Roburt

Chuck was quite photogenic back in the day ... so he got a few ad bookings for products ...

Chuck Corby's various versions of his "Man Loves Two" 45 + an ad for the single's release ... THEN ... a recent pic of Chuck performing ...

Chuck Corby's civic award for lasting 65 years in the music biz (he's still performing today) ...

My article on Chuck Corby runs to 6 pages ... with a little prompting from me (& a deal of research on my part), I believe we've arrived at the definitive account of his long career.

Yes, Chuck is quite open that his Italian heritage helped him get some jobs in Pittsburgh, Atlantic City, Vegas and the like. Anyone that's interested in his story can buy the new edition of SOUL UP NORTH mag ...

Chess did well with their cover version of "Man Loves Two" ... (by Little Milton). So a few years later, they returned the favour & signed Chuck to a deal. He had a 45 out that he hoped would be a breakthrough release for him. Unfortunately, Chess didn't promote it so his creer didn't take off due to this single ...

Just back from Cork (well, in Liverpool after visiting Cork & then Dublin). We were out early in Cork but passed a couple of record shops that looked decent for old 45's, LP's ... but they didn't open till 11am & the wife wouldn't let me hang about till then. A chance missed me thinks (I wasn't after any NS gems, just decent Irish 45 release soul & Motown stuff). BTW, if you have time for non soul / record stuff, the English Market is well worth a visit & has a decent coffee shop too.

Yes, Four + 1 were Pittsburgh based. The '+1' was Chuck Corby. As I told Robb, Chuck panicked when he hadn't heard back from Gene Redd in just over a month. He went to his local record contact, the guy wanted in on a deal & sent him to NY to cut the 2 original tracks they'd laid down @ GW. Thus a 45 featuring "Man Loves Two" was put out on the SOUND label and then picked up for national distribution by Veep (Little Milton also covered Chuck's song for Chess). The 45 on Veep did OK but Little Milton's version (with Chess pushing it) became the bigger hit). Chuck has no idea what became of the GW master tape that contained the group's 4 tracks.

A picture of the group who cut @ GW under Gene Redd ... (we're away on a cruise from today) ... so another update -- telling much of this story as it relates to the group & their lead singer's GW experiences will have to wait till we get back on the 24th.

WITH REGARD TO .... An 'outsider' from another city, with his then group was sent to GW by a guy who knew the team there. They turned up with a couple of songs in their pocket. They 'auditioned' for the guys who happened to be in the GW building on arrival & impressed them enough to be allowed into the studio, They cut their 2 songs + a couple of old standards, with the companies musicians participating plus with vocal help from the Fantastic Four. A New Yorker oversaw the session and was impressed by the results. He took possession of the master tapes & saying he'd get a 45 released, disappeared back off home. The guy who cut them @ GW was Gene Redd (not hard to deduce from later posts) ... this was the group in question, playing a club date (see below) ... they broke up on returning from Detroit as their leader didn't want to wait to see if Gene Redd delivered for them. So they never actually got to enjoy any record releases ... What became of their GW master tape over in NY or DC is anybody's guess now ...

He gave us much Joy (not much Pain) as both the leader of the Butlers & Maze. Saw him when he was leading Maze, never when he fronted the Butlers ...

I have a lot of time for Nick Hornby, he's a great writer on a number of subjects that are close to the hearts of soul collectors ... BUT ... I can't agree with what he writes here (copied from the above post) ... " .. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands of songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery and loss.” I believe that in a time of grief over a relationship failure, listening to songs about broken hearts and rejection and pain and misery actually brings solace to the 'victim'. Many such folk will believe their 'suffering' is unique to them, but being able to listen to (say) "Stay With Me" lets them know that such heartache has been endured by many. While I like dancing to instrumentals & some are so great that you just have to sit back and admire the musical excellence they display, it's the words to many soul songs that have grabbed my attention down the last 60+ years. Whether the theme of a song is heartbreak, joy, concern for the world & one's fellow man, a plea to one's partner, family or friends, a cry for help in an uncaring world, a statement of injustices being experienced ... soul can touch a nerve that most other forms of music can't. Heartbreak has always been high on the list of subjects addressed in soul songs. This is not surprising as the genre developed from earlier blues & gospel roots. Blues being the original 'music of heartbreak'. Gospel also speaks of the trials one endures before the promise of a 'better afterlife'. I know my life would have been the poorer if I hadn't heard the likes of "What's Going On", "The Ghetto", "I'm So Proud", "People Get Ready", "Since I Lost The One I Love", "Can't Satisfy", "You Always Hurt Me", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine, "War", "My Girl", "School Of Life", "What's So Easy for Two Is So Hard for One", "When I'm Gone", "The Tracks of My Tears", "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby", "Never Like This Before", "Sixty Minutes Of Your Love" and more.

Some parts of your question have been answered above, but not all of them. Much of the story is told in my article that appears in the new edition of SOUL UP NORTH mag ... BTW, seems my article on Cody Miller & the different groups he was in, led & sang with has been held over to go in a future edition of the mag.

She was first heard on record in 2011, when she sang backing vocals for UK band New Street Adventure. Nick Corbin, originally from East Sussex founded the original line-up of New Street Adventure as a three-piece in early 2007 while attending University of Birmingham, taking the name from Birmingham's New Street railway station. The band consisted of Corbin on guitar and vocals, with Chris Daykin and Robin Langhorn, who he had met during Fresher's week, on drums and bass respectively. In March that year they recorded the four track E.P "An Excuse to Talk" at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. Over the next year the band recorded more live demos, followed in April 2008 by an EP called Who Beat Up Jimmy Jazz? at Rich Bitch Studios in Selly Oak. In 2008, Ben Sherman began featuring the band on its website and at certain performances and Ros Robertson became the band's drummer. They then recorded and released a second E.P., Modern Sounds in Rhythm and Blues. Around 2010 Corbin moved to London and revamped the band's line-up and sound. After initially struggling to find suitable musicians, in January 2011, Corbin met Ashley Hayden who would go on to become the band's bass player but not before the band recorded the E.P Just the Kind of People with British soul singer/producer Noel McKoy, who helped expand their sound deep into more soul territory. McKoy recruited well-known London musicians Ernie McKone (bass), Carl Hudson (keys), Paul Jordanous (trumpet) and Tom White (trombone) to play on the four tracks. At Corbin's request McKoy phoned two former students, Carmella Davis and Louie-Ann Miller, to sing backing vocals on the record. Carmy Love also assisted on backing vocals.

Published in the new edition of SOUL UP NORTH; out this coming Thursday / Friday ... CODY MILLER; MUSIC MAN: . . . . . . If you went crate digging in rural Louisiana, you could expect (if you were lucky) to find 45's on labels such as Tamm, Jin, La Louisianne, One Way, Master-Trak, Maison De Soul, Bounty, etc. If you unearthed copies of the right singles on these labels, you'd consider yourself to be blessed. However, the guys involved in laying down those tracks (generally) had no idea that the results of their recording studio efforts of 50 years ago have become real collector's items. ETC. ETC. ....

Anyone here have knowledge of Gene Redd returning to Detroit to work in a studio there in the 70's ? Gene was the producer for the female trio (?) Shalong who had 2 x 45's out in 1973/74. Both of their 45's were released on his Red Coach label. Initially, that would seem to point to them being New York recordings as Gene Redd left Detroit (returning to NY) in 1966. He had been associated with Kool & the Gang since the mid 60's and was in control of their recording sessions thru into the 70's. BUT the other names involved with the group's work (song writers, etc) had strong Detroit links and their 45's were played on Detroit area radio stns. Their 1st 45 even gaining a high chart position on WJLB in late September 73. It seems from this that they were a Detroit based outfit. Redd was also working with the NY based Carstairs in 1973 & they included ex-Detroit based Cleveland Horne in their line-up, so he obviously had links back to Detroit. Before he'd worked @ GW, he was responsible for the Tommy & Cleve duet 45 that escaped on Checker (Boo-Ga-Loo Baby -- 1966). He also oversaw the duo's 2nd Checker 45 later that year. Tommy & Cleve were Tommy Bullock (a New Yorker) & Cleveland Horne (Detroit based at the time). The songs they cut had strong Detroit connections. Redd had worked in Motown's NY office till it was closed down by BG in 64. After that, he initially kept working in NY on tracks such as the Delacardos - "Dance little gypsy" (an Impressions sound-alike track). So did Redd return to Detroit to work on the tracks he cut on Shalong ?

I presume everyone having their say on the minutiae of things relating to this thread has watched the Archer Plant video about how they made their records (it's up on youtube -- GO INSIDE ARCHER RECORD PRESSING).

ZOOT MONEY ... RIP ... A mainstay on the early UK R&B scene. I saw him live for the 1st time @ the end of 1966 @ the Boulevard, Tadcaster. He put on a good show as always; including his party piece (stripping down to spotted underwear & jumping on his organ).

The building that housed the recording studio ... until recently it was occupied by the International Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum but that now seems to be defunct too.

Is much known about this Detroit recording studio / record label ? They seemed to start up in the mid 70's but only started their own label in the 80's -- maybe to help drum up business to keep fees from studio hire rolling in. Ronnie McNeir used the studio in the 80's, as did the likes of Living Proof, Mike Jemison, Mini Curry, Darrell Lee, Curtis Gadson & more.

As stated earlier, back when we're talking about (68/69), pressing plant work ramped up well ahead of the pre-Christmas selling surge. Most plants were working to capacity in the mid to late 60's from September through to early December. I have no idea what the % increase was of this 'Xmas surge', maybe others on here do. But, I guess it's safe to say that the initial Eddie Parker press would have been undertaken during this time of the year (Sept/Oct/Nov 68). It's stated quite a few times in mags such as Billboard / Cashbox, etc that many pressing plants were turning away business in September / October / November as they already had more work than they could cope with. Ashford Records were very small fry BUT they were 'local' to Archer. Maybe Archer completed a 'small order' of 45's in the period ahead of Christmas but did the main pressing run after Xmas (say in Feb 69). No doubt, some orders they'd taken that were due for delivery just ahead of Xmas would have been delayed. So some of these wouldn't actually have been pressed up & delivered until January. That would seem a logical explanation to me if all the Eddie Parker 45's were all made by Archer. A 'time delay' could also be a reason for differences in the look of some of these singles. A 45 put out on a small label (like the Precisions "If This Is Love" say) could suddenly become a big hit -- the Precisions 45 being released in Aug 67 with a smallish pressing run (say 1000 copies), making first the local & then the national charts some weeks later (Sept / Oct in this case). Drew Records would have been scrambling about to get the necessary additional copies made asap -- during the time period that was the start of that years Xmas surge in the pressing business. So no doubt, they'd have gone to any pressing plant that could service their order. BUT as we all know, the Ashford 45 wasn't a hit and so that scenario didn't apply in this case.

A video of a Detroit pressing plant ... showing a lacquer in the owner's hand ... see around 1m 20 secs in ...

I BELIEVE what you have are the LACQUERS made as the first step of going from a taped track to a vinyl record. The lacquers are then used to make the stampers (which are a mirror-image of the lacquer and therefore are not playable. The purpose of the lacquer is purely to allow the stamper (which goes in the pressing machine) to be made. They have a very short life if played. In the 'factory' they would most likely be played once to check there were no faults (jumps, clicks, skips) before being used to produce the stamper. Don't shoot me if I'm wrong, but that's my reading on things.

Back to the ... pressed By Southern Plastics or not situation ... it seems that at the time this 45 was made, Southern Plastics was a very busy facility. They had multiple customers, some very big (majors), some small (Ashford). But they were usually being asked to press up around 70,000 x 45s each day on their 27 pressing machines. Their top capacity (if no LP's were being made that day) was 100,000 45's per day. In the months up to each Xmas, they would be up towards their 100,000 / day on most occasions. I would say that the Ashford 45 order was very 'small fry' for the plant. Maybe, if they were really busy, the Ashford 45 order was pressed up on different machines as they became free (after a large number of a particular MAJOR LABEL'S 45 came to the end of it's run). If that's the case, then different lacquers / stampers would have been necessary to make the Ashford 45's on different machines in the plant. So Eddie Parker's 45's could well have been made on different pressing machines BUT all were done @ Southern Plastics. It's all conjecture of course as no doubt everyone actually involved has long since passed. A side question ... were Southern Record Distributors of Nashville and Southern Plastics of Nashville linked companies ??

Well, it wasn't really the end for Sidney, George & Pat ... here the three of them are singing "Can't Shake It Loose". . . . . RIP Pat ...