Here's One one of those records that really makes you wonder about and just who were, The MYSTERY ? MEN

Of course we all know this record as the Instrumental to Living color - Thank The Lord For Love (Madhatter) 1971

Cleethorpes And Mecca Classic

The MYSTERY ? MEN Release is 4 Years Later (1975) but was not picked up on as far as i am aware in a big way

Was issued on the 'B' Side of 2nd issue of Thank The Lord For Love (Chicago Sounds) but these were all very Off Centre

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 20214 yr by Rick Scott
text removed

Uummm...

Could swear the city skies disc was in plenty of soul bowl soul packs. Never gave it a second thought at the time, since the vocal was the only side I heard out. 

If its worth anything now, I certainly dropped a bol*k back then.

Ed

3 hours ago, Tomangoes said:

If its worth anything now, I certainly dropped a bol*k back then.

 

Went up to Soul Bowl every couple of weeks or so never offered one to my knowledge, and had lots of Soul Bowl  Soul/Northern soul Packs back then and don't remember getting a copy hence this Thread,  But john sent out loads of those packs as Clear outs as much as anything so maybe someone will shed some light

From discogs. Not sure how accurate their facts are though.

Ed

It may well be that only a few had that instrumental of TTLFL on it? And they are the rare ones?

Just remember the label and title to be honest.

Ed

As to who they were, both records are credited to B. Durham, L. Cox and M. Davis.

Discogs identifies these as:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/102463-Mark-Davis-2

https://www.discogs.com/artist/562378-Billy-Durham

https://www.discogs.com/artist/6864380-Leamon-Cox

So presumably these guys? The other release listed on Penthouse and the other release on Madhatter (which are both quite nice) also have these credits.

I've never heard of the Mystery Men record before this but it sounds like an odd release - like an unfinished outtake or something and very dated for 1975. Could it have been put out for UK NS market? When was Living Color played?

 

I heard living colour around 76, but only the vocal. 

I thought it was pressed up, not a second issued, as a result of its popularity.

As I've said, I've never heard the instrumental played out. 

Ed

It doesn't answer your questions directly, but look in articles on here for...

Northern Soul Connections #18

 

Edited February 23, 20214 yr by Kenb

16 hours ago, Tomangoes said:

From discogs. Not sure how accurate their facts are though.

Ed

I believe (told along time ago) the record was also pressed up incorrectly with the track you are chatting about sometimes appearing but not always. It's pot luck if you get the correct issue,. I have one that doesn't play the version everyone wants. I have never come across the rare one. It was played out by Sam (got his copy off Manship)

William Edward Durham, Mark Kevin Davis & Leamon Tunstle Cox

They Penned "Don't Push My Love Cup" but only Bill was credited ?

Edited February 23, 20214 yr by Blackpoolsoul

What is the correctly pressed up release (ie not the instrumental of Living Color) like?

On 23/02/2021 at 12:11, Joesoap said:

What is the correctly pressed up release (ie not the instrumental of Living Color) like?

Good Question as can't find a sound sample anywhere 🙄 

Seems like this one is comparable to the 'Subway Riders'  "After The Session" When you bought it back in the day, you never knew if you were going to get the Instrumental to 'Moonlight Music In You' Or Not ?

Edited February 24, 20214 yr by Rick Scott
correct spelling/And added info

21 hours ago, Joesoap said:

When was Living Color played?

 

I Have The Pink Label Copy of "Thank The Lord For Love" Which i played at The Cleethorpes Pier All Niters and Cleethorpes Winter Gardens Dayers And All Niters Circa '75 To '78 Onwards, It was Massive at The Blackpool Mecca also as mentioned Earlier and other venues too

Edited February 23, 20214 yr by Rick Scott
wrong Info Corrected

It was a big hit for about 3 months...then as usual was replaced by other new discoveries. It had some serious completion from similar style tunes like love factory, you've been gone too long, and wash and wear love.

How lucky we were...

I think Stanley Woodruff probably had the biggest life span around that time..

Ed

2 hours ago, Joesoap said:

What is the correctly pressed up release (ie not the instrumental of Living Color) like?

Shocking. Awful. I gave mine away

1 hour ago, Rick Scott said:

I Have The Orange Label Copy of "Thank The Lord For Love" Which i played at The Cleethorpes Pier All Niters and Cleethorpes Winter Gardens Dayers And All Niters Circa '75 To '78 Onwards, It was Massive at The Blackpool Mecca also as mentioned Earlier and other venues too

Yellow or pink I thought ? get your scan on here m8

There are old threads about City Skies on here. John Manship used to rate it at £1K and says he accidentally broke a copy of the "right version" and has never seen another...

4 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Yellow or pink I thought ?

Sorry I just dug the box out with it in and yes you are Correct "PINK" is the one i own.

Think my Brain Cells are on the way out😜

😃 Would have been a rare one if it was Orange

 

34 minutes ago, Rick Scott said:

Sorry I just dug the box out with it in and yes you are Correct "PINK" is the one i own.

Think my Brain Cells are on the way out😜

😃 Would have been a rare one if it was Orange

 

Age mate Age

 

25 minutes ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Age mate Age

Yea! Tell me about it 🤣

So the mystery gets worse.

I swear I got a soul pack copy which was 'recycled' once I heard it was awful.

I doubt I tried the b side if it had the same title...

So....on the copies with the instrumental of TTLFL...was it on both sides  or just on one?

Just hoping I did not throw away a grand...:)

I'm sure there was a similar thing like this on Dearborn. Should have been an instrumental to Silky Hargreaves, but it wasn't. 

Maybe some were and some weren't.

Ed

 

57 minutes ago, Tomangoes said:

So the mystery gets worse.

I swear I got a soul pack copy which was 'recycled' once I heard it was awful.

I doubt I tried the b side if it had the same title...

So....on the copies with the instrumental of TTLFL...was it on both sides  or just on one?

Just hoping I did not throw away a grand...:)

I'm sure there was a similar thing like this on Dearborn. Should have been an instrumental to Silky Hargreaves, but it wasn't. 

Maybe some were and some weren't.

Ed

 

Ed, I have a soul pack copy and it has the rubbish B side as "most" do. As mentioned before Manship sold a copy to Sam with the "Thank The Lord" tune (Instrumental) on the B side (pressing error still showing City Skies) and I don't know of any more copies

Edited February 24, 20214 yr by Blackpoolsoul

7 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Ed, I have a soul pack copy and it has the rubbish B side as "most" do. As mentioned before Manship sold a copy to Sam with the "Thank The Lord" tune (Instrumental) on the B side (pressing error still showing City Skies) and I don't know of any more copies

Sure I saw one for sale last summer somewhere with the seller claiming it was the TTLFL instrumental but can't remember who/where. Might have even be ebay. Anyway, I'm sure there's more than one out there 

3 hours ago, Merve said:

Sure I saw one for sale last summer somewhere with the seller claiming it was the TTLFL instrumental but can't remember who/where. Might have even be ebay. Anyway, I'm sure there's more than one out there 

Now Rick has brought this up, anyone who has a copy will be hunting it out and playing the B side. Most like me, will be disappointed, but of course there may be other copies out there and maybe 50 will turn up because of this thread😀

23 hours ago, Joesoap said:

What is the correctly pressed up release (ie not the instrumental of Living Color) like?

This is the one Rick played while I was still at Junior School

16 minutes ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

 but of course there may be other copies out there and maybe 50 will turn up because of this thread😀

There  must be copies of the miss press with the the TTLFL instrumental on even if I'm wrong about seeing one for sale in the summer. Looking at it logically there must have been at least one more than the one JM sold to Sam for them to cut the Chi Sounds boot off of as I doubt they would have had the master tape (?). Also, how would us collectors have known to buy the penthouse issue only to be disappointed in the first place ?...I bought my copy in the record bar at Wigan in the mid 70s only to get home to find I'd bought a crock of s***, so it must be presumed it was common knowledge then that there was an instrumental on Penthouse or I wouldn't have bought it in the first place - Everyone 'in the know' at the time seemed surprised it had the wrong instrumental on when I told them. 

When the 50 turn up pencil me in for one, but I'll insist on playing it first before parting with my hard earned again !😉

22 hours ago, Rick Scott said:

I Have The Pink Label Copy of "Thank The Lord For Love" Which i played at The Cleethorpes Pier All Niters and Cleethorpes Winter Gardens Dayers And All Niters Circa '75 To '78 Onwards, It was Massive at The Blackpool Mecca also as mentioned Earlier and other venues too

Dd you play this as well Rick, those with better eyesight than me may just pick up on the catalogue number and therefore it's connection to Penthouse as well

The mystery (men) deepens and I love it.

Performa Record Group, Inc. Chicago

 

"John Edwards" was the version i used to play but chased the "Satin" One like everyone else at the time only the Voice on the other end of the Phone always Said, Sorry Rick, It's Gone, Hey, So many Great versions of this Song and All Belters,  James Phelps, Magnetics. Probably heard Satin The First time at  The Canal Tavern Thorne....Could have been earlier, It's all a Blur 🙃

3 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Dd you play this as well Rick,

And Yes the Mystery ? Men Plot Thickens And More to it Than meets the Eye, Thanks!

Being in Chicago, I've found/had at least six copies of the Mystery Men 45, only one of which played the Living Color instrumental. The label and deadwax markings (NMP-PH-1002) are identical on each Penthouse pressing, so it's a case of having to play the 45 in order to determine which version you're dealing with. Also interesting to note that the Living Color 45 shows an RCA mastering job in the deadwax, where the Mystery Men does not. I think this is simply a case of a mix-up at the pressing plant, and not any kind of special product aimed for the Northern market.

1 minute ago, Dmc said:

Being in Chicago, I've found/had at least six copies of the Mystery Men 45, only one of which played the Living Color instrumental. The label and deadwax markings (NMP-PH-1002) are identical on each Penthouse pressing, so it's a case of having to play the 45 in order to determine which version you're dealing with. Also interesting to note that the Living Color 45 shows an RCA mastering job in the deadwax, where the Mystery Men does not. I think this is simply a case of a mix-up at the pressing plant, and not any kind of special product aimed for the Northern market.

Spot on and I thought it would be a muck up and would like to know when it was spotted at the plant and who got fired 😀 Wonder if they chucked some in a skip or let them all out ? would seem odd

Here's more info on Performa from the 1971/ 1972 International Music-Record Directory from Billboard- 

 

On 23/02/2021 at 14:33, Merve said:

Shocking. Awful. I gave mine away

I'm pretty sure both of mine came via soul packs, and I hung onto the Mystery ? Men 45 as I was aware there was some interest in it connected with TTLFL.

Unfortunately mine's got the same City Skies instrumental on both sides, I can't see any difference making side two part 2.

The Living Color one does have vocal on side A and inst (titled City Skies) on side B, but of course it's the inst of TTLFL not the one you described as 'shocking'!

 

2 hours ago, Seano said:

I'm pretty sure both of mine came via soul packs, and I hung onto the Mystery ? Men 45 as I was aware there was some interest in it connected with TTLFL.

Unfortunately mine's got the same City Skies instrumental on both sides, I can't see any difference making side two part 2.

The Living Color one does have vocal on side A and inst (titled City Skies) on side B, but of course it's the inst of TTLFL not the one you described as 'shocking'!

 

I wonder who did the Chicago Sounds bootleg (says it is on Discogs) ?

15 hours ago, Seano said:

 

The Living Color one does have vocal on side A and inst (titled City Skies) on side B, but of course it's the inst of TTLFL not the one you described as 'shocking'!

 

Not sure how else I would describe it whilst staying within site rules about bad language 😆

13 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

I wonder who did the Chicago Sounds bootleg (says it is on Discogs) ?

No idea mate, they surfaced in the summer of 77 if I remember right. All the usual suspects active then.

What intrigues me is where the instrumental came from in the first place - It does sound like an unfinished less polished take compared to the backing of the vocal

The fact the instrumental was laid down at all tells us something, it was made maybe to Loan Out to other record Labels to put theire own vocals on which was done quite often in those days as you all know OR, it was done that way when 'Thank The Lord For Love' was conceived to use until they got the vocals laid down how they wanted them.

Other examples of this are,

Frankie And The Classicals - What Shall I Do (CALLA) 1966

Honey Townsend - The World Again (MALA) 1966

Laura Green - Moonlight, music, in you (RCA) 1967

The Subway Riders - After The Session (MOON SHOT) 1969

Then there was another track with Farm yard Animals over the instrumental too but Glad to say i can't remember Who Did that one, Ha Ha

There are Loads of Songs out there that Share The same backing tracks, 

And maybe there are Some out there STILL waiting to be Discovered, now THAT WOULD Be Something!