Robbk

Ron Murphy told me that his Detroit Stars and Soul King Records were legitimate re-issues, with original rights owners being paid fees for use of their products. Ron and Popcorn still had contact with those people. I knew Ron (for over 40 years) to be an upstanding man of his word. I'm sure those were not bootlegged.

Very interesting. I always wondered about Preview Records. I listened to scores of their records and didn't like any. I don't really like The Terri North on You-Tube. But I couldn't find the Bonnie Graham. I'm really curious about that one. Can anyone upload a sound file of the latter, or post a link to it?

The last variation is very interesting. At first, I thought it might be a bootleg, wherein the perpetrator got hold of blank Checker labels from the very end of Chess' run, when they were bought out by All Platinum, and he just had his pressing plant use an available font. But that font seems to be one that All Platinum used on their own records in the early /70s. So, it might be a legitimate re-issue by All Platinum from the early '70s pressed in one of the East Coast plants they used, On the other hand, I'm questioning why this, particular, poor-selling Gospel record would have been chosen for re-issue by a company who paid a lot of money to purchase a catalogue with a lot of classic R&B/Blues/Jazz/Soul titles they DIDN'T re-release. It could be that a bootlegger somehow got hold of blank Checker labels from the All-Platinum period, and not having access to original Checker fonts, chose the available font closest to one of All Platinum's used fonts, to feign legitimacy of use of the available blank labels. For me, this is a 50/50 possibility of legitimate vs. boot, as I have looked through millions of 45s between 1965 and 1990 , and never seen that font used on a Checker record.

Of course! The same female Dale Brooks who recorded "Am I Glad Now" for Twirl Records! But, she COULDN'T have been the same woman who led on the recording we heard off the demo record. Her voice is way too "Caucasian" and "Pop"-sounding. It is interesting that the song on the Dolphin release is spelt the same as I remember it, and it was a Brill Building song by Gregory Carroll. I'd bet that that was the very same song we hear on the demo, but a much earlier recording (1963 or 1964), while the recording we heard is from 1965 or 1966, and is by a Black Girls group (also from New York-and possibly generated by Carroll trying to release it again, 1 to 3 years later, by different artists). The recording I remember was NOT Dale Brooks' voice, but rather, a Black girls group, sounding similar to (if not exactly the same as) the recording on the demo.

That recording of "Ring-A-Leevio" CAN'T have been recorded before 1965, based on its sound. So, it COULDN'T have been the Jannis Martin/3 Jays' version, nor could it be the Dale Brooks version (male vocalist). The version I remember from the radio was the same song as we heard off the demo, and if not the same exact recording, it was a similarly-styled recording, by a girls Soul group from a similar era (1965-67) (e.g. differing no more from the recording on the demo than Candy & Kisses' version from that of The Apollas).

It was a 100% L.A. production, with no Detroit people involved (other than the songwriters (who wrote it while with Motown). It's just a case of an artist or producer wanting to sing (or his singer to sing) a particular Motown song. it should NOT be in a Detroit collection, any more than The Rolling Stones' (bloody awful) version of "My Girl", or The Beatles' version of "Please Mr. Postman, and no more than The Marvelettes' version of "That's How Heartaches are Made" is a New York record.

The group singing "Ring-A-Leevio" is clearly not The Apollas. I remember hearing the song "Ring-A-Leevio" on the radio during my travels (maybe to The East Coast). I grew up in Winnipeg and Chicago, and I knew that game. It wasn't played just in New York. And anyone who watched American films from the 1930s through 1950s would know about that game. I'm sure it was played from Washington, DC through Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Connecticut and Boston. It was probably played in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, the Ohio cities and Detroit, as well. I'd bet that girls group song, "Ring-A-Leevio" was released. It may not have been a hit, but probably sold some. It surely sounds very familiar.

I remember it getting a little play on WVON. I certainly wasn't a "hit". I saw many boxes of it at United Record Distributors (owned by The Leaner Bros, (as was One-Derful/Mar-V-Lus/M-Pac Records) as late as the beginning of the 1970s.

GC's ParIliaments started in 1958. So, clearly, no court would award the name rights to the LATER West Virginia group. If Clinton lost the rights to The name "The Parliaments" to Revilot Records (LeBaron Taylor?), then, he must have sold them off, or somehow broken his contract. What happened, exactly?

I know that according to some Detroiters from back in the day, Don Mancha had the nickname "Don Juan" Mancha because he was good with the ladies (had a LOT of girlfriends). I also knew that Clyde Wilson took the stage name and pen name of "Steve Mancha". It's also interesting that while with Harvey Fuqua'sand Gwen Gordy Fuqua's Harvey/Tri Phi Records, as a recording artist (The Two Friends-HPC 1001) and as a writer, and also while at Motown, he used his own name of Clyde Wilson. I never heard the story of why he picked "Steve Mancha". How and why did Don Mancha give his surname to Wilson? If I'm not mistaken, "Mancha" wasn't Don Mancha's actual birth family name-it was also a career stage/pen name.

I find Issac's story very disconcerting, if true, as I am pretty sure that George Clinton's group, started in early 1958, were using that name first. When did the West Virginia group start?

They were re-issues from the early '60s (1962-63?). For a while they listed "Golden Oldies Series" on the records, but also had a fair amount on normal current labels with only the different colour (gold, rather than blue).

Here's a link to both APT sides:

Here's a link to "Lonely Island": Here's the label scan:

George Clinton's Parliaments recorded two 45s during the late Doo Wop era. One was "Poor Willie" on APT Records from 1958. The second was on a small New York label, Flipp Records (100) "Lonely Island"/"You Make Me Wanna Cry", and was a Doo Wop ballad, recorded and released in 1959.

Cabell was in WEST Virginia (US Midwest). Virginia is in USA-South. They are VERY different in population and culture (more different than the differences between Yorkshire and East Anglia-I'd wager.

Thelma Brown recorded 3 cuts in September 1963: "Cookie Boy", "Dance Yeah Dance", and "Dear Parents". She was recorded by Harvey Fuqua and Gwen Gordy. They were all cut at Hitsville. These were among Harvey and Gwen's first Motown productions just after their Harvey/Tri-Phi labels were amalgamated into Motown Records. "Dear Parents" vocal was recorded at Detroit's Grand Ballroom, and background tracks were added at Hitsville (according to the "Don't Forget The Motor City" listings).

Yes, it's the same Chicago group. Barbara Acklin was singing on it. I think Monk Higgins produced it.

Someone googled Anita Knorl, and found out she was from Washington, D. C. and had attended the same high school as Marvin Gaye. Perhaps she was a relative or friend of Marvin's, and that is what got her the opportunity to record at Hitsville (a tryout?). She recorded "Don't Be Too Long" at Hitsville in November, 1962, with Berry Gordy producing. Apparently, she also recorded "If Wishes Came True" then. That 2nd listing isn't listed on "Don't Forget The Motor City".

I've never Heard the Thelma Brown and Anita Knori (who was she???), nor "Lover Boy" by Carolyn Crawford. Can we hear snippets of these (Ady)?

I never had much money. Otherwise I'd have bought tonnes of records like Anderson, and I'd have become a dealer. I bought most of my records (when they were issued, or within a year or so, except for the '40s and very early '50s records I bought) mainly from the bargain bins, 10 cent sales at Woolworth's, thrift stores and junk stores (45s for 5, 10, 20 and 25 cents, LPs for 25, 50 cents and sometimes, $1 (if I really wanted them badly)). Yet, I still left hundreds at those prices, simply because I didn't have another 10 cents.

I bought hundreds of duplicates by accident. But I was able to swap most of them for other records I wanted.

Yes. Don Juan Mancha produced all 4 cuts at the same session, probably at United Sound. The artist was Marvin Jones. What a voice he had. It was a shame that he didn't record more and have a strong singing career.

Could I hear them, too? I might be able to hear some identifiable session players on them, or make a reasonable guess as to whether or not they were recorded before or after 1011 or 1017.

I'm bumping this up, so we can get some feedback on the Johnny Adams "Dynamics" release.