Robbk

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.

The odds and Ends is not bad at all. I've always avoided picking it up because it looked too new. Had I had a chance to play it, I'd have bought it for 25¢ or 50¢ when I had the chance. What year was it released?

When did Ollie McLaughlin sell "Love Makes The World Go Round" to Berry Gordy/Motown?

You mean "Marvellos' track". The Marvelows were the Chicago group. The Exodus/Loma/WB/Modern Marvellos group was an L.A. group. There was an early '50s Marvellos group in Chicago. As far as I know, there was never any group called "The Marvellows".

You mean "Marvellos' track". The Marvelows were the Chicago group. The Exodus/Loma/WB/Modern Marvellos group was an L.A. group. There was an early '50s Marvellos group in Chicago. As far as I know, there was never any group called "The Marvellows".

That's the best female version I know (it was recorded in Detroit with several Motown session players playing on it).

I thought that Contempo was a legitimate label that paid for the rights to issue or re-issue material they hadn't produced themselves. Am I wrong? Did they actually press up and sell bootlegs?

I guess there's no one around better than me, to answer my own questions. I was just looking through The Soulful Detroit Archives, and found a thread from 2002, in which Detroit R&B/Soul singer, Andy Alonzo and session musician Lynn Bruce made comments. Alonzo had replaced Robert Walker in The Martiniques, when Walker left the group to team up with Robert Staunton, and form The Hit Pack. Alonzo told us that The Martiniques early Danceland recordings were made at United Sound, and their last Danceland and Me-O cuts were made at Specialty Recordings (also in Detroit). He said that Thurman Hollis was The Martiniques' manager. Danceland was a long-time Detroit label, starting with 78s in 1949. Me-O was located in Toledo, Ohio, but both The Martiniques' and Tootsie Rollers' recordings were made at Specialty, in Detroit. So, I was right that they sounded like Detroit recordings. He also mentioned that Herschel Hunter (member of The Martiniques and Detroiter, Ty Hunter's brother) was also with The Moments and The Tempos. Apparently, The Martiniques' name came from founder and first lead singer, Bobby Martin. Hunter and Walker also sang lead on some songs.

It's probably been 50 years since I played the "B" side. I LOVE "He's A Lover", but was indifferent about the flip. So, maybe it was "Take it Slow", after all. But, I must admit that upon hearing "Take it Slow" on the link above, it didn't ring a brell, at all - as if I've never heard it. But, if I had a gun to my head, based on what everyone else has said, I'd guess that mine probably is the misprint, just like the others. Mine does NOT have the 1.95 with LS under, nor the large "O". I just have no time to deal with buying a new cartridge and stylus, and setting up my equipment to play records. I work more than full time (probably70-80 hours per week) on my cartooning work, for Dutch, Danish, Swedish and German Disney (and with a business partner's animation firm (in Munich), and live in 5 places through each year (The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Canada and USA) and am quite busy when in each place. So, I mainly listen to CDs and music on You-Tube (or copied from You-Tube). I don't have time to make the difference in sound quality worth the effort to play my records. Most of what I have on record is available to me on You-Tube or digital sound files, or CDs.

It's really hard to read at ANY angle, even in the best lighting. I can't really make out anything certain other than the "4".

I don't have a stylus right now, and my sound system is in storage. I don't know anyone near me that has a record player. I am almost certain that my copy plays "When The Going Gets Rough", otherwise I would remember that this record in my collection was an anomaly, having a misprinted label. I've had the record since 1964. So, surely I would have remembered the misprinted label. I never knew anything about a misprint on that issue. I'd have been looking for years (and remembered looking) to find a pressing with the "real" be side if I would have had a misprinted label.

About Simon Soussan and his boot jobs?

I have "When The Going Gets Rough" on mine (AR-1012). It has " AR - 1012 - B (-2) " engraved in the trailer, with a very faint " 420 " lightly etched in on the opposite side of the label.

That erronious idea came from the fact that Monarch pressed such a high % of The West's records. But, as listed above, The East had a large amount of styrene records pressed. And, Monarch also pressed some records onto vinyl.

Yes, it's interesting that these master leases from across the country got in the hands of small indie labels in another city. It's always about connections between people. One might wonder how it came to be that our little Airwave Records distributed Montab Records, but no surprise that we distributed Freddie Gorman's Rene Records, as he was an Airwave artist and songwriter, and worked on productions other than his own. Don't forget that almost all African-Americans in the "Rust Belt" cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron, Dayton, Youngstown, Toledo, Columbus, Detroit, Erie, Buffalo, Pittwsburgh, etc, had frequent, direct contact with relatives and friends still located in The South. Abney must have known some of Eddy Bo's and Johnny Adams' people or contacts in New Orleans. The Superlatives were the only artists on that label that I heard of gigging outside Detroit. They were certainly the "mainstay" of the label. But Dynamics had almost 10 releases, so, I wouldn't say it was set up just for that group, like Drew for The Precisions. Abney had seen how successful Golden World was copying Motown. He (like so many other tiny indie label founders in Detroit in the 1960s) actually thought he could make some money producing and selling records, writing and publishing songs, and managing singing acts. I actually heard of The Eldees, too.

I'm guessing that that is NOT a bootleg, but a legal re-issue by Robert West from the late 1970s or early '80s, when he re-issued it on a LuPine Detroit oldies album. He had moved to Las Vegas, and was re-issuing songs from his original masters at that time (i.e. "Anna" by Wilson Pickett"). He probably paid some money to Tru-Sound's owner for the rights to release it on his LP, and then also decided to release a companion 45 to plug the LP.