boba

i finally got a chance to listen to the record, it's interesting, i prefer the barbara and the browns version still. definitely not pressed in chicago, i think it's chicago's billy butler but i'm not 100%

no, it was originally released on a local clarence johnson related label, pre-Delite, not on either of the LPs. That softiques record is great, isn't it? she bought a bootleg of it on the internet thinking she found an original after I kept bugging her to find me a copy. She was a super nice person.

I actually do have a story about the stepstones / steptones, my friend found a member after many letters and phone calls. Then the guy said his crappy modern 45 that he had boxes of was worth $500 and refused to even GIVE THE LINEUP of the group without being paid, my friend just wanted the lineup to pass on to the soul harmony singles folks. The guy was not a nice person to deal with. Anyways, the adell 45 also sounds just like the temps but they're not, there was even a photo of them for sale on ebay about 5 yrs back.

there were a million groups trying to sound like (and effectively sounding like) the temptations at the time, they invented a style (just like the impressions did), I would say this was one of them, I doubt this was actually ruffin and kendricks.

what is on the flip?

is this a public auction and if so is there a link?

Hi. Yesterday on my radio show, I interviewed a singer who sang in several groups from the west side of Chicago before becoming a solo singer. Originally Betty Berry, Betty began singing at an early age, and by her first year of high school was singing in the Marshall High School Jamboree Talent Show. She soon joined a group of male singers forming a Miracles-styled group. Soon an already formed group called the Softiques was looking for an existing singer and recruited Betty for their group. Betty signed with the group's manager and went with the group to Winnetka to record the Softiques' only single "Bashful (I'm that type of girl)" / "Two kinds of boys". Betty sang lead on the "Bashful" side of the record. Although both sides were excellent Chicago girl group soul, the record was only test pressed in tiny quantity and promoed to local DJs. The group soon broke up after the release of the record. After graduating from school Betty formed a group called Destiny that played Fifth Dimension-style pop soul at local clubs. After a few years Betty also hooked up with legendary west side soul promoter Ruth Moore who formed the group Coffee with Betty (now Betty Caldwell) and three other members. Coffee performed many local events around the city. In 1976, Betty sang lead on Coffee's first single "Your loving ain't as good as mine". The single had an excellent 70s Chicago sound and receieved some play in Chicago. After a couple of years Betty left the group and pursued her solo career. In 1985, Betty released a solo dance 45 "Lovesick" on the Al-Turn record label, under the name Betty Cee. The record received some local play in Chicago. In 1988 Betty released a 12" on the Al-Turn label "Dr. Feelgood", a cover of the Aretha Franklin record. Betty has continued to perform jazz and blues (currently under the name Betty Sea), even singing the national anthem at a Cubs game and performing at the White House. In the late 90s Betty did several tours of Germany and recorded there and has continued to release more material here in the US. You can check out my interview at the bottom of my interviews page at: https://www.sittinginthepark.com/interviews.html thanks, Bob

beat copies play well though

being honest won't get you anywhere because people won't believe you anyways. i had a few copies of a very very rare record and everyone talked behind my back and said i had quantity and it drove the price down. 4 years later no more copies turned up for sale, where were all my copies?

wasn't there another thread that established that at least one member of the MVPs were black?

my bad, pete just corrected me, it's their 2nd 45. it's cheap either way.

that is the flip of "michael the lover", their massive hit. it should be a $5-$10 record.

thanks for the feedback I appreciate it... i also assume that nobody wants to hear me talk so the less the better!

interesting perspective, at least on my show I actually personally find it very important to build up the idea of a "set" of songs with similar style where the songs flow well together and establish a common mood, etc. Having the DJ break into each song (or at least pause between songs) and announce it would ruin the mood for me. I have heard shows where DJs ruined the shows by not necessarily announcing the song but by playing all good songs but with 2 seconds of silence in between each song, playing songs in a poorly picked order, etc. Announcing each song before play to me is similarly jarring and undermines the DJ set. I think it's a different perspective in the UK where you're used to having the DJ announce each song after people dance to each one I guess, but I think in most DJ cultures the songs are all blended, etc. continuously. Does that make sense? I can't personally comment on how important the idea of a "set" is on Ryan's show or anyone else's but that's the idea in general I think. Thanks for the nice comments on my show btw.

it's definitely unfair. even when the record came out, the artist got screwed and only made money off of shows, generally, even if it was a big hit. only the songwriter made some money, possibly. the producer was the person who made the money (again, if it was a hit). and these obscure records are ones that weren't hits where the producers lost money.

even with a CD, people are screwed. if the CD is not a bootleg (which unfortunately it is most of the time, especially coming out of the UK, when it's not on a label like Ace/Kent), the songwriter is actually much less screwed than the artist. The songwriter is entitled to a compulsory rate per song per CD pressed. The artist is not entitled to anything unless they can produce some sort of contract with the original producer saying how much they are owed and under what circumstances (which they never will be able to do, the original producer will always claim that they never made their money back etc.). New US laws about digital streaming and satellite play actually compensate master play and not songwriters (invert the relationship) so if artists sign up at soundexchange.com and their material actually gets a lot of play they actually get some money. to answer your actual question, though, people I talk to are usually amused / excited about the prices that their records go for. What's frustrating is that when people tell them that their records are getting "play in europe" (ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!) when they're not and they ask me how they can get money from that and I have to explain that their records are not getting radio play overseas unfortunately. It is hard for people to differentiate between a little bit of nightclub play and a record changing hands for a lot of money and lots of radio play because we don't really have the concept of the first thing over here.

that is DJ ryan jackson, we both went to college together, worth checking out. For one year there was a deep soul show right before my show, it was done by eli "the paperboy" reed actually before he had his act.

i sent this thread to my friend who's compiling the new volume of soul harmony singles, apparently the prana people must have evolved out of the master four on tayster as the vocalists are almost exactly the same.

this is an awesome video, this thread should be moved to "all about the soul" I think.

those kent shrine CDs were from longer than 2 years ago and i don't think those master reels generated much interest. I think this is a more recent phenomenon than those CDs at least, I remember ray pollard always going for around $1000 back when those CDs were out, never that much.

thanks. "prana" must have meant something spiritual or something and I'm guessing that "kenny delt and prana" (who I think are from chicago) had no connection to the "prana people" and I made a false assumption. thanks for the info. google reveals "prana" to be some sanskrit / hindu thing like Qi relevant to yoga.

sorry, i was being a smartass. if i thought any record was worth $15,000 it wouldn't be a trashed copy of some random (albeit good) record.

it explicitly said it upfront in this auction, and the bidder could have adjusted their bid accordingly upfront. it's not like the seller did it after the fact.

thanks for clearing up that prana people thing (I played it off 45, not LP), I wasn't sure if it was chicago because there are two 45s by "kenny delt and prana" that look like Chicago productions and I thought was the same group? I think those are on Mercury. Are those not related to the Prana People 45 I played? Also, Black Ivory was long before that Prana People 45 I played, which was like '78, so I'm confused about what you're saying about the timeline. Thanks for listening and commenting, I'm trying to find out more about the prana people thing now though, maybe it would be more obvious if I collected Lps...

a large percentage of 60s male groups broke up or changed lineups because members got drafted to go to nam. listing them all would be like listing all the late 60s groups.