Justice Records was a vanity label based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and run by Calvin Newton. For well under $1,000 a band could record an album’s worth of songs in 4 hours at a local studio, have a few hundred copies pressed with a b&w cover, and then maybe try to recoup their investment by selling copies at their gigs.
Skip and the Creations cut their Justice lp in 1967. They had a fan club based in Colonial Heights, Virginia, outside of Petersburg, According to the caption on the blurry photo on the back cover, band members were Skip, Walter, Brute, Jeffrey, Rick and Tommy. Someone has assiduously marked Jeffrey and Skip on all the photos on my copy, too bad they didn’t include the guys’ last names!
One source says MOBAM stands for “Makers Of Bad-Assed Music” which you may or may not agree with, but there are some fine cuts on this lp. Leading the bunch is what appears to be a band original, “I’m Calling You Baby”. Of the cover songs, my favorite is the lead-off track, “Respectable”, and I like their version of “Harlem Shuffle” almost as much. The band manages to get a good groove going on “Ninety Nine and a Half” after the guitarist’s intro nearly goes MIA.
A good overview of the Justice label is available here.
According to the album image – they were from Colonial Heights – not Colonial Beach.
Colonial Heights is just south of Richmond.
LOVE YER SITE!!
Thanks for catching that!
i just went over and ordered a c.d. copy of ‘MOBAM’, certainly one of the top ten best garage records ever; thanks for reminding us all of how great this is, i heard mp3’s of these guys elsewhere awhile ago, and the memory of their greatnees got lost somehow. Screw what Lysergia sez about this! Only the dizzying noise and color of a walk along the Va. Beach boardwalk on the 4th Of July comes even close to matching the power and energy of this beast of record!!!!
I am the lead singer on the Skip and the Creations MOBAM record. we were 15 to 19 years of age. We played on week-ends and traveled around in the back of an old Chevy panel delivery truck which looked much like an early model Suburban. We had a blast and It was the first venture into the music industry for most of us. I myself sang in several groups since then , and just decided to give it up New Years 2014. Music has always been a part of my life and I am sure it will continue to be. I have one of your CD,s of the album. I thank you so much for the type of work you are doing.
P.S MOBAM does stand for Makers of Bad Ass Music but most of us did not know that was going to be on the label as well as the intro to Skip and the Creations. We were known as The Creations. Strange how those things happen when somebody provides the information.
Couldn’t sleep this morning so do what I always do and searched YouTube for some rare cuts and came across this and loved it! Great blend of raw energy along with some beautiful vocals, rare to have both working together so well. I’m ready for a toga party!
David thanks for listening to the Creations. It was our first venture into being a band. So much fun. Thanks again. Brute Vaughan Lead Vocalist
Great album for it’s time and great listening to it recently.
I am curious how many copies of the Skip and the Creation MOBAM are floating around? I have seen ONE in the past few months. I’m currently living in Chesterfied, next to Colonial Heights!
thanks
I mean the original black and white album…..