Robbk

Not nil. Often people working for those record companies steal them, and sell them on E-Bay (as happened with Motown's Record File and Jobete Music Co.'s record file copies of the Frank Wilson Soul issue, and the Andantes' VIP issue, and loads of Motown unreleased acetates. But, I suspect that Mercury Records probably threw theirs away or had them melted down, years ago.

During my golden era (wonder years), we ONLY had record turntables (grammofonplatten) (grammophones 78 players), and the early form of reel-to-reel tape recorders, that only wealthy people could afford. So, playing records on a turntable is very nostalgic for me. Nevertheless, I take advantage of the convenience of playing digital files (not-to-mention that I am hard-of-hearing in my old age, and can't tell the bloody difference, anyway)!

Incredible that I've been looking through literally millions of 45s since that record was out in 1965, and never saw it (as it was likely never pressed up), and then TWO copies show up (probably the 2 pressing plant copies of the 6 test pressings). Interesting that the title is shortened from "Tea House In Chinatown" (Mercury pressing) to just "Tea House".

That's the L.A. Monarch ATCO distributed pressing.

" Sweet Darlin' " WAS a big hit, at least on the Soul stations. And, it did even get some play on the Pop stations. Yes, it could have been an even bigger hit on the Soul stations, and could have charted a lot higher on the Pop stations. But one must remember that there were literally THOUSANDS of good-sounding Soul records pressed up in 1966 and 1967 that were good enough to be big hits. There just wasn't enough air time to get them all played, EVEN if every radio station in USA played only Soul music, and no one record got played more than twice per day. It was a matter of having the right producers, record companies and the right contacts, as well as lucky timing, and random chance as to which records did very well, decently, poorly and nothing at all. A large portion of my favourite songs were never heard by more than a handful of Caucasians at the time of their first pressing, and many were never heard by the public (including the Black Community in their town of origin), at all. They were only heard by the artists, producers and a handful of relatives, until they were found in thrift shops by people like me, or got shipped to The UK after warehouse buyouts 15-50 years later.

Yes. I had thought I had seen that version back in the '60s.

I think the top black might be a legitimate original, as a pressing plant in The East used that font. The only thing that might make it obvious that it IS actually a boot is the slanted "Champion". I can't remember now if the slanted version was legitimate or a boot. But, I did see many legitimate copies back in the '60s which used that font.

Ha! Ha! Sometimes I find a record in my collection I haven't played for 60 years!!! 20 years ago is a RECENT play (even 40 years ago would have been "relatively recent" - probably when I was re-recording a song whose cassette tape had dried and started having dropouts)!

I think I have the one shown on top of the thread. But, unfortunately, I won't be with most my 45s until September (I'm in Muenchen, Germany now). So, I can't check. But, I remember more of the lower posted issue being around in the late '60s in USA.

Not during the era when it was recorded. I don't know if a legitimate pressing of it (with full rights to the owner paid, like Hayley Records is doing with old masters) was made during the 1990s to today. I really doubt that a bootleg was ever pressed to vinyl.

But, one has to be on his or her guard to make sure his tone arm is balanced perfectly, or the grooves can wear, even if it is only very slightly off. So, it is "safer" to just play them to record them to files, and not play them on a turntable, over and over. Rare records of which only a handful are known, are too rare to risk ruining the original source.

I saw a fair amount of those back in the mid-late 60s and into the '70s. I would never have called it a "rare" issue back then. I remember a lot more of those and the Midwestern WDJs than the West Coast issue. Of course, I have no idea of what numbers of any of those made it over to The UK and circulated on The Northern scene.

Ron Murphy, Detroit record producer, record masterer and label owner, from the late '60s through the 2000s, and a friend of mine, told me that he had a good working relationship with many of the Detroit pressing plants. That's how he obtained many rare 45s, which had been both DJ and store stock press run test copies. He told me that standard policy at ARP, RCA Midwest, and most other large pressing plants was to make 6 labeled test pressings before each press run, to assure that no mistakes or problems would occur. The usual policy was for the plant to keep 2 of those test copies on hand, for samples in case of future runs. The 4 other copies were given to the customer (record company). THAT's how the Soul 35019 Frank Wilson DJ and store stockers were found (DJs were found by Ron in an old pressing plant box), and the 2 store stockers were in Motown's and Jobete's record files-I had seen those, myself-and we had one in Tom DePierro's office for 5-6 years), despite the real press runs being cancelled. I suspect that those Blue Rock unreleased issues experienced the same fate. Their scheduled press runs had been cancelled before any real press run - BUT, there WERE test runs of 6 store stockers (and, perhaps DJs, too?). And THAT is why only a couple copies are known (they were the 2 test copies retained at the pressing plant).

Yes, the Solid Hit is dead rare, with only a handful known. The multi-coloured Mahs of "Fun To Be Young" is not common at all, but I wouldn't call it "rare". The hit version with the new flip is extremely common.

I guess the UK Louisiana Red isn't all that rare, or just not in much demand. I imagine that the Atlas pressing would be in high demand by US Blues collectors, and should cost a few hundred Dollars.

Wow!!! That Louisiana Red Sue 337 has GOT to be dead rare!!! Hard to believe they would even have released that. It had been on Atlas Records 1246 (from 1960), out of New York, in USA (that is also fairly rare).

Everything I've read about Roger and Willie (Will) Hatcher said that they were brothers, and also cousins of Charley Hatcher (Edwin Starr). Roger and Willie Moved to Detroit at young ages, and recorded there. They both also recorded for Excello, in Nashville. I wonder if Mississippi Delta Blues Man, Willie Hatcher was Roger and Willie's father. They were born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Glad to see that Hayley will release many more previously unreleased Detroit classic period Soul gems. We can't ever get enough. The sound quality is great, too.

Looks good! Glad to see Bob's legacy won't be forgotten. Glad his great website will stay available to new listeners. I'm still in shock from his untimely passing. Every time an old thread on which he posted is resurrected, I get a twinge (and sometimes forget for a few seconds that he's gone). He was one of the few colleagues who could answer a lot of my questions. I miss him a lot.

This sounds like a mid to late '70s recording. Do you know when it was recorded? It sounds an Ollie McLaughlin production.

Yes, the 2nd sounds instrumentalwise, somewhat like the Perception single cuts I have. Weren't they from 1973?

These 2 cuts don't sound at all to me like J.J.'s Kable/Rich Fred Brown/Joe hunter recordings. These are much too new sounding. The first sounds very much like a Don Davis Groovesville recording. And the second sounds newer, more like an early '70s recording. But how could a Groovesville cut have escaped being found among the Groovesville tapes that were "discovered' near the beginning of the 1980s, and summarily made available on cassette tapes for the NS market? I'm sure you all remember those.

Rod "Modern Soul Sucks" Moss? A Soulie from a parallel dimension?

These don't sound like Motown masters. Were they recorded by Don Davis for Groovesville? The first sounds like '60s Groovesville. The 2nd like a later ('70s recording).

There were thousands of song performances that never got ANY airplay or sales, that I think were much, much better than most of the cuts that charted and were hits. There were probably several causes that contributed to that happening. One of them was lack of business acumen of the group or single artist's manager and the label owner and R&D man of the labels that released the records, in addition to the lack of funds by the given label needed for proper distribution, numbers of records pressed, and payola to get it played, and money to get into the music business with enough credibility to have access to the people who could market the record and get it heard by the right people. Also, first, the "British Invasion" changed the situation in the Pop record market, and the resultant changes by the US major labels' market strategies also started a slow drift away from R&B and Soul in the Pop market starting in 1964, and continuing throughout the remainder of the '60s and into the '70s. The Major US labels (Columbia, RCA, Warner Brothers, Decca, Capitol, 20th Century Fox, and to a lesser extent, ABC/Paramount, didn't really know how to market their R&B and Soul product. Motown, alone, had literally thousands unreleased cuts that were better than most charted Pop cuts. There was just no room for those to make the charts. There were so very many talented singers who could have been stars. There just was no room for all of them. Most of them had no chance from the start, because they were never seen, nor heard, by the right people.