'the Bottle' Which Is The Original 45 ?

[Mike Lofthouse]

I stick by my view that at the height of its popularity the track was played off the album and not available on 45 . The Brother to Brother track was the 45 alternative which was a big Billboard R&B hit. The wikipedia entry just confuses the picture further - the only detail of the record is the later UK release. No way was it number 15 Billlboard R&B in 74/75. If it was, it would sold many thousands - it would still be ten a penny on ebay now!

I dug out out all my old Black Music and B&S circa 74/75 and can find no mention of a GSH 45 - no reviews, no new release listings, chart placings or copies for sale. 'Winter In America' was a top 15 Jazz album for many months including a period when Brother To Brother was charting. One of the singles reviews of Brother to Brother talks about 'their version of the 'pull' track from the GSH LP'

Maybe they did a couple of runs for promo purpose - (Jazz) radio stations etc - one indicated as promo , the other not ? Were they still doing special runs for Juke boxes by then ? like the mini album formats?

[Steve Foran]

Yes Ian the Winter in America LP was gatefold. I used to live in Bedford then, got on a train and bought the LP NEW from a record shop in London, it may have been Harlequin Records, but not sure exactly. I also went to contempo on the same trip. Still got Gil Scott Heron.