Funky 4 Corners

My expression `at it` was not meant in anyway what so ever to denigrate Pete who kindly invited me to DJ on his opening night and also Phil and I to launch our book there. Pete has done a great service indeed to the current oldies scene and to keep that aspect of Soul and Manchester culture available. Must mention my first meeting with him however when he rode his Lambretta into the reception area of Jazz FM's posh building. He's a naughty boy.

From left to right - 1) Black Bombers (Durophet). 2) Eyes, Minstrels, Dominoes, Black & Whites (Durophet. 3) Snowies, Whites (Durophet). 4) Green 'n Browns (Durophet). 5) Red n' Browns (Durophet). 6) Dexies * rare in capsule form (Dexytal). 7) Green 'n Clears (Drinamyl). 8) Bluies (Drinamyl). 9) Purple Hearts (Drinamyl). 10) Dexies, Black n' Clears (Drinamyl). 11) Daps (Daprisal). 12) Dexies (Dexten). 13) Dexies (Dexadrine).

The Wheel advertised in national music papers, local papers, on fliers in M/c record shops and these small cards that were in the Club's coffee bar possibly every two - three months. Some members received mail shots but these were unusual, I think that the Abadi's knew it was ineffective as so many addresses were fictitious.

Ads in the Entertainment section of the Manchester Evening Chronicle for the old Wheel.

Girl standing outside the old Wheel, this was taken from a short Super 8 cine film that was shot there and the Blackpool Wheel.

This was issued to most cops in the West Riding Police, I knew a lad who worked in their print shop and so we used to use them to ID the gear.

The longer shot is from along Whitworth St showing the Black Cat cafe, which despite it's proximity and cool name didn't really figure in the scene. The Dolphin around the corner, up towards Piccadilly was probably the nearest Coffee Bar for Club goers. This is me outside of the Club in the early 90s. I went with Phil Scott in the hope of finding some of the old wheels that were reported to be still stashed in an upstairs room. It turned out that the Abadi's had removed them. I must say that going back in there after twenty years was a bit weird; it all seemed much smaller that I recalled but more nauseating was ( bearing in mind it was 9am Saturday and there had been an all-night Disco in there), the soles of my shoes sticking to the sp*unk that was everywhere on the floor and alcove benches that were screened off with see through gauze. In the main central arch where it says Follies, there used to be a long orange perspex sign, with wrought iron wheels and back-lit. The week after it closed I walked past and noticed it had been taken out and replaced in reverse. It didn't last two minutes as you might imagine - don't know if it was nicked or the Abadi's took it. To my knowledge I've never seen evidence of it since.

This is the back door where the all nigher crowd were sent out through, the stairs down led under the stage from the stage room. Gear would be secreted in matchboxes etc in cracks in the brickwork. The longer shot is from Minshull Street car park where lots of pre all nigher dealing would take place, the M/c drug squad would often lurk around here.

He was by all accounts quite influential as he got some big Jamaican Sound Systems to do gigs in his hometown of Snodland, in between Rochester and Maidstone which is about the size of a postage stamp.

OK, just got off the phone and the story is slightly different to what I recalled. Yes, Melodisc did give him a load 45s with a view to him either recording versions but also to compile LPs. These got sold while he was alive however, just before Melodisc asked for them back! My pal who DJed with him who I just rung said that Alex was not good at looking after records and would turn up at a gig with them in a plastic carrier bag and no sleeves and so when he did pass away a) prospective dealers soon lost interest when they heard the Blue Beat stuff was long gone and b) as the remaining stuff was by all accounts wrecked, they didn't pursue things any further.

In the mid 90s I spoke to a woman who went to the Left Wing Coffee bar when she was at Manchester Art School in All Saints in the late 50s, she said that when the Abadi's turned it into a "beat music bar" she and most of the regulars never went there again. In turn people who went to the first Wheel never went to the Whitworth Street club for similar reasons - you know, it was not the original, a new younger set were going there etc. When 1970 arrived, the majority of folk going then were not those who attended in 1965. What I'm getting at is about evolution and how special moments are fleeting and in my view captured perfectly in a scene in `Quadrophenia` when Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels) returns to Brighton the day after that fabulous Bank Holiday only to find the amazing world of 24 hrs previous was totally gone, as if a dream. However, if you never experienced something first time round, what the hell, get in there and enjoy every second because that too will disappear very quickly. This flier shows that promoters were at it long before Pete was. If anyone is interested I can upload a couple of photos showing the Black Cat cafe which was next to the Club until about 1993. Also, the back on the Club, Shooters Brook.

All I know is that both tracks are far better than self styled Soul singer Mick Hucknall.

Adding on from your reply to Paul TP re the Motown Memories LPs, the `16 Big Hits` series of eight releases was a little confusing to me until I had the sense to look backwards as the first, TML 11001 was simply titled `16 Tamla Motown Big Hits`. It was then followed by TML 11019 `Hitsville USA` which had a subtitle of `Another collection of 16 Big Tamla Motown Hits`. Then came TML 11030 `Motown Magic` again with the same subtitle as the last. The fourth release, TML 11043 then became the familiar `16 Big Hits Vol 4`, which continued through to Vol 8. Their `Chartbusters` series was I suspect their biggest sellers however with that famous two tone metallic silver cover job that seemed to cross over into many Pop collections.

Sorry for late response Sunnysoul. If I recall a dealer from London got them but I will check tomorrow with a pal who put an unsuccessful bid in.

I met a bloke who worked in the record production end of the industry and he said that the Martin Luther King had a low pressing but as far as outright rarity was concerned the Brenda Holloway was the one due to low pressing number and no US release.

It was Emperor Rosko who used Soul Source, to be exact he had the opening vibes on a loop.

About 15 years or so ago, a local DJ, Judge Dread aka Alex Hughes sadly passed away. Because he had that big hit in the early 70s, Big Six he was hot property and Trojan (?) supplied him with every Blue Beat 45, many on demo for him to peruse and re-record at his leisure. When he died, we all knew he had these records and at his funeral it was quite pathetic how the record dealers were debating what was a sufficiently respectable time lapse before moving in for the booty.

Because I've always bought plenty of British releases I've had some very dirty ones over the years and have tried various cleaners and at the end of the day a natural sponge and washing up liquid has been the best by far. I look upon it as a piece of robust plastic and soap and water won't harm it. I dry them with kitchen towel and then allow then to dry off naturally. The ink on UK labels is pretty stable but not imports and occasionally it can be upset by the water. Also, with styrene 45s, any chemical based cleaner can be disastrous, melting the surface of the disc. Re UK and US records with printed on labels; the ink will melt and smear the second any of those solvent based cleaners are used. I learned this to my cost. The only none-water based stuff I use is lighter fuel; washing up liquid will not remove oily deposits, US ex-juke box records often have a greasy film.

RE Bostocks market stalls, what's the story behind their stock? I don't recall one on Wakefield market but may well have opened up after I left. I did go to the one in John Street Market in Bradford a few times, that would be winter '72. In an old Manifesto I recounted a story about how I got greedy, I'd studied Soussan's list and pulled out James Bounty, Shalimars, April Stevens, Triumphs etc. Then when I'd borrowed some money from mummy, I went back and pulled more stuff out but then stumbled across the Charts `Desiree` which Soussan was asking big money for, so I dumped the rest and went for about 10 copies of it. It was on the Lana label, which I was cocky, stupid and greedy enough to assume was the original label, only to find it was Doo Wop when I got'em home. And to rub it in, even that was a reissue. There was another second hand record stall on John Street, they sold ten for £1 in clear plastic bags.

Hi Ted, Long time! Yes, with hindsight they were very cheap, I guess that was because I in-turn got them cheap from Martin Koppel I just didn't realise what was around the corner and how the Detroit thing would explode. I recall the best buy you got from me was in an auction, Barbara McNair, UK mint demo for £40. That was a lot of dough back then, about 1980?

Up until I moved 12 years ago I kept every list I ever got from about 1970 onwards. I dumped them as in volume terms it was like two / three T chests. The UK ones I remeber that I can't see mentioned here are Graham Warr, Birmingham. John Farrell's Gem Records, Worcester. Moondogs, East Ham, Barry Quinnell, Rustington, Sussex, Global, Manchester. Jeff King, Sendlow Gardens, Leicester. Brian 45 Philips, Middleton. Record Corner, Balham. Pete Widdison, Southampton. I'm sure there are dozens more.

On the groovesvilleusa blog there is a little story behind some of these.

The two on the right were John Anderson's lists from Glasgow.