Robbk

I saw lots of Perfectas during the 1970s in Detroit and Chicago, but never saw The G&G. I stopped looking for records in USA after 1976, when I started staying mostly in my 3rd World UN project country, and taking my R&R months in Holland. So, the G&G must be'80s or '90s. I think Perfecta started in 1969, and extended through the middle '70s, with another couple issues ('74, & '75?). I wonder why Gino chose to register his record companies of Perfecta and G&G in Canada (across the Detroit River, in Canada? I assume G&G was a Canadian label, and was pressed there, in Windsor, too. Also, I wonder who the co-owner of the label, and, possibly, producer of the recording session, with name starting with "G", was. I suspect it was Detroit's OTHER George Washington, who was a member of several Detroit R&B/Soul singing groups (Twilighters, Tears, Four Voices, and others), and songwriter, who worked a lot for Tony Ewing's labels (Chex/Volume). It is also possible that George (Gino) Washington also was producer, and then the other "G" owner was Othea George (also Detroit R&B Soul singer, songwriter, and sometimes producer), who also worked for Ewing and sung in several of the groups that contained the non-Gino George Washington. Anyone here know much about the Perfecta and G&G labels' operations, and who the other "G" was?

Yes, it was. It only got sporadic play for a couple weeks in Chicago, and didn't chart. It was played a reasonable amount in Detroit. But Motown didn't give it much marketing push. In 1964, Linda Griner was still in school, and too young to sing in nightclubs. So, Motown knew she couldn't go out on the road to promote her record. And she lived in The Washington D.C. area, so, she couldn't make appearances in Detroit.

Thanks.

So, then this record's producer, W.S. Despenza, is Barry's brother.

Thanks. But was she Barry's wife, sister, daughter, or sister-in-law (wife of Barry's brother, whose name starts with a "W", and who produced the record, or his niece(daughter of his brother, "W.S.)? Or is "W.S. Despenza" actually Barry, with those as his legal name initials, and "Barry" is his middle name, or a nickname?

Looking closer at the credits on this record I never liked, and seeing two Despenzas who aren't producer, Barry, AND always wondering who Chicago singer "Paulette" was, I wonder if she was Barry's sister-in-law, as "P. Despenza" wrote the song (could that be Paulette Despenza?), and a W. S. Despenza, produced it, rather than Barry. But Despan Music was Barry's own in-house publishing company. I'll have to admit that I never met Barry, or knew anyone who knew him well. So I don't know anything about his family. Can anyone here fill me in?

I don't think it sounds remotely enough to be related to "(You Better) Do It Right Now", which is a significantly slower tempoed bluesy sounding song. The melody is different, too. It does definitely sound like it was a Chicago recording, rather than a Dave Hamilton Detroit recording. But, I have no idea to which song it belongs.

And Berry knew Marv Johnson from boxing, too; which is why Marv was able to get the helper job at Berry's Jazz record shop. I think that their mutual friend, Jackie Wilson's old boxing coach, who ran a boxing gym, discovered Marv. And Joanne Bratton (Ed Wingate's ladyfriend, and partner in Golden World) was previously married to a champion professional boxer, Johnny "Honey Boy" Bratton (from Chicago).

Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain, a dominating basketball centre for The Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors, and The L.A. Lakers, had a 45 out on George Goldner's End Records in 1960. I doubt that most of you would consider it Northern Soul, or, even "Soul" music, - or, really, even "music", as the bloke couldn't really sing. But, I just thought I'd throw this in. Arthur Lee Maye (Lee Maye) was a great R&B singer, whose later career edged a little into the Soul Music period. I think that one or two of his last recordings perhaps edged into borderline NS interest. He had a 10 year + career as a US Major league Baseball player, as a borderline all star outfielder with The Milwaukee Braves, Houston Astros, and Cleveland Indians. He was an above .300 hitter most of his time with The Braves, and led The National League in doubles one year. I met him several times at batting practise before games in Milwaukee and Chicago during 1958-64. Not only did US Pro Football's greatest running back, Cleveland Browns' Jim Brown own a couple '60s Soul record labels, but, if I remember correctly, he also had at least one 45 record out. Of course you all know he was an actor in action films, as well. And, ironically, much to my chagrin, he's probably a LOT more well known by Americans today for THAT than being possibly the greatest American football player ever. I probably have 30-40 R&B and Soul records recorded by professional sports stars, alone. If you'd add in those that were university/college athletic stars, they'd certainly go over 100 (but, I probably wouldn't have known most of them were stars in college because I never paid much attention to college sports, other than my own time at university). For African-American boys during the 1950s and 1960s, most of the best ways to earn a halfway decent living were as singers or professional sports players. So, MOST of the boys were good at sports, a long way up the chain towards competing for professional jobs in that field. So, I'm sure that hundreds and hundreds of males who recorded Soul 45s were sports stars, at least on the college level. Most of any sports stars WE could discover, would likely have had to have at least a short time as a professional. The professional sports players who played enough to get on Baseball, Football, Hockey, and Basketball cards, would on the backs of the cards have a short bio - often with a cartoon highlight. Whenever the player was also a professional recording artist, THAT would show up in the cartoon (as did Lee Maye, and a few others, but who the others were escapes my old memory right now. I DO remember that there were a few more pro boxers who couldn't sing, also had one-off records out during the early mid '60s, other than Joe Frazier. So, I hope to add them later. It seems to me that there were many, many ex-collegiate sports stars in R&B groups. But, that's not really related to NS.

There WAS some overlap when Don Davis was producing for Stax. But, I do admit that everything I've heard of his recording Stax artists sound conspicuously like Detroit recordings or good facsimiles.

I do. I bought a few from him. His name was Scott Bayliss, if I remember correctly.

Could you really trust the Indian postal service??? Or, at least costly!

Many of The Don Davis Stax records I was including in the Revilot/Groovesville/Solid Hit category, as they were recorded in Detroit by Solid Hitbound, and Davis simply brought those masters into his Stax deal.

Yes! After (1) Motown/Tamla/Miracle/Gordy/Soul/Mel-O-dy/VIP, I'd put (2) Chess/Checker/Argo/Check-Mate, then (3)King/Federal/Deluxe/Bethlehem, then (4) VJ/Falcon/Abner/Vivid/Tollie/Exodus, then (5) Atlantic/ATCO/Cotillion, then (6) Mercury/Wing/Emarcy/Smash/BlueRock/Philips/Limelight, then (7) GoldenWorld/RicTic/Wingate, then (8) Thelma/DaCo/GeGe/KO, then (9) Columbia/Okeh/Epic/Date, then (10) Imperial/Aladdin/Lamp/Liberty/Minit, (11) Modern/RPM/Flair/Crown/Kent, (12) Duke/Peacock/BackBeat/SureShot, (13) Revilot/Groovesville/SolidHit/GrooveCity, before we possibly finally get to Stax/Satellite/Volt/Enterprise at (14). And probably, actually, I like Chance/Sabre, and Parrot/BlueLake, and RedRobin, and OldTown, and Rama, and Jubilee/Josie, and some other 1940s and 1950s labels better than Stax/Volt, if we use the "You would have to forever do WITHOUT your records from THIS label", test.

I like the older Stax records a lot, but, I LOVE, and can't live without my Motown music!

Sorry to hear this news. I loved her singing. I started buying her Tamla records in 1960, and continued with her stay records during the mid to-late 1960s. Now, unfortunately, both she and one of my favourite singers, Little Willie, are gone. Lots of great memories.

So sad to hear this unexpected news. Lamont's music brought a lot of joy into the lives of literally millions of people. He'll be sorely missed. Here's a favourite of mine:

I've never seen a St. Louis-based Copa Records. I have a couple records on The Texas label. Both my Houston-based Copa label records have 8000 series catalogue numbers, with that same number and a -A designation for the plug side. So, unless the Texas label changed their cut number series, that 5-digit number (15235) probably comes from a different, St. Louis-based Copa label (not likely to have been affiliated with the Houston label.

Many thanks for clearing this up. So, as only one member sang on the recording, I take it that they were a self-contained band of musicians with one singer, or a few took turns singing?

As for the so-called "group" who recorded, it may have been The Sun Ra Arkestra playing the music, and one of its members singing the vocal. It certainly was a solo singer. I hear no background singers at any time. Or, it may have been one of the singers who Sun Ra recorded on other releases.

I just read a bio of Sun Ra, which mentioned that in the beginning of the 1970s, he and his partner, Alton Abraham, moved their operations to Philadelphia. Here is the portion that concerns us: "His own El Saturn Records albums were usually printed in editions of 75 copies per album, and were sold primarily at live performances. Many of Sun Ra's early albums were recorded at home by Ra himself on wire or early tape recorders, and are decidedly lo-fi. Despite the technological limitations, Ra used some innovative recording techniques, and these recordings provided an unprecedented level of documentation, and were inspirational in showing how artists could take control of the means of production and distribution of their works. Prior to the 1970s, most of these albums were produced in Chicago through the 'El Saturn Records Research' enterprise established by Ra and his colleague Alton Abraham, while later El Saturn Records were produced in Philadelphia." He and Abraham moved their operations to Philadelphia in 1968. Near the end of 1968 he and The Arkestra started a long tour of California and the rest of The West Coast for quite a long period. And both the recoding in question and the record's label appear to sound and look like late '60s. So, that record could well have been recorded in New York, and then released after the move to Philadelphia in early 1968, or was recorded in Philadelphia soon after the move. They may still have pressed it at their former pressing plant in Chicago, just because of their past long-term relationship with them.

So, my idea that someone was trying to get more info on Enterplan, to see who they were, and they found a company with that name located in Philadelphia, but it had no relationship to The Abrahams' and Sun Ra's Enterplan Music Co., may be the actual explanation.

It COULD have been a move by The Abrahams to The East Coast, and a later release of an earlier master. It could also be the result of a researcher looking up Enterplan, and finding a company located in Philadelphia that was NOT related to The Abrahams and Sun Ra's Enterplan Music Co.

Yes, now that I think of it there were several Philadelphia and New Jersey records that used a plant with that same font and label design. So, I guess it could possibly have been an East Coast pressing plant, as well. And that particular Clock Records was likely owned by the owners of Enterplan, although not necessarily a subsidiary or sister label of El Saturn Records, as it may not have come from the same period. However El Saturn Records, like Saturn Records, were both operated by Jazz artist, Sun Ra, who operated out of Chicago. And Chicago's little Mack appeared on El Saturn, as well. So, I still would guess that was a Chicago pressing and a Chicago-based label, especially as Saturn and El Saturn were owned by Alton Abraham, his brother, Atis Abraham, and Le Sony'r Ra (AKA Sun Ra, and Herman Blount), and were headquartered in Chicago. And, upon a few other listens, I've changed my mind, and would vote that the singer is or was an African American. That recording may even have been a Sun Ra Production. Maybe that Enterplan on Philadelphia's Morton Street was a different company that had nothing to do with music recording? I don't remember reading or hearing that Sun Ra had an office on The East Coast.