Little Joe Cook - Lady From The Beauty Shop 1988 lp RARE Private Modern Soul NM

$

124

Welcome to our kick off to summer 2026 Modern Soul / Gospel / AOR / Boogie / Indie R&B / Yacht Rock / FM Global Sounds giant lp sale Part 1, a few choice 12" singles also appear, from private presses, to small obscure labels, to some of the rarest on the big labels..... no reissues! WE COMBINE SHIPPING! 

122 records all originals , many have soundclips, which are from the actual record :)

(We have so much on hand, we'll be having a Part II sometime later in the Summer (TBD), and as many top shelf ones in this set, there's just as much fire in "Part II: The Summer Sequel"!) 

This week features a really nice curated slab of rare Modern Soul, Gospel, Boogie, AOR, Yacht Rock FM Global Sounds, Electro, Indie R&B, City Pop, New Jack Swing, Street Soul, 2-Steppers, beginning with a heavy unknown Modern Soul Indie R&B grail 1992 "Gemini -Starfire", an original pressing of 1990 "Ada Dyer - s/t" lp - one of the rarest Motown lp's, a true first press original of hyper rare Gwen McRae "Melody Of Life" 1979 CAT lp, Omega Sunrise 1985 "Run From The Night" AOR Modern Soul Gospel grail on Morada lp, Michael Wycoff "Love Conquers All" 1982 RCA lp, Michael Sterling 1986 "The Artist" private press lp, Hubert Powell and The Gospel Truth 1982 grail Gospel Modern Soul lp on Sweet Rain, the 1985 Oasis "Common Ground" ultra rare grail AOR / Modern Soul Boogie private press, Roland Gresham's 1983 "All My Life"  instrumental spiritual jazz funk Gospel grail lp, to the Art Mapa produced "Val/Becki - Matter Of The Heart" 1986 lp, the 1980 lp Michael Vena - "Stone Ground Will Crumble", the last Maurice Williams 1986 "Create In Me" private press Gospel grail, Fire N' Light "Ready For The Fire" 1985 lp, Numonics 1982 "Rollin'", Anthony White 1976 "Could It Be Magic", Whitney Houston, Babyface, Nolen & Crossley "Ambience" 1982 on Motown, from ABC Peacock, HSE, Gospel Roots, Morada, Sweet Rain to Columbia, A&M, Capitol, Solar, Elektra, so many private presses, there's too many highlights to list, so much curated fire we are going to have a "end of the summer Part 2" -TBD,  12" of Billie Jean 1982 Epic promo with the instrumental flip, Anita Baker all around the alphabet back to Aquarian Dream and so much more :) 

ASSISTIVE NOTE:

To give the best  "map" for this sale, we'll have 27 leading off to give somewhat of a highlight of each area of items, then onto 1) Gospel, to 2) AOR Gospel, 3) Secular AOR, into 4) the biggest part Modern Soul / Boogie / Electro / New Jack Swing / Street Soul / Indie R&B, within each of the four sections, it will tend to be chronological, earliest year listed first, with some exceptions (including multiples by same artist), meaning listed newest will be the tail end, ending earliest is the beginning (if you filter by "ending soonest", you'll get the layout!), we hope this might help :)

**Note on grading: We have been proud to send thousands of records to delighted customers, but there is always room for improvement, we want to continually strive to be as accurate, honest, and detailed as possible. These records that have been collected and loved over the years, coming from a collector, one who listens to the records, enjoys the music, we are only growing more meticulous in our visual aspect of grading the vinyl, while also maintaining a balanced emphasis on the sound quality, utilizing sound clips (we do not manipulate them whatsoever, and we never will!), full front to back recent thorough listenings, and for the covers to use detailed photos, write detailed aspects for the grade, we want people to know exactly what they're getting, as collectors, lovers of music, we promise to always carry ourselves with integrity, we're in the business of delighting people, to treat others as the best experiences we've had as buyers, and all of our items are guaranteed. We won't stop growing, learning, and listening. A very special warm thank you to all our incredible return "customers", we really think of you all as fellow friends in vinyl, and if this is your first time bidding with us, we hope our "record" speaks for itself, ensuring a secure feeling to bid with confidence, thank you all, truly together we make this community one that spreads the love, sharing in this special thing of all of ours :) ***

* After this week's auction, (In no particular order) we have in the auction pipeline:
A "Golden Era" late 60's-Early 70's Rare Groove Funk/Soul lp's
2nd Modern Soul / Gospel / Boogie / AOR, Part "II"
More Deep Funk / Soul, as well as AOR / Power Pop / Rock 45rpm 7"
A few more cooking, not to mention our exciting, anticipated:
Part 4 "Giant Jazz"; jazz funk, spiritual, fusion, electronic, sale lp's

*^(Each are loaded with some of the rarest, high end stuff, plenty that haven't shown up in years, unknown mind-blowers, Grail Pieces, like always, all original editions!)
We'd be honored if you'd consider saving us as a favorite seller :)***

All soundclips used are unedited directly from the item up for sale :). See below for detailed grading!
***Everything is 100% guaranteed! We've sold over 1,500+ records in the past year alone, with 100% positive feedback, bid with confidence :)

Feel free to message any questions!

*Note: Any Item that does not have a soundclip, feel free to message us, and we can make one for you :) 

**Note: for items with multiple players, the title of track is above each player; the player enables scrolling through!**


Soundclip info: A1 "Lady From The Beauty Shop", B3 "Work It Out", A3 "Dreamworld", b3 begins at 1:45, a3 begins at 3:00 
Soundclip:  Update your internet browser to latest version in order to play audio clip.

Media Grade:  NM (pristine, OG deadstock copy unsealed by me, peep the soundclips!)   
Sleeve Grade:  NM (unsealed by me, still in shrink, see photos!)  
Year / Label / Catalogue #:   1988  /  Beantown International Records (Joe Cook, Boston MA self-released private label)  / B1-224812 (1st press, stereo, "Virtue C57 32888" in B-Side deadwax, indicating pressing plant)
Brief Comments: A very unique, exceptionally top shelf, sui generis "Indie R&B", Rola, Modern Soul / Boogie, Sweet Soul / Deep Funk - peep "Dreamworld"! Also touches of Neo-Soul, and Sweet Soul, Funk, even a Reggae funk laced track (B2), by Little Joe Cook & The Thrillers!  Ultra rare, I should mention most modern sealed copies seem to have a storage warp (I got this back in the day, in Boston, at "Newbury Comics", probably 2015....on a trip to visit family), I just keep hearing from people that they've bought sealed copies recently, the past year or two, and it's not been....great. But I leave that to those with more experience....
Boston, Massachusetts private pressing, Little Joe Cook, and Thrillers, show that approaching the upper area of middle aged, doesn't mean you can't keep it hip! Pete Breelov is the mastermind behind the Synthesizers / Drum Machines (on the back he's the tall younger-ish looking white dude in the tux in "The Thrillers" photo, bottom right hand corner area!), joined by similarly older heads Nashid Abdulkhaliq on bass (old school NOI but switched over to Wallace Farid's mainstream Sunni Islam), Reggie Grant on sax, Robert Borg on trap kit drums, all originals by Joe Cook, and this is amazing....This album came out of real life! Joe Cook's place was near a beauty shop, that the unnamed gorgeous lady on the front frequented often, Cook was a smooth cat, he'd be like "Granddad" from the Boondocks (even looks like Robert Freeman!), but of course with a sweet heart, the kind of embedded respectfulness, gentleman that comes from age, she found it very sweet, but this is where it gets better... Joe had told her about being a musician, he has prior private press local releases, and that she was inspiring a new album he was working on! (at that point, all he had was an off the top of his head lyric riff "Lady From The Beauty Shop, You Make My Heart Go Bippity Bop", this was probably late spring 1987 era, because according to local lore, he had this "released" on Valentine's, February 14th, 1988. See Joe had a standing gig at the Cantab Lounge in neighboring Cambridge, since 1980, so he had invited her to come see, reserved a front table for her, and she was charmed, Joe Cook, is a true Gentleman! Anyhow, Peter Breelov had worked on a 1987 Electro/Hip-hop release put out on Cook's singles oriented "Top-Top" label, having moved it when he moved from Philadelphia to Boston in 1980. Breelov having that contemporary experience with synths, drum machines, was a natural recruit (Because Beantown International could purchase as a corporation Synthesizers, Gear, Breelov could get paid in equipment, plus he loved these dudes, very chill guy in his late 20's to early 30's!), now there's a previous version of "It's A Stick Up", from 1977 released on...no joke, a Jacksonville, FL one-off label "Bay Co" 45rpm flip to a novelty redux of his classic "Peanut", but that's not the same as the one you find on this lp, it's the same lyrics, but different production altogether (it was the last addition, on suggestion of a friend at the Cantab Lounge). So Little Joe Cook, who hadn't recorded an lp since 1981, and a scant amount of 45's, doing great from his Cantab residency, the beginning of some royalties from older works on Okeh, other labels, from reissues of his 50's Doo-Wop / R&B.....a man born in 1922, makes a truly Post-Modern album. To Woo this beautiful Tenderoni, give truth that we are children at heart (which is not the same as "childishness"), and it happened, now what happened, all I can say a lady in her 30's, is capable (as a man would be) to make consenting adult decisions, if a night of passion occurred, well right on for both! And if this dope album came about, to lead to that in a way, then allll right, (She clearly is a "babyface" 32 year old, gotta love her embroidered shirt, that was her own custom design, she was apparently a tailor / seamstress.....). 
Now, running out of time is an understatement, this auction is up on a Wednesday, meant to have gotten up on the prior Sunday night, maybe went wild with too many soundclips, writing too many essays....any regulars (we love you!!!), or new folks, feel free to share in message what you think, if writing should be paired back, less soundclips, find a balance, keep on, even if that means saying how bad the writing is, I wouldn't hold it against ya! 
I mention this, because I'd love to have time to put in (B2) "To Late To Turn Back", "It's A Stick Up", "Sugarbaby", both A4, B4, so you know, the whole album...it's amazing, for sampler heads, it's gold, and Vaporwave? Well I'm from Portland, OR, there's a certain incredibly gifted lady there, Ramona darling, I still remember Vektroid band camp days, the time we talked about Walter Benjamin's essay on Mechanical Reproduction, you probably don't remember me, too shy to get your #, or DM you, (October, 1992, you may remember that, same age!), and of course Macintosh Plus "Floral Shoppe", you inspired me to make a Vaporwave beat off this one, using B3, that almost New Age-y intro, I have another in progress from the titular track, and if this reaches your eyes, consider the almost story within a story, parallelism, from this album to this paragraph, I know you'd have the greatest take on that, worthy David Foster Wallace meets Donna J. Haraway(!),  much love :) 
Back to the matter at hand, this is one unique, special album, not many were made, most of the post 2019 deadstock is from the same source, very hit or miss, since it's near the end of copies there (ask they open it first!).
This 1988 lp is out of time, in the best way, it's timeless, it's beyond time, it's an artifact from the folds of a warp in the space-time continuum, it's WaveVapor ready for it, it's like reading Barthelme's short stories meets Wax Poetics.
No rare groove collection, no soul/funk, is complete without this gem, without irony in top 100 soul/funk records.
Peep the soundclips :)






*Tariffs aren't going to impact used vinyl records / music media, we wish they were never in place at all, so for international buyers, don't worry on that account!
For our record grading, we stand by the merits outlined in the scale below, anything VG or below will have a detailed explanation in brackets next to the grade.
For sleeves, we will mention anytime there is split, or defect not visible in the photos in brackets next to the grade, otherwise we refer to the photos for the merit of the grade. Of course any questions, concerns, are always welcome :) 
Our media grading scale is as follows: [*Quick note, our VPI is still in storage on the other side of the US, we do brush clean many  items carefully, but we have to prioritize, we won't leave anyone stranded with a filthy record, only "filthy" good! We don't factor dust particles into the grading]
NM = Essentially a pristine album, like new, rarely used.
EX = Under bright light if there is any scuffs or mark, which will be inaudible, most collectors and sellers would tend to consider it closer to NM, EX is also the grade others might call VG++ under the same level of conservative scrutiny.
VG+ = More then a small handful of scuffs, light marks, nothing feelable, will have high-gloss, a thoroughly enjoyable copy that may only have tiny moments of barely perceptible surface noise overpowered by the music. Our VG+ will satisfy the vast majority of collectors as a nice keeper copy, as collector's ourselves for nearly two decades, this grade is aimed to be a great keeper. Note if say the record has a light DNAP warp, but otherwise is NM, we will automatically put it to VG+ and detail that. Another scenario is if a copy plays at a solid EX, but visually is VG, the composite grade will be VG+, and detailed as such.
VG = More hairlines, more marks, maybe a few visible scratches, no more then two feelable scratches (which automatically lowers to VG-), there likely will be surface noise, but will play through, still being an enjoyable copy, the audio quality will satisfy most collector's (the golden rule: if it doesn't satisfy us, it won't be VG), if a record is otherwise EX, but has a slight momentary skip, where 99% of the record is EX, we will note that, and put it at VG. Usually will retain a nice gloss.
VG- = More Scratches than VG, surface noise will jump out more, it be overpowered for longer stretches, or compete with the music in places, it will likely play all the way through on most turntables, a copy that you can still get a decent play enjoyment from.
G+ = Lots of scratches, deeper ones, surface noise now mostly overpowers or competes with the music. It may skip in some places. We don't tend to sell G+ copies, unless the rarity is so great, and that will be precisely detailed.
Thrashed = Pretty much a "Theoretical Grade" for us, it be for all intents & purposes virtually unplayable, it would be for display purposes, or perhaps if you needed the cover but not the record. It's "theoretical" because so far we haven't sold or identified anything intended to sell at this bottom level.
Every item is guaranteed to YOUR satisfaction, no questions asked, 100% refund. We stand by our integrity, our goal is to make sure you are absolutely delighted with your purchase, to deliver a cherished album to your collection :). On the slightest chance of human error, if we make a mistake, we take accountability for that, we don't anyone to have a record they aren't happy with! Bid with confidence :)
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Thank you from EnfieldVinyl, a family business, and the auction venture of EnfieldRecords :)
Kindly,
-Alec :D
&
-Ellie :)