Winston Shan & Sheiks - Throw Me Corn / Patricia Edwards - Darling Remember - Bullet Records - 1969

Not to be confused with Larry Marshalls 'Throw Me Corn', this 7" nugget of greatness, from 1969 and released on the Bullet record label, still hits the organ led reggae sweet spot.

I actually managed to get hold of the 7" blank of this record first, several years prior to getting my hands on the UK released Bullet Record version.

The blank had no artist name on, although it did have the title; 'Throw Me Corn'.

I had no idea who the artist was (on either side). This was way, way, way before the internet, eBay, or Discogs. Late eighties or early nineties.

I played both sides of the 7" blank over the phone to 'Rocksteady' Eddie, who at the time was part of the Manasseh sound system crew, and he had no idea who the artists were either!

I was amazed when I randomly came across a 7" on the Bullet record label by Winston Shan and his Sheiks. I bought it for just a couple of quid, took it home and gave it a spin on my turntable. At that point my question of the last two or three years that had passed since the 7" blank landed into my eager hands, had at last got an answer. The answer was right there again in my eager hands.

Winston Shan, sometimes known as Winston Shand, and for one release only, Wailing Soul (not to be confused with the reggae vocal trio of 'Mr Fire Coal Man' fame, along with dozens of other top songs from the Wailing Souls catalogue).

Interestingly, the Wailing Souls record that was released on the Mafiatone record label in 1971, apart from being utterly brilliant (and costing hundreds upon hundreds of pounds £££ for an original copy) is that this is the very first version of the song (that I know of) of a version that I first heard by Singers and Players on the second album; 'Revenge Of The Underdog' released on Adrian Sherwood's On U Sound record label a full decade after Winston Shan(d) / Wailing Souls 7" dropped on the public, no doubt to little fanfare.

On the Singers and Players album, the first track is 'Dungeon' sung by Lizard which segues flawlessly into 'Merchant Ship' sung (chanted) by Prince Far I which finally segues flawlessly into 'Jah Army Band' sung by Bim Sherman, who is still someone sorely missed by me. Bim was lovely.

Bim Sherman's 'Jah Army Band' also found itself retitled as 'Golden Morning Star' on his 'Across The Red Sea' album, also released on the On U Sound record label.

Almost eight minutes of intense musical greatness by three top ranking reggae 'Singers' and the 'Players' being members of Creation Rebel and the Roots Radics, orchestrated and engineered by the hands of the always flawless Adrian Sherwood.

Those of you that might be reading this text should check out Wailing Soul 'Dungeon', and then Singers and Players 'Dungeon / Merchant Ship / Jah Army Band'. Search for Wailing Soul 'Dungeon' first though. Wailing Soul 'Dungeon' is also searchable as Winston Shand 'Dungeon' I have just noticed which makes it easier!

Winston Shan(d) released around fifteen split 7" records for various producers, all listed on Discogs (I cheated to get that detail). 'Split' 7" records meaning Winston Shan(d) on one side of the record, and another artist on the other side of the record.

I know nothing of Winston Shan(d) hence me writing all that other stuff, which might make interesting reading, but I fall flat on any details concerning the man himself!

The flipside cut is Patricia Edwards (who is mis-credited on the UK Bullet record release), but she is correctly credited on the original Jamaican 7" record released on the Carib-Dis-Co record label.

Due to me having the JA Carib-Dis-co blank 7" originally, I had no idea of the B-side song or artist (as well as the aforementioned A-side artist).

When I got hold of the 7" record on the Bullet record label, the B-side was labelled as 'Winston Shan' which of course it clearly isn't, him being a man on the A-side cut, and the other 'Winston Shan' a woman on the B-side cut!

So, I'm not gonna lie... I only found out it was Patricia Edwards a little over a decade ago when I started to find out about Discogs, and their record database!

Believe it or not, this was one of the first records that I looked up on that record database!

Also from Discogs back then, I found out that Patricia Edwards sung this one song, the one on this 7" record, 'Darling Remember'. No other songs were recorded by her, or perhaps more correctly, no other songs were released on vinyl by her. Zero, zilch.

So unless Patricia Edwards was your wife, your mother, your auntie, or any other significant family member or friend, then good luck finding about her history!

A shame really as she sings beautifully, and this B-side is a strong song.

I have written over four thousand words just to tell you all that I know next to nothing about either artist!

Enjoy.