Robbk

Here are the last Vended record we have to show, plus the 2 Garlon Davis records Johnson joint-ventured and co-produced with Zeke Strong. The Garlon Davis cut "Oh My Soul" is a super Bluesy R&B song, with a fantastic Blues guitar solo in the break. Everyone should take a listen to it on YouTube. It's L.A. Bluesy Soul at its finest.

There were at least 7 singles on Vended Records operating throughout most of 1962 and 1963, all produced by Larry Johnson, and all published by his own, Vendo Music. Vended Records was located in Hollywood, at 1000 Cahuenga Blvd (a few blocks from where I and ex-Motown sound engineer Mike McLean worked at Hanna-Barbera/Turner Feature Animation, some years later). Vendo Music was located at 859 N. Wilcox Ave. in Hollywood. Garlon Davis' was on the first release(101), "Oh My Soul". And that song also appeared on the flip of another Garlon Davis record produced by Johnson, on Zeke Strong's Progress Records. Both cuts were published by Johnson's Vendo Music. Strong also released a Garlon Davis record on Strong's Kick Off Records, and Strong and Johnson shared the publishing on both of those songs. So, it appears that Davis was Johnson's signed artist, and the latter leased his production of Davis's songs to Strong, who paid for the pressing and distribution. 102 was by Anita Tucker, 104 by Bobby Mac (who had a local hit with "Walkin' Together" on Moonglow and Original Sound Records), 105 was by The Lashons, 106 was by The Roscoe Weathers Quintet, Len Johnson and The Hi-Lighters sang on 107 (scanned above by The Yank). I'm pretty sure Johnson was the Leonard Johnson who sang "The Bug" on L.A.'s Arvee Records. I have no idea whether or not he was related to Larry Johnson, but my guess is that he was (maybe his brother?).

No doubt about it. Larry Johnson is listed as co-producer, and Vendo Music shares the publishing. Johnson probably worked on a lot more joint-venture projects than those which were his alone, probably because of a need for obtaining financing. I've seen several more Vended records, which I will show below, and certainly, more Tokens, Gold Tokens, and Lucky Tokens.

Ruby Johnson was Ruby, Ruby Jean, and Ruby Sherry. As for Vendo and Vended Music,- William Larry Johnson (AKA Larry Johnson) seems to have owned Vendo Music, while Vended Music may represent Larry's partnership with either his wife, or an associate (perhaps a money partner?). I have the following other records published by Vendo and Vended Music, in addition to those above: Both The Charmers and The Tri-Dells were well-known groups in L.A. when I got there in late 1965. Larry Johnson was a small-time, reasonably successful, local producer (in the burgeoning L.A. Soul local production scene). The Charmers' double sided chart record ("My Love"-Great Mid-Tempo late R&B/and Flip Low-Rider style Ballad) charted well, and were minor local hits. The Tri-Dells never had a big hit, but charted a few times, and were gigging favourites in local venues. Tommy Reed and The Runaways didn't get airplay, and is very rare. Token Records evolved first into Gold Token, and then, Lucky Token Records. Token 105 was a Henry Dixon record (Not Detroit's Hank Dixon, who sang with The Five Stars, Voice Masters, and The Originals) - but L.A.'s Henry Dixon, who, if I remember correctly, had recorded for my old boss' husband, John Dolphin's Money Records, among a few other L.A. labels. The Crossfires later became The Turtles. Robert McGlothin, Grier, and Crain are some additional names of people involved that ring a bell in my memory from other credits on records not involved with Johnson. I wonder if Grier was Rosy (Roosevelt)Grier, the pro football player, who produced a fair amount of records in L.A., wrote songs, and had a Soul singing career, as well? I've seen Crain's name a fair amount on L.A. records. I wonder if he was also the original owner of Crain's Records on Adams Boulevard, where I made my best "killing" on buying several thousand individual mint Soul records, at 10¢ apiece, at his closing out sale in 1967? I also notice that Johnson worked with Fred Smith, manager of The Olympics, and prolific L.A. long-time producer, in his own right. Also, I wonder if these Imus Brothers are related to celebrity radio personality Don Imus, a DJ who became the dean of talk-show radio hosts in L.A., and an L.A. institution?

I've always thought it was a New York recording. It sounds like a New York recording. I hear no Detroit musicians on it. There is no evidence of any Detroit involvement in the credits. Until I see some evidence of that, I will be skeptical.

Can you then correct our information for us? We'd all be glad to know the true history of the group.

So, given that Berger was Terri's manager with New Direction, and he was also The O'Jays' manager, it was probably Berger, who was Terri's manager AND The O'Jays' manager who got Terri the contract with MGM, AND the deal with Avant, - and had the connections with Don Davis and George Kerr. So, as I surmised, the original connection was Terri and The O'Jays coming up through the ranks in the music industry in Cleveland, and one or the other introduced the other to Berger. They both became managed by him. And then their career paths were linked through him all during the period he managed both.

Here's a soundfile. It sounds a lot like the West Virginia group, and a LOT less like George Clinton's group.

How forgetful of me. I HAVE the record, and the pressing number starts with a 66 for the year, just as I got the 64 from The Johnson Sisters' record. But, I should remember which year was 1964, and which was 1965, and which was 1966. Those were my "Golden Years". My favourite year of my 74 was 1964. 2nd was 1965, 3rd was 1966. Those are the years from which I remember the most.

That so-called "red" copy looks like a white DJ painted red with a magic marker!

Yes, silver Broadways and Easterns sometimes had bars on them. But Winsford Soul mentioned there were SILVER bootlegs. The bootleg posted above is just a normal black on white. Can we see the silver boot, too? I don't remember ever seeing one of those.

Here's an example of a legit silver Broadway, which I bought in 1964. I deliberately used a record I can't imagine would have ever had a market worth making a bootleg. I have seen quite a few Broadway and Eastern 45s on silver (and from my memory, they were quite a bit more common than the gold. There were some Crackerjacks on silver, as well, and I think I remember a couple Symbols, and maybe even a Juggy. I think they were mainly in late '64 and early '65. I don't think I ever saw a silver Sue record.

For Sandra Phillips, there was a silver legitimate Broadway issue as well, from a different plant. Juggy had silver issues on several of his different labels for a several month period or about a year. But none of that matters, as he has a gold copy, which was legit. Yes, the Forence Devore boot was only black and white and the legit copy also has pink and powder blue in the background of the Phi-Dan logo. The black on white bootleg looks obvious as taken from a poor photocopy, with light spots (disintigrated pixels) on many of the letters, and on the stripes on the Phi-Dan logo.

Sorry to hear this sad news. Last of The Hamilton Brothers. I start to feel old, remembering that Bobby and Ronny were just kids when I first started listening to music in the early 1950s. They (Bobby and Ronny (Al was too young then) had a group back then called The Nitecaps, and were signed by RCA, and placed on their Groove Records subsidiary. Then they moved to New York. Al followed them, and started writing songs and singing, and got a few local recording deals with local labels. I loved his song, "Am I The Man", he wrote for Jackie Wilson, who all 3 brothers had known from back in Detroit. Al recorded it, himself , and it was picked up by Chess. It was very nice, too. Of course, I love Al's songwriting, producing and singing for Golden World/Ric Tic/Wingate Records. ..

How could they leave off "Take Good Care" by Tony Mason, the 2 Players' cuts, "Just Remember Me" by The Creations, and Emanuel Lasky's "A Letter From Vietnam", and Mike Williams' "Lonely Soldier"? I'm glad, at least, they have my favourite Vietnam song by The Pacesetters.

Fantastic! Those are two great Chicago Sound songs, sung beautifully, and with great arrangements. I'm glad they'll finally be available to the public.

So, it WAS Avant, who was behind all this! And he used a few "test projects" which would have to be leased to existing record labels, to prove to his financial backers, that his production team could be successful in producing commercially viable records, before they would risk financing a full-blown record company recording, pressing up, and releasing records on its very own record label. I wonder if Eddie O'Jay played a part in The O'Jays moving to George Kerr in New York for production, despite the group signing with another manager during a period when O'Jay was no longer allowed to manage them, as he was also an acting DJ, and that was considered a conflict of interest. Later, when O'Jay was determined to be allowed as a DJ to still manage singers because it was determined that radio station program managers (not DJs) would have the actual conflict of interest, it was too late to manage The O'Jays, because they had already signed a contract with a new manager, who was doing well for them. But, O'Jay still remained in contact with them and a good friend. So, I think it's more likely that Terri's previous friendship with The O'Jays while coming up through the ranks as young Cleveland singers, OR, having had mutual managers, brought the connection for The O'Jays with George Kerr, to be sought after as producer for her second record.

Thanks. I figured her second single was out in Oct/Nov. and the entire run's sales trickled into January, and maybe February. In any case, as it appears that Davis' Solid Hit Productions were only a hired production team, and not partners, the time Solid Hitbound shut down their labels doesn't really matter (although I'd like to find out exactly when they shut down. I believe that they were all still operating in April 1967, when Terri's first release came out. I would like to find out who Ms. Bryant's manager and The O'Jays' manager were in early 1967, however, so I can understand how this project came about.

I've read and heard that Don Davis used Pat Lewis to sing the demo for Terri to use as the guide for her version, as Terri was the singer originally chosen for the commercial version. So, as her first Verve Solid Hitbound-related release was leased to MGM's subsidiary, Verve Records, I wondered why it wasn't just released on Revilot, Solid Hit, or Groovesville Records, as the 2 cuts were clearly Solid Hitbound productions, arranged by Mike Terry, using Solid Hitbound's usual studio and musicians in Detroit, and with George McGregor and Leon Ware as the producers. It was a similar situation to Solid Hitbound producing The O'Jay's 1966 Detroit-recorded songs (except that The O'Jays' contracted label, Imperial, was the partner in that case). I assumed that that was because this entire project with Ms. Bryant occurred AFTER Don Davis and LeBaron Taylor had shut down Solid Hitbound Productions, and their Revilot, Solid Hit, and Don's Groovesville Records, and before they ended their partnership, and also well before Davis started up Groove City Records. But, then in seeing that Bryant's second single on Verve's cuts were produced by George Kerr, and arranged by New York's Richard Tee(and thus, seemingly in New York), with no involvement with Davis and Taylor, it is obvious that the financier and instigator of the project were the people behind Sussex Productions. One might think the use of the name Sussex (even at this early year) might have been used because Clarence Avant was the "discoverer" of Terri Bryant, and instigator of the project, and that's why the record was issued by an L.A.-based label. But, this was some years before Avant started Sussex Records, and, I doubted that he could have raised the money, himself at that early time in his career. So, I believed this Sussex Productions was completely unrelated to the later Sussex Records. I never knew the EXACT time frame of these MGM releases (I figured the first in 1967, and the second's run trickling into early 1968). It appears that Bryant's manager got Terri a recording contract with MGM Records first, with options on a second single release. Which is why her records were both released on subsidiary, Verve. But, I wonder who the principals of the project were. Clearly, MGM's project's executive producer first hired Don Davis to record her in Detroit, and then had George Kerr record her in New York. This points toward the Cleveland connection with The O'Jays. Apparently, it was The O'Jays or their manager, who wanted to record in Detroit, to get the advantage of the "hot Detroit Sound" in 1967, rather than their Imperial Records' executive producer. Perhaps Cleveland's Terri Bryant had the same manager as The O'Jays, as they had started operating in their group career, out of Cleveland. Or, they were friendly with Terri, and persuaded her first to go to Detroit to be recorded by Don Davis; and then, after they left Imperial for New York's Bell Records, to record the cuts for her 2nd single, with THEIR new producer, George Kerr, in New York. Her production movements mirroring those of The O'Jays over that period, and the group and Terri's both being from Cleveland, are too much of a coincidence. With producers and cities of recording changing and matching exactly for both, I can only conclude that they had the same manager, or that The O'Jays were her personal advisors, and heavily influenced her executive producer at Verve to follow their advice. Does anyone here know who was behind Sussex Productions, and who Terri's manager was, and who The O'Jay's manager was at the time. I know that Eddie O'Jay was their manager for the early part of their career. I think that it is also interesting that O'Jay was the one who sent The O'Jays to Detroit to record for Don Davis' DACO Records, early in their career in 1961. Maybe he was also Terri's manager, or, at least a prominent Cleveland DJ, interested in her career, and got her together with The O'Jays' management?

Lots of people's opinions differ from this to different degrees with one to several exceptions, but this is precisely my definition of "original pressing".

I've had 136 before. But I can't get to a copy to scan it.

I see! You resent the fact that you made a bad mistake by not keeping all your records in alphabetical order. My problem is a lot worse. I never have put ANY of my records in alphabetical order. They are stored by label and city of label's main headquarters. After almost 70 years of collecting, and moving my residence several times, I can't remember where given individual small labels are located, EVEN when I remember the label's city, when it is a city which takes up a whole wall, like Detroit, Chicago, New York, L.A./S.F., or Philadelphia/Pittsburgh/Ohio.

Can you supply us with a link to the article?

Absolutely! Bateman said EXACTLY that. He only agreed to quit Motown to jump to Golden's new label because he thought The Holland Brothers and Popcorn Wylie, and Herman Griffin would all be there to work with him. He ended up having ALL the responsibilities of building a brand new recording studio, finding and signing artists, assembling regular musicians and just about everything else dumped on him, alone. As it was, he got The Supremes to moonlight singing backup, Sonny Sanders, Vernon Williams, and Sammy Mack, came over from his recently disbanded Satintones, Popcorn Wylie did come (but also worked for many other labels, Griffin did come, but only worked with Correc-Tone for his own label in partnership projects with Correc-Tone, and former Motown songwriter, Don Juan Mancha came over, and worked as a producer and songwriter, and Janie Bradford to moonlight as a Correc-Tone songwriter, under the name of Nikki Todd. They Jazz pianist, Willy Harbert as in-house arranger, and had Wilson Pickett, Gino Washington, Theresa Lindsey, Yvonne Vernee (Allen), Vern Williams' Pyramids, Marva Josie, Herman Griffin, and many other quality singing artists, and Bateman was able to use mainly ex-Motown and moonlighting current Motown musicians. So, qualified personnel wasn't the problem. That was owner, Wilbur Golden's cash-flow problems that caused the label to not have the money to press their own records, or to market their own records, or to keep their own artists from being lured away to more solvent labels. Ed Wingate ended up buying Golden out in 1965, 2 years after Batemen took the remaining master tapes of unreleased Correc-Tone recordings to sell or lease to other companies in lieu of unpaid back salary for much of 2 years. I believe that's how Correc-Tone masters ended up being released on Double-L, Fred Bridges ended up on New York's Versatile Records, etc.

Buddy Lamp was part of Detroiter/NY producer, Robert Bateman's former Correc-Tone's recordings deal with Lloyd Price and Harold Logan's Double-L Records in New York, and, I have heard that Peanut Records was a partnership between Lloyd & Logan, and Lamp. So, the Michigan address may just be Lamp's home address, while Double-L's address was a post office box in the skyscraper building at 1650 Broadway, like so many of New York's small and medium-sized record labels. And Lloyd & Logan shared the publishing on several, if not most, of Lamp's Peanut Records cuts.