Garethx

Again. Thanks.

Thanks Sebastian.

Has anyone got a soundfile of the alternate press of Love Me by The Impressions which is doing the rounds at the moment? Saw a sales topic on FB which claimed this version is a vocal by Curtis Mayfield. Can anyone who has one confirm? This is the Columbia-Pitman-pressed styrene demo with both sides. It has a different master number to the other presses (CR 1959 A as opposed to CR 1959 A 3A on the ARP-pressed vinyl issue). I already know there are two distinct versions of this. The 45 is a different mix to the album take with the most obvious difference apart from run time being a different swap of vocals at the beginning. What I'm interested in is whether this other version is just a cut down version of that album take or, as claimed, a version with Cutis singing lead as opposed to Leroy Hutson. TIA for any help.

The ME-O 45s were pressed by RCA Hollywood.

Sad news. John Anderson was the record dealer all other record dealers wanted to be when they grew up.

Great stuff. Here's to the next 40.

The gold 'reissues'* of the Four Voices may well be from 1977 but the green labelled copies of both Four Voices titles are late '60s. * This has generally been referred to as a legal reissue and it does seem to use the same Archer plates as the original but as to who put it out and at whose request or prompting I've never seen adequately answered.

The above info about 'first presses' is incorrect. There are regional variations of Unsatisfied from different pressing plants, released at the same time. The yellow, paper labelled copies are from Monarch in California and the blue plastic-labelled copies are from Bestway in New Jersey.

The type has clearly been set using modern publishing software. Catalogue number and matrix number are centred on the right hand side of the label. On the original which would have been set using pre-computer compositing that same alignment is not simply centred. This looks like a carver with homemade labels.

The OOTP boot of this with zero runout info sticks out a mile. The typesetting is very primitive and makes no attempt to look like any legitimate Motown product. Also I don't understand what you mean by second issue. There is no second issue of this 45. There are regional variations pressed at the same time. I suspect that the stamp you see on your 45 is the ARP (American Record Pressing Co. in Owosso, Michigan) logo in an oblique script.

When you say scratched matrix which part do you mean? SK4M-2682 should be stamped. The DM code, AC-II-148301, should be scratched or etched.

Every Motown release from early 1965 onwards was mastered at RCA Chicago. Regardless of where the 45 was pressed there should be an RCA Custom code. Before this date they used both RCA Chicago and Bell Sound in NY for mastering services. Things changed again once the corporation moved to California in mid 1972. Indeed RCA sold those studios to Curtom in 1972. I would have thought the RCA Custom codes would be consistent across all releases of a particular 45, regardless of which factory a 45 was eventually pressed at. I've never had a Dalton Boys but my understanding is that the RCA Custom code is machine stamped by the mastering engineer at RCA while the DM code (Motown's own labyrinthine accreditation system for dividing up monies due showing producer, arranger, recording engineer etc.) is always etched in by the recording session engineer onto the stamped lacquers they received back from RCA. Actual catalogue numbers—V.I.P.-25025 in this case—are never in the deadwax. The 'straight VIP' copies are from ARP, the staggered ones from Southern Plastics in Nashville while the coloured demos are from Monarch in LA. I've just grabbed a random selection of twenty mid 60s Motown 45s from my shelves. Across all labels and all pressing plants there is a Stamped RCA Custom code on at least one side of the 45, with two exceptions. The Marvelettes "As Long As I Know He's Mine" from Southern Plastics has the RCA code scratched in, not stamped on both sides. I have two copies of The Four Tops "It's The Same Old Song", a Monarch styrene pressing and one from RCA Rockaway. The Monarch one is unique among the sample for having no RCA code whatsoever. The RCA Rockaway pressing does have the code however: stamped on the A-side but etched on the b-side. All the other Monarch pressings from the records I pulled out have RCA stamped codes though. Not many Motown 45s were pressed at Bestway. I can think of a couple of Soul label releases like The Hit Pack where Bestway cocked up the label artwork to include 'distributed by Bell' copy in error.

I think the evidence of the voice is there for everyone to hear. I'd listened with hopeful interest to a lot of the Cajun Hart material as I'm not averse to the odd quality pop or MOR record but it has to be said everything else he cut apart from Got To Find A Way is pretty awful. Even "No East Way Down" (one of Goffin and King's best late songs which should in theory be pretty hard to ruin) is terrible. The Brunswick 45 is horrible but is surely by Lee Magid's Randy 'Cajun' Hart. There are telltale phrasing similarities, particularly on the more uptempo side of the Brunswick release. LIke Pete I'd always assumed that this act was a band rather than an individual so it's good to get some more definitive information. On the other side of the coin I'd always thought Marion Sodd was an individual until Bob A correctly informed us it was a nine-piece band.

No doubt in my mind that Randy Hart on Brunswick is the same vocalist as on the Cajun Hart 45s.

This record is completely 100% legit and probably the best copy ever available for sale in the world. The others looked relatively dark because they were comparatively worn and moisture damaged. Also the lighting/exposure/flash will play a part in what colour the label presents in photographs. If the buyer gets what's in that photo it's totally and utterly authentic.

It's only ever been on a blue label. What's your point?

Hope this helps to illustrate how labels were produced on finished records.

The black type is overprinted on existing two-colour Turbo 'blanks'. The position of the black text can of course change relative to the existing label graphics as Sebastian says. Here's an image of some Motown and related blank sheets:

I don't think the type is different on the RS copy.

These early Turbo, Stang, All Platinum 45s were pressed by a company in East Newark called Sun Plastics.

The point of my post above was that Jim Ford's links with soul music were greater than those of Pat and Lolly Vegas. I would suggest that the soul feel of the Danny Monday record came equally through his involvement.

That's Danny Whitten who was in Crazy Horse with Neil Young. Unlikely to be our man I would say.

This topic has long fascinated me. The Redbone connection is often bought up yet hardly anyone ever mentions that the co-writer of both sides of the Danny Monday 45 is the late, great Jim Ford. Ford was Bobby Womack's best collaborator and wrote or co-wrote many great Womack sides: Harry Hippie, Point Of No Return, Where Do We Go From Here, Secrets, American Dream, Tell Me Why, Trying To Get Over You etc. As a singer Ford only released one album during his lifetime. He was apparently a notoriously difficult character who experienced a longtime struggle with substance abuse. For the broadminded soul fan his Harlan County album is essential. A lot of it is Country-based pop with a soulful flavour but Love On My Brain must be one of the greatest Blue Eyed Soul records of its era. I don't think Ford is the true identity of Danny Monday but I wonder if he isn't one of the voices on the Gene & Gary version which appeared as a 6Ts Anniversary single. The information above about Danny Monday and the 2nd Revolution is great. Could anyone follow that up? Is it a comment on a Youtube video? The singing on both sides of the single is scorching white soul and it would be a shame to think that was the only thing Danny Monday recorded.

There's also a lookalike boot of the original design.

Yellow label Big Bird is original. Gold label is a a bootleg.