DJ Rogers – Listen To The Message
DJ Rogers – Celebration
DJ Rogers – Bail Out
DJ Rogers – March On
{This record is one of several that I currently have up on Ebay, solid titles and you know the money goes to a good cause, namely this blog and my ongoing vinyl addiction!}
Picked this up at a recent dig at one of my favorite LA spots. As I was going through all of the bins, turning up a few pieces but nothing spectacular I happened upon this plain blue jacket with no information at all. Intrigued, I took the album out, which felt like it was made from something other than vinyl, metal perhaps, and saw that this was clearly a test pressing. The album turns out to be D.J. Rogers debut album, released on Shelter records in 1973. DeWayne Julius Rogers was a homegrown talent who got his start singing in local church choirs, most notably the Watts Community Choir and the Los Angeles Community Choir. That gospel influence is clear from pretty much the start of the album, in his vocals and in the way the vocals from the chorus (which features Maxayn Lewis) are arranged. It’s also pretty clear that Rogers was a major fan of Sly Stone, because this album could have been mistaken for a Sly side-project. Though the funk here has clear nods to Sly, it doesn’t retain any of the murky sonic character of Sly’s There’s A Riot Going On or Fresh. Instead the funk only adds to the uplifting messages in the songs.
I thought I would be able to find more information about this test pressing, but struck out in every online search I could find. In some cases test pressings like this were made as the last step before sending the record out, sometimes as a kind of personal promo. Artisan Sound Recorders was a fairly well know pressing operation, and there are more than a few test pressings from that company, but I could find anything on this one. Might just be a one-of-a-kind find.
Cheers,
Michael