Robbk

It really sounds like a super clean recording, unlike the "noisier" sounding Mercury store stocker.

Good to learn that Tom is still with us.

Theoretically, you could purchase the words and music from the music publishing company. Despite Florence Greenberg being deceased, someone owns Flomar Music, as its rights have still been renewed with BMI up to today. The main business of music publishing was originally to sell sheet music with lyrics to people who wanted to play and sing it for recreation. Originally, this song was published by Barry Despenza, but, he sold half the publishing rights to Flomar, in the Wand pressing and distribution deal. And, i think that only Flomar has been renewing the rights for the past many years. So, they probably own full rights now.

This recording is pretty muddy, too. I have it on both labels, and it is tough to hear about half the words. And the lead singer has good diction, and she is singing in Standard American English, NOT Ebonics! (which wouldn't have been a problem for me, as I grew up (more or less) in The Chicago Ghetto), but may have otherwise been a problem for a British listener. The other factor is that there are not very many different words used in this song. I realise now, that I've been listening to it for just about 50 years, without knowing about half the words. But, then, I've always admitted that I've never cared about words in songs, only the overall sound. It doesn't matter, in this case, as the gist of this song is clear, - the young lady doesn't want her lover to leave her.

I lived in L.A. from 1966-72. I've seen hundreds of the gold and only a much smaller amount of the orange (a ratio of about 5 to 1). I don't really know which came first, but I didn't see the orange until a year or 2 after having seen the gold. I got the impression that the orange was a 2nd pressing, rather than a concurrent pressing plant difference (perhaps one or 2 years later).

Interesting that the pressing plant, that pressed the DJ with the new label design, also added the recording master number to the label.

So the one pressing plant using the old design for 1024-1026, after the other plants had the new label design for 1024-1026 was correct. The new style started at 1024, and the old style ended with 1026.

I guess none of the French and Belgian shaggers who also look in on this forum have it or a scanner, eh?

Why is that unlikely? I bought it when the record was released.

Even back in the late '60s I saw a lot more white DJs, at a rate of about 4 to 1.

If you are referring to Musicor 1025, "That Same Old Song"/"Where Have You Been", I have a white DJ of it. I've E-mailed you 300 dpi scans.

No. There were several Sonny Dayes. I believe that the one on Ring-O was an East Coaster.

I would say that The passions' is a LOT rarer, as The Amazers was a minor hit, and The Passions never charted or got any substantial radio play.

I wouldn't think so. It was distributed nationally with big pressing volumes, and it was a minor Soul hit in Chicago, and probably several other cities.

That was a very common record with several different regional pressing plant press runs. I can't imagine why anyone would boot it.

That's a dead rare record. Aren't there only 2 copies known on The NS scene? I was living in Chicago when it was released, and I never saw it. I was scrounging through literally millions of 45s there from1959-mid 1972. I would guess there are only a handful in existence. I've seen scores of The Kittens, but never seen The Emeralds. I'd bet that Even Ruth Moore and Bob Lee didn't have any copies.

I don\t think that Canadian Diamond came in Diamond company sleeves. I don't remember if Compo had their own distributor sleeves, like Quality and the Majors did.

Wasn't his name spelt: "Morris" - not "Maurice"?

Motown DIDN'T succeed in marketing Gospel, nor Jazz, and had only limited success with 1959-63 R&B. They were successful in marketing Pop and Soul Music to teens, young adults and middle-aged people in both The Black Community and the general US population, and various "foreign" populations, around The World. So, are we just differing over semantics?

Bobby Bland should have sued Davis for stealing his "Soul" and his identity! Actually, I think this is really Bobby, moonlighting.

Having been inside the company, and watching what they tried to sell, and knowing Berry Gordy's taste from the beginning, and his goals, I just can't imagine Motown trying to hide the fact that they had "White" production people working for them. From Gordy's entry into the music business, he was trying to make music to sell to as many people as possible across as many music genres as possible. He tried C&W, Garage Band, Surf, Rock-a-Billy, hard Rock, Gospel, Jazz, in addition to Blues, R&B and Soul. He failed at selling much of any of the genres other than R&B and Soul, because his marketing people didn't have the knowledge of those markets, nor the connections to get them distributed and marketed in the right channels for the potential customers in those markets to even be exposed to the recordings. He planned to call his record company "Tammy" Records (but the name was already taken). Clearly, he wanted to make good music in any genre which he could sell records and make a profit. This was aimed at the widest audience possible. I think he would avoid at all costs, the image of being an all Black firm. I don't think he'd have tried to hide the fact that "a White L.A. woman played base on many Motown recordings, any more than he'd used a given Black musician. He didn't want the names of his musicians known by the general public, because he didn't want them to become stars in their own right, and demand high salaries, and with that, also have the courage to leave his employ, knowing they could command big money because of having a well-known name as a recording artist. People at Motown, including Berry Gordy, would only have a beef with Carole Kaye because she deliberately worded her comments, ambiguously, to make it sound like she played on hit versions of hit songs; and then when people took the bait and assumed that she did, she kept quiet and allowed people to believe that; and later, when the questions were very specific, she probably didn't come clean, but rather, confronted with documentation proving her wrong, told lies, to avoid appearing to have been dishonest, earlier. They would have had no problem having her name known as a Motown session player, among all the other players, IF they wanted names of any session players known. I beg to differ with your attempted point that Jamerson was a "poster boy" and Babbitt received little fanfare from Motown. During Motown's heyday, NO session musicians were touted, nor received credits on records. Only band leaders, such as Joe Hunter, Maurice King, Choker Campbell and Earl Van Dyke received billing (at the head of their band names) on posters and venue marquees. Jamerson never got feature billing until after Motown moved to L.A. Gordy didn't want ANY of his musicians, "White or Black or Yellow or Red" to be known by the public, lest they demand star's wages or fly the coop.

No! They had multiple marketing strategies. With Jr. Walker, Shorty Long and Gladys Knight & The Pips towards the Black and "cool White kids", and The Supremes. Marvelettes, Four Tops, Miracles, Temptations, Martha & Vandellas, Marvin Gaye etc. to ALL audiences.

Same for me. Much of what she claimed was too ridiculous. She's lost her grip on reality in her early old age (a lot sooner than most people do). Too bad. A shame that a good artist's work is questioned in the minds of many people by ridiculous claims, just because The Internet reaches so many people.

I seem to remember also having The Coronadas on a local Chicago plant pressing (same plant as Classmates), not the Monarch L.A. pressing shown above, and I seem to remember it not being distributed by Atlantic. I'll have to check it when I get home.