Search - Black Ivory, Odds N Ends :: Battle of Bands: Round One

The fact copies are still availible....

William Blackshear | West Orange, NJ USA | 02/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"at the time of this review is interesting. This cd was released in 1997 by UK's great reissue company Sequel Records. It is "Round One" of a 4 "Rounds" set titled "Battle Of The Bands", whereas the label put two groups on each cd. At the time of release, based on alternative availiblity (if any), and comparative quality of recording, this set was at the top of the food chain! Two of the other "Rounds" are no longer availible, since the production deal on this series is long expired. What we see remaining to purchase at this time is IT! Two of the groups in the set, ("Chocolate Syrup" & "Odds 'N' Ends") never had an album release, only several 45s each. Odds on collectors finding all the 45s of the two groups at this time are at the furthest reaches of "slim". "Chocolate Syrup's 45s remained high on the "bounties" list. "Odds 'N' Ends" were label mates of Black Ivory at Today Records during the early 70s. Supply of their 45s was never that great in the first place, with the bulk of what was produced receiving East Coast regional distribution. This cd has been the only cd ever released commercially with "Odds 'N' End" records on it, thus the surprise of the writer that it has remained availible this long, with the set long out of print? Furthermore, the other very interesting fact is that this cd is the only cd released on Black Ivory that contains the original Today Records version of "You And I" on it. Even the cd titled "Spinning Around, The Today Sessions", does not contain the original Today recording. All other commercial cds contain the version from the 1984 Panoramic Records (Hackensack, NJ) album, "Then & Now" (which is an interesting album in it's own right). As to why? Good question, since all the other reissuers were working with the Today Records studio tapes anyway? Nevertheless, bottom line, this is a unique cd, that's out of print, no other source to obtain the music on it. Need it be said, it's buy time! History shows, when copies of out of print rarities start to disappear down to "0", numbers can and do go up. Buy while the buying's good."