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The Greatest Record Finds Of All Time 2008

a 2008 vintage forum post

By Ian Dewhirst in Soul Music Articles
Updated on 06 Feb 2020 · Published 01 Oct 2018

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Following on from the Graham Warr thread, I figured that this is the time to start collating some of those UNBELIEVABLE U.S. Northern finds. Or unbelievable disappointments too.

From experience, it's quite often the unexpected ones which turn out to be killers!

So here's an example from me, just to kick things off....

In 1988 I was stuck in a pretty boring job in between my more exciting jobs when I got a phone call from my ex boss who used to own the Warehouse in Leeds. He'd recently moved out to Denver, Colorado and was thinking about opening a club out there, so he invited me over for 10 days and offered to send the plane tickets!

Which was perfect! Anything to get out of the MCPS in Streatham which was slowly killing me.....

Also, at the back of my mind, I figured that Denver is in the middle of nowhere so the chances of any Northern collectors actually CHOOSING to go to Denver or even Colorado was remote - they'd have to go roughly 1000 miles from anywhere else to the middle of cowboy country to look for Northern. Unlikely.....

So I got there, got settled in at my bosses pad and then began a week of trawling every store in Denver whilst looking at potential club premises.

And.......nothing!

A complete bust.

Crap.

I couldn't believe it. Quite often there'd be promising situations, i.e., plenty of the right labels from the right era and cheap. But somehow there were never the right artists or smaller labels and WAAAY too much Country & Western for my liking.....

It got to day 9 - the day before I was due to fly back and there was one store about 15 miles out of Denver which I hadn't tried yet. The only problem was that my ex-boss was busy that day and wouldn't be able to run me over there. I'd have to get there via about three buses which would be a pain in the ass.

Anyway, I set off. It took me almost 2 hours to get there but when I got there my heart started pounding! The shop looked FANTASTIC with 100ft long racks of 45's from floor to ceiling. So I got digging....

And nothing! Tons of the right labels, lots of the right artists but NO NORTHERN!!

The shop owner even let me in the back room to go through the unsorted stuff so I got covered in cobwebs, rat shit and dust going through hundred-count boxes of Luther Ingram, Staple Singers and Bar-Kays records but still NO NORTHERN!

After a couple of hours and covered in shit from head-to-toe, I called it a day and headed back to the bus stop for the trek back. And dammit, I just missed a bus and the next one was in an hour. So I had an hour to kill in the middle of Buttfuck, Denver with no records!

Great.

So I went into a burger bar and got a burger and coffee and went to sit at the window booth. As I was chomping my burger I was casually looking out of the window looking across a parking lot and, beyond that a dual carriageway, when in the distance, at the other side of the dual carriageway, I saw a sign which said "1940 Jukebox Co".

I wasn't that excited but I had a bit more time to kill and I like those early Wurlitzer jukeboxes anyway, so I thought I'd have a wander over there and have a look. Nothing better to do.....

So I crossed the dual carriageway and walked up to a huge building which had a shop front with a couple of Wurlitzer jukeboxes in the window. I looked at 'em for a while and then casually wandered into the shop.

As I went through the door into the shop, I noticed an alcove on the right-hand side which was roped-off but which was full of racks of records in what looked to be strict alphabetical order.

I still wasn't that excited - I thought they'd all be ex-jukebox records, 'oldies but goodies' or the dreaded Ferlin Husky or Merle Haggard stuff which Denver was filled with.

There was a long-haired bearded native Indian bloke at the counter, so I wandered up and said "Wow. Love these jukeboxes man. What do you play on 'em"?

He said: "I've got over a million records in there (pointing at the alcove), so we ain't gonna run out anytime soon son".

I said: "Wow. A million ay? Are they for sale"?

He said: "Yep. As a matter of fact it's your lucky day son. I'm having a sale, so anything you want is 25 cents each."

And with that, he walked around the counter, down to the alcove, unhooked the rope to the entrance and ushered me in.

I took a deep breath. This actually looked promising. The alphabetizing of his stock was incredible with the 'A' section starting off with A, AA, AB, ABE, etc, etc. Far too intricate for just ex-juke-box titles. But it could still all be Country and Western though so I still wasn't getting too excited....

So, I thought what record have I never managed to find in all my previous trips to the U.S.? One I really like preferably.....? And it had always bugged me that I'd never managed to find a Stanley Mitchell "Get It Baby" one of my favourite records of all time.

So I went to the 'M' section, scrolled along - M..., MA..., ME..., MI...., MIT..., MITCH.........

And found 2 mint white promo copies of "Get It Baby" on Dynamo!

That was when my heart started pounding!

Everything was in there! All the major label stuff, lots of tiny indie labels, tons of New York, L.A., Detroit and Chicago goodies.

I ended up staying there until 12.00pm that night. The owner even locked me up in the shop so he could get some dinner. I bought 2,800 records for $700 and made close to £30,000 and massively increased my Northern collection at the time. It was easily the best hit I've ever had in my entire life. The 'Holy Grail' in fact.

But only around 10-11 hours to cover a million records? I had to go back to the UK the next day, so the only thing I could do was target things I could remember and adopt a kind of 'scattergun' approach which is absolutely the worst way to clear a warehouse.

And to this day, I wake up in a cold sweat every so often, dreaming of what I left behind at the 1940 Jukebox Company.

A few months after my visit, Dave Raistrick found the place and had a hell of a hit himself. But he couldn't understand why a lot of the obvious titles weren't there until he asked the guy whether anyone else from England had been there and the guy said. "Well there was this tall, dark-haired guy here a couple of months ago...........".

I caught up with Dave a year or two later at a record fair and he said "Denver, Colorado. Was that you"?

And I said "Yep"!

Got loads more but I thought I'd kick off with a monster. I know Tim, Johnny, Ady, Kev and most U.S. crate-diggers have their own great tales, so let's hear 'em. It doesn't have to be a successful story. I've had some monumental disappointments too. But it's always good to share the tales LOL.....

Ian D :thumbup:



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Jez Jones

Okey Dokey.

I TOLD ya I smelt vinyl LOL!

Two fantastic hits today both within 10 minutes of my house.

The first one is unbelievable considering this thread.

I UK Tamla Motown promo of Frank Wilson "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" in the local Heart Foundation shop!!!! The ONLY decent record in there amongst tons of crap. Just unbelievable. Sitting there by itself, minding it's own business, mingled in with Cliff Richard, Bananarama, Level 42, Marti Webb and some oddball EMI, CBS and Epic promos. Truly unbelievable.

I'm still buzzing! How weird is that? :thumbup:

Dunno what it's worth these days. Black Tamla Motown promo - anyone any idea?

And then I had 2 bust-outs at the next two places.

I then nipped into the next suburban village and struck out in the first two places and rushed into the Cancer Charity shop in a real hurry 'cos I had to get some bets on for the Grand National. I struck out and was about to leave the shop when I noticed another crate near the books with some Classical Box sets. I went quickly past the Classical Boxes and then waded through a load of the usual CRAP Richard Clayderman, James Last and Maz Bygraves albums and right at the back was....

The House Sound Of Chicago 12 x Vinyl Box Set. Mint with the orginal booklet - all the 12" mixes. Not one for S.S. but highly collectible elsewhere. £10. Probably worth £150. https://www.discogs.com/release/57624 :thumbup:

So not bad for a quick dig in the local gaffs ay?

The bad news is that I crashed badly on the Grand National. I felt lucky so I backed all the horses with Northern related titles - Backbeat (as in the label), Vodka Bleu (Nikki Blu/Blue Sharks) and Idle Talk (Idle Few) but they crashed and burned. C'est la vie.....

But can't complain. I dug for 20 minutes and found these two beauts so a good day overall!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Ian D :D

Blimey well done that man :) . What the odds on that happening a lot bigger than Backbeat I guess :thumbsup:

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Guest mel brat

Guest mel brat

Posted (edited)

Yeah can vaguely remember a few Co-ops stocking a few sounds. What does come to mind though was Woolworths...

Yes, I believe that 'Woolies' were known for having remaining stocks of deleted albums in store at around that time. I distinctly remember a guy writing to Blues & Soul about it - it happened again later with mid-seventies albums, and I got quite a few from there at around .99p I think.

Meanwhile, I recall my local Tesco's having the familiar "wire bins" full of blue Stax and red Atlantic singles around 1971. No 'Northern' that I recall (we didn't call it 'Northern' then of course), apart from the original 1969 issues of Tony & Tandy "Two Can Make It Together", which had just been re-issued anyway, though with a different B-Side.

In 'The In-Crowd' book, Richard Searling recalls finding copies of Patrice Holloway "Love And Desire" at his own local supermarket branch, but (of course) no such luck for me! To be honest, I probably wouldn't have known most of the decent tunes anyway at that stage, but hey, it would have made for a better story!

Incidently, situated directly above Tescos was the wonderfully named 'Log-O-Rhythm' club, which was done out inside like a log cabin(!), and where one could occasionally hear such immortal gems as The Sapphires, Prophets, 5th Dimension - "Train Keep On Movin" etc. etc., thus spreading the faith to the local youth of the area, or at least to "Those who had ears to hear...." :thumbsup:

Edited by mel brat
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Ian Dewhirst

Yes, I believe that 'Woolies' were known for having remaining stocks of deleted albums in store at around that time. I distinctly remember a guy writing to Blues & Soul about it - it happened again later with mid-seventies albums, and I got quite a few from there at around .99p I think.

Meanwhile, I recall my local Tesco's having the familiar "wire bins" full of blue Stax and red Atlantic singles around 1971. No 'Northern' that I recall (we didn't call it 'Northern' then of course), apart from the original 1969 issues of Tony & Tandy "Two Can Make It Together", which had just been re-issued anyway, though with a different B-Side.

In 'The In-Crowd' book, Richard Searling recalls finding copies of Patrice Holloway "Love And Desire" at his own local supermarket branch, but (of course) no such luck for me! To be honest, I probably wouldn't have known most of the decent tunes anyway at that stage, but hey, it would have made for a better story!

Incidently, situated directly above Tescos was the wonderfully named 'Log-O-Rhythm' club, which was done out inside like a log cabin(!), and where one could occasionally hear such immortal gems as The Sapphires, Prophets, 5th Dimension - "Train Keep On Movin" etc. etc., thus spreading the faith to the local youth of the area, or at least to "Those who had ears to hear...." :thumbsup:

Cheers Mel,

Where was that local supermarket by the way? And I guess we're talking somewhere between '68-'70 if Tony & Tandy had just been reissued........?

Also, let's not forget that it was a 'Woolies' in the U.S. where that third copy of "Skiing In The Snow" was found for 10 cents! We're still waiting for that story by the way LOL..........

Very appropriate song for right now. I could bloody ski to the radio show 'cos it's been snowing for the last 3 hours round here........

Ian D :)

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Eddie Hubbard

Okey Dokey.

I TOLD ya I smelt vinyl LOL!

Two fantastic hits today both within 10 minutes of my house.

The first one is unbelievable considering this thread.

I UK Tamla Motown promo of Frank Wilson "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" in the local Heart Foundation shop!!!! The ONLY decent record in there amongst tons of crap. Just unbelievable. Sitting there by itself, minding it's own business, mingled in with Cliff Richard, Bananarama, Level 42, Marti Webb and some oddball EMI, CBS and Epic promos. Truly unbelievable.

I'm still buzzing! How weird is that? :thumbsup:

Dunno what it's worth these days. Black Tamla Motown promo - anyone any idea?

And then I had 2 bust-outs at the next two places.

I then nipped into the next suburban village and struck out in the first two places and rushed into the Cancer Charity shop in a real hurry 'cos I had to get some bets on for the Grand National. I struck out and was about to leave the shop when I noticed another crate near the books with some Classical Box sets. I went quickly past the Classical Boxes and then waded through a load of the usual CRAP Richard Clayderman, James Last and Maz Bygraves albums and right at the back was....

The House Sound Of Chicago 12 x Vinyl Box Set. Mint with the orginal booklet - all the 12" mixes. Not one for S.S. but highly collectible elsewhere. £10. Probably worth £150. https://www.discogs.com/release/57624 thumbup.gif

So not bad for a quick dig in the local gaffs ay?

The bad news is that I crashed badly on the Grand National. I felt lucky so I backed all the horses with Northern related titles - Backbeat (as in the label), Vodka Bleu (Nikki Blu/Blue Sharks) and Idle Talk (Idle Few) but they crashed and burned. C'est la vie.....

But can't complain. I dug for 20 minutes and found these two beauts so a good day overall!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Ian D :D

Hi Ian , I'd have thought that you'd get at least 60 to 70 quid for the Frank Wilson ? Best ,Eddie

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foolish fool

BTW.... Apart from that particular trip, I reckon You and Tats would be able to make some pretty awesome contributions to this thread... don't you?

:thumbsup:

Maybe not the biggest record find but possibly one of the strangest, circa 88 me and Rob were in LA

and we answered a local paper ad for "20,000 records for sale". we met a guy the following day and

he told us the records belonged to his son who was a dj before he was killed in Nam, and the vinyl had been untouched since 1971. They were in storage at a friends garage.

The friends turned out to be Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn,the garage turned out to be their aircraft hanger!. Amongst their private planes and classic car collection were stacks of 100 count 45 boxes.

The first box threw a Jades on Nite-life which set the nerves jangling at the thought of what was in the rest.......not a lot as it turned out We probably came away with about 30 records. I reckon Kurt

had already been thru em, they invited us to a "hollywood barby" the following weekend, but we had a better offer of records to look thru in a flea pit in Pheonix. :boxing:

Tats

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Ian Dewhirst

Hi Ian the Rare Earth is a german one ,there is also a cover to it, strangely enough i live in germany but found it in England!

Have had a few nice finds myself in the past,to lazy to look nowadays.

One little story........John"Kojak"Harvey used to have a stall in mumbles market in Worcester,as i was working on the new telephone exchange used to sneak off for a look as often as possible.One thursday as i was looking through i found a copy of Dusty Springfield-Whats it gonna be Uk Phillips 20p price tag,"i´ll have this John" not likely! its a big sound and wrongly priced,its yours for a fiver!(i only earn´t 3.95 a week!)

So dejectedly carried on looking through(as you do) and came across another record for 20p -what about this? thats shit! price is right too sn*****,payed and away laugh.gif The record had been first played at the Cats the previous night! Panic-Reperata, brand spanking new copy.Sold it to Mick Flello the next week at Maxies in Gloucester,by then i had got another copy for 35p in the post from Picton St in Bristol!

Steve

LOL! Brilliant Steve. That's EXACTLY the kind of story we want on here! :thumbsup:

John 'Kojak' Harvey.

Now there was a character.

Dunno where the hell he came from, but, HEY! He looked very similar to renowned U.S. TV detective Kojak as played with the requisite zeal by one Telly Savalas.

But John 'Kojak' Harvey booked me for an all-dayer @ The Cat's Whiskers in Meanwood, Leeds with Jnr Walker & The All-Stars, so the guy can do wrong in my eyes.

I wrote-off my car off on the way back from Cleethorpes but still made the gig. How's that for dedication?

But, then again, who wouldn't?

And Mick Flello was a top Geezer too! Is he still around?

Smooth bugger......could always persuade you to flog him a record LOL...... :D

More like this please gentlemen!

Sometimes the small victories can be the sweetest. :boxing:

Ian D :lol:

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CliftonHall1

No, it's perfectly normal behaviour to sit in a damp, smelly basement covered in rat shit looking through hunks of plastic for that one elusive moment LOL! :boxing:

Great story John! Many thanks mate.

I wonder if there's any other ex 60's Black Music DJ's who have their records in storage somewhere? George Woods must have had a few 'cos he was involved in labels too. E. Rodney Jones or Frankie Crocker anyone?

I once went to Nashville and had a stunning Album/12" hit from a C&W store. It was a Chicago DJ from the 70's and he'd moved to Nashville and just dumped a lot of his stuff in this one place. 600 items @ 50 cents apiece. Makes you wonder what he sold 'em for....

Ian D biggrin.gif

Hi Ian,

one example i am aware/know is a crazy ex DJ guy in LA who has 1,000,000 + pristinely filed 45's that i have seen but he will not let me go through, at least properly. He later ran Juke boxs and cleared out warehouses he told me.

He used to fill his trunk every Friday on clearout day with non hit 45's and Pop at the stations up and down the coast and he remembered working in Oakland and the Ethnic artists bought in to be aired, indeed Pat Vegas coming into a Station to plug a record by Joe Hicks.

His wife stayed in Denver when they divorced and is sat on a similar amount i am told.

I phone him once a month for a chat but i know one day his son will answer the phone and he will tell me his elderly father has passed on.......

The US is vast, 52 times and more the size of the UK.

The record buisness in the 60's and early 70's pumped out at its height 220 million records per annum at its peak and was a goldmine.

With the advent of new interest/technology/vietnam in the late 60's early seventies this lucrative media gave way to the likes of Porn and the investors jumped ship.

Albeit records were lost in warehouse "fires" seeing the demise of cutout dealers (s)TONE and SCHWARTZ distributors, the latter a distributor of Shrine, it goes without saying the "Cutouts" found their way either into Woolies packs or simply dumped in landfill OR stuffed into lockups and forgot about......

On doing some digging i discovered the DJ guy has friends who in a press report bragged in newspaper articles of having over 1,000,000 45's each These people moved in the late 70's and took the records with them, still alive i am not sure, but at least i know where they went!

Do i have the time to go back out, no.

Do i have the drive, maybe, still a junkie!

What do i do........ :thumbsup:

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Ian Dewhirst

Hi Ian,

one example i am aware/know is a crazy ex DJ guy in LA who has 1,000,000 + pristinely filed 45's that i have seen but he will not let me go through, at least properly. He later ran Juke boxs and cleared out warehouses he told me.

He used to fill his trunk every Friday on clearout day with non hit 45's and Pop at the stations up and down the coast and he remembered working in Oakland and the Ethnic artists bought in to be aired, indeed Pat Vegas coming into a Station to plug a record by Joe Hicks.

His wife stayed in Denver when they divorced and is sat on a similar amount i am told.

I phone him once a month for a chat but i know one day his son will answer the phone and he will tell me his elderly father has passed on.......

The US is vast, 52 times and more the size of the UK.

The record buisness in the 60's and early 70's pumped out at its height 220 million records per annum at its peak and was a goldmine.

With the advent of new interest/technology/vietnam in the late 60's early seventies this lucrative media gave way to the likes of Porn and the investors jumped ship.

Albeit records were lost in warehouse "fires" seeing the demise of cutout dealers (s)TONE and SCHWARTZ distributors, the latter a distributor of Shrine, it goes without saying the "Cutouts" found their way either into Woolies packs or simply dumped in landfill OR stuffed into lockups and forgot about......

On doing some digging i discovered the DJ guy has friends who in a press report bragged in newspaper articles of having over 1,000,000 45's each These people moved in the late 70's and took the records with them, still alive i am not sure, but at least i know where they went!

Do i have the time to go back out, no.

Do i have the drive, maybe, still a junkie!

What do i do........ :thumbsup:

Haul ass out there and DIG Motherf*&ker!

Turn it into a road trip on the basis that you need a bit of time to 'get yourself together' LOL....

And then you will truly find yourself! :boxing:

Ian D biggrin.gif

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Sean Hampsey

Maybe not the biggest record find but possibly one of the strangest, circa 88 me and Rob were in LA

and we answered a local paper ad for "20,000 records for sale". we met a guy the following day and

he told us the records belonged to his son who was a dj before he was killed in Nam, and the vinyl had been untouched since 1971. They were in storage at a friends garage.

The friends turned out to be Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn,the garage turned out to be their aircraft hanger!. Amongst their private planes and classic car collection were stacks of 100 count 45 boxes.

The first box threw a Jades on Nite-life which set the nerves jangling at the thought of what was in the rest.......not a lot as it turned out We probably came away with about 30 records. I reckon Kurt

had already been thru em, they invited us to a "hollywood barby" the following weekend, but we had a better offer of records to look thru in a flea pit in Pheonix. :boxing:

Tats

Hi mate,

As we were discussing earlier, Kurt is a serious Detroit collector.

He will have had anything decent away before you and Rob got there.

I'll ask him if he remembers what he got out of it!

Sean

PS: Goldie says Hi!

:thumbsup:

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Ian Dewhirst

Hi mate,

As we were discussing earlier, Kurt is a serious Detroit collector.

He will have had anything decent away before you and Rob got there.

I'll ask him if he remembers what he got out of it!

Sean

PS: Goldie says Hi!

:thumbsup:

Don't trust that bloody Kurt! No wonder they called him 'Snake Plisken' in "Escape From New York". The guy IS a bloody snake! He filched my Duke Browner white promo whilst Goldie distracted me when she asked my opinion about her surgical enhancements.

And they did the air hangar trip on everyone at the time. Their ruse was to lure as many UK collectors as they could so they could glean as much info as possible about Northern rarities.

You can't believe how happy I was to see Kurt get beaten up by three girls from several different angles in Tarrantino's "Deathproof" recently.

Serves him right. The bloody snake.......

Ian D biggrin.gif

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Blake H

I first went to the States in 77 with my good friend Dave 'Jack' Horner, we went to LA in August and neither of us drove at that time. Anyone who's ever been to LA will know the folly of not driving there laugh.gif especially at the height of summer, we came back with only about 50 45s but had a good time nevertheless. I remember seeing a lot of Soulfox boots on that trip.

Dave fancied some winter sun a couple of years later and decided to try Pheonix and found Grassroots Record Exchanger and had a good hit there (Dana Valery grey & red demos, Frank Beverly, Tears, Andy Fisher etc) and struck up quite a good friendship with the owner Joe ??? (he had written articles about the Beatles) we always tried to strike up a rapore with the owners with things like "Wheres the best steak in town" or offering a drink after work, they seemed to like that.

He kept in touch with this guy by sending for records he'd seen on the shelves and later realised they were worth having (how many times have we all done that!!) Around 88 he wrote to Dave saying he was getting out of 45s as CDs were the thing and he wanted space in the store and did he know of anyone who might be intrested in buying his stock of about 44,000 45s, it wasn't all soul but we reconded we could sell on the pop/rock stuff

We pondered this for 10 seconds, went and arranged a personal loan each and sent the draft over post haste. It seemed an eternity for the load to arrive as he had to box them up and the insurance company insisted they be shipped via the Panama canal and not overland via New York.

In the interim we had saved the VAT, import tax, transport and storage money for the UK end, the big day arrived when delivery was arranged, a huge flatback lorry pulled up outside Daves house (on a busy main road) with a 8 cubic metre packing case on the back, it was massive "Wheres youre forklift mate?" Luckily we knew a guy who had a factory nearby with forklift but couldn't unload them untill the weekend so they went back in storage for a couple more days, toture sad.gif

We eventually got the box open and split the 250 count boxes 50/50 and went into isollation for a week :lol::yes: I remember the very first box having a Imaginations Strange Neigbourhood in.

An added bonus to this purchase was that Joe in his wisdom had shipped the load as 'Deceased Effects' on the shipping manifest, so no vat or import duty :thumbsup:

A big mistake was letting a few dealers round in the early days to buy a few bits in an attemt to recoup some of our outlay, we were a bit green on a lot of titles and some real goodies (deep, funk, rarities etc) went in those early days.

A couple of years later and it was back to the States where I first met one of the real characters involved with records, that being John Hillyard in LA, well known to many I'm sure.

I believe John had worked with Phil Spector in the early sixties and was known as Motorcycle Johnnie as he'd had a part in a "Leader of the pack" type record way back.

His house was rammed with records and all the main dealers called in when in LA, a few hours digging and I'd only found 30 or so 45s when John said "all those 45s on that shelf are reserved for guys in Europe and there all overdue with payment (I think he was skint!) so if you want any there yours".

An hour later I left there with 250 quality titles, George Smith, 21st century (Noel) etc etc, so if you ordered off John Hillyard and never recieved, thanks.

I met up with him the year after at the Pasadena openair record fair, what a concept digging through records in brilliant Californian sunshine cool.gifcool.gif

He had huge pile of records in front of him he'd just bought from a guy, he pointed me to where the guy was and I shot over only to find he'd just gone :shades::ohmy:

John told me he was one of the Entertainers 4 and he was going over to his place after the fair and he had a load more 45s and did I want to go with him, as I'd left the wife sunbathing at the hotel I declined not wanting to push my luck too far!

I'd had quite a good day at the fair and picked up about 100 45s (Tony Galla, Flowers, Ruby, JB Bingham etc) but I always wonder what could have been.

Anyway theres my contribution to this great thread.

Blake Helliwell

Edited by BLAKE H
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foolish fool

Don't trust that bloody Kurt! No wonder they called him 'Snake Plisken' in "Escape From New York". The guy IS a bloody snake! He filched my Duke Browner white promo whilst Goldie distracted me when she asked my opinion about her surgical enhancements.

And they did the air hangar trip on everyone at the time. Their ruse was to lure as many UK collectors as they could so they could glean as much info as possible about Northern rarities.

You can't believe how happy I was to see Kurt get beaten up by three girls from several different angles in Tarrantino's "Deathproof" recently.

Serves him right. The bloody snake.......

Ian D :thumbsup:

I am disappointed Ian. :thumbsup:

you can get distracted from the vinyl :thumbsup:

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Ian Dewhirst

I first went to the States in 77 with my good friend Dave 'Jack' Horner, we went to LA in August and neither of us drove at that time. Anyone who's ever been to LA will know the folly of not driving there especially at the height of summer, we came back with only about 50 45s but had a good time nevertheless. I remember seeing a lot of Soulfox boots on that trip.

Dave fancied some winter sun a couple of years later and decided to try Pheonix and found Grassroots Record Exchanger and had a good hit there (Dana Valery grey & red demos, Frank Beverly, Tears, Andy Fisher etc) and struck up quite a good friendship with the owner Joe ??? (he had written articles about the Beatles) we always tried to strike up a rapore with the owners with things like "Wheres the best steak in town" or offering a drink after work, they seemed to like that.

He kept in touch with this guy by sending for records he'd seen on the shelves and later realised they were worth having (how many times have we all done that!!) Around 88 he wrote to Dave saying he was getting out of 45s as CDs were the thing and he wanted space in the store and did he know of anyone who might be intrested in buying his stock of about 44,000 45s, it wasn't all soul but we reconded we could sell on the pop/rock stuff

We pondered this for 10 seconds, went and arranged a personal loan each and sent the draft over post haste. It seemed an eternity for the load to arrive as he had to box them up and the insurance company insisted they be shipped via the Panama canal and not overland via New York.

In the interim we had saved the VAT, import tax, transport and storage money for the UK end, the big day arrived when delivery was arranged, a huge flatback lorry pulled up outside Daves house (on a busy main road) with a 8 cubic metre packing case on the back, it was massive "Wheres youre forklift mate?" Luckily we knew a guy who had a factory nearby with forklift but couldn't unload them untill the weekend so they went back in storage for a couple more days, toture

We eventually got the box open and split the 250 count boxes 50/50 and went into isollation for a week I remember the very first box having a Imaginations Strange Neigbourhood in.

An added bonus to this purchase was that Joe in his wisdom had shipped the load as 'Deceased Effects' on the shipping manifest, so no vat or import duty

A big mistake was letting a few dealers round in the early days to buy a few bits in an attemt to recoup some of our outlay, we were a bit green on a lot of titles and some real goodies (deep, funk, rarities etc) went in those early days.

A couple of years later and it was back to the States where I first met one of the real characters involved with records, that being John Hillyard in LA, well known to many I'm sure.

I believe John had worked with Phil Spector in the early sixties and was known as Motorcycle Johnnie as he'd had a part in a "Leader of the pack" type record way back.

His house was rammed with records and all the main dealers called in when in LA, a few hours digging and I'd only found 30 or so 45s when John said "all those 45s on that shelf are reserved for guys in Europe and there all overdue with payment (I think he was skint!) so if you want any there yours".

An hour later I left there with 250 quality titles, George Smith, 21st century (Noel) etc etc, so if you ordered off John Hillyard and never recieved, thanks.

I met up with him the year after at the Pasadena openair record fair, what a concept digging through records in brilliant Californian sunshine

He had huge pile of records in front of him he'd just bought from a guy, he pointed me to where the guy was and I shot over only to find he'd just gone

John told me he was one of the Entertainers 4 and he was going over to his place after the fair and he had a load more 45s and did I want to go with him, as I'd left the wife sunbathing at the hotel I declined not wanting to push my luck too far!

I'd had quite a good day at the fair and picked up about 100 45s (Tony Galla, Flowers, Ruby, JB Bingham etc) but I always wonder what could have been.

Anyway theres my contribution to this great thread.

Blake Helliwell

Brilliant story Blake! :thumbsup:

But the difference between you and me, is that I would definitely have taken off with the Entertainers 4 guy. Your wife was at the bloody hotel - she had sun, food and roof over her head! You could have taken off for HOURS at least LOL......

Are you nuts? :thumbsup:

EVERYTHING would've been there!

Ian D :thumbsup:

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Ian Dewhirst

I am disappointed Ian. :thumbsup:

you can get distracted from the vinyl :thumbsup:

Well, there's another interest which came a close second to vinyl and occasionally even took the top spot!

Ian D :thumbsup:

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Rob Wigley

Ones that got away...

Sometime in the late 80s, myself and rob wigley were driving thru Georgia on the vinyl hunt listening to coloured music rolleyes.gif on the radio. When the DJ announced that from next week they would be switching to CD only ...not being aficionados of this format, we decided to contact the radio station and voice our disapproval and help relieve them of the unwanted records . The next gas stop provided the yellow page we needed with the stations address (I wonder how many yellow pages have had the record store listings torn out over the years) . 2hrs later we arrived at w.a.n.k or something like that in the middle of nowhere, only to find it was closed at the weekend and the shows are pre recorded.

Undeterred we decided to have a look around the back of the building, as we were about to jemmy the window (joke...honest) this old black caretaker appeared (think turkle from "one flew over the cuckoos nest") who gently informed us that 3 trucks had taken the vinyl to the incinerator 2 days ago.

As we dejectedly walked away "wait a minute, you might want these" shouted turkle, and he produced 3 old paint buckets with about 100 singles in each one. " I scooped a few handfuls up for the grandkids" he said "but you can have them if you want". 1st record on the top was Bobby Adams "that's the kind of man", we found about 40 nice northern things in those 3 buckets, but I am still haunted by Images of those wagons with 30-50 thousand 45s destined for the incinerator.

Tats

+spellchecker and roose

Not even thinking about that Tats, but can you remember the Guy we bumped into in the same town who sent us to the black hairdressers supply shop. Her uncle had the store before her and handed over the keys when he went on 25 year stretch at Uncle Sams pleasure for armed robbery.

We walked in to be looked at as if we had just landed from Mars (it was your "shell suit" period tats)-

We asked if this used to be the oldies record mart, she said "yes 6 years ago". "Do you know where he's moved to ?"

"Jacksonville state penentiory"

"No records then ?"

"Only these under the counter"

we looked and it was mainly 70s/80s stuff including around 10 copies of Mark IV "If you can't tell me something good about my baby" Brite lite 7" at 50 cents each (Around £220-£250 at the time)

:lol: RESULT ! :lol:

Viva the LaBeat Boys !!!

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foolish fool

Not even thinking about that Tats, but can you remember the Guy we bumped into in the same town who sent us to the black hairdressers supply shop. Her uncle had the store before her and handed over the keys when he went on 25 year stretch at Uncle Sams pleasure for armed robbery.

We walked in to be looked at as if we had just landed from Mars (it was your "shell suit" period tats)-

We asked if this used to be the oldies record mart, she said "yes 6 years ago". "Do you know where he's moved to ?"

"Jacksonville state penentiory"

"No records then ?"

"Only these under the counter"

we looked and it was mainly 70s/80s stuff including around 10 copies of Mark IV "If you can't tell me something good about my baby" Brite lite 7" at 50 cents each (Around £220-£250 at the time)

shhh.gif RESULT ! :lol:

LIES, LIES, LIES.

IV'E GOTTA GO IN COMPLETE DENIAL ON THE SHELL SUIT

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Ian Dewhirst

I always thought it suited you.

Course, you were a lot slimmer back then!

Sartorial elegance and digging for Northern aren't regular bedfellows as I pointed out to Tim Brown, who was wearing a badly torn jumper which was falling off him when I flogged him a Duke Browner for £11 in '74! Enough for 4 brand new jumpers at the time......

Ian D :smile:

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Sean Hampsey

Sartorial elegance and digging for Northern aren't regular bedfellows as I pointed out to Tim Brown, who was wearing a badly torn jumper which was falling off him when I flogged him a Duke Browner for £11 in '74! Enough for 4 brand new jumpers at the time......

Ian D :smile:

£11 in '74 - a bit steep Ian, but to be fair I think a Duke Browner would get you an entire wardrobe nowadays.

That said, I sold a Minter in 84 for only £20.

Wouldn't give the miserable dirge House room.

Think I'd prefer Tim's Badly torn Jumper any day! laugh.gif

:lol:

Sean

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CliftonHall1

Haul ass out there and DIG Motherf*&ker!

Turn it into a road trip on the basis that you need a bit of time to 'get yourself together' LOL....

And then you will truly find yourself! :D

Ian D :D

Ian,

dont trouble yourself mate, thumbsup.gif

the Black Suit is pressed and the regalia ready packed, WHEN the time comes wicked.gif

funny what you pick up being in the "craft" :thumbup: (or should that be thumbs down) so mote it be, if you know what i mean :shhh:

One thing for sure i will need to take some backup :wicked: as this place is in possibly the roughest areas in LA, Crack dealers, whores on the streets (male and female) et all,

mind you sounds a bit like Sheffield these days!

Probably more guns in Sheffield!!

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Ian Dewhirst

Ian,

dont trouble yourself mate, :rolleyes:

the Black Suit is pressed and the regalia ready packed, WHEN the time comes :lol:

funny what you pick up being in the "craft" :ohmy: (or should that be thumbs down) so mote it be, if you know what i mean shhh.gif

One thing for sure i will need to take some backup :ohmy: as this place is in possibly the roughest areas in LA, Crack dealers, whores on the streets (male and female) et all,

mind you sounds a bit like Sheffield these days!

Probably more guns in Sheffield!!

Ever wondered why I collect weapons as well as records LOL?

Always handy to have at least 2 different-sized extendable steel coshes (in case there's a few of 'em), at least two different types of liquid disablers - US government endorsed mace or a really potent pepper spray will do and a stun gun with an effective range of 50 feet. That's just for the UK.....

For the US stronger measures are necessary. I'll put you in touch with the old Death Row boys - they seemed to rule the turf the last time I was over. "Gangbanger Slim" will look after you.....

Ian D :P

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Guest mcleanmuir

Guest mcleanmuir

Posted

One thing for certain that you didn't need when dealing in records was a conscience. I sometimes felt like the grim reaper turning up at someone's door. People used to say don't you feel bad about selling this stuff for decent money considering the artists are probably broke now. As long as I didn't see them I was fine and could live with it was my reply.

Well someone I knew rounded up Clifton Dyson (Dysons Faces), Al Mason and Rick Webb and brought them over to the UK to do some PAs. He even brought them to my house one day and to be honest, I did feel a tad awkward.

Clifton had a Dysons Faces LP with him and was trying to sell it, the LP was all beat up and I had to pass, in those days you could get a few hundred pounds for it. He also had a suitcase of his greatest hits on CDs, with no covers; he was looking for a distribution deal. I was keen and could see a way of making a few quid, that was until I played one. It was recorded straight of the vinyl and every track crackled and popped. I listened to his tale of how he got released from Motown and to be honest started to feel sorry for him. I managed to get some covers printed for him for the CDs and put him in touch with a guy called Mustaffa in LA, who then got in touch with the Japs. It did get a release in Japan.

I recall going to one of the PAs near Earls Court, Hobbs was the DJ for the evening and all 3 artists put on a great show.

Many years later I did an internet search for Clifton and found out he had got into gospel and became successful.

I still have a copy of the original CD somewhere.

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Ian Dewhirst

One thing for certain that you didn't need when dealing in records was a conscience. I sometimes felt like the grim reaper turning up at someone's door. People used to say don't you feel bad about selling this stuff for decent money considering the artists are probably broke now. As long as I didn't see them I was fine and could live with it was my reply.

Well someone I knew rounded up Clifton Dyson (Dysons Faces), Al Mason and Rick Webb and brought them over to the UK to do some PAs. He even brought them to my house one day and to be honest, I did feel a tad awkward.

Clifton had a Dysons Faces LP with him and was trying to sell it, the LP was all beat up and I had to pass, in those days you could get a few hundred pounds for it. He also had a suitcase of his greatest hits on CDs, with no covers; he was looking for a distribution deal. I was keen and could see a way of making a few quid, that was until I played one. It was recorded straight of the vinyl and every track crackled and popped. I listened to his tale of how he got released from Motown and to be honest started to feel sorry for him. I managed to get some covers printed for him for the CDs and put him in touch with a guy called Mustaffa in LA, who then got in touch with the Japs. It did get a release in Japan.

I recall going to one of the PAs near Earls Court, Hobbs was the DJ for the evening and all 3 artists put on a great show.

Many years later I did an internet search for Clifton and found out he had got into gospel and became successful.

I still have a copy of the original CD somewhere.

Yep, very sad but it's the nature of the beast I'm afraid. The stuff we look for was commercially unsuccessful for the most part, so not many fairy stories there unfortunately.

Found it sad when Steve Mancha turned up in the UK to record a vocal of a song we were doing and he patently couldn't sing anymore plus it was a bitch even getting him to the studio LOL.....

Such a shame that many of our heroes ended up with nowt. But we must remember that it's not our fault. Everyone got ripped off in the 60's music biz and many turned to drink or drugs as a result. Some of 'em died as a result - anyone ever read the Frankie Lymon story?

Worst thing for me was seeing Jackie Lee spark out on a park bench in L.A. in the 70's.........

Ian D :lol:

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SHEFFSOUL

OK Mel 'Black County' Brat. Point taken LOL...

Interesting point about the Tuff stuff reaching the Black Country first. Why was that? And where did Max get that Little Joe Roman from?

Questions, questions.....

And I'm gonna take the credit for Lou Pride early plays. I bought it from Bob from Louth on a very foggy night back in '74 I think - maybe Bob can confirm the date - it was a Thursday night Northern do in Lincolnshire and there weren't many of them back then. I think I paid Bob £4 for it. I knew it would be a monster from the second I heard it but the title threw me slightly. What the hell was that all about? "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un"? Weird.

I remember the night well - especially coming back from the gig. I'd set off with my then flatemate, Kelly, from Hudderfield and it was a LONG journey in those days. Getting there wasn't too bad but I wasn't looking forward to driving back in the middle of the night - too much room for error in my opinion. We got about 30 miles into some serious country 'b' roads and actually passed a hitch-hiker at around 2.30am, literally in the middle of nowhere. We didn't stop 'cos he must have been a weirdo!

Driving along those long straight country roads @ 60mph @ 2.00am in the morning in deep fog meant that I missed a blind 90 degree left turn and went literally flying into a freshly ploughed field. Kelly and I got out and started trying to move the car but it was up to it's hubs in deep, sticky, freshly-ploughed mud and no matter how much I revved, the wheels just kept on spinning and only managed to send a huge wave of mud over Kelly. About 20 minutes later, the 'weirdo' hitch-hiker suddenly appeared out of the fog and offered to give us a hand in return for a lift. Turns out he wasn't a weirdo after all but just a guy who'd missed his last bus and decided to walk 25 miles. We used to do things like that in those days LOL...

Between the three of us we eventually managed to get the car back on the road. There was little collateral damage apart from wounded pride and a carful of mud. We dropped the hitch-hiker off and continued through the night eventually getting back to Huddersfield at 4.30am on Friday morning. Just time to have a cuppa, scrape the mud off our shoes, whack our clothes in the washer, get a bath, clean down the car both inside and out and.....leave for work!

So, with the best will in the world Mel, there is no way I'd ever forget the night I bought "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un".

Never has a title seemed so apt.

Ian D :lol:

I'm sure I have a wigan tape from '74 with John Vincent playing Lou Pride covered as James lewis??ring any bells??

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Ian Dewhirst

I'm sure I have a wigan tape from '74 with John Vincent playing Lou Pride covered as James lewis??ring any bells??

Blimey, all the old threads are rolling out tonight aren't they LOL....... :lol:

Yep, I covered it as James Lewis I believe. I seem to remember very delicately placing a white sticker across Lou Pride's name with James Lewis if my memory serves me correctly. Someone out there will have my original with the sticker residue no doubt.....

I was looking at Ginger's copy of Lenny Curtis t'other week and I found my name etched in the run-out groove, so all my originals are still out there somewhere..........

Ian D :D

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Guest smudgesmith

Guest smudgesmith

Posted

Have been in some crappy places but one of worst that comes to mind was Eddie Threeway's, above a long-closed store in a really ropey part of New Orleans (and ropey in New Orleans means genuinely dangerous), had to clamber up up a ladder into an attic piled with thousands of records with no lights and holes in the floor you couldn't see, the ladder had to be locked up while you were up there or it would be stolen the area was so grim, for a $1 you could run an electric cord into a little barbershop next door for a lightbulb, but the thing that made it truly sad was the owner/seller, Eddie Jr, who used to run the store downstairs had been shot in there by a random bullet that had bounced off the doorframe and hit him and it left him partially paralysed for life, plus all the store stock downstairs was stolen while he was in the hospital, he never did find out who the bullet was meant for either but apparently the guy he thinks pulled the trigger ended up on the wrong end of a bullet himself soon after. Once got some great stuff at a lock-up that was led to by a guy who arranged to meet me by a payphone at a donut store by an offramp miles from anywhere, found reasonable stuff but nothing special until spotted one small box buried at the back away from all the other stuff, turned out he'd never got round to pulling it out before and almost every single thing was a goodie and all of $2 each - James Wayne on Key-Lan was first out the box I remember - so was feeling really great afterwards.....until realised I'd left a shoulder bag in his lock-up with my passport in it and he'd driven off and didn't have a cellphone, double doh! But yes it can be a lot easier when you magically find something filed neatly in full view in the stock section, still can't believe that in the same place that loads of people here have surely hit over the years found the Hyperions on Chattahoochee, Oliver Christian on Legrand, Soul Commanders on Lifetime and many more just sitting there in their clearly marked place, $25, $20 and $15 respectively, the owner now tends to look things up in the price guide but luckily JM in one of his guides had Tee and Cee and the LTD's under L instead of T so recently got charged $10 for that as he didn't spot it, thanks John!

Eddies Three Way Records Washington Ave New Orleans................Carl Fortnum and i went there after driving from Austin.Carl had been there before and found a few bits,Hayes Cotton etc.Having to fly home within a few hours he never managed to do the full shop,well shop more of a shack attached to a bar and some sort of barbers.A return visit was on the cards.

Eddie had been contact prior to us leaving the UK and arrangements made to meet with him in the next few days.We drove from Texas the several hundred miles and arrived in what can only be likened to the worst perception of the most neglected council estate you can imagine.Pulling up outside Eddies we found the door had a padlock on it and no sign of life.I said to Carl we have come all this way no lock is gonna stop us from going in there.Apparently Eddies dad was a distributor for all the major labels and he gave the shop to Eddie,the titles should be there.

I left Carl in the car and sheepishly went over to the bar,the door wouldn't open,then all of a sudden i heard a buzz and in the bar door i fell.it was pitch black apart from several small neon signs,Coors,Budweiser etc..My eyes soon adjusted to the darkness and all around the bar were people,one would take a puff on a cigarette and light up his face,it was deathly quiet,no place for a white boy especially a white boy or two with a brand new car outside.There was a young girl at the bar i went over to her and asked if she knew where Eddie was? "Bin Shot" excuse me "Bin Shot" i nearly shit,and i shot back to the car and told Carl to drive.No tune from Eddies that day.

Ian (Frank) you mentioned Chris Peeke.................more about that white tee shirted,levi cut off wearing greasy haired....................later

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Ian Dewhirst

Ian (Frank) you mentioned Chris Peeke.................more about that white tee shirted,levi cut off wearing greasy haired....................later

Bloody hell. Please tell. The guy looked like Charles Manson and had records in every conceivable area of his house - even in the larder, the fridge, the loo, the bathroom etc. That's where I found the second copy of Willie Hutch and the first Judy Streets!

He took me to see Ted Nugent @ the Colloseum in L.A. and that permanently wrecked my eardrums. Is he still around? When did you last see him?

Ian D :lol:

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Guest smudgesmith

Guest smudgesmith

Posted

Blimey, all the old threads are rolling out tonight aren't they LOL....... :lol:

Yep, I covered it as James Lewis I believe. I seem to remember very delicately placing a white sticker across Lou Pride's name with James Lewis if my memory serves me correctly. Someone out there will have my original with the sticker residue no doubt.....

I was looking at Ginger's copy of Lenny Curtis t'other week and I found my name etched in the run-out groove, so all my originals are still out there somewhere..........

Ian D :lol:

Ian you touched on Chris Peeke some pages ago.Like anyone who ventured to the US for the first time the anticipation and excitement is difficult to explain.

Carl Fortnum and I flew to into Dallas Fort Worth picked up our hire car and began my first US adventure.First port of call was a gut called Ralph Sagmo.He lived at that time in a large type of mobile home not far from the airport and Carl said that he turns up a few now and again.Ralph was a very friendly guy and Carl knew him well.A box of about 30/40 records was handed to me,the first record in the box was a demo of Porgy and the Monarchs "My heart Cries for you,It looked like Torvil and Dean had skated on it and it was priced at $60.00 i told Ralph that was expensive and i could buy a mint one in the UK for that.Looking further i came across 2 copies of the Colt 45,s.Eddie Whitehead and one or two others for what amounted to peanuts,needless to say we gave him the $60.00 for Porgy,drank our ice tea and left a bit sharpish

Next port of call was a strange guy called Chris Peeke in Austin.Carl's previous experience of Peeky caused me concern,tales of only allowing limited time in the lock up and then after finding the tunes he had a reluctance to sell them. Carl said "whatever you do don't hit him" strange statement i thought.After meeting him and all those on here that have met him will understand Carl's statement. Fortunately the vinyl god was looking down on us that day,Peeky was in the process of moving and his car had broken down,Avis rental car to the rescue.We were taken to the lock up and left to our own devices.I started in one corner Carl in the other.Within minutes i had in my hands all the Ty Karims You Really Made it good,Lighten Up,You Just dont know

next record up was The Construction Hey Little way out Girl.Then came a yelp from Carl.......Jackie Day on Phlectron,this was at that time probably only the 3rd or 4th copy,then The Servicemen on Wind Hit and on and and on.................more later

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binsy

One thing for certain that you didn't need when dealing in records was a conscience. I sometimes felt like the grim reaper turning up at someone's door. People used to say don't you feel bad about selling this stuff for decent money considering the artists are probably broke now. As long as I didn't see them I was fine and could live with it was my reply.

Well someone I knew rounded up Clifton Dyson (Dysons Faces), Al Mason and Rick Webb and brought them over to the UK to do some PAs. He even brought them to my house one day and to be honest, I did feel a tad awkward.

Clifton had a Dysons Faces LP with him and was trying to sell it, the LP was all beat up and I had to pass, in those days you could get a few hundred pounds for it. He also had a suitcase of his greatest hits on CDs, with no covers; he was looking for a distribution deal. I was keen and could see a way of making a few quid, that was until I played one. It was recorded straight of the vinyl and every track crackled and popped. I listened to his tale of how he got released from Motown and to be honest started to feel sorry for him. I managed to get some covers printed for him for the CDs and put him in touch with a guy called Mustaffa in LA, who then got in touch with the Japs. It did get a release in Japan.

I recall going to one of the PAs near Earls Court, Hobbs was the DJ for the evening and all 3 artists put on a great show.

Many years later I did an internet search for Clifton and found out he had got into gospel and became successful.

I still have a copy of the original CD somewhere.

Sad story, I saw him at the Norfolk Village pub and the do in West Kensington that you mentioned and bought a copy of the cd as I felt sorry for him. It was in awful condition but he was fantastic live. I remember seeing him sing 'Hypnotized' from his lp doing both the female and male part (my mate Gary Thomas told me it was a duet) and it was stunning.

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Ian Dewhirst

Ian you touched on Chris Peeke some pages ago.Like anyone who ventured to the US for the first time the anticipation and excitement is difficult to explain.

Carl Fortnum and I flew to into Dallas Fort Worth picked up our hire car and began my first US adventure.First port of call was a gut called Ralph Sagmo.He lived at that time in a large type of mobile home not far from the airport and Carl said that he turns up a few now and again.Ralph was a very friendly guy and Carl knew him well.A box of about 30/40 records was handed to me,the first record in the box was a demo of Porgy and the Monarchs "My heart Cries for you,It looked like Torvil and Dean had skated on it and it was priced at $60.00 i told Ralph that was expensive and i could buy a mint one in the UK for that.Looking further i came across 2 copies of the Colt 45,s.Eddie Whitehead and one or two others for what amounted to peanuts,needless to say we gave him the $60.00 for Porgy,drank our ice tea and left a bit sharpish

Next port of call was a strange guy called Chris Peeke in Austin.Carl's previous experience of Peeky caused me concern,tales of only allowing limited time in the lock up and then after finding the tunes he had a reluctance to sell them. Carl said "whatever you do don't hit him" strange statement i thought.After meeting him and all those on here that have met him will understand Carl's statement. Fortunately the vinyl god was looking down on us that day,Peeky was in the process of moving and his car had broken down,Avis rental car to the rescue.We were taken to the lock up and left to our own devices.I started in one corner Carl in the other.Within minutes i had in my hands all the Ty Karims You Really Made it good,Lighten Up,You Just dont know

next record up was The Construction Hey Little way out Girl.Then came a yelp from Carl.......Jackie Day on Phlectron,this was at that time probably only the 3rd or 4th copy,then The Servicemen on Wind Hit and on and and on.................more later

Blimey. Some major hits there then Smudge. Brilliant stuff! :lol:

One of the problems I had with him was that I met him via Simon and he obviously never trusted him LOL. Even though I got down to his house a few times he never left me alone to just dig through and only gave me a limited amount of time anyway. I knew there were literally thousands and thousands of records there but he wouldn't let me into certain rooms so it was always kinda frustrating. That stuff you got was probably always at his place in L.A. but I just couldn't get to it dammit! :lol:

I actually went digging with him a few times on the basis that I'd keep the Northern stuff and he's keep the Rock/Garage/Psych stuff. It actually worked out quite well as he knew a lot of people with records in storage and I got the benefit of that. I'd say that he almost certainly had all of the L.A. label stuff back then. Also I plainly remember finding Ray Agee and Eddie Foster ("Closer Together") and TONS of other West Coast rarities there but leaving 'em 'cos Simon said they were either "shit", "repititive gaaaarbage" or "too slow baby boy".......which they probably were in '76. If only I had a crystal ball.......

One thing I do remember is him telling me how the term "punk" came about. Apparently the term was invented when a kid at a school in California was being told off by a teacher and right in the middle of the teacher screaming at him, he calmly got up walked over to the teachers desk, pissed all over it and left the school forever. Dunno how that stuck in my mind but it's EXACTLY the sort of tale you'd expect from Chris Peeke.......

He was one weird guy - even gave me the creeps and I don't frighten that easily...........

Ian D :lol:

Edited by Ian Dewhirst
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Algsoul

LOL! Brilliant Steve. That's EXACTLY the kind of story we want on here! :lol:

John 'Kojak' Harvey.

Now there was a character.

Dunno where the hell he came from, but, HEY! He looked very similar to renowned U.S. TV detective Kojak as played with the requisite zeal by one Telly Savalas.

But John 'Kojak' Harvey booked me for an all-dayer @ The Cat's Whiskers in Meanwood, Leeds with Jnr Walker & The All-Stars, so the guy can do wrong in my eyes.

I wrote-off my car off on the way back from Cleethorpes but still made the gig. How's that for dedication?

But, then again, who wouldn't?

And Mick Flello was a top Geezer too! Is he still around?

Smooth bugger......could always persuade you to flog him a record LOL...... :lol:

More like this please gentlemen!

Sometimes the small victories can be the sweetest. :lol:

Ian D :lol:

the cats whiskers meanwood with jnr walker there that day up on stage with him blowing a little toy sax i bought over the road fantastic what a day

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Guest Dante

Guest Dante

Posted (edited)

Great read lads! Got me up till 1 AM, having problems waking up at 530 tomorrow, so probably will be late for school. Worth every second haha

Not exactly my story, but here it goes:

Went to Detroit on 2006' summer. I spent almost all my time with Brad Hales and at his store People's Records. All the time, black guys came in with a bag or a box of 45s and all you could hear was Brad saying: "Sorry, but this is not worth anything. Look for unknown labels or artists. Motown and common stuff is not what we're looking for". Anyway, I was going thru one of his boxes when a guy came in. Brad started looking thru his records and didn't say the tipycal phrase, so I inmediatly realized something nice was going on. It was clear when he said: "I'll have them, but I'll have to go to the bank so I can pay you. Have you got any more?" He later told me he always payed good prices (nowhere as near as UK prices, but good enough for Detroit's standards) so the people would come back straight to him, and because he thought they deserved that much. So, Brad and the guy went to the bank and took the records with them. When he came back, I finally got to see what was there. Almost all were water damaged, but in good nick: about 4 Shrines (2 Prophets), Patti Young's Head And Shoulders, Dennis Edwards' Johnnie On The Spot issue, Invitations' Skiing in the Snow, and about 10 more white demos around 50-150 pounds. Of course, we we're blown out. He cleaned them using plastic gloves and played them all... He told me the guy said he did have alot more records at this house, so Brad was going with him that evening.

That night we went to Brad's house for a couple of beers. He met the guy and drove him home, but he asked Brad to stay in the car and wait for him. He stayed there for half an hour till a girl came and said they were Grandma's records, and the guy sold them behind her back and she wasn't selling anymore. Wonder what he missed...

There were lots of greats stories in that trip, I'll post up some more tomorrow.

Just one short one before I go to sleep:

Brad was sorting some albums he buyed fro 10/20 bucks. Crap. Seventies rock/pop stuff. One cover wasn't holding a 12", he pulled the record and it was an old 78 by some obscure black artist, can't recall the name. He asked me to play it and check out the title in a price guide. It turned to be a really nice blues thing by John Lee Hooker with another name worth a couple hundred quid...

Keep 'em coming!

Off to bed now.... :lol:

Cheers from Mexico.

Edited by Dante
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Guest

Just wondered. Did anyone come across a big count of the immortal Joe Matthews on Koolkat with " Aint nothing you can do" ?Now that would make me cream my trousers! Great read this thread, great read.

I got 6 copies in Old Wells records in Chicago in March 1976. My last day there! I found a box of 25! But was tight for money so I could only buy the 6, He gave me discount 6, for 5 bucks!

I left a 25 box of Lillie bryant on Tay-Ster, Thinking it was a played out Mecca spin! :lol:

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Nick Soule

I remember there was an estate sale a little outside of Detroit back in August, 2008 that I tried so hard to go to, but couldn't afford the gas all the way up there, and no one could get off work to split costs. I guess this guy owned a record store in St. Louis that closed down in the 80's, so it was his leftover stock mixed in with his large personal collection of midwestern soul and garage music. Over 100,000 records in total...mix of LPs and 45s.

Anyways, I could've gotten my Tomangoe's for $0.50 instead of what I ended up paying for it...

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Benji

Found HALF Lenny Curtis two months ago in one second hand market in the suburbs of Barcelona...It wasn't nice, i tell you :lol:

:lol::lol:sad.gif

Edu

What, only the B-side?? :lol:

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Ian Dewhirst

Found HALF Lenny Curtis two months ago in one second hand market in the suburbs of Barcelona...It wasn't nice, i tell you sad.gif

:thumbup::(:(

Edu

I'll flog you the other half for £200 if you like.......

Ian D biggrin.gif

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Stubbsy

I got 6 copies in Old Wells records in Chicago in March 1976. My last day there! I found a box of 25! But was tight for money so I could only buy the 6, He gave me discount 6, for 5 bucks!

I left a 25 box of Lillie bryant on Tay-Ster, Thinking it was a played out Mecca spin! rolleyes.gif

ohmy.gif OMG ! :thumbup:

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Guest smudgesmith

Guest smudgesmith

Posted

Getting back to the Chris peeke scenario.I said earlier that Peeky was moving home,he lived in a student type complex that was undergoing some sort of modernisation,so our car was just what he wanted,that is the only reason he left Carl and I in the lock up for long periods of time so he could utilise our fuel and motor.

After our initial find things slowed a bit in Peekys although the mediocre stuff was everywhere Minnie Jones,Bobby Jason,Toby Legend so on and so on about 700/800 tunes.Peeky called back for us and took Carl and i back to his flat,just like Ian said records everywhere and he lived like a tramp.We began to go through the kitchen cupboards,his bedroom.well everywhere really,turned up 2 Ray Pollards on Shrine and several other bits Lillie Bryant demo.That night we decided to take Peeky for a drink,he had a thing about Rolling Rock beer.

Our first port of call prior to going to the pub was another lock up Peeky had, to collect some boxes for his move.The car lights shone on the door Peeky got out lifted the door and the place was filled with LP,s."come on Carl lets have a look" F@@k off their to difficult to get home! I got out the car and went over to the lock up only to discover a box of 45,s all the Okeh stuff was there unplayed and multiples 8/10 Seven Souls,Sandi Sheldon etc etc.

We took Peeky for his drink and asked him if he had anymore records.We were told that he had put some in a local record shop and told the owner he could have 10% of all sales.Next day off to the shop spoke to the owner about these records only to be told that they were stashed out the back it was junk and he couldnt seell them. Within 20 mins 30/40 copies of Jerry Fuller same of Ron Holden,Jimmy Seals and a few more Okeh things.............could life get any better.........more later..

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Modernsoulsucks

Interesting point about the Tuff stuff reaching the Black Country first. Why was that? And where did Max get that Little Joe Roman from?

Terry Thomas [Francis T] who is on here may have an answer. Him and Rick Cooper went off to I think Telford [Oldies Unltd?] one day and came back with loads of US imports inc Joe Romans DJ. Maybe around 73/74. He'll probably remember. I think I bought it off them for £40. I had a copy but long time ago now so I can't recall if it was off them. Think i also bought "Landslide" DJ off them at the same time from the same load. Telford ain't that far from Midlands.

I remember Old Wells shop mentioned by Andy too although I didn't get there till '79 and no Joe Matthews. He did do a nice line in sexual aids with a huge vibrator standing on a table. Im not sure if he'd turned it into a lamp! Seemed to be a procession of "ladies" coming and going.

Loads of hits in US but then you'd expect that but most unexpected over here was in mid 70's when McCadden,Withers and myself got at least 40 Lenny Curtis from the back of a shop in Ashton-under-Lyne amongst other things.

ROD

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Ian Dewhirst

Interesting point about the Tuff stuff reaching the Black Country first. Why was that? And where did Max get that Little Joe Roman from?

Terry Thomas [Francis T] who is on here may have an answer. Him and Rick Cooper went off to I think Telford [Oldies Unltd?] one day and came back with loads of US imports inc Joe Romans DJ. Maybe around 73/74. He'll probably remember. I think I bought it off them for £40. I had a copy but long time ago now so I can't recall if it was off them. Think i also bought "Landslide" DJ off them at the same time from the same load. Telford ain't that far from Midlands.

I remember Old Wells shop mentioned by Andy too although I didn't get there till '79 and no Joe Matthews. He did do a nice line in sexual aids with a huge vibrator standing on a table. Im not sure if he'd turned it into a lamp! Seemed to be a procession of "ladies" coming and going.

Loads of hits in US but then you'd expect that but most unexpected over here was in mid 70's when McCadden,Withers and myself got at least 40 Lenny Curtis from the back of a shop in Ashton-under-Lyne amongst other things.

ROD

Weird how all those Lenny Curtis's ended up in the U.K. I found mine @ Bradford Market which makes me wonder whether the bulk of 'em were originally from Bostocks?

I got to Telford but long after it had raped and pillaged by Mr T, Rick, Curtis and Minshull and a few others from the Midlands - I think I may have been there in early '77 or even later from memory - just before I did my Vinyl Junkie list I think. Would you believe I left a 100 count box of Lou Kirton's "Heaven In The Afternoon" 'cos I thought it was crap at the time plus I used to see the 12" in every other shop back then......

Curious how you could walk into all sorts of oddball places back then and find 1000's of U.S. imports. I always remember going into a shop in Morley, near Leeds which was run by a Hell's Angel and there being circa 25,000 early to mid 60's U.S. 45's. I didn't do a detailed examination of 'em 'cos frankly the stuff looked too old and a lot of the gear looked more Doo-Wop than Northern. Years later when a lot of earlier stuff started being played I often wondered whether a lot of 'em would have been in that shop as almost every record was a tiny label.......maybe one for a thread called "Potential Hits You Could Have Missed"..........?

Ian D biggrin.gif

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Ian Dewhirst

I found Tears of a Clown/SMOKEY ROBINSONin Banana Records USA, what was strange about that you may ask.

It was filed away in with a load of Bobby Bland singles,,

I found a Kaddo Strings and a Lew Kirton promo in the Bananas warehouse in the mid 90's. Usual story - didn't have time to dig deep due to a none-vinyl friendly bored female caterwalling about going to the beach! ph34r.gif

Ian D biggrin.gif

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Modernsoulsucks

Weird how all those Lenny Curtis's ended up in the U.K. I found mine @ Bradford Market which makes me wonder whether the bulk of 'em were originally from Bostocks?

I got to Telford but long after it had raped and pillaged by Mr T, Rick, Curtis and Minshull and a few others from the Midlands - I think I may have been there in early '77 or even later from memory - just before I did my Vinyl Junkie list I think. Would you believe I left a 100 count box of Lou Kirton's "Heaven In The Afternoon" 'cos I thought it was crap at the time plus I used to see the 12" in every other shop back then......

Curious how you could walk into all sorts of oddball places back then and find 1000's of U.S. imports. I always remember going into a shop in Morley, near Leeds which was run by a Hell's Angel and there being circa 25,000 early to mid 60's U.S. 45's. I didn't do a detailed examination of 'em 'cos frankly the stuff looked too old and a lot of the gear looked more Doo-Wop than Northern. Years later when a lot of earlier stuff started being played I often wondered whether a lot of 'em would have been in that shop as almost every record was a tiny label.......maybe one for a thread called "Potential Hits You Could Have Missed"..........?

Ian D biggrin.gif

Thinking about it, it coulda been later than 73/74 as I think I got a copy of that "Cream of the crop" 45 on Bale off them too real cheap and swapped it with Richard for "Sister Lee" and "Get it baby" so it musta been whenever that record was taking off. I think it was probably Colin who told Rick and Terry.

ROD

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Ian Dewhirst

Thinking about it, it coulda been later than 73/74 as I think I got a copy of that "Cream of the crop" 45 on Bale off them too real cheap and swapped it with Richard for "Sister Lee" and "Get it baby" so it musta been whenever that record was taking off. I think it was probably Colin who told Rick and Terry.

ROD

Yeh, I think probably Colin & Keith got there first 'cos it was pretty much on their doorstep. I seem to remember Colin telling me not so long ago that he and Minsh cleaned up there around the Torch era I think. This could have even been pre M62 days which would have made Telford a pain to get to back then for anyone from Yorkshire.

And Andre Maurice for Stanley Mitchell and Sam Ward looks like the steal of the century with hindsight doesn't it? Musta been a matter of weeks before the Andre Maurice turned up in quantity. Nice when you get 'em right isn't it LOL........?

Ian D :rolleyes:

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Guest

:rolleyes: OMG ! :lol:

From memory I think I sold Kev Roberts a copy, Maybe 2? Along with an issue of Ernie Andrews,and some other items. I bumped into him in New York, he was there with his Girlfriend. Staying at the same Motel/Hotel in Times Square. I also bumped into John Anderson in Chicago, I met up with him in Philly later and the night he left he bought me a Steak dinner at his Hotel.! It tasted sublime after all the cheap shit I was surviving on. He even paid the cab to the Airport and back to see him off back to Blighty!

I spent 4 days solid at The house of Sounds in Upper Darby, Talking the Tram up ther early and coming home about 7pm. But I only turned up a Frank Beverley on Gamble and maybe 10 other items. That place was wall to wall doo-wop! I left approx 500 of The Eldorados "You make my heart sing" was it on Torrid? Not worth a lot I know but I could have had the lot for $20. It was just that I was hand carrying everything back, So the suitcase was off the scales to start with!

Good Fun all the same :thumbsup:

Andy.

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Ian Dewhirst

From memory I think I sold Kev Roberts a copy, Maybe 2? Along with an issue of Ernie Andrews,and some other items. I bumped into him in New York, he was there with his Girlfriend. Staying at the same Motel/Hotel in Times Square. I also bumped into John Anderson in Chicago, I met up with him in Philly later and the night he left he bought me a Steak dinner at his Hotel.! It tasted sublime after all the cheap shit I was surviving on. He even paid the cab to the Airport and back to see him off back to Blighty!

I spent 4 days solid at The house of Sounds in Upper Darby, Talking the Tram up ther early and coming home about 7pm. But I only turned up a Frank Beverley on Gamble and maybe 10 other items. That place was wall to wall doo-wop! I left approx 500 of The Eldorados "You make my heart sing" was it on Torrid? Not worth a lot I know but I could have had the lot for $20. It was just that I was hand carrying everything back, So the suitcase was off the scales to start with!

Good Fun all the same :unsure:

Andy.

The wall-to-wall Doo-Wop gaff sounds more like Val Shively's in Upper Darby Andy? Val's was a shop with tons of Doo-Wop whereas House Of Sounds was just a huge block-long building filled to the brim with millions of 45's.....

That House Of Sounds was ridiculous - it was a full block long with huge industrial size crates full of 45's - maybe 50,000 to each crate and there were 100's of crates and I think there were actually several floors if my memories correct. To get to the records you had to literally climb into each crate and just dig and dig. There were actually too many crates and it seemed like every crate I got into had 1000's of Country and Western crap. It's the one time in my life when I thought there were actually too many records. I only spent half a day there on the way back from L.A. and didn't find jack, so I went up to Val's and hung out there instead - stayed at his house in fact.

Did I mention I'm allergic to C&W 45's LOL? Too many Merle Haggard and Ferlin Husky records @ Bradford Market put me off for life!

You got a steak dinner out of John! Well done lad! That sounds like a first LOL.....

Ian D :unsure:

Edited by Ian Dewhirst
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Neil Rushton

Yeh, I think probably Colin & Keith got there first 'cos it was pretty much on their doorstep. I seem to remember Colin telling me not so long ago that he and Minsh cleaned up there around the Torch era I think. This could have even been pre M62 days which would have made Telford a pain to get to back then for anyone from Yorkshire.

And Andre Maurice for Stanley Mitchell and Sam Ward looks like the steal of the century with hindsight doesn't it? Musta been a matter of weeks before the Andre Maurice turned up in quantity. Nice when you get 'em right isn't it LOL........?

Ian D :huh:

I first used to buy records of A.J ( Anthony)Lewis) when he was based down South,in St. Leonards On Sea I think.

In 1970 I was 16 and used to sneak into the George Hotel In Walsall. Carl Dene was the god like DJ there and everyone wanted Bobby Sheen, Little Anthony, Mitch Ryder etc..spotted an ad from Anthony is music paper and sent him wants list and unbelievably he had lots of the records, some more than one copy. The in crowd at The George couldn't belive it when I turned up with some of the spares to swop/sell.

I kept in touch and I was the first person some years later to go to his place in St. George's near Telford before it officially opened, remember meeting his Mum.I went over one Friday afternoon and had memorised Brian Philips sales list and came out with loads of stuff, most of which got flogged at Va Va's that night.

Pulled loads of stuff out there right through the seventies in quantity for my wholesaling business, so much so that some years later, I junked 200 copies of "Streets Got My Lady" - Bill Brandon I had pulled out of there and which were taking up space in my garage....I know, I know, not the smartest move..........

And I went back to buying quantity from him when selling at the Scooter runs in the 80's..

Funniest story was going there in 70's (probably with Bill Baker) and Anthony and his Dad Jack (who used to work at British Embassy in Washington hence the stories about them having Shrine 45's) had got to know us and said we could go and spend the afternoon in an old chapel they had converted to store vinyl and which normally was closed and just used for storage. Piles of records everywhere, I climbed up for something and fell on to a carpet of records and (as you do) even though I was in a bit of pain, before I got up I put an arm down into this pile of vinyl on the floor and my hand came back with a mint "I Travel Alone" - Lou Ragland. Told Clive Jones the story at Birmignham Locarno All-Dayer on following Sunday and he persuaded me his life would end if I didn't sell it him on the spot..

Anthony was very brusque and impatient, that was just his way, but very funny with it,if you were buying a record in quantity he would not count them, he would say there's x records to an inch and you have had 5 inches worth which is equivalent of whatever. When I said can't we just count them he would say no, he wasn't out to fiddle you, that was way he was.

At the height time of Oldies Unlimited success, if you were a candidate in the General Election you got free posting to everyone in the constituency. Anthony cottoned on to this and either he or some Oldies Unlimited person would put themselves up in loads of constiituences to get the free post. You couldn't make it up could you?

Last saw him on the Cannes sea front during Midem some years ago. Asked what he was up to and he said he was writer and publisher for a good to UK Massage Parlours and lo and behold he turned on up on a telly programme about Massage Parlours some months later!!!!

Definitely a one off.

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Guest

The wall-to-wall Doo-Wop gaff sounds more like Val Shively's in Upper Darby Andy? Val's was a shop with tons of Doo-Wop whereas House Of Sounds was just a huge block-long building filled to the brim with millions of 45's.....

That House Of Sounds was ridiculous - it was a full block long with huge industrial size crates full of 45's - maybe 50,000 to each crate and there were 100's of crates and I think there were actually several floors if my memories correct. To get to the records you had to literally climb into each crate and just dig and dig. There were actually too many crates and it seemed like every crate I got into had 1000's of Country and Western crap. It's the one time in my life when I thought there were actually too many records. I only spent half a day there on the way back from L.A. and didn't find jack, so I went up to Val's and hung out there instead - stayed at his house in fact.

Did I mention I'm allergic to C&W 45's LOL? Too many Merle Haggard and Ferlin Husky records @ Bradford Market put me off for life!

You got a steak dinner out of John! Well done lad! That sounds like a first LOL.....

Ian D :huh:

It was House of Sounds definately! Cream coloured warehouse about 6 floors high! I have a photo of it somewhere I'll try dig it out! :) Steak dinner was just the best matey!

Andy.

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