Nathan Nothin' here.
Now for something strictly TABOO...
The Modern label was formed in 1945 in Los Angeles, California,by Saul & Jules Bihari. Modern recorded rhythm & blues, country & western, jazz, popular, blues, & gospel. The subsidiary Crown was formed in 1954 & after three years (starting in 1957), was used only for budget priced albums. The Riviera label subsidiary was a budget label that operated in 1959.
All of these labels were very much a family affair, as the President of all the labels was Saul Bihari, his brothers Jules & Joe served as Vice Presidents, & brother Lester was head of Sales & Promotion. At the Modern, & Crown labels, A&R was handled by Joe & Jules Bihari, Maxwell Davis, Austin McCoy, Jake Porter, Lester Sill & even Ike Turner.
In the late '40s and early '50s, Modern was able to attract many fine blues performers to the labels, including B.B. King, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, Little Willie Littlefield, Jimmy McCracklin, Jimmy Witherspoon, & John Lee Hooker. Modern also leased masters from Sam Phillips in Memphis, & was the first label to release material by the legendary Howlin' Wolf. A split between the Bihari brothers & Sam Phillips occurred when Phillips started leasing the Wolf masters to Chess in Chicago.
Modern was even successful in the rock & roll field: with vocal groups including the Cadets, Marvin & Johnny, the Jacks, & the Teen Queens; single artists Jesse Belvin, Etta James, Jimmy Beasley, Richard Berry, & Shirley Gunter. The biggest hits for the Biharis were: an uptempo instrumental by tenor sax player Joe Houston, titled "Blow, Joe, Blow'; the slow group recording by the Jacks titled "Why Don't You Write Me" in 1955; a novelty number titled "Stranded in the Jungle" in 1956 by the Cadets (a group with the same personnel as the Jacks); a hit by Jesse Belvin with the fine ballad "Goodnight, My Love" in 1956; & a hit with the amateurishly sung "Eddie My Love" by a girl group called the Teen Queens, also in 1956.
The Biharis started putting all of their energy into the Crown budget album line in 1957.
Another budget label named Riviera was created in 1959.
The first label on this series was black with silver printing. "Riviera RECORDS" in silver above the center hole, "HIGH FIDELITY" in silver on the left side and "LONG PLAYING 33 1/3" in silver on the right. The second label was black with silver printing, "Riviera RECORDS" in white above the center hole with a three-color logo, "HIGH FIDELITY" in white on the left side and "LONG PLAYING 33 1/3" in white on the right.
The second run of Taboo - Riviera Records R0028 has "STUDIO GROUP" in white below the center hole. Searching the Internet will reveal that Taboo is often credited to said 'Studio Group' or 'Various Artists'.
Taboo is really the music of Subri Moulin & the Equatorial Rhythm Group. It is re-released from 195? Jungle Percussion. One side of Jungle Percussion is authentic African traditional music, the A side is primarily Caribbean music. An additional side from the JP recording session was added to Taboo. The Jungle Percussion session notoriously appears on countless public-domain, budget-label records, as Taboo, Congo Percussion, Soul of a People, Fabulous Bongo Ping Pong Percussion, even Tahitian Percussion(???). It is credited to various artist names --"Sabu" (meaning the actor; the LP has nothing to do with Sabu Martinez), Subri Moulin, "Kaino" (not Chaino), Chief Bey, Cawanda, even Studio Group--- & with song titles having various spellings, typically "Yowcolule", here listed as "You Couie" & "Ayilong", here listed as "Ayilongo".
Subri Moulin & Equatorial Rhythm Group - Taboo, Riviera Records R0028, 1959, first pressing.
decryption code in comments
Side A -
Asiwanda
Elunde
You Couie
Sha Sha Calor
Fukiiya
Side B -
Yarbon
Ah De Vous
Ben Je Engay
Dedication
Ayilongo
Although the Biharis only goal was making money for the Biharis, they nevertheless released a great deal of music that might not otherwise be available today. Unfortunately for record collectors, the goal of the Crown line seemed to be "How cheap can you make the record?" The covers were two pieces of thin cardboard held together with the paper cover, with no liner notes, & no record inner paper or plastic sleeves were used. Many had only 10 songs rather than the standard 12. The vinyl on these reissues was thin, & many have manufacturing defects.
In the true spirit of the Biharis brothers & "How cheap...?" Here for your listening pleasure, stricly free...strictly TABOO.
Enjoy
NØ