Robbk

Al Kent was a producer AND a singer. He was credited on instrumental records because there was no singer, and he was, in essence, the "orchestra" leader. But, they couldn't call the ad-hoc assemblage of studio session instrument players Al Kent's Orchestra, so they simply credited him as the artist. I'm pretty sure that he, himself sang on "The Way You've Been Acting Lately". He sang in a couple groups as a youngster, and had some solo singing releases recorded in Detroit, and some in New York, before working for Ed Wingate's labels.

That's one of my all-time favourite songs, but by Otis Leavill. I've never heard of a Billy Butler version. Was it unreleased on vinyl, and taken from a vaulted master tape?

Whatever any of you call "the first Soul record" would be the first Soul record I bought.

I was around when the Gloreco record was released. I used to drive to Detroit 2 Saturdays a month, to look for records. I saw the Gloreco record several times. In all my years of flipping through millions of 45s from 1963 to 1972 (Gloreco was 1963), I NEVER saw the PG record. The type font implies that the PG record was pressed in the late '70s. So, I suspect that it is a boot, or a late '70s repressing by the owner of the master. The mis-spelling makes me lean towards it being a boot.

The singer truly DOES sound like Doris Day!

The title of the thread says "Detroit female Soul 45". It was SalvoSoul's title -not your comment to which my comment on Detroit was responding. Upon listening again, the You-Tube recording DOES sound like The Sweet Thing's 45 version. I don't know what drugs I was on when I made the first comment. That is one of my favourite songs, and I have had several copies of it played over 1,000 times. I don't know how I could think it sounds wrong one time. such a thing has never happened to me before. I guess sinility is now setting in, and I am starting to have hallucinations.

No! That's NOT The Sweet Things' 45 version. I don't even think it's a different take by them. I think it's a different group. And it's NOT Detroit. It's a Van McCoy song. and sounds like a New York recording (it's not so tight like most Van McCoy productions, so, maybe it's just another East Coast producer using a Van McCoy song.

Thanks for that information. It would have been ice to have known all this 50 years ago. But, as Mickey McCullers once sang, better late than never.

No one ever accused record companies of always meeting all the terms of their contracts and oral agreements with their artists.

Thanks for pointing that out.

They have Soul music used on commercials -just not RARE Soul (that never made it to the radio during its initial sales run. They only use songs that were monster hits. "Stand by Me" was a mega hit. They've never used unreleased cuts and songs like "Just Say You're Wanted and Needed" by Gwen Owens, and songs off acetates that were never released like The Cashmeres on HEM. They mean nothing to the average American. But then, I never thought that Northern Soul would be recognised by mainstream Britain.

In USA (the land of Soul music, were lucky if we hear a Supremes' song on a commercial, and in The UK, unrelesed and unpressed recordings by The Cashmeres, and virtually unreleased cuts by Gwen Owens and Rita and The Tiaras, ad infinitum, are played as Muzak, and used on TV commercials. What a bizarre world!

Wow! Who would have guessed that a record that I discovered in 1966, and bought for a nickel in a South Central L.A. Goodwill Store, and was given to Rod Shard to break in The UK first debuted there in 1980, would eventually be in a commercial making fun of that nation's prime minister? And, although I never met Johnny Cochran, I've met O.J. Simpson, (a celebrity he defended). What a small World it is!

Kind of bizarre one-off situation of King picking up the rights to a Modern record. Modern had Modern Oldies Series, and Kent repressing their hits throughout the late '60s and early '70s. I wonder when that King issue was pressed? (end of the 1970s?)

All Ray Charles' releases after he started Tangerine Records, were Tangerine Productions, and should have had the Tangerine logo on the labels. That was part of his new production deal.

The grammar police at the printer made this change. They assumed wrongly, that ABC would have wanted the grammar in the title to be in proper American English, as opposed to the way in which Ray Charles sang the song. Clearly, the person who made that decision, hadn't heard Brother Ray's song on the radio, played from a WDJ issue, that preceded this first press run. For the pressing at that plant, the printing order was separate, because it went to the printer used by that plant. That same error was not made in the other orders at the other plants. At Airwave Records, we had printers screw up on orders that I, myself had okayed and seen that the words had been spelt correctly.

That was the proper thing to do, as it doesn't make sense to send 2 separate packages when one can be sent. Still, in these days of selfishness and rampant dishonesty, it's nice to see things like this happen. There are still a lot of honest, caring, respectful people out there, just that their percentage of the total population seems to shrink with each passing year.

I've seen it before, but it's the least common pressing. It was pressed in a plant that still had the blank labels from the previous style that had already been changed in all other plants for many months (possibly more than a year) to the white circle design.

This happens all too frequently, the recording on the actual pressed record is not on You-Tube, but an alternative take is. There are very many common records whose cuts are not up on You-Tube, in addition to many slightly rare records and some very rare ones, as well. Still, it's a great resource to hear hundreds of thousands of songs. Many of those missing have been on before, and will be again, until they are taken down once more.

Voice Records was owned by Chex's Tony Ewing, and the recording session was run by Popcorn Wylie. Gabriel Garrett, who produced the Gloria record, had worked previously with Ewing. There's no credit to Ewing, and his own Music publishing co., Criss Music, doesn't share the publishing with Garrett's publisher. I wonder how Garrett got that backing track, and why the original music writers, Ewing and Othea George, didn't share in the writing credits?

By the way,I guess you all know that "Sherl SwoTe" has 2 misprints. Her name is correctly spelt: "Sheryl Swope".

This is exactly it! Mary was Eddie's wife. They met when he was arranging and playing sax for The Ike & Tina Turner Review. Mary (formerly Mary Brown) was a member of The Ikettes. Eddie Silvers was a prolific independent Chicago arranger and producer, and had his hands in both the record productions above. Most of the young recording artists/singers in Chicago knew each other from "battles of the groups" at sock hops in the high schools, and practising singing in the park rec rooms at the many parks in the city, as well as in outdoor concerts/shows in the parks. Yes, it is true that the group membership was very fluid, and that many of the kids had sung together at one time or another. It's no surprise that a group in one song would mention a rival group whose current song they liked, or because they were friendly with the other group, and wanted to help that song get sales, or because the producer wanted to spur more sales for another record he had out on another label. I don't recall that particular lineup of The Blenders having a connection with Foxy and The Seven Hounds (but then, I don't know who The 7 Hounds were. But, it seems obvious that Eddie Silvers wanted to garner additional sales and chart action for that record, and through his association with both, group members of both groups surely had to know each other from rehearsal and recording dates, and also shows. I lived in South Chicago (very near its boundary with The South Side), and I worked on The South Side(1959-1967). I attended Bowen High School (which had a prolific music department-producing several R&B and Soul groups and a few single artists). I went to many sock hops at school, and park shows on The South Side and in South Chicago, and also several on The West Side and a few on The Near North side. ALL the young singers in each district of Chicago knew each other, and there was also a fair amount of cross-fertilization from area to area, as some of the kids hung out with cousins in other areas, or they'd be represented by a manager who had clients in another area, or they'd work for a producer who had groups in another area, or they'd meet at shows in other areas they were sent by their manager. Most of the young artists knew most of the Chicago artists, or, at least had seen them perform, and knew their repetoire. You will learn that by listening to Bob A's interviews on "Sittin' In The Park".

Referring to "Hollywood Records" as a Nashville label, is only referring to that label's resurrection from the end of the '60s through the early '70s, by it's owner, Starday Records, operating out of Nashville. Hollywood Records was started at the beginning of 1954, after John Dolphin, owner of the "Recorded in Hollywood" Records, sold his masters to US Decca, who made a partnership with Don Pierce to form "Hollywood Records", which would release those masters, and new recordings (many also made in L.A. Despite Pierce being located in Texas. The first Hollywood ran from beginning of 1954 through early 1959. Starday resurrected that label near the end of the '60s, re-issuing some of their '50s hits, while also recording and issuing new Soul material.

Yes, THAT Dean Barlow had been the lead singer of The Crickets, and a couple other groups. Most group collectors know him only as a group lead singer, and would be surprised that he had any solo career, at all (he really didn't have almost any sales). Same with Tony Middleton (Willows) Ray Pollard (Wanderers), Tony Williams (Platters), Eugene Pitt (Jive Five), Rudy West (Five Keys)Nate Nelson (Starglows), and so many others.

I find it difficult to understand why Clinton's Parliaments, who certainly must have started using that name earlier (1958) would have been forced to change their name, rather than the later, West Virginia group.