The History of Privilege Records

 

Privilege Records was formed in 1974 by Terry Manning in Memphis, Tennessee. Terry had been partnered with John Fry in the Ardent Records label from the late 1960's, and they had released albums through Stax Records starting in 1972. However, despite the excellent recordings on Ardent, little radio or sales success came their way at the time. Although the highest contemporary charting release was CARGOE's "Feel Alright", by far the most popular group from the Ardent stable over time has become BIG STAR. The first two BIG STAR albums, #1 Record and Radio City, not to mention their later releases, have become cult classics, influencing many rock and pop bands since that time. Because of the lack of sales, and with a move of office into the Stax Records building on Union Extended, Terry decided to form a new label in an attempt to garner success. Although it seemed a good idea at the time, was certainly the most viable option readily available, and was a deal for distribution rather than for master rights, the choice to distribute the Privilege product through the Stax Records system would prove to result in the same lack of contemporary succes that Ardent had seen. Yet, despite this fact, Privilege Records have also become collector's items, and sometimes the subject of much mystery and debate.

 

Three singles make up the entire released catalogue of Privilege Records:

 

PVA-7001

Thomas Dean

"Oh Babe" b/w "Try A Little Harder"

 

PVA-7002

Warp Nine

"Theme From Star Trek" b/w "Para Song I"

 

PVA-7003

Big Star

"September Gurls" b/w "September Gurls"

 

Thomas Dean was actually Thomas Dean Eubanks, or Tom Eubanks, who had been a member of the bands CHRISTMAS FUTURE and ROCK CITY, both of which consisted of members of the later group BIG STAR, namely Christopher Bell and Jody Stephens. Tom was the co-writer of "My Life Is Right", one of the songs on BIG STAR's #1 Record. This song had actually been recorded almost two years earlier by ROCK CITY, with a very similar sound. In fact, for the BIG STAR version, the piano is Terry Manning's original, and the bass is Tom's original. Chris Bell reworked the ROCK CITY track with new vocals and some new guitars for the BIG STAR release. Terry got together with Tom in 1974 to record the two Privilege songs at Ardent Studios on Madison Avenue. Fred Prouty from the Ardent Record's group THE HOT DOGS was the drummer, Tom played rhythm guitar, and Bill Cunningham of The Box Tops played bass and arranged the saxophones. Bill brought in John Boyd and a couple of other Memphis State University students to play those wacky saxes. Terry Manning played lead guitar and produced and engineered. On the "B" side, "Try A Little Harder", Jeff Smith played the leads, but the other players were the same (except for no saxes!) The record was released with some fanfare, and got plenty of radio play in various parts of the USA in it's first two weeks. But lack of followup, lack of records in stores and lack of proper promotion spelled disaster for chart aspirations.

Copies which may exist could be either "store" versions, or "radio promo" versions, which would be marked "D.J. Copy (Not For Sale)". The label artwork used (designed by Terry Manning and Ron Pekar, the artist of the BIG STAR neon star) was the original green tree on white background with blue type.

Warp Nine's "Theme From Star Trek" was all played by Terry Manning. The synthesizer had just become a big deal, and Terry had been one of the first to try it out. In fact, he went to Trumansburg, New York in 1968 to meet and learn from Robert Moog himself. The Moog synth opening on Terry's Home Sweet Home album was actually recorded there in the Moog factory studio, played by Terry, but programmed by Robert Moog! Terry bought a Moog IIIC, and brought it back to Memphis, where he so wisely employed it on Warp Nine. Other instruments were also used, such as a "beat box" for drums, the famous RMI for melody, and several more. This silly recording, done not only to pay tribute to Gene Roddenberry for his amazing, insightful, ground-breaking Star Trek TV series, but also to shamelessly cash in on a big fad and try to make a wad of money quick, actually turned into the only real contemporary Privilege success! Copies were sold through mail order, and taken to Star Trek conventions all over the USA, where they were sold at booths. The song was actually released in Europe, and got some attention there as well! The "B" side, "Para Song I", was the only semi-serious effort here, and still evokes an unearthly mood. By the way, although a mild success, that wad of money never showed up at the Privilege offices!

Copies of Warp Nine were all on a green background with black type, no tree. This was because Stax, in financial difficulty, had struck a deal with a small pressing plant/studio in Arkansas, and that plant had limited printing facilities. So the three color label wasn't possible, and the tree disappeared for a while.

Stax had almost worn out its pop welcome at radio stations with the Ardent releases. And although most people place the blame for the lack of success with the Ardent product, rightly or wrongly, squarely at Stax's door, it is true that the music these Anglo-Memphians were making wasn't really wanted by most people at the time. So there was perhaps some musical blame to be meted out as well. But the upshot of it all is that Stax was still trying anything to get some attention at radio for their pop wunderkinds. So someone had the brainstorm idea to take the next Ardent single release and also try it on Privilege Records, because, after all, hadn't Privilege just busted down the doors of musicdom with their GREAT Star Trek record? So out came a radio-only release of BIG STAR's "September Gurls". Radio stations all over the USA received their copies of this release, and most of them dutifully tossed the discs right into their round filing cabinets. This is very unfortunate, because these records today would be quite the collectibles. We could all go out into city dumps everywhere, and sift through 30 years of garbage in hopes that the discs hadn't warped in a summer's heat. But Privilege is proud to have hosted, albeit briefly, this monstrous song. "September Gurls" is indeed one of the seminal songs of pop music, and showcases Alex Chilton at his best.

It is somewhat of a mystery as to which label was used for the Big Star promo release. A few copies exist on the green label, but there is a rumour that ones with the tree have been sighted.

Fortunately, all three of these Privilege Records releases will now be included for the first time on CD in the Lucky Seven Records compilation ROCKIN' MEMPHIS 1960's-1970's, Volume I, released as LS-9210.

So that's the Privilege Story...short but sweet...gone but not-quite-forgotten...yet living on in the spirit of Lucky Seven. But watch out, for there will be future Privilege releases. However, we promise not to do a synthesized version of STAR WARS!

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