Does anyone know anything about this record that I picked up at a car boot sale today for £1? I thought it was just a common Atlantic soul compilation, but the songs are all introduced – and interrupted – by the American DJ Emperor Rosko, and what I thought was a promo sticker is in fact printed on the sleeve. There’s no cat. no., and the latest song on there is 1971. The sleeve says it was printed in the UK and there’s a credit to Kinney Record Group. Google and Discogs have zero on this, which is unusual. Anybody?
http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p773/minibreakfast/DSCN0112_zpsizxdx4nu.jpg
Is it possible that you have a promo copy of one of the Rosko delusional self-regarding LPs like this one:
They sold in their dozens around the early 70s and are worth as much as ten of your English pounds in good nick.
What’s the tracklisting?
I’ve got one of those – volume two, I think. It’s a cracking compilation made entirely unlistenable by the ridiculous links.
Side 1:
The Beginning of the End – Funky Nassau Part 1
Rex Garvin & The Mighty Cravers – Sock It To ‘Em J.B. Part 1
Arthur Conley – Funky Street
Bar-Kays – Soul Finger
The Drifters – Baby What I Mean
Wilson Pickett – Don’t Knock My Love Part 1
Side 2:
Aretha Franklin – Spanish Harlem
King Floyd – Groove Me
Ben E. King & The Drifters – Save The Last Dance For Me
Booker T. & The M.G.s – Green Onions
Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman
Otis Redding – (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay
Yes, cracking tracklist. I quite enjoyed all the yakking though. He tells us that “all these rekkids are available NOW at your local rekkid shop” (or summat like that), and someone on FB suggested that rather than a radio promo disc, it was probably played in record shops to sell Atlantic singles.
The catalogue number may give some clues as to why it was produced.
Sorry, I meant the matrix number – even promo albums should have them.
The matrix number is conspicuous by its absence.
You say there’s no matrix number? So nothing at all in the run-out grooves?
The Kinney references places it between 1969-72 when the Warner-Seven Arts group of labels (including Atlantic/Elektra/Asylum) was taken over by Kinney National Company, a conglomerate which also owned magazines, cleaning companies and car parks!
This last prompted several artists to leave the label complaining that they “didn’t want to work for a car park company”.
Kinney also owned DC Comics. The non-entertainment side of the business was sold off sometime in 1971, and the remainder of the company was soon renamed as Warner Communications. Even so, releases on the various Warner labels still carried the K. prefix to their catalogue numbers even though the Kinney name itself was defunct.
Another means of dating the record will be to attempt to identify where it was made. Warner-Seven Arts or whatever didn’t posses their own UK pressing plant at the time, but simply contracted out to another major. They were pressed by Polydor up to January 1972, before switching to CBS. They gained their own pressing facilities in 1976, although singles continued to be pressed by CBS for a couple of more years. Of course the arrangement for promotional albums may have been different.
Thanks JQW! Here’s a label shot, with the katalogue numbers beginning with ‘k’ as you korrectly stated (sorry).
I vaguely remember from playing it last night someone other than Rosko chiming in at the end with something about “1972” so I guess that dates the recording pretty well if not the specific pressing! (Although I can’t imagine it being subject to multiple pressings anyway.)
I clearly came to the right place for expert knowledge on such minutiae. 🙂
Oops, here’s the pic:
http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p773/minibreakfast/DSCN0140_zpspy2qml6g.jpg
Found a little more info.
The catalogue number (in the run-out grooves) should be AC3. There’s one for sale on Amazon right now for a tenner, which sound about right (although the condition is not great on the Amazon copy).
It’s also listed in the Record Collector Price Guide at a rather optimistic £25
Thanks JC! I have slightly better light now, and indeed can make out the teeny AC 3 A1 and AC 3 B1 in the dead wax. I’d have bet you a million pounds last night that there was nothing there, it’s so hard to spot.
This one is probably EX for the disc and VG for the sleeve, condition-wise.
I meant EX+
I think a tenner still sounds about right, although the Rosko element may give it a little more appeal.
I’m guessing you don’t remember Emperor Rosko? Although American he working in Britain for pirate radio and then BBC Radio 1 until 1976.
He also acted as MC for the visiting Soul/Motown package tours and can be heard on several live LPs released on Tamla at the time, so his soul credentials are impeccable
We thought he was dead exotic and a “proper” DJ because of his American accent.
Less impressively, in the mid-70s Rosko even briefly hosted Crackerjack (Crackerjack!) on TV with Little & Large (!)
I don’t remember him, but Mr Breakfast recognised his voice immediately.
Top info as always JC, lovely to have you back home.
Gosh, thanks mini *blushes*
Mystery completely solved. Was doing a bit of research for a future blog post today, when I came across this Billboard article from 15th April 1972:
http://i1350.photobucket.com/albums/p773/minibreakfast/rosko_zpswa2vmnrc.jpg
@jqw @johnny-concheroo
It’s been a long time coming, but a fine conclusion.