Happy once again, I actually won two 45's that I did not have to over bid on Ebay last night...

Zilla Mayes - I still love you/ Tou Sea

Sly Slick & Wicked - Sho Nuff / People

How many of you think eBay has got very tough these days, there are still bargins but the soul Beagles are out in force allot more than they used to be. as for the above both for under $50 a piece, cant be bad!

Anybody know any more tracks by Zilla, surely somebody who can record a 45 as good as this must have recorded more, what other tou sea gems are there out there?

Mal

Not heard of either of these Mal.

Are they similar style to the stuff you put on the Cleethorpes tape for us?

Pretty much I suppose, Zilla is a raw mid tempo sound, really top quality. Sho Nuff has all the gloss of the 7ts, and an unbelievable exchange between sly slick & wicked, used to hate it, made me winse, now I love it...

You would have to hear it, Mike, but Slick comes back to a question from Sly(I think) who exclaims "I'm a man" and somebody says "I know I am"!! you gotta hear it.... brilliant stuff.. This is not a Pete Smith type of record!!! Laughs.

Cd in the post to you sir, just stick your latest and greatest back to me...and prod that brother of your's for me..

Anybody on any more Tou sea Gems?

M

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by Mal.C.

Anybody know any more tracks by Zilla, surely somebody who can record a 45 as good as this must have recorded more, what other tou sea gems are there out there?

I've only ever seen that Tou-Sea 45 by Zilla Mayes and I agree, it's a really good one. There is an early/mid-50s artists called Zilla Mays who issued 45s on Checker, Groove, Brunswick, Mercury and Coral - can it be the same artist? I don't know.

There's some great stuff on Tou-Sea:

Tou-Sea 125 - Shannon Cannon - Right Back / World Apart

Tou-Sea 126 - Ray Alegre - In My Corner / You're Driving Me Crazy

Tou-Sea 127 - Johnny Green - Something You Got / Green Thumb

Tou-Sea 128 - Mill Evans - When I'm Ready / Trying To Find A Home

Tou-Sea 129 - Jay Roy - Blue As A Man Can Be / Working For You

Tou-Sea 130 - Sonny Fisher - Oh Love, This Is Sonny / Oh Love, This Is Sonny

Tou-Sea 131 - Gus "The Groove" Lewis - Let The Groove Move You / Together

Tou-Sea 132 - Zilla Mayes - I Still Love You / All I Want Is You

Tou-Sea 133 - Willie Harper - A Certain Girl / I Don't Need You Anymore

Tou-Sea 134 - Warren Lee - Underdog Backstreet / Just Like A Woman

I've had most of them. Ray Algere is a superb uptempo New Orleans dancer, Johnny Green is a (blue-eyed?) stomper b/w a mod type of instrumental, Gus Lewis and Warren Lee are good funk dancers and the rare Mill Evans "When I'm Ready" 45 is the exact same recording as on the Esquires LP on Bunky.

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by Sebastian

Happy once again, I actually won two 45's that I did not have to over bid on Ebay last night...

Zilla Mayes - I still love you/ Tou Sea

Sly Slick & Wicked - Sho Nuff / People

How many of you think eBay has got very tough these days, there are still bargins but the soul Beagles are out in force allot more than they used to be. as for the above both for under $50 a piece, cant be bad!

Anybody know any more tracks by Zilla, surely somebody who can record a 45 as good as this must have recorded more, what other tou sea gems are there out there?

Mal

These were the last two recordings that Zilla May(e)s made - her career stretches back to the early 1950s. She was part of the Atlanta R & B scene that included Chuck Willis, Billy Wright and the young Little Richard. She was managed by the famous ATL R & B DJ/impressario Zenas Sears and, I think, she als was a DJ herself. All of her Mercury, Groove, Coral and Brunswick sides are good solid R & B numbers - her Tou-Sea 45 was her only 'soul' record per se.

These were the last two recordings that Zilla May(e)s made - her career stretches back to the early 1950s. She was part of the Atlanta R & B scene that included Chuck Willis, Billy Wright and the young Little Richard. She was managed by the famous ATL R & B DJ/impressario Zenas Sears and, I think, she als was a DJ herself. All of her Mercury, Groove, Coral and Brunswick sides are good solid R & B numbers - her Tou-Sea 45 was her only 'soul' record per se.

Well! There you go! It apparently was the same Zilla!

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by Sebastian

Happy once again, I actually won two 45's that I did not have to over bid on Ebay last night...

Zilla Mayes - I still love you/ Tou Sea

Sly Slick & Wicked - Sho Nuff / People

How many of you think eBay has got very tough these days, there are still bargins but the soul Beagles are out in force allot more than they used to be. as for the above both for under $50 a piece, cant be bad!

Anybody know any more tracks by Zilla, surely somebody who can record a 45 as good as this must have recorded more, what other tou sea gems are there out there?

Mal

Damn I missed Zilla, the last one I saw was a VG copy for around £70, which I thought was too much.

Sly, Slick seems to have come up a few times recently and even the issue with "I'm Ready For You" has come down in price.

Here's a good link that I just found that has more ZM info than anyone could possibly hope for:

https://www.learnlink.emory.edu/~libmlm/zillamays.html

...the only thing it doesn't mention is the Tou-Sea single but I have enough of her 50s sides to recognise them as definitely being by the same singer.

I've only ever seen that Tou-Sea 45 by Zilla Mayes and I agree, it's a really good one. There is an early/mid-50s artists called Zilla Mays who issued 45s on Checker, Groove, Brunswick, Mercury and Coral - can it be the same artist? I don't know.

There's some great stuff on Tou-Sea:

Tou-Sea 125 - Shannon Cannon - Right Back / World Apart

Tou-Sea 126 - Ray Alegre - In My Corner / You're Driving Me Crazy

Tou-Sea 127 - Johnny Green - Something You Got / Green Thumb

Tou-Sea 128 - Mill Evans - When I'm Ready / Trying To Find A Home

Tou-Sea 129 - Jay Roy - Blue As A Man Can Be / Working For You

Tou-Sea 130 - Sonny Fisher - Oh Love, This Is Sonny / Oh Love, This Is Sonny

Tou-Sea 131 - Gus "The Groove" Lewis - Let The Groove Move You / Together

Tou-Sea 132 - Zilla Mayes - I Still Love You / All I Want Is You

Tou-Sea 133 - Willie Harper - A Certain Girl / I Don't Need You Anymore

Tou-Sea 134 - Warren Lee - Underdog Backstreet / Just Like A Woman

I've had most of them. Ray Algere is a superb uptempo New Orleans dancer, Johnny Green is a (blue-eyed?) stomper b/w a mod type of instrumental, Gus Lewis and Warren Lee are good funk dancers and the rare Mill Evans "When I'm Ready" 45 is the exact same recording as on the Esquires LP on Bunky.

You would have to say they are the same artist Sebastian, whith a name like "Zilla Maye"? saying that i said the same about Shep on TNT being Shep ffrom Shep and the Limelights, got that wrong!!

on another kind of related note, that Paul Walters / 521 records I bought off you, know whether he recorded any more 45's? again that tracks so good there has to be more.. was trying to pull together a 521 discog, but alas only have 3 discs so far... very obscure label..

M

Sonny Fisher - Oh Love (130) - My pick of the bunch

You would have to say they are the same artist Sebastian, whith a name like "Zilla Maye"? saying that i said the same about Shep on TNT being Shep ffrom Shep and the Limelights, got that wrong!!

on another kind of related note, that Paul Walters / 521 records I bought off you, know whether he recorded any more 45's? again that tracks so good there has to be more.. was trying to pull together a 521 discog, but alas only have 3 discs so far... very obscure label..

M

Here's a list of the 521 Records that I know of:

1001 - Little David: Everyone's laughing In My Face/Love Me

1002 - Little David: It hurts Baby/Moonlight

111 - Paul Walters - which you already have...

1001 - Valentine Adams: I Found A Love Parts 1 & 2 (could be a different 521 records)

1002 - Freddy Tartt: I can't Go On/All About Now (could be a different 521 records)

that Paul Walters / 521 records I bought off you, know whether he recorded any more 45's? again that tracks so good there has to be more.. was trying to pull together a 521 discog, but alas only have 3 discs so far... very obscure label..

Have you found three 45s on that label! Very, very obscure label indeed. I've searched, but have never been able to find any other Paul Walters 45s and the only other person I know who's got a copy of his 521 release (after I sold mine to you), is Matt Weingarden (a.k.a. "Mr. Finewine") in New York.

Do you have any info on the two other 521 label releases?

Do you have any info on the two other 521 label releases?

..we really do need to synchronise our postings a bit better today, Sebastian

1001 - Valentine Adams: I Found A Love Parts 1 & 2 (could be a different 521 records)

You're right about need to synchronise Tony...

It's probably the same label as I just found out that this release is from Brooklyn, NY (as is the Paul Walters).

Is that Valentine Adams any good?

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by Sebastian

... and the rare Mill Evans "When I'm Ready" 45 is the exact same recording as on the Esquires LP on Bunky.

This is one fantastic record...

Will somebody else please play this out so I can dance to it... awesome piece of soul music

Not heard of either of these Mal.

Are they similar style to the stuff you put on the Cleethorpes tape for us?

Mikey, I've got a video clip of SS&W "Sho Nuff" on myspace site:

https://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.myvideos

You're right about need to synchronise Tony...

It's probably the same label as I just found out that this release is from Brooklyn, NY (as is the Paul Walters).

Is that Valentine Adams any good?

I've never heard it, unfortunately - but it has to be the Falcons tune, don't you think?

It was also issued on Cheryl, but possibly not the same Patrick Adams-related Cheryl label that had all those Magnetic Touch records on it during the 70s and early 80s.

I've never heard it, unfortunately - but it has to be the Falcons tune, don't you think?

Yes, probably. But you never know. I read in a description that the Valentine Adams is apparently "DEEP!".

Here's a good link that I just found that has more ZM info than anyone could possibly hope for:

https://www.learnlink.emory.edu/~libmlm/zillamays.html

...the only thing it doesn't mention is the Tou-Sea single but I have enough of her 50s sides to recognise them as definitely being by the same singer.

Zilla reminds me of Cornell Gunters Sister, Reba Gunter. very much a 5ts artist who sang with a big doo wop group on Federal, cant remember the name of the group just now, there must be literally hundreds of female singers with this kind of lineage, Reba made a sort of come back by writing Cornells 7ts effort on Together Records, a brill 7ts track that sold buggar all.

Thanks for the info all, more than enough there as I'm gonna hunt some of this stuff down! anybody got any sound files? we need to hear this Valentine Adams 45 me thinks.

Mal.C.

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by Mal.C.

Zilla reminds me of Cornell Gunters Sister, Reba Gunter. very much a 5ts artist who sang with a big doo wop group on Federal, cant remember the name of the group just now, there must be literally hundreds of female singers with this kind of lineage, Reba made a sort of come back by writing Cornells 7ts effort on Together Records, a brill 7ts track that sold buggar all.

Thanks for the info all, more than enough there as I'm gonna hunt some of this stuff down! anybody got any sound files? we need to hear this Valentine Adams 45 me thinks.

Mal.C.

Reba Gunter was actually Cornell Gunter's mother. You are confusing her with Shirley Gunter, who was his sister.

Shirley and her group the Queens are said to be the first all-female R & B outfit , thus the direct precursor of the 60s ' girl groups' like the Marvelettes and Supremes. She never recorded for Federal, though - almost all of her records were cut for Modern. I compiled them all onto an Ace CD called "Oop Shoop" about 18 months ago.

She also made what is to my mind an excellent 45 for Tangerine in 1964, "Stuck Up" (written by the Pipkin brothers, who also wrote Mary Love's "I'm In Your Hands" and the Wooden Nickels' "Nobody But You", among other goodies). This was her last recording before she retired into domesticity.

She was rediscovered a few years ago and, although she's now totally blind, she can often be found playing the US rock 'n' roll revival shows on the west coast and in las vegas, where she now lives. She even came to the UK two Novembers ago to perform at "Rhythm Riot" - unfortunatley she was not well and did not give a particularly good account of herself on the night....

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by TONY ROUNCE

Reba Gunter was actually Cornell Gunter's mother. You are confusing her with Shirley Gunter, who was his sister.

Shirley and her group the Queens are said to be the first all-female R & B outfit , thus the direct precursor of the 60s ' girl groups' like the Marvelettes and Supremes. She never recorded for Federal, though - almost all of her records were cut for Modern. I compiled them all onto an Ace CD called "Oop Shoop" about 18 months ago.

She also made what is to my mind an excellent 45 for Tangerine in 1964, "Stuck Up" (written by the Pipkin brothers, who also wrote Mary Love's "I'm In Your Hands" and the Wooden Nickels' "Nobody But You", among other goodies). This was her last recording before she retired into domesticity.

She was rediscovered a few years ago and, although she's now totally blind, she can often be found playing the US rock 'n' roll revival shows on the west coast and in las vegas, where she now lives. She even came to the UK two Novembers ago to perform at "Rhythm Riot" - unfortunatley she was not well and did not give a particularly good account of herself on the night....

That told me!! laughs... Reba was deffo in a doo wop group on federal though have an Lp of material with some unissued sides I picked up in sydney, I'll dig it out..

You eat the Lexion of all soul Knowledge Tony? thats some very obscure info to have so quick to mind, for me it all goes in, but some times its comes out wrong if you get my meaning.. all interesting stuff though....especially the 521 discog, what else do you know about the label?

M

That told me!! laughs... Reba was deffo in a doo wop group on federal though have an Lp of material with some unissued sides I picked up in sydney, I'll dig it out..

You eat the Lexion of all soul Knowledge Tony? thats some very obscure info to have so quick to mind, for me it all goes in, but some times its comes out wrong if you get my meaning.. all interesting stuff though....especially the 521 discog, what else do you know about the label?

M

Shirley was quite an easy one for me as I also wrote the notes for the "Oop Shoop" CD and I obviously did quite a bit of research that was still fresh in my mind. I also saw her gig at Rhythm Riot - for my money, the best weekender of any kind - so what I said about that came from first hand experience.

I don't really know any more about 521 other than that it was apparently tied into a 521 club on Brooklyn's Fulton Street, which could lead one to suppose that the records might have been 'vanity 45s' for the artists who were resident there to sell off the bandstand.

Given that he spent his whole life in New York and Brooklyn, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the Little David who recorded for 521 is Little David Baughn, who was a member of both the Drifters and the Checkers and who recorded for Savoy in the early 60s as "Little David And The Harps". He was a wonderful singer with a splendidly ethereal tone, less bombastic than the man who he sounds most like, Clyde McPhatter. Every soul fan should have the pleasure of hearing the Checkers' wonderful King records with him on lead, especially the other-worldly "House With No Windows". (I have to admit to a bit of bias here, as I also did a Checkers CD for Ace about a year ago...)

Edited July 31, 200718 yr by TONY ROUNCE

I've only ever seen that Tou-Sea 45 by Zilla Mayes and I agree, it's a really good one. There is an early/mid-50s artists called Zilla Mays who issued 45s on Checker, Groove, Brunswick, Mercury and Coral - can it be the same artist? I don't know.

There's some great stuff on Tou-Sea:

Tou-Sea 125 - Shannon Cannon - Right Back / World Apart

Tou-Sea 126 - Ray Alegre - In My Corner / You're Driving Me Crazy

Tou-Sea 127 - Johnny Green - Something You Got / Green Thumb

Tou-Sea 128 - Mill Evans - When I'm Ready / Trying To Find A Home

Tou-Sea 129 - Jay Roy - Blue As A Man Can Be / Working For You

Tou-Sea 130 - Sonny Fisher - Oh Love, This Is Sonny / Oh Love, This Is Sonny

Tou-Sea 131 - Gus "The Groove" Lewis - Let The Groove Move You / Together

Tou-Sea 132 - Zilla Mayes - I Still Love You / All I Want Is You

Tou-Sea 133 - Willie Harper - A Certain Girl / I Don't Need You Anymore

Tou-Sea 134 - Warren Lee - Underdog Backstreet / Just Like A Woman

I've had most of them. Ray Algere is a superb uptempo New Orleans dancer, Johnny Green is a (blue-eyed?) stomper b/w a mod type of instrumental, Gus Lewis and Warren Lee are good funk dancers and the rare Mill Evans "When I'm Ready" 45 is the exact same recording as on the Esquires LP on Bunky.

I have tou-sea 134, haven't played it in a while though.

Thanks for the Listing Info.

Ive got the Johnny Green & his green men- I love the b side - My little green thumb Its in my play bos but not sure If I could play it as the production is weird. The music is loud until the vocal comes in then it dies abit and whe the vocal stops it raises up again. Still love it though!

These were the last two recordings that Zilla May(e)s made - her career stretches back to the early 1950s. She was part of the Atlanta R & B scene that included Chuck Willis, Billy Wright and the young Little Richard. She was managed by the famous ATL R & B DJ/impressario Zenas Sears and, I think, she als was a DJ herself. All of her Mercury, Groove, Coral and Brunswick sides are good solid R & B numbers - her Tou-Sea 45 was her only 'soul' record per se.

It sounds like it's Zilla Mayes as well on the "Zilla & Jay" 45 "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall" / "Old Buttermilk Sky" On Abc-Paramount. Anyone knows for sure?

Yes, probably. But you never know. I read in a description that the Valentine Adams is apparently "DEEP!".

I have the valentine adams record, it's a new york label I think. It's more doowop even than "deep". I will check if it's the falcons record when I get home (I don't think it was).

Edited August 1, 200718 yr by boba

Sly, Slick seems to have come up a few times recently and even the issue with "I'm Ready For You" has come down in price.

Well, Sly, Slick and the Wicked is a strong candidate in my playlsts since about a year now and its a great 45 to be played at Modern and / or Funk nights. Always have one person asking me what the heck this brilliant records is... ...Had some multiple copies of these and at first had no bidders an my issue...which is harder than the demo of course.

If you imagine Vibrations "Shake It Up" you are very close to the sound of this precious 45.

Marc

Well, Sly, Slick and the Wicked is a strong candidate in my playlsts since about a year now and its a great 45 to be played at Modern and / or Funk nights. Always have one person asking me what the heck this brilliant records is... ...Had some multiple copies of these and at first had no bidders an my issue...which is harder than the demo of course.

If you imagine Vibrations "Shake It Up" you are very close to the sound of this precious 45.

Marc

Marc,

It was me who got the issue from you on ebay, last month or so. About £25, a bargain IMO.

John

Marc,

It was me who got the issue from you on ebay, last month or so. About £25, a bargain IMO.

John

Hi there John, the world is a small place indeed...great...yes, a bargain...if not already a steal

Marc