Roburt

What's the story behind the Tarx label ?? Obviously New York based & almost certainly they cut their tracks in that city, but who owned it & who was the in-house producer, when did it operate (mid to late 60's ?), etc. ?? Benny Johnson (from Baltimore) also had a 45 out on the label (in 1966 I believe) & this was cut with his usual hometown backing band (the Soul Serenaders), so just maybe this was laid down outside New York (but I doubt it was recorded back in Baltimore).

RE:.... Perfect for sorting out edge problems... ........ I've got an 'edges problem ..... .... I married one (an 'edges) & she now threatens to divorce me whenever I order any records or CDs. She thinks that just coz I already have 20,000 records & 2,000 CDs I don't need anymore !!! .............. How can I get around this major difficulty ??

Vessie Simmons may have a few collectable records, but she has been a 'bad girl' at times .... In 1973, she was touring with a group of fake Shirelles ...... A band of southern guys were hired by a Los Angeles fella to back the Shirelles at a show at Fort McClellan, Anniston, Alabama. The gig went well & so they stayed on as the girls backing band for further shows across Oklahoma and then Texas (mostly at military bases). Another show they played was at Kelly AFB in San Antonio. On all the shows, the 3 'other' girls opened with a couple of songs then they would bring out Vessie, the 'star Shirelle' & the show would really kick in. Vessie also claims to have been an Ikette & to even have led one of the incarnations of the Ikettes, but I can find no real evidence of this (apart from Vessie's own statements). Anyway, she was brought up in court in Newark New Jersey in the 70's for 'impersonating' a Shirelle on live shows but somehow got off (the piccy on the left shows her leaving the Newark court after being acquitted). BTW, she WAS a member of the Ribbons from the early to mid 1960's.

To reinforce what I posted above (post 10 in this thread) ........ Here's a current news story ........ Lionel Richie owes $1.1 million in back taxes ........ April 13, 2012 Lionel Richie owes U.S. government $1.1 million in taxes for 2010 Pop music legend Lionel Richie reportedly owes the U.S. government over $1 million in taxes. According to celebrity gossip site TMZ, the POP & COUNTRY STAR (??!!??!!??) owes the feds $1,130,609.11 in unpaid income taxes for 2010. The IRS has reportedly put a lien on Richie, meaning he now needs to pony up the dough or the government could seek to claim the amount by taking over the singer's property. It seems unlikely things will get that far however, as TMZ estimates the former Commodores' lead singer to be worth well over $200 million, making his latest tax issue a small drop in an otherwise very large bucket. Richie recently released his country music debut Tuskeegee, a collection of his classic hits re-recorded with a Nashville sound, and featuring duets with some of country's biggest stars. According to The Toronto Sun, the album debuted in Canada at the No. 1 position on the charts.

It doesn't seem to work for me with tinned jellied eels but that's probably coz I'm a northerner ... However Italian collectors tell me the it works with tins of anguilla, French with tins of aspic d'anguille and Germans with tins of Aal in Aspik but I have never tried these.

... the above piece was from 1963 .... but the group started out much earlier

Down to DC now & a guy / group that had their own label ...

God places no restrictions on your hair -- he accepts you as you are Yes, Bob, but shouldn't God have set up rules to prevent other collectors from outbidding you on Evilbay ??

A typical record dealer ......

There was Aretha & Erma, but who was the 3rd one ......

Al Serafini must have been Cleveland's equivalent to Googie Rene (LA based). Many of Googie Rene's late 50's / early 60's tracks are big band jazz & MOR cuts but then there is the stuff like "Smokey Joe's La La" that got UK mod club dance floors heaving !!

So thanks to Mr. Dewhirst (& the compilers) we will get a 2fer CD containing loads of great Jewel - Paula - Ronn gospel tracks. What we then need is a similar release containing loads of the Chess - Checker gospel stuff !!! After all, you could just about fill a CD with NS related Chess gospel cuts, so that should be even more of a commercial bet !!! BTW, anyone else here really like the Gospel Six's Checker 45 track "God Done Got Tired" ??

Bob, he's a minister now, so I guess he wears his hair different these days !!!

......... would of said Tommy Hunt has made the most out of the scene ........ Tommy would have made much more (in comparison) back in the US in the early to mid 60's. The trouble with most artists is that they did't realise that everyone was ripping them off, record companies, promoters, managers, accountants, girl friends et al. By the time they 'wise up' to the ways of the biz, loads of money has slipped thru their fingers. ALSO, by then the taxman is chasing them for arrears & most of the money has gone (which is why David Ruffin & others ended up in jail & Edwin Starr moved to the UK). Tommy Hunt gets some regular club bookings BUT it is his main job. So £20k a year doesn't go too far when you have a mortgage, fuel, food & the like to pay for. Just about ALL soul singers gave the biz up because of the hours, travel, lifestyle, uncertainty etc. They settled for a day job and brought up their families (driving trucks, painting & decorating, etc) coz at least that way they got a steady wage. No, unless you were a Gladys Knight, Chuck Jackson, Reffa or Otis Williams the money you earned singing was never enough.

RE: Maybe they changed it because Stevie Wonder had released a track called Travelin' Man earlier in the year (Feb 67)? ....... that is why they changed the title, but Lou still didn't agree with the decision.

.... bought some great records there in late 60's early 70's ...... So did I, but I got there before smudger !!!

I believe that warps & dishes in 45's occur because the singles haven't been stored correctly. They may have been kept (for years) on their sides & / or kept somewhere way too hot (near a window where the sun streams through). Don't forget, that many 45's sat for years in hot or damp warehouses / basements as 'overstocks'. As they were only being sold (back then) for a few cents each, no one saw the need to look after them properly.

RE: I will have to ask Lou if Al was actually on that session (when he cut "I Travel Alone", etc) or if Al's name was just put on that 45 coz he was so well known on the Cleveland music scene. I contacted Lou & he has given me the full story about the Al Serafini 45. I have started a new thread all about it & the "I Travel Alone" recording session; didn't want the tale to just get buried in the middle of this long 'instrumental' thread.

On the instrumental thread, mention has been made of tracks credited to Al Serafini, who was the musical director of the 'Upbeat' TV show back in the mid to late 60's. These were two Al Serafini Orch releases (out of Cleveland) back then ......... Al Serafini Orch + Sir Alberts - Hey, Soul Man / Lil Rosey (Audio Fidelity) Al Serafini Orch + Sir Alberts - Earthquake / Seven Steps To Freedom (A & R) SOME BACKGROUND: By the 1960s, the big band era had all but ended, but a few live band broadcasts continued. Cleveland based saxophonist Al Serafini still ran a band & they made live national radio broadcasts from both the Sahara Hotel on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland and the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. In 1965, 'People', an album by Al Serafini had been released (I don't know which tracks are included on the LP). But it was the 45 containing "Hey, Soul Man" credited to the Al Serafini Orchestra & the Sir Alberts that Lou had strong connections with. I contacted Lou to get the full story .... Lou told me ....... When the "I Travel Alone" recording session was finished, he had sung the lead, but they (Lou & Tom Baker) had to finish their mix for "Traveling Man" (which the record company later changed the name of without his permission). The cut was then sent to Amy-Mala-Bell's Larry Uttal and Irv Biegel. Anyway, Lou was asked by Baker if the other tracks could be used for an instrumental release. He (Tom Baker) was also working with Al Serafini at that time, producing and arranging tracks for him. Lou said yes and was rightly gven the writers credits, but he never got any publishing revenue. Lou continues ... "Tom Baker knew that my musical changes and track production was unique and extraordinary. Tom had never heard changes arranged that way before. I knew that all of my musical creations had more movement than normal R&B songs". So Lou wrote and arranged all of those recordings plus he played several guitar parts on the tracks. Tom Baker then came on the scene just to arrange the horns and strings. Lou says that the two of them made a wonderful 'creative' team, but he didn't get paid from any of that work and that situation still holds true right up to today. Lou recalls that Jackie Cooper played drums, Tom Backer played bass and trumpet with Richard Shann on piano on all 4 songs recorded during the session. Lou adds ... "Perhaps when things change, someone will come forward with some kind of compensation for me before my final curtain call". I guess he has every right to feel bitter about the whole situation that unfolded back then & ever since.

This thread has been slumbering for a while now ........ Any answer yet on what the track listing on the CD will be ?? ....... I really like the Meditation Singers version of "A Change Is Gonna Come " (Paula 356). Might that track be on the CD ?????

Looks exactly like many Jamaican pressed 45's to me. They just used to photstat the US / UK label & print up their labels (sometimes with different colours BUT ALWAYS using beat-up printing machines & rubbish paper ....... hence most Jamaican 45's looked knackered when they were made). The vinyl content of the discs was always just as bad. Recycled plastic (+ old minced up paper labels + sweepings off the pressing plant floor). Mind you, the reggae toasters / DJ's treated the discs awfully anyway so in many cases it didn't matter how bad they started out.

RE: I didn't know that Arthur Jeffries had passed .... Well that's the info that Kent Washburn & James Thompson told me.

Bob ............. By 1972, James Thompson was back in St Louis and looking to resurrect a recording career. He formed a trio named the Hypnotics made up of himself, Arthur Jeffries (ex of the Voice Masters -- now deceased) and Paul Robinson (2nd Tenor - also now deceased). Kent got the group to record some tracks and then set about getting them a record deal. For some months, Kent drove Vice Presidents at many of the major record companies crazy. He pestered them until they finally agreed to meetings at which he pitched the tracks the Hypnotics had recorded. Three offers resulted, from RCA, Warner Brothers and Playboy Records. A deal was signed with Warner Brothers / Reprise and everyone involved at CMC was thrilled as the production company was now off and running. Their initial 45 release on Reprise coupled "Beware of the Stranger" with "Memories" (May 1973) but with little promotional effort put behind the single by the label, it failed to register commercially. A second single ("Girl You Know That I Love You" / "Dance To The Music" followed but that met a similar fate. When their Reprise 45's flopped (mainly due to zilch promotion), Reprise lost interest in their additional tracks (which include these two efforts on the Soul Intention 45). The group were very unhappy about their lack of success & started to 'play up'. As a result the studio put more sessions with them on the backburner and the group fell apart. James has moved on in life (& has relocated) but he still returns to the greater St Louis area once a year to team up with old musical mates & play a couple of local gigs.

Originally released on Dakar by SJQ, no doubt the 'Major' also recorded it back then ...... .. but it escaped later via the deal that Contempo did with the 'Chicago Soul Label Team'. Here it is NOT on Contempo but on a Euro issue ........

Info on Al Serafini & the Upbeat TV show ......