Who Will Take Your Place/ You Had No Right To Go

This is a new, unplayed stock copy from the collection. With the white label and black print, this looks like a promo, but after spending more time researching this than I can afford (;-), I've concluded that this was the normal design for the small New York label Swa Ray. The only site I found that listed more than 2 Swa Ray singles (shame on you, 45cat.com and discogs) was one called Soulsides, which has the most complete Swa Ray discography I could find, showing 4 releases. (Soulsides organizes the labels by geographic region of the U.S. Here's the map where you can drill down to find the many tiny labels the site has documented.) As for this rare and highly desirable single, which appears to be the only one Al Collier made, the A side is a smooth early mid-tempo Soul (I've heard this one called "popcorn" soul) number worthy of Jerry Butler or Jackie Wilson. Also reminiscent of early Berry Gordy productions for his emerging Motown empire. Note: This copy's labels have no notable flaws, grading Mint. (The labels have two indentations that in the scan look like ringwear (it's the shadow) in one place and bad inking on the title and artist name (it's the highlight shine) in another. There is no ringwear, and the artist and title inking is strong and crisp.) The vinyl has light indications of storage wear, as well as a faint, small, no-impact warp, also grading Near Mint. We're grading the audio Near Mint as well, although acknowledging that the vinyl's inherent light surface noise is sometimes noticeable on these relatively soft tracks. Still, in my opinion, the audio's good enough for radio or club play, because the noise is so unobtrusive overall, and that's one of our standards for the dividing line between Near Mint and a strong EX.