Private Stock Records : Has anyone ever ascertained what happened to the masters?

It appears that with the exception of those masters that were not controlled/stored by Private Stock, all the Private Stock Records masters have disappeared. I was reminded of this by the thread on the Rhino Have a Nice Day series, where each time a Private Stock label single comes up, it's a vinyl dub...

Larry Uttal, the guy who ran Private Stock (and Bell before that) was a real singles guy, and there are some nice pop pleasures among the 200+ singles issued on PS before they went bankrupt in the late '70s.

SUPPOSEDLY, the masters were kept in storage, and one story is that as Uttal's health went south years later, the storage costs weren't paid and the tapes were...disposed of somehow...(Sold/trashed? Who knows).

The thing is: Uttal didn't die until 1993. I would have though that by then people would have contacted him to get masters for the CD era. But for some reason, that doesn't seem to have been the case. His son, who apparently controls whatever rights PS would have to the masters, has no idea what happened to them...

Does anyone know more of the story?

 

I would like to hear more about this myself. I recently picked up the Natural Gas reissue...surely this was not from the master tape!

 

I'm trying to recall what and who was on Private Stock, and I come up with Frankie Valli, John Travolta, David Soul, Samantha Sang...anyone else of consequence?

I honestly have to say that none of the recordings these artists issued on this particular label strike me as especially consequential. Am I missing something here?

 

I suspect Blondie had theirs shipped out before it was lost.

 

Some artists that recorded on Private Stock include:

The Band of The Black Watch
Brownsville Station
James Darren (briefly)
Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids
Robert Gordon
Cyndi Grecco
Rupert Holmes (briefly)
Cissy Houston
Innervision
Terry Jacks (briefly)
Vicki Lawrence
Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band
Shad O'Shea & The 18 Wheelers
David Parton
Purple Reign
Austin Roberts
Billy Joe Royal (briefly)
Samantha Sang
Peter Skellern
David Soul
Starbuck
U.S. 1
Frankie Valli
The Michael Zager Band

and that was just for charted Billboard singles. They were pretty much toast by the end of 1978. There's a brief story on it on Wikipedia, and it says that the label closed down when Uttal moved to London (but no details).

 

I didn't even know this was released on CD! (will I ever be able to stop spending on music?!).

Are you saying then that it does not sound too good?

 

Larry Uttal was the ultimate singles man, both at Private Stock and earlier at Bell. Albums...yeah, whatever. He had ears for singles. So these labels, although they ultimately turned out some significant LPs, can be best understood through their single releases. That does mean that, ultimately, they are not thought of as substantial labels, because mostly people think of albums (and album artists) when trying to evaluate a label's worth.

There are a LOT of cool single artifacts on both labels, and neither label has been properly anthologized.

The following tapes were NOT lost, because the artists either controlled them from the onset, or because the contracts were sold before Private Stock disappeared: The Four Seasons, Blondie, Robert Gordon, David Soul, Samantha Sang.

 

Private Stock was pretty much Bell Records part 2 - a real hodgepodge of artists, even tossing out an LP of early Rod Stewart tracks from the 60's.

BTW who distributed the label in other countries? I know Quality Records did in Canada.

 

The Troggs had a pretty good album or two on the label as well.

 

Their first album tapes were, yes. But their first single — "X Offender"/"In the Sun," both a little different to the album versions — evidently stayed with the rest of the Private Stock stuff; I've only ever heard vinyl transfers of these (including really awful ones on the 2001 remaster of the first album).

 

Also, Benny Mardones released "Thank God for Girls" on Private Stock. He's probably most known for the song "Into the Night".

 

The Samantha Sang stuff is probably in the Bee Gees vault - at least "Emotion" anyway...

 

The Frankie Valli solo albums released by Collector's Choice as two-fers are definitely from master tapes.

 

Yes, the Natural Gas CD was released last year. When I put it in the CD player, I thought it must be a boot because of the way it sounded. But it is, as far as I know, an official CD. That album should have been very good, but the production was ill suited to the material IMO. "Dark Cloud" is probably my favorite from the album.

 

Here is a brief email conversation I had last year with Jai Uttal, son of the late Larry Uttal:

To: [email protected]

Dear Jai,

Greetings to you and yours. The reason for my writing is, I am a record collector of several years, and a question often raised is the fate the master tapes from your father’s record company, Private Stock. Several tracks that originally appeared on Private Stock Records have been reissued on CD, yet all of them have come from disc dubs, and not from tape sources. Are you at liberty to say if the master tapes still exist, and if so, who controls the Private Stock catalogue? I pose this question to you directly as a recent Rhino compilation CD stated that a Cindy Greco track was licensed directly from you. Myself and fellow collectors are very inquisitive as to if the master tapes are still in existence.

Sincerely,
Garrett Jxxxx

And Jai's response:

Hey there garrett,
Thanks for your note. The fate of the private stock masters!!!!
That's really been a mystery for me since my dad died. Theoretically I control the catalogue but I have no master tapes or vinyl and have no idea where they might be. Strange, isn't it?
Warm wishes,
Jai

 

The Robert Gordon/Link Wray masters probably went to RCA, who signed Gordon and reissued those two albums. That stuff has been reissued by Bear Family on CD, but the sound isn't as good as the original records.
Incidentally, the single version of "Fire" (the first recording of that Springsteen composition) sounds much cooler than the LP version.

 

The Four Seasons Partnership licensed their masters to Larry Uttal. The Partnership still retains possession of the Seasons and Valli masters to this day.

 

I ordered one anyway. I'll compare it to a 'drop that's out there. It's fun to combine the best of the Joey tracks with the best of Head First to make a killer comp.

Anyway, I know this thread is about Private Stock masters. Wish they still existed for the Natural Gas album.

 

Most people HERE think of albums first. To me, personally, Bell and Private Stock are two of the greatest labels ever. Uttal was a singles genius. Unfortunately, Bell has been severely compromised by the fact that all of the label's files were discarded by Clive Davis when he took over the label and after he was no longer Uttal's boyfriend. So there is no way of even knowing what is in there as far as masters, unreleased songs, etc., without physically pulling out the tapes.

Private Stock also had a pretty big presence in England. I'm pretty sure they were distributed by EMI over there. Has anyone ever bothered to check with EMI to see if they have Private Stock tapes? Everyone always makes the assumption that because its gone in the U.S., its gone everywhere. As was mentioned in another thread, Dunhill mono tapes may be trashed in the US but RCA distributed the label worldwide and they have them. I know PS was issued in Canada and Australia as well.

Has anyone ever tried to follow the trail and found out where the tapes were stored? That would be the first thing to do. Its obvious his son knows nothing. I would say, track down the warehouse. They would have records as to whether or not the material was tossed or sold or whatever.

 

The record company usually owns the masters. If a company no longer exists, then the masters belong to whoever took over the assets.

 

That answers that!

 

A number of David Soul tracks have made it to CD all from tapes - These could be from UK dubs though (since they are UK comps).

I'll check to see who they are licensed from!

 

Arista retained the Bell catalog. It was the same company as Bell. All Davis really did was change the name and keep two or three artists. Today, since Arista was distributed by BMG, it's catalog is now owned by Sony/BMG.

Davis is divorced with three children. I have found absolutely no mention of him being gay anywhere. I think that if he were, there would be some mention of it, even a rumor, considering his stature. Uttal was gay, and died of AIDS.

...if those tapes can ever be found, and some of them have.

 

:thumbsdn:

What the hell?