Roburt

One from the Islands ..........

Used to go to nights at the Jungle Club (on harbor slip road) in Brid with the Hull crowd in 1967. .... then lived in Brid from 76 to 79 but wasn't 'on the scene' during those years (more into 70's soul & never took to Wigan stompers). So never went to Fingers (in fact -- unless it was near to the Woolies store in town, can't even remember the place). Used to attend the odd NS nite at Eggboro (or Drax) Power Stn Club though; dragged along by Paul Temple who used to visit us in Brid to plunder my 45 & LP collections.

.........But why were some records hits and some not on major labels? ...... That wasn't my query .......... I wanted to know why some none hit 45's were common, whilst others remain very rare (seemingly only getting pressed in very limited quantities ?) What was the logic behind this situation & why (SAY) was one failed MGM 45 around in the 100's whilst the Velours 45 wasn't ?? Are there rare Mercury / Phillips / Fontana soul 45's ? What about ABC ?? (ABC managers were so 'useless' they junked all unissued track master tapes coz they were 'taking up storage space' -- go figure !!).

What about Columbia / Epic / Date ..... many rare 60's 45's on those labels ? Same for Amy -Mala - Bell -- some do seem to be rare items ... but which are the rarest ? .... and (though not really a major as such) Chess / Checker / Cadet / Argo ? NOT rare coz so many collectors want a copy but genuinely rare singles please. Some labels seemed to use Ohio cities as a test bed & so only sent some 45's there ..... Baltimore was another major 'breakout city' where many 45's were sent to test their popularity, which labels just sent some 45's there ?

There are rare 45's on many US major labels from the 60's .... BUT how / why did this come about. Perhaps the easiest to explain are the rare Wand 45's .... lots of these were picked up from local labels and Scepter / Wand had lost interest in lots soon after they had licensed them. I guess they sent out many promo copies to radio stns on the original local label and when no stn playlisted the cuts, they just failed to press up many copies on Wand itself. By the mid 70's, many 45's were being recycled due to the oil crisis, so lots of stuff originally released say from 72 to 75 disappeared into the plastic mincer. But why are many MGM / Verve soul 45's so rare ................ I know the company had no idea how to promote such releases, but from the 1000's of 60's Verve / MGM soul 45's that were mass imported into the UK in the 70's it is obvious that they pressed up 100's of copies of the majority of their singles. So why are some of their 45's so rare ??? RCA were in a similar position to MGM in the 60's .... lots of stuff released, hardly anything effectively promoted. So which are the rare RCA 60's soul 45's and why ??? Warners / Loma again have similar releases (some that are listed just don't seem to exist at all !!) The Atlantic family seem to have few if any such 45's (& yet they licensed in a very high % as did Wand). Rare Motown 45's only seem to be those that were withdrawn before 'official' release. Are there many rare Capitol family rare 60's soul 45's (& I don't mean rare coz more collectors desire copies than have come onto the open market).

During the Wheel's allniter years of 67 / 68 / 69 / 70, the 'management' wanted punters out of place quite quickly at the end of the session ..... when the double doors were flung open, they wanted people to file out asap ..... I was there at the end on many such a night but can't recall what track/s were played but I'm sure it wasn't usually a dancer (otherwise those still with energy wouldn't have left the dancefloors). BB's "Call On Me" was a big Wheel (& personal) favorite but I can't recall if it was played at the end of the session on most / many ocassions. Someone here must recall what the last track played at many of the Wheel niters was.

Been discussed on another thread recently ... BUT the Mojo ender (back in 66 / 67) was split between .... Artistics "I'm Gonna Miss You" (also said to have been last ever record played at Mojo b4 it closed) ..... OR ...... Billy Stewart "Exodus".

Can't tell you about that specific version ..... BUT this 45 was released 3 or 4 times on legit copies.

Love the 'remix' releases ..... have too many orig PI cuts on vinyl (45 & LP) + some CD's to invest in the big box set but can't wait for the Rareties & unissued stuff.

IAN, being totally selfish ..... every unissued Philly Int Jones Girls & / or Shirley jones track available. Love the Jones Girls stuff (almost) as much as I love The Emotions Volt cuts.

60's UK Motown & Atl / Stax / Stateside should make decent prices (not Supremes LP's though). US 60's by 'good' artists; again decent prices (if they contain none 45 dancers). 70's & 80's; some decent prices ..... many not !!!

Any chance that the Cecil Womack produced Peace Int track by Young Disciples (group name may be wrong ?) will gain release as part of one of the proposed CD sets ??

Dave Godin at Soul City had many many copies (just about all issues) of the US 45 within days of its US release. No idea if Bell sent him them with a view to him releasing it on Soul City but he definitely had a few 20 x boxs of the 45. On every ocassion that I & my mates travelled down from the north to visit the Soul City shop, he would try to sell us all a copy. Just about all of us had bought a copy on our initial visit & so kept turning down the chance to buy a 2nd issue copy for around 12/- (60 p). ..... Obviously we made a sound financial decision at the time !!!!! We all knew that a spare US issue copy would never really be of any use to us & we didn't bother to invest in one.

Happier times (commercially) for soul music ..... the US POP chart in May 1972 .....

Stan (The Record Man) Lewis was the go to guy if you needed some good soul 45's ....... He'd even sell you stuff on his own Jewel, Paula & Ronn labels !!!

Another Brazilian offering ............ .... still 33 rpm but not an EP this time ... mind you, only about a third of the vinyl surface is utilised ....

I've got a copy of this EP somewhere. Seem to recall it was an 80's release, can't remember by which label though.

Reffa goes all exotic (label wise) .......

Fat Daddy & Hot Rod were just about the best radio DJ's on the Baltimore airwaves back in the 1960's .... Both were so popular that they could lead to a 45 breaking out nationally just because they were playing it in Baltimore. As a result of their work (+ that of the other local soul radio DJ's) Baltimore became just about the major city to 'BREAK' sounds in back then. Both ran there own promotions (live shows) & lots of the acts would play free for them as it kept them in the DJ's good books and helped ensure that their current & next records were played n the radio in the city. Both DJ's organised big shows down on Carr's Beach & these featured so many acts on each bill, they had to bus all of them out to the venue from Baltimore. FAT DADDY on WWIN >> ......... Fat Daddy on "Double W-Eye-N Radio 2360 on the AM Side" Listen to the above, is that Chuck Jackson singing the Salem cigarettes ad about 3 mins 10 secs in ?? More Fat Daddy ..... His 45 ......

Great detective work with pleasing results.

Another 4 track (33rpm) EP from South America. This one features tracks from Marvin Gaye, the Originals, etc.

Even though their 1st release (& the label name) came from the US, almost all of the Jay Boy 45's up to Boy 24 were UK productions. They appear to be outside productions just bought in by President (including a few reggae items from the Pyramids). Loads of different production teams sourced the tracks released on the label which then went US soul (after Boy 24) and their singles became a regular buy for UK soulies from then on.

In 1973, CBS / Epic took the decision to get into soul music in a big way. They hired guys who had help run indie soul labels and set about signing up labels like T-Neck, Philly Int. & Stax. Two of the top guys employed by their Epic Records Div were LeBaron Taylor & Jim Tyrrell. Born in Detroit, LeBaron Taylor started out as a DJ at the 20 Grand Club before getting on radio with WCHJ and WJLB. He then formed Solid Hitbound Productions (Solid Hit-Revilot-Brute) with George White & Don Davis. was also a partner. With Don Davis, he produced Steve Mancha for Groovesville. Leaving Detroit in 1970, he moved to Philly where he worked at WDAS. In 1972 he was appointed to an A&R post with Atlantic Records. At Atlantic, he organised the signing of acts such as the Sons of Robin Stone and formed the Young Professionals Production team (they worked with Sister Sledge, R.B. Greaves, Clyde Brown, Jackie Moore, the Persuaders, Vivian Reed, etc). In 1974, he was hired by CBS to run their Black Music Division. Jim Tyrell, a native New Yorker, was a much in demand New York studio musician; one of the first to play the fender electric bass in live performance & on studio recording sessions. He played on many tracks cut by top artists in the 50's and 60s, including several hits by James Brown, Maxine Brown, Inez & Charlie Fox and the Manhattans. In 1965 he left the Apollo Theatre house band to work on the 'dark side' of the music biz (as a record label exec). After working at Buddah - Kama Sutra, he joined CBS in 1970. By 1973, he was Vice-Pres of Marketing at Epic and largely responsible for making the distribution deal with Stax work. Whilst at Epic, he still kept his hand in on the actual musical side, working (as executive producer) with the likes of Webster Lewis in 1976.

Loads of instrumentals played in UK mod / soul clubs in mid 60's ...... Willie Mitchell -- "Oh Baby You Turn Me On"; Rex Garvin & Mi Cravers -- "Sock It To Em JB"; Markeys -- "Philly Dog"; Willie Mitchell -- "Everthing is Gonna be Alright"; Alvin Cash & Crawlers -- "Alvins Boogaloo"; Little Mac & Boss Sound -- "Midnight Hour"; Alvin Cash & C -- "Philly Freeze"; Bobby Moore & Rh Aces -- "Hey Mr DJ" + loads of Booker T & MG's cuts and other things I can't recall at present. Had "Two In the Morning" way back then (on a cheap Pye label compilation LP) but don't recall it being played out in clubs back then.

I attended lots of niters at the Nite Owl back in 1967. I've got some details of the live acts who appeared at the club back then ........ APRIL 8th 67 > Alan Bown Set APRIL 15th 67 > Wynder K Frog .... last allniter at Mojo (Sheffield) with Geno Washington & RJB on live. MAY 6th 67 > Pesky-Gee >> didn't attend. Saw Garnett Mimms (+ Jimi Hendrix) at Saville Theatre, London on Sunday 7th MAY 27th 67 > Powerhouse JUNE 3rd 67 > Pesky-Gee & Jimmy Cliff JUNE 10th 67 > Edwin Starr. Went to Hull Skyline on Thurs 8th > Lucas + Mike Cotton Sound. Frid 9th Jungle in Brid. JUNE 17th 67 > Wynder K Frog & Pesky-Gee ADVERTISED AS > Sonny Childe & TNT JUNE 24th 67 > Family July 15th 67 > ?? >> went to Mojo Alldayer on Sun 16th > (fake) Drifters on live July 22nd 67 > Pop Toniks July 29th 67 > Wynder K Frogg didn't attend > went to Mojo Alldayer on Sun 30th > Garnett Mimms on live August 5th 67 > Shevelles ........ group failed to show up August 19th 67 > Reg James Explosion > then up to Mojo alldayer (Alan Bown + Wynder K Frogg) August 26th 67 > Ferris Wheel + Shevelles September 2nd 67 > Temptations (really Velours) + Pesky-Gee >> Sunday Mojo alldayer > Temptations again September 9th 67 > Cliff Bennett + the Peeps September 16th 67 > Root & Jenny Jackson September 23rd 67 > Garnett Mimms >> I went to Mojo Allniter > Drifters then Sunday Mojo Alldayer > Garnett Mimms September 30th 67 > ??? >> I went to Mojo Allniter > Jimmy Cliff & Shakedown Sound October 7th 67 > Maxine Brown GREAT >> then on Sunday > Mojo Alldayer (last ever) > Stevie Wonder October 14th 67 > ??? went to Wheel > Jnr Walker & AllStars October 21th 67 > Alan Bown October 28th 67 > Isley Brothers (fake - really Sam, Erv & Tom > 3/4 of Diplomats) November 4th 67 > Drifters (fake -- thin k it was actually the Invitations again) November 11th 67 > Max Baer & Chicago Setback November 18th 67 > Jimmy James & Vagabonds November 25th 67 > ??? >> went to Wheel > Ben E King & Senate + Amboy Dukes December 2nd 67 > Eddie Floyd .... MONDAY 4th December 67 > Nite Owl closed down as no Local Authority licence granted. December 16th 67 > NO NITE OWL >> went to Wheel (our new home) to see the Vibrations. Had attended the Purple Onion Club in Cleethorpes (Alan Bown played live gig there on Dec 10th 67) in summer of 1966; went over there each weekend on scooter. Also attended Boulevard Club Tadcaster in 1966 & early 1967 (live acts on here too; Zoot Money's Big Roll Band, etc.)