boba

It's originally a tommy james and the shondells record. It got played on Black radio and there are many covers of it. The version on excello is by the Kelly Brothers. The best version, by far, is by the invincibles on rampart, that version blows my mind.

definitely not the same group, there is a little bit more info about the springers on the jamie guyden ethics comp (which includes a mindblowing unreleased ethics sweet soul cut called "not enough love"). I think it was just "dodgy CD compiling" as you say -- I think they got the tapes, it was on the tapes, so they just released it as the ethics without knowing what it was.

kind of like how everyone is a 'brother'? haha.

although the "know it's them" thing never works, it's always quickly apparent who the seller is. I also like how all these bidders keep changing their ebay user IDs, like anyone can't figure out it's still them. Last week like 3 or 4 big UK bidders changed their ebay IDs... If I ever changed my ID and removed the "about me", it would still be 100% obvious who I was based on my bidding patterns and items I already bid on before the change, as it is with most of the people who recently changed their IDs.

United was a budget / reissue label, a division of kent / modern. The sort of thing I actually expect to find in a flea market. See: https://www.bsnpubs.com/modern/united.html

yeah, that is a great record, very hard to find and totally unknown. I don't think it was released with a b-side, yours doesn't have a different song on the flip, does it?

yeah, I seriously doubt there was any connection to Salvadors from the Carstairs. Where were the Carstairs even from? New York?

hot is rarer

This was their hit in the US, it still gets played on the radio in Chicago at least. The flip "I'll be gone" is awesome too. I guess now that all their different 45s are getting mentioned here, I might as well also mention that they had 3 45s as the New Cymbals on de-lite. One of the records is the same 45 as the 2nd rapda 45, but the good one to get is their versions of the sensations/realistics "please baby please".

The Shells is on Conlo, wasn't released on a "shell" label as far as I know. There were a few label designs for it.

I had never seen this before and I just won this on ebay like a week ago, I think for just under $70 ... It's still unknown though.

Hi. On my radio show I just interviewed all four members of the Versalettes. Two of them even came into town from Georgia. The Versalettes were a group from the west side of Chicago in the early 60s. They attended Marshall High school and were classmates of the Gems and the sister group of the Constellations. Although their first record was released (unbeknownst to them) as the Trinkets, they ended up having a local hit as the Versalettes with their record "Knight in Shining Armor". After high school the group went to Detroit to work with Mike Terry and recorded an excellent record as The Little Foxes. The record was released on Okeh records but was never promoted. You can check out the interview at the bottom of my webpage: https://www.sittinginthepark.com/interviews.html thanks for your interest, Bob

It is the Vibrations, it's listed in Checker discographies and has a # if you search but I think it's actually unreleased. Many checker / chess # listed in the discographies are actually unreleased and came from the studio info. This guy had it as an acetate, with a checker label glued on, but with all the info -- publishing, label #, titles, etc. handwritten onto the checker label. The checker label is printed but it's a label blank, so all the real details are written in. So you DON'T need a scan of the vibrations on BET? It's the original release of "so blue" before checker. Thanks.

Also, though, I don't want to be down-talking the value of a record too now that the bids have been cancelled. I'm sure the record is very rare (and the one copy that was on ebay was the only copy I've seen at least), my point is that the value is made up by it being exposed to the public -- e.g. it's similar to Brian's sale where it might go cheap on ebay but expensive once it is exposed. Thanks.

sorry, I didn't look recently to see it was withdrawn, I wasn't trying to reveal people's hidden bids.

"shit rare" means a few hundred $$$ if someone isn't playing it or talking about it I guess. Look at that cix bits 45 that Manship has up now. One was on ebay, a doowop collector bought it for a few dollars, then resold it on ebay for $150. This was just a few months ago. Now it's up to OVER 2500 POUNDS on Manship's auction.

Hi Dave. One of the things I had mentioned in my email was that I was at a collector's house and they had an unreleased vibrations checker 45. It was bizarre, it was an acetate, with a blank chess label pasted on, and with all the info, including a record number and song titles and publishing written onto the blank label by hand. It was called 'hamburgers on a bun.'

I emailed Dave about the Vibrations scan and he didn't get back to me. I just scanned you the vibrations on epic demo and the implements. I can scan you the vibrations on BET, issue or demo of 'surprise party' if you need it to.

- as usual the R&B indies book is full of mistakes. those numbers are all totally wrong, 2503 has the wrong flip and should be 2502, 2504 should be 2503, and 2504 should be Sugar Billy - Too much too soon / Love bug

Hi Garethx. I want to forward the info you mention about the vocals to one of the authors of the soul harmony singles book to include as info. Do you have a source on this? ps. I'm interested in hearing that other flip you have that's not 'man from the sky', I can record some other random record for you in return. Thanks a lot.

HI Dan. I saw your writeup in Shades of Soul. I would guess there were more than 100 pressed of the you don't even know my name just because I've seen it for sale at least 6 times over the last 6 years maybe. Obviously it is still extremely rare, but in general most people I talk to don't remember exactly how many were pressed of records they did. One interesting thing that I would have liked to know about is the connection to the Avons. Robert Holmes name is writer (and producer?) on a bunch of avons records. Thanks.

I didn't know that it came with a flip other than 'man from the sky' (which is a great record). Is the "i can't understand" side any good? Anyone got audio?

a ton of groups did this, this is one of the closest things to a sweet soul 'standard' there is. the five stairsteps did a great version. there is also a version by lawrence and the arabians where lawrence is actually crying at the end of the song.

the three rivers thing was on ebay a few days ago, you should be able to find it in completed auctions. Sounded decent for a white group.

the purple mundi got released without the flip? I've never seen that.