Steve L

Cheers Pete, there ought to be a book on this subject I find it quite interesting. Would love more info on the whole subject of 70s pressings if you or anyone else can point me in the right direction?

Were they all done at Monarch? If not where else and were any done in the UK? Wish I'd paid more attention at the time

Thanks mate

I am middle aged

Me too

Interesting stuff mate, was there that night - cant remember so many records being played twice! Also with mr Searlings reputation since those days being what it is, it show's he is actually a mere mortal playing some of the lesser quality tunes of the day Still the top dog though!

As mentioned they were just classed as imports in the record shops and on mail order lists, they used to come with an official looking sticker on the sleeve (some I've still got have a "mecolico" logo and "specially imported by soul bowl" etc) There must have been a majority of pressings with some legal reissues and the odd originals all mixed in? Cant remember much about them at venues, I bought most of mine from local record shops. Cost was 85p in 1974 for imports and I think British were 55p and looking at old Black echoes they'd gone up to £1.25 by 1978

Agree with dthedrug, very interesting Rick love to read stuff like this

Bearsy for someone whos not been on the scene for that long your assessment of most things is spot on and you've nailed it here mate Can of worms though

Heard Lord Lucan has been spotted wandering the streets of Nottingham a few days ago after being ousted from his hiding place Seriously there could be all sorts at the bottom of those piles

I think it depends on how old you were and how much experience you had at any particular time. As a 13 year old in 1974 buying records from Syd Booths in Mansfield that I had heard at the youth club I didnt have clue and wouldnt have cared. After a while I became aware that a lot of what I was buying were "pressings" but I cant remember feeling any guilt or lesser worth for still buying them. I wouldnt have known at that age how to identify or buy original vinyl even if I'd had the money. The importance of original vinyl came to me some time later I couldnt say with any accuracy exactly when.

Nice tune, I hope Lydia doesnt see this though

Nice to remember the gems but how many crap records did you have to put up with in return? What would you estimate the % of decent records in them? The last one I had was a 50 pack from Pat Brady in the mid 90s, the number of good records wa probably about 8-10 - still got Buckner Brothers on Sanla, Betty Everett Too Hot To hold and a few decent Ric-Tic bits out of it. The crap included Detroit Wheels - Linda Sue Dixon, Jimmy Hughes- Midnight Affair and other such tosh (still got those as well )

Yeah, sold a spare for that last year

My copy plays fine as well - also love the b side of this "Charge", completely forgotten instrumental that I'm told was played at the wheel. Check it out if you like instrumentals

Sorry mate but Brett's right the topic of this thread is crossover soul in the context of the rare soul scene. Dont know where you're from or what your background is so I dont know if you can Identify with this or not. The words can be used in lots of different way but thats the one we're talking about here Also right is the statement that Sean Hampseys post nails the definition for me its simple late 60s/early70s soul that doesnt clearly sound like one or the other - its really that simple.

Still got loads of PB's lists from 93/94ish, like you say dave this was in the bargains bonanza section, if you bought 10 it was £30 so £3 a piece which i did on some occasions but unfortunately not the S/Twins . Some other things in those sections also fetching money now like Johnny Sayles on st Lawrence! If only you could turn the clock back. On the other hand there's other things that he had for say £30-40 that havent really increased in value so without hindsight the skill would have been picking the right ones at the time and how many can say they actually did this all the time?

Whats the difference between the John & Wirdest and the ones with the date stamps on that are on ebay virtually every day? Are they recent ones?

The young up and coming DJ's are the same as young up and coming dancers/punters in general - few and far between. Any thoughts of a scene of any appreciable size continuing after our generation fades away is wishful thinking IMO (maybe with the exception of pockets in Europe and various other places) Sorry if this isnt the positive contribution you asked for Tony but its the way things are/will be I think Also agree with Pauls comments about record prices falling in the future but thats another subject

Any advance on 200 copies then? Thought this might have (not might of) provoked a few more responses from all you knowledgeable collectors out there BTW I know its overplayed

Great post Phil Agree completely

Conversation topic last weekend was the value and rarity of certain records and Mel Britt came up. A mate of mine asked me how many original copies there would be knocking about, not having a clue I thought I'd consult the oracle. I know its an impossible question to answer but what would be your guestimate??

Nice one Steve,great stuff