Robbk

Monk Higgins' birth name was Milton Bland. I'm pretty sure he was related to Billy Bland (Satellite/St. Lawrence artist). Could Monica Higgins have been his daughter or wife? Was Monk credited on her '73 record?

I dwelt in The L.A. Area during 1966-72, and I've seen LOTS of BOTH green issues and the yellow issue. Actually, the yellow was the rarest, and I don't remember seeing that one until 1970 or so, so maybe that was a legit re-issue?

We all know there are a fair amount of dishonest dealers in the used record business. that's what made me leave the active collecting pursuit. I was sick and tired of meeting greedy, sick, dishonest chiselers, who would cheat their own grandmothers to make more money. I met so many that it turned me off from dealing with collectors and dealers. Too bad, because there are a lot of really great collectors, some of whom have become some of my best lifelong friends. Too bad we can't drum those thieves out of circulation (tar and feather them and abandon them on Pitcairn Island and force them to constantly listen to Dora Hall records until the go mad and die from choking on their own vomit!)

A Canadian born during or before WWII! Certainly not a current young Brit or American!

We also had a thread with hundreds of scans (with hundreds from myself, representing many hours of work by me) on a now defunct forum, called SoulTalk. But, alas those threads are lost. I still have all the sleeves and the individual scans. But, I'll never have the time again to post them (I have other priorities).

Yes. That's the one I used to use. Here's a comment on it: "I really hope 45cat can do something to save all the hard work Erling put into his site, As well as being a useful source of information it was an invaluable historic resource for the world of 7" records, over time i have contributed to his site and as a collector of 7" sleeves from the 50s and 60s i still have the sleeves, Erling recorded the smallest differences on what might appear to be identical sleeves A real shame if all his work was lost." I contributed to it as well.

Here is one website of which I know: https://www.45rpmrecords.com/ms/index_list.php But, there is a much more complete one I have used in the past:

Hi Mark. Yes, there aren't many interesting threads there anymore. And when I start one, it just dies. There are almost no record collectors talking about the details of record issues, anymore. It's mostly gossip, and talking about current artists. Where are all the great threads we used to have, putting together detailed discographies of labels, and talking about their owners, producers, arrangers, recording sessions, songwriters, and group members.

I like "Mexican Love Song", but like "You're Sweet" better. But, I like "I Wanna Tell My Baby" AND "My Lover Come Back" more than those, and also more than any of their Drew cuts. Are you Mark (from Cleveland)? Oder bist Du einen Deutscher aus Kleve (Cleve)?

There's a reason for that. Both sides are fantastic! Best 2 Precisions' cuts of their career. People had to play it to death!

I've got the US issue of The Spyders:

Interesting that The Timi Yuro dealer's only view of the record OUTSIDE the sleeve is too small (doesn't expand to larger), and the record is on a slant, deliberately to make sure no one can see the outside edge of the label, so they can't see it was a new hand pasting job, with a not-so-perfect circle-cut, placing, and has a thickness of a photocopy paper, rather than the normal, thinner label paper.

All the Mary Ann Hendrix has is a rhythm and a lead guitar. It's like a demo. It could have been done anywhere. I suspect that Romeo Taylor took four old masters from Detroit, with him to L.A., which were The Tootsie Rollers and The Martiniques, and interspersed their release in with material he produced in L.A.

Thanks!

Thanks! I've never bid on an Internet auction. I thought there should be an MP3 snippet of the song to hear. I can't find one. Can you please tell me what I click on to hear the song sample? I want to listen to hear if it sounds like an L.A. or Detroit recording.

THAT points more to Romeo Taylor and Popcorn Wylie leasing their single independent production of Four Real to Flying Eagle (which was probably owned by someone else), rather than Taylor having been one of the principals at Flying Eagle.

That Four Real release (Me-O 129) was out in 1975. I still think that Me-O 1002, Martiniques, and 1005, Tootsie Rollers, were recorded in late 1965 or 1966. They may not have been released until 1967 (at latest). Me-O 1001, "Give Your Love To Me"/"You Mean So Much To Me" by Richard Wright and The Star-Vells, sounds like it was recorded in 1965 or 1966 in Los Angeles. It sounds NOTHING like a Detroit recording, but very much like L.A. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure that Richard Wright was an L.A. artist. I'm sure i have several records by him and with writing credits by him on small L.A. labels. I think that Romeo Taylor came to L.A. in 1965 or 1966, and brought his Toledo/Detroit production masters with him. He also made some new productions in L.A. He had 2 other releases that I know: Me-O 222, by Joey Dee's (AKA Joe Dorgon): "I Got To Have You"/"Your Love", and one on himself: Romeo Taylor, Me-O RTM-1 & 2, "When You Made Love Parts 1 & 2". All 4 of those sides sound like they were recorded in L.A. The Joey Dees record looks like a 1969 or 1970 pressing, and The Romeo Taylor looks like one from 1972 or 1973. So, he may well have had Me-O operating all those years up to 1975, when he worked again with an old Detroit contact, and leased the production to Flying Eagles (or he and Wylie started a new label for their co-productions).

Don Heart's "Don't Give In" is not very common, but not very rare. I saw several copies of it in the '60s. It wasn't nearly as desirable as The Precisions, so probably a lot less people bought it 2nd hand. I never heard that played on the radio. And I imagine it had a single small press run, similar to The Precisions. But, I imagine a lot more of The Precisions ended up in collections. In USA in the '60s, there were a LOT more general Soul collectors and soul group collectors, and "Sweet Soul" collectors who would have bought The Precisions, while mainly just the hard core Detroit collectors, and "Bluesy Soul" collectors ("Deep Soul" collectors ) would have liked the likes of Don Heart, Lee Rogers and Buddy Lamp.

Ha! Ha! No surprise, there! Yes, I guess the recording at Sidra's studio was quite a bit cleaner than "The Pigpen" - (the loo in Mike Hanks' house)!

I didn't know that Al Kent had produced with Motown (or had even wrote songs with them). I guess that occurred soon after Berry bought out Golden World the first time (1966). And Kent probably left Motown somewhat less than year later, when J.J. Barnes, Steve Mancha, Wilbur Jackson and others left, or their existing contracts lapsed. He re-joined Ed Wingate at Ric Tic, while Mancha and Barnes Joined Don Davis' Groovesville.

I'm sure there are at least 5 in collections in UK/Europe, and probably another at least another 25-30 in US collections.

It's not as super-rare as those that had an extremely small single press run, or those records that had their press runs called back and those pressed were destroyed, or those press orders that were cancelled after only the 6 test pressings were made, but it IS certainly rare for those records that had a legitimate, complete press run. It got no air time on radio, other than possibly a few plays on a Soul station in Detroit, and it got very few sales. I've only seen a couple copies in the hands of 2 large Detroit collectors, and never, myself, saw one in circulation. I've been looking for it for 51 years, but can't afford to pay NS collector prices. I don't think there are many copies around. But there are certainly more than a handful.

Thurman Hollis may have been from Toledo, originally, but he worked in Detroit some, as he was manager of The Martiniques, who all resided in Detroit, and he recorded them there. Toledo is basically a suburb of Detroit, in any case. The Tootsie Rollers may have been from Toledo. I don't ever remember seeing any reference to their making personal appearances there, unlike The Martiniques, who made many, and were a well-known local group.

Meaning that he recorded them in Detroit while he lived in Toledo, but only had them pressed up after he had relocated to L.A. OR, he already resided in L.A., but commuted back to Detroit to record groups he worked with because he had had previous connections with their people. I tend to think it was the former situation, given that the SOUND of the cuts seems 1964-65, and those L.A. pressings, look like 1966 or 1967. I think I found mine in 1967, and I had been scouring L.A. for records starting in Fall,1965 (when I arrived there to attend UCLA for undergraduate).

So, I was right about the pressings looking like they were done in L.A. The recordings were done in Detroit, and Taylor was operating out of Toledo and L.A.