Funky 4 Corners

Does anyone know of source of info on Eddie Parker please? I'm aware of some basic stuff on a website called any answers.com and also a reveiw of his various 45s by Tim Brown in Voices from the Shadows mag. On a mod related site it states that he was interviewed for Manifesto magazine. I've got all issues from 31 onwards with a handfull prior to that and can't locate it. Can anyone help please? I'd like to give this guy the status he deserves in Groovesville USA. Many thanks Keith

Thanks for this mention Steve. I'm going through the Artists index at the moment, checking out info, some of which I built up years ago. One big problem for me however, that I doubt if Robert Pruter or John Broven had to deal with very much in their books about Chicago and New Orleans respectively is that of when is a record, made in Detroit a soul record or not? Overwhelmingly in the other two cities soul sounds were made by artists with an afro-american background - but it in Detroit the whole scene was very cosmopolitan. It's those knockout Solid Hitbound backing tracks that are at the root of it!!! Back then, ANYBODY, so long as they had a few $$ could go along to somewhere like Sound Inc, buy a backing track, hum, whistle, howl..... whatever on top of it and Sound Inc made it into a record for you. They would make up a name for you, the label, the song, press as many as your $$ would bring and even distribute it if you wished. The Fiats are under the stay of execution at the moment. The same problem affects Detroit labels, I'm currently considering axing all of the info on Panik Records for example - is it a soul related label or not? The Deans' `No Not Now` on there is certainly bought by soul fans.

I think that a far worse feeling than dwelling on the price (or physical act) that you've paid for a record, is that endless gnawing feeling when you have missed a record because at the time you thought it cost too much. Or even worse when you see it for sale, hesitate to think about it and when you go back to get it, it's gone!

Thanks for that info Flynny, I already did a two part story on him in Manifesto, it's just these two I'm looking for. rom1, thanks also for your offer, it's just these last remaining two by him I need.

Between '69 and '72 I spend rather too much time in Ralph's, at that time he wasn't in the shop that much and left it to Zan (John Sneddon) and Doreen plus another girl, slightly built with reddish hair. Richard Searling worked in acity centre office and also spent an unhealthy amount of time there too. Although I never witnessed any dinking out of UK record centres (other than Jeff King's Souls Sounds and the other early boots from Selectadisc, (BJD, Greenlight etc.) I can well imagine it went on. Don't forget that the sight of a US import even as late as 1970 was a BIG DEAL, I was so bowled over that I sat at home with one of mummy's knitting needles, heated on the gas stove and burned `cut-out` holes in all of my 45s!

Jerry O - Funky Football / Wang Dang Do - Wand 51058 Tom & Jerrio - Oolya-Choo / Bacardi - ABC 10787

I'm looking for three Action 45s - Rubaiyats - Omar Khayyan - 4516 O V Wright - I Want Everyone To Know - 4527 Brenda & Tabulations - Thats In The Past - 4541 Thanks Keith

Hi Sam I haven't tried Roger with wants for ages, good idea, thanks Keith

Hi Thanks for your reply, being a saddo, I've watched it 5 times now! Cheers Keith

Hi de to Thanks for pointing this out for me, it was a 78rpm with min bid of $150. I've tried getting 78s bak from the US by post before, they're usually broken. Thanks again Keith

Hi I've got three issues of Voices From The Shadows, if you're interested I'll get them out and see what issue # they are.

can anyone help me with these two, very long term wants please? BOBBY BLAND - IOU BLUES / LOVIN' BLUES - DUKE 105 BOBBY BLAND - NO BLOW NO SHOW / ARMY BLUES - DUKE 115 Thanks Keith

When I moved to Kent in the early 70s, lo and behold I ended up about 6 miles from Chris's place, he lived at Minster on the Isle of Sheppey. He'd just started running HBS. We became good friends and subsequently went to a lot of shows and record stores in connection with the mag. On my first visit to his home, he showed me a green London label, single sided demo of Darrell Banks' `Our Love`! When he moved to Newcastle he soon ended HBS and brought out Soul Cargo and then got into record fairs and local radio. Chris was a dedicated enthusiast and the world will be a worse place without him.

By and large, the values in John Manship's UK guide are about right in my opinion but I'd have a minimum price of £20 and an increase of about 10% generally. However, because it is a very collectable label, the price of a 45 can be distorted if it is on auction and is targeted by someone who wants it badly. Apart from the obvious ones, I'd nominate Roy Lee Johnson on red & yellow as being hard.

Hi Jo Thanks for these confirmations. I wonder what happened back in the early 70s then when EMI put out all of that Ric Tic stuff? Do you recall the number of 25 count boxes of Al Kent's `You've Got to Pay the Price`that we had at Bogart's around 1980?? If I remember, we had to struggle to sell them for £1@. Cheers Keith

Just a few random thoughts on this topic - There was a very fuzzy period in the mid 60s to about 1970 when Polydor held the rights to various Wingate related masters e.g. Edwin Starr & J J Barnes from Ric Tic. Holidays from Golden World. Then on their subsidiary, Track - Debonaires from Solid Hit. Al Kent from Ric Tic, Parliaments from Revilot and Precisions from Drew. Several of these also came out as tracks on Polydor compilations such as `Headline News` in '66. Mid way through this period Gordy would have inherited the rights to this lot when he went through his two buy-out deals with Wingate. There was therefore the odd situation of Polydor issuing the same stuff as EMI on Tamla Motown at the same time e.g. Edwin Starr's `Soul Master` LP contained `Agent 00 Soul`, `SOS` and `Headline News` in 1968, the same year as the Fantasic 4 LP on Tamla Motown. The Supremes also sang `I Can't Shake it Loose` on their UK `Love Child` LP in the same year but this might simply be a bought in track, seperate to any buy-outs. I also heard that due to Gordy's lack of interest in the Ric Tic name that Wingate re-registered it in Illinois but I suspect this is gossip as I can't see any significance in which state the company was registereded in. I also understand that following Martin Koppel's mass buying of Ric Tic related material (I'm talking about several thousand here) and the retail success of the Ric Tic Relics LP and various Ric Tic reissued 45s on UK Tamla Motown, Ed Wingate considered re-launching it in the early 70s, even engaging `Sweet` James Epps to record a session. John Lester from London may well know the current status of who owns what as he's done quite a bit of work for Harry Weinger at Universal in NYC. Is the Ric Tic relics LP available on CD? Keith Rylatt

The Third Party - Such A Soul Says Part II - Soul Hawk Tommy Neal - Going To A Happening - Pameline Edwin Starr - Back Street - Ric Tic

I agree with Ian's sentiments - Roger was from a totally different era and culture to teenagers who went to the Wheel in the mid to late 60s. Roger was from an intellectual background in Oxford and reacted in a bohemian way by getting into the 50s Jazz scene and then Blues and then R&B. He rode a motorbike to Manchester and got a job at the Kellogg's factory and rented a bedsit. Manchester had a big student / Beatnik / Trad etc scene that Roger realised was untapped. John Mayall, Cyril Davis, Chris Barber etc were his contemporaries, had Roger been a musician, I'm sure he would have gone in that direction. I met Roger a couple of times and corresponded with him too. Roger's plans for the Wheel was an R&B club, along the lines of those springing up in Ealing, Richmond, Soho etc. Because the R&B stuff he was playing was so unusual and near on impossible to obtain, it was considered to be very cool by the club's clientelle. But things evolved, the Wheel became infamous, it became a cult club in a wild west city. It was regarded a bit like Wigan Casino was in the 70s. As soon as Soul began to be popular and the `in` music at the Wheel and the cool, often Jewish stylists got out fast, due to the influx of the popular mass produced Mods, that is when Roger's reign of power and influence at the club began to wain. Roger's route into Soul music was `educated`, there was a whole swath of similar Soul enthusiasts - arm chair Soul fans not discotheque goers. Pete Wingfield, was a great example - a public school boy that had an obsessive passion for classic 60s Soul - but often preferred the slow flip to the dance tunes. Certainly not Alvin Cash or Jerry O. But these guys were a minority, the majority of Soul fans of the mid 60s were just like me, unwashed, green, raw, simply interested in a good time and Tamla Motown and Ska were all part of the popular Soul mix. I was 15 in '65, a middle of the road, secondary modern chav and certainly didn't want educating by some high brow DJ. I just wanted anybody to keep slapping the dance tunes on when I was out. There was plenty of time for the slow stuff when you were at home! Roger was an decent R&B guy who was swept up and passed over by folk like me. Roger disliked discotheque Soul, discotheque kids, discotheque culture in general. Roger could come across as being quite arrogant but I don't think he was - it was just that the `pure` route wasn't fashionable with the masses and he didn't like what evolution had thrown up.

Hi Andy Thanks for this info, I appreciate that. I got a bit carried away and have added a similar set of Qs for Cecil - I thought my first post had failed! Thanks again Keith

Hi Cecil Can you help me with a couple of questions please? I understand that Profonics & Coconut Groove were both connected to the Davey-Paul label, do you know if this is correct? Can you please tell me which of these Prophonics / Coconut Groove / Davey-Paul / Washington Square acts were Soul, rather than Garage please? 7th Court (Prophonics) Incredible Invaders (Prophonics) James T & the Workers (Prophonics) Dimensions (W Sq) Frats (C G & W Sq) Warlocks (W Sq) Profonix (Davey-Paul) Corrupters (C G) Flint Emeralds (C G) Soul Inc. (C G) Finally, do you know the actual address of the Mt Morris HQ? Also the address' of Davey-Paul and your own Washington Sq. please? Thank you very much Keith

Hi Cecil Can you tell me about a couple of things please? Do you have an exact address for the Prophonics label in Mt Morris? On Coconut Groove, were the Corrupters a Garage band or Soul? Also, on Prophonics, were 7th Court a Soul act? I understand that Coconut Groove was connected to the Davey-Paul label, can you confirm this please? Finally, I don't suppose you came across a 5 piece band from Saginaw called the Brigadiers from around '64, who were signed to Tri City records but never got a release? Thank you Keith

Thanks again if you could use that email address on the other message, that would be good. Cheers Keith

Hi thanks for replying, could you please email me on keithsally50@hotmail.com so we can go from there? Thanks again Keith

Miss Lavell - Everybodys Got Somebody - Vocalion 9236 Jr Parker - Walk The Floor All Over - Vocalion 9275 Little Jr Parker - I'll Forget About You - Vogue 9179 O V Wright - I Want Everyone To Know - Action 4527 Brenda & Tabulations - That's In The Past - Action 4541 Thanks

Can anyone help me with these wants please? Bobby Bland - IOU Blues / Lovin Blues - Duke 105 Bobby Bland - No Blow No Show - Duke 115 Bobby Bland - A Letter From A Trench In Korea - Chess 1489 Bobby Bland - Crying All Night - Modern 848 Robert Bland - Driftin From Town To Town - Modern 868 Harold Burrage - A Long Way Together - M Pac 7204 Harold Burrage - One More Dance - Cobra 5004 Harold Burrage - Please Love Me - Paso 101 Harold Burrage - I Feel Fine - States 144 Harold Burrage - I Need You Baby - Decca 48175 Harold Burrage - I Was Wrong - Foxy 009 Harold Burrage - Sweet Brown Gal - Alladin 3194 Slim Harpo - Wonderin' & Worryin' - Excello 2138 Slim Harpo - Buzz Me Baby - Excello 2171 Little Milton - I'm Tryin - Bobbin 112 Little Milton - Cross My Heart - Bobbin 128 Little Milton - Saving My Love For You - Checker 977 Little Milton She Put A Spell On Me - Checker 1048