Jump to content

Dj's And Discovering Records


Kegsy

Recommended Posts


Good point Kecksy and I still don't think me and Mick get the credit for Lenny Gamble.

 

There are a lot of people on the scene who don't get the credit they deserve, that's 

basically my whole point. Its all about the DJ's.

I had a CBS copy of Lynne Randell long before it was played out, I was too 

young and too far down the pecking order, to have any influence on the DJ's.

The daft part is I found it on a market stall in Blackpool before a night at the Mecca

and left it in the B&B when i went out. Although I quite liked it, when the stallholder played it,

I didn't think it stood up to the likes of Eddie Parker or Johnny Sayles.

Edited by Kegsy
Link to comment
Social source share

I was being flippant on Lenny of course, but I agree Tony Rounce, Dave Burton, Nick Washer and many others down here got sounds to the DJs. Ian Levine in particular knew all the collector/dealers and offered top prices when they got back from the States or found stuff in the Smoke.

 

Ian's house on a Saturday afternoon was a veritable pandora's box of

new sounds, loads of which were brought there by people from all over.

  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
Social source share

I was under the impression that there were quite a few 'feeders' behind the D.J's 'in the olden days'. Isn't it true that Butch for instance was one of those 'feeders' (record bar people sounds better actually), and only D.Jed the first time because someone hadn't turned up - Pat Brady suggested it apparently.

 

I agree that it's important to give credit where credit's due to people who have done the 'work'. I've always been interested in who discovered what, who played it first, who broke it ('sold' it to the dancers), and where something was first played (not always going together as is what your post is about)

 

All the best,

 

Len :thumbsup: 

  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
Social source share

Be great to hear more from these unsung heroes 'The Feeders' - How nice for them to see one of their discoveries working well. So much more satisfying than paying a million pounds for a record that has already been 'processed' - Good on em  :wink: 

 

Len :thumbsup: 

Edited by LEN
Link to comment
Social source share

Certainly was for me! Made my Tuesday nights @ Burnley Cricket Club all the more worthwhile. Brad fed me the first copies of the Pointer Sisters and Gerri Grainger among many others......

 

Ian D  :D

Do you mean "The Soul Satisfaction Society"? I recently discovered my old membership card in a drawer at home, couldn't believe it.  :lol: That was a propper banging little club wasn't it?

  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
Social source share

because discovery arguments quickly give me a headache, i prefer to think the producer, arranger, musicians and artists "discovered" these records in the process of manifesting a finished product

Link to comment
Social source share

I suppose its down to exposure to the bits of plastic!

If you worked for a record shop or wharehouse your bound to come across something that you fed to your friendly mate ( Barry Stanton in my case) or you were told to give to the likes of Levine & co by the more experienced person you worked with. Memories of sitting in Global going through thousands of records for hours and having bloody sore ears cos the headphones were nasty! It wasn't all nice finding something but bloody exillerating when you heard it on a big system.

 

P.S IM a big name DJ compared to Butch! His name only has 5 letters mine has 14 :lol:  :lol: :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  

Edited by Ernie Andrews
  • Helpful 3
Link to comment
Social source share

Too many to list over the years, and some were "Discovered" at around the same time period but in different areas of the country, by different people. So it's never totally clear cut.

 

Like Kegsy says, it was only by handing the records to big Dj's to play that brought them to the fore. Some people may have had the same record for years before it broke on the scene.

 

Round these parts, Steven {Brad} Bradley was the man.

Phil

Another from your neck of the woods,Barrie Waddington.

Cheers

Martyn

  • Helpful 3
Link to comment
Social source share

Whenever I took a 'new' sound to the Mecca I always gave it to Jebby to play. It was brilliant watching Ian Levine appear from nowhere wanting to know what it was and who owned it :D . This was quickly followed by ' I MUST have this 45 from you NOW!!' Wonderful times.

 

Good anecdote, would be fun to know some examples.

Link to comment
Social source share

Don't recall him from the 70's Martyn.

I think Barrie came into his own, after he went to the States, 78 or 79.

He had some nice unknown/ semi unknown stuff for sale at the time.

I was gutted because he got the 2nd copy of the Insprirations and sold it to Richard Searling.

Which meant my copy was no longer a one-off in the UK.

 

Phil, a remember getting a tape you did circa 74, and there was stuff on that didn't take off at the bigger venues till  years later.

  • Helpful 3
Link to comment
Social source share

Lots of biggies back in the day were discovered by lesser mortals and we got a huge kick out of passing them to name DJ's and seeing the crowd respond.  Not that any credit was ever sought or given on mic! 

  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
Social source share

An honourable mention for our very own Ady C, long before he mastered the art of DJ'ing and holding a pint in each hand, he was supplying tunes to Ian Clark etc...

 

Do you realise the dreadful image this conjures in terms of how he got the needle onto the record  :thumbup:  :thumbup:

Edited by Kegsy
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
Social source share

Dave Simmons (who replaced Mike Raven) was responsible for Betty Swann - Kiss my Love Goodbye and many more when he played it on his Radio 1 Saturday show back in 1974. Every week he used to ring up a black music radio station in the states and they would run down their top 10 and he would play some of them.

 

Kev

  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
Social source share

Dave Simmons (who replaced Mike Raven) was responsible for Betty Swann - Kiss my Love Goodbye and many more when he played it on his Radio 1 Saturday show back in 1974. Every week he used to ring up a black music radio station in the states and they would run down their top 10 and he would play some of them.

 

Kev

I don't remember it being played in 1974 at Northern clubs, I thought it first got spun seriously in the early noughties?

  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
Social source share

stateside, on 09 Mar 2015 - 5:46 PM, said:

Dave Simmons (who replaced Mike Raven) was responsible for Betty Swann - Kiss my Love Goodbye and many more when he played it on his Radio 1 Saturday show back in 1974. Every week he used to ring up a black music radio station in the states and they would run down their top 10 and he would play some of them.

 

Kev

I don't remember it being played in 1974 at Northern clubs, I thought it first got spun seriously in the early noughties?

You're right Ady, I don't think it did get picked up until much later. It was in my collection as a new release. I suppose what I was trying to say is that sometimes records aren't discovered and brought to the fore until late on, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are unknown.

 

Kev

  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
Social source share

As flattered as I am to be mentioned here, Tim was finding great records for 20 years before I met him.  And even when I was sending him records on regular basis, he still found plenty on his own.   I've certainly found a few good unknown things over the years, but only a tiny fraction of the tunes Tim has unearthed.  

 

Cheers for that Greg, as I said not dissing Tim  just trying show how the perceived discoverer

might not have always been the actual discoverer, as you say Tim did find plenty

in his own right. 

Link to comment
Social source share

 

stateside, on 09 Mar 2015 - 5:46 PM, said:

You're right Ady, I don't think it did get picked up until much later. It was in my collection as a new release. I suppose what I was trying to say is that sometimes records aren't discovered and brought to the fore until late on, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are unknown.

 

Kev

 

 

I reckon there are 100's of examples of what you describe, mainly due to

tastes changing on the scene over the years, thereby allowing modern/crossover stuff to be played.

Ruby Andrews Just Loving You is a perfect example.

Many people bought "blind" by Artist, Label etc., when they played them, although they

were great records, they were not uptempo enough for the scene, the record was just filed

and often left unplayed for years.

I found about 10 copies of Big Daddy Rogers on Midas in a box of about 500 singles

which had been gathering dust in the garage for years, plus loads of other stuff.

 

I dread to think what that bugger Derek Pearson relieved me of when

I let him look through, what I considered to be, my others/non northern

racks.

Edited by Kegsy
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
Social source share

 

stateside, on 09 Mar 2015 - 5:46 PM, said:

You're right Ady, I don't think it did get picked up until much later. It was in my collection as a new release. I suppose what I was trying to say is that sometimes records aren't discovered and brought to the fore until late on, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are unknown.

 

Kev

 

Completely, I had that Hopkins Brothers in my collection not knowing it was getting spun for a couple of years. My 6TS partner Randy championed Kiss My Love Goodbye - and several other Bettye Atlantics-throughout the 80s and 90s though I think it was probably a DJ up north who got it to be so popular eventually; all sorts of people are involved in a record's popularity.

  • Helpful 2
Link to comment
Social source share

No disrespect to Tim but wasn't he teamed up with the aforementioned Greg Tormo, obviously

Tim will also found stuff in his own right.

 

I think you'll find Tim was around the scene 30 years before he met Greg

 

sorry posted that before reading whole thread

Edited by Pete S
Link to comment
Social source share

The big names were so prolific that they're bound to get the credit for discovering sounds.

That said there must be many lesser known DJ's and diggers and collectors who have had their personal moments of glory and I agree that it would be great to hear their accounts.

I was at college in '76 with my mate Scally (Mike Atherton-"Scal" on here) who was on a mission to track down the artist Oscar Perry.

Scal eventually got Oscar's phone number and struck up a friendship which culminated in Scal discovering and sourcing a copy of "main string" and he was instrumental in persuading Oscar to come over to the UK.

Being a collector and not a DJ, Scal was also reluctantly persuaded to do a set at an alldayer (at the Rose Bowl?) in Burnley...where he shared the decks with a certain Mr Mark Dobson.

There must be plenty of other guys out there with similar tales to tell.

Edited by back street blue
  • Helpful 1
Link to comment
Social source share

MK - that's Martin Koppel, right ? Is it true that Tim Brown's collection actually surpasses Butch's ?

Unless we go to Butch's house to look then onto Tim's then we'll never establish. The two of them i reckon would have entirely different collections :)

Link to comment
Social source share

Get involved with Soul Source

Add your comments now

Join Soul Source

A free & easy soul music affair!

Join Soul Source now!

Log in to Soul Source

Jump right back in!

Log in now!


×
×
  • Create New...