Robbk

I have THAT slightly slanted rectangle that has crossed lines inside, dividing it into quarters, on Tony Hestor and Mikki Farrow. But, I have a stamped 5 pointed star and a stamped script word I can't read (maybe "Audio Matrix") on Audrey Akins (K-515), and on The Accents' "On The Run" (K-529), it has what looks like a script "RM" stamped into the dead wax. The Splendors (K-520) also had a different stamp (But, I can't find it right now). Karate was distributed nationally in USA and Canada, and must have used several different plants for mastering.

That was way off! I can think of several before her later-mid 1962 entry (Nick & Jaguars, Debbie Dean, Mickey Woods, Valadiers Joel Sebastian, Don McKenzie, Mike Valvano (Mike & Modifiers), Stylers, and, I think Johnny Powers was there before her, as well.

If I remember correctly, the eyes in the Japanese marshall arts man are too faint (virtually missing) on one side of the Mikki Farrow boot.

I'm pretty sure I remember that being booted on Karate. If I remember correctly, it was taken from a scan of The 45, and so, the ink lines were faint in places and inconsistent. I can't understand why the SECOND label would be booted, rather than that of the original release (Giant). I'm pretty sure that the Mikki Farrow on Karate was also booted, and had light lines.

I guess Robert Lee wanted to confuse people. First, he used his own name, which could be easily confused with Chicago producer Bob Lee, and the East Coast producer Robert/Bob Lee, Then, he wrote and sang a song with the same title as a Chicago hit by Henry Ford and The Gifts, "Tears Are Falling", then he wrote and performed a song with the same title as a song by Frank Wilson (Sonny Daye), "Bridge of Love".

The Temptations, having started in early 1961, probably patterned themselves after the "Middle Day" Flamingos (middle End years), with Nate Nelson on lead, rather than The Philips group.

That looks like a legitimate issue to me. Although the engraving scratched in could have been either K- 488 - 1 and K - 488 - 2, OR, K - 488 - A, and K - 488 - B from 2 different pressing periods, despite BOTH runs having K - 488 - 1 and K - 488 - 2 printed on the labels. The A/B designations seem to be the 2nd press run or a first press run in a different plant. But, I really doubt that yours is a boot. If it is, they did a terrific job on reproducing the colour and printing quality (thickness and line consistency).

Major Lance was a fabulous dancer. That's how he got his start. He was a featured teen dancer on Jim Loundsberry's local, Chicago version of American Bandstand. Lance, living in the same (Cabrini-Green) housing project, on Chicago's Near North Side, Major had become a friend of both Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield. Mayfield wrote a couple of songs for Lance, hoping to get him an artist's contract with a major record label, so he could get his songs on the air, and get background singing work for his Impressions. He succeeded in spring 1959, by getting Mercury to sign Lance and release "Phyllis"/"I Got a Girl, and having his Impressions sing backgrounds on both sides, and he, himself getting to assist in running the recording session. Major sang it a couple times on Loundsberry's show, and the record had decent local, Chicagoland sales. Major's dancing has always been a nice bonus in his stage act.

Yes, mine are like that, too. The angle on the stamper was off. They should have caught that and re-set it. I can't recall where Audio Matrix was located, but it was somewhere in The East. So, your copy is DEFINITELY a genuine original pressing. I can't imagine why anyone would have booted that record, as "I Really Love You" was a big, big smash hit, with thousands of copies in circulation. They were always very easy to find.

Yeah man! That's what I'm talkin' about!

Roburt, - in no way did I mean to imply that The Precisions were not top-notch dancers. I only meant that I had never seen them perform either live or on film, and that I hadn't heard anything about their dancing capabilities. On the contrary, even without having read your comment on them, I would have guessed that it's very likely that they were, indeed, excellent dancers, as that was true about MOST male Soul groups during the '60s. That was pretty standard for a performing group. It was the groups that just stood and did hand motions or just sang, that were in the minority. Based on your information, I would guess that The Precisions were probably also up there among the best.

Do you mean that Universal noticed that our first-found version of "Suspicion" was removed from You=Tube, and the newer found version was put on since, and that Universal just hasn't seen that new one yet to remove it? If individuals see that the new version of "Suspicion" has been uploaded, by several people, why do they continue to upload yet another of that version, and no other individuals upload the "original version". Clearly Motown doesn't want ANY version on You-Tube, so I assume any unauthorised upload of either version would be illegal. It's the same with several other songs. For years we had only the later, horrible re-recordings of The Orioles' "Crying In The Chapel", as opposed to the beautiful 1953 vocal harmony group version without the strings and Platters style big orchestra, and weak vocals, without the "Blow Harmony" style. My point is that young novice listeners only get to know old great songs by given artists from the inferior version, and get the wrong idea about the quality of the original performance. In the case of "Suspicion", or "Baby, Hit and Run", all versions are great, and choosing the best is only a matter of taste. But, it is maddening, nevertheless, that one cannot find the best or favourite version on The Internet. Songs that old (50+ years) should be available to the public for free, or if NOT, then they should be given to the still-living songwriters, singers and musicians. The original record company owners and distributors had plenty of time to earn their money.

The Astra label was one label only. It started in Detroit. It was owned and run by Preston Carnes, and had such artists as The Aqua-Nites and Clara Hardy (the latter was played on The Northern scene). I believe that Joe Hunter was his A&R man. All their productions were Car-Hun Productions, and I've seen the name "Hunter" as a writer. I don't think that was Herschel Hunter (of The Martiniques and Moments). In 1966 or 1967, A Pittsburgh Entrepeneur (I believe, at the behest of a local DJ) wanted to start an "oldies label", and wanted to start with buying the rights to Astra's Aqua Nites' release. The going rumour was: that during the negotiations for those songs' rights, they ended up buying the rights to Astra's entire catalogue, as well as the label name. Carnes, apparently needed money, and decided that he was never going to try to revive his label. The Pittsburgh Astra then started up operations in their city, and started buying the rights to release songs from many other different, small, defunct independent labels across USA.

I never saw The Precisions in a show, nor have I heard that they were great dancers. The Mike Hanks act that I know were great dancers were The Peps/Fabulous Peps. They were said to have beaten The Temptations in same show (head-to-head" competitions. I'd be curious to see any clips of The Precisions dancing. Now that I think of it, I can't remember ever even having seen a clip of them.

And it is by far, their best cut ever (IMO). There was a ridiculous amount of super songs out when this was released (including great British Invasion songs, Beach Boys, Four Seasons. Lesley Gore, and a ridiculous amount of Motown super recordings. It just got "lost".

The Vibrations, The Contours and The Peps

So, the Imperial Baby Ray was from Tennessee, and The Cap City Baby Ray was from D.C. So, they WERE 2 different blokes, after all. Hard to believe that neither The Capitol City people, nor the D.C. Baby Ray and his manager, had never heard of the Imperial singer, given that the former was making the Soul charts in late 1966, well before 1970's Cap City release..

I did that with 1964!

ALL the Me-O records I've seen look like L.A. label styles, fonts and plastic. They look just like Jimmy McFarland's RPR font (and all other RPR Records), and there are many other small L.A. labels from 1965-68 using that font. They don't look like ANY Detroit pressings I've ever seen. Romeo Taylor was likely, at least a partner in Me-O Records, as its in-house music publisher was Rocormeo, and Taylor was one of their 2 producers, along with Thurman Hollis. The "meo" portion stands for him. The "Rocor" portion may stand for the label's financier partner. They sound Detroit, Detroiters Herschel Hunter, The Martiniques, Romeo Taylor and a Hollis are involved (Detroiter Sandy Hollis is the only other Hollis known). So, I'm convinced that the productions were done in Detroit. But the pressings look like L.A. to me.

ALL my original 1964-66 American Arts singles, whether black or white, have hand engraved rather than machined stamped matrix numbers, and they ALL have pasted paper rather than moulded labels.

I always thought he was the same guy. He sounded pretty much the same to me. I never heard of 2 Baby Rays. He was pretty well known on The Chittlin' Circuit. It doesn't make any sense that someone else would use the same name. Surely they'd have heard of the famous one and NOT used it for fear of lawsuits. He went to prison late in his career, and did some recording while being incarcerated. He died in 2000, at the young age of 62. He was one of VERY Few "White" artists played on Soul stations. Here's a link to a bio and a photo: https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=105753877

Hi Dave, I've sent a 300dpi scan of Barbara English to your e-mail address, both as a .tif file, and a .jpg file, so you can choose the best quality version. Robb

That's what I assume. Buddy Bailey went solo in the early '60s.

Did Buddy Bailey have a connection to The Carolinas? I thought he was from Washington, D.C.

I wonder if J R Bailey and Jay Jay Bailey are more likely to be the same guy than Buddy Bailey and JJ?