Rickie Boger - Slow Down Baby 1976 Muse Records lp OG RARE groove Soul Funk NM

$

128

Welcome to our golden age "soul/funk" / Rare Groove auction, WE COMBINE SHIPPING! :)
This week features original pressings of The 3 Pieces - Vibes Of Truth 1975 lp, Mike James Kirkland - Hang On In There 1972 Bryan lp, ESG 1981 light blue 99 Records EP, Eddie Bo - Watch For The Coming 1980 lp, Lafayette Afro-Rock Band - Malik 1976 Makossa promo lp, Marvin Holmes, the first Funkadelic 1970 Westbound lp, The Ultimate's 1976 TSG lp, exceptional James Brown & JB's, Allen Toussaint, Roy Ayers, Gil Scott-Heron, Sam Dees, David Axelrod, Curtis Mayfield, Minnie Riperton, Oliver Sain, Northern Soul, Chicago Soul,  the Memphis/Stax/Volt scene, Motown Psychedelic soul, New Orleans funk such as The Meters, the Philly Scene including the Delfonics, Florida with the Miami Funk/Soul T.K. Family, and much more!  **After the first 6 lp's it will mostly go by year, the vast majority are early 1970's, sweet soul, psychedelic soul, soul/funk, funk, some jazz/funk as a taste, cinematic soul / funk, tons of obscure / rare, also some nice classic staples, and the ordering is a little idiosyncratic for example multiple releases by the same artist, we put together beginning with earliest release by year. I promise the scroll starting with "ending soonest" or "newly listed" is worth it, so many gems! *Note: Everything in this sale is an original first press, no reissues, no bootlegs! :)**
Approximately 200+ items, all originals, many have soundclips from the actual record!

* After this week's auction, we'll need about 2-3 weeks to begin our next two major auctions, our highest end sales with an even greater quantity of listings, lots of grail pieces:  Rare Funk /Soul 45's, Ultimate Breaks & Beats Originals, Gospel/Modern Soul, Jazz-Funk / Spiritual Jazz / Soul Jazz / Fusion, so stay tuned, we'd be honored if you saved us as a favorite seller, we a couple thousand items coming down the pipeline in total!*
All soundclips used are unedited directly from the item up for sale :). See below for detailed grading!
All records are vintage, originals, in extraordinary exceptions, it will be noted if it is a reissue multiple times. Feel free to message any questions!
**For 12" singles, we aren't going to grade generic sleeves, or company generic sleeves, but we will grade any picture sleeve, sleeve specific to the exact release :)

Soundclip info:  A3 "In A Little While", B1 " Slow Down Baby", A1 "What Could It Be?", B4 "Baby Won't You Stay" 
Soundclip:  Update your internet browser to latest version in order to play audio clip.

Media Grade:  NM
Sleeve Grade:  NM (still in shrink)
Year / Label / Catalogue #:  1976  /  Muse Records  / MR 5084  
Brief Comments: Ahh Muse Records, it was great fortune that early on when I began diggin' (15 years ago...High School Freshman), I found both early Norman Connors lp's on Cobblestone, being blown away, I remembered all the names, and more then a couple either played on, or such as Carlos Garnett, recorded some fire on the label. I would buy practically anything Muse put out, at one point I had nearly every heavyweight on the label (missed a chance for Buster Williams - Pinnacle when it was still $70 for a clean copy....the only rare Muse record I don't have, albeit in recent years I sold my Roy Brooks "Free Slave" in shrink, one of the toughest decisions, but it went to a good friend in Baltimore, at least it's definitely got a nice home). By the way, when the giant jazz/jazz funk/spiritual jazz auction drops, be prepared for clean copies of top shelf titles on the label coming down the pipeline.... I digress.
Rickie Boger's solo lp, her only album, is a delightful unexpected treasure, a soul/funk album, played by heavyweights (Onaje Allen Gumbs on the Fender Rhodes!). A fascinating story why this, the one and only soul/funk album on this venerable deep jazz label (a killer soul/funk album with jazz-funk underpinnings!), begins with the Rock group "Rush". Donna Halper, a radio DJ in Cleveland, helped get them signed to Mercury, by playing the Moon label s/t album track "Working Man" over and over to such great acclaim. Boger had shopped a demo in 1975 to several major labels, including Mercury, who all wanted her to water down her sound for commercial pop. But Donna Halper consulting mercury at the time, befriended Rickie, and with that special ear for talent, called up the man, former A&R head at Buddah sublabel "Cobblestone", one Joe Fields, the President of Muse. Upon meeting with her, hearing her demo, Fields knew she was a serious voice, creative genius (every track / composition is an original by Ms. Boger), and paired her up with Howard Johnson (arranger/conductor), and some of the best musicians, Buddy Terry plays on the date as well! They recorded it, late in  1975, and released it in early 1976, but sadly it flopped, and became the least successful Muse release, with virtually non-existent sales. Record stores, accustomed to Muse in the jazz section, didn't know where to put it (most ended up in miscellaneous "R" or "B" of the jazz section, didn't sell to their jazz clientele, or worse was returned by angry customers expecting a jazz album), and others preemptively didn't want to stock a soul album from a jazz label, fearing it wouldn't sell. Sad to say, using her photo did not help sales, it's not a very flattering photograph, another issue (one imagines a 1970's record store might have gotten behind a "sexy cover", maybe). Anyhow, most went straight to the cut out bins, it only had one print/press. Even worse, it inadvertently destroyed Rickie Boger's chances of a recording career, because now she had one tremendously bad selling album, on a label that made any potential labels question the judgement of her signing with them. It's a horrible shame, this beautiful gifted woman, had giant talent, and it seems without Donna Halper to Joe Fields, she might never had gotten to release an album. So we can be grateful this exists, it's a treasure.
One of the best soul/funk albums, even deep crate diggers have never heard of (Even if they have a nice clean white label promo of Buster Williams "Pinnacle" next to Richard Davis's "Dealin'"....)
I love Walt Barr's albums, they are treasures, this one by Rickie Boger is the Alice Walker on mainstream release by Muse. Listen to the clips, no soul/funk album that insanely good, insanely rare would otherwise go for under a few C  Notes....;)
Pristine copy :)

*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!
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.
Every item is guaranteed to YOUR satisfaction, no questions asked, 100% refund. We stand by our integrity, our goal is to make sure you are absolutely delighted with your purchase, to deliver a cherished album to your collection :). On the slightest chance of human error, if we make a mistake, we take accountability for that, we don't anyone to have a record they aren't happy with! Bid with confidence :)
If you have multiple items, please wait for us to combine shipping for you! We can combine up to 4 items for the standard shipping rate, and save you $ on additional items. We don't charge a single penny over what the shipping costs, so you are paying only the amount the postal service receives!
Default shipping is USPS media mail, USPS International mail. If you prefer a different carrier, or expedited shipping, please message us before payment, so we can set up the invoice for you :)
We have it set to 5 day shipping / handling time, as a just in case, typically about 98.7% of our orders are shipped out the day of payment (first day the post office is open), with the vast majority being the second day. We'll message on the extraordinary off-chance if doesn't go out on Tuesday (our auctions mostly ending on Saturdays, Sundays), with the reason and day it will go out, so far that's only happened once on a giant order, and all was well.
Thank you from EnfieldVinyl, a family business, and the auction venture of EnfieldRecords :)
Kindly,
-Alec :D
&
-Ellie :)