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DavidS91 (davids91)
5-Doyen
Username: davids91
Post Number: 186
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 207.200.116.139
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 - 11:08 pm: |    |
I just came across something very interesting. It's a sampler album called "The Black Box Set" from Chocolate Street Records. It's a double CD that was put out in 1998 and the record label seems to be a subsidiary of Casablanca Records.
Now, the reason that this CD grabbed my attention is that it featured two songs by the former lead singer of Blue Magic (and one of the greatest voices of the century), Ted "Wizard" Mills.
Personally, I would probably crawl a mile over broken glass to hear new material from Ted Mills, and here were two songs written and performed by Mr. Mills on this compilation album that I had never heard before, and never even knew about.
And in addition to these two songs, on the CD's insert inside the package is an ad for a full Ted Mills album called, "This Magic is Real." I don't believe this album was ever released. I know there was a Blue Magic album that was called, "My Magic is Real," but this is different. It even has a cover picture of Mr. Mills as a solo performer.
Now, I can't find any mention of this album anywhere on the net, or at Amazon, or anywhere. My guess is that it was never released. But was it ever fully recorded? Does anyone know if there's an unreleased Ted Mills album out there somewhere?
I'd hate to have to crawl over the broken glass to hear it, but I'd consider it if anyone has a copy! Or at least I'd be happy to pay whatever it would cost to get a dub.
The two songs on the CD (both written or co-written by Mr. Mills) are "Chocolate Star" and "You Know How To Love Me." Both are really nice slow to mid-tempo songs showcasing his voice.
Any info would be more than appreciated! |
DavidS91 (davids91)
5-Doyen
Username: davids91
Post Number: 187
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 75.82.168.244
| | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 7:25 pm: | |
Nobody's heard of this? Anyone know Ted and can maybe find out if this album was ever completed or released? I'd sure like to find out... |
JSmith (jsmith)
5-Doyen
Username: jsmith
Post Number: 365
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 195.93.21.138
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 4:02 am: | |
Chocolate City was a Casablanca subsidiary exclusively dedicated to R&B artists. It was founded by Cecil Holmes. The artist roster included Cameo, Blacksmoke (aka Smoke), Brenda & the Tabulations, Vernon Burch, Starpoint, the 7th Wonder, Townsend Townsend & Rogers, Randy Brown, the Funkateers, Rosco & Mabel, and Kevin Moore. The label stars were Cameo and Starpoint &
an early release included the 'I Keep Coming Back for More' LP by Brenda & Tabulations [1977]
After Casablanca was sold to PolyGram in 1980, the Chocolate City imprint was successful enough to remain active. Bogart himself went off & started the Boardwalk label. Then in 1982, Holmes left the label to become a vice president of Epic Records & at that time releases on Chocolate City ended (to the best of my knowledge).
From the mid to late 80's, the only releases on Casablanca seem to have been re-issues or compilations of old tracks. Perhaps the 'Black Box Set' was a final throw by PolyGram at reactivating these 2 logos as active imprints. I guess the promo CD got little attention & so Polygram pulled the plug on the whole set-up, leaving the new stuff that was in the can to just sit in the tape vaults. |
JSmith (jsmith)
5-Doyen
Username: jsmith
Post Number: 366
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 195.93.21.138
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 4:08 am: | |
....JUST AN ADDITIONAL THOUGHT...
Was Chocolate Street in fact linked to Casablance / Chocolate City or was the similar name (Steet/ City) just a co-incidence. Are Casablanca Records or PolyGram actually mentioned on the paperwork that goes with the 'Black Box Set' CD.
Were cuts by any Casablanca / Chocolate City artists included on this compilation promo CD ?
Which other artists had stuff included on this CD & was it all soul / RnB related ? |
DavidS91 (davids91)
5-Doyen
Username: davids91
Post Number: 188
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 207.200.116.139
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 11:47 am: | |
Hi JSmith,
Thanks for the response. It looks like this release was not related to PolyGram. Most/all of the rest of the CD (I've listened to just one of the two discs) are rap artists.
I don't follow rap, so I don't know if they're well known. Artists included are C-Note, Bad Boy Ras, Psycho Ness, Playerz 4 Life, Dade County, Quik Blaze and Raw, among others.
The company actually called itself The "Unstoppable" Chocolate Street Records, a Division of Casablanca Records, Inc.
It's distributed by Rock Bottom, Inc. Maybe the similarity of names was just coincidental. |
fayette (msshonuff4u)
6-Zenith
Username: msshonuff4u
Post Number: 464
Registered: 4-2004
Posted From: 64.12.117.14
| | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 3:02 pm: | |
i can't recall this website but i saw where it
had a sample from this cd.remember it was chocolate something.q |
B. Graff (b_graff)
1-Arriviste
Username: b_graff
Post Number: 3
Registered: 9-2006
Posted From: 68.52.124.156
| | Posted on Friday, January 19, 2007 - 2:27 am: | |
Well, if you believe the Wikipedia, the Mills album was released in 1996. How the Wizard would end up on an underground/local rap label confounds me, but stranger things have happened! |
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