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Koala Record Company?

twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,917 Posts
edited April 2005 in Strut Central
I've posted about this before, but didn't get any leads. Someone said they had an LP on this label (Hook Up, maybe?), but I still haven't discovered anything about it. I've got a Thelma Houston record on Koala that contains what I'm pretty sure is all unreleased material, including some funk joints. I'm just curious how many records they released and where they got the material from.

  Comments

  • lambertlambert 1,166 Posts
    There's John Wagner Coalition's "Shades of Brown" lp.

    That's all i got, dude.

  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    David[/b] - Uprising, KST-5002, 1976 (produced by John Wagner)--Latin rock one-tracker.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    David[/b] - Uprising, KST-5002, 1976 (produced by John Wagner)--Latin rock one-tracker.

    I think that david is a latter issue of an LP that came out on some private label in '72. I sold a latin funk album from a guy/group named david a few months back on the 'bay

    I've been trying to get a copy of the Bobby Glenn LP on Koala for a while now, if anyone gots a copy let me know.
  • mordecaimordecai 2,204 Posts


    JARREAU, AL[/b]
    Lonely Town, Lonely Street (Koala 79)[/b]
    Reviewed by: Motown67
    ????????Alright, here???s the story with this record. A couple years ago I found Al Jarreau???s Jarreau Does Withers LP in a dollar bin in Sacramento. I played it for O-Dub and he went out and found a picture disc with the same songs called Ain???t No Sunshine. Then he tops me again by finding the original source of the Withers??? covers on a record called Lonely Town, Lonely Street. Finding the picture disc was easy but it took me over a year to find this LP and I had to get one via eBay at that. Lonely Town, Lonely Street is a great collection of Bill Withers??? songs done by Jazz vocalist Al Jarreau. You get all of Withers??? hits like Grandma???s Hands, Lean On Me, and Ain???t No Sunshine, plus Use Me and Kissing My Love with drum breaks. There are also some less well-known, but equally good tunes like The Same Love That Made Me Laugh and the title track, making this a very worthwhile record from start to finish.
  • GropeGrope 2,970 Posts
    Main Street - s/t on Koala. It's not good at all.
    John Wagner Coal??tion - Shades Of Brown has been discussed twice this year. I like it. Most others don't.

    I believe that KOALA is run by John Wagner. He produced all LPs on Koala, right? Isn't he credited as the label owner on Shades Of Brown?
  • redgregredgreg 96 Posts
    Only got the Gary Glenn from 76 on the label which is a nice lp, 'Hey Love' is a good track that sounds pretty much like Donny Hathaway, Maybe because it involved Ralph Johnson (The Impressions/Mystique) alongside other Earth Wind & Fire members Phillip Bailey, Al McKay, Larry Dunn, other musicians included Dorothy Ashby amongst others and it was produced by Glen Scott/Douglas Gibbs/Ralph Johnson.

    Jay Z's 'Song Cry' was lifted from here too.

    Never heard or seen that Thelma Houston, what year was that?
  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Only Koala I know of is a budget label from Hendersonville, TN, releasing "early years" compilations of popular artists (including SS faves Hall & Oates). Some of these releases had weird disclaimers on the covers, something like "the covers are merely a commercial concept for this album and do not reflect the artist as they appear now or then" or something like that. I think it was a legal thing, because LaBelle once took Trip Records to court for selling 1960's recordings with a 1970's picture, making the fans think they were current when they saw them.
    Anyway, Koala being a cut-price reissue label (along the lines of Pickwick or Trip) would explain the Jarreau and Houston releases.

    The one Koala elpee I have is by R&B star Wilbert Harrison (a reissue of his LET'S WORK TOGETHER album, retitled KANSAS CITY and missing one song).
  • bull_oxbull_ox 5,056 Posts
    JARREAU, AL[/b]
    Lonely Town, Lonely Street (Koala 79)[/b]
    Reviewed by: Motown67
    Then he tops me again by finding the original source of the Withers??? covers on a record called Lonely Town, Lonely Street.

    Not sure if this is the same Koala label, but if that record came out in '79 its definitely not the original issue of that material... it could be the first domestic issue however

    His first two albums were European-only from the mid-70s and have been booted and repackaged a huge number of times since then
  • twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,917 Posts
    Only Koala I know of is a budget label from Hendersonville, TN, releasing "early years" compilations of popular artists (including SS faves Hall & Oates). Some of these releases had weird disclaimers on the covers, something like "the covers are merely a commercial concept for this album and do not reflect the artist as they appear now or then" or something like that. I think it was a legal thing, because LaBelle once took Trip Records to court for selling 1960's recordings with a 1970's picture, making the fans think they were current when they saw them.
    Anyway, Koala being a cut-price reissue label (along the lines of Pickwick or Trip) would explain the Jarreau and Houston releases.

    The one Koala elpee I have is by R&B star Wilbert Harrison (a reissue of his LET'S WORK TOGETHER album, retitled KANSAS CITY and missing one song).

    That's the label I'm talking about. The Thelma Houston is obviously a budget comp. and although the date says 1979, the music is definitely early 70s. What's odd about it is that most, if not all, of the tracks don't appear to have been previously released. I can't find any mention of them through Google.
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