Con Funk Shun - Memphis Session 1973 lp 51 West OG Rare Deep Funk Soul NM

$

169

Welcome to our Summer 2026 "Classic / Golden" era Soul/Funk/Rare Groove lp Part 1 sale, we cover some early ground with a few pre-1967 releases, largely the vast majority are from 1968-1974, mostly concentrated in the early-mid 1970's,  no modern reissues! WE COMBINE SHIPPING! -(Just kindly wait till end of auction for invoice :)
We have so many, that Part 2 will be even more, bringing tons of rare "Golden Era Soul/Funk", coming soon!

60 lp's all originals , many have soundclips, which are from the actual record :)

This week features a really nice curated slab of rare funk, soul lp's from the "classic golden era" or as Thes One put it "Vietnam War Era", we have a handful pre-dating 1967, the vast majority being concentrated in the early 70's, beginning with a very nice OG 1st press of the legendary 1973 GSF Records lp "Skull Snaps", a minty Funkadelic legendary Psych-Funk original 1970 Westbound lp "Free Your Mind and Your A** Will Follow", Allen Toussaint's 1975 Conceptual Psychedelic Funk masterpiece rarity "Southern Nights" lp, the insanely rare Hawaiian Private Press 1970 lp by Gordon Broad (Heavy Soul/Funk!), an unknown South Korean Psych Funk lp on Jigu Records, the first 3 Sylvers lp's on Pride, yep "I, II, and III", James Brown "The Payback" original double lp, Jimmy Castor Bunch "It's Just Begun" - minty fresh, everything from New Birth, Ace Spectrum, White Heat, some badddd rare heavy open drum breaks, instrumental rare-groove style funk, CCM Funk / Psych Funk Rock "First Gear 1972 Myrrh lp" for example....Lorraine Ellison's original OG 1st press 1969 "Stay With Me" on Warner Bros.-Seven Arts Records (not the 1971 version that is more common, and on thinner vinyl!!), we got heavy representatives on labels from ATCO, Hot Wax, Buddah, Cadet, Westbound, AVCO, All Platinum, RCA, Invictus, Gordy, Playboy, MCA, Atlantic, Pride MGM, Capitol, to Private Press world, and so much more :) 

ASSISTIVE NOTE:
To give the best  "map" for this sale, we'll have 21 leading off to give somewhat of a highlight of each area of items, then tending towards Chronological, than Stylistic in what we hope will be a nice ordering, the kind as fellow crate-diggers, we would be stoked to see.... If you want to view how we ordered it up, go to sort by "Ending Soonest", as listed newest will be the tail end & ending earliest is the beginning (if you filter by "ending soonest", you'll get the layout!), we hope this might help :)

**Note on grading: We have been proud to send thousands of records to delighted customers, but there is always room for improvement, we want to continually strive to be as accurate, honest, and detailed as possible. These records that have been collected and loved over the years, coming from a collector, one who listens to the records, enjoys the music, we are only growing more meticulous in our visual aspect of grading the vinyl, while also maintaining a balanced emphasis on the sound quality, utilizing sound clips (we do not manipulate them whatsoever, and we never will!), full front to back recent thorough listenings, and for the covers to use detailed photos, write detailed aspects for the grade, we want people to know exactly what they're getting, as collectors, lovers of music, we promise to always carry ourselves with integrity, we're in the business of delighting people, to treat others as the best experiences we've had as buyers, and all of our items are guaranteed. We won't stop growing, learning, and listening. A very special warm thank you to all our incredible return "customers", we really think of you all as fellow friends in vinyl, and if this is your first time bidding with us, we hope our "record" speaks for itself, ensuring a secure feeling to bid with confidence, thank you all, truly together we make this community one that spreads the love, sharing in this special thing of all of ours :) ***

* After this week's auction, (In no particular order) we have in the auction pipeline:
Classic Golden Era Soul Funk Part II, nearly 80+ lp's, top shelf stuff.....
2nd Modern Soul / Gospel / Boogie / AOR, Part "II"
More Deep Funk / Soul 45rpm 7", as well as AOR / Power Pop / Rock 45rpm 7"
A giant stash of rare Open Drum Breaks, emanating from a variety of groovy genres, the kind of lps both dope / under the radar sale!
A few more cooking, not to mention our exciting, anticipated:
Part 4 "Giant Jazz"; jazz funk, spiritual, fusion, synth jazz underground, etc. sale lp's

*^(Each are loaded with some of the rarest, high end stuff, plenty that haven't shown up in years, unknown mind-blowers, Grail Pieces, like always, all original editions!)
We'd be honored if you'd consider saving us as a favorite seller :)***

All soundclips used are unedited directly from the item up for sale :). See below for detailed grading!
***Everything is 100% guaranteed! We've sold over 1,500+ records in the past year alone, with 100% positive feedback, bid with confidence :)

Feel free to message any questions!

*Note: Any Item that does not have a soundclip, feel free to message us, and we can make one for you :) 

**Note: for items with multiple players, the title of track is above each player; the player enables scrolling through!**


Soundclip info: A2 "7:15 Funk (Do It For Yourself)",B2 "You Sure Love To Ball", A4 "Another World", b2 begins at 1:37, a4 begins at 3:01    
Soundclip:  Update your internet browser to latest version in order to play audio clip.

Media Grade:  NM (OG deadstock unsealed by me, truly pristine copy, peep the soundclips!)   
Sleeve Grade:  NM (unsealed by me, still in original shrink wrap, as sharp as it gets! See photos!) 
Year / Label / Catalogue #:   1973* (*Recorded, first release 1980)  /  51 West Records & Tapes (short-lived CBS specialty sub-label)  /  Q16106 (1st press, Stereo, 1A/1B stampers, Terre Haute plant likely "T" in deadwax)
Brief Comments: The very first of the "Memphis Sessions", what was nearly their first solo album (they'd have to wait until 1976, on Mercury for that) by Con Funk Shun, the Bay Area originating top soul/funk group, forming as Seniors in High School in 1969 (going by "Project Soul", they have a deep funk grail!), influenced by Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown, The Nite-Liters (the group name comes from a track title by them!), among others, they went to Memphis in late 1972 hired by Stax to be the backing band for "The Soul Children", they began to work on a solo project in early 1973, with Ted Sturges as producer, at Audio Dimensions Studios in Memphis; like Dr. Dre or Billy Corgan with "Siamese Dream", these guys were perfectionists, putting in 100's of hours during these sessions, meant to be released as full LP for Fretone (Estelle Axton, co-founder of Stax, her own imprint, meant to be "cutting-edge", releasing 45's like Logic Circuit "Motocross", the group Caution "Love-Rays" 45, Lillian Hale, "Brothers By Choice" 45's among others), Fretone never did release a full LP though, of any artist, they did release two Con Funk Shun 45's from 1974 sessions, in 1974. 
Con Funk Shun was determined, going by "Con-Funk-Shun" by that point, finally getting a big break in 1975, traveling to Japan to perform, word got out about this incredibly tight funky, jazzy, "cosmic funk", deep soul, original group, with a real unique sound, and Mercury jumped to sign them, releasing their self-titled commercial debut in 1976, beginning a long string of albums to come....
People in the industry knew about these "Memphis Sessions", a bevy of fully ready to go recordings from 1973, light-years ahead, with this completely unique admixture of psychedelic deep funk, sweet soul, jazz-funk, early "Cosmic Funk" like "Lonesome Highway", apparently Mercury had no interest in releasing them, but they also didn't own these from signing the contract, slowly, cautiously labels wanted to know how they could release it, without offending Mercury (Con-Funk-Shun was more than ready for the release, but also embittered to a reasonable degree, figuring had it got it's 1973 release, even 1974, it would have launched them way further), Pickwick had purchased and got a hold of what they only to knew to be "Memphis Sessions", for a pretty good deal from Estelle Axton, but that's because it "B-Side single" or "to make for future album" stuff, it was really good, but not as much "an LP in waiting" as a mishmash of matierial, "Seascape" is dope, but that was basically supposed to be an intro or interlude, meant to be edited down from 8 minutes to around 1 minute to 1:25, to segue into a changeup that would have been fleshed out with vocals, just to give an idea (totally pick it up, "Organized Con-Funk-Shun" 1978 Pickwick, great lp of 1973 matierial!), but Pickwick did that sort of stuff, it was in their wheelhouse, as a jack-of-all-trades major-ish but not "Major, Major" label. 
CBS created a specialty sub-label in 1979, "51 West Records", with a sort of eclectic mix of Holiday Themed Disco / Boogie lps, "Compilation reissues", from Jimi Hendrix, Ronnie Milsap, Ink Spots, Sam Cooke, comedy records, stuff like "The Archie's", but also rare unreleased tracks by Brad Baker Chocolate Company (they have a 1978 T.K. sublabel lp "B.B. Chocolate Co." lp), and what seems to be the sole release by "Ebony Silhouette", an enigmatic soul/funk one-off, they have no other releases (interestingly the notes allude to "already released matierial" but there so far is nothing to show anything was ever released, except the lp on 51 West!). So CBS, through their 51 West sub-label, cut a considerably huge check to producer Ted Sturges (big check for unreleased matierial, to a producer), (who by the time, given Axton figured no deal was coming, granted Sturges ownership, as Producer, the band would have had some troubles getting ownership without Mercury giving consent, which they were not going to do, having no intention of releasing it), Con-Funk-Shun was having wild commercial success, several more decimal points on their checks, so they figured why not, even supplying the Photos for the front / back cover, having kept several from the era. 
So 51 West released it, getting a master tape mixdown from Michael Stewart, who promised the group to adhere to "the vision" -(they viewed the Pickwick as a joke, but were very proud of Stewart's work), 1980 saw the group release on Mercury both "Touch", and "Spirit of Love", 1981 with "7", and making it clear to the big record chains, that "The Memphis Sessions" was not to be put in the Con-Funk-Shun section, some chains quickly put it to cut-out bins if they had ordered any, others warehoused them at a deductible loss, it was smaller stores, and not very many, who ended up with some copies, as part of deals for the other "compilations", "reissues", "comedy / holiday" records of 51 West, to do with as they saw fit. The cassette's and 8-tracks ended up at some local African-American stores that carried racks, a friend of mine no joke, was at this long time Liquor / cigarette's / sandwiches / beer shop in Memphis, Tennessee, in the real real area (back in the day, they sold so many Memphis Rap tapes, by the cash register, CD's to, which is how he ended up there), they were kind to let him browse the basement (I'll never forget being on the phone as he drove, went inside, etc., I convinced him, to buy a bottle of Johnny Walker Gold, that I would buy from him, saying a purchase like that, is more likely to yield any access, info, for Tapes, CD's, as they are a business, and can't just stop that to do this, it worked!), he found both a sealed 8-track, and Cassette in their basement of this one! (He did find some cool Memphis CD's, more major label stuff, and one at the time unknown Memphis rap cassette, Tommy Wright orbit, the kind soul gifted me the JW Gold for the tip!).
So it became extremely rare basically, the LP was kind of locked out of distribution, the 8-track, cassette sales helped do some off-setting, but ultimately it got deleted, just one LP press run, and it's never been reissued in any form (51 West has gone defunct, for a long time), the fact is, the demand for reissue has been high (P-Vine, Numero, and others), but no one can locate the tapes, privately I've heard from both an American, and Japanese person involved in re-issue labels confide the tapes were destroyed in that catastrophic UMG fire in 2008 (one of the between 100,000-500,000 master tapes gone....we only learned in 2018...).
If a reissue is ever made, it's going to have to be done, using the LP, in a process that is extremely delicate, but do-able, otherwise it's sadly liable to be lost to time, save for those souls who make HQ Wav. Rips.
It's front to back, a mind-melter, truly one of those "that could have been a masterpiece in it's day", and it still is, I personally think it's the best they did *(tied perhaps with some of the killer 80's boogie, but that feels different, you know?), this is their "golden era" soul/funk rare groove masterpiece, it's hard to compare it to anything, it's like the best releases on Hot Wax, meets the jazzier Kool & The Gang, meets Mandrill's thickest early work (but not Latin vein, the jazzier, more psyched cuts), B1 "The Way It Should Be (Felton's Song)" gives me Bill Withers, Terry Callier, echoes of Sam Cooke "Mr. Soul", a minimal beautiful track.....my sticky note was running out of room, because every track was so moving, (I like to have them, sticky notes, to refer back to, given the amount of records in the collect), had this been a private press, small label, the only LP release on say Fretone, it'd be a grail we all talk about.....
The best chance, to get the best possible OG copy, unsealed by me, played front to back, pristine, the keeper copy of this still underrated full album gem!
Peep the soundclips :)




*Tariffs aren't going to impact used vinyl records / music media, we wish they were never in place at all, so for international buyers, don't worry on that account! **Note ^That is in regard to EXTRA ordinary tariffs for political reasons, if you are an international buyer we urge you to contact us prior to shipping for clarity!
For our record grading, we stand by the merits outlined in the scale below, anything VG or below will have a detailed explanation in brackets next to the grade.
For sleeves, we will mention anytime there is split, or defect not visible in the photos in brackets next to the grade, otherwise we refer to the photos for the merit of the grade. Of course any questions, concerns, are always welcome :) 
Our media grading scale is as follows: [*Quick note, our VPI is still in storage on the other side of the US, we do brush clean many  items carefully, but we have to prioritize, we won't leave anyone stranded with a filthy record, only "filthy" good! We don't factor dust particles into the grading]
NM = Essentially a pristine album, like new, rarely used.
EX = Under bright light if there is any scuffs or mark, which will be inaudible, most collectors and sellers would tend to consider it closer to NM, EX is also the grade others might call VG++ under the same level of conservative scrutiny.
VG+ = More then a small handful of scuffs, light marks, nothing feelable, will have high-gloss, a thoroughly enjoyable copy that may only have tiny moments of barely perceptible surface noise overpowered by the music. Our VG+ will satisfy the vast majority of collectors as a nice keeper copy, as collector's ourselves for nearly two decades, this grade is aimed to be a great keeper. Note if say the record has a light DNAP warp, but otherwise is NM, we will automatically put it to VG+ and detail that. Another scenario is if a copy plays at a solid EX, but visually is VG, the composite grade will be VG+, and detailed as such.
VG = More hairlines, more marks, maybe a few visible scratches, no more then two feelable scratches (which automatically lowers to VG-), there likely will be surface noise, but will play through, still being an enjoyable copy, the audio quality will satisfy most collector's (the golden rule: if it doesn't satisfy us, it won't be VG), if a record is otherwise EX, but has a slight momentary skip, where 99% of the record is EX, we will note that, and put it at VG. Usually will retain a nice gloss.
VG- = More Scratches than VG, surface noise will jump out more, it be overpowered for longer stretches, or compete with the music in places, it will likely play all the way through on most turntables, a copy that you can still get a decent play enjoyment from.
G+ = Lots of scratches, deeper ones, surface noise now mostly overpowers or competes with the music. It may skip in some places. We don't tend to sell G+ copies, unless the rarity is so great, and that will be precisely detailed.
Thrashed = Pretty much a "Theoretical Grade" for us, it be for all intents & purposes virtually unplayable, it would be for display purposes, or perhaps if you needed the cover but not the record. It's "theoretical" because so far we haven't sold or identified anything intended to sell at this bottom level.
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Thank you from EnfieldVinyl, a family business, and the auction venture of EnfieldRecords :)
Kindly,
-Alec :D
&
-Ellie :)