Recently purchased a copy of this record , and have already gathered that there are only about three known copies in the hands of dj's on the mod / Northern scene , so its pretty rare ....

i have done some research on this record , and still have gaps to fill ... because it all seems a bit of a mystery . For a start , the chief discography ends at label number 7040 , and this is label number 7043 ( it also has a different design label to the standard chief labels ....

I actually contacted jean , but even she couldnt understand why this record was pressed on chief , she said she recorded the songs for starville records when she was 11/12 years old , and this was one of the two labels Mel London ( the owner of chief records ) went to after chief went bust in 1964 ...

it leaves me with a few questions , if this is number 7043 , where are 7041 and 7042 and what are they ? And if this was recorded for starville , why was it pressed on chief ?

Jean doest have the answer to these questions , and mel london unfortunately died in 1975 , so i am hoping somebody on here will have the knowledge to piece the story together

Edited June 18, 201311 yr by soulgirl85

Amazing record...big thanks to Michael Robinson for bringing it to my attention on his Jester Wild mix. I managed to pick one up off a very reputable record DJ/Collector shortly after, I can't wait to give it some main room spins and see how it goes down!

I have a chief record that is starville connected (at least the artists were) and has that logo, will dig it out.

here is the record i have. it is really good soul actually, and Tom Lewis owned Starville. Also, Charles Mays was the guitarist for the Desires. This is not as rare as the Jean Shy, which I don't have.

 

also, this is #7044, you can't see it on the a-side because of the broken label

Hi Bob , So this suggests that the chief label was being contunied long after it was closed mid 60s ?

Hi Bob , So this suggests that the chief label was being contunied long after it was closed mid 60s ?

 

it looks like tom lewis maybe picked it up with mel before starting starville

Interesting .. So these are maybe the hardest and rarest ones to pick up then ? all late 60s i presume , just after Mel finished with bright star ? It still leaves the question , as to why jean wasnt aware of it being done on chief , which suggests it didnt get a release straight after it was recorded ......

Interesting .. So these are maybe the hardest and rarest ones to pick up then ? all late 60s i presume , just after Mel finished with bright star ? It still leaves the question , as to why jean wasnt aware of it being done on chief , which suggests it didnt get a release straight after it was recorded ......

 

why do you think late '60s? I think mid '60s. Also, I thought bright star was johnny moore and jack daniels.

I got the info about bright star from here

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_London

 

Its all a bit confusing .. i think it def sounds late 60's , But lillian offitts version of "the man wont work" was released in 1959 ,  according to Jean shy , She actually wrote "that man wont work"    but it was originally titled  "I looked in my pocked book " and was done on starville records ( which was after chief and bright start ) and was released in 1967    https://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/jshy.htm   so the times and release dates dont match up ...  im wondering if " i looked in my pocket book" has im a bad go getter on the b side ??

Edited June 19, 201311 yr by soulgirl85