Roburt

It seems to be more of a photo book about the lowrider scene with some stories that are music connected.

Sonny Turner still performs on a regular basis and next week he's undertaking 2 shows in Florida (his base for many years has been Las Vegas). He's on next Wednesday a few miles up the coast from our winter home here in Coral Springs ..... only trouble is as he's doing his final show rehearsal next Wednesday for this show, we'll be waiting to board our flight from MIA back to Heathrow ...... DOOHH !! A recent pic of Sonny ...............

It seems that Eddie Spencer's 45 wasn't recorded as a solo effort but with the group he was fronting back then ...... Wonder why the bands name was dropped from the 45 when it was released ?

Her Recona track "It Could Be Sweet Again" was released in May 64 and this cut was originally the B side of the single. It seems to have been I.P.G. related (weren't some early Motown linked tracks put out by this outfit ?) ..........

BTW, the publicity for her 1972 show (shown on WWAY TV in Wilmington) stated that she had started (!?!?!) recording. I guess she didn't want the people interviewing her to know she had actually been recording for 17 years even back then.

Ruth cut "Darling Listen To The Words Of This Song” (Old Town45 n 1956: see above) with a group called the Supremes and I believe she also recorded with the Moonglows in that period. I believe she also cut for Apt and Recona. "It Could Be Sweet Again" was recorded in New York. When she was signed to Duke / Peacock, her 45’s escaped on Sure Shot ("Do It up Right", "I'll Cry"). . Bobby Eli recalls working on her Huff Puff / Gamble sides. He said that Ruth was the artist involved on the very first series of sessions Gamble / Huff ran at Sigma, in August of 1968 when she cut “Rover, Rover”. The studio version of her later Gamble outing “Ghetto Woman” ran over 6 minutes in length. She always played lots of benefit shows due to personal family reasons. She did a bit of TV as well, appearing on the 'Merv Griffin Show' & lots of televised benefits. She did a big televised show in New Jersey in 1969 and another in Wilmington, NC in March 72. She was still performing (though only locally in the NY area) in 2004. Not sure of her current status / whereabouts.

Did a search on here & it seems that little (or nothing) has been posted about this lady on the site. She was heavily involved in the music biz for around 20 years so this seems strange to me. She cut for a number of good labels; Old Town, Capitol, Duke / Peacock, Huff Puff, Gamble, etc. and her early studio work is loved by doo-wop fans as she was backed up on her sessions by outfits such as the Harptones & Royaltones (both in 1955). She then went on the cut for Capitol ("Stop Playing That Song") and by the late 60's was cutting in Philly with Gamble & Huff. She played many high profile live shows right through to the 70's and stayed with Gamble & Huff for at least 4 years ("Ghetto Woman" escaping in 1972). Anyone here know much more about her life / career ?? ...........

Kegsy, I have mine done differently ..... I have a Brazilian undertaken on the top of my head (as Mr. Searling has done for years) .... that bloody tape hurts though when they rip it off. Trust you are keeping well sir (& making a bit on the side from vinyl sales). What's it like in Bradford today, it's only gonna reach 70 degrees here @ Deerfield Beach, much colder than recent days here. They've been shooting the new film version of BAYWATCH down @ Deerfield Beach all this week .... bet there's a few 'jellytots' on display today with these colder temperatures.

Guess it's still almost impossible to buy vinyl from there (Brazil) then.

A related question ...... I used to buy from Sth American countries such as Brazil, Argentina (& Mexico). In Brazil for instance, their 33 rpm 7" releases many times feature 4 tracks with 2 being LP only in the US. BUT a while back a rule was introduced that you had to pay from a Brazilian bank account !! Even though the £ is weak against the US $ at the moment, it is strong against currencies in countries such as Brazil (& Canada) coz theirs have sunk even more than our £ has. Anyone know if this Brazilian rule is still in place or can you now buy normally from over there ?

I spend up to 10 weeks in the US each year BUT our lass has banned me from buying any more vinyl. So I haven't been making use of my time over this side of the pond for over 18 months. Could just try & have them smuggled in but she caught me many times in the past so it ain't really worth it anymore. She has a point though; some of the 45's / 12" & LP's I have haven't found their way onto a turntable in many years (size of collection & my change in taste down the years being the reasons PLUS being away from the things for about a fifth of each year). Current exchange rate still gets me though. Changed £500 before we left the UK & got $1.48 per £, now it's nowhere near that.

I put info on Bobby Wade on the recent 'Power Exchange Records' thread .......... Some more Way Out Records info ........... anyone got a Canadian Way Out related 45 ??? .......

RE: Way Out 45 numbering & other related info ......... Prior to the deal with MGM, some Way Out 45's were distributed by Atlantic (seem to recall Springers 45 getting Atlantic distribution). Post MGM deal, Way Out was very short of money to press up copies of their 45's & had no real distribution outside Ohio area, hence rarity of series numbered in 2000's. The label had it's own studio, so acts were always in there cutting tracks (Lou Ragland being producer / engineer on many sessions). Loads of unissued tracks from that period (and the decaying mastertapes still exist). The studio was kept busy, people always coming & going, that way it wasn't suspicious if the place was used as a front for non-legal uses (say numbers running for instance). Sub label Big Jim funded by ex Cleveland Brown's football player Jim Brown. Other sub labels started up in 1970's to refresh labels image with local record buyers. Other Way Out recordings licensed out to other bigger labels to make some money for the label. Bobby Wade stuff escaping on Deluxe and a couple of things being licensed to De-lite a few years after original Way Out release dates.

I like Bobby Wade's version COZ he's a mate of mine !!! BTW, the Volcanic Eruption were another of Lou Ragland's outfits.

Some info off the net on the SOS Band's Mary Davis ............ In 1980, "Take Your Time (Do It Right)," written for the band by Sigidi Abdullah and recorded in one take, sold two million copies and went platinum, reaching number one on the pop and R&B charts. Their eponymous debut album would go on to sell 800,000 copies. The timing was right for Davis, back in 1977, after seeking fame and fortune in the Big Apple, she came back home to Georgia. She began performing at Milton Lamar's legendary Regal Room in Atlanta. It was there that time and fate were on her side. At the same time, accomplished keyboard player Jason TC Bryant had just moved from Japan to Atlanta, and in just weeks, their two musical worlds collided. Regal owner Milton Lamar told the two promising musicians to combine their talents and form a group. What came from that was the original S.O.S. Band, originally named Santa Monica. The lineup would include Willie "Sonny" Killebrew (saxophone), the late Billy Ellis (flute), Bruno Speight (guitar), John Simpson (bass), James Earl Jones III (drums), Bryant, and Davis. The band's manager Bunnie Jackson-Ransom, a successful local Atlanta business woman who would go onto manage SOS and then Cameo, sent a demo to Tabu Records owner Clarence Avant and the rest was history, not only for the band, but for David as a female bandleader. Davis had to earn the respect of the fledgling band and its male members. There was no template at the time which produced many female-led groups. The scene was dominated by the likes of male groups such as Parliament-Funkadelic, Brothers Johnson, Kool and the Gang, Earth, Wind & Fire, and many more. The key for Davis was her versatility and talent. "It was a combination of both [being a singer and songwriter]," she acknowledges. "I was the only singer in the group for a while, so they had to come over to that [having her as a leader]. We were able to talk about it, and make it happen." And, as much as her rise-and-fall-and-rise-again success has come via her singing, it has been her unwavering dedication to her faith stepped in Southern gospel that has sustained her -- that and a tireless passion for living the rest of her musical dream. So if she had spent around 8/9 years in New York trying to make it in the music biz there, she could be the lady who cut for Conclave. She has just re-joined the SOS Band & they have gone back on the road. If she is the 'Conclave woman' then should must have been born in the early 50's (making her around 18 yrs old in 69 when that 45 was issued). She would now be around 65 years old !! So I still think she's actually too young to have cut "Danger (Playboy At Work)".

The guys associated with the label would usually take part of the writing credits (& hence royalties) as part of the deal to release their artists records. Even the likes of Berry Gordy would take part credits on songs that he only got them to change 2/3 words on. BTW, didn't realise this till a short while back BUT Big Maybelle was performing on the road as far back as the 40's -- back then she was featured singer with Gene Popes Genial Gentlemen !! After all those years of hardship on the road, it's no wonder she had some bad habits by the late 60's.

The B & B version as it was released in the UK back in the day & that is the version I heard first (& danced to first).

Conclave was based in New York & were actively trying to sign outside productions to the label in spring / summer 69, so it could be that the Ohio lady signed with them as an outlet for her recordings ..............

I don't believe so. The SOS Band Mary Davis was from Savannah, Georgia. There were a few females named Mary Davis who were involved with the US music biz going back to the 40's. One Ohio based lady by that name was cutting stuff up in Ohio back in 69 ....

Fill ya boots, Eli !!!

Some on Homer's old work ..........

I recall Blues & Soul doing an article on Homer around 69/70 (I have the actual edition at home in the UK) and it confused me at the time. I had spent 2/3 years, dancing in mod & soul clubs (+ @ niters) to Homer's records -- Hooked By Love; A Lot Of Love & 60 Minutes Of Your Love (all massive UK club plays) & yet the article focused on his "Lady Of Stone" which I hardly knew.

I don't believe there is. Homer had (around) 5 US Minit 45's released + Minit picked up the rights to his pre-Minit recordings HOWEVER he was mainly known as a song writer. The compilation CD of all his pre Stax work that EMI put out in the UK included about 20 tracks (not counted them exactly, that number is from memory & a guess). So assuming he had around 10 cuts released on vinyl in the US in the mid 60's (Minit used some tracks twice on his 45s) then about half the cuts on that UK CD would have been 'vaulted' tracks prior to the CD escaping. I GUESS that "Ain't Found Nothin To Beat" was a demo he made at Minit for another artist to record OR it was a track destined for a Minit LP that never actually materialised.

The alternate B side of Justin's Down East 45 (not the cut that was on the other US & the UK 45) sounds just like a 60's 4 Tops track.

Do you count EP track's in your listing ? .... i.e. tracks on 45 / 33 rpm 7" releases from France / UK / Mexico / Brazil ? If so the number of tracks goes up hugely. I bought Stevie Wonder's French 60's EP release coz it was the only place to get his "Love A GoGo" (a massive King Mojo niter club play) on a 7" 45 rpm release. Lots of other French Motown 60's EP tracks only available on 7" on those records. ALSO most (all ?) Brazilian 7" releases play at 33 rpm. Coz of that it was common to add 2 extra tracks (LP only cuts) to the US 45 single releases in Brazil (otherwise the run-out groove area took up more of the playing surface than the grooves holding the music. Lots of tracks (& countries) to detail then. Some Motown acts were COLD back in the US while still HOT (selling records) over here in Europe. So artists such as Jnr Walker, Jimmy Ruffin, Marv Johnson, Edwin Starr has stuff on 45 over our side of the pond that didn't make 45 release in the US.