SACRED & ROUND

Set up by Eddie Singleton with Berry Gordy’s ex-wife Raynoma (Miss Ray) in 1964, the Shrine label, based in Washington DC, has been highly collectable for over 50 years. Shrine had no hits – in fact, they had very few sales at all. What it did have was musical talent and a business plan that ended in glorious failure – thereby making the 20 singles that were pressed sought-after by soul aficonados. As a new Ace Records compilation rounds them up in one place, Ady Croasdell gazes enviously down the list of their releases – with estimated asking prices in Mint condition

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When Shrine Records went out of business back in 1966, Eddie Singleton literally left the remaining stock in the office before locking the door for the last time.

At least, he thought it was the last time. Instead, a few years later, interest was rekindled in the label when a few of the uptempo numbers were played on the Northern soul scene of the 70s, notably Eddie Daye’s pounding Guess Who Loves You spun by DJ Richard Searling at Wigan Casino. The classy This Time by Ray Pollard and femme stomper Hey Boy by the DC Blossoms also delighted the dancefloor.

It was young Turk DJs like Keb Darge and Guy Hennigan at Stafford’s Top Of The World all-nighters in the 80s who really took up Shrine’s cause and the search for the hidden gems was on.

“People were buying the known records on Shrine but no one was buying the unknown records,” recalls Darge today. “I thought, there must be some good stuff on this label – I’m going to get them all.”

Soon, copies of singles by The Cautions, Cairos and Les Chansonettes went “massive” on the scene and J.D. Bryant’s big ballad, I Won’t Be Coming Back, sold for a fortune. Shirley Edwards’ ethereal Dream My Heart became a cult classic – a title to drop as a DJ to show that you knew – and also had an elusive copy.

Luckily for Singleton, years later he was able to get his hands on the original masters from the studio most tracks had been laid down in. These tapes also revealed unissued gems from The Prophets (later to emerge as a 7”), Bobby Reed, The Wisemen, Little Bobbie Parker and others. Ace Records’ recent compilation, Shrine Northern – The 60s’