Steve G

Yes he moved from there in 68 Gareth. He also sued John lennon over the use of the name Karma which he claimed was his own.

No I don't really know. A lot would depend on whether the A&R / promo people sensed a hit. So initial runs could be as high as 25,000 or even more on occasions if they thought they had a hit in the making / were getting positive feedback and believed in a song, or if something was on a local label and doing well. But beyond that I don't have any hard facts on this. For a lot of majors it was single digit thousands. There weren't any standards that i know of like RCA did a minimum of X thousand - it varied. Numbers pressed though is largely academic, so I can think of a song that was pressed in a five figure quantity as an issue which ultimately didn't sell a single copy. All the copies were either kept in the warehouse or returned from distributors 'unsold' or sold in the secondary (cut out) market.

They were one of Sam's groups - def Dallas not Houston. Sam's office was on Stemmons Freeway (and I have also been there which is a main drag out of Dallas) and I am hoping to get a photo via his long term partner. Mr Stemmons was a founding father that built parts of Dallas up b.t.w hence a road named after him. John - The Kent LP names A&S as writers - but Dave and myself are saying highly unlikely.

Sam bought the backing tracks after the record had been used for The Precisions "Such misery". Was discussing this with dave Thorley and probably George McGregor sold it. Ashford & Simpson were at Motown long before Stemmons was done, so doubt very much that they had a hand in it at all as they'd left FloMar. Also it's a Dallas record. I am in contact with Sam, I'll ask him.

Are you talking the Big 6 or Big Six + others like Atlantic, Motown etc? Runs were as low as 1,000, occasionally less, and obviously more as needed. Of course not all of them got out of the record company offices hence rarities....

I'll check my copy later.

Yes agree on the Fonts Calla did use an odd font in the early 70s - a bit like Times new roman....

Yes Butch spin, and a great record.

Yes I'd tend to agree about the Dutch pressing. Talking of Roulette and Calla it reminds me of a Maurice Levy story I read once - can't remember where now - but he gets wind someone is botlegging Roulette records in Brooklyn or somewhere so he and McCalla go off to Brooklyn tooled up with bats etc. They get in there, smash the equipment and grab the guy ready to kneecap him, and the bootlegger says his young son is in hospital and he's only doing it to raise the money for a critical operation his son needs. Thinking he's full of c*ap, the pair of them frog march him to the hospital whereupon they find that the bootleggers story is indeed true. So they let him off with a warning "Bootleg anyone else's records but don't ever bootleg my records again", and then Levy writes a cheque to pay for the boys operation. Apparantly a true story but I am sure he dined out on it for a long time.

Tax dodge. re-press 500 claim you pressed 50,000. Like they did with the Bobby Boyd album. The Dutch connection is also feasible I guess. I hadn't thought of that. Am I reading it correctly that the previous owner was a M R.Soul? That funny!

Hi Bob, not seen it like that before but the words "Calla Records" give us a clue. The rest of the font setting is not to far off the ordinary LoLo demos, but it loks like a crude copy. "Repress for the deep soul scene"- very funny, made me laugh! Almost certainly a mid 70s dodgy pressing. Morris Levy and Nate McCalla strike again They often released things with only the feintest hint of legal rights - normally a phone call. Anyone who complained got their knees smashed - but you know all that.... That's the best I can come up with on that one.

They did several PS's around this time - Kingsmen and a couple of others as well spring to mind. You are right probably done to help promote the artist and as a bit of a novelty. Not all copies would have come with PS maybe a couple of thousand.

Yes I'd agree, certainly in the post Wigan era. Great discovery.

Yup remember John Weston trying to flog a Vickie Labatt, it hung around in his box for a little while too. He's on here so am sure he can confirm. Think it was 750, and less than 5 years ago. I remember thinking every time I saw it 'why has no one bought it yet?' Are these four the new trophy records then?

I think Tony Cummings had championed "Stay with me" either in the 'Soul' book or in 'Black Music' I can't remember which. No amount of critical analysis required, in a nutshell, there lies your answer as to Dave's concentrated outburst.

Oh I am not dissing the record at all, I have a minty UK demo and seem to remember it sounded pretty good in an echoey hall in the 70s.

Yup the majority of records are unsellable at this point if you think about it. Meaning you can't give them away, Even within the rare soul scene, some stuff you can't give away. But I mean all those Val Doonican, Cliff Richard, Abba and the like LPs and 45's who would ever want them at this point?

Yes I'm sure you do Phil. ALthough she did manage to "escape" at a young age

He arranged / conducted stuff on The Diamonds on Mercury in 1960 as well as The Shirelles. I think he did several of their 45s. 1208 was the first Scepter one he did. Steve

My missus lived in Barrow as a teenager, so I do feel I am qualified to have a view on this one. Plus, unlike many people, I have actually been there :lol:

Chapter 5 - Quite possibly the best thing to come out of Barrow in many a year

Has anyone seen his film? It's like a 2h documentary following him around as he does his Blowfly "porno" stuff and talking about his life and his influences. His story is very interesting, one of a zillion kids etc, ran away, washed dishes, stacked records for Henry Stone, dodging local sherriffs with his alter ego mask and topless girlies in tow - I am sure there's some embellishment but even without having seen it I'd say it has to be a 100x better watch than old re-runs of "Soulboy".

Here's a link to my latest show, this month featuring Detroit singer and songwriter Will Hatcher. We go through his records and he tells us about them and what he's up to now. Before anyone asks he couldn't really remember much about the Chicago sides with Willie Henderson - anyway Enjoy! https://www.mixcloud.com/steve-guarnori/sunday-afternoon-soul-and-will-hatcher-feature-2nd-sept-2012/

I think because not enough DJs have it Russ.

I think the "Dance off" was a nod to the impact that "West Side Story" had on the early days of the northern scene- you know The Sharks and The Jets etc...