Two Unreleased Contours Recordings From 1961

[nsoule]

I acquired this Bell Sound acetate late-ish last year and forgot to post it here. I tried doing some quick research prior to purchasing and found an entry on DFTMC for the Amos Milburn version of "Bewildered", so I assumed that's what this was an acetate of and imagine my surprise when I got home and discovered that it was two Contours recordings! Both tracks were written by Billy Gordon. I think "The Real Reason" is the better of the two, but I really enjoy the harmonizing at the end of "Bewildered".


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfVJo9bfRJw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RHU6TWADWI

[Motown Eddie]

I acquired this Bell Sound acetate late-ish last year and forgot to post it here. I tried doing some quick research prior to purchasing and found an entry on DFTMC for the Billy Eckstine version of "Bewildered", so I assumed that's what this was an acetate of and imagine my surprise when I got home and discovered that it was two Contours recordings! Both tracks were written by Billy Gordon. I think "The Real Reason" is the better of the two, but I really enjoy the harmonizing at the end of "Bewildered".

This is a Great Find! And I agree that "The Real Reason" is the better of the two songs [it reminds me of the B-Side of "Whole Lotta Woman", "Come On And Be Mine"]. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[theboyfromxtown]

I love them both. Had a spell of playing them on repeat. I posted a comment on the video a while back. There is more than one saved mix.

[mysterysinger]

Was it this same type of acetate Motown would play in the weekly meetings to decide what should be released? Would, say, the producer have sent over a copy tape to the Bell people for the purposes of having the demo made - if so how long before they came back? Or was it typical to take the tape over and wait for the output? And how much to have an acetate produced [[presume different $ depending on whether one or two sided). I just like trying to understand the process.

[Roger Polhill]

Thank you nsoule for sharing with us, it`s great to hear 2 more Contours songs.

[robb_k]

Thanks nsoule for letting us hear these interesting old songs. I like both better than most of the Billy Gordon led recordings by them. "Bewildered" is a halfway decent group harmony song. I think it beats out "Funny" by them. But, I wouldn't play it often as "listening music". I'd rather have heard a better arrangement and sung by a group with much better singers. The "Jump/Novelty" side is fairly "run of the mill", but interesting to hear for the first time. I do like some of the better Motown '50s Doo-Wop/Group Harmony style recordings by more polished groups.