Roburt

Thanx for the info. The Wasters 45 seems to have been the 1st 45 that Williams placed with Uni (#55148) back in summer 69. Wonder why they didn't manage a 2nd Uni outing. So did Charles Williams and Shirley Carroll stay with Williams and have releases on other labels ??

Russ Regan, who signed Andre Williams to the deal with Uni, had earlier worked for Motown and had headed up 20th Century Records. He was involved with Mary Wells work for 20th Century and Andre Williams also worked on some of those tracks. It seems highly likely then that Regan and Williams already knew each other before the Uni deal was set up. I'd guess that Regan was LA based by the late 60's and as Williams was Chicago based by then, I wonder how the deal with the DC based Passionettes came about ?

Andre Williams had a bit of a bad reputation in the late 60's with record company owners. He had worked for labels such as Motown, M-Pac, Blue Rock, Mar-V-Lus in the early to mid 60's as a producer and A&R guy. After his post with Blue Rock ended, he moved on to work for the likes of Toddlin' Town and Chess (he even cut for Chess as Jomo). He had, briefly, been tasked with running the Bamboo label out of St Louis in late 1968 but that relationship soon broke down. Then in May 1970, a big announcement was made in Billboard mag that Uni had signed up Andre Williams and a string of artists associated to him as part of their push into the soul market. This announcement seemed a bit late as Andre had produced the Green Berets 45 ("Lord Send Me Somebody / We Must Make Things Right" Uni # 55186) which had escaped in December 1969. But after the big announcement a 45 from the Passionettes (June 70) & two more from the Green Berets did actually escape on Uni. However, I can find no trace of singles being released by Uni on the likes of Carl (Karl) Tarlton, Charles Williams and Shirley Carroll. Did anything ever get released (on any label) by them ? The Passionettes some changed their name to the Fuzz (probably as they were still contractually tied to Williams or Uni as the Passionettes) and had signed with Calla before the end of the year. The Green Berets also soon changed their name and moved on. Karl Tarlton was a well known song writer who had been associated with Andre for some years but (apart from the odd demo version) I don't recall him ever recording himself. I guess Uni's relationship with Williams soon went sour and that few of his intended projects for the label reached fruition but I would still like to know what became of those artists that he was listed as signing to deals with Uni. I wonder if unissued cuts by those people went into the Uni tape vaults ?

As you would expect with a track produced by Verdine & Robert White, "Catch Me" sounds very EWF-ish. The 7" and LP versions (which I have) are only 3mins 15 secs long, whereas the 12" disco version is almost 6 mins long. I don't think the 12" version is much different (apart from the extra length) from the 45 version. Is that right ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwKxinilEfA

The cross-dressing Jerri / Jerry Jones .... she started out in show biz up in Ohio (though she wasn't originally from there), moved on to Miami (where she hooked up with some reggae guys on PAL) before finally settling in Jamaica ....... She was quite blatant with her cross dressing till she moved to Kingston, then she had to tone her image down a lot (lots of homophobia down in Jamaica).

Tony Washington, lead singer of the Dynamic Superiors, would sometimes go on stage in drag ..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48qzAfw5MeA

Sylvester .............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oigd_qs4rNY

Jackie Shane ................ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUYW2iwimBw

Our kid, that's .... CINE ....... he was asking bout .... SCENE..... !!!

A review of one of her A&R 45's that appeared in Billboard ....

A copy of her A&R album (which contains her take on "Go Now") is currently for sale on Evilbay ............ https://www.ebay.com/itm/MARIAN-LOVE-I-Believe-in-Music-LP-NEAR-MINT-/350323327061 Guess the price the guy is asking is a bit steep though (even though it's a near mint copy).

Anyone know just how many copies of this Black Magic 45 were sold back then ? I guess the track got plays at the Casino at the time and filled the floor. But as the majority of sales of the single would have been in the Midlands and north, the London biased way the charts were made up then would have counted against it making the top 40 I guess.

Back in 1975, NS was the big thing, in part due to the profile Wigan Casino had at the time. Re-released NS scene UK 45's had been making the Pop charts here for some time (The Tams in 70 & 71; Fascinations in 71, Bobby Hebb in 72, Robert Knight in 73, R Dean Taylor in 74, Al Wilson and Dobie Gray in 75) and many more were released to try to catch good sales. The likes of Simon Soussan was also in business back then and making 'taylor mades'. Some of the tracks he had a hand in did sell quite well and, of course, one eventually made it onto the charts when Shalimar's "Uptown Festival" achieved that position. But in 1975, with Selectadisc's help, he put out "Love You Baby" on Black Magic, the track being badged up as being by Lorraine Chandler. This 45 cut certainly had it's fans and with a bit more of a push could have actually made the UK Pop Charts. What would have happened though if the track had attained this status and UK booking agents and the likes of the BBC had gone looking for Lorraine with a view to fetching her over here to 'cash in' on the record's success. In later years we had the likes of Milli Vanilli and Black Box, who had hits without ever being the vocalists on the tracks involved BUT at least they knew what situation they were getting themselves into. I'm sure, poor old Lorraine would have been at a loss to know what to do if the 'chart hit record' situation had actually come about. She obviously had been involved with the 'backing track' and the original version of "Love You Baby" but would have been stumped if approached and told she had a UK hit on her hands with a song she had never recorded.

As Mike Vernon & the Olympic Runners were involved with his tracks, I'd guess it's almost certain that they were cut in rural North Oxfordshire (CameronCuntry) at Chipping Norton Studios. Mike Vernon was also working with the likes of Bloodstone at that time & some of their tracks were also laid down in Chipping Norton (as were numerous Olympic Runners things). Info on the studios ........... https://www.chippingnortontown.info/CHIPPINGNORTON/RecordingStudios/tabid/1149/Default.aspx When the studio closed they just put skips in the road out front & threw everything that couldn't be sold into the skips until the old building was totally cleared and ready for the site to be turned over to housing. A guy I worked with at the time (In Oxford) went skip diving and had a productive weekend up there in 1999. He told me that he pulled numerous acetates and similar items out of the studio skips but I never did find out if there was any tasty soul stuff amongst the bits he came away with.

Seems that Mercury made up those LP taster EP's for most of Jerry B's albums ........... .... plus other related items that would be considered great memorabilia today.

It seems that "Blurred Lines" rips off "Got To Give It Up". So much so that law suits are in preparation. Jack Ashford (who played on Marvin's track) has his say on the subject ............... https://wreg.com/2013/10/21/legendary-memphis-musician-puts-blurred-lines-debate-into-focus/

More on the film & Muscle Shoals here .............. https://www.timeout.com/london/film/muscle-shoals

Her Mercury & Warner Bros tracks are much more country in style than her earlier recordings. This makes them popular with Southern Soul fans but lots of em are just too country for me. However, both sides of her Mercury 45 put out in August 1972 - "I Want To (Do Everything For You) / Nobody But You" - are well worth chasing IMHO. I believe her Mercury sides (which were also done with Buddy Killen) were laid down in Muscle Shoals.

Has "Stop Stepping .." ever escaped on CD ? I would have thought it had been included on the 2fer Mercury CD release 'IceMan: the Mercury Years'. But even though that features 44 of his tracks, "Stop Stepping .." ain't one of em.

Probably a question than only the likes of Robb K can answer ........... how come the Morris Bailey song that formed the B side to her take on Jerry Butler's "Can't Forget About You Baby" (a October 69 Capitol 45) was published by Jobete. I don't recall Morris Bailey being signed to Jobete (unless he was for a short time when Motown had it's NY office).

Forgot to mention that one of her Mercury outings, "I Want To (Do Everything For You)", was included on the UK comp LP 'Mercury Mobile Disco' back in 1972.

Never heard her version of "Go Now". She cut this early in 1971 for A&R, presumably in the New York area. Her A&R tracks were produced by Tony May who was related to (& at times worked with) Larry & Bessie Banks. Is her take on "Go Now" a decent version ??

Her first recordings were made on the west coast but in the 70's she 'went darnsowf' to cut more tracks (which is probably why they were a lot more country in style to her 60's & 71 stuff). She was a bit of a 'looker' back in the day and that must have helped her progress as a singer. However, she'd had enough of that world by the mid 70's and followed her other sisters into the education field.

As a track by this lady has just got a mention on another thread, thought I'd post up some info on her & her recordings. Born in St Louis in 1946, she started out singing in a group (the Love Sisters) with three of her sisters. When they dropped out of the entertainment world, she continued on as a solo singer, initially performing jazz numbers. She cut for Capitol in the mid to late 60's and then for A&R around 1971. She then seemed to go all country and recorded for Mercury and then Warner Brothers (where she cut in Memphis with Chips Moman & Buddy Killen).

The group cutting another track off the EP in a Toronto studio ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QYOzPPlr1g