February 5, 2012

Yellow Label Podcast

Yellow Label Podcast

Yellow Label Podcast

Inspired by a thread on Soul Source, I had a look in a 200 box for records with yellow labels. I came up with over 25!

Its not the first time I’ve heard of this fixation with yellow labels, there seems to be a few people afflicted with it. Why not blue? or red?

Anyway, here it is:

Download: [here]

Track List

  • Sam Fletcher – I’d think It Over – Tollie 9012
  • David Coleman – Drown My Heart – Barry 1013
  • The Invitations – Watch Out Little Girl – MGM 13666 Demo
  • Charles Farren – You’ve Changed My Whole Life Around – Hawk 200
  • Sonny Til – Hey! Little Woman – CP Parker 219 Promo
  • The Steelers – Just Beginning To Love You – Crash 430
  • Pic & Bill – Talk About Love – Charay 99
  • The Soul Blenders – Love Built On A Strong Foundation – Vanessa 103
  • Jay Holman – Love Is A Sweet Thing – Falew! 106
  • Claude “Baby” Huey – Drifting – M.I.O.B. 1283
  • Cody Black – Mr Blue – D-Town 1057

Acapella Lives On!

It seems that a few people in New York have been reviving the 50′s and 60′s tradition of acapella street corner singing.

The group in this video call themselves “Select Blends” and do a fine version of “Mustang Sally”. It would be great to know who the singers are as they don’t look as if they are just starting out!

The big guy in the green shirt also features in an acapella group called Groundstone. Give ‘em both a google and have a listen.

Sonny Daye – Long Long Road To Happiness – Power 008

A piece of Detroit magic that hails from Hollywood, LA. At least that’s my take on Sonny Daye’s beautiful tune “Long Long Road To Happiness” on Power 008.

Sonny Daye - Long Long Road To Happiness - Power 008

Sonny Daye - Long Long Road To Happiness - Power 008

Just listen to that introduction; it sounds just like Mike terry on saxaphone and the whole record has a Detroit “feel” to it.

Click here to listen

The probable reason for this is that Sonny Daye is really none other than Frank Wilson of “Dee-Da-Doo” fame. Frank had teamed up with Sherlie Matthews and they wrote some songs together. This one they released on the Power Records label with Frank also credited as the producer. Presumably he recorded under a pseudoynm so as not to harm his reputation as a writer and producer. Frank went to work at Motown, introducing Sherlie who later moved to Mirwood to write and also perform with her group The Belles.

I heard this on the Goldmine CD On Top Of The World – The Stafford Story (which is quite hard to find now) and it was instantly a must have tune, although it wasn’t easy to get instantly!

Eventually one came along on ebay and I shelled out for it, a lot of moola but much less than the book price of £250. This is one of those records that isn’t mega-rare but is really hard to turn up as people don’t let go of them when they find one. Mine’s safely in my play box!

Little Anthony – Hurts So Bad – DCP 1128

The gorgeous Voice of Little Anthony to gether with the Imperials. This obviously isn’t one of his run-to-the-dancefloor-and-backdrop tunes and it can’t really be called rare as it reached #10 in the charts but it is sooooo good!

I am a sucker for mid-tempo and ballads to be honest and this is one of a host of similar tunes put out by this group in the 60′s, Many of them on the DCP label and in conjunction with Teddy Randazzo (as this one is.

Little Anthony and The Imperials - Hurt So Bad (Picture sleeve)

Little Anthony and The Imperials - Hurt So Bad (Picture sleeve)

The best copy to get is of course the picture sleeve which you can see on the right, for no better reason than picture sleeves are cool!

A bonus on this record is the equally beautiful b-side “Reputation” which is a guilty story told in song. You can hear this [here] from my extremely crackly copy – I must get a new one as they are plentiful and (without picture sleeve) only cost about $5.

Little Anthony on eBay:

Little Anthony & The Imperials Out Of Sight 45 1969

US $4.99
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:00:39 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $4.99
Buy it now | Add to watch list

LITTLE ANTHONY & IMPERIALS: Formula Of Love
US $15.00
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 8:30:08 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $15.00
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LITTLE ANTHONY: The Diary / Two People In The Worl
US $5.00
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 9:35:29 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $5.00
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“Little” Louie & Marc Anthony – Ride On The Rhythm
US $7.51
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 11:07:48 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $7.51
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Changing the look of the blog ….

Just changing the look of the blog a bit (for those who know what I’m on about – I’m changing the WordPress theme) so things will change around a bit this weekend.

It is supposed to be an improvement!

Freda Payne – On Easy Street

Taken from from the excellent “Rob’s Big City Soul” channel on youtube, this is a great song but the key thing is the outstanding video.

All these people that just film a record going round and round need to think again.

Nice one Rob!

Lonely You’ll Be – How Many Versions?

Received a record the other day that I knew the title of but hadn’t seen this version before: Johnnie Mae Matthews – Lonely You’ll Be – Jam 103.
Johnnie Mae Matthews - Lonely You'll Be - Jam 103
Turns out it’s quite a rare one (books at £150) but mine is not exactly mint (the seller described it as a filler copy!) but it only cost me just short of £25 quid (thanks again )

Click here to listen.

Now, Johnnie Mae released this at least 2 more times; first on Art 002 and then on a national release on Atco 6528. The Jam and Art labels are both local Detroit labels so they may well be different versions, if so it begs the question which version got the national release on Atco? (If you know please add a comment below.)

Calvin Williams also released the tune twice. First up on the Northern Del-La Record Co label (501) and then on a national release on Atco 6399. Calvin Williams - Lonely You'll Be - Northern Del-La Record Co 501Calvin Williams - Lonely You'll Be - Atco 6399

I have both these versions (in fact 2 copies of the Del-La version so one is on my sales list) and to my ears they are different versions.

Click here to listen to Calvin on Del-La.

Click here to listen to Calvin on Atco.

This is born out by the credits on the label; the writer is obviously the same (Melvin Davis) but the producer credits are different. The Del-La copy credits it as a “Matthews and Marshall production” but on the Atco label this changes to “Produced by J. Hunter Marshall – Matthews”. I’m assuming J Hunter is an extra person and it looks like Mr Marshall has been demoted.

The Detroit music scene at the time was a pretty incestuous place and this looks like a tune that got bounced around a number of artists. Calvin Williams worked as a writer on some of Johnnie Mae Matthews labels so that’s probably how he got to record this tune after her.

On a lighter note (anorak off), All the versions I know are all excellent and I’m really please to get a copy of the Jam one as they don’t come up very often. If anyone knows of any other versions or can comment on the others by JMM please let me know.

“Lonely You’ll Be” on eBay:

JOHNNIE MAE MATTHEWS northern soul 45 LONELY YOU’LL BE ~JAM VG to VG+

US $45.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 10:28:20 PST
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Jim Dawson-you’ll Never Be Lonely With Me-lp-vg+
US $9.99
End Date: Sunday Feb-12-2012 10:40:05 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $9.99
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CALVIN WILLIAMS lonely you’ll be 7″ WLP 6399 Northern
US $100.00
End Date: Tuesday Feb-21-2012 17:18:01 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $100.00
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