macca

I felt like doing that (the record up his posterior option). Think I'll just withhold feedback, assuming my Dad eventually receives the record. Not going to get into any kind of spat that might jeopardise my own feedback rating. Ain't worth it. He hasn't left any feedback for me yet.

Just after Christmas I bought a 45 off a UK dealer and at the point of sale he advised me that it had to go international signed for, given the continental destination. The record cost me ten pounds and I would have been happy with standard airmail. I agreed, reluctantly, to the 9.00 pound shipping charge rather that get into a pointless argument with the chap. Two weeks pass by and no sign of record. It turns out that it went to Uruguay (I live on Uruguay Ave!) instead of Spain. After Uruguay it made its way across the Pacific via Hong Kong and arrived back in the UK this week. The dealer tells me he wants another 9 quid to re-ship it. He also gave me the option a 2.50 to a UK address, 4.00 quid unsigned for (not recommendable he said, though I've never had a record go missing), or a refund of 9.99. I chose the ship to a UK address option so my Dad can forward it to me. Had I been the dealer, I'd have absorbed the cost of sending it again (4 quid) just to preserve goodwill, though I recognise that he's not to blame and will more than likely make a claim against the Royal Mail to recover his initial costs. It's left a rather bad taste in my mouth. Am I being too sensitive here? :-)

Not really mate. When I came on board in 1974 in the wake of calamities like Wigan's Chosen Few, there were plenty of people 5 to 10 years older than me who were either leaving in disgust or were just hanging on until the "great rift" of 76-77 kind of forced them out. Those people are in their early 60s now. Everyone is a world unto himself, so though my record buying has slowed down at times it has also picked up from time to time, in an almost cyclical manner. If you're going to pay sky-high prices it's probably because you're after a certain sort of record but there are 1000s upon 1000s of sounds out there going cheap that can certainly satisfy my needs. It also depends how wide you cast your Soul net. Since hearing a deep soul ballads/midtempo set at a weekender lunchtime session over here (Areta Bilbao!!), I began to seek out that sort of stuff. Who knows, you might find yourself bitten by the bug again in years to come. From a personal point of view I know I'll still be acquiring vinyl in another ten, probably... if I'm still about. ;-)

I reckon international collectors, particularly Europeans, will be keen to snap them up. A lot these guys were in their mid to late teens in the mid to late 80s and have been paying their dues ever since. I know when I was 35-40 I was still avidly collecting so I don't see these guys as any different. If you're still collecting in your early 40s you'll still be doing it at 50-60 and beyond if the passion's still there. What happens to the nighter, soul night thing in the UK is another question.

I don't think I've ever had more than 400-500 singles at any one time, and I've had four collections, practically one for every decade. As I'm buying stuff most weeks, I'm playing stuff every other day, discovering B sides and getting pleasant surprises, especially on the Deep side of things. Immense enjoyment. My second collection was the "tastiest", put together in the late 80s when I fixed a ton limit on a given 45. As we all know, this sort of money could get you some really tasty stuff in the late 80s, and some records like James Fountain were picked up really cheap. People are talking 10,000 45s, but some folk on here are in the 35,000 plus league. I'd love to have a gander at something like that. I say, would you like to join me in the 'media room'. I'd love to be able to say that.

I remember this being played by a newies (funk-disco) dj one night around 1977. He was getting flak from the NS/oldies crowd so he he hit them with "The Snake", after some derisory comments over the mic about neanderthals. He obviously intended it as a calculated insult but it struck me as rather strange at the time that he was actually carrying it in his box. Never keen on the record, and I like Maxine Nightingale even less... Strangely enough, the family weddings I attended whilst living in the UK were always plagued with Beverly Ann 'He's Coming Home', The Javells 'Goodbye Nothing To Say' and Muriel Day 'Nine Times Out Of Ten'. Not sure if I prefer Al Wilson, Maxine Nightingale and Chuck Wood.

U2 filmed him for Rattle & Hum.

I agree with you, a great record, but it was a big chart hit which they even performed live on prime time TV in the US at the time of its release. My point was that that NS venues at the time, especially Wigan, were not usually given to playing stuff like that for being considered too commercial and in conflict with the rare and obscure ethos of the scene. The oldies allnighters that started up around 76 (?) undermined that, I think. Otherwise we definitely wouldn't have heard Sam Cooke's Another Saturday Night or even Nowhere To Run by Martha & The Vandellas at an all-nighter.

I just remember oldies being used to describe records from another era, recent or distant, as opposed to newies, whether 60s discoveries or out and out funk/disco releases around 75/76. There's a tape of Sam at St.Ives on Youtube, 1977, where he introduces Rosemary What Happened as a requested 'oldie'. I wouldn't attribute it to Wigan promoting itself...

I had thought of betty fikes, but it never has been a played out oldie so I'll have to get me thinkin' cap on again...

Maybe it was that bit about "I sit and wonder/but I don't understand/ why folks won't reach out/ and give a poor boy a helping hand"... then he hits us with his having the answer, that we must love one another, not like a sweetheart, but like a brother, Americans living out the true meaning of their creed etc... I get to do some serious equating at times.Even surprise meself. I've heard that PJ Proby version too and quite like it.

I can't see why someone would pooh-pooh (general melchett voice) the idle few. The song is epic. The lyrics speak volumes too, probably released around 68 while the ghettoes were aflame. and the vocal is black to my ears. Knocking a record like that is plain daft. they ought to have a word with themselves.

Definitely an oldies allnighter. Seems strange, looking back, to see how 'commercial' tunes like Dance To The Music and Uptight were being lapped up. My Weakness Is You sounds bloody good though. :-)

Ian Levine's team filmed him for The Strange World of Northern Soul and Strange Change from those sessions is on Youtube.

100% agree with Dave on HTG. It was one of those sounds I'd make a B-line for the dancefloor for. Strange Change had a massive impact on me when I first heard it around 1977-8. There's been so very few of those down years... RIP Herb.

So, we can take it as 'gospel' now that all Arctic releases featuring black lettering are reissues/boots?

Polk Salad Annie by TJW was big in the early 80s. I saw them frug to it like lemmings at Leicester Oddfellows around 1984.

Good call!

S'truth. And Clayton wasn't aware of its dodgy provenance when he acquired the record then, Mick? That copy should surely have been rightfully returned to you. Things you hear.

I think it's fair to say that they're (the Larry Santos 45s) sitting in hundreds of collections across the country, like so many of these 'bonafide' classics. If those copies began to circulate again, the price tag would have to come down, surely? Someone recently told me Willie & The Mighty Magnificents 'Funky Eight Corners' had doubled its value in the last year or two because it had been 'activated' by Soul Sam and was now more sought after than it had been previously. So what cost 30-40 before is now costing 60-80, if one wants to pay that, of course. Supply + demand = capitalism etc...

How did we get from splits, backdrops and highkicks to dubes and chewing gum under tables. SS never ceases to amaze!

I can think of far worse records in the 'played and accepted' category you mention, Nick. I wouldn't say it's devoid of Soul either. The band behind him sounds like any Detroit inspired outfit from the period to me. His vocal isn't exactly R&R either, in my opinion. In fact I can hear "Whole Lot A Shakin' In My Heart" in the overall sound of the record. Funny how we can all perceive these records differently, isn't it? Devoid of Soul is Lou Roberts or Trade Martin. ;-)

Richard Temple was played first at the Cats, I think. How fitting...

Bobby Paris was in a really bad way when they found him for TSWONS, poor bugger. I wonder what he was like in his prime though. Can't deny that his records have been huge on the scene, going right back to the early era. PER-SO-NA_LLY used get my teenage feet going though, and of course we're told by the old sages that that was no need for a shit filter at Hose Street, unlike that dump in Station Road. What street was the Cats based in?

It's funny you should say that. I was blissfully happy in my first relationship when these records were big, so the records don't remind me of anything horrible in that sense. I seem to remember this mid to late1978 period as a period of change in the scene I was familiar with - a new dance style, new shoes (polyveldts), all the british label blue eyed soul productions being played by keith minshull and nev wherry, and worst of all, a lot of people 'experimenting' with barbiturates. 1975-77 were wonderful (to me) in comparison. :-)