Robbk

Bigfoot sightings WITHIN the city limits of Detroit??? NO WONDER the population went down from 2 million to only 700,000!!! Only the people who owned assault weapons could risk staying!

What's interesting about that Sheppards' release was that The Sheppards didn't record directly for Mirwood in L.A., but that it was a Chicago production, leased to Mirwood. Eddie LaShea worked in Chicago for Johnny Pate, thus Pate's Pamco publishing. So, why would Mirwood single out a leased record for "international availability", and not do that with their own productions? There was no Northern Soul scene in 1967, and The Sheppards cuts, although quite good, were no more marketable to music fans worldwide, than most of the other Mirwood uptempo cuts.

That article only lists a few of Motown's stars' home addresses. What would be nice would be to have a detailed map of Detroit, as it was in the late 1960s, showing where all the recording studios were (already exists on Soulful Detroit.com), also showing where the then existing record companies, distributors, pressing plants (one exists (but not complete), night clubs and other music venues were located. We need a map combining all of those, and if someone wanted to add where all the singers lived, it would be a very cluttered map, but also very interesting. The same should be done for Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles.

I, too, like the Shorty Long cut. I like him singing in a mellow, less Bluesy style, sometimes. He sang a few mellow ballads while with Gwen Gordy's Tri-Phi Records. "Going Away" is a great example. The Hit Pack cut is also very nice, with a nice job done by lead, Robert Dobyne. The Oma Heard cut is nice, as well.

Interesting, that that 6201 W. Santa Monica Blvd. address for ALCO, was exactly 4 blocks east of ARDCO's address listed on their record sleeves: 1041 Las Palmas Ave., which was at the corner of that street and Santa Monica Blvd. So, their record distributorship was basically next to their metal parts manufacturing plants.

Wow!!! Even a store-stocker!!! It was withdrawn, probably from the pressing plant or distributor, with just a few escaping at the distributor, and, possibly from a few Detroit stores that got it, similar to the situations with Oma Heard VIP, Patrice Holloway and Kim Weston's "A Little More Love".

I was looking for records all over USA in 1964, and NEVER saw the scheduled release of "High Heel Sneakers" backed with "Funny How time Slips away". I have only ever seen it with "Music Talk", both on DJ and store stock. I NEVER saw the other pressing even in The Motown Record File and Jobete Music Record File. I don't think it EVER got to the pressing stage. I think the flip side was changed before it even got scheduled for pressing (e.g. it was only slated, and never even scheduled). Have any of you ever seen a scan of a pressed up Tamla 45, even WDJ?

The Delta icon doesn't ALWAYS indicate Monarch. The Delta signifies ALCO Steel Co. (Allied Steel). They served BOTH Monarch, and also Allied Pressing Plant (affiliated with Allied Record Distributing Co. (ARDCO). Monarch used vinyl once in a while, but not very much at all during the mid '60s (more in the '70s). ARDCO used vinyl off and on all through the '60s (although they also used styrene much more than vinyl).

Yes they look real enough. They must have come from an extremely small press run, as I had seen hundreds of script white DJs and never saw the block design. I was looking in L.A. 2-3 days each week during those years. And for 3 months in Chicago, as well. As I stated above, I would guess it's an East Coast pressing, as I had lots of coverage on The West Coast, and in The Midwest. These DJs were likely pressed BEFORE any Mirwood store stockers were ever pressed. So, that block print MAY represent the initial label design, which might have been changed during the first small press run batch, and subsequent runs used the script design, and, thus, ALL store stock runs used the script.

I bought almost all the Mirwood and Mira records in Los Angeles near the time they were released, and they were ALL the script, both in DJ and store stock. I NEVER saw any block print on store stock, or even DJ issues back in the day. I never saw any block print on those 2 labels ANYWHERE in USA back in the '60s, despite looki9ng through literally millions of US 45s. I would guess the block print 45s are '70s or early '80s boots. IF there were legit WDJs with block print, they must have been a very small batch done in an emergency , probably on The East Coast.

Thanks. That would be great!

I'll now want to get about 27 of those Greek sleeves to house my US Zodiac records. They look quite nice, and I don't care that they were not connected with Ric Williams' label. that's not half as funny as my Chicago 1953-1956 Parrot records by Paul Bascomb, The Flamingos, J.B. Lenoir sitting in mid 1960s London-distributed Parrot sleeves (instead of that Welshman, Tom Jones!

Both songs by Womack have his name as songwriter, the same as fred Bridges. but Bridges didn't give them both the same title. His second song with that title, sung by Hamilton, was renamed in his absence. I doubt that happened with Womack. I doubt that his Minit recording was renamed by Imperial Records people without his knowledge. Could he have forgotten that he wrote a song only 1 or 2 years earlier, with that same title? When he submitted the song to BMI to have it published, wouldn't the processing people notice that? I, myself, have noticed a similar problem in my own work. I have been writing stories since 1984, and noticed that I wrote two stories with the same title. But, fortunately, I submitted them to the same publisher, the second one 16 years after the first. They informed me of my oversight, and I promptly changed the title of the second story to an alternate one, which sufficed just as well. It only mattered in my host country, The Netherlands, as the titles in all the translations would have been different from the first story's in those languages.

Isn't "What is This" on Minit basically the same song as the Keyman version, just "modernised" and reworked into a different, updated style? Whereas, Fred Bridges' and Edward Hamilton's two songs titled "Baby Don't You Weep" are totally unrelated in any way other than the titles and being written and co-written by Fed Bridges.

Actually, it looks pretty good.

Here's one, but it's off The Internet, so it's not owned by me, and it is not at very good resolution, nor is it clear enough.

You were reading correctly. You are correct that Pickett's version was always listed as "Baby Don't You Weep" on the Double-L LP (which I never owned), and also on the Liberty re-issues. I stand corrected. I must have been thinking of Mack Rice's "Baby, I'm Coming Home". Must have been "a senior moment".

To add even more confusion to the "I'm Coming Home"/"Baby Don't You Weep" saga, another Detroit artist, Buddy Lamp, recorded a song titled "I'm Coming Home" for Detroit's Peanut Records, in 1963, that was also published by Lloyd and Logan Music, Double-L's music publishing company, who had gotten half of the publishing rights to "Baby Don't You Weep" sung by Wilson Pickett when Double-L had leased Wilson Pickett's production from Bateman in that same year. Bateman also leased productions he had done on Buddy Lamp to Double-L. BOTH were Detroit productions involving artists whose recordings were being leased from the same source (Robert Bateman). I don't think Bateman was involved in Lamp's Peanut Records productions, but Double-L bought a share of "I'm Coming Home's" publishing, nevertheless (which Lamp had recorded before his work with Bateman ("My Tears", which was leased to Double-L). I wonder how that came about? I also like very much the version of Baby Don't You Weep" by Luther Ingram, which Robert Bateman record in Ingram's first session in 1964.

Yes. Fred was actually the main artistic driving force of that trio.

Yes, Fred Bridges, of Bridges, Knight & Eaton, also wrote and sang "Baby Don't You Weep" (co-written with his friend, Harrison Smith) which was recorded at Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Studios in spring 1962, by Robert Bateman, and leased to New York's Versatile Records. Bateman later recorded Wilson Pickett singing it in 1963, and leased it to Lloyd Price and Harold Logan's Double-L Records in New York. But, probably due to Price's suggestion, the song was retitled "I'm Coming Home". As assistant A&R man at Lou Beatty's and James Hendrix's La Beat Records, Bridges wrote Edward Hamilton's "Baby Don't You Weep"(co-written with Richard Knight) in late 1966, giving it the title, "I'm Coming Home". However, it was NOT a case of the songwriter forgetting that he had written another song with that title only 4 years before. Beatty, changed the title of the song title from "I'm Coming Home" to "Baby Don't You Weep" (unaware that Fred Bridges had previously written a different song, which had that same title. In any case, Bridges now has a situation, in which he has written 2 different versions of "Baby Don't You Weep". There are several instances of other songwriters (usually with long careers) writing 2 different songs using the same title. "Action Speaks Louder Than Words" written by Berry Gordy for Mable John in 1960, released on Tamla Records, and then a different song with that same title, written by Berry, together with his writing partner, Roquel (Billy) Davis in 1960 or early 1961, released on Davis' Check-Mate Records in late 1961, comes to mind. Again, this might be a case of a person other than the writer of the first song to use that title, changing the title of the second song, without having known that that same writer wrote a song with the same title used by the second song's changed title. In the case of the Berry Gordy song, Gordy was no longer involved, when Billy Davis released the David Ruffin song on his Check-Mate Records. The song had been co-written while Davis and Berry Gordy were both working with Davis' and Berry's sisters' Anna Records.

So Harry Gates sang as "Lee Gates" on Enterprise Records. He was lead singer in The Caravelles and first Dramatics group. He was a regular songwriter on the Detroit Soul scene. I bet he sang in other groups as well. I think he may have been lead singer of The Equadors on Miracle, and I suspect that he sang in other Detroit groups between 1961 and 1967. I'd be curious to know in what other groups he was a member, and for which other labels he performed, and anything else about him.

I'm wondering now whether Harry or Lee Gates is the lead singer on Motown's (Miracle 7) by The Equadors "Someone To Call My Own"/"You're My Desire". The lead's voice is very similar. We've been wondering for years about that mystery group. The lead from "Toy Soldier" sounds very like The Equadors' lead, and also like Lee Gates, and also a bit like The Caravelles' lead. Nobody at Motown we asked remembered or knew ANYTHING about The Equadors, including who Rex Robertson was. Take a listen to all those songs and let me know what you think.

The Santells (Black female Soul group) had a record out on Courier, and, I believe, I also have a third Courier Soul record (male solo act).

But weren't Johnny Brantly's Vidalia productions on that label (Ohio Players) recorded in Cleveland?

Hi Andy, Great article. It helps fill in a little more of the formerly unknown history of Detroit Soul music in the mid '60s. Regarding your notes below the biography......... Your comment on Gene Brooks and the Genebro release being a division of A-Go-Go Records: You commented that both releases were "Bandwagon Productions", and that you hadn't seen that production company on any other records. I find that interesting, considering your knowledge of NS and general Soul records from the period, given that both Jimmy "Soul" Clark releases on Popcorn's Soulhawk Records were Bandwagon Productions. And, if I remember correctly, aone or two other Soulhawk, Pamline or other Wylie label releases were, as well, and, in addition, I seem to remember that that was Wylie's main production company name for his independent productions in 1966 and 1967.