Roburt

Thanx Eli, so it's from 1972, was cut in little local Florida studio & never assigned to any label. Looks interesting, now just have to get to hear it.

Numero have put out (or are about to) a Thelma Jones 45 (see scan below) ... anyone know if this is a previously unissued cut (I guess it is) ... if so, what year was it laid down / what original label did it come from ( it says on the label that it was cut down in Florida, I guess sometime in the 70's) ??

Heck, the Mucky Duck, I've been there a few times back in the day (ain't it where Joe Cocker cut his teeth in the music biz). Didn't know they had soul acts on there though. BTW, The Fabulous Platters / Steinways toured the UK sometime in 1967 or very early 68 ... their act was described as one of the most exciting soul shows ever witnessed in this country at the time.

Nobody know anything about this group then ??

As has been said earlier in this thread (a good while ago), many of the original mod / soul boys from the mid 60's never really got the skinhead / suedehead scene. Guess we'd grown up a bit, were much more into steady relationships with lasses & less prone to adopt the more wild clothing choices of some skins. We didn't object to the ska / reggae music they liked as that had always been played in mod clubs back in the day. But they seemed to take over soul nights (@ places like the Attic in Donny) and change them for the worse (from our point of view). I also never got the way that many skins / suedes were quite racist yet were happy to spend their nights dancing to 100% black music ... WEIRD. Never objected to selling some of my old reggae / ska 45's to any of them though (back then).

Love good alt versions of soul songs ... Probably been a thread on here in the past ... BUT ... have to make mention of the Curtis Mayfield song "I've Been Trying" ... loads of decent versions of that around. A late addition to the long list ...

What was it about the wet side of the hills (Lancs) and the Casino name. Seems back in the 60's, there was Wigan Casino Club, Bolton Casino Club, Westhoughton Casino Club, Leigh Casino Ballroom, Burnley Casino Club and Blackpool Casino (club or ballroom) .... and you couldn't bet in any of them at the time.

7" Little LP's / Mini LP's were made (for jukebox use) from around 1962 right thru to the mid 70's ... maybe in the late 60's, there number tailed off but then returned (due to demand) in the early 70's. A good number of intertesting releases are out there, including a few that were put out in QUADRAPHONIC format ( a short term fad, where you had a stereo system with 4 seperate speakers & you only got the true musical effect in one place in the room). Seeburg badged up their machines as being DUAL PLAY -- EP ALBUM 7"ers being listed in a different window on their jukeboxes to ordinary 45's. The list of current releases (well some of them) dates from May 66 -- think it was done especially for venues where jazz tracks were the most popular plays..

Going back to LP covers ... there were always annual Grammy Awards for the best LP cover designs, though until soul labels started taking album cover design seriously (at the end of the 60's), those awards just about always went to pop, rock, classical or jazz releases ... some award winning album graphics with a few decent soul covers added in ...

Is anything known about the Spindles who had 2 x 45's out on ABC in April & October 1966. I know they had links to Dennis Lambert (who produced their sides for Don Costa Productions / DCP), to Lou Courtney who helped write the top side of their 2nd 45 and obviously to Don Costa. "Ten Shades Of Blue" has a matrix number that follows stright on from the two cuts on their 1st release, so all 4 were probably cut at the same studio session & they never then returned to a studio (at least as the Spindles) to cut anything else. It's strange that their singles escaped on ABC as at the time DCP Records had just been bought out by United Artists & renamed Veep, Dennis Lambert was working for Mercury and Lou Courtney was also doing work with Mercury / Smash & Phillips acts. The group was obviously based in the New York area and they just seemed to disappear after their 2 ABC outings. To me the lead singer sounds quite white, so they could have been a Blue-eyed group but they certainly made some good cuts. They obviously have nothing to do with Balto's Frankie & the Spindles, who were still going by the name Frankie & the Spinners back in 66.

The Glories certainly hit the ground running from the day the new group was formed ... they seemed to be constantly out on tour of various chitlin circuit venues down the eastern seaboard ... 4 separate packages that played the Howard Theatre in DC that they were part of ...

Another format introduced back in the mid to late 60's that are fun to collect (good to frame up as wall hangings in a record room) ... HIP-POCKET RECORDS .... only cost 69c & usually discounted to 39c as the format never really caught on ...

Back in the mid to 60's, they also introduced a similar product, hip pocket discs (4" dia).

Another format I find highly collectable ... strange diameter discs .... This Etta James on UK Island came as just an ordinary 7" release, but a limited edition version escaped as a 10" disc ...

Everyone will know this, but for completeness on this thread .... old 78's and acetates are great to collect, just don't play the original disc much at all (or you'll probably ruin them) ...

I have a few funny shaped 45's somewhere in the collection (soul related ones too). Think I have a square one & a heart-shaped one + others (can't remember the exact shape of those though). Always did buy funny vinyl (country of origin, shape, colour, piccy discs, etc.) if they were cheap enough.

I knew you'd have the full story Robb. MANY THANX. Only one version of "This Heart Of Mine"seems to be up on Youtube (the later Chess version) . . . . . . . does that sound much more up-to-date than the Kudo version ?? Yank, as your post confirms, the Chess deal for the Falcon's Kudo tracks was done in May 58 (see May 58 dated item in my 1st post -- stating Chess paid $9000 for those cuts).

Anyone here know the story behind the 45's featuring tracks from the Falcons on Kudo, Chess & Anna (RobbK perhaps)?? I know the story began in spring 1958 when the Falcons (Joe Stubbs, Eddie Floyd, Mack Rice, Willie Schofield and Lance Finnie) cut tracks for Detroit label Kudo Records (owned by Robert West ?). A 45 escaped, the 1st on the label with "This Heart Of Mine" being the top side. Almost immediately, Chess picked up the group's cuts and paid Kudo a decent sum. The group (who'd originally come together in 55 and had cut for Mercury & Silhouette ahead of Kudo) moved on and no actual 45 by them escaped on Chess. The group's next outing emerged on Flick ("You're So Fine") and was soon enjoying lots of action. UnArt picked it up for national distribution and it went Top 10 R&B / Top 20 pop on the US charts in summer 59. A follow up was put out by Unart but a 45 on Chess also emerged in November 59. This featured their song that had come out on Kudu coupled with a Berry Gordy penned item ("Just For Your Love"). The old Kudo number though was assigned a different length (time-wise) this time around and had an extra writer credited. Then in February 1960, the same two tracks came out on an Anna 45. I know that the Chess deal would have come about via Berry Gordy as Miracles tracks also appeared shortly afterwards on Chess. MY QUESTION ... did Chess use the Kudo tracks they'd bought for $9000 or were both sides of the Falcons Chess 45 sourced from BG ... . . . . Kudo Records was for a while based out of United Artists building in Detroit so why didn't Unart pick up the Falcons disc for natonal distribution (as they did stuff made by Marv Johnson who had a Kudo 45 released at the same time as the Falcons Kudo 45 -- this & later Marv J outings having BG connections) ..... If Chess did utilise the Kudo cut track on Chess #1743, how did they land the BG track they coupled it with ? ... AND ... why after this pairing had come out on Chess, did it reappear on Anna just a few months later ??

A few interesting LP covers (+ a 12") ...

Lots of jazzy stuff cut there, including this ...

Another project laid down there ... the 3 Pieces album in 75 ...

The famous Fantasy Studios in Berkeley up near San Fran is to close .... . . . much great music has been made / mastered 'mixed there down the years ... a sad occurance ... https://www.berkeleyside.com/2018/07/29/berkeleys-fantasy-studios-an-internationally-renowned-film-and-music-studio-to-close-its-doors https://fantasystudios.com/about/ An example of a track cut there ...

Other oddities of sorts I missed off my list above ... US / UK acetates & test pressings, 7" Mini LP's / Little LP's (for juke box use in the US). No need to post any 'funny country' vinyl as there's already a long running thread for such items.

Picture discs were very much in vogue in the 70's (& later), so there's all sorts of strange looking soul 45's & Lp's out there (both US, UK & Euro issues). There's also limited edition coloured vinyl 45, Italian Jukebox 7" releases, 7" releases that tied in with soul acts appearing at Euro Music Festivals (such as Midem), different promo copies of singles (some on different national labels to the original local label issue) and other similar oddities ... Then there are all the records pressed up in strange countries or on 78 in the Philippines / India, etc. when everywhere else they were on 45. A few examples ... some of those below are original / old releases, others more modern reissues ...

A few that WSOK featured back in the day ...