Friday, January 21, 2011

Keep it if you find it....


Oddly enough, this 45 doesn't show up on any Benny Spellman discography I can find, but I think it's his last record, probably issued in 1967 or '68. Just check out the rip off of the "Soul Finger" horn charts. There doesn't seem to be a Mor Soul discography available either, so I can't check.

Mor Soul was owned and operated by Traci Borges out the basement of a house in Metairie, just down the street from where he later established Knight Studios. I've never seen anything written about Borges, but I have seen a picture of him from around this time and was very surprised to see how young and cute he looked. It's not until recently that I found out he recorded a couple [?] of teen-pop records under his own name. I forget which label they were on.

The odd thing about Borges is that it doesn't appear he had any experience running a studio or a label before he set up Mor Soul. And if I wasn't clear before, Borges was running a studio out of that basement. As far as know, that's where all the Mor Soul sides were cut.

Hope ya'll enjoy....

8 comments:

  1. WoW!
    Thanks for another great find!

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  2. Fun! And I love your new color scheme & design, very tasteful. And soothing. Nursery effect?

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  3. Holly, uhmmm I hadn't thought about it quite like that, but yeah, you're probably right. We did just finish fixing up the baby's room.

    Glad you like the re-design. I'm finding it much easier to read. Best of all, you tube clips will now fit the page.

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  4. Still working my way back thru time..

    I only know a couple of MorSouls (and this is the only one I have) but here is what I know!

    * MO-001/2 - James Chapmen - In memory of Martin Luther King / Inst
    * MO-003/4 - Bobby + the Heavyweights w/ the Profits - Baby I Love You / Soul Train
    * MO-005/6 - Threshold of Sound - Make Believe Girl / Run To The Morning Sun
    * MO-007/8 - Benny Spellman - Don't Give Up Love / Foolish Man


    As far as Traci Borges' own records, I know there's one on his own label, Knight. And there's a record on Instant by a Traci that I guess is probably him? I don't know if ever even seen it on eBay..

    Man, thanks for reminding me how great this one is though!

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  5. Travis...that's two more records on the label than I ever remember seeing. I own the Bobby & the Heavywieghts.

    Maybe those are the two records by Borges I'm thinking of...but I'm pretty sure there's at least one more before from before he had Knight. I've no evidence at all, but I've been wondering if Borges might have had something to do with Stanley Chaisson who owned the Chase label. An awful lot of teen pop on Chase.

    Thanks the discography, I'm copying it too.

    On second thought...I have seen the James Chapmen 45, even listened to it. Just not my kind of thing. There's a very good chance that record may show up on Ebay in the next few months with a sound clip. A good sized collection of obscurities is being offered in drips and drabs.

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  6. uhmmm, I meant...dribs and drabs

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  7. Dribs n Drabs! I like it..wait, isn't that a Mac Rebennack obscurity? Heh ..

    I don't know about the Chase label, or much about Senor Borges, maybe another astute comment-digger will have some info?

    Google plopped me onto Sir Shambling Finewine's site (as it so, so often does) when I was looking up James Chapmen last night; he's got an mp3 up there of one side of his MorSoul rekkid. I liked it quite a bit, but I'm a sucker for songs about MLK (if Larry Grogan hasn't done an MLK Mix, that would be a good one).

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