(1) Wow, that's quite some list of varied interests that you have there.
(2) Soul Music, that's one of my other interests too, more specifically Motown and 'Northern Soul' an offshoot of the UK Mod movement that eventually branched out and became a rare soul scene and is still going strong today.
Some of my favourites are Major Lance, The Artistics and Vibrations during their period with Okeh records during the mid to late sixties, then of course artists like J.J. Barnes, Edwin Starr, Al Kent, all from Ric-Tic and in the case of J.J. and Edwin, later at Motown.
(3)The sixties sound of Motown was of course the basis or part of what Northern Soul started from, then eventually branching out in different sub themes, like modern, big city beat, even some early sixties when the search for 100 mile an hour dancers slowed and more mid tempo items were accepted.
If you haven't already found them, you could do worse than to look out for some of the (4)smaller Detroit labels that were around in the sixties, such as Groovesville, D-Town, Revilot, Solid Hit, and the sister label to Ric-Tic, Golden World. All have some hidden gems on them, Revilot and Golden World even feature early efforts of George Clinton and the Parliaments, later to become Parliament and Funkadelic during the 70's.
Worth looking out for (in my opinion) are most things that credit (5) Richard 'Popcorn' Wylie and Tony Hester as composers, they even got involved with the Platters at Musicor a N.Y. based during the latter part of the 60's, when trying to revive the Platters career. One my favourite records is the Platters - Washed Ashore by Wylie and Hester on the Musicor label. Marie Knight, known primarily as a Gospel singer even turned to Soul and has a couple of nice records on this label too.
Sorry to go on so, but I hope that you (6) if you haven't already looked , search out some of the lesser known labels and artists that have been overlooked in the sheer number of releases that there were at the time, you might find something you like.
Thanks Dave,
I know of you from CB+ which I've been visiting since 2017, and been active in its forum since 2019 and contributing some scanned books. When I first saw your name there, I felt that I had seen your name many times before, related to Northern Soul Music. Are you a member of Soul-Source Forum? I've been a very active member there since 2007, and was with another NS forum previous to that. I've been a member of Soulful Detroit Forum since its start in 2001. Were you a member of Soulful Detroit?
Actually R&B and Soul music has probably been a more important part of my life than comic books, although I've worked professionally in both industries (and longer in comic books). I already have ALL the records on the labels you mentioned in complete label runs other than a handful that were never released commercially. I spent my late teens and early 20s scarfing up thousands of cut-out, non-charted records in thrift and junk stores, record shop bargain bins, swap meets, yard sales, flea markets, Woolworth's and other discount stores' mass record stock sales and sifting through record distributors' stock, between 1962 and 1972 mainly in Chicago and Detroit, but also in cross continental trips across USA and Canada. I used to import Northern Soul records from USA and Canada into The UK. I sent many 1sts of very rare records to The NS scene. Even the first Frank Wilson 'Do I Love You" that Simon Soussan brought to England was my personal record, "Naughty Boy" by Jackie Day was my find, all the first unreleased Motown recordings were obtained by Rod Shard from me, and brought to The UK by him. I have about 43,000 45s in my collection (probably as many as 10,000 would be considered Soul. I also have about 4,000 LPs (33RPM), more than half being Soul. I still have about 50 78 RPM records, mostly R&B and a few Jazz. I traded off most of my 78s for 45s. I started buying R&B, and Blues records in 1953, and was still buying when the music transitioned into Soul.
(1) I wouldn't say that I have more time-consuming or collector's interests than many of the responders to this question. From this thread and CB+s analogous threads, I've learned that several others are interested in music and collected vinyl records and/or digital, and many of the others collected sports cards as a child and pre-teen, and most of those same posters mentioned that they love old films and watch them now. Most of them even buy DVDs of them (whereas I don't go that far). It seems that many collectors I know collect more than one type of entertainment provision memento (mostly for nostalgic purposes).
(2) Our Favourite types of Soul music seem to match pretty closely. My favourite music of all I've ever heard is 1962-1966 Motown, after that it is 1962-65 non-Motown Detroit Soul labels (95% of which was made using ex-Motown or moonlighting Motown musicians, and written and arranged by ex-Motowners or moonlighters, as well as 1962-65 Chicago Sound artists from the Curtis Mayfield and Carl Davis production crews. I lived in Chicago during the early and mid '60s, and combed its low-cost and used record sources several days per week in my off hours, plus I drove to Detroit every other Saturday, to scrounge for rare Detroit records all day.
(3) Not only did I scrounge the 2nd-hand shops and record shops for records in Detroit, but I also used to visit Motown at 2648 Grand. I asked the receptionists for DJ 45s. I ended up working for Motown after they moved to L.A., as I had moved there to attend university. I was hired as a consultant to work on releasing previous unreleased 1960s Classical period cuts for an LP series titled "From The Vaults". So, for several years we went through The Motown Vaults listening to master tapes, vinyl and acetate demos and Jobete Music proof of song publishing ownership acetates to choose which cuts to fill the LPs. Unfortunately, they only ended up finally releasing the first LP in 1979, because they stuck it on their "throwaway bargain label ("Natural Resources"), and gave it no marketing push. They released two more LPs in 1981 and 1982, but not in our intended series. They also flopped from no push. By that time The NS Soulies knew many of those cuts, as a British NS DJ friend of mine had brought tapes of my favourite unreleased Motown to England. So, you need not worry about whether there are unreleased 1960s Motown cuts for me to hear. A few new discoveries pop up from time-to-time. I get to hear them because I'm in touch with Keith Hughes and others who currently work on unreleased Motown issues and Ace/Kent Records always consult me, especially when they plan to issue new Motown unreleased or rare Motown CDs,and also when they issue rare Detroit non-Motown Soul, and rare Chicago small-label Soul CDs. I usually help with editing the information articles in the CD pamphlets for them, as well as providing loan of rare records they can't find for re-mastering, and provide label scans of the original labels when they don't have them, or mine are in better condition. I knew about Northern Soul in the 1970s from having frequented Martin Koppel's store in Toronto. When the NS DJs found out I had one of the very best Motown/Detroit, and Chicago Soul collections, they bombarded me with visits, wanting to tape them, buy my records and such, and get my help with label discographies and credits information. I've been contributing those services now and again, up till today.
(4) I bought almost every Golden World/Ric-Tic, Wingate record from my pal, Ron Murphy when he got their existing back stock after Motown bought them out in 1966. The couple I'm missing were never issued commercially, and I have them on digital, but don't like them. I have all the Groovesville, Groove City, Revilot, Solid Hit, and related issues. There are no rare '60s Detroit or Chicago Soul releases that I know exist that I don't have on vinyl or digital (only a few I don't have on vinyl, and I always get digital files of them from friends).
(5) I absolutely love Popcorn Wiley's productions and Wiley-Hester songs. I do "prefer "With This Ring" and "Sweet sweet Lovin' " to "Washed Ashore", but I like the latter, too. I really like Wylie's 1962-64 Correc-Tone productions. Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Records, and Robert and Hazel Coleman's and Don Davis' Thelma Records as the best "Motown-Like Sound", along with Ed Wingate's labels and Davis' and LeBaron Taylor's Solid Hitbound. Currently, we have a thread on Soulful Detroit's Motown Forum (soulfuldetroit.com), titled "Motowniest non-Motown Records. I've posted hundreds of videos of non-Motown Detroit very rare small-label cuts showing the record labels and playing the songs, unknown to most Motown fans that ALL sound like classic 1962-70 Motown Hit Sound. You should check it out! I'm sure there are several you've probably not heard.
(6) I find this unexpected advice very funny (ironic). And given what I've written above, I think you can understand. But it's the helpful thoughts that count. So, I thank you for making sure that I don't miss something great you think I would love (and you can tell I do from what I wrote).
If you want to talk more about our mutual interest in Soul music, send me a personal message and we can continue this conversation. It's too off-topic to continue on this comic book forum.
I've spent a lot of time in northern England between 1979 and 2007. Maybe we know some of the same people. I know several NS DJs, and even several people who frequented Wigan Casino and The Twisted Wheel in Manchester. I lived in Eccles (Monton), Salford, and Oldham for awhile, and visited Camden Town, Clappham Common, and Shepherd's Bush in GLA many years. If you are NOT a member of Soul-Source NS Forum, you should check it out at " soul-source.co.uk ". You should also check out Soulful Detroit Forum and its Motown Subforum at " soulfuldetroit.com ". On that Motown Forum, we have a current thread titled "Motowniest non-Motown Records, on which I have uploaded over 100 videos of rare non-Motown Detroit productions which used Motown musicians, and sound very like classic 1962-70 Motown productions. Many of them are very rare and a lot of the Detroiters on the forum who were even around when they were released, never saw nor heard of most of them. I KNOW you would find several you haven't yet heard.
