Ian Levine, Motorcity, Centre City, Blackpool Mecca, And Swons

[Guest]

IAN DON'T YOU THINK IT STRANGE ALL THOSE THREADS. SLAGGING YOU OFF, PUTTING YOU DOWN ETC

BUT GUESE WHAT IAN LEVINE , STILL MANAGES TO GET CAPTIVE AUDIANCIES. ALL THE BEST OLD BUD.

....KEEP ON KEEPING ON....

SWO

Well I do try.

(But it's not always easy).

[Hitsville Chalky]

You do ???

Where did they come from ??

I keep getting asked for it and I haven't got any left.

Yes I do , you should already know where I got them from also tons of " Building a strong foundation " 12 inches along with other great fantastic Motorcity 12 inches.

[arnie j]

ian,i consider myself a bit of a 60s rare soul freak but a lot of the tunes you have posted are superb in my opinion, i try to see it as not what people think they SHOULD sound like but more as what they DO sound like, and i bloody like a lot of em !

[Guest]

Yes I do , you should already know where I got them from also tons of " Building a strong foundation " 12 inches along with other great fantastic Motorcity 12 inches.

I can only assume Bill Randall had some from nearly twenty years ago.

[John Al]

No, John, actually you're talking about Marv Johnson.

This one in fact.

And to keep you happy, here's Johnny Bristol. I cut ten tracks with him.

Thanks Ian, I meant Johnny Bristol "Come To Me" on Whichway label from around '91.

It was the JJ Barnes you previously posted which I thought was so good.

Thanks for the "What Does It Take.......". What are other JB tracks and are they available please?

John.

[Guest]

ian,i consider myself a bit of a 60s rare soul freak but a lot of the tunes you have posted are superb in my opinion, i try to see it as not what people think they SHOULD sound like but more as what they DO sound like, and i bloody like a lot of em !

Thankyou. All I ask is for people to keep an open mind, and the recent posts on here by you and Jayne have given me great encouragement and hope for the future.

[Guest]

Thanks for the "What Does It Take.......". What are other JB tracks and are they available please?

John.

Only on assorted compilation albums.

The very best one is track one on this CD.......

It's long deleted but there even appears to be a copy at £5.99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/0...p;x=11&y=17

[Guest]

Here's an old Mecca biggie

">

[Steve G]

Here's an old Mecca biggie

">

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[Soul Shrews]

Whens the new DVD available Ian ?

Cheers Paul

[Guest]

Not being funny but their vocals sound almost identical to the way they were on the original recording?

That's what we went out of our way to achieve. In some cases we did it perfectly, in other cases it was not as good as we had hoped for. We have all the recordings to show how we did it, and we tried to get it as close as possible to the originals, especially in the ones we remixed where we even chopped up syllables on the computer to make them exactly match the phrasing of the original version. It was only in cases like Bobby Paris or Bobby Sheen, where their voices were shot, that nothing we could try could make them sound even close.

I listen to Frank Wilson or Leon Haywood and marvel at how close they sound. If they sound almost identical, that means you're paying us the ultimate compliment.

[Guest]

Whens the new DVD available Ian ?

Cheers Paul

It should be the last week of October.

We're delivering all the parts tomorrow.

[Guest Paul]

...Ian, I'm sure I asked you this last week but were you involved in Johnny's "Come To Me"? ......and are there any other JB songs available or in the offing?

John

Hello John,

"Come To Me" was actually recorded for Ardent in 1990.

Ronnie Dyson has passed away and Lamar Thomas needed a singer for "Come To Me". We had just done some tracks for Johnny Bristol (which we didn't release) so I gave Lamar his number and they got together with Patrick Adams and cut the track, thinking we would release it on Ardent.

At the last moment, however, I was asked for a big advance so I got annoyed and didn't release it. Lamar got Terry West to release it and Pete Waterman picked up the publishing rights in exchange for helping with pressing and getting Tony King to do a PWL remix.

It was a great song and it was very popular but it didn't sell as well as expected. I think too many people got involved and they all started getting in each other's way.

No disrespect to Johnny Bristol but the song sounded even better by Lamar Thomas. He sang it to me when he had a cold and he sounded like William Bell.

I keep telling him he should record a new version of it one day.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

[Steve G]

If they sound almost identical, that means you're paying us the ultimate compliment.

Steady on, steady on..........The vocals Ian, it was the vocals that i said sound almost identical to Arctic.

[Guest]

Not being funny but their vocals sound almost identical to the way they were on the original recording?

By the way, while you're here, what exactly is this supposed to mean ??

"Event:: Anywhere without 70's "Has been" Big name DJs"

[Guest]

Steady on, steady on..........The vocals Ian, it was the vocals that i said sound almost identical to Arctic.

Well then at least it's half a compliment.

[Steve G]

Well then at least it's half a compliment.

Well they do sound very similar vocally, so I am not going to say it unless I think it.

[Guest]

At the last moment, however, I was asked for a big advance so I got annoyed and didn't release it.

Having forked over ten thousand dollars to Johnny Bristol, and then having him refuse me the rights to release his ten tracks as an album in the US, unless I gave him a further fifty thousand dollars, I totally totally sympathise.

[Steve G]

By the way, while you're here, what exactly is this supposed to mean ??

"Event:: Anywhere without 70's "Has been" Big name DJs"

That's been there for a long time......it means I don't want to go to a Wigan Casino revival night in a shopping centre

[Guest]

Well they do sound very similar vocally, so I am not going to say it unless I think it.

Then I thank you for it, because it means we did the job I set out to do. Having said that, it's certainly a lot easier to get the same vocalist to sound similar, than it is to cut a new backing track without an expensive orchestra and get it please the purists.

All of which brings me back to square one - if we had tried to use the original versions, then both SWONS and also the new set would have never been made, and the whole Soul Scene would, it is my humble belief, have been all the poorer for it.

[Guest Gene]

Just to doubly clarify, there were indeed 25 previous releases, and they all do exist, but as I said, they're not Motorcity.

But the first 25 include records by Barbara Pennington, Archie Bell, James Wells, Susan Wells, Evelyn Thomas, Viola Wills, Darryl Pandy, and Steve Mancha

Ok, that makes sense! I was thinking of labels that started with (as an example, Rim 2025), to imply the label had prior releases to help get radio play.

All clear now

[Steve G]

if we had tried to use the original versions, then both SWONS and also the new set would have never been made, and the whole Soul Scene would, it is my humble belief, have been all the poorer for it.

It might surprise you to know but I never had any problem with SWONS at all, just grateful to see so many artists that I love singing their songs.

[Guest Paul]

Having forked over ten thousand dollars to Johnny Bristol, and then having him refuse me the rights to release his ten tracks as an album in the US, unless I gave him a further fifty thousand dollars, I totally totally sympathise.

Hello Ian,

I'm not speaking ill of John but, sadly, he didn't have a good word to say about anyone. I went for a meal with him and he seemed very bitter, despite his artistic and financial successes.

It's very sad because that's how I remember him now.

Best regards,

Paul

[Epic]

In fairness Ian I think people have made their own minds up about the vocals on some of the tracks on SWONS videos. Whether they are the truly new vocals only you & the people involved in the studio genuinely know.

I have watched the Eddie Parker - "Love You Baby" video & I cannot believe that 30 years after the original that Mr Parker would sound as much like the original without a little "help" from a sound engineer- even the original uh's are in there - but not actually coming out of his mouth in the video.

This is not a dig at you Ian but I just wish you would treat us all with a bit more intelligence - it comes across as insulting. I understand that some of the ageing artists must have been struggling - I don't mind if they did mime - it is such a joy to see these artists that it doesn't matter to me - but to talk about adding syllables etc is just semantics. Let's just agree that some of the artists had a little "help" from the original recording & leave it at that.

[Guest Paul]

In fairness Ian I think people have made their own minds up about the vocals on some of the tracks on SWONS videos. Whether they are the truly new vocals only you & the people involved in the studio genuinely know.

I have watched the Eddie Parker - "Love You Baby" video & I cannot believe that 30 years after the original that Mr Parker would sound as much like the original without a little "help" from a sound engineer- even the original uh's are in there - but not actually coming out of his mouth in the video.

This is not a dig at you Ian but I just wish you would treat us all with a bit more intelligence - it comes across as insulting. I understand that some of the ageing artists must have been struggling - I don't mind if they did mime - it is such a joy to see these artists that it doesn't matter to me - but to talk about adding syllables etc is just semantics. Let's just agree that some of the artists had a little "help" from the original recording & leave it at that.

Hello Epic,

Vocals can be sampled, cut, pasted, retriggered, looped, tuned, stretched, whatever. All producers and engineers do this and I don't blame Ian for using technology to get results.

No doubt Ian has done some sampling at times but it's also amazing what can be emulated these days, especially with the latest frequency analysis and matching tools.

I can play bass like James Jamerson on a good day.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

[Epic]

Hello Epic,

Vocals can be sampled, cut, pasted, retriggered, looped, tuned, stretched, whatever. All producers and engineers do this and I don't blame Ian for using technology to get results.

No doubt Ian has done some sampling at times but it's also amazing what can be emulated these days, especially with the latest frequency analysis and matching tools.

I can play bass like James Jamerson on a good day.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

The point I am making is that these artists don't sound like they did nearly 40 years ago - when they were in some pokey studio in Detroit or Chicago recording on a mixer that would be laughed at nowadays.

I am not knocking what Ian did I am just pointing out that it is naive to think that these artists can still cut it in a recording studio without a huge amount of studio wizardry - which they didn't have or need all those years ago.

[Guest]

Hello Ian,

I'm not speaking ill of John but, sadly, he didn't have a good word to say about anyone. I went for a meal with him and he seemed very bitter, despite his artistic and financial successes.

It's very sad because that's how I remember him now.

Best regards,

Paul

Yes. We put him in a hotel in London and he charged a thousand pounds of expenses to his room.

I don't want to speak ill of the dead either, but he was bloody hard work.

Doesn't take away from my admiration of his talent though, but bloody hard work.

[Dave Moore]

I can play bass like James Jamerson on a good day.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

STONE HIM!!! For Blasphemy!! :D

[Guest]

In fairness Ian I think people have made their own minds up about the vocals on some of the tracks on SWONS videos. Whether they are the truly new vocals only you & the people involved in the studio genuinely know.

I have watched the Eddie Parker - "Love You Baby" video & I cannot believe that 30 years after the original that Mr Parker would sound as much like the original without a little "help" from a sound engineer- even the original uh's are in there - but not actually coming out of his mouth in the video.

This is not a dig at you Ian but I just wish you would treat us all with a bit more intelligence - it comes across as insulting. I understand that some of the ageing artists must have been struggling - I don't mind if they did mime - it is such a joy to see these artists that it doesn't matter to me - but to talk about adding syllables etc is just semantics. Let's just agree that some of the artists had a little "help" from the original recording & leave it at that.

NO NO NO NO NO, Epic.

I don't know what you're trying to get at here.

We filmed and recorded every artist. I gave all the parts to my co-producer and he has very sophisticated equipment to tweak every bit to match the originals.

If we had used the originals we would be sued, end of story, END OF THE STRANGE WORLD OF NORTHERN SOUL - FULL STOP.

And we would not be able to release the videos, and there would be no SWONS and there would be no new project, and the artists would have never been seen.

If any record company wants to infer these are not new recordings, I can walk into court with all the vocals and all the musical parts and prove that they are. If somehow one note off the original got left in the new recording, we could be leaving ourselves wide open to a lawsuit, and the whole DVD being removed and deleted from sale. That is why I have given my co-producer strict instructions that he is not to leave me in any position where I could be legally compromised. We have tweaked and pulled and prodded every word of vocals to get the best results, and even had session singers come in specially to mimic very tiny little bits that may have been missing, and sing the odd "oooh" amd "uhh" to cover up bits. I dare not reveal how many little bits Sheila Ferguson did to patch things up on lots of other female singers' songs, but it was just tiny little bits, not whole vocals. But these were just patching up. Every song is sung by the original artist.

I was determined to make them LEGALLY sound like the originals. Your inferences make my blood run cold, and to be frank, I expected better from an old Mecca pal, and I wonder here what you are trying to achieve with these awful and quite horrible insinuations.

I don't like it. Not one bit.

As Paul Mooney knows, we can be extremely clever, and cheat in lots of ways to achieve our best results, without sampling off the originals. But along comes Epic... The Sherlock Holmes of Soul Investigators. One minute you're talking about high pitched whines, the next you're inferring they missed an "uhhh" and, Epic, to be quite frank, you aren't half pissing me off. And I leave myself wondering why, and to what end, and what your motive is for doing so. I have enough troublemakers around me without fending off and justifying myself to someone I believed was an old friend.

We have done the right thing the right way and taken years of care doing it, and I don't like to be questioned like this, not when I have done nothing wrong. And neither do I NEED to defend myself. And after all the Trolls that have been bearbaiting me on here, it is simply scandalous that this stuff should come from someone like YOU. What next ?? Is my Mother going to report me to the police for going two miles an hour over the speed limit ????

Do you DARE to try to tell me something like this is sampled off the original ?? Because if you claim it is, I will supply footage of him singing it accapella for us.

"> Edited September 7, 2008 by Ian Levine

[Hitsville Chalky]

I can only assume Bill Randall had some from nearly twenty years ago.

those people asking you for them pass them on my Mobile Number or pm me on here , i did intend to go around JJ's house next time I'm over Detroit to get him to sign a few copy's . but if people still want your stuff does'n't that prove a point on here ! it will only be the true fact that it will be some other Track they will be seeking soon like David Ruffin's or Frankie Gaye , lovetones , the one you may be suprised at is The Velvelettes on Nightmare 60 " Running out of luck " got 3 guys hounding me to sell mine .

[Guest]

the one you may be suprised at is The Velvelettes on Nightmare 60 " Running out of luck " got 3 guys hounding me to sell mine .

I played it on that Starpoint Show I did last Good Friday, and it has aged remarkably well, and is seriously rare on a seven inch, as PRT only used to press 100 of each seven, just to let a few radio stations have it.

The seven inch is so SO SO much better than the twelve inch of it.

I have had lots of requests about it, so yes it makes sense.

Why not post up a soundclip ??

I still hope someone will post up that Gary The Master Blaster, off the "You Didn't Say A Word" CD, as well.

[Guest]

Wow.

For me it's the most authentic Northern Soul yet.

I'm thrilled someone on here accepts that without questioning it.

You are the way forward, a shining beacon for the future. I wish they all had open minds like you do. Bravo.

I think you'll like this one too.

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[Guest Paul]

The point I am making is that these artists don't sound like they did nearly 40 years ago - when they were in some pokey studio in Detroit or Chicago recording on a mixer that would be laughed at nowadays.

I am not knocking what Ian did I am just pointing out that it is naive to think that these artists can still cut it in a recording studio without a huge amount of studio wizardry - which they didn't have or need all those years ago.

Hello,

I understand what you're saying. Many artists just don't sound good without the help of technology but at times the very same technology prevents today's recordings from having the feel of the old classics we love.

We grew up with recordings which had inconsistant tempos, imperfect tuning, tape noise, hum, distortion, over compression, under compression, poor mixes, etc.

Let's face it, "She'll Come Running Back" (for example) was a sonic disaster but we all loved it.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

[Hitsville Chalky]

I played it on that Starpoint Show I did last Good Friday, and it has aged remarkably well, and is seriously rare on a seven inch, as PRT only used to press 100 of each seven, just to let a few radio stations have it.

The seven inch is so SO SO much better than the twelve inch of it.

I have had lots of requests about it, so yes it makes sense.

Why not post up a soundclip ??

I still hope someone will post up that Gary The Master Blaster, off the "You Didn't Say A Word" CD, as well.

Mines the 7inch and its fabulous never heard the 12 inch , Have you not got a video of this if not

we must do something when I'm over Detroit to see if we can film this .

[Guest]

I think you're wonderful.

You can find the audio track on this...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Northern-Soul...4611&sr=1-2

And you can buy the video on this DVD set...

https://www.wienerworld.com/wworld.php?catnumber=WNRD2436

And I'm really encouraged and excited that you took the trouble to ask. It is such a rare pleasure.

Thanks Ian,

It's a rare pleasure to still be buzzing about a song two hours after first hearing it too.

I think this would sound great over a large sound system so it's my mission now to get it played out

somewhere so I can hear it. lol. I'm sure I'll accomplish that before long..

Jayne.x

Edited September 7, 2008 by Miss BurySoul

[Ian Dewhirst]

I still hope someone will post up that Gary The Master Blaster, off the "You Didn't Say A Word" CD, as well.

Here ya go.....

Gary The Master Blaster "Cafe Reggios"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183698315b8bc59d/

and whilst we're at it let's give this another listen with your kind permission.....

Betty Lavette "Good Luck"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183699311a3d9d0e/

Ian D

[Guest]

Here ya go.....

Gary The Master Blaster "Cafe Reggios"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183698315b8bc59d/

and whilst we're at it let's give this another listen with your kind permission.....

Betty Lavette "Good Luck"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183699311a3d9d0e/

Ian D

Like the Betty Lavette track.

Jayne.x.

[Guest]

Thank you Ian,

Yes, I love it. Another awesome voice.

I'm intrigued about that video too, is the footage in the background taken from SWONS?.. It feels familiar. It's brought back great memories and I'm sure some of the clips must have been taken at the Manchester Ritz nearly 10 years ago perhaps?.

Thanks

Jayne.x.

Yes my dear Jayne

The footage was all shot in the 1990s, at just about every big Northern Soul Club there was, up and down the country.

[Guest]

Mines the 7inch and its fabulous never heard the 12 inch , Have you not got a video of this if not

we must do something when I'm over Detroit to see if we can film this .

Wouldn't that be fabulous, my lovely dear friend.

[Guest]

I am so saddened by the passing of my friend Richard "Popcorn" Wylie.

I made lots of records with him and write many more for other artists.

There's lots of video of him in the studio, but most of it was done when the camera had the sun filter on accidentally, and therefore is too dark to use.

But I still have some great stuff of him.

Here he is to be remembered forever

"> Edited September 7, 2008 by Ian Levine

[Hitsville Chalky]

I am so saddened by the passing of my friend Richard "Popcorn" Wylie.

I made lots of records with him and write many more for other artists.

There's lots of video of him in the studio, but most of it was done when the camera had the sun filter on accidentally, and therefore is too dark to use.

But I still have some great stuff of him.

Here he is to be remembered forever

">

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[Guest]

Yes my dear Jayne

The footage was all shot in the 1990s, at just about every big Northern Soul Club there was, up and down the country.

Ah, I thought so. It gave me goosebumps to watch as there are many shots of Neil Jones dancing at one of the first ever allniters that he took me to.

My mission is nearly accomplished on hearing the J J Barnes track over a loud system too, Sean Livesey has also fallen in love with the track and promised to play it for me at the Tuscany weekender next week if I can get him a copy by then which I will certainly do.

The Marvin Cotterell vocal has blown me away, I'm sure that could do the same in a northern room as Sydney Barnes - Standing on solid ground did a few years ago. I can't wait to hear it played at the next night at Bury if I dont hear it sooner.

Off to bed before I buy anything else today. lol.

Thanks,

Jayne.x.

[Guest]

Have to agree with you Ian , when i heard the sad news i just kept looking at the pictures on my wall when i went around his house , then strangely enough i went to your page to watch the video of him

at times like this all your work is a blessing and memories of great artist's who is not with us anymore

THANK YOU .

I just talked to Pat Lewis on the phone. She only spoke to him yesterday.

He had fluid round his heart and she told him he sounded a bit rough, but he was not otherwise ill, and it was all so sudden and totally unexpected.

And a shock for all of them.

[Guest]

Here ya go.....

Gary The Master Blaster "Cafe Reggios"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183698315b8bc59d/

and whilst we're at it let's give this another listen with your kind permission.....

Betty Lavette "Good Luck"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183699311a3d9d0e/

Ian D

Thankyou so much for this, Ian.

I really appreciate it.

[Guest]

and whilst we're at it let's give this another listen with your kind permission.....

Betty Lavette "Good Luck"

https://www.zshare.net/audio/183699311a3d9d0e/

Ian D

This was on a seven inch single, coupled with the utterly wonderful "Right Out Of Time"

[Epic]

NO NO NO NO NO, Epic.

I don't know what you're trying to get at here.

We filmed and recorded every artist. I gave all the parts to my co-producer and he has very sophisticated equipment to tweak every bit to match the originals.

If we had used the originals we would be sued, end of story, END OF THE STRANGE WORLD OF NORTHERN SOUL - FULL STOP.

And we would not be able to release the videos, and there would be no SWONS and there would be no new project, and the artists would have never been seen.

If any record company wants to infer these are not new recordings, I can walk into court with all the vocals and all the musical parts and prove that they are. If somehow one note off the original got left in the new recording, we could be leaving ourselves wide open to a lawsuit, and the whole DVD being removed and deleted from sale. That is why I have given my co-producer strict instructions that he is not to leave me in any position where I could be legally compromised. We have tweaked and pulled and prodded every word of vocals to get the best results, and even had session singers come in specially to mimic very tiny little bits that may have been missing, and sing the odd "oooh" amd "uhh" to cover up bits. I dare not reveal how many little bits Sheila Ferguson did to patch things up on lots of other female singers' songs, but it was just tiny little bits, not whole vocals. But these were just patching up. Every song is sung by the original artist.

I was determined to make them LEGALLY sound like the originals. Your inferences make my blood run cold, and to be frank, I expected better from an old Mecca pal, and I wonder here what you are trying to achieve with these awful and quite horrible insinuations.

I don't like it. Not one bit.

As Paul Mooney knows, we can be extremely clever, and cheat in lots of ways to achieve our best results, without sampling off the originals. But along comes Epic... The Sherlock Holmes of Soul Investigators. One minute you're talking about high pitched whines, the next you're inferring they missed an "uhhh" and, Epic, to be quite frank, you aren't half pissing me off. And I leave myself wondering why, and to what end, and what your motive is for doing so. I have enough troublemakers around me without fending off and justifying myself to someone I believed was an old friend.

We have done the right thing the right way and taken years of care doing it, and I don't like to be questioned like this, not when I have done nothing wrong. And neither do I NEED to defend myself. And after all the Trolls that have been bearbaiting me on here, it is simply scandalous that this stuff should come from someone like YOU. What next ?? Is my Mother going to report me to the police for going two miles an hour over the speed limit ????

Do you DARE to try to tell me something like this is sampled off the original ?? Because if you claim it is, I will supply footage of him singing it accapella for us.

">

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[Guest]

Ian - of course that is Frank Wilson singing a new version - I didn't say ALL the recordings you did were not new & as I have said I don't have a problem with it.

My last word on the matter is that every song was re-recorded, and we didn't use any original versions that we had no right to use.

I thought the Frank Wilson was so close that the differences were almost imperceptible, which is why I used it as a demonstration.

[Guest Paul]

Hello Ian,

Despite being a big fan of the original version, I was very impressed with what you and Clive did with "Cafe Reggios". It has great energy and feel.

I don't praise all your tracks but "Cafe Reggios" is one of your best in my opinion. It's very hypnotic and always makes me feel good.

It really should have been a single.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

[Barry]

Hello John,

"Come To Me" was actually recorded for Ardent in 1990.

Ronnie Dyson has passed away and Lamar Thomas needed a singer for "Come To Me". We had just done some tracks for Johnny Bristol (which we didn't release) so I gave Lamar his number and they got together with Patrick Adams and cut the track, thinking we would release it on Ardent.

At the last moment, however, I was asked for a big advance so I got annoyed and didn't release it. Lamar got Terry West to release it and Pete Waterman picked up the publishing rights in exchange for helping with pressing and getting Tony King to do a PWL remix.

It was a great song and it was very popular but it didn't sell as well as expected. I think too many people got involved and they all started getting in each other's way.

No disrespect to Johnny Bristol but the song sounded even better by Lamar Thomas. He sang it to me when he had a cold and he sounded like William Bell.

I keep telling him he should record a new version of it one day.

Best regards,

Paul Mooney

I think you'll know that Hott Waxx had a part in that story too Paul, before Kev and Terry fell out that is.

On a lighter note we took Johhny and Lamaar on a barge down Wigan Pier one evening, I can't remember why now, we were trying to get Pete to showcase 'Come To Me' on a 'Hitman & Her' (weird, but publicity is publicity innit?) at the time.

Lamaar (in his charming NY pimp-mode), loved it - Johnny on the other hand f*cking hated it.

[Guest Paul]

I think you'll know that Hott Waxx had a part in that story too Paul, before Kev and Terry fell out that is.

On a lighter note we took Johhny and Lamaar on a barge down Wigan Pier one evening, I can't remember why now, we were trying to get Pete to showcase 'Come To Me' on a 'Hitman & Her' (weird, but publicity is publicity innit?) at the time.

Lamaar (in his charming NY pimp-mode), loved it - Johnny on the other hand f*cking hated it.

Hello Barry,

Hoew are you?

Yes, I assume the PWL connection was through Hott Wax. That's what I was referring to when I said "I think too many people got involved and they all started getting in each other's way".

I remember there being some confusion and it certainly didn't help when they fell out.

I also remember meeting someone from Hott Wax (sorry I can't remember his name now) with Lamar, John and Terry.

At the time I really thought "Come To Me" had chart potential so I was a bit frustrated when things went wrong. Terry West was a nice man but he couldn't control the situation.

What are you to up to these days?

Best regards,

Paul Mooney