60s RARE NORTHERN SOUL SHIRLEY LAWSON STAR/1 MOR CHANCE

	£		169
	$		224

As many of you will be aware, the people that run eBay have decided to introduce a free posting policy for many items - including records. They have cited over-priced postal charges as the reason for this move, but they really want an excuse to grab yet more money from the unfortunate seller. If they expect the sellers to offer a free postage service, wouldn't it be fairer for eBay to set an example, and offer a free listing service?

I'm dipping into my rarer 45s again for this one, chosen at random from my shelves. I would have reached it eventually in my alphabetical trawl - it's just appearing early.

PLEASE NOTE:

THE POSTAGE ON THIS ITEM IS NOT FREE!

PLEASE WAIT FOR THE INVOICE BEFORE FINALISING PAYMENT.

BECAUSE OF IT'S BOOK VALUE, THIS SINGLE WILL BE SENT BY SPECIAL DELIVERY, AT A COST OF £5.

MY OVERSEAS POSTAGE QUOTE MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE, IT'S MERELY AN ESTIMATE.

I've made the decision to sell some of my very large collection of 7", 12" and LPs.

ALL THE ITEMS I AM SELLING COME FROM NEARLY FORTY YEARS OF COLLECTING.

I AM NOT A DEALER.

There will be some real gems, so make sure you keep your eyes open.

SOME OF MY LISTINGS CARRY 'BORROWED' SOUND CLIPS BENEATH THE TITLE.

I AREN'T QUITE ADVANCED ENOUGH YET TO PROVIDE MY OWN!

From now on, most of my items will start at just 99p, unless they are valued at £30 or more.

60s RARE NORTHERN SOUL/R&B/MOD

SUPERLATIVE DOUBLE-HEADER

SCARCE ORIGINAL ISSUE

SHIRLEY LAWSON

"THE STAR"

HEAR HERE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9AjH3vJ3S8

b/w

"ONE MORE CHANCE"

HEAR HERE! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCzYCWSGVlo

(US: Back Beat 567, 1966)

Vinyl

Record conditon: Excellent (plays Excellent ++++)

Labels condition: Spotless (A); Excellent +++ (B)

I know Shirley Lawson is somewhere in the above group photo (which dates from 1963), but I'd have to plough through all my back issues of Blues & Soul to find out who's actually who. If the four faces in the piccy look familiar, that's because it shows The Fascinations (later of "Girls Are Out To Get You" fame), and 'Shirley Lawson' was really Shirley Walker. She founded a femme outfit called The Sabre-Ettes, some time in the late 50s, alongside Martha Reeves (the future Motown star), Joanne Levell (nee Boswell), Bernadine Boswell Smith (Joanne's sister), and Fern Bledsoe. Although Detroit was a city of many small labels, The Sabre-Ettes never got as far as the recording studio, and eventually five became four when Martha Reeves quit. That was in 1960, and the remaining four members subsequently changed to a new name, The Fascinations. With Bernadine handling the solo spot, they relocated to Chicago, and soon fell into the very capable hands of Curtis Mayfield. As leader of one of the world's most gifted groups (The Impressions, in case you didn't know), he brought them to ABC-Paramount, and produced them on two singles. The first one initially appeared as by The Fasinations, and was a version of the Jan Bradley hit, "Mama Didn't Lie" (yet another Mayfield production). Neither single did very much, and The Fascinations were soon dropped from ABC's books.

Things than went quiet for a time. Like Martha Reeves before her, Fern Bledsoe worked as a secretary at Motown, and also fronted a group called (Fern &) The Aprils, to record two fine Ran-Dee singles. A little later, Shirley Walker also did some recordings outside of The Fascinations, with two release appearing as by 'Shirley Lawson'. The first came out on Detroit's Enterprise label (unrelated to the slightly later Stax-Volt subsidiary). This is a copy of the much scarcer second single.

If the writer credits are to be believed, "The Star" was penned by 'Deadric Malone', which was how label owner Don Robey liked to be billed. The name appears on hundreds and hundreds of Duke, Peacock, Sure-Shot, and Back Beat titles, from Bobby Bland and O.V. Wright, to Bud Harper and The Malibus - even the very scarce Little Eddie Taylor 45 bears the name of 'Deadric Malone'. Of course, we'll never know just how many of these songs were actually written by Mr. Robey. He may have thought that owning the label entitled him to claim the song-writing credits. In Jamaica, Studio One's Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd had been taking the practice to it's extremes, even claiming to have penned some of Motown's best-known tunes! The late Dave Godin was a firm believer in "The Star", and gave it a British release on his famed Soul City venture. It was also one of the tracks chosen for the same label's "Soul From The City" compilation. "The Star" is now the most pricey of the nineteen original Soul City single, with copies rivalling the American release in value. That's mainly due to it's amazing B-side, which wasn't composed by Robey, but bears his publishing credits. I'm not going to offer a description of either side - just listen to it the accompanying youtube links, if they are new to you.

Later in 1966, after the failure of this Back Beat single, The Fascinations' emerged again on Curtis Mayfield's new Mayfield label, and enjoyed a moment of brief glory when "Girls Are Out To Get You" became their only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at #92 (February 1967). Although it wasn't a British hit at the time (on Stateside), nor even on it's rapid reissue (the very last 45 on Sue), it was definitely a case of third time lucky for the group, when the Mojo label took it to #32 on the UK chart, in July 1971. Shirley, Bernadine, Fern, and Joanne, reformed for a British tour, although no new material emerged.

A publicity photo from this period still adorns the inside of one of my battered DJ boxes, and has done so since the mid-70s, when I was in love with every group member. I think you'll see why from the piccy, although I'm still none the wiser as to Shirley's place in the line-up. Can anyone help out?

This one is currently priced by Manship at £250 for a minter.

The vinyl has just some ultra-faint, wispy "spiders webs", mainly down to sleeve scuffing. It's probably one of the best copies still in existence, and plays like new.

The A-side label is immaculate. The B-side label has one very tiny spot of whitening (just visible at one o'clock on the edge of scan one).

The edges are completely chip-free.

IF YOU WISH TO PICK UP THE RECORD IN PERSON, YOU ARE QUITE WELCOME TO DO SO.