Uniques - Not Too Long Ago - Us Promo

[Mace 1,135]

Obviously not a big money record, but never had a promo before and can only see one copy on Popsike....is it a lot rarer than the issue and is value any different? Also was there ever a promo boot?

 

 

Thanks

Mace

Edited March 23, 2015 by Mace

[Gene-R 767]

Can't help you regarding how much rarer the promo is Mace (though I'd guess it is), but all I can say is that it was never booted on Paula, as far as I'm aware.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Gene-R

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

I've had a couple of white promos.. still got one.. pretty rare as it was a good seller on issue

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

Probably about £40.. the fact there's a million issues about will keep price down.. had a demo with writing on about 25 yrs ago.. had this one ..minty clean about 10 yrs

[Guest john s]

Had a UK demo for about 35 years, must say I'd never even thought of playing this side out! It's dreadful!

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

Had a UK demo for about 35 years, must say I'd never even thought of playing this side out! It's dreadful!

Amazing... to think of owning records you think are dreadful..you should be tied to a chair and be made to listen to some of my son's unclean death metal for 24 hrs... you might see this record differently

[Pete S 15,567]

Had a UK demo for about 35 years, must say I'd never even thought of playing this side out! It's dreadful!

 

What, Not Too Long Ago?  It's fantastic!  Especially on a UK Pye International demo.

[Guest john s]

Amazing... to think of owning records you think are dreadful..you should be tied to a chair and be made to listen to some of my son's unclean death metal for 24 hrs... you might see this record differently

I bought it for the other side - Fast way of living, great swaggering poppy garage tune.

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

I bought it for the other side - Fast way of living, great swaggering poppy garage tune.

Never played it..will have a listen

[Labeat 750]

Amazing... to think of owning records you think are dreadful..you should be tied to a chair and be made to listen to some of my son's unclean death metal for 24 hrs... you might see this record differently

Ha, my daughter was really into Northern up to being 10 11ish, it then waned

[Labeat 750]

Probably about £40.. the fact there's a million issues about will keep price down.. had a demo with writing on about 25 yrs ago.. had this one ..minty clean about 10 yrs

Was Joe Stampleys first or the Uniques? virtually same, never really understood the thinking/reasons, if either was a total style difference to sell then good, who knows?

[Pete S 15,567]

Was Joe Stampleys first or the Uniques? virtually same, never really understood the thinking/reasons, if either was a total style difference to sell then good, who knows?

 

The first one is The Uniques featuring Joe Stampley on Paula (1965 or 66) then he recut it in around 1970 I think as a solo record.

[Mal C 2,836]

Dave Pinches, is it you that has this on Aussie Festival? somebody on here has it.. actually I know of a few that will also... still doesnt turn up on Aussie release much

 

Mal

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

Was Joe Stampleys first or the Uniques? virtually same, never really understood the thinking/reasons, if either was a total style difference to sell then good, who knows?

The joe stampley version is 1972/73.. it also made the billboard hot 100.. well actually it was the flip of soul song....not a soul record i hasten to add..it made no 37 on the hot 100 and was his biggest sucess...also came out in the uk.. it has more of a pop country feel to it than the 60s issue... even tho that is essentially a country record

Edited March 27, 2015 by dave pinch

[Gene-R 767]

The first one is The Uniques featuring Joe Stampley on Paula (1965 or 66).......

Yep - January 1965 on Paula, and April 1965 on UK Pye.

[Mal C 2,836]

here's the first one right? wonder who the (M.Kilgore) is in the writing credits? any relation to Theola perhaps? Its not a common name is it... Dale Hawkins was a teen rocker and Wildcat tamer!! did the brilliant unissued inst 'The Hawk Walks'.... great track that ...

mal;_)

Edited March 24, 2015 by Mal C

[Mal C 2,836]

Here's some good info on the singer / Group >Here<

 

Like Conway Twitty, he sings country now but there was a time when Joe Stampley rocked with the best of them.  That was when he fronted a band called The Uniques.  The band’s name stemmed from difficulty in efforts by critics to pigeonhole its singing and playing style.  From its bluesy cover of Art Neville’s All These Things, to the upbeat tempo of Not Too Long Ago, The Uniques endeavored to play to whatever intensity appreciative audiences wanted.  

       

Born June 6, 1943, in Springhill, Louisiana, Stampley grew up listening to Hank Williams and before he was ten, he was playing piano.  Following his family’s move to Baytown, Texas, he had an opportunity to sing for Hank Williams on a radio program.  Williams encouraged him and after high school, the family moved back to Springhill.  By now, he had discovered the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.  By age fifteen, he was writing songs and cutting demo records with local deejay Merle Kilgore.  The early efforts by Stampley did nothing, nor did a 1961 session for Chess Records.  “We played colleges and dances all around the ArkLaTex (southwest Arkansas, northwest Louisiana, and east Texas),” Stampley said. 

        

He attended Southern State College in Magnolia, Arkansas.  “I majored in pool,” he said, only half joking.  It was while attending Southern State that he formed The Uniques.  Members included brother Bobby Stampley of Springhill, bass; Ray Mills of nearby Sarepta, lead guitar; Mike Love of Magnolia, Arkansas, drums; Jim Woodfield of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, guitar, and Joe Stampley, keyboard and lead vocalist.      

   

“I kept bugging Stan Lewis to hear me play and he kept telling me he didn’t have the time,” Stampley said.  Still, he credits Lewis for getting his singing career off the ground.  Lewis, owner of Stan’s Record Shop in Shreveport, was previously affiliated with Leonard Chess and Chess Records in Chicago.  He maintained a close relationship with Chess after he moved to Shreveport as the largest single distributor in Louisiana for Chess Records.  Not content to sell others’ records, Lewis launched his own recording labels, Paula, named for his wife, Pauline, and Jewel, intended for black performers, the so-called race records, common for the times.   

      

“Stan finally got tired of listening to me pester him so he told me to go see this guy Dale Hawkins,” Stampley said.  Hawkins had started out selling records for Stan, had recorded Susie Q, and was doing production work for Stan’s Paula record label.  “I went to Dale and he asked me if we had anything we’d written and I said ‘yes.’  He told me to sing him something a cappella and I sang Not too Long Ago for him and he signed us on the spot.    

     

“We recorded Not too Long Ago at the Robin Hood Brian Studio in Tyler, Texas,” he said.  “Dale Hawkins produced the record and Stan released it on Paula No. 219, the very first Paula Record ever released,” Stampley said.  The B-side was Fast Way of Living. Not Too Long Ago reached number 66 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in April 1965 and remained on the charts for six weeks.          

 

Discovered by country songwriter and deejay Merle Kilgore, Stampley and his band were recorded by a former blues record executive Stan Lewis, and produced by rockabilly Dale Hawkins. 

       

The Uniques’ biggest hit was All These Things, a song first done by Art Neville of New Orleans.  “I didn’t even know the words to All These Things when we recorded it and I just winged the second verse,” Stampley said.  “Art Neville’s original version said, When you were ten minutes late/I started to cry.  Instead of that line, I sang When you started to go/I started to cry.  Later, in a live performance, I sang it correctly and the crowd got angry.  

       

“I’m very proud of All These Things,” he said.  “It went to number one on KLIF in Dallas, the biggest rock & roll station in that market.”  Nationally, the numbers were considerably more modest.  It barely cracked the Top 100 at number 97 in July of 1966 and remained on the charts just two weeks.  It did, however, secure them a spot on American Bandstand.  Another of his songs that should have charted with better promotion was How Lucky Can One Man Be. 

        

After reverting to country, Stampley turned out hits like Soul Song, Roll on Big Mama, If You’ve Got Ten Minutes, Do You Ever Fool Around, and Hey Joe, Hey Moe (the latter with Moe Bandy).  In 1976, he had eight singles that charted with Billboard and he received Billboard’s Single Artist of the Year award.  In 1980, he and Moe Bandy received the Country Music Association’s award for Vocal Duo of the Year.     

    

Besides Moe Bandy, others with whom Stampley has performed include Buddy King, The Boogie Kings, and in 1992, he teamed with John Fred and G.G. Shinn to form the Louisiana Boys.            Whether he’s doing country, blues, honky tonk, ballads, or traditional rock & roll, Stampley can infuse life into any crowd by encouraging audience members to sing along with him as they clap and dance in the aisles.  On October 1, 2005, The Uniques reunited for a special show at the Piney Woods Palace in Stampley’s hometown of Springhill.  The occasion was to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the band’s recording session for Not Too Long Ago, still considered a classic of the southern rock sound.

 

And, on their 45th Anniversary reunion in 2010 in Springhill, LA., , Joe Stampley, and The Uniques were inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.

Edited March 24, 2015 by Mal C

[Labeat 750]

The joe stampley version is 1973.. it also made the billboard hot 100.. it has more of a pop country feel to it than the 60s issue... even tho that is essentially a country record

Joe's has a more smoother voice i reckon whereas he's more raw on Uniques lead. Has a Frankie Laine similarity

[Labeat 750]

Joe Stampley and the Uniques... Paula 219

Uniques feat; Joe Stampley... Paula 219.

Quoted in Manships 4th

In Mal's paragraph 6 it says "we" recorded it, so i can't fathom the order really

[Pete S 15,567]

Joe Stampley and the Uniques... Paula 219

Uniques feat; Joe Stampley... Paula 219.

Quoted in Manships 4th

In Mal's paragraph 6 it says "we" recorded it, so i can't fathom the order really

 

Maybe just depends where it was pressed - east coast / west coast variations?

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

Dave Pinches, is it you that has this on Aussie Festival? somebody on here has it.. actually I know of a few that will also... still doesnt turn up on Aussie release much

 

Mal

Not me malcolm.. only had the 2 usa promos on the shelves plus a couple of issues to move on.. never had uk or any exotic labels on this one although they gotta be out there

[Alan Bonthrone1 192]

There,s a S.American picture sleeve as well, it, s either Argentina or Brazil.Not the one pictured obviously.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Alan Bonthrone1

[MikeHinNewJersey 76]

here's the first one right? wonder who the (M.Kilgore) is in the writing credits? any relation to Theola perhaps? Its not a common name is it... Dale Hawkins was a teen rocker and Wildcat tamer!! did the brilliant unissued inst 'The Hawk Walks'.... great track that ...

mal;_)

Not quite a relative of Theola

http://www.discogs.com/artist/628163-Merle-Kilgore

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

aussie copy

 

http://www.45cat.com/record/fk925

[pikeys dog 1,130]

Reissues are styrene, and the labels are red with the girls head on.

 

Reissued in the early 80s at a guess.

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

Joe Stampley and the Uniques... Paula 219

Uniques feat; Joe Stampley... Paula 219.

Quoted in Manships 4th

In Mal's paragraph 6 it says "we" recorded it, so i can't fathom the order really

the 1st issue would be uniques feat joe stampley as per the white promo i guess

[Dave Pinch 1,919]

its actually  a guilty pleasure of mine..one is still listen to a lot even after all these years......not great quality but.....