hullsoulie

I agree wholeheartedly. He was certainly a 'character'. I will cede he had a distinct partisan bias to most things, especially his 'Spirit of 69/West Ham' days, but i always felt he wrote with PASSION, although he had a penchant for the caps lock key and used punctuation as a miser uses gold coins. What came across to me was a gent who had been involved in the minutiae of the rare soul scene, had overcome many challenges and was in a constant struggle with the ones that remained. I never formally met the chap, but think he would have been a very entertaining raconteur, I was very sad when I read of his passing, and the manner of it. Like you I miss his posts, if you persevered and re-read them he was a knowledgeable chap, I only hope the big man upstairs doesnt put him on the same cloud as Pete Lawson! RIP Dthedrug

I agree wholeheartedly - and you're not 'wrong'....or 'right' you're just expressing an opinion. I was brought up in a house with elder brothers and was exposed to their eclectic album collections, from Love, Joe Cocker, Incredible String Band, Janis Ian, An evening with Wild Man Fischer, Floyd, Free, etc etc ad nauseum, then at Snr High School got into Punk/New Wave and saw many of the bands of that era (Stranglers, Clash, Upstarts, Subs, Damned, Human League, Skids), in my early 20s I dabbled with Bambaataa & the reggae on Greensleeves. I also listen to disco, easy listening, Rod the Mod, Elton, Thin Lizzy, Altan, well.......you get my drift. My point....well I was just trying to lay the groundwork for saying that NONE of the above, EVER, comes close to me hearing Mr Big Shot, Baby what has happened to our love, Gene & Gary, Eddie & Ernie, Little Ann et al - songs where when I first discovered them in the 80s/90s led me to rewinding and playing in a loop over a dozen times in succession, far easy on Spotify than on a Sony Walkman! - the fact that I heard Gene McDaniels singing 'Another Tear Falls' on an old b&w film and was nearly moved to tears myself....or that walking to work every day with my headphones in I find my heart racing and I'm almost doing dance moves as I walk along to some of the more uptempo tracks. If other genres do that for others, more power to them, life can be short and laden with woe so anything that gives people pleasure gets a big thumbs up, BUT......., like the original poster, for me personally NOTHING comes close to the sound of Soul, or the emotions it gives me, thank god I stumbled upon it at an early age, I don't exaggerate when I say the pleasure it has given me is only surpassed by my family & children. Just one man's opinion, no more or less valid than any other :-)

Many thanks for this - confirms, as expected, mine is the boot/pressing - cheers for help

Thank you for posting

Heartened and grateful for all advice and help thus far - signing off for the evening - credit to this forum - some sterling people on it (applause emoji)

not really sure where to start looking my friend, there is nothing stamped or scratched into the wax near the record centre and the 'label' on the 'a' side is not aligned in sync with the 'b' side so perhaps they are indicative of it lacking provenance as an original? (i don't really know what to look for)

Indeed - i attended the 100 club back in late 80s/eary 90s when moved to London and am aware Ady C is one of the good guys who has always tried to get the artists some tangible recognition for the music we love

Thanks also to you mate - i doubted ANY were originals but had no idea that they would have even increased from the £4-5 (average) i paid for them - pleasantly surprised that there MAY be a few hundred nicker there if i could sell - and i have read the definitions of promos/reissues/pressings/boots/carvers ad nauseum on soul source and given up with a headache each time i try and commit the difference to memory!!

Thank you Paul i have also had a very helpful e-mail from a chap username Stevecee - i appreciate all assistance as i have NO prior knowledge, one of those who has lived and loved the scene but for whatever reason never went beyond dipping my toe into collecting vinyl - cheers for taking time to respond

Many thanks Mike, and apologies for you having to move - I did wonder which forum to post on but as a speculative appeal for knowledge rather than a sales pitch I chose AATS - totally in character for me to get a 50/50 call wrong! - ha ha - thank you for your help

Hi to all, As a youth, enamoured of the scene and hitch-hiking all over the North (and beyond) to attend soul 'niters' I went through a brief period of trawling the record bars and purchasing a handful of records - I was a young man just coming out of my teens (mid 80s) and had absolutely no idea of the concept of a pressing or bootleg, just was told they were 'copies' and therefore cheaper and available -Although my love for the scene has never wavered and I continued attending rare soul events until very recently, I stopped buying records in the early 90s and only have approx. 50 -they have been in a cupboard upstairs unplayed or handled for over 25 years - I would imagine that for the price I paid for them (£10 tops) bitd probably NONE are 'legit' but am wondering if there are newer, younger, collectors on the scene to whom they are desirable and have a value? I spent an hour yesterday reading a couple of threads from days of yore and understand why to many OVO folk these discs are abominations - I never had intent to defraud and withhold dues from the original artistes - I was merely a young man buying the sounds I heard at the venues so I could play them on my brother's Technics when at home - I am wondering if any kind soul could spare a couple of minutes to help me understand if these have any value at all nowadays (however modest) or if I am as well using them as drinks coasters - to aid anyone kind enough to assist I list a few below, there's not many. May I offer thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to give an informed opinion and hope my innocent enquiry does not cause offence :-) ****PS: I have had a quick look on Popsike and discogs but when similar copies state '70's pressing' etc I have NO IDEA whatsoever what year(s) mine originate from, in case they were pressed multiple times?? - is there a way of telling without a Manship guide please?*** DISCLAIMER - as stated, I am 95% sure they are all pressings or bootlegs - even with my miniscule knowledge I know a couple of these titles are BIG money as originals FRNK DELL - HE BROKE YOUR GAME WIDE OPEN - VALISE FOUR PERFECTIONS - IM NOT STRONG ENOUGH - SOUL GALORE LORRAINE CHANDLER - I CANT CHANGE - ASHFORD TOMANGOES - I REALLY LOVE YOU - WASHPAN EDDIE DAYE & FOUR BARS - GUESS WHO LOVES YOU - HORACES ROBBIE LAWSON - BURNING SENSATION - KYSER SHAWN ROBINSON - MY DEAR HEART - WRIGHT SOUNDS MAJOR LANCE - YOU DONT WANT ME NO MORE - SOUND OF SOUL GEORGE BLACKWELL - CANT LOSE MY HEAD - SMOKE JOHNNY CASWELL - YOU DONT LOVE ME ANYMORE - KENT EDWARD HAMILTON - IM GONNA LOVE YOU - CARRIE DEBONAIRES - HOWS YOUR NEW LOVE TREATING YOU - GOLDEN WORLD RAY POLLARD - THIS TIME - HORACES MELBA MOORE - MAGIC TOUCH - HORACES PARLIAMENTS - DONT BE SORE AT ME - REVILOT GWEN OWENS - JUST SAY YOURE WANTED - VELGO METROS/JIMMY MACK/TONY MIDDLETON - JOKER JOHN HAMPTON - NOT MY GIRL - DOTTYS FROM DETROIT EDDIE SPENCER - IF THIS IS LOVE - POWER EXCHANGE

THIS! ^^^^^ - THANK YOU Mark S - saved me from typing word for word

I really love the concept of a 'weekender' mate - to me it is like an all you can eat buffet on an all inclusive holiday - it's THERE, and you can choose how much or little you indulge, from dipping your toe in occasionally to over-indulgence on a Mr Creosote scale - the ones I have particularly enjoyed over the last couple of decades were Fleetwood (Cala Gran), Cleethorpes & Brid - live acts at many, DJs you wouldn't often see, and the opportunity to frequent some different 'rooms' like the rare and underplayed and club rooms at Brid, chance to hear stuff you haven't heard played out for an age AND some new 'stormers' - the ones where you think 'where have you been all my life'. I'm normally the one who was straight back in Sat lunchtime when doors opened after a Fri nighter and never wished to leave until the last track had been played (not always possible as I was normally there due to the kindness of someone elses driving and they dictated the time to go home) All in all, a massive fan of the concept.....as you could probably tell from my post

Thanks for responding friend, that is maybe just my problem, disillusioned with the 'general' direction of much of the scene I have withdrawn - I am sure there are great places left that I would enjoy, but the time effort & finance to attend on a 'lucky dip' is kind of off-putting - I will make a note of Burton and endeavour to give it a visit - cheers

As stated before there will be no definitive answer, but for me it is THE MUSIC, first and foremost. I used to love dimly lit halls with seating around the outside and where you could see dancers more than 10m away only in silhouette - I am a friendly chap but apart from being polite and considerate normally on the floor and at the bars just nodded and smiled at people I recognised from other venues. I used to reach my own 'communion' with the music and would have had to have been dragged out if the building was on fire - I miss all that, the Clifton Hall, Wilton Ballroom, Tony's Empress type scene I have not attended a nighter for 5 years due to the following: (please bear in mind this is only my opinion, everyone else has an equal right to agree to differ) Pissheads coming in to see what 'Norvern' is all about People of a certain age demographic treating it as a live Tinder event People dancing like buffoons and taking the piss People in fancy dress Brightly lit venues/dancefloors People waving video cameras around People taking hundreds of photos of attendees, which invariably look like we've been dug up and have teeth like burnt fences (I include myself in that) 'Funky House' at Soul do's The fact that I can still listen to THE MUSIC for at least an hour each day walking to work, running or just alone in my room keeps me sane, perhaps I am a luddite and things will never go back to that way again but the last outings I really enjoyed was the Polish club in Oldham about 5 year ago when Benny Troy (RIP) appeared live and Radcliffe all niters around the same time - they had all I describe in my second paragraph and NONE of the 'bullet points' I regret if any of the above causes offence, twas never my intent but by hell this opportunity has been cathartic for someone who rarely posts. If most of the aficionados ARE enjoying and i'm an outlier that's fine, the wants of the many outweigh the wants of the few