The Yank

I was very surprised when this song turned up in a U.S. commercial -

If you go by the writer's credits, it looks like they are two different songs-

I would go with the Jerry Jackson version. There's also a remake by Barry Biggs -

It appears that the H818 version runs 2:20 while the H909 runs 2:30 -

Buddah was started as a subsidiary of the Kama Sutra label. I believe they reused the Shiva as a reminder they were owned by Kama Sutra and then later just went with the Buddah image.

I'm very sure this version of "Unchain My Heart" was never released on Crown Records. I think someone made up a CD mockup to throw people off the scent. Crown did release this kind of album in the late 50's but not in the early 60's . I looked through the Crown discography on Discogs and I couldn't find any Crown album with a studio group doing "Unchain My Heart".

I'm not sure if Discogs got the info right on the Masterseal label. As you can see by this article from a Feb., 1957 Billboard- the company was U.S. based. I know the back of the album covers say "Made In Canada". Maybe the records and covers were manufactured in Canada or at some point the company moved to Canada? I've seen 10's of 1000's of Masterseal albums in the U.S. so something is not right with the Discogs info.

The best version for me.

There are at least 30 Cover versions on you tube - from Ray Charles' original Hit version to remakes by the Rivingtons, Nancy Wilson, Trini Lopez, the Undertakers, all the way to Joe Cocker, Paul Mauriat and even Hugh Laurie getting in on the action. I couldn't find the "Sandy Phillips" version though.

There are also 2 Ric Tic 106's- J.J. Barnes Classic "Please Let Me in"/ "I Think I Found A Love" and this Pop/ Country 45-

The reason there are 2 102's is because there were 2 separate runs of Ric Tic- the 1st in 1962, and then when the label was restarted in 1964- Joyce Webb is the "Pick Hit" for the week and is listed between #20 and #21-

According to Bob Pruter's book "Chicago Soul" the Vontastics were Bobby Newsome, Kenneth Gholar, Jose Holmes and Raymond Penn. I hear the similarities in their voices and it's possible one of the group members could have changed their name and became Earl Jackson.

Here's a pic of Art with Little Richard from Cashbox-

Sad to hear this! Lloyd Price and Larry Williams also got their starts on Specialty.

Here's another colorful sleeve from Top Tape Brazil -

"Hey Girl"/ "Need You So Bad"

Martha Reeves - 313 pounds

It looks like e-bay is adding the VAT tax upfront.

There is a near mint stocker for sale on discogs- asking price is 999 pounds.

Discogs has the same exact info and also calls it a 1969 repress. What's strange is the company had been out of business for 2 years by then, and I don't know why they would decide to re-open their business and release the 45 again.

Here's a pic of Mr. Woodson -

Just spotted one of these on e-bay- it looks like some Swan promos were made with double X's-

Vic doing some self promotion in the August 10, 1968 issue of Billboard -

Yes- but, I'm not sure if they used Tito's or Pete's original version