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sideburnslim (sideburnslim)
4-Laureate
Username: sideburnslim
Post Number: 87
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 68.41.175.175
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 1:35 am: �� |   ��� |
So The Soul President "Got To Have It" is just about the funkiest thing I can imagine...if it gets funkier please don't tell me I don't think I could handle it. Anyway, I don't really know anything about the Pres. or the Big Mack label. Please help me out with any info you might have! |
matt weingarden (mrfinewine)
1-Arriviste
Username: mrfinewine
Post Number: 6
Registered: 8-2004
Posted From: 65.244.21.132
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 12:26 pm: �� | ��� |
that's a strange record. i don't think it's really a detroit production...it came out first on a california label, uptight, credited to rhon silva. (you may have noticed the san francisco references in the lyrics.) writing credits on the big mack release say silva, too. not clear how it ended up on big mack.
big mack was headquartered on the west side of detroit, on warren. up until a few years ago, you could still see the logo on the side of the building, not far from grand river, i think. the label owner's name escapes me (i'm sure lots of others on here can chime in with it), but the desco/soulfire guys from new york were in touch with him a few years ago when they licensed "got to have it" for reissue, and i think he's still around.
m |
Graham Finch (acooolcat)
4-Laureate
Username: acooolcat
Post Number: 162
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 210.200.105.226
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 1:41 pm: �� | ��� |
The owner was Ed McCoy and the address was 7018 West Warren.
Sideburnslim - Have you heard the Bob & Fred 45 on the label? |
Ron Murphy (ron_murphy)
4-Laureate
Username: ron_murphy
Post Number: 110
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 68.42.90.140
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 5:13 pm: �� | ��� |
here's a little story on Big Mack Records....Ed McCoy started the label from an office on Livernois near Fenkell in Detroit around 1965, about a year later he purchased the building on Warren Ave.(between Livernois and Wyoming) it was a old movie theatre but the seats had been removed, the stage was still there and he put his 2 track recording equipment up on the stage area, he had a couple dozen of these cheap $5. plastic mikes hanging every where from the ceiling, so I guess you just start playing or singing any where you wanted and he'd find you on one of those mikes ha ha.
in June 1966 the Bob and Fred record came out and WJLB starting playing it, I wanted a copy and so did a girl that lived in the upstairs apartment so I just stopped over on Warren to the McCoy Recording Co. and the home of Big Mack Records to buy 2 copies, he had boxes of it stacked up in the front of the stage, he told me the band track and vocals had been recorded there but the string overdub was done at United Sound.
maybe 2 or 3 years later the city came and put a lock on the door because of back taxes. and that was the end of Big Mack. |
sideburnslim (sideburnslim)
4-Laureate
Username: sideburnslim
Post Number: 89
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 68.41.175.175
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 10, 2004 - 9:45 pm: �� | ��� |
Thanks everybody! Time and time again I'm bowled over by the knowlegable forum members we have around here. Mr. Murphy thats a great story and thank you for sharing it. I have not heard Bob and Fred but I will look for it. I have heard clips of Ms. Tyree Jones and May Young sides at funk45.com. I guess it makes sense that Rhon Silva would be from the Bay Area. I would love to research just how it got on a Detroit label. Anyway I'm going to go take some pictures of the building if its still there. Thanks everybody! |
Graham Finch (acooolcat)
4-Laureate
Username: acooolcat
Post Number: 163
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 210.200.105.226
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 3:00 am: �� | ��� |
I think the building had been knocked down.
If you manage to find any copies of the Bob & Fred 45, grab one for me! |
Robb_K (robb_k)
6-Zenith
Username: robb_k
Post Number: 449
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 217.232.147.226
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 3:48 am: �� | ��� |
I'd like one, too! |
David Meikle (david_meikle)
5-Doyen
Username: david_meikle
Post Number: 297
Registered: 3-2004
Posted From: 81.130.211.124
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 3:55 am: �� | ��� |
Ron
Any idea who Bob & Fred were?
Gut feeling says it was Eaton/Bridges but the latter denies any involvement.
Note to SBS; It's a brilliant double sider, the flip being instrumental.
You'll find a pic of the Warren vacant lot on the Northern Soul tour. The page is called "The Ultimate Experience".
David
(Message edited by DAVID MEIKLE on August 11, 2004) |
Ron Murphy (ron_murphy)
4-Laureate
Username: ron_murphy
Post Number: 113
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 68.42.90.140
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - 7:38 pm: �� | ��� |
hello David: take a look at the writers credits...the label says Bob Thomas and Fred Brown ..is this true? or could it be Robert(Bob) Eaton and Fred Bridges singing this and for some reason used different last names..Fred Bridges has said this record is not by him..so I guess it's just a couple guys that decided to pay Ed McCoy to make a record for them.
 |
David Meikle (david_meikle)
5-Doyen
Username: david_meikle
Post Number: 303
Registered: 3-2004
Posted From: 81.130.211.124
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 4:25 am: �� | ��� |
I've just realised that this is the first scan I've seen of this classic song.
I wonder if Fred Brown ever recorded anything else. |
Robb_K (robb_k)
6-Zenith
Username: robb_k
Post Number: 452
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 217.232.139.15
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 5:09 am: �� | ��� |
If Fred Bridges says he had nothing to do with it, why shouldn't we believe him? However, if Fred Brown sang on this one, why didn't he sing on any Kable or McKay's releases, or any other of his related labels? Does anyone else know anything about Bob Thomas? I also noticed "M. Brisker" on the label. Is this Brisker related to Bonnie Brisker of Magic City? |
BJL (bjl)
3-Pundit
Username: bjl
Post Number: 39
Registered: 5-2004
Posted From: 217.205.87.151
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 5:26 am: �� | ��� |
According to BMI, the Fred Brown who wrote this song is the same man who had the Kable and Mickay labels. Does one of the singers have a bass voice? Detroit gospel group The Evangelist Singers had a bass singer called Bob Thomas. I know it's a common name, but...
I assume that the "M Brisker" who arranged the record is jazz saxophonist Miller Brisker who toured and recorded with Aretha Franklin.
(Message edited by bjl on August 12, 2004) |
David Meikle (david_meikle)
5-Doyen
Username: david_meikle
Post Number: 306
Registered: 3-2004
Posted From: 81.130.211.124
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 5:33 am: �� | ��� |
Nice one BJL.
I wonder if Ed McCoy is still around? |
Graham Finch (acooolcat)
4-Laureate
Username: acooolcat
Post Number: 164
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 210.200.105.229
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 10:27 am: �� | ��� |
Ed is still in Detroit, now known as the Reverend McCoy. I spoke to him a few years ago - on the phone - but couldn't get to see him as I was pushed for time.
I've also spoken to Fred Brown's son, and he told me his father never sang on any records. JJ Barnes, who recorded for Fred Brown, told me the same.
This Bob & Fred duo is a mystery, but what a great record!
Martyn Koppel released this as a 45 in the UK on his Sevens series, with "Heart Trouble" on the flip (Parliaments - Golden World). |
Ron Murphy (ron_murphy)
4-Laureate
Username: ron_murphy
Post Number: 114
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 68.42.90.140
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 7:22 pm: �� | ��� |
BJL is correct the writers of this song are Bobby Thomas and Fred(Kable/Mickays) Brown there is no question about that, the real question is Fred Brown singing this and if he is why didn't he put it out on this own label... Ed McCoy most likely got paid to put it out because that's what he did. Mr. McCoy is the only one who knows for sure..this is now a bigger mystery than before.
Graham if you want me to try to get in touch with Ed McCoy e-mail any information cause now T'd really like to know the deal with this record. |
Graham Finch (acooolcat)
4-Laureate
Username: acooolcat
Post Number: 165
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 210.200.105.229
| | Posted on Thursday, August 12, 2004 - 9:15 pm: �� | ��� |
OK Ron. |