Roburt

A few more related bits. Dave Godin had been involved with promoting Motown product ahead of 1965. He'd been instrumental in starting the UK based Tamla-Motown Appreciation Society which was going strong in 1964 ...

I don't know the definitive answer but I guess it was someone in EMI's art department who designed all the TAMLA MOTOWN related logo's / colour schemes in early 1965. With Berry Gordy's blessing the 'new' Tamla Motown label was created in early 65 and rolled out in the UK in March 65. A number of US hit 45's were held back from release to get a big British launch for the 'new label' here on 19th March 65 (this being just ahead of the Motown Revue UK tour which kicked off on 20th March). The launch here was a big deal for EMI, had been planned for months & with Motown being the 'in' sound at the time, everyone could see it would be an important label for EMI. At the time, the Beatles were still the top selling act in the world, they were an EMI act and the group member's all loved Motown records & acts. I'd say that's why they got their art dept. to go full on with the branding of the label. After it's UK launch, the Tamla Motown name was adopted for BG's releases right around the world (but then EMI had worldwide reach back then). Some earlier foreign releases ended up carrying the 'new' Tamla Motown' logo (for instance Jnr Walker's "Shotgun" 45 which escaped in Feb 65 but the early versions of this 45 were still on the Tamla label). Hopefully, someone with insider knowledge of EMI's workings in the mid 60's will contribute to this thread in time, but as I never managed to get into EMI House in Manchester Square till the 80's, I'm not that person.

BBC4 are repeating this show on Monday afternoon (4pm). WAY BACK IN AUGUST 61 .... Jackie Wilson was playing Carr's Beach, Annapolis backed up by Joe Hunter's Band. Joe Hunter's Band comprised Joe Hunter, Hank Cosby, Mike Terry, Larry Veeder, Benny Benjamin and James Jamerson. Not a bad line-up.

This show should be good ...

Not many of us had cars in the mid 60's (but lots -- myself included -- had scooters). Would head off to Cleggy, Brid & Scarboro for the weekend; meeting up with the Hull crowd, Scunny crowd, Lincoln crowd & Grimsby crowd. But the trains then were much better. Newspaper trains ran in the early hours to supplement late night workings. Lived in Donny back then; lots of trains (all hours) to London, Sheffield (Mojo niters), Leicester (via Sheffield -- Nite Owl niters), Manchester (via Sheffield -- Wheel niters) ... so getting to soul do's was easy. Took trips down to London (train) in 67/ 68 / 69 / 70 .. east end Petticoat Lane market for clothes & records, Soul City shop, clubs, Saville Theatre, Kings Rd (clothes & records), Soho (clubs & record shops). Train trips to Leighton Buzzard to get cheap import soul 45's from F L Moores ... we did get about back then but then we were teenagers & had just got our first fulltime jobs.

I've got that 2012 EP here somewhere. What's the history of the track (cut when / where) ?

Rock City was a great soul venue in the 80's; for both live acts & modern soul nights. Also used to go to a pub / hotel ? soul night in the centre of Mansfield in the early 80's. Can't remember the name of it but they had Searling on as a guest DJ (Friday nites ?) right after he'd started DJing on Radio Hallam. Does Warsop fall under this remit; if so, the TUDOR BARN hosted some brilliant soul nights in the 80's ...

My original posts were made 6 years ago ... Discogs has caught up over that time & have now provided the answer to my question (with a little help from our kid -- CHEERS).

This looks like an essential buy ... https://ffm.to/theskippywhitestory

Haven't read all the posts on this thread but just in case it hasn't been mentioned ... I brought Lou Ragland over to the UK in 1990 for around a dozen gigs. I was living in Northampton at the time & hanging around with Cliff Steeles crowd ... ANYWAY ... one of the gigs we had Lou R do was at the club in SOULDROP (Castaways ?). Like all the other venues on that tour, I have loads of pics of that night somewhere here. I even designed & made the tickets for the event in Souldrop ... to ensure fake tickets weren't made, I used a rubber ink stamp of a 'North Point' (Civil Engs tool for plans / maps made back then) using different coloured ink to the rest of the ticket. Didn't think to keep back a 'spare' as a momento though.

As he's mentioned, thought I'd post this up ...

Good tale about the night the police raided the Cleggy Weekender in the early hours and how Bub then 'upset' them.

A feature in yesterday's Miami Herald newspaper about the Overtown district of Miami (where all the top black clubs / venues were located back in the day) ........ https://eedition.miamiherald.com/ccidist-replica-reader/?epub=https%3A%2F%2Feedition.miamiherald.com%2Fccidist-ws%2Fmcclatchy%2Fmcclatchy_mia_newsbroad%2Fissues%2F59950%2F&fbclid=IwAR1zF743ZxY8da2ljIU2mbb37_X-a1e0ZtrgdeGZrXMXmPRY2_LYKRKnjSA#/pages/1

Many 60's soul venues had live acts on a lot of the time. Whether those acts were visiting Americans or UK based outfits, they had to work 6 / 7 nights a week to make a living. So the Friday / Saturday / Sunday night gigs brought in the most money but to make touring pay, they had to work the mid week nights too.

Back to the glorious 60's & a few shows staged in the Stoke area ...

The early days of the London R&B scene ... 63 / 64 ... many clubs hosting R&B nights were mainly jazz venues the majority of the time ...

What you needed with you if you went to the Flamingo niters back in 63 / 64 ...

His grading system sucked; many of his G+ 45's were well knackered. I did get loads of gospel 45's off him cheap when he was selling up though; many of them were well under priced as he didn't really think much of that genre.

Rudy's new release ...

Rudy's documentary is streaming online this weekend; ignore the guy who pops up 1m23secs into the trailer.

A few related music biz ads ...

There are quite a good number of great tracks that were made available by numerous labels on those 'LITTLE LP's' back in the 60's and early 70's ...

If Diana hadn't had such an influence on Berry G, who knows what great leads Mary & Florence could have delivered for the group ... certainly we would have gotten a few more meaty outings from them .. R.I.P. Mary ...

My son worked in New York & lived in Hoboken (across the river) for a few years either side of 2000 .... When visiting him, I'd always wonder into the Brill Building & 1650 Broadway but the door keepers were always quick to let you know you weren't welcome. Also used to drop in @ Colony Music Centre too, managed to pick up some decent (old) sheet music bits there.

That's my head bobbing about right in front of Bettye on the video above (Eddie Hubbard is behind me).