Back in Feb I posted this
new single
from Mark Bicknell's Big Man logo. It was 'finally' released last week.
It's a rare Northern Soul favourite by
Eric Mercury
& The Soul Searchers "Lonely Girl" which is a bit of a holy grail record first released
in 1968 (according to Discogs) but in the attached video Eric Mercury says that
he thinks it was 1965. It is the only (listed) release on SAC which was
part of James Vanleer's Sedgrick/Cedric group (on which the ultra rare Don Gardner's "Cheatin' Kind" was issued in 1969). It sounds later than 1965 to my
ears, and given that Sedgrick didn't exist until 1969, perhaps 1968 is a
better guide?
The record was recorded in the middle of the night after a gig in a small
recording studio in Detroit under the guidance of a young producer C.
Ash who was impressed with their live shows and wanted to record them. He
presented them with a 'rejected' Motown/Jobete song written by Ivy Jo Hunter
and
William 'Mickey' Stevenson
which they learned, rehearsed, arranged and recorded in a matter of hours. A few weeks later Ash
presented them with ten copies at a gig and they never saw him again so the
record received no promotion nor airplay.
It is not known how many were pressed but probably in tens rather than
hundreds. Only one has sold on Discogs in Nov 2016 for £72. It couldn't
possibly have been an original as they are extremely rare and fetch four
figures, unless someone got the bargain of the century! The last one listed on
Popsike
the same month and year sold for £1,642 (the highest price paid was just
under £3k in 2006).
It was reissued in 2020 on a lookalike SAC imprint.
pre-order bicknellmark@aol.com
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
| Rating: | 8.8 |
| Genre/Style: | Northern Soul / Reissue |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | 7" |
| Label: | Big Man Records |
| Cat No: | BMR-1006 |
| Date: | 09/2021 |
| Key/BPM: | N/A |
| Value: | £20 |
