Robbk

I've looked through millions of 45a since those songs were released on Albums. I've never seen them on proper USA singles. But, "A Woman Who Loves Me" and "Man's Temptation" were on Juke Box 33RPM EPs. I don't believe that "You Ought To Be In Heaven" had an alternate pressing of "I Can't Stay Away From You" and "Man's Temptation".

Thanks for the information. I thought it was strange that there were no recognisable Detroit names on the record. It would seem that they should have found a better way to distribute to a wider network, than to have Wheelsville USA distribute for them. But, I guess that Wheelsville USA's national distributors would have then picked up the Hog Record through them. But the record was not very common. So, maybe it WASN'T handled by Wheelsville's national distributors.

Do you think it is the same group that recorded for Blue Rock?

I doubt that vinyl records are a true fire hazard. I think that my building's owners just used that as an excuse to force me out of my flat, as they had plans to tear down the buildings and build new townhomes on that property and would have otherwise been forced to pay me thousands of dollars, had I remained there till the official announcement that the buildings would be torn down. I've had thousands of vinyl records in several other locations and insurance adjusters never mentioned that as a problem.

Bob, for some reason, I cannot listen to your Mark Greene interview, as my new Mac's Quicktime player needs an add-on (I can't figure out which). So, what is the story of Mike Hanks' label distributing an East Coast production? Or did they come to Detroit to record it?

Are you saying that THESE Moments on Hog Records are the East Coast group that recorded for Stang Records, distributed by Mike Hanks' Detroit Wheelsville USA? I would have guessed that they were a later incarnation of the Detroit Moments, originally led by Herschel Hunter, that recorded for Herman Griffin's Hit (Hitbound) Records. Uploaded with ImageShack.us

As far as I know they were all recorded in Philadelphia. Krass just got the songs from Curtis Mayfield.

I nominate BobA and Ady Croasdell and Flynny for providing good record label info.

I had to remove my record collection from my flat in L.A. because the owner claimed his insurance company said it was a fire hazard, and threatened to withdraw their insurance policy to the whole 90-unit apartment complex, if I didn't remove them. I moved out within a month.

As I stated above, I always heard that it was a "New York label". But what does that mean? I believe Jap Curry ran the label out of Hampton, Virginia. Whether or not he made his distribution deal with a New York distributor, and had his records pressed in New York and Chicago, he may have recorded in Virginia or, possibly in New York. He may have recorded the vocals in Virginia, and had a sound engineer in New York handle the instrumentals. His band may have been recorded in Virginia doing the major portion of the instrumentals, and an engineer in New York may have done the final mix. The answer is that I don't know what actually happened. I guess we'll have to wait until someone who has a good source or knows what went down, replies to this thread. My personal guess is that this could be referred to as a Virginia/NY label (just as Harry Balk's Vicki Productions was a Detroit/NY operation, and Anna Records in 1958 was a Detroit/NY label and Check-Mate Records in 1961-62 was a Chicago/Detroit label, and Aladdin Records in 1956-60 was an L.A./NY label. In 1963-64, Motown was a Detroit/LA/NY label. If you judge a label's location by its corporate or entrepeneurial address, I'd bet that you'd call this Inferno records a Virginia label, as Jap Curry and all his artists resided in Virginia. They may have done some recording in New York, and may have had their records first pressed in New York, and distributed from there. That may be why people have referred to it as a New York label. In 1958, Anna Records recorded their demo tapes at United sound Studios in Detroit, their songwriting was done in Detroit, the artists and producers lived in Detroit. But they had a record pressing and distribution deal with a label owner in New York (George Goldner) and his firm paid for the final recording, done in New York with New York arrangers and musicians and New York's Goldner as executive producer (with producer credits). The records were mastered and pressed in New York and distributed from there. Did that make Anna Records a New York label in 1958, a Chicago label in 1959, when Chess handled most of those functions, or was it a Detroit label all along? The answer to those questions depends upon one's own definition of a label's "location". Does the latter mean "home city"? Does "home city" require a certain minimum % of business functions being performed there?

Incidentally, "Jap" Curry got his nickname from giving a report about Japan to his elementary school class. The nickname stuck with him all his life. The coincidence of "Jap Curry" being a Japanese form of a curry food dish did not help him shake that nickname (which was derogatory during the World War II years.

Rudy West had known Jap Curry for many years previous to 1958. They had been label mates with Aladdin Records near the beginning of the 1950s. They were probably discovered by Aladdin scouts and signed at the same time. They must have appeared together on the same shows/billings around Virginia back when they were starting out. Curry's band may well have back up the original Five Keys in shows or even in some recordings.

Some Inferno releases probably went into 1962. In addition to "No Matter/Hey Girl" on Inferno 4500, I have Rudy West "Love Sick/Billy Boy" on Inferno 151, and I've also seen another Five Keys' 45 on the label.

That's certainly a Chicago pressing from a Chicago pressing plant. But that doesn't mean much. I have an Inferno Five Keys pressed at an East Coast plant. I've always heard that that particular Inferno Records was a New York label. The Five Keys were originally from The Hampton Roads area of Virginia (near Virginia Beach and Newport News). And they recorded on The East Coast. Jap Curry (their producer and owner of Inferno?) stayed in Hampton Virginia. They may have recorded there or New York. The label may have been located in Virginia, I'm pretty sure they were operating out of either Virginia or New York when they recorded for THAT Inferno label (which had nothing to do with Harry Balk's Detroit Inferno Records. They had absolutely NOTHING to do with Chicago or Detroit. Curry never even went on the road when his records were hot on Aladdin. He had his own studio. I suspect that he may have recorded all his productions in Virginia, rather than even traveling to New York for a weekend.

That confirms what Joe Hunter and Fred Brown said about it, that they recorded it in 1963 (but they could only remember that it was a local, Detroit group, but not remember who the members were).

Yes. Willie Harvey was the guy. Does anyone know anything else about him? He must have been from Detroit. I don't remember anything else he's done. But, he may have also been a member of a known Detroit group.

I have both the LP and the EP. The cut "I'm No Plaything" wasn't labeled correctly. It definitely was NOT Willie Jones. Vice was too low for Willie. I remember seeing the singer's real name, and recognising it as a Detroiter. But, I forget his name now.

It was a Boston group, leased from Fleetwood by Ed Wingate. Not sure what he was thinking. He didn't have the connections to market that on the "bubblegum stations". I guess that the same crowd that bought "Sugar, Sugar" by The Archies might have bought it. But Golden World wasn't going to market it to the right places. I guess it was just another tax write-off, taking the industry standard record production/marketing rate, and putting virtually no money into it, just as he did for his C&W release on his C&W label.

That sounds a bit like Dusty.

I'm hoping SOMEONE will pick up the project and finish it. I think that Mrs. Murphy had some unreleased masters that would have been added to rare 45 recordings. The CD would have a lot more interest for R&B and early Soul fans than for northern "Soulies", as much of the music is from 1958-60. But some of the 1963 "HOB resurrection material" under Dino Courray from HOB, Soul and Starmaker Records is NS crossover. There were other Detroit collectors involved (and I might contribute records and information to the project). Maybe Ady Croasdel and Ace/Kent are already involved or might do. We should ask him about that.

Haven't most of the warehouses been cleaned out? I saw an awful lot of United's Chicago stock sitting at John Anderson's in Kings Lynn in the early '80s. I think that stuff was gathered up by somebody. it just wasn't thought of as a good Northern style in 1980. But maybe all the stock in those boxes found their way to US collectors back in the '70s.

No, They were yellow store stock. I don't think they were destroyed, as United's stock was seen by a lot of people. I guess they just never got to UK.

"I'll Be Your Winner" was from their Soulhawk days. Was "Spaceland" from that period as well? Wylie and Hestor certainly never had any connection to Ernest Burt and Magic City Records.

I saw several boxes of it at United Record Distributors in Chicago near the end of the '60s or the beginning of the '70s. I could have bought them all for 50 cents apiece. But I left better records than that there. Somebody got United's leftovers in the '70s (Anderson ended up with some of it. I don't think those boxes were destroyed. But that wasn't a rare record during the '60s. I used to see lots of copies of that, the Bobby Copney and the Bobby Treetop, as well as most of the later Tuff singles.

First, we have to confirm that Lee and Harry Gates were two different people. Harry was lead singer of The Caravelles on Starmaker, and was also in another group (I forget which). He also wrote both of Lee gates' songs, and wrote a fair amount of songs for Bob Schwartz' and Ed Kaplan's productions, and some other Detroit labels. I don't remember seeing Lee Gates' name on any other records. We had some threads about them on Soulful Detroit, but we never got our questions answered. Unfortunately, Ron Murphy died before he could finish doing the research for the CD for Carmen Murphy's labels (HOB, Starmaker, Soul, Spartan, etc.). I don't know if any of the people from Enterprise/Ruby/Dynamic/Heart are still around. Maybe some of Ed Kaplan's MSK people can remember about Harry Gates?