Hi all,

today i put up for offers on here a Ridley Sharon record.I've bought it few years ago from a Ohio dealer as a test press,and i take for granted it was.

Properly someone ask me if i was sure it was a Sussex test press instead of an Usa press,not an original:sincerely im not sure.Here's the same record but in a different colour https://www.popsike.com/SHARON-RIDLEY-Stay-Awhile-Where-Did-You-Test-Pressing-Northern-Soul-45-HEAR/290903080754.html    My copy is in peacock green/blue.

Someone on here has got  the same record,or knows if Sussex use to do the same test press even for other artist?I don't want to rip off none,so i need to be sure.I try to add a scan as soon as possible

thanks in advance

Tommaso

Edited March 11, 20169 yr by MAG

Think Chris Anderton has a test pressing - seem to remember him mentioning it.  Great track - love the album cover - one sassy lady - but would love the 45.

Adam

I have had a couple of those. I Sold one on here for about £20 or similar. Was led to believe they were presses related to the jamaican scene. Given the fact I have never seen another Sussex test pressing that looks like that, I can only assume that is correct. The background colour was a little deeper, but same red writing. I have the sussex 45, but the sound quality is roughly the same.

Andy

38 minutes ago, still diggin said:

1 hour ago, douglaschip said:

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Thanks Andy for your help.You mean to say they were pressed in a private and not legit way in the Usa,or an attempt made in Jamaica/for the jamaican marketplace?

Yes, that is my opinion. However I would actually like to be proved wrong. As you know there are all sorts of Jamaican presses on a whole heap of different titles, mostly beat ballads and midtempo . First copy came from a Jamaican friend associated with the two step scene, the second a guy in New York who sold a lot of Island soul and re-issues associated with that type of stuff. So you can see were i'm going.

Andy

Wouldn't a proper Sussex test press have the same run out details as the issue? Plus a few more details one the label maybe? Looks like some sort of boots at first glance.

1 hour ago, chalky said:

Wouldn't a proper Sussex test press have the same run out details as the issue? Plus a few more details one the label maybe? Looks like some sort of boots at first glance.

That would be my understanding of a test press too.

 

 

Official A side is Scandal in Bedrock whether that has any bearing on the situation.

1 hour ago, chalky said:

Wouldn't a proper Sussex test press have the same run out details as the issue? Plus a few more details one the label maybe? Looks like some sort of boots at first glance.

Yes, the Sussex copy I have comes with what looks like the Bell sound stamp, all be it rather faint. However if I had a pound for every major label test press that had the same amount of writing ie no logo etc then I could retire. Some companies actually used different or associated labels to do the test press. Absolute can of worms.

Andy

RE: A POSSIBLE JAMAICAN LINK ..............

In Jamaica in the 80's / 90's lots of pressing plant equipment was still around & underused. Plus they had loads of old KreamKracked 45's that they could grind up & put back into the presses. So all the equipment & materials were around.

One Jamaican outfit (back in the 60's) had licensed in all the Scepter / Wand stuff (probably WIRL but I'm guessing here) & pressed up local copies. Anyway, they knew there was a market for old 60's soul 45's & LPs, so they started making 'look alike' copies of many of the things they'd put out in the 60's. I know I came across quite a few different Chuck Jackson Wand things on trips to the Caribbean around the early / mid 90's. These LOOKED just like original LPs but were still mint (OR AS MINT as it is possible for a Jamaican pressed record to ever be). 

I found a copy (yellow) in a collection in Chicago a few years ago. I always assumed it was a test pressing and I have played it out happily for a few years.

Last year I found 2 more copies in Chicago, one green and one yellow. I did ask about them on a FB group, nobody was 100% sure. One guy said he thought they were boots but I cannot understand why anyone would bootleg this midtempo masterpiece in Chicago....it`s hardly a party record! At the end of it all it was just somebody`s "best guess" nobody really knew with any authority what the origins of the record were.

From memory it has sold through ebay at good money before.

Chris

Almost certainly a Jamaican limited run test pressing "Fe de DJ man".

Almost certainly not an authentic early 70s Sussex test pressing.

Sorry.

 

12 hours ago, chris anderton said:

At the end of it all it was just somebody`s "best guess" nobody really knew with any authority what the origins of the record were.

Yes,that's for sure,and the doubt will remain.

Here's a a scan of the record

So is it for sale?

Just checked your sound clip, That's the album version @4.48 the 45 clocks at 3.00 (I've always thought that the single plays a little quicker as well as being shortened) 

So this must have been taken from the album.  

Stay a While With Me was the first release from the album and had a different b side.

On 3/12/2016 at 20:23, sjclement said:

Official A side is Scandal in Bedrock whether that has any bearing on the situation.

Of which there is a legitimate promo with same track (scandal in bedrock) on both sides, why would Sussex then promo the B side seperately ? why would they use the longer Lp version on a 45 ?  and why would they choose to put nothing in the deadwax, or use a Sussex label ? 

 

On 3/17/2016 at 08:26, chris anderton said:

I found a copy (yellow) in a collection in Chicago a few years ago. I always assumed it was a test pressing and I have played it out happily for a few years.

Last year I found 2 more copies in Chicago, one green and one yellow. I did ask about them on a FB group, nobody was 100% sure. One guy said he thought they were boots but I cannot understand why anyone would bootleg this midtempo masterpiece in Chicago....it`s hardly a party record! At the end of it all it was just somebody`s "best guess" nobody really knew with any authority what the origins of the record were.

From memory it has sold through ebay at good money before.

Chris

Like I mentioned in an previous post on this subject, all sorts of beat ballads and mid tempo items have surfaced via Jamaica or pressed in the states for the Jamaican market. Another good example which prompts the question why, is Harold Melvin & the blue notes ' Keep on lovin' you'.  It was pressed as the flip of 'Don't leave me this way' on a look a like PIR ( CBS Jamaica ltd). It never even received a 45 release over in the states, as the flip over there was 'Bad luck'. If you pull the lp out you will realize why I would hold it with the same high esteem as the Ridley 45.That is no party record either.  Even those thick vinyl presses of the Jules Johnson & the Dynamics on polydor that people pass of as originals are of  Jamaican origin . Does anyone have any clear evidence of Jamaican presses of major label product having a genuine licencing deal? or is that something a few back in the day said either to cover their arse or to wriggle out of the fact they were actually boots!. Why was Universal love 'It's you girl' on Jamaican Columbia and not a look alike glades or TK imprint?. Personally I fail to see how we will ever know how many of these titles had a genuine licencing deal. 

Andy