Having read, with great interest the threads on Greatest Record Finds and Simon Soussan Bradford Market seems to have been a great source for new discoveries etc. Coming, originally, from W Yorks would be interested to learn what records were first discovered there and by whom and any other interesting related stories.

So come on guys and gals fill me in on the details? - (No doubt Mr Dewhirst as a few to relate )

Bloody loads and I was the only guy to get into their small warehouse ( housed in a falling down terraced house on Cutler Heights Lane Bradford ) which held all the individual copies of stuff @ 25p each( the majority of this stuff went to Martin Barnfather at the time) not the large industrial unit where they stored all the boxes of 50.

Used to buy 50 boxes of Superiors, Tymes, April Stevens etc etc and flog 'em at the Torch ( only took one or two copies in at a time and went to 'refill' the sales box from the car at regular intervals). Once had to grab Kegsy by the throat for bringing a load of stuff in at the same time, thereby undermining the price( he reminded me of that story a few years ago!)

Happy days

Julian

Bloody loads and I was the only guy to get into their small warehouse ( housed in a falling down terraced house on Cutler Heights Lane Bradford ) which held all the individual copies of stuff @ 25p each( the majority of this stuff went to Martin Barnfather at the time) not the large industrial unit where they stored all the boxes of 50.

Used to buy 50 boxes of Superiors, Tymes, April Stevens etc etc and flog 'em at the Torch ( only took one or two copies in at a time and went to 'refill' the sales box from the car at regular intervals). Once had to grab Kegsy by the throat for bringing a load of stuff in at the same time, thereby undermining the price( he reminded me of that story a few years ago!)

Happy days

Julian

So why did all these imports that flopped get to Bradford in the first place?

So why did all these imports that flopped get to Bradford in the first place?

The Bostock family were into rock and roll and went to the States and bought a warehouse full of that sort of stuff and loads of soul stuff came over mixed in with the 'job lot'

Bought 1000s of mixed lots blind, they were in sealed Bostock carrier bags, but there was always some nice titles.

Mirwood, Verve, Mgm in their thousands.

I used to rip the bags open on the bus going home to flick through the discs, I couldnt wait to see what was inside....lol

It was like a guaranteed 'lucky dip' winner

Happy days indeed....

Years later I would often find the remains of these bags at car boot sales with just a handful of 45s left in them.

Thats where I found the Jo Ann Courcy mint demo for 10p

cheers

paul

Bostocks also had a store in york, they used to do soul packs of ten singles for £1, remember at one time getting kenny smith-lord whats happening, taking them to sell at the casino only to realise everyone else in york had done the same got some good stuff out of bostocks god knows how many copies of betty swan came out of there along with spyder turner, there was at least two in every pack

Also didn`t a lot of copies of ALICE CLARK-YOU HIT ME come off bradford market, also don`t know wether this was a fable or not but SWISH from york told me DEAN PARRISH-I`M ON MY WAY also came from there as well

Having read, with great interest the threads on Greatest Record Finds and Simon Soussan Bradford Market seems to have been a great source for new discoveries etc. Coming, originally, from W Yorks would be interested to learn what records were first discovered there and by whom and any other interesting related stories.

So come on guys and gals fill me in on the details? - (No doubt Mr Dewhirst as a few to relate )

Tons were discovered there Stubbsy.

Coinicidentally, I just replied to the Christine Cooper thread in the Media forum 'cos it came into discussion:-

"The "S.O.S."'s all seemed to come from Bostocks @ Bradford Market - you could buy it for 25p in the early 70's as there were loads of 'em. Other stuff, mainly from MGM/Verve and @ £1.00 each was Dottie Cambridge, Spyder Turner, The Charades, The Ambers, The Superiors, The Tymes, The Shalamars, The Triumphs, April Stevens, Alice Clark, Billy Woods, Little Eva, Clara Ward".

I also found the first copies of Ronnie & Robyn "As Long As You Love Me (I'll Stay)" at the same time as "Sidra's Theme" was breaking and Lennie Curtis "Nothing Can Help You Now" down there in the general stock for 10p each.

I first used to up there on my lunch break when I was working at John Laing - a clothes shop in Bradford, every Saturday. You could buy 20 U.S. imports for £1.00 and I used to buy 40 every week with my entire wage. I'd then get home and spend Saturday night and Sunday playing through 'em. Consequently I had tons of stuff just as I was really getting on the scene. Much of the stuff I got every weekend would often be traded for records I really wanted a couple of years later.

Tons of other stuff came through there as well. I can remember when Levine played both Spiral Staircase "More Today Than Yesterday" and the Righteous Brothers Band "Rat Race" at the Mecca, I'd nervously look around towards the Bradford and Leeds lads, to see if anyone else had twigged that the records were at Bradford Market. Often there'd be several other vinyl hounds waiting for the market to open on a Monday morning!

Kegsy found Dean Parrish "I'm On My Way" there too. The rest of us had dismissed it as being too pop with that horrible guitar at the beginning but Kegsy persevered with it for weeks before it finally broke and became No.1 everywhere.

You could never really tell what would come out. I didn't get into the warehouse until the mid 70's, but boy, if I'd have got in there before I'd have cleaned up.

I think John Anderson got in there and had a decent hit. But the thing with Bradford is that was there enough stuff on the stall to keep anyone going. Plus they also had branches in Leeds, Wakefield and Huddersfield too. They also had a load of Canadian Motown at one point with most titles you could think of.

I'm sure others will have tales of great finds there - you had to be sharp on your toes back then but the same token, you could wander in on a pissing-down Winter Tuesday afternoon and maybe find a monster unknown on a label you'd never seen!

All in all, a fantastic place to have on your doorstep. Probably more Torch sounds came from there than anywhere else at the time. The best place for records in England at the time bar none I reckon (although Global could probably be a close second).......

Ian D

Edited April 1, 200817 yr by Ian Dewhirst

Tons were discovered there Stubbsy.

Coinicidentally, I just replied to the Christine Cooper thread in the Media forum 'cos it came into discussion:-

"The "S.O.S."'s all seemed to come from Bostocks @ Bradford Market - you could buy it for 25p in the early 70's as there were loads of 'em. Other stuff, mainly from MGM/Verve and @ £1.00 each was Dottie Cambridge, Spyder Turner, The Charades, The Ambers, The Superiors, The Tymes, The Shalamars, The Triumphs, April Stevens, Alice Clark, Billy Woods, Little Eva, Clara Ward".

I also found the first copies of Ronnie & Robyn "As Long As You Love Me (I'll Stay)" at the same time as "Sidra's Theme" was breaking and Lennie Curtis "Nothing Can Help You Now" down there in the general stock for 10p each.

I first used to up there on my lunch break when I was working at John Laing - a clothes shop in Bradford, every Saturday. You could buy 20 U.S. imports for £1.00 and I used to buy 40 every week with my entire wage. I'd then get home and spend Saturday night and Sunday playing through 'em. Consequently I had tons of stuff just as I was really getting on the scene. Much of the stuff I got every weekend would often be traded for records I really wanted a couple of years later.

Tons of other stuff came through there as well. I can remember when Levine played both Spiral Staircase "More Today Than Yesterday" and the Righteous Brothers Band "Rat Race" at the Mecca, I'd nervously look around towards the Bradford and Leeds lads, to see if anyone else had twigged that the records were at Bradford Market. Often there'd be several other vinyl hounds waiting for the market to open on a Monday morning!

Kegsy found Dean Parrish "I'm On My Way" there too. The rest of us had dismissed it as being too pop with that horrible guitar at the beginning but Kegsy persevered with it for weeks before it finally broke and became No.1 everywhere.

You could never really tell what would come out. I didn't get into the warehouse until the mid 70's, but boy, if I'd have got in there before I'd have cleaned up.

I think John Anderson got in there and had a decent hit. But the thing with Bradford is that was there enough stuff on the stall to keep anyone going. Plus they also had branches in Leeds, Wakefield and Huddersfield too. They also had a load of Canadian Motown at one point with most titles you could think of.

I'm sure others will have tales of great finds there - you had to be sharp on your toes back then but the same token, you could wander in on a pissing-down Winter Tuesday afternoon and maybe find a monster unknown on a label you'd never seen!

All in all, a fantastic place to have on your doorstep. Probably more Torch sounds came from there than anywhere else at the time. The best place for records in England at the time bar none I reckon (although Global could probably be a close second).......

Ian D

So SWISH was right then, and it was all there just down the road from us in york

So SWISH was right then, and it was all there just down the road from us in york

Yep, Swish was right. Kegsy plugged "I'm On My Way" for weeks. I sniffily refused to play it the first time he brought in down to the Central on the basis that I'd seen it a few times before (probably @ Bradford Market) and figured it wasn't that rare and when I played it in the headphones it sounded terrible - almost like a rock record in those shitty cans @ the Central.

I can remember seeing Kegsy everywhere that weekend - the Central, Va-Va's, the Mecca and eventually, Wigan. He'd set off on the Friday night with about £2 and a copy of Dean Parrish and, as per usual, by the time he got to Wigan he had about £30, was having problems co-ordinating his mouth and was still lugging the Dean Parrish around with a bunch of others. I'd seen him blown out by just about every DJ that weekend - no one wanted to know. I think I even took the piss and said something like "still no luck with the Dean Parrish pop track eh Kegsy" and he said, "just wait!".

And then Russ played it in the last hour @ Wigan.

Shock horror, we all sat up and started to hear it properly for the first time over a big system. What a record! How did we all miss it?

Kegsy had a spring in his step after that LOL....

Cue the usual stampede to Bradford Market on the Monday morning........

Next time you see Swish give him my regards and ask him where he found "Love Love Love" - William Bonney.......?

Ian D

Edited April 1, 200817 yr by Ian Dewhirst

Bloody loads and I was the only guy to get into their small warehouse ( housed in a falling down terraced house on Cutler Heights Lane Bradford ) which held all the individual copies of stuff @ 25p each( the majority of this stuff went to Martin Barnfather at the time) not the large industrial unit where they stored all the boxes of 50.

Used to buy 50 boxes of Superiors, Tymes, April Stevens etc etc and flog 'em at the Torch ( only took one or two copies in at a time and went to 'refill' the sales box from the car at regular intervals). Once had to grab Kegsy by the throat for bringing a load of stuff in at the same time, thereby undermining the price( he reminded me of that story a few years ago!)

Happy days

Julian

Hi Julian,

Oh! It was YOU that got in there ya bugger. Must have been clean up time @ the Torch. Is that where you made your fortune?

Talking of Kegsy, I was nattering to Pete Mitchell from Radio 2 last year who's doing a radio documentary story on Dean Parrish and I told him the Kegsy/Dean Parrish story and he was desperate to speak to Kegsy direct. I'm pretty sure I got Kegsy's details and passed 'em on but just wondered if Kegsy had talked to him and if his memories are as accurate as mine LOL.....?

If you see him tell him to give me shout - I'd like to know if he got a call.......

Also, didja find any one-offs or ultra-raries there? I know Twink got his Susan Barratt, United Four and Salvadores off you but I'm wondering what other goodies you had at that time?

Look at that LOL! 35 years later and I'm still asking the same questions.

Weird ay?

Ian D

Bostocks also had a store in york, they used to do soul packs of ten singles for £1, remember at one time getting kenny smith-lord whats happening, taking them to sell at the casino only to realise everyone else in york had done the same got some good stuff out of bostocks god knows how many copies of betty swan came out of there along with spyder turner, there was at least two in every pack

Those Kenny Smiths were issues wern't they Harry ? I remember buying one off a guy at Wigan for £8 [ maybe it was you !! ? ] and recall the seller saying he had got it out of a soul pack , great find eh , and you don't see them around anymore , wish I'd kept it now LOL ........Best ,Eddie

Those Kenny Smiths were issues wern't they Harry ? I remember buying one off a guy at Wigan for £8 [ maybe it was you !! ? ] and recall the seller saying he had got it out of a soul pack , great find eh , and you don't see them around anymore , wish I'd kept it now LOL ........Best ,Eddie

yeh they were issues eddie, it could have been me or the other four lads from york who did the same that night

There was a store in Middlesbrough called POP INN that had a lot of that same stock, especially MGM/Verve things, so I assume they got them from Bradford. Lots of Howard Tate 45s and some Billy Woods, Clara Ward, Spyder Turner, etc.

I was just a school kid at the time so it was proabably early-to-mid 1970s. I can't remember what street it was on but it wasn't far from where I live today.

Can anyone remember?

Paul

Bostocks also had a store in york, they used to do soul packs of ten singles for £1, remember at one time getting kenny smith-lord whats happening, taking them to sell at the casino only to realise everyone else in york had done the same got some good stuff out of bostocks god knows how many copies of betty swan came out of there along with spyder turner, there was at least two in every pack

Blimey, the Kenny Smith's were a result. I had to pay a fortune for it! Also I remember one of the Leeds guys finding a Candi Staton "Now You've Got The Upper Hand" (when there was just the one) in Virgin, Leeds in a box of 10p imports!

There were records everywhere back then. It makes you wonder just how many came from the one source dunnit?

Ian D

I always thought it was Brad that discovered all those tunes from Bradford market. Everyone round our way had all the MGM & VERVE big tunes. Also remember lots of copies of Jean Wells on Calla being around.

Tell you what there was loads of kiss my love goodbye betty swann, we just gave them away or threw them away

I always thought it was Brad that discovered all those tunes from Bradford market. Everyone round our way had all the MGM & VERVE big tunes. Also remember lots of copies of Jean Wells on Calla being around.

It wouldn't surprise me if Brad was there early as well. Sounds like Julian B had the local lock on it but I'd often see people from all around the North there. I was relatively late there compared to those guys.......

Got some goodies off Brad over the years. Used to quite often pick up a couple of things from him on Tuesday night @ Burnley Cricket Club and play 'em the following weekend. That's where the Pointer Sisters "Send Him Back" came from for the record!

Ian D

Tell you what there was loads of kiss my love goodbye betty swann, we just gave them away or threw them away

I can remember a few like that! I used to have a montage of 'ten-a-penny' stuff on my wall in those days.......

Ian D

I always thought it was Brad that discovered all those tunes from Bradford market. Everyone round our way had all the MGM & VERVE big tunes. Also remember lots of copies of Jean Wells on Calla being around.

Yes Brad from Nelson - I remember one Saturday in the industrial unit when Brad turned up. We divided the spoils that day - he went to the Mecca and me to the Torch to sell our wares!!

Hi Julian,

Oh! It was YOU that got in there ya bugger. Must have been clean up time @ the Torch. Is that where you made your fortune?

Talking of Kegsy, I was nattering to Pete Mitchell from Radio 2 last year who's doing a radio documentary story on Dean Parrish and I told him the Kegsy/Dean Parrish story and he was desperate to speak to Kegsy direct. I'm pretty sure I got Kegsy's details and passed 'em on but just wondered if Kegsy had talked to him and if his memories are as accurate as mine LOL.....?

If you see him tell him to give me shout - I'd like to know if he got a call.......

Also, didja find any one-offs or ultra-raries there? I know Twink got his Susan Barratt, United Four and Salvadores off you but I'm wondering what other goodies you had at that time?

Look at that LOL! 35 years later and I'm still asking the same questions.

Weird ay?

Ian D

Hi Ian

just spoken to Kegsy, no he never got the call from Pete Mitchell.

Can't remember all the sounds to come out the terrace house, but I do remember Dearly Beloved, Bricks broken bottles (before they were played) Earl Jackson, possibly Skip Jackson. All the Verve MGM stuff come out of multiple boxes in the industrial unit they had. You'd better ask Soul Sam as he bought most of the finds from there off me - probably all worth £0000000's now

Useless bit of info, the Bostocks lived in Wyke, me just down the road in Scholes.

Julian

Tons were discovered there Stubbsy.

and Lennie Curtis "Nothing Can Help You Now" down there in the general stock for 10p each.

Tons were discovered there Stubbsy.

Coinicidentally, I just replied to the Christine Cooper thread in the Media forum 'cos it came into discussion:-

"The "S.O.S."'s all seemed to come from Bostocks @ Bradford Market - you could buy it for 25p in the early 70's as there were loads of 'em. Other stuff, mainly from MGM/Verve and @ £1.00 each was Dottie Cambridge, Spyder Turner, The Charades, The Ambers, The Superiors, The Tymes, The Shalamars, The Triumphs, April Stevens, Alice Clark, Billy Woods, Little Eva, Clara Ward".

I also found the first copies of Ronnie & Robyn "As Long As You Love Me (I'll Stay)" at the same time as "Sidra's Theme" was breaking and Lennie Curtis "Nothing Can Help You Now" down there in the general stock for 10p each.

I first used to up there on my lunch break when I was working at John Laing - a clothes shop in Bradford, every Saturday. You could buy 20 U.S. imports for £1.00 and I used to buy 40 every week with my entire wage. I'd then get home and spend Saturday night and Sunday playing through 'em. Consequently I had tons of stuff just as I was really getting on the scene. Much of the stuff I got every weekend would often be traded for records I really wanted a couple of years later.

Tons of other stuff came through there as well. I can remember when Levine played both Spiral Staircase "More Today Than Yesterday" and the Righteous Brothers Band "Rat Race" at the Mecca, I'd nervously look around towards the Bradford and Leeds lads, to see if anyone else had twigged that the records were at Bradford Market. Often there'd be several other vinyl hounds waiting for the market to open on a Monday morning!

Kegsy found Dean Parrish "I'm On My Way" there too. The rest of us had dismissed it as being too pop with that horrible guitar at the beginning but Kegsy persevered with it for weeks before it finally broke and became No.1 everywhere.

You could never really tell what would come out. I didn't get into the warehouse until the mid 70's, but boy, if I'd have got in there before I'd have cleaned up.

I think John Anderson got in there and had a decent hit. But the thing with Bradford is that was there enough stuff on the stall to keep anyone going. Plus they also had branches in Leeds, Wakefield and Huddersfield too. They also had a load of Canadian Motown at one point with most titles you could think of.

I'm sure others will have tales of great finds there - you had to be sharp on your toes back then but the same token, you could wander in on a pissing-down Winter Tuesday afternoon and maybe find a monster unknown on a label you'd never seen!

All in all, a fantastic place to have on your doorstep. Probably more Torch sounds came from there than anywhere else at the time. The best place for records in England at the time bar none I reckon (although Global could probably be a close second).......

Ian D

Cheers for the info Ian

So what years were we talking about, very early 70's?

And what happened to the stall? Did they stop getting the imports eventually?

Cheers for the info Ian

So what years were we talking about, very early 70's?

And what happened to the stall? Did they stop getting the imports eventually?

I dunno what happened to 'em actually. I pretty much stopped going around '75 I guess. I remember going to the Warehouse in '77/'78 or thereabouts and finding lots of modern stuff when I ran my Vinyl Junkie list, so there was still a nice amount of gear there. I remember getting lots of 70's stuff like Norman Connors, Brothers Guiding Light, the Futures etc, etc, so they must have been still buying bulk amounts from the states into the mid 70's.

The passing of an era LOL....

Ian D

Larry Calvert was one of the first to go to the warehouse,then he took me and Brad and the next time Soul Sam as well.It didnt take long for the owner to get wise though.MGM issues galore.

Geoff.

Tons were discovered there Stubbsy.

Coinicidentally, I just replied to the Christine Cooper thread in the Media forum 'cos it came into discussion:-

"The "S.O.S."'s all seemed to come from Bostocks @ Bradford Market - you could buy it for 25p in the early 70's as there were loads of 'em. Other stuff, mainly from MGM/Verve and @ £1.00 each was Dottie Cambridge, Spyder Turner, The Charades, The Ambers, The Superiors, The Tymes, The Shalamars, The Triumphs, April Stevens, Alice Clark, Billy Woods, Little Eva, Clara Ward".

I also found the first copies of Ronnie & Robyn "As Long As You Love Me (I'll Stay)" at the same time as "Sidra's Theme" was breaking and Lennie Curtis "Nothing Can Help You Now" down there in the general stock for 10p each.

I first used to up there on my lunch break when I was working at John Laing - a clothes shop in Bradford, every Saturday. You could buy 20 U.S. imports for £1.00 and I used to buy 40 every week with my entire wage. I'd then get home and spend Saturday night and Sunday playing through 'em. Consequently I had tons of stuff just as I was really getting on the scene. Much of the stuff I got every weekend would often be traded for records I really wanted a couple of years later.

Tons of other stuff came through there as well. I can remember when Levine played both Spiral Staircase "More Today Than Yesterday" and the Righteous Brothers Band "Rat Race" at the Mecca, I'd nervously look around towards the Bradford and Leeds lads, to see if anyone else had twigged that the records were at Bradford Market. Often there'd be several other vinyl hounds waiting for the market to open on a Monday morning!

Kegsy found Dean Parrish "I'm On My Way" there too. The rest of us had dismissed it as being too pop with that horrible guitar at the beginning but Kegsy persevered with it for weeks before it finally broke and became No.1 everywhere.

You could never really tell what would come out. I didn't get into the warehouse until the mid 70's, but boy, if I'd have got in there before I'd have cleaned up.

I think John Anderson got in there and had a decent hit. But the thing with Bradford is that was there enough stuff on the stall to keep anyone going. Plus they also had branches in Leeds, Wakefield and Huddersfield too. They also had a load of Canadian Motown at one point with most titles you could think of.

I'm sure others will have tales of great finds there - you had to be sharp on your toes back then but the same token, you could wander in on a pissing-down Winter Tuesday afternoon and maybe find a monster unknown on a label you'd never seen!

All in all, a fantastic place to have on your doorstep. Probably more Torch sounds came from there than anywhere else at the time. The best place for records in England at the time bar none I reckon (although Global could probably be a close second).......

Ian D

Tch! - Why wasn't I born in Bradford...

Edited April 3, 200817 yr by mel brat

...and then Russ played it in the last hour @ Wigan.

Ian D

Sorry, but again Dean Parrish was huge at The Cats in the Autumn of 1973, so somebody liked it!

Edited April 3, 200817 yr by mel brat

Sorry, but again Dean Parrish was huge at The Cats in the Autumn of 1973, so somebody liked it!

You could well be right Mel.

As I said in another thread, in those days, the Black Country was pretty much the southernmost point on the Northern Soul map in those days in terms of regular Northern gigs and a solid local scene.

Also a journey to Birmingham took a LONG time back then. This was pre M62 I think, which, for me, would have been dicing with death going over the Pennines via the 'Snake Pass' - one of the most dangerous roads in the world, I shit thee not.

And let's not forget that communications weren't what they are now - no internet, just Blues & Soul magazine and much more 'word of mouth'.

So, often, records could be played in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and area and not necessarily go any further North for a while. Also difficult if the only copies of certain records were in the Black Country at the time - Little Joe Romans and the Mike Post Coalition being just two examples from other threads.

Dean Parrish was around for sure. Most of us had seen it, but I'm pretty sure no one had heard it in a club up here prior to Kegsy's marathon weekend.

Mind you, this is the whole point of these threads innit?

To put a bit of meat on the bone so to speak.

So who did play it first then? Let's get some statos on here with dates LOL!

Ian D

Edited April 3, 200817 yr by Ian Dewhirst

Bloody loads and I was the only guy to get into their small warehouse ( housed in a falling down terraced house on Cutler Heights Lane Bradford ) which held all the individual copies of stuff @ 25p each( the majority of this stuff went to Martin Barnfather at the time) not the large industrial unit where they stored all the boxes of 50.

Used to buy 50 boxes of Superiors, Tymes, April Stevens etc etc and flog 'em at the Torch ( only took one or two copies in at a time and went to 'refill' the sales box from the car at regular intervals). Once had to grab Kegsy by the throat for bringing a load of stuff in at the same time, thereby undermining the price( he reminded me of that story a few years ago!)

Happy days

Julian

yeah remember buying a superiors and walking round like a dog with 2 d*cks then realising by daybreak nearly every f***ker had one !!!! . Dottie Cambridge was another (i think) but only about 10 on the night came in(could be wrong though long time ago)

yeah remember buying a superiors and walking round like a dog with 2 d*cks then realising by daybreak nearly every f***ker had one !!!! . Dottie Cambridge was another (i think) but only about 10 on the night came in(could be wrong though long time ago)

There was a few DOTTIE CAMBRIDGES came out of bostocks in york