By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.14) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 03:29 am:

Can anyone give any details whatsoever about this group that recorded a great rare/northern soul dancer called 'stick by me baby/I wanna dance' on the Wise World Label(no.301).
Can anyone let me and Yan know if they were a white group and are they recording today?
The above track I have seen valued at around the 600 mark.
MANY THANKS.
Mel.

By Yan (80.194.105.141) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 07:14 am:

...thanks for starting the thread, Mel. I'm not sure if we will get anything, but it's worth a try!

So, here's what (little) we do know:

The Salvadors were a local Chicago group apparently formed in 1962; at some time they are said to have recorded for the Chicago "Colbert" group of labels (Witch/Cortland/Nike/TipTop/Jive)- though which one and what releases I don't know. It's safe to say, tho' that they didn't meet with any sucess.

The record they are known for in the U.K is "Stick By Me Baby" on Wiseworld. Wiseworld was started in 1967 by Don Clay; who was general manager at St Lawrence/Satellite previous, and joined Chess later on in '67. He also started quite a few local labels at the time; like Flash (Billy Mcgregor- "Mr Shy") and Dawn. The Robert Pruter book (from which I'm stealing all this info!) says he started the label with one Phil Orsi- who I don't know much about; beyond that he also had a release on Wiseworld which was on a Goldmine CD. "Stick By Me Baby" was propably the first release on the label; which explains the obscurity of the record. (many really rare records tend to be the first or last release of a label)

Okay. The record was arranged by Chuck Handy; Handy was one of The Pharaohs- a much respected Chicago jazz band; who have quite a cult following today. Perhaps more significantly to Soul fans is that he was also session player at Chess. Joshie Jo Armstead wrote and produced "Stick By Me Baby"; and I hope she doesn't need any introduction to any of you!

Well, thats about it; except to say that the record made it's way to England in the 70s and went massive on the Northern scene. (the Northern Soul 500 book states that it was played "simultaneously" at the Mecca and Casino. Usually you can translate this as that it was played first at the Mecca and then shortly after at the Casino!) It really is a great and very distictive record (that intro!)- and I'd urge anyone reading this to hear it. Frustratingly the CD this is readily available on(Goldmine's "Wigan Casino Story") cut the track just before the fade- thus losing the final horn blasts which go up a notch. (propably because they didn't want you to hear that they were dubbing from disc) It might be adifferent case on the reissue 45 they put out; I'm not sure. And, no, I don't have an original myself.

So can anyone help??- any info would be appreciated by me and Mel. Cheers!

By RD (63.188.32.141) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 07:59 am:

The Salvadores' "A-E-I-O-U"/"Daddy Said" came on two times in 1961, first on Thor then Nike Records. "Stick With Me Baby" came out six years later on the Wise World label. I suspect the group experienced some personnel changes by the second release.

By MEL&THEN SOME (195.219.7.53) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 08:13 am:

Hey Yan,
great stuff,regards the Billy McGregor on Flash,I have this record but for the flip side to 'Mr Shy' called 'Fall on my Knee's'.
Flash records (no.6601) a great dancer.
Anyway back to The Salvadors.
RD.
Thanks for the info.
mel.

By Yan (80.194.105.141) on Saturday, February 08, 2003 - 09:42 am:

RD-

....thanks for responding! What kind of bag are "AEIOU/Daddy Said" in?? Are they neo-doo wop/early soul? Ballad or jump?? Or are they more rocknroll, or r&b?? Tell all!