Roburt

She was first heard on record in 2011, when she sang backing vocals for UK band New Street Adventure. Nick Corbin, originally from East Sussex founded the original line-up of New Street Adventure as a three-piece in early 2007 while attending University of Birmingham, taking the name from Birmingham's New Street railway station. The band consisted of Corbin on guitar and vocals, with Chris Daykin and Robin Langhorn, who he had met during Fresher's week, on drums and bass respectively. In March that year they recorded the four track E.P "An Excuse to Talk" at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Over the next year the band recorded more live demos, followed in April 2008 by an EP called Who Beat Up Jimmy Jazz? at Rich Bitch Studios in Selly Oak. In 2008, Ben Sherman began featuring the band on its website and at certain performances and Ros Robertson became the band's drummer. They then recorded and released a second E.P., Modern Sounds in Rhythm and Blues. Around 2010 Corbin moved to London and revamped the band's line-up and sound. After initially struggling to find suitable musicians, in January 2011, Corbin met Ashley Hayden who would go on to become the band's bass player but not before the band recorded the E.P Just the Kind of People with British soul singer/producer Noel McKoy, who helped expand their sound deep into more soul territory. McKoy recruited well-known London musicians Ernie McKone (bass), Carl Hudson (keys), Paul Jordanous (trumpet) and Tom White (trombone) to play on the four tracks. At Corbin's request McKoy phoned two former students, Carmella Davis and Louie-Ann Miller, to sing backing vocals on the record. Carmy Love also assisted on backing vocals.

Published in the new edition of SOUL UP NORTH; out this coming Thursday / Friday ... CODY MILLER; MUSIC MAN: . . . . . . If you went crate digging in rural Louisiana, you could expect (if you were lucky) to find 45's on labels such as Tamm, Jin, La Louisianne, One Way, Master-Trak, Maison De Soul, Bounty, etc. If you unearthed copies of the right singles on these labels, you'd consider yourself to be blessed. However, the guys involved in laying down those tracks (generally) had no idea that the results of their recording studio efforts of 50 years ago have become real collector's items. ETC. ETC. ....

Anyone here have knowledge of Gene Redd returning to Detroit to work in a studio there in the 70's ? Gene was the producer for the female trio (?) Shalong who had 2 x 45's out in 1973/74. Both of their 45's were released on his Red Coach label. Initially, that would seem to point to them being New York recordings as Gene Redd left Detroit (returning to NY) in 1966. He had been associated with Kool & the Gang since the mid 60's and was in control of their recording sessions thru into the 70's. BUT the other names involved with the group's work (song writers, etc) had strong Detroit links and their 45's were played on Detroit area radio stns. Their 1st 45 even gaining a high chart position on WJLB in late September 73. It seems from this that they were a Detroit based outfit. Redd was also working with the NY based Carstairs in 1973 & they included ex-Detroit based Cleveland Horne in their line-up, so he obviously had links back to Detroit. Before he'd worked @ GW, he was responsible for the Tommy & Cleve duet 45 that escaped on Checker (Boo-Ga-Loo Baby -- 1966). He also oversaw the duo's 2nd Checker 45 later that year. Tommy & Cleve were Tommy Bullock (a New Yorker) & Cleveland Horne (Detroit based at the time). The songs they cut had strong Detroit connections. Redd had worked in Motown's NY office till it was closed down by BG in 64. After that, he initially kept working in NY on tracks such as the Delacardos - "Dance little gypsy" (an Impressions sound-alike track). So did Redd return to Detroit to work on the tracks he cut on Shalong ?

I presume everyone having their say on the minutiae of things relating to this thread has watched the Archer Plant video about how they made their records (it's up on youtube -- GO INSIDE ARCHER RECORD PRESSING).

ZOOT MONEY ... RIP ... A mainstay on the early UK R&B scene. I saw him live for the 1st time @ the end of 1966 @ the Boulevard, Tadcaster. He put on a good show as always; including his party piece (stripping down to spotted underwear & jumping on his organ).

The building that housed the recording studio ... until recently it was occupied by the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum but that now seems to be defunct too.

Is much known about this Detroit recording studio / record label ? They seemed to start up in the mid 70's but only started their own label in the 80's -- maybe to help drum up business to keep fees from studio hire rolling in. Ronnie McNeir used the studio in the 80's, as did the likes of Living Proof, Mike Jemison, Mini Curry, Darrell Lee, Curtis Gadson & more.

As stated earlier, back when we're talking about (68/69), pressing plant work ramped up well ahead of the pre-Christmas selling surge. Most plants were working to capacity in the mid to late 60's from September through to early December. I have no idea what the % increase was of this 'Xmas surge', maybe others on here do. But, I guess it's safe to say that the initial Eddie Parker press would have been undertaken during this time of the year (Sept/Oct/Nov 68). It's stated quite a few times in mags such as Billboard / Cashbox, etc that many pressing plants were turning away business in September / October / November as they already had more work than they could cope with. Ashford Records were very small fry BUT they were 'local' to Archer. Maybe Archer completed a 'small order' of 45's in the period ahead of Christmas but did the main pressing run after Xmas (say in Feb 69). No doubt, some orders they'd taken that were due for delivery just ahead of Xmas would have been delayed. So some of these wouldn't actually have been pressed up & delivered until January. That would seem a logical explanation to me if all the Eddie Parker 45's were all made by Archer. A 'time delay' could also be a reason for differences in the look of some of these singles. A 45 put out on a small label (like the Precisions "If This Is Love" say) could suddenly become a big hit -- the Precisions 45 being released in Aug 67 with a smallish pressing run (say 1000 copies), making first the local & then the national charts some weeks later (Sept / Oct in this case). Drew Records would have been scrambling about to get the necessary additional copies made asap -- during the time period that was the start of that years Xmas surge in the pressing business. So no doubt, they'd have gone to any pressing plant that could service their order. BUT as we all know, the Ashford 45 wasn't a hit and so that scenario didn't apply in this case.

A video of a Detroit pressing plant ... showing a lacquer in the owner's hand ... see around 1m 20 secs in ...

I BELIEVE what you have are the LACQUERS made as the first step of going from a taped track to a vinyl record. The lacquers are then used to make the stampers (which are a mirror-image of the lacquer and therefore are not playable. The purpose of the lacquer is purely to allow the stamper (which goes in the pressing machine) to be made. They have a very short life if played. In the 'factory' they would most likely be played once to check there were no faults (jumps, clicks, skips) before being used to produce the stamper. Don't shoot me if I'm wrong, but that's my reading on things.

Back to the ... pressed By Southern Plastics or not situation ... it seems that at the time this 45 was made, Southern Plastics was a very busy facility. They had multiple customers, some very big (majors), some small (Ashford). But they were usually being asked to press up around 70,000 x 45s each day on their 27 pressing machines. Their top capacity (if no LP's were being made that day) was 100,000 45's per day. In the months up to each Xmas, they would be up towards their 100,000 / day on most occasions. I would say that the Ashford 45 order was very 'small fry' for the plant. Maybe, if they were really busy, the Ashford 45 order was pressed up on different machines as they became free (after a large number of a particular MAJOR LABEL'S 45 came to the end of it's run). If that's the case, then different lacquers / stampers would have been necessary to make the Ashford 45's on different machines in the plant. So Eddie Parker's 45's could well have been made on different pressing machines BUT all were done @ Southern Plastics. It's all conjecture of course as no doubt everyone actually involved has long since passed. A side question ... were Southern Record Distributors of Nashville and Southern Plastics of Nashville linked companies ??

Well, it wasn't really the end for Sidney, George & Pat ... here the three of them are singing "Can't Shake It Loose". . . . . RIP Pat ...

A bit more info ... The Precisions "Instant Heartbreak" was issued as Stone SX 727 and that was a US 45 release in Feb 68. As the Precisions "If This Is Love" had done well in Canada (Stone SX 717 - Sept 67), it's a fair guess to say that SX 727 came out in Canada around March 68. So if SX 727 came out in March 68 & SX740 being a Dec 68 release ... then SX 736 would again seemed to have a Canadian release date around Sept 68.

The Canadian (Stone SX 736) copy must date from around mid to late 1968 It seems Stone SX 726 (Jackie Edwards) dates from Dec 67, while Stone SX 728 is assigned a release date of March 68. Then SX 740 is said to be from May 69. So it appears Stone 45 releases were tailing off in 1968, with those numbered above SX 728 (but below # 740) escaping at different times through 1968. Stone SX 741 (Johnny Cowell And His Orchestra And Chorus) has a 1968 date assigned to it, so I guess # 740's dating as May 69 may well be wrong, especially as these tracks also got a US release; the demo being dated to March 69, the issue April 69. The group involved (on this 45) were from Sweden & their 2 tracks were released back there (on separate 45's) in March 68 & Sept 68. So I'd guess the very earliest the Canadian & US releases could have come out was (say) late 68. Johnny Cowell And His Orchestra And Chorus also had a 45 & LP out on the Scope label & they're also assigned a 1968 release date. Which points to their Stone 45 being a 68 release I guess. These Scope releases featured tracks produced by Bob Stone; the owner of the Stone label. Johnny Conwell was mainly known as a song writer (his songs being hits in the US for major artists there). He wanted to become Canada's answer to Herb Alpert in the mid 60's. There was a big article on him in the Canadian music press in July 68. so it's a fair guess to say his LP (& scope 45) was coming out around then. Scope Records was also owned by Bob Stone of RJS (Robert J Sone Records). The same Canadian music publication also states that Conwell was to put out a follow up to his big selling (in Canada) recent album 'Winter Love" (a Cascade label release -- Cascade being a sister label to Scope & also run by Bob Stone). Stone SX 731 was also by a Swede but it didn't seem to gain a 45 release anywhere but Canada, so foreign versions of this are no help in dating it. Same situation with Stone SX 733, another Swedish group, one of the cuts on the Canadian 45 dating back to 1967 in Sweden. Stone obviously did a deal with a Swedish record company & this may well have been reported in the Canadian music press (or in the section of Billboard that dealt with happenings in countries outside the US -- such sections appeared in every edition of Billboard). Anyway, I'm getting off track. Stone SX 735 was by The Metropolitan Toronto Police Association Male Chorus & they also had an LP out on Stone in 68; but I can't put an accurate date to either. SO if Stone 726 was from Dec 67 AND Stone 740 was (say) a late 68 release ... we can GUESS at 736 dating from the period around Sept 68. I'd say it must have escaped in Canada way before late March 69.

F L Moore didn't really know what the soul collectors scene was all about, being an 'outsider' not a soulster himself. BUT getting lots of orders in for a certain non-hit 45 as soon as it appeared on his listing, he soon learnt that there was demand for certain DISCOTHEQUE HITS (see ad above). So the price on his Motown / soul dance cuts soon went up from 25p to £1 each. It was while they were still @ 25p each that I took a risk on 'unknown to me' tracks such as the Soul Brothers Six "You'd Better Check Yourself" which I came across on his shelves -- mind you, with the group name of the SB6, it wasn't much of a risk. In his original premises (the house), you were allowed to just roam the place going thru the stock on his shelves. By the time he moved to the place above the shops, he had a counter & you had to stay the customer side of it. He'd show you lists of his stock or you'd ask for stuff by a certain artist or on a particular label -- as soon as he got a lot of requests for a certain title, it's price would increase.

Gary / Black Knight was based out of Sheffield (if my memory ain't playing tricks on me).

Robb, we're talking about what I was doing as a teenager some 55 years ago, so lots of the detail is lost to me. Those big warehouses didn't advertise in UK music mags, though big importers such as F L Moores & Oldies Unlimited obviously knew of them and bought from them. I used to work for the railways here, so got a good number of free train trips each year. I'd use my freebies to travel down to F L Moores (based in a small town about 50 miles north of London). I probably came across the details of the ONE record warehouse I got lists from while silting thru the stock at F L Moores and coming across a card or listing. Again the exact timing is lost to me now but F L Moore started small (working out of his house), soon tapped into the UK soul collectors market & learnt there was demand he could meet -- his Motown / Atlantic / Stax / Mercury soul 45's suddenly jumped from 5/- each (25p) to 65p / 75p / 99p each when he learnt guys were going to him on a Saturday morning, buying a load of such 45's and selling them for £1+ each that same night at places like the Twisted Wheel. He was soon making decent money & moved to a commercial property above shops in the High Street of his town. The last time I actually went down to his place was a few days after Tammi Terrell died as I bought a TT 45 on that visit (so that would make it March 1970). So I guess my first visit to his house location would have been in 1967/68. However I managed to get the details / address of the NY / NJ record warehouse, I am really guessing at these days .... BUT as soon as I had it, I posted off an enquiry to them and was duly added to their (monthly ?) mailing list. As soon as the lists started arriving, I began ordering from the place. As well as the postage though, we Brits had to pay import duty on such packages, so you had to know exactly what you were buying to make it worthwhile. I guess I missed many 45's that were soon to be big NS spins ... BUT at the time of the list arriving as was unaware that this obscure artist name & song was pure gold and not some crap pop / C&W thing. OUR LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE back then was quite restricted. One opportunity I never took up with the warehouse (that I later regretted) was ... the most obscure 45's or those that they only had a few copies of weren't worth putting on their listings (as they had so many to go at that most buyers would be at least vaguely familiar with). These OBSCURE 45's were packaged together & sold as a 'tea chest' full of soul 45's that worked out at around 2c / 3c a copy. But you had absolutely no idea what you'd be getting. ALSO I had just started my first job & so didn't have the spare cash to buy 1000+ 45's at one go. I soon had family responsibilities, so my postal orders to NY came to an end & the packages of 45's stopped arriving. After I'd not bought for a while (about 3 lists arriving without a new order) the lists stopped coming. A couple of years later, newbies to the scene from my hometown started calling around at our house to check what 'current' hot 45's I had stashed away in my already extensive collection. Then they'd offer me a good sum to tempt me to sell such 45's to them (but they'd offer me say £2 for a 45 I'd paid 20p for -- though it would be selling @ the Casino for around £5+ -- however I didn't know that). After a while guys such as Snowy asked how I'd picked up so many good US soul 45's and I showed him the old warehouse lists I'd kept. His eyes lit up and he took them away with him. No idea if he contacted the place (if it was still in business) and started to buy from them himself. By the way, I also bought from Woolies and from Tandys (Record Shack in the US). But their record sales (45's / LP's) only happened once / twice a year and if you didn't get in early, all the good stuff had gone.

Thanks for the answers. . . . I used to get long lists from a NY area record (cut-out) warehouse from around the late 60's. Oldish (4 months+ 45's) by acts who'd had hits or were on 'important labels' like Motown, Atlantic, Okeh would be on offer at 25c or 50c each. The more obscure label / artist's 45's would be on offer at 10c each. There would be many pages to each list; 1000's of 45's to choose from. I seem to recall that if I went for a big bunch of 10c 45's, the post & packing to the UK would be as much as the records themselves.

ROBB, Just a quick question on this subject. Where were you trawling for discounted soul records back then (in Chicago & Detroit say). Was it just local black 'mom & pop' record stores, lots of thrift stores, strange locations (a furniture store that had bought out a closed record stores stock or the stock of a local record label). OR did the big 'chain' record outlets also have cheap soul 45's in cut-out boxes (coz the distributors salesmen were sourcing them with such 45's to keep them sweet) ?

More about CBS taking over Oriole ... from a US music mag ...

They don't have sleeve notes attributed to a DJ ... BUT it's very hard to ignore the 'Bell's Cellar Of Soul' comp LP's from 1968/69. The 'tribute' album to the series that Charly put out in 89 did however have notes by Rob Hughes. EMI put out lots of other great soul comp LP's in the 60's / 70's but usually the sleeve notes were about the artists / tracks on the albums (though some were penned by DJ's). LP's such as .... A Quartet of Soul; Soul Supply, Soul Sixteen, An Album Full of Soul; Sweet Soul Sounds. They also put out more in the 80's ('What's Happening Stateside' etc.) but don't recall if these had notes by DJ's.

As the subject has been touched on earlier in this thread ... I'll add some more details Sidney Barnes gave me that relates to the New York / Detroit connections at Golden World. Shirley (J) Scott was New York based when recording with Gene Redd (& Sidney Barnes). BUT she wasn't from there. When her 45 didn't take off, she abandoned her plans for a singing career in the Big Apple & returned to her hometown of Jacksonville. Florida and disappeared. Sidney Barnes had fallen head over heals for her ('that young lady' he called her). I'd guess from his reaction, that she was quite a 'looker' back then. No idea if she continued singing when back in Florida, but she left Sidney heartbroken at the time. The NY studio session that Sidney did with Shirley & Gene was the last time Sidney worked with Gene. After that, he relocated to Detroit and worked in partnership with George Clinton & Mike Terry.

My fave group has always been the Impressions (unless its the Dells on a certain day) ... so when I picked up a UK copy of "That New Girl" around 1969 and loved it from day 1. Of course, it's not really them singing their own sound, so I also like lots of their 70's CBS stuff. But "That New Girl" has a special place in my heart.

John is right, it definitely sounds like a tune used in a blaxploitation film. Trouble is from around 1972 for 5 years, there were 100's of them made. This isn't the track you're asking about, but it's a similar instro movie track (from Across 110th St) .. The track you're asking about has a guitar on lead in parts but then brass comes to the fore a bit later, so it's definitely some kind of soul orchestra that is involved -- a kinda MFSB / J.J. Johnson Orchestra type of outfit. I'm an old gibba, so am not up with current app / net technology. But isn't there some software you can put a sample of a track in & it will tell you what the tune is. PLUS, there are numerous movie web pages where knowledgeable folk know this kind of thing.

I asked Sidney for more info in relation to this thread's topic. As always, he was most helpful and came up with loads more interesting facts. SIDNEY BARNES: Gene Redd was a very good friend of mine. I actually started working with him right after Motown (NY). Gene had a little Jazz group that he was grooming that became Kool & The Gang. He became a very busy independent producer in New York during the mid 60's. Gene talked many labels into funding his studio sessions, using Jean Carter and myself as his go to backing singers on a lot of his productions. Many times we would spend all day or even numerous days in the studio working on sessions with him. He was sly, slick and very smooth. All the blacks in the click back then were amazed that Gene could get major labels to give him a budget and an advance on an artist that he was working with. Gene was cool, soft spoken, and as talented and ruthless as they come. But I liked the guy a lot. We hung out together every chance we got coz he was into the music as much as I was. He was always coming up with a new act or starting another big project. I remember Gene booking 30 musicians plus Jean and I. We all recorded two whole days of tracks. Track after track, hour after hour, because he was a perfectionist. However, Gene couldn't make a deal on the artist he'd recorded and nobody got paid. It was a big mess, But we loved the guy, he was a genius of sorts. He recorded Shirley (J) Scott, a young lady that I later feel madly in love with. After that I never worked with Gene again. He got too ruthless and head strong. So I left him alone and stuck with just George (Clinton) and Mike (Terry) while working in Detroit. Gene was a very good producer though and a great guy with a good eye and ear for talent. As you can see from the above, Sidney worked on many NY studio sessions in conjunction with Gene. These included sessions on Shirley's tracks. So Sidney got to know her well & he even fell in love with her. As he said he didn't work with Gene at all when they were both in Detroit, I asked about the sessions with Gene & Shirley and where they took place. Sidney confirmed that Shirley & his efforts were laid down in a NY studio ... but he thinks Gene may have had the instrumental tracks for her cuts done in Detroit. Sidney wasn't too happy that nothing (commercial success) resulted from her recordings, as he wanted her to stay around. However, he tells me she returned home and wasn't heard of again (in the record biz). Guess Sidney was just someone she worked in the studio with & when her 45 did next to nothing, Gene Redd just moved onto his next project (the Platters for Musicor ?).