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Soulbowl

For those avid collectors of rare soul vinyl, the mail order list of SoulBowl (proprietor, John Anderson) should have a special place in their heart, because for the last 50 years it has been at the forefront of vinyl digging for those rare soul imports that we hold so deep in our hearts.

Soul Bowl is to present a connoisseurs room at this forthcoming Prestatyn weekender and has lined up some of it's previous primary customers, including Colin Curtis, Richard Searling, Soul Sam etc. to play something engaging.

To promote this room and also shed a little light on the Soul Bowl set up, I've managed to get a small introduction from John and then a few words about my experience as a collector, including finding records on the weekly list, or in person at the warehouse.

For those who have never had the fortuity to have experienced Soul Bowl's mail order business, or for those who did, but would like a reminder of what went on in those early years of the rare soul scene, I've also posted up some old sales lists. I hope you find them as interesting and amazing as I did

JA intro:

Mark has asked me to write a few words about my 48 years or so of selling records.my first deal came about from my time trawling shops on glasgow. There was a camera shop that had tons of 50’s/60’s uk singles they had bought as a load. I was in there one day and they saidwe got a lot more in a room behind a false wall in the basement. There were four titles in quantity–miracles on fontana/both marvelettes on fontana/eddie holland-jamie. I bought them for 3 old pence and sold them to reddinton’s records in birmingham for 6 old pence-i was on my way!

My second deal was a load of 10,000-us singles i bought blind-took out the soul and managed to offload the rest to an office supply shop in glasgow.

My third bigger deal was going to the states and i hand picked 60,000-soul singles and shipped back sea freight and when my mum and dad saw the truck turning up at our second floor council house they thought the floor would collapse with all the weight! I didn’t have these records for long,word got out and that was the start of our time in the record business proper. I’ve been on the road in the states most years for 4 or 5 months so after close to 50 years you forget a lot of the deals you made.the only year we added up the invoices was 1977 and that year we shipped in one million singles.our major problem was space in king’slynn we had 4 places in town. An old church, a barn and a huge double garage, but we were always running out of places to put the next load. The great thing about those days was we learnt as we went along and there were no price guides which really mean nothing as prices change all the time, also collectors had very little money and we would end up with piles of bounced cheques! All very different from today.

Mark has also asked me to mention a couple of record deals we made back in the day. two that come to mind are the time i went to cincinnati to buy a load of 200,000 singles. They were in the basement of a one stop that had closed down–ceiling to floor-they were mainly promo copies.the one stop would mail out a few and then through the rest in the basement from the late 50’s to ‘67. I couldn’t really see much as there was no power-so it was a gamble and we made the deal.i had them shipped but had no idea what we had until the truck’s turned up in king’s lynn. I opened the first box and inside were 50 copies of the invitations-ski-ing in the snow. We ended up with thousands of obscure mid west/west coast soul records as well as demos on major labels. I could write pages about these deals but the second one i’ll mention was in the uk. I used to swap loads with a friend of mine paul who ran stalls on bradford market.he had picked up a load from me and a few weeks later he called me up and said we’ve just got in a big load from the west coast. I went there with gary cape––it was mainly west coast labels in quantity–mirwood/pzazz/highland etc etc––they came from record merchandisers in los angeles. I just remembered that when i still lived in scotland i got the train down to bradford and went to paul’s house to look at the records in his garage––there was 50 copies of the salvadors on wise world in there–wish i had them today!!!!!

 

From a collectors perspective:

In the early 7ts I was already a devoted follower of Northern Soul, even at the tender age of 14yrs. The Torch allnighter was the place to go and my older brother, Ant, was a regular attendee. He had a reasonable collection of imports and gave me the go-ahead to play them when I wanted to. Becoming more interested in vinyl I would peruse a weekly list that my brother was receiving; the list was called Groove City and was basically a couple of A4 pages with about 200 records for sale, mainly Ric Tic, Motown and various Detroit labels on offer. Trying to remember what was on those lists 43 yrs ago is a real struggle, but i do remember that a regular record that you could buy, was Sam Ward 'sister lee' Groove City for 75p. This it turned out was the prototype soul list to SoulBowl.

Eventually, i got signed up to the SoulBowl list in my own name and became a regular buyer, an addiction to this day that ive never been able to restrain. The mail order business was essentially run by husband and wife team, John and Marissa Anderson, with support from a Northern Soul dj, Poke.

One of the real attractions of the list was the Pound Special page. Since there wasn't a great deal of money in a young person's pocket at that time, being able to buy a decent original Northern 45 for a Quid was just what us budding collectors needed.

Most weeks, another excellent section of the list contained a record that had been hitherto 'big' at the major allnighters, which had now been discovered in some quantity and was now for sale at a fraction of the price it had been previously. This would usually be the talking point for many of the collectors in the Wigan record bar, or at our local 'soul pub' the Antelope. See if you can spot any of these records on the sample lists at the end of this article.

Obviously, most of the records on the weekly list were rarities and therefore you needed to phone as early as possible to reserve. For most of us, that meant running down to the phone box at the end of the street and dialing the ten digit number, usually getting the engaged tone for at least the first twenty tries. When you finally got through, you heard the dulcet, Scottish inaugural greeting, 'SoulBowl' Pushing your coins into the phone box, hoping and praying that your most wanted records were still available, you were able to put in your order. Being able to secure any records from your wish list would set the tone for that day and sometimes for days after. I remember one day in particular, when i was able to reserve five top notch sounds and i ran back up the street, punching the air like I'd just scored in the cup final.

As the years passed and my interest in the the obscure 45 became more intense, I began to send Soul Bowl my wants list, or casually ask about an particular record during a phone order. Eventually, John said those magic words: why don't you come down to the warehouse and have a look around for yourself. This was music to my ears and for the next few days I prepared for the visit, putting together my list of things to look for and simultaneously finding as much cash that i could muster.

The visit was a record collectors dream, over a million soul 45s in one barn, racked out in label/alphabetical order. FInding so many great records in one place and at great prices. It was so good that i decided to stay for an extra day and make a weekend of it. Records that i bought included Montclairs hey you, Bob & Fred Ill be on my way, revells trent town, sonatas hotline, webs dynamic, paul sindab, voltaires bacone, willie mason kalama, four andantes modo, wendell watts kiss a good thing etc. etc. I came away with over 200 hand-picked records and i remember John saying to me, 'im glad you came, as nobody else wants these kind of records' At that period of the scene, he was right; there wasn't really many collectors looking for obscurities.

On consecutive visits to the warehouse, like many of the djs that ive talked to who took trips there, John had a box of specially selected 45s just for my consideration. Inside those boxes there was always something significantly good, unknown and rare. Some of the titles that came from these visits were: Saints Wigwam, Sensations demanding man, Poets J2, George Pepp, Appointments Delite, Love is alright acetate, Hank Hodge eye for an eye.

On one occasion i asked John about a record by the Imperial Cs on Phil la Soul, which has appeared on the main sales list the week before; "what's it like", I asked? John's reply was, "give it a play", as it didn't sell and was still in the sales box. Price was £8 and the rest is history!

Countless other collectors will have similar memories to these that I've described and it would be great to hear about them too.

It's hard to describe the impact Soul Bowl has had on the world of Soul collecting, but it is immense. I haven't even touched upon the stories of their UK wholesale operation, or their substantial sales overseas (including the legendary Japanese lists) and maybe someone else can expand upon these anecdotes following this article. For me, Soul Bowl was the lodestar in discovering the beauty and diversity of American Soul music.

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met John Anderson for the first time last year in the usa at a record show .what a pleasant man he even paid for my lunch!!! tons of great stories .i bought from the list back in the 70s there were always a few bargains to be had .no soul snobbery top bloke

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2pm - 5.30pm on Saturday  :thumbsup:

 

A great session last Saturday afternoon at Prestatyn - all the Djs played cracking sets of some of those fabulous records that John Anderson and his Soul Bowl records discovered for us and blessed our ears with !!! 

Edited by tfk
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A great session last Saturday afternoon at Prestatyn - all the Djs played cracking sets of some of those fabulous records that John Anderson and his Soul Bowl records discovered for us and blessed our ears with !!! 

 

Certainly was mate - brilliant!!

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Hello all,

As I'm a little bit disorganised at home its taken a while to cobble together some personal faves for this tribute to John and Soul Bowl. Upon reading this thread, I was glad to see that Im not the only sad bastard that keeps old record lists ! In my defence though,Ive only got a few left now,I chucked the really old ones out years ago to make more room in the loft for a whole host of other crap I don't really need…..Doh !

 I used to buy from John regularly on the phone,couldn't wait for the new weekly list to pop through the letter box. I only made it up to Kings Lynn twice,travelling up with a good friend of mine who also bought a lot off of John. Obviously,before the days of satellite technology,on the first trip up there we got a bit lost but found it in the end though ! Phew ! 

  Upon our arrival,when we walked into the barn I couldn't believe it,the amount of records there…. All Soul too !

 John was a perfect gentleman too and when it got to lunchtime he got us some fish and chips for dinner. Imagine that,going through a pile of tunes while scoffing fish and chips ! 

Onto some memory jerkers for me:

 

Hello John, have you still got…..

post-4315-0-76513900-1428771808_thumb.jppost-4315-0-02963700-1428771865_thumb.jp

 

post-4315-0-37653400-1428771914_thumb.jppost-4315-0-54124600-1428772377_thumb.jp 100 packs !

 

post-4315-0-18151500-1428771958_thumb.jppost-4315-0-92559100-1428771998_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-75330000-1428772067_thumb.jppost-4315-0-39070900-1428772119_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-39070900-1428772119_thumb.jppost-4315-0-67093800-1428772168_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-97383100-1428772205_thumb.jp

 

Now for some personal faves which will always remind me of John and Soul Bowl.

 Not all rare but all great, every one of them…..

post-4315-0-13519000-1428772281_thumb.jppost-4315-0-91967300-1428772305_thumb.jppost-4315-0-04674400-1428772340_thumb.jppost-4315-0-87411800-1428772460_thumb.jppost-4315-0-46082400-1428774557_thumb.jppost-4315-0-36411500-1428772506_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-13359800-1428772530_thumb.jppost-4315-0-81287500-1428772409_thumb.jppost-4315-0-23181200-1428772629_thumb.jppost-4315-0-23553400-1428772603_thumb.jppost-4315-0-26270200-1428772651_thumb.jppost-4315-0-48756700-1428772672_thumb.jppost-4315-0-44575300-1428772437_thumb.jp

  

Thank you John…..

More to follow,

   Ivor

post-4315-0-29450300-1428772484_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-90228500-1428772568_thumb.jp

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Hello all,

As I'm a little bit disorganised at home its taken a while to cobble together some personal faves for this tribute to John and Soul Bowl. Upon reading this thread, I was glad to see that Im not the only sad bastard that keeps old record lists ! In my defence though,Ive only got a few left now,I chucked the really old ones out years ago to make more room in the loft for a whole host of other crap I don't really need…..Doh !

 I used to buy from John regularly on the phone,couldn't wait for the new weekly list to pop through the letter box. I only made it up to Kings Lynn twice,travelling up with a good friend of mine who also bought a lot off of John. Obviously,before the days of satellite technology,on the first trip up there we got a bit lost but found it in the end though ! Phew ! 

  Upon our arrival,when we walked into the barn I couldn't believe it,the amount of records there…. All Soul too !

 John was a perfect gentleman too and when it got to lunchtime he got us some fish and chips for dinner. Imagine that,going through a pile of tunes while scoffing fish and chips ! 

Onto some memory jerkers for me:

 

Hello John, have you still got…..

attachicon.gifSCAN0105.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0126.JPG

 

attachicon.gifSCAN0106.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0124.JPG 100 packs !

 

attachicon.gifSCAN0107.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0108.JPG

attachicon.gifSCAN0111.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0112.JPG

attachicon.gifSCAN0112.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0115.JPG

attachicon.gifSCAN0116.JPG

 

Now for some personal faves which will always remind me of John and Soul Bowl.

 Not all rare but all great, every one of them…..

attachicon.gifSCAN0122.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0123.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0125.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0137.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0127.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0133.JPG

attachicon.gifSCAN0134.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0132.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0135.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0131.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0129.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0130.JPGattachicon.gifSCAN0128.JPG

  

Thank you John…..

More to follow,

   Ivor

Nice one Ivor i remember bumping into you up their you were with Simon Dunmore.

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More from the Bowl…..laugh a minute prices…..look out for Four Voices, Doc Peabody…….

post-4315-0-98111900-1429211578_thumb.jppost-4315-0-40778600-1429211608_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-93674700-1429211645_thumb.jppost-4315-0-53501300-1429211678_thumb.jp

 

Some more faves…….

post-4315-0-63279200-1429211908_thumb.jppost-4315-0-08781600-1429211834_thumb.jppost-4315-0-87996600-1429212067_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-38733900-1429211802_thumb.jppost-4315-0-58293000-1429211947_thumb.jppost-4315-0-44876200-1429212264_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-05822800-1429212190_thumb.jppost-4315-0-31365000-1429212093_thumb.jppost-4315-0-86641800-1429212148_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-43401700-1429212120_thumb.jppost-4315-0-12688200-1429212223_thumb.jppost-4315-0-59411800-1429211868_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-74975300-1429212312_thumb.jppost-4315-0-84268400-1429211983_thumb.jppost-4315-0-34573400-1429212343_thumb.jp

post-4315-0-87375800-1429212010_thumb.jppost-4315-0-06520200-1429212043_thumb.jppost-4315-0-46603900-1429211720_thumb.jp

 

 

 

 

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Once I got my first job I got a bank account. First cheque I ever wrote out was to Soul Bowl which I sent off but being more than a litlle bit wet behind the ears did not realise you had to sign it!!!

Another time, and by now the cheques I sent to Kings Lynn were signed, I remember being desperate for a copy of Joe Hicks Don't It Make You Feel Funky and John said he had a copy with a crack on it stored in a greenhouse in his garden.  He sent me the single for nothing and the crack was not that bad at all. .

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Ah brings me back when i'd be trying to call him early and he would never answer lol. I Bought so many records from Soul Bowl in the 8ts and 9ts. I remember getting the list one morning and walking up the Goldhawk Road, on my way to the tube station. Got to the platform and opened up the list and there it was Otis Lee for £25! right thats it ran up the stairs, f*ck the train and out the door to the phone box. Got through after it been engaged and said Hi its Greg in London and have you still got Otis Lee, yup got that for ya, how many do you want??? i bought 7 copies and sold them on to my mates....of course i stuck an extra fiver on top :-) .  Those were the days....Anita Anderson, Gary Dean, Nat Hall, Sept. Jones, Shamettes etc etc. Top Bloke! just don't call before opening times.

 

Greg

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Soul Bowl   ,  more like  Vinyl Heaven . My first records from there were  James Brown "Night train"  and Arthur Prysock "when love is new"   :g:

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 A Greenhouse ! Neil

I think you may have a got your out buildings mixed up, John hates gardening with a passion!!!

It would take at least a 25 count box of Eddie Parker's "I'm Gone" secreted amongst the geranium cuttings to entice John through the door :lol:

Mind you he did once find 50 plus copies of Benny Harper's "My Prayer" in a Texas potting shed! :yes:

Dave

It was a long time ago. I thoght he said Greenhouse but if I got that wrong it was as you say some kind of out building. I was really happy to get the record!

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What with Joe Hicks in a greenhouse and Benny Harper in the potting shed in Texas!

 

JA's solid reputation for leaving no stone (or garden ) unturned  when it comes to digging for records..... and whilst talking of BHarper n "Texas " that being one of the great American states famous for two types of  "Black Gold" ....1)  fabulous  vinyl finds ...2) cannot remember what the other stuff is ? Doh lol .... 

 

(See below ) 

 

 

 

tfk :rofl:

 

Nice one !

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What with Joe Hicks in a greenhouse , Plumby's Flowers and then Benny Harper in the potting shed in Texas!

 

JA's solid reputation for leaving no stone (or garden ) unturned  when it comes to digging for records..... and whilst talking of BHarper n "Texas " that being one of the great American states famous for two types of  "Black Gold" ....1)  fabulous  vinyl finds ...2) but cannot remember what the other stuff is for the life of me ? Doh lol .... 

 

(See below ) 

 

 

 

tfk :rofl:

 

Got to agree with that funky kid. Texas has always been kind to me with great record finds...YEEE HAA!!!!!

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Top top man ... I had three of his soul packs in the 70's at £15 and that included P+P. Wish I'd bought a hundred ! Got a Dickie Wonder Nobody Knows on Sound of soul and an Eddie Billups Shake off that Dream 777 Demo to name 2 ... 15p each. Then loads of top top sounds, Johnny Scott let me be a winner, Mike Jemison I want some satisfaction etc etc etc ... Legend

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Still working his magic too, been reading through all the old lists you've posted and listening to the different versions of some known tunes that I hadn't heard of before. Found two I like. :hatsoff2:

Only remember being successful  once from Soul Bowl in the late 70's but can't for the life of me remember what it was, however the excitement of the lists and waiting for the record is a memory, as others have commented, that never leaves you.

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A few more old Soul Bowl lists, with what seems amazing prices these days!

They were about the going rates at the time, but that was the 1970's.

soul bowl 2.jpg

soul bowl blue.jpg

Soul Bowl lists from 1970's.jpg

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Wish I had a time machine to go back and buy these.

I remember buying The Sapphires Slow Fizz, and The Fascinations, from Soulbowl but can't remember what I paid. I had forgotten about the LP listings. The Larry Santos LP I remember being in demand together with Bobby Hutton and the Skullsnaps at the time (1975/76). Happy Days?

 

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Such a fantastic read. I too remember the list arriving, dashing to the pay-phone, reserving the latest big tunes at Wigan such as Lou Johnson- Unsatisfied, Detroit Executives- Cool Off and others. Wish I could turn the hands back now and buy a few more obscurities off the lists.

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I can remember saying to John, at Cleethorpes, some years ago that he should write a book. Well I guess this will be the next best thing.

Are'nt we all going dewy eyed looking at those prices? But the guy is still at it. At Prestatyn this year, he had a box of 70's/Modern, all mintish and full of stuff to make a collector dribble.

I think it's fair to say, this guys contribution to the Rare Soul scene has been as important as any artist/dj etc.

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Think I'm right in saying that Soul Bowl's origins were back in Glasgow in (or around) 1963 ...

.... also believe the concern started out by using the name RECORD BAZAAR ..... 

if that's the case then these are examples of John's early magazine ads ... the top one (when 45's were being sold for 2s. -- or 10p) dates from the late 60's ... the next one down from his earliest days (early summer 63) when 45's were sold for 1/- each (5p) ...  

SoulBowl69lists.jpg

Edited by Roburt
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1 hour ago, Roburt said:

Think I'm right in saying that Soul Bowl's origins were back in Glasgow in (or around) 1963 ...

.... also believe the concern started out by using the name RECORD BAZAAR ..... 

if that's the case then these are examples of John's early magazine ads ... the top one (when 45's were being sold for 2s. -- or 10p) dates from the late 60's ... the next one down from his earliest days (early summer 63) when 45's were sold for 1/- each (5p) ...  

SoulBowl69lists.jpg

1142/6 Argyle Street, Glasgow was a second hand shop called Silverdales.  They had one room for records, and the bigger part was general second-hand stuff. I think the name "Record Bazaar" was just used for their mail order. I don't think Silverdales had any connection with John Anderson.   

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