Kend 111 - Old Town & Barry Soul Stirrers(1994)-Various Artists-Rare Soul

I WAS LONG INTRIGUED BY THESE GREAT LOOKING 45,S POPPIN UP FROM NEW YORK ON THE
OLD TOWN & ITS SUB LABEL BARRY.OLD TOWN RECORDS WAS A RECORD LABEL SET UP BY HY
& SAM WEISS IN NEW YORK CITY.IT OPERATED BETWEEN 1953 AND 1966,AND WAS RESPONSIBLE
FOR SEVERAL R&B AND DOO-WOP HIT RECORDS.
THE WEISS,S WHO WAS BORN IN ROMANIA,LIVED IN THE BRONX FROM THE 1920S,AND  HY BEGAN
WORKING AS A FURRIER.IN THE MID-1940S,WITH HIS BROTHER SAM,HE STARTED DISTRIBUTING
RECORDS PRODUCED IN CALIFORNIA BY LEON RENÉ,SOON EXPANDING INTO DISTRIBUTING RECORDS
BY OTHER COMPANIES INCLUDING MODERN AND APOLLO.IN 1953,HE SET UP HIS OWN LABEL,OLD
TOWN,TAKING ITS NAME,AND ITS EARLY STATIONERY,FROM THAT OF A WHOLESALE PAPER BUSINESS
IN BROOKLYN FOR WHOM WEISS WORKED.
HY WEISS TOOK SOLE CONTROL OF THE LABEL IN 1956.HE WAS PRIMARILY A PRODUCER OF VOCAL
GROUPS,AS WELL AS BLUES MUSIC.OLD TOWN HAD ITS FIRST HIT WITH THE 1958 SINGLE "WE
BELONG TOGETHER" BY ROBERT & JOHNNY,AND HAD FURTHER HITS BY BILLY BLAND ("LET THE LITTLE
GIRL DANCE"),THE SOLITAIRES ("WALKING ALONG "),THE FIESTAS ("SO FINE"),THE CAPRIS
("THERE'S A MOON OUT TONIGHT") THE EARLS ("REMEMBER THEN"),AND OTHERS.ARTHUR PRYSOCK
WAS THE LABEL'S PRIMARY ALBUM ARTIST,AND THE LABEL ALSO RECORDED BLUES MUSICIANS IN
CLUDING SONNY TERRY.IN ADDITION,OLD TOWN RELEASED MANY VOCAL RECORDS THAT WERE
SUCCESSFUL IN THE NEW YORK AREA,BUT DID NOT BREAK NATIONALLY OR INTERNATIONALLY.
THE OLD TOWN CATALOG WAS SOLD BY WEISS TO ATLANTIC RECORDS IN 1970.THE LABEL
RE-EMERGED BETWEEN 1973 AND 1978,ISSUING SEVERAL ALBUMS BY ARTHUR PRYSOCK.HY WEISS
DIED IN 2007.THE BARRY LABEL WAS SET UP IN 1980 AND NAMED ASTER HY,S SON RELEASING ITS LAST 45 IN 1968.
THE 2 LABELS WOULD HAVE SUNK WITHOUT ANY SIGNIFICANSE UNTIL THE NORTHERN SOUL JOCKS
ALWAYS ON THE HUNT FOR NEW RECORDS REDISCOVERED THE JOYS OF BOTH LABELS CATALOGS.
THE REST AS THEY SAY IS HISTORY!

ALLMUSICMAN

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