Ian Levine Soul Pack's

[niknak]

For those of you out there pondering the prospect of buy a soul pack from Ian Levine. Let me share with you my personal experience. There seems to be people out there that are very happy with the contents of these packs; however, i am not one of them.

Ian pitches his packs as £10 to £50 records of across the board 60's Soul. Northern soul, R&B. 70's, Disco etc. He also promises a few expensive one's in there for good measure. 

I for one, did not receive a pack with records worth between £10 & £50. perhaps a small percentage were around the £10, but most are worth around £3 to £4 each. There was certainly no hidden surprises to terms of expensive records. Though he did try to convince me that 'Bobby Peterson- mama get your hammer' is worth £200.

I bought 1000 records from Ian. 300 of which were totally scratched & dirty, totally inaudible. ( he doe's state that some cleaning is required) Hardly any 60's left after this inspection. Not much R&B(mostly scratched to death) The majority of what i have left to play with is mostly early,mid to late 70's & a fair bit of 80's.

I could go on & on here, but my verdict is this. Don't expect loads of great soul. There are some nice things in here, but nothing i would have bought if i had seen them first(though that's just personal) I believe he has hyped them in order to shift the left overs. Ian buys a shipment, takes out the really rare stuff, as one would expect. He then takes out all the other half interesting stuff which go into his £3 each packs that are more tailored. What is left is this lot. I imagine some packs will be better than others, depending at what stage you take purchase of the pack. 

I'm not trying to Ian bash, i really don't know the guy, but what i do know,Ian is not on the level. Ian will try to defend himself in saying he bent over backwards to make me happy. After he flew off the handle a few times, he offered me a pack of 14 really rare records worth around 30.000. Who on earth offers a man 30.000 of records to compensate £1000. yes, that's right, nobody. I went along with this for the sake of curiosity, wanting to see what he sends. My feeling was he will be sending boots. Low & behold Boots it was, served fresh off the press by the looks as well, & could tell these where all made at the same plant. He tried to tell me in the "how dare you manner" that i was mistaken. A friend & himself had compared these with the real thing & were happy to confirm there authenticity.

What can you say this. he adds insult to injury by trying to deceive me.  Make of this as you will. defend him or join the many people who seem to dislike him, but regardless, he tried to con me, for reasons only Ian knows. there you have it....Happy shopping.

[Lambrettagp200]

Out of interest, did the £30k "compensation" pack contain nice fresh copies of Sam Williams, The Salvadors, The Magnetics on Ra-Sel, The Greater Expericence & maybe a John Wesley?

[Swifty]

Was just going ask the same question ? Would be interested to know what they were

[Deepsoulsheep]

I know someone who got a pack too, exactly what you described. None of the big ones that were told they would be in there were included and a big load if 80's shit

[Pete S]

You won't find them for sale anywhere...

[niknak]

2 hours ago, deepsoulsheep said:

I know someone who got a pack too, exactly what you described. None of the big ones that were told they would be in there were included and a big load if 80's shit

There was a load of 80's stuff. Natalie Cole-pink cadillac, Lionel Richie, stuff like that, but some nice bits, but nothing you would flip your lid over.

Ian doe's a web cast showcasing 75 records that will be included in the packs. This is about as good as it gets.

Edited January 22, 2016 by niknak

[Pete S]

9 minutes ago, niknak said:

The compensation pack contained a John Wesley & a Sam Williams. Bill Bush,The Districts,Billy Woods(not even close to looking like an original)Valerie Simpson, Jeanie Tracy, etc. What do you know about these boots. I can't seem to find them on the internet for sale. I wonder how they are being dished, & for what purpose. 

 

 

I thought the Billy Woods looks great to be honest!

 

[niknak]

1 minute ago, Pete S said:

I thought the Billy Woods looks great to be honest!

 

looks nice, but easy to tell apart. The point is, he was trying to tell me this was an original pressing,maybe the early 70's pressing. 

[Chris L]

13 hours ago, niknak said:

For those of you out there pondering the prospect of buy a soul pack from Ian Levine. Let me share with you my personal experience. There seems to be people out there that are very happy with the contents of these packs; however, i am not one of them.

Ian pitches his packs as £10 to £50 records of across the board 60's Soul. Northern soul, R&B. 70's, Disco etc. He also promises a few expensive one's in there for good measure. 

 

Can you say how many records you bought and at what (total) price ?

[niknak]

Just now, Chris L said:

Can you say how many records you bought and at what (total) price ?

I purchased 1000 records@ £1000 + P&P. He also put in another 50 just in case some of the records were cracked etc. 

After doing some calculations, it also appears the postage was over priced.

[niknak]

18 minutes ago, Pete S said:

I thought the Billy Woods looks great to be honest!

Don't know why he would say that, at a glance, half of them look superb, but the Billy Woods originals are styrene anyway, as are the Sam Williams, these are all vinyl.  I've got all of them - I've never thought them to be real or tried to sell any.  I told everyone weeks ago that they were not on sale and the only people who had them, had been given them.  If that Salvadors went on ebay though it would fetch £100, it's better than these shit old pressings and carvers with stuck on badly photocopied labels. 

I think he felt hard done by because i complained about his pack. In is wisdom. he thought he would teach me a lesson or something. god knows! 

They are lovely copy's. miles better than a carver. They sound reproduction is great, nice vinyl etc. 

He swore me to secrecy before he sent them. stating the person he got them off told him he could only give them out to friends, & i was not to sell them & not to tell a soul about them. He said he got them from a chap in the U.S. who had found a mother load of gems i a warehouse. For the sake of not flooding the market, they had to remain secret, or something to that effect.

Of course, i have broken my promise. This is to warn people of what they might be getting into.

[Pete S]

36 minutes ago, niknak said:

I think he felt hard done by because i complained about his pack. In is wisdom. he thought he would teach me a lesson or something. god knows! 

They are lovely copy's. miles better than a carver. They sound reproduction is great, nice vinyl etc. 

He swore me to secrecy before he sent them. stating the person he got them off told him he could only give them out to friends, & i was not to sell them & not to tell a soul about them. He said he got them from a chap in the U.S. who had found a mother load of gems i a warehouse. For the sake of not flooding the market, they had to remain secret, or something to that effect.

Of course, i have broken my promise. This is to warn people of what they might be getting into.

What like they might be given free records?

[Pete S]

I thought I’d better defend Ian here as he can’t defend himself.

 

 

Firstly it sounds as if Nicknack only wanted sixties, when Ian has gone to great pains to describe his soul packs as a real across the board mixture.

Bobby Peterson has been listed on eBay for $200.  Honest.

 

Facebook has no shortage of people raving about the value of these soul packs. Levine even made a podcast of 75 records from them, to counter the few people who were slagging them off, which he included in your (and everyone else’s packs)

 

As far as the lookalike records, are you saying he gave you fourteen FOR FREE on top of your soul pack ???

Even if stuff like The Salvadors went for £100 (the original green Soussan boot goes for £400 now anyway), then you still got more value than the cost of your original soul pack.

Besides these lookalikes are not up for public sale ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD - just in a small circle of trusted people. How do you even know that Ian didn’t buy them from ME ???

 

As your criticising of Ian was only your second post ever on Soul Source, the cynic in me has to criticise your motives.

 

I can see Ian going into meltdown now and after having a very serious stroke, the stress that’s now being put on him could quite literally kill him.

 

Levine is a nice guy, really, yes he has his faults and can be a nightmare but he does care about the music (but his monthly podcasts get up to seven thousand listeners). Consequently he does care about his soul packs and he always tries to make sure everybody goes away happy.  If I’m buying a thousand records at a quid a go, I’m not expecting to find Don Gardner in there to be honest.

 

Everyone who’s got these records - the lookalikes I mean - was told not to sell or distribute them, that was the deal.  Nobody gets ripped off buying a counterfeit as an original.  Some of us kept our word, some obviously didn’t.

Can you blame him for feeling stabbed in the back?

 

Final word on these lookalikes is that yes I have them all and I’m proud to own them. They look beautiful. They sound great.  They have not murdered anyone.

[Chris L]

1 hour ago, niknak said:

I purchased 1000 records@ £1000 + P&P. He also put in another 50 just in case some of the records were cracked etc. 

After doing some calculations, it also appears the postage was over priced.

So you paid less than £1.00 per record ? By your own reckoning they are worth £3.00 each or more, I would have thought that was a good deal ?

[niknak]

10 minutes ago, Pete S said:

What like they might be given free records?

Yes, It would be a good deal, i guess. The things is, That's not how they are sold though. The issue here is a case of Miss selling.

One is pulled in by the promise of records worth between £10 to £50. & a few expensive ones. 

300 of the records i purchased are totally unplayable. quite a few are worth £1, some less. the rest are worth £3 to £4 each with a few exceptions.

If he was to advertise these packs as such, he would greeted with less orders.

Maybe i got a bad pack. The last lot before he got a new stash from the u.s. I do know that i'm not the only person unhappy. I'm also aware that a fair few people are more than happy. I can only guess they got better packs.

My point of this post, is to inform people of what they are getting in regards to how he is advertising them. Also, my main point is that he tried to deceive me. I challenge anybody to point out the positive in that. 

[Pete S]

1 hour ago, niknak said:

I think he felt hard done by because i complained about his pack. In is wisdom. he thought he would teach me a lesson or something. god knows! 

They are lovely copy's. miles better than a carver. They sound reproduction is great, nice vinyl etc. 

He swore me to secrecy before he sent them. stating the person he got them off told him he could only give them out to friends, & i was not to sell them & not to tell a soul about them. He said he got them from a chap in the U.S. who had found a mother load of gems i a warehouse. For the sake of not flooding the market, they had to remain secret, or something to that effect.

Of course, i have broken my promise. This is to warn people of what they might be getting into.

OK right.  If you have been sold unplayable records, these should be replaced a they are not fit for purpose.  I don't think anyone could argue about that.

[Ian Dewhirst]

I'm still waiting to see these. Can I qualify to get a set for personal use? I really wanna see how close they are to the originals so I am intrigued......

Ian D

 

[Tlscapital]

3 minutes ago, Pete S said:

Read the thread - nobody has got them in any quantity to sell - there's 20 titles, 14 that appear to be known about, probably 3 or 4 people know what the others are.  There are none for sale, they have never been up for sale, the people who have got them have a single copy each.  If anyone wants to buy mine, let me know and I'll send you the photos.

They will come in the market one day... they will be for sale/auction...

[Pete S]

By the way, there's a couple of gents selling thousands of pirate and bootleg and carver records on ebay every day...and another one buying £10 boots, sticking colour photocopies on them and getting £100 a go...so not sure why anyone is getting upset over a handful of really good quality lookalikes that aren't being offered for sale anywhere.   None of these came from Ian Levine by the way - I had them before he did.

Edited January 22, 2016 by Pete S

[Woodbutcher]

So you buy 1000 45's for £1000 and are disappointed when you don't receive £10-£50,000's worth of vinyl but get instead a big box full of £1 records ... 

Guess you're still waiting for that nice Nigerian man to send you that £10,000,000 he promised ... 

I assume you're the type of fella that likes making love with the curtains open ... would help explain how someone saw you coming ... 

[Pete S]

1 hour ago, Rob Wigley said:

I didn't know Jeanie Tracey had been done, however a frend recently showed me a recently purchased copy and to be honest it looked way different to the one I used to own.  Are there several new look a likes being passed off as originals on unsuspecting collectors ??

 

 

[Guest fryer]

2 minutes ago, Pete S said:

 

This is my release of Jeanie Tracey on the Sub Label of Athens of the North. It is fully Licensed from Jeanie, not a look alike or a boot.

[Pete S]

1 minute ago, fryer said:

This is my release of Jeanie Tracey on the Sub Label of Athens of the North. It is fully Licensed from Jeanie, not a look alike or a boot.

Sorry had no idea this was an official release, it was just a scan someone sent me - don't worry about the Brown Door copy I can assure you there are no copies for sale out there.  

[Guest fryer]

All my releases are legitimate best not to assume, I have my business name and address on the Label and it states that is was licensed from Jeanie, it probably sounds better than the original as well. If someone is selling shitty boots just don't buy them, my pressing sounds good and Jeanie gets more money if we can repress.

 

Edited January 22, 2016 by fryer

[Markw]

22 minutes ago, WoodButcher said:

So you buy 1000 45's for £1000 and are disappointed when you don't receive £10-£50,000's worth of vinyl but get instead a big box full of £1 records ... 

Guess you're still waiting for that nice Nigerian man to send you that £10,000,000 he promised ... 

I assume you're the type of fella that likes making love with the curtains open ... would help explain how someone saw you coming ... 

Harsh judgement on the fella who started this post really.

As for the crass nonsense Pete Smith keeps spouting about the wonder of these illegal counterfeits........................I suspect I am not alone in being left speechless.

[Pete S]

1 minute ago, markw said:

Harsh judgement on the fella who started this post really.

As for the crass nonsense Pete Smith keeps spouting about the wonder of these illegal counterfeits........................I suspect I am not alone in being left speechless.

Where?

[Pete S]

15 minutes ago, markw said:

Harsh judgement on the fella who started this post really.

As for the crass nonsense Pete Smith keeps spouting about the wonder of these illegal counterfeits........................I suspect I am not alone in being left speechless.

Nobody gives a tosswhat you or the soul police think anyway Mark, why do you think so many people defected to facebook, it's to get away from the petty preaching that you lot always do when you don't agree with something.  

 

20 minutes ago, fryer said:

All my releases are legitimate best not to assume, I have my business name and address on the Label and it states that is was licensed from Jeanie, it probably sounds better than the original as well. If someone is selling shitty boots just don't buy them, my pressing sounds good and Jeanie gets more money if we can repress.

 

By the way my post of the label was in response to Rob asking what it looked like.

 

Edited January 22, 2016 by Pete S
swearing

[Woodbutcher]

3 minutes ago, markw said:

Harsh judgement on the fella who started this post really.

Not really , you get what you pay for in this 'ere life ... vinyl included ... if he was gullible enough to fall for the spiel ... 

[Guest fryer]

Thats cool, i just wanted it to be clear we do things the right way.

[Markw]

20 minutes ago, Pete S said:

Nobody gives a tosswhat you or the soul police think anyway Mark, why do you think so many people defected to facebook, it's to get away from the petty preaching that you lot always do when you don't agree with something.  

 

People do give a very big toss indeed about the current bootlegging and counterfeiting practices Pete, believe me. If you don't think they do, you are deluding yourself.

[Chris L]

Perhaps I can sum up. Niknak bought 1000 soul records, received 1050+ so less than a £1.00 each. On top of that you received a quantity of pressings that are not generally for sale but probably could be sold for £100.00 each on Ebay. So I'm guessing the total value of what you got was about £2000/2500 at least, not bad.

Here's a link to Ian Levines podcast, the listeners give very good feedback for some of those you received. 

https://www.mixcloud.com/ianlevine35/solid-soul-sensations-a-very-special-and-unique-podcast/

You got for what you paid and more what's the complaint again ?

 

[niknak]

3 hours ago, Pete S said:

 

 

[niknak]

3 hours ago, Chris L said:

Perhaps I can sum up. Niknak bought 1000 soul records, received 1050+ so less than a £1.00 each. On top of that you received a quantity of pressings that are not generally for sale but probably could be sold for £100.00 each on Ebay. So I'm guessing the total value of what you got was about £2000/2500 at least, not bad.

Here's a link to Ian Levines podcast, the listeners give very good feedback for some of those you received. 

https://www.mixcloud.com/ianlevine35/solid-soul-sensations-a-very-special-and-unique-podcast/

You got for what you paid and more what's the complaint again ?

 

The complaint is, he tried to deceive me into believing that these rather fine boots were in fact real. That in any correct thinking persons book, is bad form.

secondly, misselling!!!

"Probable could be sold for £100" maybe, maybe not. 

 

Edited January 22, 2016 by niknak

[niknak]

1 hour ago, markw said:

Harsh judgement on the fella who started this post really.

As for the crass nonsense Pete Smith keeps spouting about the wonder of these illegal counterfeits........................I suspect I am not alone in being left speechless.

Thank you Markw.  Even though i enjoyed the humour of woodbutcher, it is a harsh judgement. 

No one deserves to be duped, regardless of how gullible they are. Yes, i do feel a tad foolish that at my stage in life i fell for it. 

I might try making love with the curtains open. I can play that scratched Barry White record i received while i go at it like some rampant wildebeest.

[Woodbutcher]

Sorry for coming across a bit harsh ...

Maybe a little more research before spunking a grand next time ... Soul Source is a mine of information that would have put you on the right course with this ... have a look on e-bay and find 1000 decent soul records for a quid each , even a fiver each ... this is 2016 not 1976 ... !

Edited January 22, 2016 by WoodButcher

[niknak]

Just now, WoodButcher said:

Maybe a little more research before spunking a grand next time ... Soul Source is a mine of information that would have put you on the right course with this ... have a look on e-bay and find 1000 decent soul records for a quid each , even a fiver each ... this is 2016 not 1976 ... !

very true. It's amazing what you can find out after the event.  This aside, it would be reasonable to assume someone with Ian Lavine's reputation would not risk giving out less than what he promised. 

[Markw]

1 minute ago, niknak said:

very true. It's amazing what you can find out after the event.  This aside, it would be reasonable to assume someone with Ian Lavine's reputation would not risk giving out less than what he promised. 

[Woodbutcher]

Depends on who's opinion of Ian Levine you take ... 

[niknak]

1 hour ago, Pete S said:

By the way, there's a couple of gents selling thousands of pirate and bootleg and carver records on ebay every day...and another one buying £10 boots, sticking colour photocopies on them and getting £100 a go...so not sure why anyone is getting upset over a handful of really good quality lookalikes that aren't being offered for sale anywhere.   None of these came from Ian Levine by the way - I had them before he did.

perhaps one would get upset at being taken for a fool. How many times do i have to make this point?

[Guest Decroco]

3 hours ago, Chris L said:

So you paid less than £1.00 per record ? By your own reckoning they are worth £3.00 each or more, I would have thought that was a good deal ?

It would have been Chris if the 200+ that are too knackered to be sold, were not there. These are way too far gone to accept. If you cleaned them with sand paper you would not do any damage.

[niknak]

1 minute ago, WoodButcher said:

Depends on who's opinion of Ian Levine you take ... 

his

[Tlscapital]

2 minutes ago, niknak said:

perhaps one would get upset at being taken for a fool. How many times do i have to make this point?

1 X 4 me is enough...

[Fishcake]

I had a similar experience to niknak,bought 500 records with included a lot of badly scratched or unplayable records,quite a few Ian levine produced tracks,a lot of 70's and 80's disco tracks,some 60's stuff,i'd struggle to get my money back if i sold them on,but hey you live and you learn.

 

[Woodbutcher]

4 minutes ago, niknak said:

his

That'd be where ya went wrong then ... 

[niknak]

3 minutes ago, fishcake said:

I had a similar experience to niknak,bought 500 records with included a lot of badly scratched or unplayable records,quite a few Ian levine produced tracks,a lot of 70's and 80's disco tracks,some 60's stuff,i'd struggle to get my money back if i sold them on,but hey you live and you learn.

 

I'm not surprised i'm not the only disgruntled customer

1 minute ago, WoodButcher said:

That'd be where ya went wrong then ... 

oh, you think!

[Mace]

4 hours ago, Pete S said:

Bobby Peterson has been listed on eBay for $200.  Honest.

Listed or Sold?........I sold my last promo recently for £30 (Ex-) .... the most it ever seems to have sold for is $75.......don't understand what this comment means Pete....anyone could list anything on ebay for whatever they want.....it means fcuk all unless it sells, and whilst I understand your support for Ian in this matter I don't get this statement.....you are usually the first person to criticise over inflated valuations so this seems totally out of character for you Pete?

 

[Lambrettagp200]

Niknak....just to clarify things, do you still have the bootleg records?

Also, you received approximately 1050 records which approximately 750 play through?

 

[Tlscapital]

1 minute ago, LambrettaGP200 said:

Niknak....just to clarify things, do you still have the bootleg records?

Also, you received approximately 1050 records which approximately 750 play through?

 

OK, a cracked Metros 'sweetest one' on RCA (worth £10 max) in the best case doesn't compensate with a VG+ STOL, WOL, wear... play through Lionel Ritchie of your choice if you can that is... I would never venture in such a 'lot' buy but the seller here is way too defensive (compensating = admitting in my book with f**king bootlegs that can sell £100 ?!? but can't be sell ?!?!?), inaccurate description (bargain for who, the buyer or the seller ?) and the comment on the mixcloud page that is 2 month old says it all; no apologies, and a lot of "me, myself and I".

[Pete S]

1 hour ago, markw said:

People do give a very big toss indeed about the current bootlegging and counterfeiting practices Pete, believe me. If you don't think they do, you are deluding yourself.

Yes fair enough but I repeat - no copies for sale - anyone who has copies has been given them for free.

[Pete S]

2 hours ago, markw said:

People do give a very big toss indeed about the current bootlegging and counterfeiting practices Pete, believe me. If you don't think they do, you are deluding yourself.

repeat, sorry

33 minutes ago, Steve G said:

Pete, as you have them all, could you please post up a list of ALL of the titles. That way collectors will know what to be suspicious of. This is the same story that started on here before Christmas with the moody Rita Graham and Willie Tee 45s.

I mean the Sam Williams was supposedly "found" at a boot fair in Bolton according to Facebook….75p LOL

What is next in the "lookalike challenge"? 

 

Who said that Steve?

Edited January 22, 2016 by Pete S