Dayo

ALONE AGAIN OR= ONE OF THE GREATEST POP RECORDS EVER MADE (if not THE greatest!) Thanks for the news Ady, I'd missed that.

We've seen so many negative posts lately, let's try and lighten the mood... Anyone on the scene knows how generous soul music lovers can be. Back in 1970, I showed a vague interest in soul music. My brother in law was a local DJ and he fanned my flame by giving me a box of maybe 150 singles. Free. Lots of Tamla, Stax and Atlantic. Sure, some of them were knackered, some were crap, but his warm generosity kicked off a lifelong love affair with the music of Black America. Yes, there are some shady characters and more than a selfish few on the scene, but I reckon everyone on here has got a tale to tell regarding the kindness of Soulies.

I've never seen a Regal Zonophone demo of any description! Nice one!

DelTee asked what compression was. I'll try and make it simple. Many people think of compression when they convert a wav file to an mp3, you compress it to a smaller more manageable sized file. When sound engineers talk about compresion they mean something else entirely. A compressor or limiter in the studio refers to a box of tricks (or software these days) that acts as an automatic volume leveller. There is only so much volume you can record onto any medium before you run out of headroom and get distortion - a ceiling if you like. What a compressor does is looks at the peaks or spikes in volume and squashes them down lower. After that's done, you can turn the whole thing up and it sounds louder. In other words, there is now less difference in volume between the loudest parts and the softest parts. Individual instruments like a bass guitar, or vocal, can be compressed, and so can complete mixes. The result is a louder, punchier performance under the same ceiling. This is one reason why your favourite records never sound quite the same on the radio as they do at home. Radio stations all employ massive compression in the signal path to reduce the dynamic range of their output and make them sound loud on the dial. I'll try and show you what I mean. I'm posting two soundfiles. It's the same track by the Fascinations. It's come from the master tape and I'd bet a pound to a penny this version (take8) was never mastered or compressed. It's great but sounds kinda loose. I've taken the same track and compressed it, admitedly in a rather crude way, but trying to emulate analogue compressors of 60's. The compressed one sounds louder - right? And tighter, and perhaps more punchy? Have I just turned up the volume? No. It's the compressor that's squashed the louder bits, allowing me to turn the gain on the whole thing up. A touch of plate reverb and it'd be ready to cut to disc. Hope that all makes sense! Fascinations_NOT_compressed.mp3 Fascinations_with_compression.mp3

I'll try a little experiment with compression and post a couple of soundfiles - maybe later today if I get time.

Fab!

Great idea. Probably somewhere in between, but yes, that's how it was done. Sounds more like a real human at any rate! Thanks for that

My two cents; I wonder what Dave Godin would have made of all this...

I first saw him in 72 or 73 at a Top Rank Hanley all-dayer. Duke Browner, Bob Relf, Clara Ward etc. It's his longevity that sets him apart isn't it?

Class from the first note to the last. My fave JW song too! Col

The guy has a deep voice, whoever he is, but it's not THAT deep! No-one is. Have a careful listen and you can hear that the vocal was slowed mechanically. In other words, you record the track, play it back at a slightly faster speed to record the vocals, then you master the disc at the correct tempo and the voice is magicly deeper. It was a common technique in the 60's, but usually employed in reverse, that is the vocal was recorded at a slower tempo and key, then speeded back up to the correct pitch. It was an analogue form of pitch shifting if you like. Never forget hearing that one on the great sound system at Blackpool Mecca. And it's right, you can't get more Northern. Now pass me a bottle of coke... PS Once called my girlfriend a "fine foxy thing". She's still laughing now!

Did anyone spot John Farrell at the record bar!?

I never listened closely to the so called Soul Fox Strings things - and I don't own any of them - but I'd always assumed they were synth strings or Mellotron. The strings on this one sound like real playing to my ears. Perhaps just one player double tracked.

If you're talking about the intro, it's a standard blues progresion used on countless songs. One that springs to mind for me is the Newbeats, Bread and Butter.

Fab Pete. I love the commentary - so twee.

Fab!

Brill - thanks Pete!

Wow - thanks Pete! I never thought I'd see a vid of the COD's. One of the first soul records I ever heard - cheesey, charming and lovely to get on a Stateside demo (never seen one!) Colin

That's what I always thought. Wheel monster, but it has dated hasn't it?

EXACTLY! Motown arrangers would never have used brass in that way on a vocal track. Brass occupying the same kind of frequency range as the human voice, Motown tended to use large brass sections as punctuating stabs and fills. In the case of six by six, the brass section takes the lead melody. In other words, it's way to brassy to ever have a successful vocal on it. All for you was a different kind of arrangement with more "space" for vocals

Both solid gold Northern classics. You gotta be a dancer to feel it maybe!

I wouldn't doubt the credentials of the Magicians for a second. It just sounds "right". Be great to hear the story though. One of the most exciting new finds in recent years, from what I've heard.

Brilliant and one of my faves too.

Of course ska, rock steady and reggae shows good taste! I was a first generation skinhead and, as far as I remember, music was a small part of the lifestyle compared to causing random mayhem. Most of the skins up here were brainless, racist, petty thugs. The media loves to portray late 60's skins as music lovin' trendsetters. It's a great story but in my experience, it just wasn't true. The kids I knew may have bought the odd Tighten Up collection, but I never knew a single serious devotee or collector. Of course, it may have been diffrent elsewhere...

Well, I guess it's ok to tell the story now. It was 1981. I was playing funk and disco in a club in Luxembourg on a two month contract. It was a hangout for some of the 208 staff and DJ's. I was friendly with another English jock out there who was working part time at the 208 record library helping them to catalogue stuff. It didn't take too much pestering before I got an invite to go and have a mooch. It was the most awesome collection of vinyl that you've ever seen. And on the far wall a few boxes of "rubbish 60's flops we're sending to a local fair" (Luxy equivilant of a jumble sale). Would I like to look and see if there was anything I wanted? Gulp.