Some time around 1964 Eddie decided like Harold Battiste before him that he'd had enough of being burned by label owners and decided to control his own music so he set up his own publishing company - EBOVILLE MUSIC and two record labels around the same time, both operating out of the same office, the first was FUN, the second was BLUE JAY, both are really important labels for they mark the real turning point in the quality of Eddie's sixties output. Since the success of his Apollo releases he had spent most of his career doing what other people had told him the market needed and now he could do things his own way.
The first release on FUN was from Snooks Eaglin a New Orlean's guitar player blind from the age of 19 months, most of his fans don't even know this 45 exists and certainly it has never been documented properly. Snooks played the blues from the age of 5, and started out in Allen Toussaints teenage band "The Flamingoes", it was him playing on Sugar Boy Crawfords "Jockomo" a song later stolen by the Dixie Cups (Iko-Iko) as no one remembered to copyright it properly. He had a big career under Dave Bartholmew at Imperial and later joined the Wild Magnolias - a legendary funk act from the early 70's. It is not clear if this record was ever released fully, several promo copies exist but so far as I know there are no issues. I have never actually heard this so have no idea what it sounds like, I can only guess at a Ray Charles sounding RnB record similar to his Imperial records of that time. Naturally if anyone has a copy let me know.
The second and possibly only other record on FUN was by white New Orleans RnB vocalist Joyce Harris, a singer who had released the crackin record "No Way Out On Infinity" in 1960. She was married to James Migliaccio who ran the Mardi Gras Bowling Alley as well as Flambeau Records, it was Migliaccio who would a few years later in 1967 sign a local band called the Illusions, and it was Joyce who renamed them Dr Spec's Optical Illusion. This bands only release - the absolutely impossible to find "Tryin’ To Mess My Mind" has since become one of the most sought after garage records of all time - it is thought that only 10 copies were ever pressed and originals of these now fetch over $3000. The band were recorded down at Cosmo's so one can only imagine that Eddie knew James Migliaccio from around the scene and knowing his wife had been a singer with a great voice somehow they ended up in the studio together. And thank god they did, for this is Eddie's finest upbeat female soul recording before the funk sound hit, A big spin on the UK's Northern Soul scene and a record that commands a fair price (£200-£250) although they do very occassionally turn up for much less that price if you are lucky.
Martin Lawrie www.soulgeneration.co.uk