Roburt

As an old Wheel goer, I can confirm that the Blendells, Dynatones & Travis Wamack were all massive anthems at the club in the 60's (67-ish onwards for certain). But then, they all got a UK release in the mid 60's, so would have been spun in many UK mod / soul clubs at the time.

Another WJMO chart from Cleveland ... This ones from July 67 and features tracks by Jimmy Conwell, Norma Jenkins, Lou Ragland, the Cruisers, Epitome of Sound, Lou Courtney, Bunny Sigler, Al Kent & more ...

The Crow were NY based and played many gigs at the famous Cheetah's Club @ 53rd & Broadway ... this was in the run-up to their recording session at which "Autumn of Tomorrow" was laid down.

Two HMV related bits ... EMI's big pressing plant in Hayes was badged as being a HMV facility at one time ..

Heading up to Cleveland this time ...

I've posted about this musical show in the past but can't find the old thread ... ... ... .... ..... .... anyway seems things are moving along well ... see DC newspaper story ... https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_dance/choreography-lifts-aint-too-proud-above-other-jukebox-musicals/2018/06/28/0d38abde-7ada-11e8-8df3-007495a78738_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.ae2175abcf99

The long time leader of the Jive Five has left us ... a sad day indeed ... I'm definitely not a HAPPY MAN ... .......... https://www.facebook.com/EUGENE-PITT-THE-JIVE-FIVE-110145094646/timeline/

Another tribute of sorts to Stringers ... from John Cheatdom's book ...

Don't forget Gary Glitter's cover version as well.

Another couple of EMI items ...

Back to 62 again ... his US biggie that had 2 UK cover versions at the time (which prevented the original becoming a decent UK pop chart hit) ...

A truly brilliant soul dancer from start to finish ... one of the best rekkids ever to achieve anthem status on the NS scene.

Papa True Love -- a really brilliant southern soul dancer from a fine gutsy singer. He had tracks included on all 3 volumes of the great EMI 60's compilation album series, 'Bell's Cellar of Soul'.

One of the rarest Oriole American 45's … wonder if there was a box of these in the old manager's house loft …. … if so, the guy that sent them to the dump was a chump ...

As stated earlier, the Oriole pressing plant building had once been a garage (Bakers), so it was quite antiquated (when compared to CBS's later facility in Aylesbury). Most people in Aston Clinton village knew each other, so the set-up at Oriole had a very informal atmosphere. Back when Oriole took over the London Rd building (1954) & set up their operation, most people got to work by bike or bus. So the workforce was just about all local. The plant manager lived in a house located next to the factory. If jobs were available with Oriole, staff would tell local family / friends and they would apply & land the posts, so it ran very much on the 'big family' principal. Oriole Records under the Levy's also pressed up the cheap cover versions of current hits on it's Embassy label . Each week, workers were allowed to take a record of their choice home for free. The factory site was opposite to the Rising Sun pub (now the China Water restaurant), so I'd guess on a Friday after work, the lads would have a drink before heading off home. I haven't been able to establish how many people were employed there, but it can't have been that many. The factory was famous in the village for the Christmas parties it put on. Certainly, in CBS days, they took on temporary staff in busy periods, usually older kids in their school holidays (no doubt mainly the children of existing workers). After CBS moved out, it was sold on & used for a while by Leading Plastics who made powder plastic coated parts for cars, so it retained a connection to it's two old uses. Going back a bit, things (initially) carried on much as before after CBS took over from Oriole (64). They (CBS) had a storage warehouse in the village as well (don't know if this had been Oriole's before CBS), this was at the opposite end of the village. A local firm, Shorewood packaging printed the record labels for CBS and also made their record sleeves / LP covers, family members of Oriole / CBS workers had jobs there. Even in CBS's days, the workers / locals still called it 'Oriole Records'. After CBS moved to Aylesbury, a company called Leading Plastics took over the building until it was demolished to make way for flats and the local doctors surgery. The plant managers old house (from Oriole / CBS records days) was sold off in 1982 (a couple of years after CBS relocated to their new Aylesbury plant). The people that bought the house found the loft floor space totally lined out with old Oriole record boxes to form a floor that some stuff had been left on. A large number of records were up there still, obviously old stock from the plant (the guy told me had no interest in vinyl, so couldn't remember if it was Oriole or CBS stuff). Also up in the loft was a 'transcribed presentation clock' awarded to the plant's manager (probably when he'd retired). All the records & the clock were just dumped by the house's new owners. The building that had housed the Oriole / CBS plant was knocked down a long time ago, but the managers house lasted till a few years ago (when the new housing estate was being built). The warehouse CBS used was located off Brook Street in the village. In 1988, this was being cleared out & locals remember seeing loads of cassettes & some records being thrown into skips. After CBS moved out another company took it over before the warehouse was eventually demolished. I'm told that it wasn't an old brick warehouse but a fairly modern one. The building was still levelled though & the site cleared, to make way for a small housing estate (a cul-de-sac, Bonham Court). So, the village's connection to the record business ended but many locals still look back fondly on that period. It must have been great working there for Oriole in the 1962 - 64 period, you'd have been able to take home an Oriole American (Motown) 45 or LP free every week. I believe the policy continued after CBS took over, so you'd then have the opportunity to have Shirley Ellis, Spellbinders, Direction stuff … not a bad perk of the job.

CHEERS. Of course, the title of his biggest commercial hit inspired the name taken by 2 soul groups (the Cleveland outfit & Sonny Daye's lot from LA).

Can one of the US based S.Sourcers pull up this Chicago Tribune story please ... it won't open for punters in the UK ...

It has been posted on Facebook that Lowrell (Simon) has passed. Can't find anything about this fact on-line. Anyone confirm this sad info ?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrell_Simon

Great story Pottsy. Hope you get more from the stash. I've made contact with some ex workers at the Oriole / CBS plants and they have told me what their work life was like there … I'll pull together the info & post it up here.

I remember going to nighters at a Halifax club, mid 80's it would have been (85/86-ish). Think they only held a few & then they were ended. Was the place run by some local old Caribbean immigrants ? Seem to recall it was the same time as great soul nights were being staged on a regular basis at Rock City in Notts.

Go for a UK version; 12 to 16GBP ... much better value.

Two off their chart ..

Over to Detroit and WCHB .....

A compilation of Schaefer Beer TV ads from the old days ... none of the many soul versions though (think they were mainly the radio ads) ...

The soul club scene in the UK in say 1967 was starting to diverge between what was played in the north & elsewhere. Most clubs in Yorkshire, Derbyshire & Notts (Donny, Leeds, Barnsley, Selby, York, Hull, Goole, Lincoln, Grimsby, Newark, Nottingham, Derby, Chesterfield, etc) took their lead from the Mojo in Sheffield. BUT, I'd still say that they weren't yet NS clubs. Come 68 / 69, the playlists at clubs like the Wheel and Pete Stringfellow's 'on-tour' promotions in Sheffield, Castelford, Nottingham, Leeds were beginning to develop a playlist that was (IMO) the emergence of NS .... probably other clubs in the region of Manchester (taking their lead from the Wheel) were doing the same ... We'll never be able to point to one club / one month when the 1st real event we could term as a NS niter took place ... it all just evolved that way. Certainly the Wheel was very influential. I went there a lot from late 67 thru to 69 (& on a more infrequent basis into 70) ... I never bothered to find out who the DJ's were at the club but would regularily ask what the last record they played was ... LOTS OF TIMES YOU'D BE TOLD ... (say) .. oh, that's the O'Jays "I Dig Your Act" but it's just been deleted on British Stateside. So some sounds were already being 'held back' till the 45 was more difficult to get (imports were still quite rare & expensive) .... was that the true start of the UK rare soul scene, well maybe. In the print media, B&S / Contempo were just about the 1st (probably taking a lead from DG & the Soul City shop) to reflect the new trend in their 'records for sale' ads .... still recall that in each edition of the mag around the late 60's (& in 70), the most expensive import 45's they'd be selling in the Contempo ad would all be current NS club in-demand sounds.