Everything posted by Garethx
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Dee Dee Gartrell On Maverick
I think Steve G has owned the Aware 45 for a few years.
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Post Stafford Classics
Interesting points raised by everybody this morning. If the aim of Russ's thread was to identify A New Top 500, devoid of ties to the 'old order' then what we've had so far is just a list of tracks that may have received their plays after Stafford closed its doors. There have been undeniably brilliant soul records discovered since 1986. Have there been the amount that could produce a rival to the KR Top 500? I think that's open to debate. A great many of the tracks that have been mentioned wouldn't get in on a qualitative evaluation of either the amount of widespread acceptance they might have received or on how good they might be as records. Perhaps it's time to start wittling down the list to what I referred to earlier as cast-iron certainties. The three I mentioned above were the Jesse James acetate, Carla Thomas Never Stop and the unissued version of The Prophets on Shrine. Bubbling under that rarified postition would be stuff like The Vanguards on Lamp, The Sensations on Way Out and The San Francisco TKOs. In terms of nationwide, floorfilling popularity over time, Joseph Webster, Ellipsis and Joe Jama have to be considered on a list of certainly top 50 in the post-Stafford era. Much as we might find it unpalatable we may also have to conclude that Dean Barlow, Lou Lawton, Joey DeLorenzo et al have just as much right to sit in a pantheon of popularity. Bear in mind as well that the whole Crossover phenomenon as a strand of the Rare Soul scene is post-Stafford, but how many of those tracks (great as many are) have broken out to be classics on the Northern All Nighter scene? Arguably things like James Phelps, Willie Tee "First Taste of Hurt" and a few more, but which have had the presence to be contemporary equivalents of Frank Wilson, Yvonne Baker, Epitome of Sound etc. I'm not making judgements here, just maybe refining the focus of the thread. I would be interested to hear what everyone has to say. Gambler's Blues, great as it is, may never have the legs to break out of being a cult record: the fate of many current-day spins?
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Post Stafford Classics
Was the Thelma Jones track called Don't Start Something?
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Post Stafford Classics
Ady: I'm pretty sure you would have played both Johnny Maestro and The Platters when guesting as Stafford itself, but no doubt that both went on to be monsters in the post-Stafford period. I'm sure someone will also say that Demanding Man was spun somewhere earlier than when it took off for Kitch in the early 90s. I've also got a sneaking suspicion that Kurt Harris was known far earlier in the scene's history than when it started to go big at the 100 Club.
- This England
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Walter Wilson On Wand
The midtempo side is fantastic. Not too sure about the topside, either in vocal or instrumental format. As Steve says (and he should know) one of the very rarest on the label.
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Post Stafford Classics
I think like a great many of the records under discussion here it might have got the odd play at Wigan, the Mecca or St. Ives etc. but someone didn't really get behind it 'til the post-Stafford era. Records were definitely coming to have a longer shelf-life around this time if they were good. The quick turnover of sounds at Stafford was replaced by certain records being featured heavily for months or even years in certain playlists. I can think of a period of time lasting about ten years where it seemed impossible to go out and not hear, for example, The Trannells played by a couple of deejays. That's not a criticism, by the way, just the reality that if something was good and genuinely rare it was worth persevering with, and that while great records were and are still being unearthed, it was an illustration of the law of diminishing returns. The dedicated record-hunters were and are becoming a smaller group: maybe you can count them in the tens these days when in the past (say at Wigan) there were literally dozens of people who could point the top deejays in the direction of fantastic unknown tunes.
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Post Stafford Classics
A very good list that sums up a part of the particular time under discussion really well. For a few years Rob Marriott really was cooking with gas. I think a number of his plays have yet to reach their full potential to this day.
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Help With Price: Chris Jones - Destination Unknown - Goody Train
The Compton address and telephone number on a number of the releases is rumoured to have been that of Mr Dees, Sean.
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Help With Price: Chris Jones - Destination Unknown - Goody Train
Hi Ady Did the guy have any other titles on Goodie Train, like the Frank Hutson 45, or records on the sister label, Las Vegas (Fantastic Mainstream etc.)? Also, can anyone definitively tell the story of Sam Dees' involvement in this label? best, gareth
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Post Stafford Classics
JV used to be a member on here. Does he post any more? My recollection of the story may be incorrect Chalky, but John Anderson definitely handled the disc more than once.
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Post Stafford Classics
Go On And Laugh definitely predates Stafford. John Anderson sold it to John Vincent, who sold it back to Anderson, who sold it to Richard Searling, who sold it back to John Anderson who sold it to the Dobsonian Institute.
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Post Stafford Classics
Funnily enough I can tie in the John Edwards version of The Look On Your Face to a cinema visit in the 80s. I bought mint Bell issues of both John Edwards and Bobby Reed from Ian Clark's sales box in Rocks Off, Hanway Street on a Friday afternoon and then went to see the first day screening of Heathers at The Screen On Baker Street that evening. Bobby Reed was £30 and John Edwards £20. I had heard the topside of Bobby Reed in a club (honestly can't remember where), but was only convinced to buy it when I played the flip, If I Don't Love You in the shop. The John Edwards was a blind buy, but I loved his Aware album so took a punt. I can clearly recall looking at the records in the cinema and not being able to wait to get home to play them. Happy days.
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Post Stafford Classics
I'm sure someone will have a more complete recollection of the chronology of The Prophets, but the version on the Horace's Capitol Soul anthology predates the discovery of the released version, which only existed as hearsay at the time. It was this version, or a very similar cut which Butch had played for some eighteen months or so before the release of the album. The actual 45 was rumoured to exist but an actual playable copy didn't emerge until some years later. The released version, while good, doesn't have the same magic as the 'tape version'. I call it a tape version because I don't know whether this would have existed on a contemporary (i.e. 1960s) acetate or whether it came from Eddie Singleton's actual masters. Perhaps Ady can tell us the full story.
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Post Stafford Classics
Reding through all the posts the three which stand out as cast-iron, would have been absolute nailed-on-monsters at any of the great venues of the past are: Jesse James Love Is Alright Carla Thomas I'll Never Stop Loving You The Prophets If I Had One Gold Piece (unissued version)
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Post Stafford Classics
Has anyone mentioned Tolbert yet?
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Post Stafford Classics
Pat certainly had it at Stafford and played Life Of Tears. Came from Levine's collection, I am led to believe.
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Post Stafford Classics
Little Dooley was played at The Mecca and other venues.
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Post Stafford Classics
Very Northern in a classic way. Wouldn't have sounded out of place at the great venues of the past.
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Post Stafford Classics
A rundown of Rock City classics wouldn't go amiss. Remember Bill "Space Lady" causing quite a stir for a few weeks.
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Post Stafford Classics
Fluorescent Smogg must count as post-Stafford in terms of weight of plays. Lots of great records mentioned so far.
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Post Stafford Classics
The Chesterfields.
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Post Stafford Classics
Musn't forget Eddie Holland's beautiful Daydreamer acetate, courtesy of Ady Croasdell. A record I remember from a similar timeframe is Butch playing The Prophets One Gold Piece. Both these records and scores more would have been monsters anywhere at any time.
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Post Stafford Classics
Sam definitely played the Patterson Twins at Stafford (maybe from the LP), although it would have gone on to greater popularity a bit later down the line.
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Post Stafford Classics
A one-time Ian Levine Mecca spin, I believe.