Tony Middleton - Spanish Maiden - Storm

EX condition

£285 inc. p&p

Or come hear him sing it live at Dig Deeper this weekend! Great record, hope finds a good home.

ooohhh....did not knew this...thats great!

ooohhh....did not knew this...thats great!

Yeah ..it's often confused with the other one ..."return to Spanish Harlem " ..but this is my fave

Always thought the STORM copy was the 1st issue and rarer ,but i saw a lot of bidding activity for a SPEED copy ealrier this yr https://www.popsike.com/rare-Latin-Northern-Soul-Hear-TONY-MIDDLETON-Spanish-Maiden-on-Speed/160748238435.html

Is there any sound difference in the two SPANISH MAIDEN 45's ??

B side

B side

Both have the same song ?

Notice the Storm issue has a Speed catalogue number: SP 1005. Maybe it's just a case of the pressing plant just using some 'overs' of another of Morty Craft's labels, rather than the Storm copy being any kind of definitive first pressing.

The typesetting is exactly the same on both copies, just silver ink on the Speed copies, black on the Storm ones. There are also two Storm variants: logo and address in black and logo and address in burgundy/deep red.

I'm also pretty sure there is a demo of the Storm copy: white label with blue type. Don't know that of I've seen a demo of the Speed version.

Both have the same song ?

Im miss-informed then I could have sworn they had differant B sides!

Im miss-informed then I could have sworn they had differant B sides!

The two Spanish Maidens have same flip ,but return to Spanish Harlem has a very nice flip side ,making it a good double sider

I'd always assumed that the Speed 45 was the original, as the LP is on Speed, and both issues credit "from the LP".

And it's normally more expensive!

But of course that might not mean much!

I'd always assumed that the Speed 45 was the original, as the LP is on Speed, and both issues credit "from the LP".

And it's normally more expensive!

But of course that might not mean much!

Found this ..taken from the sleeve notes of the re-issued Lp

In the late 60s, Latin New York was dominated by the boogaloo and Latin Soul. From the music’s first flowering with Johnny Colon’s “Boogaloo Blues” and “Joe Cuba’s ‘Bang Bang” it was clear that this sound of the 2nd and 3rd generation New York born children of Puerto Rican immigrants was bringing a new fervour, mixing traditional Latin music with the sounds of the soul music that was in the air of the city. For the next few years, until it was blown away by the juggernaut of salsa this was the sound of Latin New York.

In the wake of its success independent labels and producers dominated the scene. Richard Marin with his production deal with Decca, George Goldner’s Cotique and of course the fledgling Fania Records, a label that would eventually come to dwarf all of the labels. One of the most vital, but smallest was Speed, run by Stan Lewis, with producers Morty Craft and Bobby Marin, the younger brother of Richard. The label released a handful of singles and LPs but the quality was consistently high, and today every release is sought after by collectors. The most in demand of them all is the one that you now hold in your hands, Chuito and the Latin Uniques “From The Street”.

According to Bobby Marin, Jesus ‘Chuito’ Santiago was a kid from ‘Brooklyn or the Bronx’ who had a hip band that Bobby thought would be worth recording. They were in fact similar to scores of other groups on the scene and would have remained so, but for the fact that they got a chance to record. The album mixed up straight Latin cuts such as “Ponte A Sonar” and “Aqui Llegó” with soul cuts, and band originals with specially written tracks by Lewis, Craft and Marin. When the album appeared it came housed in a sleeve showing Chuito looking sharp, smart and cool, standing on a New York street by a manhole cover. However despite the release of the album’s one single on two separate occasions on two separate labels the album disappeared without leaving much of a trace.

In recent years the album has become a sought after item by fans of Latin soul, but it’s initial afterlife came courtesy of that very single. The opening track on the album was called ‘Spanish Maiden’, and was voiced by a singer called Tony Middleton whose voice was a kind of supper club RnB. As Bobby Marin explains it: “I was walking along the street with an engineer friend of mine, explaining to him that I needed a soul singer to sing on a song I was producing. Suddenly he pointed at a guy across the street and said ‘That’s him, Tony should be your singer’, he was standing at the stage exit of a theatre, he was in ‘Hair’ or something’. Middleton sang the song and it was released as a single on both Storm and Speed, the double release presumably because of had some local success. It was also released on a 12 inch single on Disco International in the mid 70s. It was from this release that it was initially picked up by the UK’s northern soul club scene, where Middleton was a cult hero, and it became a dancefloor hit. Middleton would record another single with Marin, the non-album “Return To Spanish Harlem”, also a collector’s item today.

Found this ..taken from the sleeve notes of the re-issued Lp

In the late 60s, Latin New York was dominated by the boogaloo and Latin Soul. From the music’s first flowering with Johnny Colon’s “Boogaloo Blues” and “Joe Cuba’s ‘Bang Bang” it was clear that this sound of the 2nd and 3rd generation New York born children of Puerto Rican immigrants was bringing a new fervour, mixing traditional Latin music with the sounds of the soul music that was in the air of the city. For the next few years, until it was blown away by the juggernaut of salsa this was the sound of Latin New York.

In the wake of its success independent labels and producers dominated the scene. Richard Marin with his production deal with Decca, George Goldner’s Cotique and of course the fledgling Fania Records, a label that would eventually come to dwarf all of the labels. One of the most vital, but smallest was Speed, run by Stan Lewis, with producers Morty Craft and Bobby Marin, the younger brother of Richard. The label released a handful of singles and LPs but the quality was consistently high, and today every release is sought after by collectors. The most in demand of them all is the one that you now hold in your hands, Chuito and the Latin Uniques “From The Street”.

According to Bobby Marin, Jesus ‘Chuito’ Santiago was a kid from ‘Brooklyn or the Bronx’ who had a hip band that Bobby thought would be worth recording. They were in fact similar to scores of other groups on the scene and would have remained so, but for the fact that they got a chance to record. The album mixed up straight Latin cuts such as “Ponte A Sonar” and “Aqui Llegó” with soul cuts, and band originals with specially written tracks by Lewis, Craft and Marin. When the album appeared it came housed in a sleeve showing Chuito looking sharp, smart and cool, standing on a New York street by a manhole cover. However despite the release of the album’s one single on two separate occasions on two separate labels the album disappeared without leaving much of a trace.

In recent years the album has become a sought after item by fans of Latin soul, but it’s initial afterlife came courtesy of that very single. The opening track on the album was called ‘Spanish Maiden’, and was voiced by a singer called Tony Middleton whose voice was a kind of supper club RnB. As Bobby Marin explains it: “I was walking along the street with an engineer friend of mine, explaining to him that I needed a soul singer to sing on a song I was producing. Suddenly he pointed at a guy across the street and said ‘That’s him, Tony should be your singer’, he was standing at the stage exit of a theatre, he was in ‘Hair’ or something’. Middleton sang the song and it was released as a single on both Storm and Speed, the double release presumably because of had some local success. It was also released on a 12 inch single on Disco International in the mid 70s. It was from this release that it was initially picked up by the UK’s northern soul club scene, where Middleton was a cult hero, and it became a dancefloor hit. Middleton would record another single with Marin, the non-album “Return To Spanish Harlem”, also a collector’s item today.

Superb info Nev,another one from my 2011 playlist at Hitsville Mojacar played as a request for latin from a Spanish lady,wonderful...

Edited October 11, 201213 yr by dancingcollector

It was a massive record at the 100 Club in the 8ts, probably an Ian Clark spin, but memory is failing, Ady was going thru his Latin phase about then too...................great record & one thats never far from my box ooohher missus........

Best Russ

From what i remember somebody found 3 copies of the 12" in the states ( i got one of them in a trade). Shaun Gibbons was the first DJ i heard playing it. I'd guess it was around 1986. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a few copies on Speed or Storm already in the UK with Tony Middleton being a well known name on the scene but just never played out. It was at that time i first started to hear latin stuff like David Coleman, Hector Rivera and the Fania releases.

Clarky was the first to play it from memory. He had it late Yate or early Stafford, so that would be early 80's. Got picked up by a fair few other people quickly after that. Ian was also selling them at the same time.