So y'all, I've been doing some research on the Nat Turner Rebellion and I thought I'd share some exciting findings I've made since the VMP announcement. This is gonna be a long post but I think you'll find it worthwhile!
First a quick recap: when
@Storf was giving his clues and when VMP eventually made the announcement, everyone was under the impression NTR had made only three singles before fading into obscurity.
But it turns out that due to some poor labeling of releases on discogs (since corrected), there was a fourth single released simply under the name "Nat Turner." The A-side was a song called "Ruby Lee" (included on the VMP 7") while the B-side was a track called "You Are My Sun Sign," which is not found anywhere on the VMP edition.
A few copies of this fourth single were for sale on discogs, and all were quickly snatched up following this discovery lol
Anyways...
"Huh, the cover art for the above YouTube video isn't a vinyl single, what's up with that?" you're no doubt asking. I'll address that in a second. But first, back to unreleased NTR songs. Fourteen songs out of about 20 total are being released on the LP and new single. So we know that "Sun Sign" can be found on that elusive single from the early 70s, but what about the remaining five songs?
From the Storf AMA:
So we're missing:
-A two song suite that sounds nothing like the rest of the album
-A song that kind of sucks
-A ballad that didn't fit in anywhere else
-Two other songs of mystery that could've made the cut but didn't
In my opinion "Sun Sign" falls in that last bullet point, unless Storf really didn't like it
These songs are still in the possession of Drexel and Reservoir, so there's certainly a possibility they'll be released in some form some time down the road.
But if you're craving stuff and really want it now here's where things get interesting.
There's more Nat Turner content out there. Like, right now.
In the 1990s, Philly Groove label owners Stan Watson and Reid Whitelaw began licensing out their catalogue for numerous compilations. It wasn't just Delfonics and Spinners stuff either, they dug into their archives and made available material from bands like Finishing Touch, The Coupe De Villes, Ben Aiken, Broadway Express and... you guessed it, Nat Turner Rebellion.
But they also didn't limit it to previously released material from the 70s. Many of the songs from these artists had truly been previously unreleased, and NTR was no exception. Some songs like "Care" and "Never Too Late" can be found on these comps, 20+ years before their official debut on this month's Classics release.
I haven't listened to the new LP on Spotify (gonna wait until I get my grubby hands on the vinyl) so I can't compare the quality of the recordings or say for certain they are identical versions... for example the "Sun Sign" YouTube video I posted above is from one of these compilations and is actually an edited version of the song. It's about 90 seconds shorter than what's on the 7" vinyl release. It's possible some of these other NTR songs are altered as well.
So I'm going to highlight a few of these compilations and the NTR songs found within! Songs in bold are not from one of the four original 7" singles from the 1970s.
Deep in the Philly Groove (Kent Soul, UK, 1994)
NTR songs: Ruby Lee, You Are My Sun Sign (Part 1),
Handle with Care, Can't Go On Living
Notes: "Sun Sign" is edited to 3 minutes here compared to about 4:30 on the vinyl single. That might explain the "Part 1" in the title, which I have never seen labeled as such anywhere else. "Handle with Care" is actually the song "Care" which is on the VMP album. Several compilations have this mistake, which seems to stem from a Ben Aiken song that is indeed called "Handle with Care" and often is found alongside NTR in these compilations.
Deeper in the Philly Groove (Kent Soul, UK, 1999)
NTR songs: Laugh to Keep from Crying,
McBride's Daughter,
Never Too Late
Notes: Well, if a-b lost her argument and "McBride's Daughter" had gotten left off the VMP release, we could at least have sought it out from here.
"Never Too Late" also made the VMP cut.
Philly ReGrooved - Tom Moulton Remixes (Harmless, UK, 2010)
NTR songs: Ruby Lee
Notes: Oh hey, the Father of the Remix did a whole series of remix albums shortly before Philly Groove's assets were sold, and in them he did a remix for exactly one NTR song: "Ruby Lee." It's basically an extended mix with a long instrumental intro and outro that adds about two minutes to the song. Makes you kind of want to put on some roller skates and zip around a roller rink. Here it is:
Philly Groove - Early Singles (P-Vine Records, Japan, 1994)
NTR songs: Ruby Lee, You are My Sun Sign, Can't Go On Livin',
Never too Late, Laugh to Keep from Crying,
Care,
The Robot Part 1,
The Robot Part 2
Notes: WOW! Eight songs, both released and unreleased. "Sun Sign" is still edited but the obvious highlights are those last two songs. We've found our two-song suite! We just had to import a 25-year-old compilation released exclusively in Japan for it lmao
So anyways The Robot is a mostly instrumental jam that is divided into two tracks, each about two and a half minutes long. It's kind of like it was actually a single song that was split in half for the A and B sides of a 7" that never came to fruition.
I didn't find part two on YouTube, but you get the gist. It's interesting to note the above video has a copyright claim by Reservoir Media, so hey, maybe they will be doing something more with this.
So in conclusion:
-Six Nat Turner Rebellion songs were left off the album/7" single
-Three can be found elsewhere
-Three are still missing
-There's an extended version of "Ruby Lee" by Tom Moulton out there too if that's your thing
-I spent too much time and money finding this out
www.discogs.com
