Robbk

Yes, that's the one. Only one copy known, as far as I know. I've never even seen a scan of the flip.

I have the Mary Johnson on Foxy, and I have one of The Ideals records on Paso Records. I also have a lot of other Richard Stamz productions on other labels, including on ABC, and several miniscule, one-shot Chicago labels. But, as I stated above, it will be about 4 weeks until I can get to them.

Yes, but THAT was originally released on Sebon Foster's other label: Nation Time Records (formerly Nation Records).

The Francis Burr has a couple bluesy cuts on her release. I assume that you know about The V Wagers (Five Wagers)-"Lucky I Found You". Bobby Rush had several 45s released on Salem.

Smokey wrote "My Smile Is Just A Frown Turned Upside Down" in 1964, and "Tears of a Clown" in 1966. There were 2 years between. And only 2 of his hundreds of songs mention Pagliacci. So, I wouldn't guess that he was 'fixated" with that thought for the whole 2 years. As to "Tears of A Clown" by The Miracles, it's clear that both Jamerson and Babbitt played on versions of that song. The question is which of them (or when can both) be heard on which versions. I'm still unclear as to whether or not Babbitt was playing on the 1966 recording for the US LP, and whether his new playing was tracked over the original to embelish it for the 1970 US 45 release.

Yes, "a few years" for me, could mean end of the '80s/early '90s (time goes by extremely fast after one reaches 60 years old). And, yes, I read (and heard from several others) that The Charters were from Toledo, and that the one record was found there. I'd always heard that The Creations were a local group from Detroit, with which Andre Williams was deeply involved (possibly also their manager, in addition to being their Motown producer). It was even suggested that he was related to one of the group (also named Williams-there are two Williams among the writing credits). I've never heard that The Creations were from Toledo. What is the source for that information?

Yes, Motown was said to only have pressed up a box of 25 of white DJ copies of Mel-O-Dy 104, to give to DJs themselves. Motown never listed 104 as by The Charters in their schedules. It was never even put into the Motown Record Corp. or Jobete Music Record Files. The Charters were a Toledo group that approached Motown to press up their record. Both sides don't sound like Motown recordings. It is surmised that their producer in Toledo had the recordings made, and they came to Motown to get them pressed up. Motown did absolutely NOTHING to market them. I never saw ANY reference to The Charters or their record in the paperwork at Motown, or in any other source. It was always thought of as an unused number. It has only been known for a few years, after the only copy known was found among someone's personal belongings in Toledo (probably a relative of one of the group or their producer).

I've got the record, but, unfortunately, I don't have access to my 45s within the next several weeks. I hope someone else can scan the sides for you.

Exactly this. I'm not sure if they changed the bass line, bur Babbitt was the one who we hear on the US 45 version (whether it be from 1967 or 1970). He started on regular Motown recordings in 1967.

Many of those on that long list were NEVER pressed in any form. They were "scheduled", but withdrawn before scheduling. The Frank Wilson, Andantes, Patrice Holloway were all pressed (at LEAST the 6 pressing plant store stock pressing plant test pressings). Many of the others (Kim Weston, Oma Heard) actually got out to distributors, and some stores, before being recalled. Gordy 7004, Miracle 3 and 4, and many others never were pressed in any form (other than acetate or music studio blank label test pressing). Many of those were scheduled for release on one Motown label, and moved to another (Serenaders, Lollipops, LaBrenda Ben, etc,). Little Iva-Raynoma Gordy had a batch of 25 or 50 pressed up on Miracle in 1963 for her own use. Not ONE was pressed in 1961, when that record had been scheduled.

Was that released on King Records, as well? I have only seen it on Federal 12506. I know that a LOT of Federal and DeLuxe recordings were re-released on King in later years. But I've not seen one of this record, nor have I seen it on any discography of the label.

Yes there was,-: Argo 5373 Don and Bob "Shy Guy" / "Little Red Schoolhouse" 1960 Usually, the standard artist contract provided for release of one 45, followed by the record company option on the artists second release. Sometimes the company took that option (especially if the first release sold well), and other times the company chose not to spend the money on a second release. In this case, the second release sold much more. But, yet, a second contract was not offered.

Thanks Ady for drawing that to my attention. Senility strikes again. Ric-O-lac Music IS Richard Stamz's personal music publishing company-NOT Ric Williams'! I got my Chicago Rics switched. Of course, RicWil and WilRic were Ric Williams' publishers. I'm used to my "short-term" memory having problems, but it's kind of scary to be losing long-term memory of things I've known for over 40-45 years. I probably would have caught that mix-up, but it still irks me.

The two Argo cuts sound like they could have been cut in Chicago. It's significant that there was no Music Publisher that shared the rights with Chess' Arc Music, as they normally did when Chess leased recordings from the original release label. So, it seems that, perhaps Don and Bob brought their songs to Chess in Chicago, were signed and recorded there. I know that Don later moved there. No producers were listed on Chess records, so we don't know who ran the session. That was before Ter-Mar Studio was set up, so, I guess it was recorded at Universal Sound Studios.

I have some of Rudy's records. I never knew his father was Bob love. It's not only a small World, but a small business!

Thanks Dave. It's a small World. At Airwave, we were working with Don on two songs to release, but things got in the way, and we never released them: ( "Swept Away" and "Love Just Let Me Down Again"). Both were ballads, and non NS material, but quite good quality Soul. So, his son, Don Junior IS the successful Rapper!

I now see that there is a young rapper also Named Don Level. I wonder is he is the Chicago Don Level's son?

A very ordinary bluesy midtempo with a weak instrumental. Just because there is only one known copy doesn't mean people are willing to pay many thousands of Dollars/Pounds/Euros. I'd be surprised if he got a 20th of that price.

The songwriters listed on the record were Level and Love. Could their names have been Don Level and Bob Love? In the late 1970s and early '80s with Airwave Records, I worked with a singer named Don Level, who was in his late 40s at that time, and was from Chicago. Does anyone know their full names and who produced the record and where it was recorded? Was it an in-house Chess production, or an independent one, picked up by Chess? Any information would be appreciated.

Pearl Woods worked out of New York. Interesting that the songwriting credits went to G. Costello on Charge (perhaps he was the owner/A&R man of Charge Records); and Pearl Woods and R. Earl got the writing credits on Dawn Records (presumably a Ric Williams label-as his Ric-O-lac Music got the publishing). How did Ric Williams, in Chicago, get to release a year-old Pearl Woods record? I wonder where the connection is? At least she was able to get songwriting credit on the second release (although it did nothing in terms of sales). I lived in Chicago at the time, and don't remember hearing that on WVON, or any of the other radio stations, and although I do remember seeing the Dawn record a few times in cutout bins, it wasn't very common.

The vocalist mentions The Jerk and The Twine, so 1965 sounds about right. It COULDN'T be 1963, as those songs didn't yet exist then.

I picked up my black copy in L.A. when the record was out in the '60s. i saw only black copies back then in shops. I think the yellow must have been only one pressing batch, and am guessing that it is the rarer of the two colours (maybe not in The UK, but, certainly, over all. There should be a fair amount of regular Soul collectors in USA that liked that record and bought it (at least in California (where it got distribution).

I know I've heard that sax player before, and also the piano player. At least they should be traceable (if not, necessarily whose name would have been written on the label.

I've checked out The Red Saunders Foundation's website which covers African-American music produced in Chicago from 1939 to 1960, to look for labels I might have forgotten. Unfortunately, there were none that I had forgotten. Also, I remembered to check Bally Records, and your cuts were not issued on that label. The Red Saunders Foundation website even had labels with only one or two issues listed. So, I think that the odds are this record was not released. Still, upon listening to it, Bob may be able to tell whose voice the vocalist is. Good luck. By the way, I was not only doing that "research" as a favour,, but moresobecause I was interested, myself.

Although, clearly a 2nd or 3rd choice studio for most of the known labels, they seem to have been used quite a bit by United/States Records in the '53-57 period. Bob Stallworth has a history of the major R&B record companies on The Internet, and he is an expert on what was going on in the industry then. I'm sure he could tell you a lot about which firms used which studios (of course, Universal Sound Studios was used most by the most of the major R&B record companies in Chicago through the '50s and into the '60s (when it competed with RCA, Ter-Mar (Chess) and others. I had heard of Boulevard Studios before. But it was just another one of the studio names to me. In any case, I'd bet Bob S. could identify the artist for you and tell you the label and catalogue number. If NOT, then you might have an educated guess that it wasn't released.