Derek Pearson

Time to get the dog another box of Bonios All vinyl & label conditions: Excellent TIMOTHY WILSON (Veep) WDJ “Hey girl, Do you love me” £130 ON HOLD J.B. BINGHAM (United Artists) DJ “All alone by the telephone” £100 ON HOLD MARKE JACKSON (Jamie) “I’ll never forget you” £30 ON HOLD SHARON SOUL (Wild Deuce) “How can I get to you” £40 Reduced to £30 WILSON PICKETT (Verve) “Let me be your boy” £75 Reduced to £60 MARSHA & DELWANDS (Zudan) “No hope, no faith” £40 ON HOLD SEAN TAYLOR (Magic Touch) DJ “Too late to turn back now” £25 Reduced to £20 THE DUPREES (UK Polydor) large centre hole “Check yourself” VG++ £20 Reduced to £15 Payment by Bank Transfer, Paypal (gift/friends preferred if comfortable with it and you trust/know me) otherwise I’ll pay the fees. Postage & Packing included in the price. Item will be sent well packed. UK: Royal Mail Recorded or Special Delivery (TW & JBB) Outside UK: Airmail or International Signed For (TW & JBB) PM to reserve, discuss etc. Derek

Hey up Harry how's it going? Whilst my solicitor would advise me not to say for certain that the scan you posted is the same record scan I saw at the weekend. It does look very much like it as far as I recall. Bear in mind though I didn't have mi glasses on and it was drizzling slightly and I was stood in the middle of a field. So what's the score with this one then? Derek For those with eagle eyes there is a slight clue on the scan indicating where this 45 now resides. Subtle nice one Harry.

This has probably been a red hot topic early in the year but I must've been asleep or on a very long walk with our Spanker or summat.? And no yawning at the back from Purists Anonymous but word on the street or should I say on the beach ho ho ho is that a legit one off studio test press of Frank's "Do I love you" has just surfaced in a land far far away. Have I made a tit of myself, has somebody been pulling my chain, open the door and DP walked right on in. Apols if...... oh what's that expression about cat's and bag's? First it was Darrell Banks's heart stopping black issue on UK London and now this. Derek And I've seen a photo of said TP so there.

Gotta agree Ivor as a soul record that's an absolute joy to dance to it doesn't get much better than this. Even after probably hearing it played out at least once a month somewhere for the last 30 odd years it still that special X factor that still makes me wanna shimmy my old bones about. Now I don't know if I've read it somewhere or been told it by people I trust that the Impel 45 is a slightly different take/mix that the one on Seventy Seven? What say you? Derek

Situations like this leave me puzzled - apart from the fact that it looks like straight fraud how on earth does the seller think he can do this with absolutely no comeback? Do they think or hope the buyer can't be bothered with more stress and just write it off? Or maybe they don't even see the problem? ie. What's the big deal she wanted Jerry Williams and she got Jerry Williams. I sometimes sound a bit naive as though why would anybody do stuff like this? But why waste time trying to figure out why other people do daft stuff? I'm still amazed at the way some people operate and guess I always will. Derek

I'm glad you mentioned this as every now and then I puzzle over this situation then forget it before I have time to start a thread..... As long as I can remember the centres that come with the Technics 1200 turntables have always been slightly over sized but why and for what reason. Surely over the years people must've flagged this up many times with Technics but nothing seems to have ever changed. Confused and slightly under sized of Bradford. Derek

Derek Pearson saying it for soul all eras all styles all over the place Saturday 30th August 2014 21.00-22.00pm. Bradford Community Based Radio BCB 106.6FM 60 minutes of the good groove awaits so buckle up an’ fasten your safety belts. You know it makes sense. Tonights show features records I haven't played for ages either at home, out DJing or on t' radio; to be honest I'd forgotten how some of them went, but as soon as I heard them I realised straight away why I'd bought them in the first place. As you'd expect and as per usual we continue saying it for soul and carry on regardless by playing a weird and wonderful selection of them old soul 45s. If you would like to hear the show live there’s 2 ways to go about it — if you live within say 10 miles of the BD1 based studio tune your radio to the 106.6 frequency on your FM dial and you should be able to get it. Failing that go through the wonders of the World Wide Web on www.bcbradio.co.uk and hear it streamed live out of your PC. Derek playlists to be added asap

Hey up Eddie - how's it going long time no see. Got a copy of your wanted 45 but not for sale sorry. All I can add is a publicity photo from 1963 of said chappie. Derek Anybody seen any Sublime demo's of this 45? Do they exist? Years ago when I used to knock out a tape a week always followed Bobby Sansom with William Hunt "Would you believe" (Streamside). Always thought they blended well together.....

Derek Pearson & special guest Phil Dick saying it for soul all eras all styles all over the place Saturday 16th August 2014 21.00-22.00pm. Bradford Community Based Radio BCB 106.6FM 60 minutes of the good groove awaits so buckle up an’ fasten your safety belts. You know it makes sense. Tonights guest Phil pulls some real heavyweight tunes out of his box and I try compete with stuff I've found under mi bed. As you'd expect and as per usual we continue saying it for soul and carry on regardless by playing a weird and wonderful selection of them old soul 45s. If you would like to hear the show live there’s 2 ways to go about it — if you live within say 10 miles of the BD1 based studio tune your radio to the 106.6 frequency on your FM dial and you should be able to get it. Failing that go through the wonders of the World Wide Web on www.bcbradio.co.uk and hear it streamed live out of your PC. Derek playlists to be added asap

Hells Bells Pete that's horrendous at say the least. I can't tell you how excessively livid I'd be if that happened to me. I'd have probably stomped up to my local Post Office and dragged some poor innocent over the counter. More than likely I'd have been on a murder charge by now. Having said that overall I think our Royal Mail is pretty damn good compare it to the problems when posting to other countries like Italy, Russia etc. I've never had anything go astray to either of these countries though it appears many do. More than likely due to the fact I only send a couple of items per year to these places. In 30+ years I can probably count the number of records lost in the post on one hand but I'm no big mailer. Guess it's a bit of a numbers game percentage wise the professional big boys mail out tons of records so consequently they'll unfortunately have more incidents of stuff going missing. Remember talking to a bloke once who was a one man business and he told me at his peak he was mailing out 30 records a day. I was amazed, shocked and gasped out aloud. When I was on a lot of mailing lists many years ago stuff was dropping through the door on virtually a daily basis and one bit of major slackness by our Postal service sticks distinctly in my mind. I'd be sent a promo of that "Trippin on your love" compilation album, the one that features the awesome Staple Singers album cut of the same name. Anyway think it was a Tuesday night, pretty late and I'd scuttled outside to bring my washing in as it was starting to rain. Luckily I like carrots and even in the dark I can spot a record mailer even at distance when I see one. It was tucked away on the floor under a bush in the corner of my small but compact garden. Said mailer was soaking wet through as it had been raining on and off for the last couple of days and I could just make out Saturday's date scribbled on the front. I could feel my anger rising as I started opening the package and when I saw the album that was it the fire alarm went off in mi head. Everything was soaked right through the vinyl dried off no problem but the outer sleeve suffered really badly. Still got the album somewhere upstairs. Bear in mind that album was a freebie and when I was younger I had a much more of a flashpoint temper so it probably worked out best for me that I didn't see my postie for several days after - by then I was Mister Calm, Cool and Collected. I said nothing as you'll never know who delivered it and for whatever reason didn't knock on the door or put a card through the letterbox. They probably thought they were being helpful by leaving it propped up against the front door but the wind and rain had other ideas. Derek And don't get me started on what is still a major red rag to me - items that are sent recorded or whatever and just get simply pushed through the letterbox.

Almost certainly a soul pack record from times gone by and loved by me from the very first time I heard it. It swings down low and its got such a sultry feel to it. Over the years it's been an absolutely massive floor filler in my front room (I still get loads of requests for it) though sadly my testicles aren't big enough yet to play it out - even though I keep wanting to and meaning to - probably remembering to put it in my play box at some stage might be a good first move.... Remember once getting slightly excited when reading about people praising this release but was horrified to discover they were going on about the flip "Last night changed it all" which is proper ballbag but hey ho what do I know? Derek

Damn you Smith - that's another hour burnt off when I'm up to mi knackers in jobs to do. Great site but please don't do anymore updates. Derek x

Let's be honest about this - there's absolutely no way any programme shown on television about northern soul could ever, ever, ever receive universal approval from a forum such as this which is stacked wall to wall full of hardcore, passionate, obsessives. Myself included. I enjoyed it. Besides it was worth it on its own just to see and hear Dave Clegg talking with his best Sunday voice on. Derek

I've never been the quickest of typists........playlist not in any particular order. The North Yorkshire Rare Soul Revue @ Coach & Horses; Tadcaster (Saturday 14th June 2014) Ivy Jo “I can feel the pain” (VIP) Nat Hall “Why” (Loop) Robert Thomas “Salvation” (Charay) Kelly Brothers “My crying days are over” (Sims) J.J. Barnes “Baby please come home” (UK Contempo) Four Shades “My world” (Ronn) Dramatics “Your love was strange” (Volt) Jacqueline Jones “A frown on your face” (Loadstone) Scotty Williams “Fear” (Mona Lee) Buddy Conner “When you’re alone” (Breakthrough) Martha Reeves “I gotta let you go” (UK TMG) Jimmy Hughes “It ain’t what you got” (Atlantic) Clarence Hill “A whole lotta loving” (Mainstream) Keni Lewis “What’s her name” (Buddah) John Stanberry “I can’t believe” (Stan-Los) Lee Williams “Girl from a country town” (Rapda) Towana & Total Destruction “Help me get this feeling back again” (Romark) The James Boys “The Horse” (Phil-La-Soul) Emanuel Laskey “Run for my life” (Thelma) Luther Ingram “Run for your life” Eugene Gaspard “Holding On” (Rosemount) The Fantastics “Where there’s a will” (Impressario) 100% Pure Poison “You keep coming back” (UK EMI) Lorraine Rudolph “Keep coming back for more” (Jetstream) Rozetta Johnson “Mine was real” (Clintone) Corey Blake “How can I go on” (Capitol) Derek

Derek Pearson & special guest DJ Gibby from Halifax saying it for soul all eras all styles Saturday 19th July 2014 21.00-22.00pm. Bradford Community Based Radio BCB 106.6FM 60 minutes of the good groove awaits so buckle up an’ fasten your safety belts. Guest DJ Gibby from Halifax basks in the warmth of studio 3, plays some interesting tunes and saves the day with his technical knowledge and big hammer. Ably assisted on mic 3 by Theresa. As you'd expect and as per usual we continue saying it for soul and carry on regardless by playing a weird and wonderful selection of them old soul 45s. If you would like to hear the show live there’s 2 ways to go about it — if you live within say 10 miles of the BD1 based studio tune your radio to the 106.6 frequency on your FM dial and you should be able to get it. Failing that go through the wonders of the World Wide Web on www.bcbradio.co.uk and hear it streamed live out of your PC. Derek playlists to be added asap When we 'ad to share headphones.....

And I'd never heard of this version until last year

The Moovers "One little dance" (which first came out on Brent as far as I recall) dunt do owt for me, makes me wanna go to the bar. However it's the flip "Someone to fulfil my needs" which ticks all my boxes. Mean, moody and rather magnificent. And this is for you Frank.... Helen Smith album ouch!

Just stumbled across this article on the Vinyl Factory website and thought those with an interest in Reggae 7"s might find it interesting reading. Have copied the introduction as a taster and the link to find out what David Katz rates as the 20 best is at the bottom of the page. Derek With the Notting Hill Carnival just around the corner, we’re rewinding a decade to bring you David Katz’s timeless and authoritative collection of the 20 best reggae 7"³s ever made. First published in FACT in 2003, esteemed reggae fan, writer and all-round fountain of knowledge David Katz celebrates the enduring legacy of reggae’s favourite format, the 7"³ single. Words: David Katz The Jamaican music industry is now roughly 50 years old [read: 60 years old] and the seven-inch single is still its main focus. Most contemporary artists activate their careers with 45s and it is that format, more than vinyl albums and certainly more than CDs, that give them continued momentum in a notoriously fickle marketplace. As Jamaica now presses more 45s than anywhere else in the world, understanding the seven-inch is mandatory to comprehending reggae’s complex progression. In the early 1950’s, Jamaican entrepreneurs began issuing 78s; the style was the indigenous folk form called mento, and such releases were aimed at visiting tourists or shipped abroad to compete with calypso. A cultural revolution arrived when downtown Kingston sound system operators began pressing 45s of local talent adapting American rhythm and blues. Many early labels drew from the imagery of their American counterparts, but as ska rose to the fore as a thoroughly home-grown form, the label artwork gradually became more individual. Meanwhile, Jamaican expatriates started issuing 45s on small UK independents, typically featuring graphics-free logos. Though the quality of foreign pressing was typically better, some were actually mastered from Jamaican 45s and many were totally unauthorized. Back home, African imagery appeared on some labels in the rock steady era; it became more commonplace once reggae emerged in the late ‘60s, when businesslike reggae labels were also established in New York and Toronto. Unfortunately, the quality of Jamaican vinyl was affected by the oil crisis of the 1970s, resulting in a general decline; the few seven-inch singles cut at 33rpm mid-decade suffered from poor fidelity, while the subsequent ten and twelve-inch extended singles lost popularity in the early 1980s. A rugged, durable look then appeared on singles as dancehall began to assert itself; then, once digital music took over, many Jamaican label logos became more streamlined and less artistic, though some continued to thrive on cartoon imagery and obscure jokes. These days, most label artwork is fairly straightforward and the vinyl in question varies in quality, but whatever form it takes, the seven-inch single is definitely still the centre of the reggae world. Collecting These days original vintage reggae vinyl can cost a real packet, with a copy of the ultra-scarce “Selassie Is The Chapel” by Bob Marley recently changing hands for a couple of grand. Gone are the days when reggae seven-inch was a dime a dozen at the Notting Hill Record and Tape Exchange bargain basement, but sometimes jumble sales and car boot fairs can still turn up the odd delight (such as the copy of a highly prized “Lambs Bread Collie” by Light of Saba that I bought for 50 cents on the street of a US city a few years back). The sad truth is that record dealers from the UK, US, Canada, Japan and Switzerland have plundered the most obvious sources in Jamaica, with even ex-jukebox stock now being scarce, but those in the know will regularly scour international mail-order lists. Unfortunately, All Tone Records, formerly run by Alton Ellis’ son, has just been impounded by the ugly capitalists that want to ruin Brixton Market by making it ‘Brixton Village’, but if you’re only just starting out as a reggae collector, a good place to find original seven-inch is Reggae Revive on Chamberlayne Road in Kensal Green; for general reissues and further information, try Dub Vendor in Battersea and on Ladbroke Grove. (Note: Reggae Revive is now gone and Brixton Market has been irredeemably transformed into Brixton Village. While Dub Vendor no longer has stores in Battersea or Ladbroke Grove, it does now operate out of BM Music in Soho and runs a mail order service from its website. For reggae in the Notting Hill area, try People’s Sound.) https://www.thevinylfactory.com/vinyl-factory-releases/from-the-vaults-the-20-best-reggae-7s-ever-made/

Thanks for everybodies input. Here's the transcript of the full article: THE MARVELETTES-MOTOWN 78 RPM DISCOVERED By Angelo Alexander Once about 5 years ago when I was again gazing at one of The Beatles 78 rpm images, a musical revelation hit me with full force, a theory: if The Beatles had 78s during this period in the Philippines and India, would there not be other "late 78s" by important, chart-making rock and roll/soul artists during The Fab Four's hit making era? I began to think of what other groups were doing battle with The Beatles on the pop charts during the early to middle 60's. I made a list, which included several Motown artists, including The Supremes, Mary Wells, The Miracles, and the group that gave Motown their first #1 single, The Marvelettes. The Beatles had recorded Motown songs like The Miracles' "You've Really Got A Hold On Me," while Motown artists had recorded Beatles's material, including the album "A Bit of Liverpool" by The Supremes (released in the UK under the title "From Us With Love"). I came to the strong conclusion that Motown 78s---post 1960 era--had to exist. However, in over 35 years of collecting records, including everything I could on the various Motown labels, I had never seen anything remotely connected to a Motown 78, other than the immortal 1960 pre-Motown single "Money, That's What I Want" by Barrett Strong on the Anna label, manufactured and distributed by Chess Records. This rare 78 is believed to be one of the very last 78 pressings in the U.S. The record was later issued on Motown's Tamla label. And, of course, everyone knows The Beatles covered this Motown song, too. I did find a copy of The Miracles-"Got A Job" on End Records from the late 50's; this was a pre-Motown production, the "answer record" to the Silhouettes hit "Get A Job" on Ember Records. (Interesting to note that The Miracles-"Got A Job" sparked indie rival Roulette Records to release an "answer record" of their own with the 78 and 45 rpm issue of "Found A Job" by The Heartbeats). However, as Motown was not officially set up as an official label at the time, I am discounted both the Strong/Anna and Miracles/End 78s as being authentic Motown 78s. (Sorry, Berry; sorry, Smokey) I had put out my feelers to different international collectors and sellers. Just this month, my wildest dream came true: I have found a true Motown 78---a 1963-1964 release---issued by Dyna Products in the Philippines on Tamla Records (see image attached) While I had previously found 2 other Marvelettes 78s of "(The Mashed Potato) Playboy" issued in the Philippines on the generic, white label Grand Records and Hi-Fi Records, it is this Tamla/Dyna 78 of The Marvelettes' "Way Over There" (featured on the film soundtrack "Nothin' But A Man" and originally recorded by label mates The Miracles) that finally proved my theory of the existence of Motown 78s. According to the single master number of #9016, there is the possibility that up to 16 Motown 78s were issued by Dyna in the early to late 60's. (Note: this theory has proven true for the Philippine 78 issues of both Cameo and Parkway singles, which not only copies the American label copy but also listed the full album catalogue number the 78 single was taken from; in the case of the Cameo label alone, there were about 50-70 78rpm singles reportedly pressed in the Philippines by Dyna Products). Notice the positioning of the Dyna logo on the left and the Tamla logo on the right. If this arrangement, with the black background on top and bottom for song title and artist name on the bottom looks familiar to you, it should be: Dyna copied this logo arrangement from the American Decca Records and Decca's label subsidiary Coral Records, also from the early to middle 60's. In closing with The Beatles vs. Motown 78s, It is ironic though that while The Beatles had several hits with Motown songs, no Motown artists ever had a hit by recording any Beatles songs. Angelo Alexander © 2005 Angelo Alexander

Did Motown ever release any 78rpm's? I must admit it's not a question I've ever asked myself - never even thought about it to be honest. Stumbled upon this interesting snippet yesterday and whilst it's not in the jaw dropping league of the recent Darrell Banks find, for Motown completists it's something else to chase. Derek THE MARVELETTES-MOTOWN 78 RPM DISCOVERED By Angelo Alexander https://www.recordcollectorsguild.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=54&page=1

Derek Pearson & special guest Craig Butler saying it for soul all eras all styles Saturday 5th July 2014 21.00-22.00pm. Bradford Community Based Radio BCB 106.6FM 60 minutes of the good groove awaits so buckle up an’ fasten your safety belts. Tonights special guest is long time collector and old buddy of mine Craig "He's bad" Butler. As expected and as per usual we continue saying it for soul and carry on regardless by playing a weird and wonderful selection of them old soul 45s. If you would like to hear the show live there’s 2 ways to go about it — if you live within say 10 miles of the BD1 based studio tune your radio to the 106.6 frequency on your FM dial and you should be able to get it. Failing that go through the wonders of the World Wide Web on www.bcbradio.co.uk and hear it streamed live out of your PC. Derek playlists to be added asap

On mi travels in the last 5 years or so I've met a couple of record hounds that don't collect soul per say, but they know that northern is very collectable and worth a bit, so whilst they're digging for their vinyl of choice they pick up anything that looks interesting to trade or sell on for stuff they collect. The people I'm thinking of collect Punk, Funk and Reggae 45s. Derek

A quick check on Popsike throws up 2 sales in 2012 (£540 & £420) and none after that. Derek

We walked back down the main corridor and he shows me into a room nearest to the main staircase leading up from the ground floor. A crumpled mattress blocks the doorway and as I bounce over it I realise I’m stood about 3-4 foot off the floor. I’m standing on a tangled jumble of boxes and bags with more boxes and bags of all shapes and sizes liberally garnished on top with a variety of discarded albums. As I’m surveying the scene trying to decide where to start I start to chuckle to myself as a snippet of a memory puts some weight on and sorta confirms my belief that virtually everything is connected somehow if you look for it and can see it - like we’re all living in or on some sort of giant spiders web. For the last few years I’d been buying some pretty neat vintage album boxes from this old bloke and knowing I was big into records he mentioned several times about this auction house that was stacked full of records - the whole length of the wall he said— unfortunately his details were pretty sketchy — “it was on the main road into Batley.....” I never followed it up as even Stevie Wonder could see that an auction house full of old records meant one thing — it’s stuff they couldn’t sell through their own auctions which they’d stockpiled up to the ceiling over the years. So refresh my memory Derek where exactly am I at the moment? Mmmm the clue is somewhere in Batley........ Negotiating around the room was tricky to say the least as every now and then my leg would suddenly plunge down a gap in the debris only stopping when my b*llocks hit summat solid. And whilst my silky footwork and delicate poise gained from decades of 5-a side kick and punch helped me stay upright most of the time it was the thick porridge like layer of dried on pigeon shit that I wasn’t too keen on. It looked like Kendall’s Mint Cake and cracked like a popadom when broke; but somehow didn’t quite smell the same. Not many people know that I’m actually part Yamaha Indian on my mothers side and my ancient tribal name is Eagle Eye Big Chopper. They didn’t honour me with that name for nothing as instinctively I took the layer of pigeon shit as a good sign that the records underneath hadn’t been disturbed for quite a long time. Sometimes the passage of time can deal you a good hand. What wasn’t wanted back then as copies were everywhere can slowly change into pretty collectable items as the numbers in circulation dry up. The gang of lads charged with stripping out all the rooms of waste stock floor to ceiling started in the rooms furthest away from me to give me as much time as possible. I frequently got the impression they thought I was just gonna walk in and scoop up each and every bit of vinyl I could see then bung them some cash which they’d duly split between themselves. Job done and thank you very much. As every hour went by all I could hear was constant loud crashing and banging as they threw everything they could lift down the length of the corridor to the stairs. Bit by bit they edged closer. One very simple tactic enabled them to move tons and tons of stuff pretty quickly. They just unravelled these massive yellow nylon builders bags which dwarfed those normal one tonne builders bags, then proceeded to lob in as much debris as possible before manhandling it down the corridor to the top of the stairs. It was hard to get some sort of rhythm and system going whilst sifting through the vinyl as my space to work was very limited and more and more precious time was spent just moving records around the room to create some vital air pocket to work in. Then I had my first bright idea of the day. If I had some of those big yellow bags I’d stick one in the corridor outside the record room door then bung in as quickly as I could all the vinyl that was not worth having. When the bag was nearly full the lads would simply drag it away. At first many of them would look into the bag and say “Are these all the ones you’re keeping?” “Nah they’re all the ones I’m dumping hahaha”. “These are the ones I’m keeping” said I pointing to a flimsy foot high pile of vinyl. Thinking I was so clever I made a suggestion that seemed to suit both sides. If I got every record I could carry for nothing I’d help him out by clear out the room as I went along, that would free up some of his lads to do other jobs. Boxes of records were loosely stacked — or maybe thrown — on top of other boxes of records mixed in with bags of old books and car manuals. Loose VHS tapes were scattered here there and everywhere. Add into the mix an assortment of old wooden tables and chairs which hid from view even more boxes and bags of stuff unknown. Nearly all the walls were covered with a patch work of old creaky bookcases and shelving which housed even more piles of vinyl and music related stuff. I worked steadily hour after hour as blatant vinyl lust tightened its grip on me. Finding records I wanted relied plain and simply on my own endeavours which does give you some sort of freedom but can snare you just as quick. At what point do you say stop if your strike rate just ain’t happening or tiredness and hunger saps your will to carry on? Being a self diagnosed obsessive has its benefits — once I’ve started I finish - I made hay while the sun shone and sweated away most of the day from 11am to when everybody stopped at six without any real breaks. As all the lads grouped outside for a bit to drink and eat I proposed another one of my bright ideas. How about they lock me in the building (on my own) so I could carry on looking for as long as possible before bad light stops play. They agreed and told me to leave via the external fire escape. I squeezed in another good 3 hours in until the pigeons fluttering about above my head started to un-nerve me somewhat. I’d given that record room a bloody good shot so I was happy to leave when I did. I reckon another good 10 hour stint would have seen me finish it. If rare records were leaping into my lap one after the other I would have gone back into the mill via the fire escape as first light broke the next day - that would given me about another 3 hours window before the big front doors were unlocked at eight. The gangs first job of the new day would be wiping out everything I’d left behind in the record room. And there’s no way I fancied watching that. So did I actually find much after all that effort? Well yes and no but it depends really on what you define as much? I wasn’t expecting to find any first press Rolling Stones or Beatles acetates and surely you didn’t think my happy ending would involve pulling out a boxful of Frank Wilsons did you? My 10 hours of effort yielded nearly 200 albums and twelve’s that I scuttled down the fire escape with in fading light one night in May. That's a strike rate of 20 an hour or finding summat every 3 minutes. Result wise rare soul was none existent; in fact most forms of black music were noted by their complete absence. Obscure Indie and Punk didn’t much show its face either. One solitary Millie Jackson live album and a couple of reggae twelve’s were the only bits that made the short journey home with me, the rest were mainly well known artists and overall nothing was worth more than 15-20 quid tops. I passed over on quite a lot of the more common pop stuff like Madonna and Leo Sayer as my house just ain't big enough anymore and was content to only pull stuff that was a shade more collectable and saleable. Was it worth the time and effort? Well the lads that got paid at the end of every day worked a tough 10 hour stretch for just £40 cash. And boy did they earn every penny. Let me put that into some sort of perspective — I did the same number of hours as them and even if I flogged all my spoils for say a minimum quid each I’d still be making 5 times what they’d be earning. When you ain’t got no money 200 quid is a lot. Knowledge is power (I so wish I'd have said that) Derek Oh and I’m still waiting for that Range Rover lady to ring......

Slightly puzzled as I didn't recognise her face I answered "Yes and Yes". She laughed. Then quickly followed it up with "You might remember I spoke to you sometime last year about my sister who lived in Hornsea who had a load of albums - Beatles and Stones and stuff - she wanted to get rid of. The only problem was the records were in Hornsea. But that's all changed as I've got them at my house now". Which was handy as she lived my side of town and only about 5 miles away to boot. As we talked this bloke aged about 30 appeared alongside me and eased his way into the conversation. It was done so effortlessly I just somehow assumed he knew this lady I was talking to. But he didn't. Eventually the Range Rover lady and I wrapped up our conversation with her promising to ring me later that evening with further details. So this bloke asks me "if I buy records" then proceeds to tell me they've bought an old mill which they're converting into flats however there's a room wall to wall full of old records that needs clearing out asap. He reckoned there was thousands of 'em maybe even 10 thou but they had to go within the next few days. How much did he want for 'em I asked? With a shrug of his shoulders "pence" he replied. I suddenly felt my hand got even stronger as I allowed myself just a tinge of excitement. He said he'd phone me later in the evening. Sure enough despite being a bloke he rang as promised and a meet was quickly arranged for 10am the next day in Batley outside Jessops Mill. That gave me enough time to do my own little search on the Mill via good old Google. Uncovered the Property Guide dated September 2013 from the company charged with selling it......"Accommodation split over 3 floors — formerly used as an Auction house / second hand dealer — the property is the subject of extensive storage and collections of waste stock, the seller do not intend clearing the property and it is sold as seen". Aah the muddy water started to run clear. Monday was forecast a warm day so armed with rubber gloves, a face mask and 2 litres of fresh orange juice I meets the guy as arranged. We walk up to a group of about 10 lads outside the mill and he introduces me to the man giving orders a big stocky muscular Asian lad about 30 ish. He gives the go ahead but we have to find another bloke first. We turn the corner and he introduces me to another big stocky muscular Asian lad about 30 ish. He says “yeah no problem” and we walk back up to the mill. As soon as I cross over the front step I’m standing on discarded records that litter the floor all over the place. My eyes light up the darkness. We march up the old staircase “careful to keep to the left side” he advises as the other side wobbles a bit. I think you mean the right hand side isn’t actually attached to anything and bounces up and down like a trampoline in the wind. Real men ha — we laugh in the face of Health & Safety. Yeah right. We walk down the corridor side stepping loose debris all the way to the end room (see picture 1). But the end room is bare, empty, stripped clean and I mean completely bare apart from the old carpet on the floor. No records no nuttin'. "Damn they must’ve tipped the whole lot yesterday" - the records covered the whole length of the wall he went onto explain. Oh well It was a sunny day and I hadn’t been to Batley in ages so nothing much was lost. As I gazed about the empty room trying to work out some rough measurements which would give a very rough guestimate of the number of records that went to the tip the day before my guide plays his master card — “hang on there’s another room full of records that have to go yet”. I like the sound of that indeed I do. we continue the search