCHER' stamp at all? The Tomangoe's on Washpan is a great example of an Archer pressing with no 'ARCHER' stamp - just the catalog number, a Nashville Matrix stamp, and an etched '95', which again was Archer's exclusive client code with Nashville Matrix that they only added to stampers ordered by and pressed at Archer. The theory that Jack Ashford somehow called up Nashville Matrix and the label printer, knew the invoice numbers from the orders Archer placed, and had a set of the stampers and several hundred labels diverted to Southern Plastics to press up a couple hundred 45s to give to an Ashford Records promo rep in the South is just bizarre, sorry. While Archer was a disorganized busy little pressing plant, Southern Plastics was a large plant that did contract work for major labels and was very professional and precise, and they would've added their own identifying marks to anything they pressed, even for a small independent label like Ashford. I can accept the possibility that the non-Archer stamped copies are a second run that was pressed within a few months (at most) of the promo and stock 'ARCHER' stamped copies, but I still insist that it's unlikely they weren't pressed concurrently on separate machines without some recollection/story of the original stampers being damaged on the initial run. The uneven 'ARCHER' stamp is obviously a bootleg that could've been pressed anywhere. The 'NSC' marked copies are bootlegs made by Ron Murphy in the 80s and pressed at Archer.

Although Archer used Nashville-based companies for mastering, plating, and label printing services, Archer had no connection to Southern Plastics. The typical pressing process works like this: The label gives the master tape to the pressing plant. The pressing plant sends the master tape to the mastering facility. The mastering facility masters the recording and sends the lacquered master to the plating/metalwork facility. The plating facility makes the metal father from the master lacquer. The plating facility makes the metal mother from the metal father. As many stampers as ordered are made from the metal mother. The stampers are returned to the pressing plant that ordered them. I think it's extremely unlikely that Jack Ashford specifically ordered two sets of stampers through Archer, had Archer press one run of promos and stock copies (with the stamp) using one set of stampers, and had Southern Plastics press a separate run of just stock copies (without the stamp) using the other stampers he received from Archer and with the exact same labels from the same printer. Pressing plants either saved the stampers for a period of time or sent them back to the labels after production. This was done so that the wait time for getting new stampers made could be avoided or at least circumvented if the record became a hit, and more copies could be pressed immediately to meet demand. Most stampers can press about 1,000-1,500 records, so it stands to reason that any repress would've just reused the 'ARCHER' stampers if the first run was as limited as suggested in earlier posts. It's possible that there was some issue in the pressing process that damaged the original stamper and a second stamper was made to finish out the run in such a hurry that they didn't add the 'ARCHER' stamp, but it seems like those stories usually get remembered (i.e. Gwen Owens, Four Voices, etc.), and given the precedence of variations with the placement or presence of 'ARCHER' stamps, I'm inclined to believe that the stamped and non-stamped copies of Eddie Parker were pressed at the same time on different machines. I think more information about the intricacies/minutia/sloppiness of pressing plants has been learned in the last 10 years than the 40 that preceded. There are lots of collectors and dealers that in general know more than I do, but still think the Nashville Matrix stamp says "Nashville Mains" and that the vinyl ARP-pressed Ann Perry's on Theoda are bootlegs despite predating the Circa-distributed copies by at least 2 years.

Aha! Good to know that one exists with and without an 'ARCHER' stamp too. The difference in vinyl profile you mention doesn't suggest that it was pressed at a later time or at a different pressing plant, just a different machine.

Yes, I essentially said this to be true in my initial post. The Superlatives on Westbound 144 is the first one that comes to mind and exists with the 'ARCHER' stamp on the A-side only, on the B-side only, and absent altogether. Archer is a small pressing plant that was extremely busy in the 60s and lacked a lot of quality control standards that they have now. There are also numerous records that were pressed at Archer that lack the stamp altogether - The Four Sonics - Plus One on Sepia is a good example of another Jack Ashford-related record that was pressed at Archer but lacks an 'ARCHER' stamp. The 'ARCHER' stamp is raised. If it were cut/pressed into the lacquer, it would be below the surface. They were stamped in-house after receiving the metal stampers from Nashville Matrix. I'll try to clarify the client codes here. '95' was Archer's client code with Nashville Matrix that was etched by Nashville Matrix into the lacquer master they were sent by Archer before the metalwork was performed. Once the stampers were made, they sent them back to Archer. The only way that Southern Plastics would be able to press a record with Archer's client code in the runout is if they were sent the stampers by Archer. There are some exceptions where client codes were assigned to record labels rather than pressing plants. Motown is probably the best example - they had the client code '10' with Nashville Matrix. Motown would place orders for stampers to be made, Nashville Matrix would etch '10' into lacquer then make the stampers, Nashville Matrix would then send the stampers to Motown, who then sent them out to American Record Pressing and Southern Plastics to press the records. If you compare SP and ARP Motown 45s, the stampers are exactly the same, but the ARP ones have their 'ARP' stamp. And there are numerous examples of ARP pressings that have their stamp in varying places, absent on one side, or absent altogether. Anyway, like you said, '95' is present on all pressings of the Eddie Parker 45 - Jack Ashford did not have his own client code with Nashville Matrix, so he ordered the records from Archer, who had Nashville Matrix make the stampers, and then Archer pressed the records.

While Nashville Matrix did all of the metalwork, including making the stampers, the pressing plants added their own identifiers/stamps to the stampers by hand once received from the plant. Like anything done by humans, this is prone to error, and there are numerous examples of inconsistencies with the placement or even the presence of pressing plant identifier stamps on runs of the same record from plants with multiple pressing machines that received multiple sets of stampers from the plating facility. Archer has multiple pressing machines. I'm doubtful that the non-Archer stamped copy is a Southern Plastics pressing. Archer and SP used the same label printer, so you wouldn't be able to tell by that, but they also used the same plating facility and had their own assigned client codes. The presence of '95', which was Archer's client code with Nashville Matrix, instead of '5', which was SP's client code with Nashville Matrix, on both copies makes it more likely that the non-stamped copy was just pressed on a different machine with a stamper that they didn't add their identifier to while another machine did the promos and some stock copies.

Looking for a copy of the Marvelettes "Sophisticated Soul" EP. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Looking for clean copies of the records below with the specified label variation. Any help is appreciated. The Satintones - My Beloved - Motown 1000 (Monarch pressing) Satintones - Tomorrow & Always (Motown 1006, no strings version) Debbie Dean - Don't Let Him Shop Around (Motown 1007, Monarch pressing) The Supremes - I Want A Guy (Motown 1008) The Contours - Whole Lotta Woman (Motown 1008, white label promo) Satintones - I Know How It Feels (Motown 1010, white label promo) Mary Wells - I Don't Want To Take A Chance (Motown 1011, pink stock copy)

I'm primarily looking for trades (rare Motown 45s), but would consider cash offers as well on the following: The Miracles - Bad Girl / Love Your Baby (Motown G1) VG++ -very difficult to find an original copy this clean-