Help On a Big Batch of R&B/Soul Reissues

[Dan Gould]

I've stumbled across an internet seller with very good prices and an interesting selection of reissues, many from the Rev-Ola label which I haven't heard of before but sounds like something as dedicated to quality as Ace.

Any advice on any of the following is appreciated, particularly in the area of which is essential, which is merely good. The seller has a great deal on shipping - $6 covers up to 10 discs. I'm trying not to go overboard here but I am having a hard time.

Doc Pomus - Blues in the Red

Anna King - Back Soul - James Brown produced her debut record.

Big John Greer - I'm The Fat Man

Sugar ‘Chile’ Robinson - Go Boy Go!: 1949-1952

Little Walter - Stray Dog Blues - pretty sure I have most of these tunes but haven't checked yet.

Joe Hinton - Funny (How Time Slips Away)

Johnny Adams - The Tan Canary: New Orleans 1973-81

Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm - Early Times - this would actually be the first pre-Tina Ike Turner CD I'd own

Buddy & Ella Johnson - Gotta Go Upside Your Head

Shuggie Otis - In Session Information

Percy Mayfield - The Voice Within - believe it or not, I only own the Tangerine recordings, so this one is almost certainly at the top of the list anyway.

Brew Moore - The Kerouac Connection

Can't post any more images but this has Miles and Bird among others. I've heard Brew's Steeplechase CD with Kenny Drew and enjoyed it quite a bit.

[Noj]

Anna King - Back Soul - James Brown produced her debut record.

This got rave reviews in an earlier thread here, and I always meant to pick it up.

[Big Beat Steve]

The Big John Greer CD has been discussed here before (using the Search function should find the thread). Actually I bought it on the strength of a recommendation from this forum myself. Am very pleased with it (but I am a honkin' sax jump'n'jive partisan anyhow) and thankfully this CD largely avoids the slower tracks he did for RCA and its subsidiaries (for a time RCA semed to want to mold him into another Ivory Joe Hunter).

In the case of the Ike Turner CD you'd really have to check the track listing against a discography and other reissues. There is quite a lot from the Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm days that's been reissued on on various U.K. labels (including Ace) so if you decide you want to dig deeper you might end up with lots of duplicates or might want to got for the other labels right away.

The Buddy Johnson CD looks like it is made up of his 50s Mercury recordings (judging from the cover artwork). Nice stuff (though I prefer his 40s big band) but some of it might come across as a bit too clean (these were recorded when R'n'R was about to break loose so everybody tried to cash in on it without offending the white buyers by sounding waaay too black).

Sugar Chile Robinson: If piano boogies with a child singing voice are your cup of tea for an entire CD, go ahead. It's entertaining too but I'd recommend consuming it in moderate doses.

Percy Mayfield: Another one that's bound to have been reissued on Ace too so compare the track listings to see which suits your tastes better (depends on how deep you want to dig into this field)

Edited March 4, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[paul secor]

Dan -

Some of these look like pretty good bets. Haven't heard the Rev-Ola releases, but have much of this material in earlier forms.

Have to say that I haven't heard real good reports on Sugar Chile Robinson. He WAS just a kid.

Don't know anything about Anna King except as a name.

& don't know what material is on the Joe Hinton.

These four look good:

Doc Pomus was a good jump blues singer, in addition to being a fine songwriter, so I'll recommend that one.

Ike Turner - This is probably a boot of the legal Ace stuff. Great stuff.

Big John Greer - Probably mostly a boot of the (o/p?) Bear Family set. Good (not the best, but good) jump/r&b.

Buddy and Ella Johnson - Good jump blues r&b - believe that this is their Mercury stuff

I'd look elsewhere for these:

Percy Mayfield - go for Poet of the Blues & Memory Pain (Specialty) & you'll have it all.

Little Walter - Just a rehash of his Chess sides

Johnny Adams - Go for I Won't Cry: From the Vaults of Ric & Ron Records (Rounder) or even better, Reconsider Me (Collectables) from SSS - the version of I Won't Cry on this one is worth the price of the CD.

edit: Steve beat me to some of this. I have the Greer Bear Family. Perhaps the Rev-Ola is somewhat different material.

Edited March 4, 2008 by paul secor

[JSngry]

I astarted teh thread on the Greer, so you know it's good w/me. And I really dig the Anna King thing as well.

[felser]

I'll vouch for the Rev-ola label being a quality operation. They are a subsidiary label of Cherry Red in England. Other labels in the family included RPM, who did some wonderful Jackie DeShannon reissues in the last few years, and Esoteric, who just did a stunning series of reissues by Man, plus the first two Rare Bird albums. Everything is done first class on those labels. If the price is good, go for it!

[clifford_thornton]

BEAR FAMILY (where applicable)

In line at the post office in Austin, I ran into the Bear Family dude with stacks and stacks of LP and CD mailers. It was kind of a funny/strange interaction, as I was the only person in line who was drooling at the properly-shaped mailers.

[PHILLYQ]

For title alone, 'Gotta Go Upside Your Head' sounds like a winner!

[NaturalSoul]

I believe MG will agree with me, The Anna King is essential.

[felser]

Revola is a decet rock reissue label-- Fred Neil & others, some sissy 60s pop I forget too-- but rule of thumb is it's ** ONLY ** yr go to fo R&B, blues, hillbilly if ** NO ** other source exists.

first. They're "just" a licensing operation as far as I know so whatever "remastering" there might be ain't from the source.

edc

Well, SOMEBODY did stunning remastering on the RPM amd Esoteric releases I mentioned earlier, and clearly had the master tapes. But I agree that doesn't mean Rev-Ola does for all of the above, though they clearly must for the Shuggie Otis.

[BruceH]

Revola is a decet rock reissue label-- Fred Neil & others, some sissy 60s pop I forget too-- but rule of thumb is it's ** ONLY ** yr go to fo R&B, blues, hillbilly if ** NO ** other source exists. Unless you just want "samplers," ALWAYS go for

ACE

SPECIALTY

BEAR FAMILY (where applicable)

first.

Yep.

What ever happened to the British "Charly" label? Did they fold years ago or what?

[Big Beat Steve]

Don't think so....

See this, for example:

http://www.snappermusic.com/Labels/Charly

You'll even find a catalog there.

[felser]

What ever happened to the British "Charly" label? Did they fold years ago or what?

They're still around, part of the Snapper comglomerate.

http://www.snappermusic.com/Labels/Charly

[paul secor]

So what's Dan gonna go for?

[Dan Gould]

So what's Dan gonna go for?

Dan's still trying to figure out what he can afford and thanks everyone for their advice. He also is hoping to hear from someone on the Brew Moore and Johnny Adams discs.

[paul secor]

From my post #4 - in case you missed it:

I'd look elsewhere for these:

Johnny Adams - Go for I Won't Cry: From the Vaults of Ric & Ron Records (Rounder) or even better, Reconsider Me (Collectables) from SSS - the version of I Won't Cry on this one is worth the price of the CD.

[Dan Gould]

From my post #4 - in case you missed it:

I'd look elsewhere for these:

Johnny Adams - Go for I Won't Cry: From the Vaults of Ric & Ron Records (Rounder) or even better, Reconsider Me (Collectables) from SSS - the version of I Won't Cry on this one is worth the price of the CD.

Meaning, Paul, that this era wasn't a very good one? I wasn't really clear on whether you were rejecting these sessions in favor of better ones or what.

[paul secor]

His earlier stuff was better - at least imo. The SSS sides - Reconsider Me - are my favorites.

[BeBop]

I became interested in Sugar Chile after seeing a video (Snader Transcription, I think) he made alongside Basie and Billie. As much as I wanted to like him, or find some value in what he was doing, I couldn't. Amuse yourself with a bio instead.

Here's a bio he might have written himself. http://www.answers.com/topic/frankie-sugar...=entertainment).

No cigars and age misrepresntation (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0732630/bio) or prostitues.

[John L]

So what's Dan gonna go for?

Dan's still trying to figure out what he can afford and thanks everyone for their advice. He also is hoping to hear from someone on the Brew Moore and Johnny Adams discs.

Dan,

I picked up that Johnny Adams collection recently. It contains rather rare recordings, some of which are making it to CD for the first time. I like it, although I am a Johnny Adams freak. I agree that these are generally not among his best recordings: in fact, far from it.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Don't miss out on the Anna King. One track was on my BFT.

And the Big John Greer is a good buy, too, since it does concentrate on the up-tempo material. I'd rather get a GOOD sampler of people like Greer than pay big bux for a complete Bear Family with a lot of iffy material.

MG