Roburt

Lorraine, what you were up to in April 66 ..... did you do many promotional shows for "What Can I Do" ??? If so, were any shows done in conjunction with the Marvelettes, Edwin or Dee Edwards ??

Some Italian Rifi label 45's ...........

Is it an instrumental or vocal cut ?? There's an awful C&W / rockabilly early 60's type 45 on Allstar by a guy called Ray Frushay (a vocal track) but don't imagine it's that.

Just reported in US press ........... https://www.commercialappeal.com/entertainment/music/music-titan-chips-moman-is-dead-at-79-35315a2e-5feb-5bbe-e053-0100007f82f0-382850711.html He worked with many soul greats: the Markeys, Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips, Jamo Thomas, Rosey Grier, Bobby Womack, Patti LaBelle & B Bs, Masqueraders, Roy Head, Dynamics, Sam Hutchins, Joe Jeffrey, King Curtis, Roy Hamilton & many many more.

A few of the notable foreign singers who entered the music festival ....... 1964: Peggy March 1965: Dusty Springfield, 1966: Gene Pitney, 1968: Dionne Warwick 1968: Louis Armstrong 1968: Wilson Pickett 1969: Stevie Wonder, 1971: José Feliciano 1990: Ray Charles

I took the wife on a long weekend trip to Milan about 6 years back. There, outside the main railway stn, they held a Sunday morning market. There were at least 2 / 3 record stalls on that market & I picked up quite a few decent 60's / 70's items. I would think that the local collectors & the likes of Nancy Yahiro (when she lived there) would have scooped up most of the best local 60's / 70's dancers a few years back though. Lots of your find seems to be non-Italian made stuff, what's the best of the local records ?? Nice oddities to find are the tracks associated with the big song contest staged in Italy every year, the Sanremo Music Festival. In the 60's, overseas artists would enter every year (Dusty Springfield, Wilson Pickett, etc) & would record a special contest song (in Italian) that would be released on a label set up by the Festival people. I have the Wilson Pickett 45 from the contest here somewhere ...........

John, that GSF LP out of Israel is a real find .... bet you were glad when it arrived. I'd guess that it was more like a 1974/75 release as the 'time lag' between a foreign record company negotiating & signing a deal with the US company, then getting the masters over, arranging the release, etc. always took longer than anyone imagined. From the sound quality of the cuts on the LP, would you say they sourced the tracks from master tapes or actual copies of the US records ??

Info on Don Thomas in this 5 year old NY newspaper article .......... ... https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/sole-surviving-drifter-don-thomas-60s-b-sound-alive-bronx-article-1.991569 Seems he was originally from Richmond, Va and in a group before the Drifters (who he joined after 65) called the Dealers. That Dealers are listed as a Cincinatti group (on Big Bunny) and they also worked with Claude Johnson, who usually worked out of New York. Lonnie Youngblood (also east coast) and Charles 'Don' Thomas were also involved with the group's songs. So I'd guess that the Mystics were actually from Cincinnati and when they split, Don Thomas joined / formed the Dealers till he was recruited by the Drifters.

I couldn't say which is the original of the Jnr Walker posters. The one that appears in the Mojo artwork book is the green one though. Just about all of those City Hall Mojo shows were staged mid-week (though I can't confirm the date of the Jnr Walker gig). Coz of this, the out-of-town niter goers didn't usually attend them or even see the posters which were only hung up around Sheffield itself. I did however attend two reunion shows, one held in Sheffield (ironically @ the Leadmill,originally the Mojo's rival club, the Esquire). This was held sometime in the early to mid 80's & Geno Washington was the live attraction (Richard Searling was asked to DJ but it being midweek couldn't get across after work to do it). I was pictured in the local Sheffield newspaper with Stringers at that event. The 2nd concert was staged in London (@ the Hippodrome / ex- Talk of the Town) in 1985 and starred Edwin Starr, Jimmy James & Vags, Chris Farlowe, etc. I ended up dancing on the stage & singing along with Chris Farlowe that night.

COINCIDENCE .......... Claude Johnson in 62/63 Cincinnati group .... ... Marshall Johnson, writer / producer for Calif group. Obviously Marshall Johnson was at least half of the label ownership .... the MAR in MARquette as he & Gene Page were also heavily involved in the other 45 (Rick Baker) released on Marquette in 68. Pacifica (where the label was based) is on the coast just outside SanFran. So that Mystics is yet another soul outfit using the name.

.......... AMENDED ............ AMENDED ............. One of Lou's UK royalty statements .... unfortunately Passion Music stopped sending out his statements over a year ago, even though sales of his UK releases are still trickling through ...... pity as Lou had earned just about enough to trigger another payment, but nothing has been received from Passion since last year, so it seems his money-stream from the UK has now dried up.

Another 'non-Mojo' Mojo poster ....... again this was a night staged @ Sheffield City Hall as a protest against the City Council trying to have the club closed down. It took place on Thursday 22nd June 67 after Stringers had halted the niters in an attempt to head off the Council. I think him booking a Council owned venue for this 'anti-closure gig', was intentional.

The montage above has entries from record companies in Belgium (& Luxembourg), Australia & Germany that represented GSF. GSF also had 45's out in Canada, UK, France, Italy, Holland, Japan, New Zealand, Sth Africa, Venezuela & Mexico. Did any GSF stuff escape in any other countries (either on the GSF label itself or a local label that represented GSF) ?? The ad above states that GSF was represented in Belgium by EMI but did EMI actually press up & release any GSF stuff locally or were 45's just imported from EMI UK to be sold there ??.

RE: The Anderson Bros GSF 45 escaping outside the US ........... GSF were represented in 73/74 in quite a few countries around the world -- 12 at least. However the only really popular GSF acts (with regard to numbers of releases abroad) were Connie Francis, Lloyd Price & Joe Quarterman. The last GSF 45 to escape outside the US was an Italian single by Joe Quarterman that was released there in 75. The Anderson Bros 45 didn't get an official release anywhere that I know of (apart from the US demo). In the UK GSF was represented by EMI who put out the GSF label releases here (in 72/73). The UK licensing deal obviously lapsed after March 74 when the US label had stopped operating. "I Can See Him.." would have escaped outside the US in early to mid 74 (unless it was picked up much later than it's US release date) ... if DJM had taken on the back catalogue of US GSF after EMI stopped representing the label in the UK ... then the Anderson Bros 45 could have escaped here in 74 or at a later date. In the period from Sept 73 to Sept 74 every UK DJM 45 number is taken (i.e. every number between DJS285 & DJS325). So, unless it was an un-numbered UK DJM acetate or test pressing it didn't make it out on UK DJM. I guess you reasoning for asking is coz the OTHER Anderson Bros (the white guys) had a 45 out on UK DJM in April 78. BUT they were a different group so the question really shouldn't come up. Only one late US 45 release on GSF escaped in the UK and that was Joe Quarterman's "Thanks Dad" (a UK release in late March 74 following US release in Nov 73. Back in the US in mid 73 to early 74 when the label collapsed, even though they had big plans, they were really only targeting the US jukebox market. If a 45 proved popular as a promo 45 on jukeboxes, then it seemed to get a 'shop release'. They were licensing in soul product from the likes of Malaco but not seeming to push any of those 45's. I'd guess that the Anderson Bros GSF 45 was floated on the jukebox market, did nothing & was quickly forgotten about by everyone at GSF and in the US.

As far back as 1958, Sam Unger was Baltimore based & worked for the local One Stop Record Distributor Musical Sales Co. that had strong connections with jukebox makers Seeburg. He must have established strong links with local club / bar owners thru his work in supplying them with jukeboxes & stocking them with records. Guess he got to know most of the local live acts this way & this must have been how he ended up running Enjay Records (though their big 45 release from 72 by Little Hooks & the Kings showed an Hollywood address for the label).

Loads of info on Colette & the bands she was in contained in the 'Baltimore Sounds' book. Seems that she started out fronting Baltimore based the Stepping Stones around 1967. By 1968 she had joined another local band, Status Quo (not the Rossi / Parfitt nutters though this lot seemed to have had a British connection). By spring 1969 she was fronting the Exquisites, who had been big on the local live gigging scene since 67. The band varied in numbers from 9 strong (when they had a brass section) down to just 5 (1970). It was this group that cut the 2 tracks credited to Colette on the Volt 45. She must have cut the songs (which presumably she'd been singing live for a while) almost as soon as she hooked up with the Exquisites. She soon moved on again and by 1971 was a member of the local prog rock group Grok. She quit that group in 1973 and next turned up (1977-ish) singing with Top 40 covers band Phoenix. This outfit played all over the place, touring extensively. By 1980, she seems to have left the performing side of the music biz. She & the groups she was in seemed to have little connection to Mary Mullaney, Joan Hager (mainly a country & folk singer / song writer) & Sam Unger, though obviously Sam Unger (& his Enjay Record label) provided the conduit for the record deal with Stax. No idea which local studio was utilised by Colette & the band to cut the 2 songs but there were a number of basic studios around Baltimore by the end of the 60's.

She's no fan of Ian Levine ............

Bettye LaVette a while ago (@ Cleggy) ......

Here's that poster ...........

I had a Mojo Club poster (for a niter with a live act). Pasted it up on the inside of a built-in wardrobe in our 1st house in Dony (Hexthorpe) back in 69. Of course, we moved & the poster remained stuck on that bedroom wall (doooh) ....

I still think that you're wrong (too early) on the recording dates of these Verve released tracks. The group were still on Musicor until the end of 1966 & so wouldn't have been looking to cut indie tracks for their own label until well into 67 at the earliest. Perhaps the cuts were made in 67 independently and then when Verve showed an interest, they went into the Verve studios (late 67 / Jan to Aprl 68) & added to the original recordings. Some Verve 45 releases do not have cuts that follow a similar numbering system & I think these are the 'bought in' tracks (such as the Bobby Hatfield 45). The ones that have the numbering around #10478? to 10490? would at least have been 'tinkered with' on Verve's time thus them being assigned cut designations that followed their numbering system. Saying that, the Webs 45 (VK10610) cuts were assigned Verve numbers but maybe as they were Bob Bateman / Lou Courtney made tracks they were done direct for Verve. Artists who only had one 45 on Verve would have been assigned a number close to their singles release date (IMO). The likes of Jay Jordan's Verve outing had number 103927/28 and was a March 68 release. To me at least, that would mean that all Porgy's cuts given a Verve number would have come after the Jay Jordan cuts so must come after March 68. Release date of the group's 2nd to last Musicor 45 was the end of May 66 with their last 45 on the label escaping at the very end of that year ....

More info on Porgy ............. his song writing details ........... PORGY WILLIAMS aka NAPOLEON EUGENE WILLIAMS CURRENT BMI AFFILIATION: #: 56632671 Song Title BMI Work # DO THE ANYTHING 310242 ESTABU 382517 GIRL AND THE BOY 470041 LOVE CHAINED 914519 MAGIC MAKER MUSIC MAKER 943053 THAT S MY GIRL 1480666 TIME OUT TO CRY 1517083 He's no longer a member at BMI (he's let his registration lapse) but one of his old publishing companies is still registered .... STAMI MUSIC CO, C/O HERMINE HANLIN, 51 WEST 86TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10024-3613 One of his songs (the co-written effort "Time Out To Cry") is assigned to Motown's Stone Agate Music. It seems that other group members included Richard Parks & his brother John (now passed). Richard was living in the NY area (Bronx?) when last heard from. I'd guess that Sylves Records was Porgy's own label BUT why he would put out 2 x 45's with almost the same release number I don't know ..... Sylves 123 (P&Ms 45) AND Sylves S123 (Porgy Williams -- Lonely Man's Hum") .... obviously #123 was just made up as an easy number to utilise but why use it twice ?

Many US recordings actually escaped on the Trans-World label itself around that time (Ruby Andrews, Sandpebbles, Parliaments) whilst others were issued up there using their US label name ....

I can't say. If the copies initially stayed in the US then I'd say it was to cash in on Luther's US success, but if all the 73 copies were just shipped straight to the UK, then it will have been the 45s UK profile that got it re-issued. I was only into mainstream soul in 72/73 & not following the UK NS scene at all (though I was selling old 45's from my collection to some of the Dony lads & to the likes of Temple back then).

In June 1967, Way Out Records signed a deal with Canadian based Trans-World for that outfit to release their product. The only one of the Cleveland company's 45s to escape in Canada was the Occcasions "Baby Don't Go" (a Big Jim label release in the US). Anyone here know if this 45 escaped in Canada on the actual Trans-World label (if so it would have been around TW1672 or 73) or if like the Bunky releases Trans-World put out, it was issued on the US label imprint ??