By Jonel (172.154.46.95) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:30 pm:

Thought you all would be interested in this article in todays Washington Post about Shrine Records.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35258-2003May9.html

By Scratcher (65.132.76.240) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 09:52 pm:

Thanks for the headsup Jonel, that's a great article.

By stephanie (66.54.1.38) on Sunday, May 11, 2003 - 11:29 pm:

I fell over when I saw this article in the paper today...those brits will do anything to get records I admire them..Im glad they mentioned Raynoma....
Stephanie

Our Own Andy Rix was mentioned in the article too.

By Carl Dixon London (62.31.40.155) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:14 am:

Good article, well posted. Excellent reading for first thing on a Monday morning.

By R&B (138.238.41.118) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 08:31 am:

GOOD ARTICLE ABOUT SHINE,THERE WAS ANOTHER LABLE OUT OF D.C.CALL D.C.INTERNATIONAL,BUT THAT WAS IN THE 70'S,JUST A SIDENOTE THE RESIDENT MANAGER OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING I LIVED IN SOME YEARS AGO WAS IN THE GROUP..EDDIE DAY AND THE FOUR BARS WHO WERE VERY POPULAR IN THE D.C. AREA IN THE 60'S AND RECORDED FOR SHINE.

By John Lester (62.49.61.57) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 08:38 am:

Andy told me about the article.....he is proud of the work that he as done getting the music from this label so much attention.

Rightfully so, too

By MEL&THEN SOME (217.14.178.89) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 10:21 am:

Hey R&B,
Eddie Daye and the 4 Bars
'guess who loves you/what am I gonna do'
on Shrine(no.112)
grrrrrrrrreatttttttt
record!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mel.
ps
theres an Eddie Day(spelled with no 'E' on the end)that recorded on the Onyx label(no.702)
I take it there is no connection here.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 11:54 am:

I have both volumes of the Shrine Records CDs on Ace/Kent and they are absolutely marvelous.

It's too bad that music business "politics" prevented Raynoma & Eddie's venture from being a success. Fortunately, the music survived and is now available for us to enjoy.

Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Scratcher (63.188.33.131) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:41 pm:

I have the Shrine recordings too and must say I'm not impressed. Only a few songs have any potential. The productions were so, so and they could have recorded the vocals better. Engineering wasn't a priority with Shrine.

I like "Stop Overlooking Me," I believe by the Cautions but it doesn't sound like a hit; it would have been buried as the 12th track on Temptations album. If that. I doubt if any Shrine recording received any airplay outside the D. C. area and I hear they didn't get played very much there. I never heard or seen a Shrine recording at the time of their release. Did any even make the national R&B charts or a local radio station chart?

Berry may have conspire to keep Shrine down but it was an unnecessary move, as the records weren't going anywhere anyway. They simply were not up to par to what was being released by other labels at the time. The interest is there and the recordings are valuable, only because they're so rare.

If I had invested in Shrine I would have been mad too. I would have expected a better product for my money.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:45 pm:

Geez, Scratcher..
Must you always follow up my posts with your sun-shiny disposition....
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Scratcher (63.188.33.131) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:49 pm:

Wasn't meant as a reply to your post just my general feeling about Shrine recordings. They just didn't cut the mustard. I was filled with anticipation when I got the recordings and was disappointed as hell after playing the CD. In fact, I didn't even listen to it all at once. Could only take so much. Compared to their competition, Shrine was strictly minor league.

By KevGo (64.115.26.80) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 12:53 pm:

Hey, Scratcher!
Just busting chops today, my friend! Granted the stuff of Shrine wouldn't have passed even D-Town Records' quality control department as far as production but the music I do dig.
Kevin Goins - KevGo

By Scratcher (63.188.33.131) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 01:03 pm:

That's exactly what I was implying. Speaking of D-Town Records I would snatch a copy whenever I found one at a goodwill, flea market or yard sale. Problem is I never found many. They were scarce.

By MEL&THEN SOME (217.14.178.35) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 01:28 pm:

Scratcher,
I Go with what you say all the way.
mel.

By Scratcher (65.132.79.233) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:17 pm:

I'm shocked Mel. I thought you were going to post how I must be deaf and crazy for not loving the Shrine recordings.

I love the history of the label, which made listening to the music more plausible. But Eddie and Raynoma didn't give those investors much of a chance of getting their money back with that stuff. They couldn't even license any of it to other labels.

By MEL&THENSOME (212.159.51.95) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 03:47 pm:

Scratcher,
I felt a lot more all round could of been done.
Although a good Label,
dare I say that it is just slightly over rated!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here come the insults.
mel.

By Carl Dixon London (195.153.219.170) on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 04:04 pm:

After my first posting this morning, I listened to the CD I have. Some of the tracks are nice, and a few are quite nice. It is a fantastic story and I should listen more to the CD to appreciate the songs more, but most do not grab my attention straight away. Dare I say 'rare' and 'good' mean to different things to me. But, I am glad I bought the CD. It is a piece of the jigsaw around my fascinating obsession with American music from this era.

By Mark Speck (199.183.105.11) on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 01:39 am:

My faves of the Shrine stuff:

"This Time"--Ray Pollard
"Don't Let Him Hurt You"--Les Chansonettes
"Shame"--The Enjoyables
"I'll Never Let You Get Away"--Bill Dennis
"Walk On"--J.D. Bryant (much better IMO than the accepted side "I Won't Be Coming Back")
"Guess Who Loves You"--Eddie Daye and the Four Bars
"Stop Overlooking Me"--Cairos
"Mad at the World"--Epsilons
"Wait Till I Get There"--Tippie & the Wisemen (unissued till the 2nd LP of Shrine material was released; this group was a line-up of the Clovers)

Big props to Andy Rix and Ady Croasdell for rediscovering and keeping this music alive and also to the reporter at the Post who wrote the fine article on Shrine.

Best,

Mark

By David Meikle (213.122.124.179) on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 03:36 am:

I also think that "One gold piece" is fantastic, and Shrine's best.

I enjoyed the 2 albums so much that I bought the cd's too. Every track had it's own unique character.

I thought there was something about the vinyl releases which surpassed the cd's however.

I appreciate everyone's opinion on this thread but especially thank Andy Rix for giving me hours of listening pleasure. Something I told him two years ago.

The newspaper story is terrific. Thanks for raising it Jonel. Shrine was also featured in Record Collector a couple of years back.

Oh and I also nearly forgot to thank Raynoma and Eddie and everyone else at Shrine.

By MEL&THEN SOME9 (212.159.53.96) on Thursday, May 15, 2003 - 07:32 am:

Andy Rix and Ady Croasdale
are certainly two of the most dedicated
and totally unsung heroes of the rare/northern soul scene without a doubt.
I am glad that there are still 100% guys like these two as well as others that have ,for me personally,
enabled myself as well as the scene to hear so many obscure,or whatever records that normally we would never hear in a million years.
No matter what different opinions arise regards sounds,
at least we can debate them after there hard work beforehand.
I do not know them personally,but Many thanks fella's for always plugging away fella's.
It most certainly is appreciated by myself(andthensome).
mel.

By Tony B. (212.56.114.168) on Friday, May 16, 2003 - 05:51 pm:

Is there anything on the two Kent Shrine LPs that's not on the CDs?

By David Meikle (62.252.128.6) on Saturday, May 17, 2003 - 03:06 am:

Off the top...I don't think so Tony.

By Mark Speck (199.183.76.223) on Sunday, May 18, 2003 - 09:04 pm:

Mel, let me just say that I've had the pleasure of meeting Ady in person (both here in Cleveland at a record show and later at the weekender in San Jose) and that he is truly a class act.

Best,

Mark