THE VALADIERS ‘I FOUND A GIRL’/‘YOU’LL BE SORRY SOMEDAY’ - ORIOLE CBA1809. 1963.

	£		990
	$		1,312

THE VALADIERS ‘I FOUND A GIRL’/‘YOU’LL BE SORRY SOMEDAY’ - ORIOLE CBA1809. 1963.

In the year between September 1962 and September 1963 19 Tamla Motown records were released in the U.K. on the Oriole label. None were hits at the time but they have all become collector’s items subsequently, including some that are regarded as classic records now.

At the time I was in my mid-teens and a Motown fanatic before the words ‘Tamla’ or ‘Motown’, or any of their artists were ‘household names’ here in the U.K.

Here is a complete list of all the Motown records released on Oriole :-

CBA 1762 - You Beat Me To The Punch/Old Love (Let’s Try It Again) - Mary Wells

CBA 1763 - Do You Love Me/Move Mr. Man - The Contours

CBA 1764 - Beechwood 4-5789/Someday Someway - The Marvelettes

CBA 1775 - I Found Myself A Brand New Baby/It’s Too Bad - Mike and The Modifiers

CBA 1795 - You Really Got A Hold On Me/Happy Landing - The Miracles

CBA 1796 - Two Lovers/Operator - Mary Wells

CBA 1799 - Shake Sherry/You Better Get In Line - The Contours

CBA 1803 - Stubborn Kind Of Fellow/It Hurts Me Too - Marvin Gaye

CBA 1808 - If It’s Love (It’s Alright)/It’s Not Too Late - Eddie Holland

CBA 1809 - I Found A Girl/You’ll Be Sorry Someday - The Valadiers

CBA 1814 - I’ll Have To Let Him Go/My Baby Won’t Come Back - Martha and The Vandellas

CBA 1817 - Locking Up My Heart/Forever - The Marvelettes

CBA 1819 - Come And Get These Memories/Jealous Lover - Martha and The Vandellas

CBA 1829 - Laughing Boy/Two Wrongs Don’t Make A Right - Mary Wells

CBA 1831 - Don’t Let Her Be Your Baby/It Must Be Love - The Contours

CBA 1846 - Pride And Joy/One Of These Days - Marvin Gaye

CBA 1847 - Your Old Stand-By/What Love Has Joined Together - Mary Wells

CBA 1853 - Fingertips (Part II)/Fingertips (Part I) - Little Stevie Wonder

CBA 1863 - Mickey’s Monkey/Whatever Makes You Happy - The Miracles

Of those 19 singles, I bought 18 of them - the only one I didn’t buy was the Eddie Holland one, as I had the two tracks on an imported LP called ‘Eddie Holland’, which highlighted his 1962 US top 30 hit ‘Jamie’.

Of the 18, I no longer possess three of them. In the mid-1980’s, after owning these records for at least 20 years I disposed of some records that were duplicated on LP tracks or a few I knew I no longer played (out of a very large collection, that was just a handful!). At the time, sometime around 1985, I had no conception of the value of records - I had always only bought them because I liked the music, which was my passion.

95% of the records I bought simply because I loved them but 5%, maybe, were purchased by me taking a punt after trawling through mail order lists or trade catalogues, kindly allowed me as a favour by my friendly local record dealer. Of that roughly 5%, I was rarely disappointed by the result of those bought ‘on spec’ - maybe 1 in 10 - but that was more than made up by gems I found that I wouldn’t have found otherwise at that time. [In the early-1960’s, long before the internet and living outside of London, where they had some specialist record shops, all we really had was our own ever-growing knowledge, radio stations based on the continent (AFN & Luxembourg), recommendations from the very small band of fellow fanatics I knew, mail order lists and a little help from the music papers (if you knew what to look for). U.K. Radio (pre the Pirates) and television were just a smidgen better than useless!]

I now cringe about the really rare records I gave away around 35-odd years ago including the Mike and The Modifiers one (from the above list) plus records that were duplicated when I acquired those same recordings on later issued LPs. These included a 1955 Muddy Waters EP on Vogue, a 1959 Miracles record ‘Bad Girl’ on US Chess before Tamla had US nationwide distribution, Motown records released here on Fontana, the first two Contours singles on Oriole along with other early Chess releases in the U.K. spring to mind. Urghh!……but that’s life.

Since then I have been aware that the records I had collected purely for their musical content were valuable - and in some cases, had a lot of value.

One I’m glad I didn’t let go was The Valadiers, even though I had hardly played it - it was one of those I alluded to above, that I bought on spec. I found out afterwards that The Valadiers were not a typical Motown group - they were, in fact, one of the very few white acts to record for the label and they did not produce the usual Motown sound.

The record itself is in excellent condition and plays absolutely perfectly. (In my near 60 year ownership of this record it has probably been played less than five times!) The original sleeve has suffered a little in that time, including surviving a few house moves. There is a small tear/split (6cm) on the very left of the back of the sleeve (mainly along the extreme edge). In the top right hand corner is written ‘1809’ - the Oriole record number and on the back, in pencil, is my name written by the record shop when I ordered it - this could easily be erased.

I have included nine photographs :-

1) & 2) Front and Back of the record in it’s sleeve.

3) & 4) Front and Back of the record without the sleeve.

5), 6) & 7) Front and Back of the record sleeve, with the tear highlighted.

8) A photo of The Valadiers

9) My remaining Motown records on Oriole - 14 in total in chronological order, per the list above.

This record is in tip top condition, with it’s original sleeve. ‘I Found A Girl’/‘You’ll Be Sorry Someday’ by The Valadiers has long been hailed as one of the most sought after and rarest 45s ever released in the U.K.

It will be despatched, well packaged, by Royal Mail Special Delivery post, fully insured.

U.K. delivery only.

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My personal favourite Tamla Motown act were The Miracles and I was privileged to be able to see them in 1965 when they toured the U.K., along with a lot of the other top Motortown acts at the time. I recall my experience of that unforgettable evening 56 years ago in an article I co-wrote for Toppermost, when I also managed to speak to Smokey Robinson for a couple of minutes. Here is a link to that piece:-

https://www.toppermost.co.uk/the-miracles/

Internet site Toppermost has been in existence for eight years and covers music of all genres - so there is something in there for everybody, no matter what their musical tastes are. Currently there are nearly 1000 different artists covered. My particular preferences are Blues, R&B and Soul, on which I’ve written a few articles for the site, including ones on Otis Redding, Howlin’ Wolf, Betty Harris and Darrell Banks.

The Toppermost site is very user-friendly. Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.