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Category: Kent Records

Way back in 1982 a callow northern youth would visit Ted Carroll’s Rock On record stall on Golborne Road in West London. He used to buy the 60s soul singles that the old vinyl merchant had plundered from warehouses and old shop stock on his travels. This interest in a music that was not particularly cherished in London at that time led to Ted asking this son of Market Harborough to stick together 15 singles from Los Angeles’ Kent and Modern labels and come up with an LP. That would satisfy all those pesky young mods who pestered Ted for some “soul like what all the original mods used to lissen to”. Pinching the title from a popular Popcorn single of the time, the soul brother, we’ll call him Horace, came up with “For Dancers Only” a selection of Northern Soul stompers, girl group floaters, male vocal harmonies and low down Rhythm & Blues.

  • Ady Croasdell

    Ady Croasdell

    Finding The First Copy

    Gettin’ To Me

    In the mid-90s when I wandered into Vinyl Experience a second-hand collectors’ shop on Hanway Street in London’s West End, for the first time in a few weeks and while I was checking out the various specialist collectors boxes that they kept behind the counter, I noticed about 50 sealed cardboard boxes under the LP racks. On asking the shop owner what they were he said, “Oh that’s the remnants of the Carlin collection we got a few months ago”. “What’s that all about then?” I ventured. It turned out that this famous music publishing company had decided to throw out all its old demos and samples as surplus to requirements. Mark Hayward, the shop’s owner, had snapped up the massive collection which included demos and acetates from every major popular music act of the 50s, 60s and 70s, including Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie etc. etc. etc.

    After turning luminous green with envy, I realised that Mark knew which were the obviously rare soul records (as did everyone with the advent of Record Collector magazine), but, as he was sketchy on the more obscure items and ignorant of US labels altogether, a bit of damage limitation was in order.

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  • Andy RixShrine

    Andy RixShrine

    The Rarest Soul Label Vol.2

    The story of Shrine Records, from its creation to demise, was told in Volume One. As promised Volume Two will look at those who contributed to the creation of the Shrine sound and the songs that have captured the attention of 60s Soul fans all over the world.

    The story of Shrine Records, from its creation to demise, was told in Volume One. As promised Volume Two will look at those who contributed to the creation of the Shrine sound and the songs that have captured the attention of 60s Soul fans all over the world.

    Assembling the team
    Eddie Singleton, Raynoma ‘Miss Ray’ Gordy and, her half-brother, Stanley ‘Mike’ Ossman were the nucleus of the company. It was always their intention to surround themselves with individuals who had the potential, and talent to achieve, if given the opportunity. These gifted souls were to become the backbone of Shrine Records.

    Harold E Bass was already an established member of the team moving down to D C with Mike in the spring of 1965. Harry had grown up in New York and met Eddie whilst singing in a group called The Toreadors. Impressed with their vocal talent, Eddie signed the group, to his new enterprise, Keith Records in 1962, where they released two singles as The Matadors. Fellow group member Richard Tenryck was to become one of the most respected arrangers in New York; as Richard Tee, his name was to be associated with many of the greats over the next four decades.

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  • Ady Croasdell

    Ady Croasdell

    Finding The First Copy

    GWP Records

    I had visited Jerry Purcell in the 80s when he had an office in Manhattan and, while asking him about Debbie Taylor and the Persians, of which he had very little knowledge, could not stop my eyes wandering over to some old metal filing cabinets, intrigued by what might be hidden inside. The conversation did not get as far as “Can I just delve through your files for half an hour?” so they remained untouched by British hands. Twenty years on, I was contacted at Ace by Mr Purcell’s office who indicated that they were ready to make a deal to license their masters to Europe; the previous meeting had held us in good stead. A trip to New York was duly arranged but by then GWP was virtually dormant. Most of the publishing had lapsed and Jerry had relocated his office to his home in Bayside. There I met Ed Bland, a charming musician and arranger who had done the early work for the GWP label who, as Jerry’s right hand man, had been entrusted to organise the deal. After surveying the fascinating looking tape cache I caught site of one old filing cabinet and asked Ed what was in there. “Oh just old music sheets, record samples and contracts”, “Could I look?”, “Sure”. I pulled open a drawer and found that the container was a treasure trove of records and acetates. The company had filed their samples fastidiously and in between the cardboard dividers could be found four demos and two issues of September Jones’ 45, five issues of the Dynamics’ ‘I Need Your Love’, a Kenny Carter single in a German pic cover, Willie Kendrick’s ‘Change Your Ways’ plus many more vinyl singles: but oh, the acetates.

    GWP Records

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