So which one was discovered first and when, and by who? Where was it first played?

So obviously the MGM release was played a lot and seems the more common version - I first heard it in the 80s probably played by Mark Bicknell at keel or somewhere

the MGM version was always about 350 quid and the roulette version was sort of 200 quid even if it was more interesting and underplayed

But as times roll on - Is the Janice version actually much rarer?

I still see Andrea Henry MGM 45 popping up when DJs sell up but I never see the Janice on roulette on lists anymore.

I feel the Janice 45 is lovely with the slightly funkier guitar and the obvious later 60s laid back vibe, and added crossover feel

You never see it on lists anymore do you?

Both great versions of the same tune - just interested in everyone's opinion regarding which one is rarer?

I imagine the Andrea Henry version on MGM gained price and demand as it was popular on the northern soul scene and the Janice version was overlooked but is in fact the much rarer 45

Just a conversation about 2 lovely soulful versions of a really great record.

I still cant separate them.

Interesting comparison and something that must happen quite a lot either over versions or a particular artist’s output.

I only ever had the Janice version myself and probably did see it available less often.

Jeanette by wade flemmons is a common record that is expensive and two of a kind is better rarer and a good bit cheaper.

Still retain a Janice copy,the stats on discogs says 16 Copy's of Andrea Henry Sold

and only 6 Janice, I got one of the six on discogs @$80 a few years ago I like the Janice 45 myself not seen a lot for sale over the years however there is one on Discogs right now..

1 hour ago, Mithras said:

Still retain a Janice copy,the stats on discogs says 16 Copy's of Andrea Henry Sold

and only 6 Janice, I got one of the six on discogs @$80 a few years ago I like the Janice 45 myself not seen a lot for sale over the years however there is one on Discogs right now..

The one one discogs is listed at £200+ ?

Andrea Henry still getting played out now, just a wonderful laid back tune, always gets the dancers up, regardless of it's tempo. Probably the reason why the version by Janice is overlooked?, i don't mean that in a derogatory way...it's certainly rare enough to not be in most collectors boxes, and likely a good many have simply forgotten about it or not even aware of or heard it before....and with avids chasing illusive copies of Andrea Henry, the other version is still bypassed?

Met up with Gigi from the Charmaine’s at her home in the states, she said she sang it first (acetate only) then her husband Herman Lewis got his girlfriend (Andrea) to sing it and released it - Brave man.

Gigi said Andria couldn’t sing, couldn’t string three words together. I’d beg to differ.

Was Andrea Henrys version produced in Detroit ?

Herman Griffin was Detroit based wasn’t he

Have they used the same backing track for the janice 45,simply replacing the organ with a wah wah guitar to give it a more modern/updated feel?

For me the janice version is the runt of the litter,or a poor mans andrea henry.

I like them both , I can’t really separate them , I like the Janice sort of fragile vocal and later 60s feel to production but always loved Andrea Henry since I first heard it

any ideas who Janice is?

Janice flip is rather good too

Yes indeed

I thank you kindly

Great version of the Diane Lewis on Wand hit

Which is also a fab tune imo

2 hours ago, Gaz T said:

Was Andrea Henrys version produced in Detroit ?

Herman Griffin was Detroit based wasn’t he

I asked this at the time and it was yes to both questions.

Little if anything is known about Janice. She's obviously a young lady & as Andrea Henry was Herman Griffin's (aka Herman Lewis) girlfriend in 1968, I'd guess Janice had taken over in that role by 1970.

Reuse of the old backing track on this cut would point to it maybe just being a 'cheaply made throwaway' B side track ("I Thank You Kindly" being the plug side). It must have been licensed in by New York based Roulette, the deal being done with Griffin. Of course Roulette was infamously run (with an iron fist) by Morris Levy -- and was reported to be used as a front for money laundering by the Genovese crime family. The labels main act was pop group Tommy James & the Shondells & Tommy always stated that he was 'forced' to sign with the label. The Janice 45 was released in late June / early July 1970. At that time, the label was doing good business with 3 Degrees tracks that were also outside produced soul tracks (their "Maybe" selling well at the time). For the UK, Roulette teamed up with Major Minor. Not unsurprising, as Major Minor was run by the guys who owned Radio Caroline & Roulette Records sponsored a show on Radio Caroline presented by US DJ Jack Spector (this being taped in New York). Major Minor was releasing lots of US soul stuff in 1970 (Kim Weston, Howard Tate, Johnny Nash, Maxine Brown, Lenny Welch, Cissy Houston) plus stuff on their UK Roulette imprint (Geraldine Hunt), so the Janice 45 just might have been considered for UK release too.

Two US Roulette 45's ( R7076 & R7078) from a similar time to the Janice single (R 7083) were put out in the UK but equally the US hit by the 3 Degrees ("Maybe" - R7079 ) wasn't. The Janise 45 got very little radio airplay in the US though it did do well on Denver based rock stn KTLK.

Later in the 70's, there was a soul group named Janice who made some fine MS tracks but in 1970 they were still down in Nth Carolina and going by the name of the Reggie Sadler Revue back then. They never seemed to have any connections to Griffin / Lewis, though they did relocate in 1971 to cut for De-Lite in New York.

So who Janice actually was I doubt we'll ever now know.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Roburt

Weird moment. Reading this thread and playing the two versions back to back from my CDs, then the very same song, in the same version played on Richard Searling's show on live in the background. Quite spooky.

2 hours ago, Roburt said:

Little if anything is known about Janice. She's obviously a young lady & as Andrea Henry was Herman Griffin's (aka Herman Lewis) girlfriend in 1968, I'd guess Janice had taken over in that role by 1970.

Reuse of the old backing track on this cut would point to it maybe just being a 'cheaply made throwaway' B side track ("I Thank You Kindly" being the plug side). It must have been licensed in by New York based Roulette, the deal being done with Griffin. Of course Roulette was infamously run (with an iron fist) by Morris Levy -- and was reported to be used as a front for money laundering by the Genovese crime family. The labels main act was pop group Tommy James & the Shondells & Tommy always stated that he was 'forced' to sign with the label. The Janice 45 was released in late June / early July 1970. At that time, the label was doing good business with 3 Degrees tracks that were also outside produced soul tracks (their "Maybe" selling well at the time). For the UK, Roulette teamed up with Major Minor. Not unsurprising, as Major Minor was run by the guys who owned Radio Caroline & Roulette Records sponsored a show on Radio Caroline presented by US DJ Jack Spector (this being taped in New York). Major Minor was releasing lots of US soul stuff in 1970 (Kim Weston, Howard Tate, Johnny Nash, Maxine Brown, Lenny Welch, Cissy Houston) plus stuff on their UK Roulette imprint (Geraldine Hunt), so the Janice 45 just might have been considered for UK release too.

Two US Roulette 45's ( R7076 & R7078) from a similar time to the Janice single (R 7083) were put out in the UK but equally the US hit by the 3 Degrees ("Maybe" - R7079 ) wasn't. The Janise 45 got very little radio airplay in the US though it did do well on Denver based rock stn KTLK.

Later in the 70's, there was a soul group named Janice who made some fine MS tracks but in 1970 they were still down in Nth Carolina and going by the name of the Reggie Sadler Revue back then. They never seemed to have any connections to Griffin / Lewis, though they did relocate in 1971 to cut for De-Lite in New York.

So who Janice actually was I doubt we'll ever now know.

Fantastic information, Thanks Roburt

4 hours ago, Roburt said:

Little if anything is known about Janice. She's obviously a young lady & as Andrea Henry was Herman Griffin's (aka Herman Lewis) girlfriend in 1968, I'd guess Janice had taken over in that role by 1970.

Reuse of the old backing track on this cut would point to it maybe just being a 'cheaply made throwaway' B side track ("I Thank You Kindly" being the plug side). It must have been licensed in by New York based Roulette, the deal being done with Griffin. Of course Roulette was infamously run (with an iron fist) by Morris Levy -- and was reported to be used as a front for money laundering by the Genovese crime family. The labels main act was pop group Tommy James & the Shondells & Tommy always stated that he was 'forced' to sign with the label. The Janice 45 was released in late June / early July 1970. At that time, the label was doing good business with 3 Degrees tracks that were also outside produced soul tracks (their "Maybe" selling well at the time). For the UK, Roulette teamed up with Major Minor. Not unsurprising, as Major Minor was run by the guys who owned Radio Caroline & Roulette Records sponsored a show on Radio Caroline presented by US DJ Jack Spector (this being taped in New York). Major Minor was releasing lots of US soul stuff in 1970 (Kim Weston, Howard Tate, Johnny Nash, Maxine Brown, Lenny Welch, Cissy Houston) plus stuff on their UK Roulette imprint (Geraldine Hunt), so the Janice 45 just might have been considered for UK release too.

Two US Roulette 45's ( R7076 & R7078) from a similar time to the Janice single (R 7083) were put out in the UK but equally the US hit by the 3 Degrees ("Maybe" - R7079 ) wasn't. The Janise 45 got very little radio airplay in the US though it did do well on Denver based rock stn KTLK.

Later in the 70's, there was a soul group named Janice who made some fine MS tracks but in 1970 they were still down in Nth Carolina and going by the name of the Reggie Sadler Revue back then. They never seemed to have any connections to Griffin / Lewis, though they did relocate in 1971 to cut for De-Lite in New York.

So who Janice actually was I doubt we'll ever now know.

4 hours ago, Roburt said:

Little if anything is known about Janice. She's obviously a young lady & as Andrea Henry was Herman Griffin's (aka Herman Lewis) girlfriend in 1968, I'd guess Janice had taken over in that role by 1970.

Reuse of the old backing track on this cut would point to it maybe just being a 'cheaply made throwaway' B side track ("I Thank You Kindly" being the plug side). It must have been licensed in by New York based Roulette, the deal being done with Griffin. Of course Roulette was infamously run (with an iron fist) by Morris Levy -- and was reported to be used as a front for money laundering by the Genovese crime family. The labels main act was pop group Tommy James & the Shondells & Tommy always stated that he was 'forced' to sign with the label. The Janice 45 was released in late June / early July 1970. At that time, the label was doing good business with 3 Degrees tracks that were also outside produced soul tracks (their "Maybe" selling well at the time). For the UK, Roulette teamed up with Major Minor. Not unsurprising, as Major Minor was run by the guys who owned Radio Caroline & Roulette Records sponsored a show on Radio Caroline presented by US DJ Jack Spector (this being taped in New York). Major Minor was releasing lots of US soul stuff in 1970 (Kim Weston, Howard Tate, Johnny Nash, Maxine Brown, Lenny Welch, Cissy Houston) plus stuff on their UK Roulette imprint (Geraldine Hunt), so the Janice 45 just might have been considered for UK release too.

Two US Roulette 45's ( R7076 & R7078) from a similar time to the Janice single (R 7083) were put out in the UK but equally the US hit by the 3 Degrees ("Maybe" - R7079 ) wasn't. The Janise 45 got very little radio airplay in the US though it did do well on Denver based rock stn KTLK.

Later in the 70's, there was a soul group named Janice who made some fine MS tracks but in 1970 they were still down in Nth Carolina and going by the name of the Reggie Sadler Revue back then. They never seemed to have any connections to Griffin / Lewis, though they did relocate in 1971 to cut for De-Lite in New York.

So who Janice actually was I doubt we'll ever now know.

I thought for some reason it was Herman Lewis aka Herman Griffin. Thanks for the info.