The Precisions [2022] - Treason [Stony Pointe Records]

A compilation of rare soul tracks recorded in Boston, MA, "The Skippy White Story: Boston Soul 1961-1967" is due for release on 28 Aug 2022.

One track, "Treason" by The Precisions, a Boston group not the more well known one from Detroit, has been pre-released last week.

Eli 'PaperBoy' Reed (aka Eli Husock from Boston) had an Ace Recording Studio (Boston) acetate of it, from which he pressed up 40 copies and sold them on Bandcamp in Jun 2020. They sold very quickly, within minutes of putting them up, at $35 each.

Skippy White is the alias for Fred LeBlanc who was originally a radio presenter on WILD am1090 in the 60s. He opened a record shop in Boston in 1961 and also set up a label named WILD on which The Precisions released "What Would You Do" / "The Love (I Found In You)" in 1966 (both sides included in YouTube clip below), so I would guess that this recording is from around that same time, although it sounds a bit earlier to my ears.

A few years ago I took a trip to Boston and Washington and used the opportunity to do a bit of crate digging and one the the haunts to visit just had to be the legendary Skippy Whites. It was a bit of a hike as I recall as it was out in the suburbs and nowhere near a train station. It's miles away from it's original location at 1820 Washington Street, then located at 1971 Columbus Ave. It is now completely closed as of 2020 after opening its doors in 1961. They commenced a closing down sale in Jan 2020 which was then interrupted by that Coronavirus thing! Skippy would be around 86 now as he was born in 1936. 

It was rather ramshackle and there were loads of records stacked up out of their sleeves scratched to b*ggery and nothing was organised. It was literally trying to find a needle in a haystack and pot luck if you found anything interesting! Whilst I was there three guys who were obviously DJs, gospel ones I think, which is becoming big stateside possibly due to London expat Greg Belson and his Divine Chord Gospel Shows since 2011. I seem to recall they had come up from NY or New Jersey and were in a bit of a hurry as they had a gig that night and came in to see what they could grab.  I don't think I managed to pick up very much and nothing was priced so, thinking that they would be cheap as hardly any were in sleeves, I presented them to Skippy at the counter. He quoted what I thought were ridiculous prices for knackered records (between $20-$50 for many of them from recollection with nothing being particular sought after), so I dumped most of them and left with only a small handful. Nothing particularly rare or hard to find as I guess the store has been well and truly plundered of anything decent long ago, but we always live in hope!

Details

Rating:	7.8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single / Album Track
Media:	Digital
Label:	Stony Pointe Records
Cat No:	None
Date:	26/07/2022
Key/BPM:	7A/125
Price:	£1

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