I've got a handful of records on this label and love them all, just trying to fill in the holes and see what I'm missing. Thanks for any help!

#100 George Blackwell ---Mister Loser/Tell Her For Me

#200 George Blackwell---Can't Lose My Head/Don't Want To Let You Go

#600 Exsaveyons---Somewhere/I Don't Love You

#601 Keith Curtiss---I Got To Keep You Baby/My Love I Can't Hide

#602 The Herbs---Never, Never Will I Fall In Love/Question

#609 Ex Saveyons---Running Wild/Where Do I Go From Here

#612 The Herbs---Put A Hurtin On My Heart/There Must Be An Answer

I don't have the George Blackwell ones, but the rest are all killers! To my ears it sounds like the same band on most of these records, at least the same bass & guitar players. Anyone know anything about the Smoke houseband? What other 45's are out there?

310 chadwick avenue...........some pals of mine went there in 1979 and it was a gocers store

Can't anyone help fill in the holes? Is 612 the last release they made?

some chap has this for sale from2 / 3 days ago

GINO MORESE~LIVED A GOOD LIFE (but died in a miserable way)~SMOKE DEMO~G+/VG £13 (Visually poor but plays much better than it looks) Smoke KB 300 (A)

Thanks for the tip!

#605-eddy lyon-i want you to love me boy/please hear me now

some chap has this for sale from2 / 3 days ago

GINO MORESE~LIVED A GOOD LIFE (but died in a miserable way)~SMOKE DEMO~G+/VG £13 (Visually poor but plays much better than it looks) Smoke KB 300 (A)

Don't know that, but what a great Title

Only have the Running Wild on this label BTW

Tony

Anyone know anything about the Smoke houseband? What other 45's are out there?

Not sure about a house band but think I remember Smoke being described on another forum as a record run by George Blackwell and his wife as a kind of "pay to get your record released' outfit. There's also a Sammy Campbell connection - maybe he worked for them but nothing got released. Might be thinking about Greg Tormo's site when it sort of ruled the web, rare soul wise. - he's on here now.

Did he say that Blackwell stifled Job Opening?

There seems to be two label designs, with 3 different cat numbers, or series numbers if you like... in regard to label design there is an exception in George Blackwell - Mister Loser which I've got and have only ever seen as an orange issue, anybody seen with the 'Cant Lose my Head' smoke design / Logo, same as the GINO MORESE label above?

Deffo on Greg Tormo's site for the full story, maybe it appeared in Shades also... but also some nice relevant info on

https://soul-sides.co...alter-egos.html

https://www.hollygroverecords.com

Hollygrove also put some never heard before releases on Sammy on their Holly Grove label, there is a great bio on Sammy in there also.

Mal.C.

Edited February 4, 201114 yr by Mal.C.

Thanks for the info everybody. I've never heard that Eddy Lyon 45, any good? It seems that Gino Morese was probably recorded around the same time as the 2 George Blackwell 45's, while the whole 600 series sounds like they were recorded a few years later, I would guess.

I'd read that Del-Larks story before, but didn't remember that it was Blackwell that killed the record.

Also interesting that one of those Hollygrove records has a song called "There Must Be An Answer", even though it sounds like a completely different song.

If Smoke was one of those pay to get your record released labels, then maybe some of the other 600 series records never came out?

I have recently bought a copy of Mister Loser which has the same DJ stamp .Encouraging.