Daniel Nooger

FWIW - Frankie Crocker used to regularly play Nina's "My baby just cares for me" on his WBLS radio shows back in the mid-70's.

How about some love for the great Billy Stewart? "I Do Love You" album; his "Summertime" album is also great.

Agree with Tobytyke - very good documentary as far as it goes, but really only scratches the surface. Stax never had their business side very together and suffered greatly for it. There was the dreadful Atlantic contract (they were so clueless that even after the breakup, Stax gave Atlantic batches of unreleased Otis sides, which became the posthumous albums Immortal Otis Redding, Love Man , and Tell The Truth). Then there was a story circulating that Isaac Hayes had not actually been signed as an artist when he put out the Hot Buttered Soul album, causing tremendous aggravation when it blew up. And allowing people like the thuggish Johnny Baylor (KoKo label - Luther Ingram) into the company cost them literally millions. Then there was what amounted to the CBS hostile takeover. There should have been something about the sterling Stax reissue program Ace Records did later on loaded with unissued material.

My opinion is that this article, like many of the pieces in Far Out Mag, are so clueless they could well have been put together by AI

There was apparently a rare version of Tyrone's 45 with title mis-spelled

Just ran across this thread. Very interesting to say the least! I was at A/P during this time doing my blues reissues (as recounted in my book Belly of The Beast – Chess Records – The All Platinum Years), and until I saw Steve’s book, I never knew that Mancel Warrick had actually managed to get any Chess gospel material reissued. Knowing the way A/P operated, I would imagine they pressed up a minimal run, maybe a couple of hundred copies of each single, and that they never went any further than sitting under his desk.

Joel, thank you for your very kind comments. F Y I - I read your earlier post about the Motor City Memories LP's. These three LP's were, as noted, blatant bootlegs which were originally released in the early 90's. I wrote about them as part of my Detroit chapter in Blackwell's Guide to Soul Recordings. Early Detroit R&B history in a heavy dose...

I was pleased to note that my Goldmine interview with Devora Brown was quoted five times in Mind Over Matter. As I wrote in the article intro, “stories of sessions being cut in dirt-floored backrooms with sax players stepping over frying burgers to blow their solos into the studio’s one microphone have only added to Fortune Records’ allure.” Although Devora told me that in fact she “very rarely cooked over there”, she did recall often bringing Nolan Strong sandwiches. By most reports the studio floor actually was carpeted, but conditions were undeniably primitive. Funny story here: in the course of our interview I mentioned that I had worked on reissue projects for various labels. Devora told me she had been talking with Ace Records, Charly and Bear Family about a possible licensing deal, and asked if they were reputable. I told her that my opinion was that Ace and Bear Family were quite reputable; but Charly less so. Turned out they didn’t go ahead with any of them. Would have been a fantastic series…I can only imagine the condition their tapes must be in by now. A little tickler for Motown / Temptations fans – in their pre-hit days, the group put out a rush cover version of “Mind Over Matter” under the name “The Pirates” on Gordy’s obscure Mel-O-Dy imprint, when the Diablos’ release was delayed at the pressing plant. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSJRuRbUTus&ab_channel=BobSeger1981

Let me throw in a few favorites: Vibrations - Expressway To Your Heart Big Maybelle - 96 Tears Ann Peebles - Part Time Love Joe Hinton - Funny How Time Slips Away O'Jays - Lipstick Traces couple more- not soul but just great listening: George Benson - White Rabbit Freddie Hubbard - People Make The World Go Round

Those Muddy albums and the Wolf "dogshit" albums did have their fans back in the day. Ronnir Wood recalled in an old Nick Kent NME interview that when the revamped Faces were first getting together, the Wolf album was in heavy rotation, especially for Kenney Jones. Years later they became motherlodes for hip hop producers to stripmine for heavy beat samples. I recall the late Mark *45 King" James ("900 Number") visiting my apartment once, in the early 90's and offering me $100 on the spot for my copy of Electric Mud. Recently, rapper Common re-assembled the EM band to cut a new project. Chuck D is apparently also a fan

John Paul Jones recalled in the book Led Zeppelin The Tight But Loose Files that Muddy Waters' Electric Mud album provided inspiration for Zep's "Black Dog"

Steve, Working on paper edition, which will probably be somewhat expanded content. You probably have a very different view of A/P then mine!

New Book - 'Belly Of The Beast - Chess Records - The All Platinum Years' - Out Now View full article

Full Moon view NYC 7-12-2022

Wilson Pickett w/ Jimi Hendrix 1966

Here's "BALLROOM SOUL"

'Sugar Shack' painting, cover of Marvin Gaye's 'I Want You' sells for $15 million View full article

I have a Four Tops story. Back in the mid-70's when I was in charge of the Chess Records reissue program during their time with All Platinum Records, I ran across a small (7-inch) reel bearing a "United Sound Studios" label (this was the biggest recording studio in Detroit in the 1940's and 50's) with the word "AMES" on it, no other information. Put it up on the deck: there's a basic rhythm section and some Four Freshmen / Hi-Lo's type harmonies on an uptempo swinger ("I Wish You Would".) Something about the way the lead singer pronounced some of his words - the penny dropped - this was a teenage Levi Stubbs fronting the Four Tops in 1955 - before settling on the Four Tops name they were called the "Four Aims". A (presumably) white recording engineer labeling the tape probably thought of the Ames Brothers who were big then. The Tops did get one doo-wop single released on Chess about a year later ("Could It Be You"). "I Wish You Would" finally saw release years later on a Chess Vocal Groups anothology. (Excerpt from my forthcoming book about Chess Records: The A/P Years)

Here are a couple more nice show posters:

Here are a few of cool show posters; enjoy !

This will sound a bit sexist and non-PC, so apologies in advance - Early 1980's, out on a date, the dinner was shit, the movie was shit, the girl was shit too (at one point Bobby Womack's "California Dreamin'" came on the radio, she said, "I don't like this" - for me, that was the end right there); so I'm driving back to Manhattanadio on, catch an ad, Junior Walker is playing some club downtown. If I push it I can catch the last set, so I hit the gas. What a show - "Shotgun", "Road Runner", "Home Cookin'", he rock 'n' rolled without a pause, except for a beautiful "What Does It Take". Second would probably have to be Bobby Blue Bland @ Max's Kansas City 1972; talk about "up close and personal" ! The memory of his version of "If Lovin' You Is Wrong I Don't Want To Be Right" still lingers - I even interviewed him a few days later - recently republished in an expanded version in Record Collector - it's available on my Rocks Back Pages page. Would also have to include Aretha Franklin @ Apollo Theatre, mid 70's. When she sat down at the piano for "Doctor Feelgood" the place just exploded !

Wanda Young Rogers, Marvelettes' lead singer dead at 78 View full article