purist

Sad to report that Robert Walker has passed away according to net reports from one of his buddies, Flery Bursey. Personally I always loved the powerhouse instrumental, and it always had me rushing to the floor, if I wasn't already there ;-) Don't know if I've ever heard the Detroit Sound 45 "Everythings All Right", doesn't ring any bells with me today, and just found a listing for a novelty break in 45 with his name credited, but whether it's the same artist who knows. There's more to his story & connections but will let others chip in

Whats the story behind the Bee Records Pressing with Keys To the City on the flip? Warren Recordings London ? love the credits " David Porter & The Music Merchants" - I'd remembered the David Porter part of the cover up name, but did Richard really call it DP & MM ?

Two presses of the album are different physically as well as the cover (which i wasnt aware of- thanks for that info Boba - https://www.popsike.c...0300348552.html this says there's an extra track on this pressing of the album ! true ? anybody confirm? imho all Pink are promotional copies, with or without label writing to confirm (I think this because if you check out the 12"s from this label, I've only ever seen promo's with pink labels, plus there's no multi coloured promo's - unless you know different?) btw the 12" label of Party Hardy says 1977, cannot imagine the 7" being released at a different time to the 12 - can anyone confirm if all 12"'s are long/short or do they exist with Happy on the flip ? do multi 12"'s exist at all, or are they all pinky ? ( there are numerous examples where wdj's are obviously promotional without the words printed on the label, but we all accept them as promo's, don't we ? perhaps this should be another thread ? promo's without the words promotional or demo on them?)

Err, unless I've misread this, it's not a cinema film, not even a drama, but more an observational documentary about a certain section of the scene, i.e. the dundee area, and the folk who are originals from the early years of the scene. It's most likely a short film aimed at the film festival circuit, and hardly likely to even get on our TV screens, so why all the fuss? doubt anybody will get to see it unless they hunt it down on vimeo or similar once it's completed. quote from web site - "In 2006 I had some success with a short film I co-directed called featuring Steve Martin when it won the Aprile Award at the Milan Film Festival. After a conversation about my fascination for Northern Soul....."

On a trip to the states 20 some odd years back, trawling through a vinyl mountain I found what I thought was a total winner. I'm sure you know the score, thousands of records to go through, you tend to play the first 40 seconds and it goes on the yes pile or back with the rubbish. Well when I got home I couldn't wait to play it, but of course as I'm sure you've already worked out- it had a horrendous middle eight. For a few years I kept thinking " I must take that to a studio, get that horrible bit taken out and get it cut onto an emi". I never got around to it, and honestly I think the 45 is still lurking somewhere in my collection, but the only time I remember the title is on the odd occasion when I see one for sale. Now while I understand Tony's arguement that there's tons of great records to play so why bother, at the time I really thought this tune had the potential to be a proper popular big tune, so to anybody thinking of editing out a bad bit, dont do what I did, get it done - and let the dancefloor decide if its good or not btw what was the album track that somebody chopped up and put on emidiscs in the 70's, wasn't it from a stereo sounds effects album, but it turned into a brilliant stomping inst.?

It was done at the last but one Stafford Reunion/Anniversary, the one in Stoke, Queens Hall was it ? For those who care what the labels look like it was a fantastic idea, but as already mentioned, in certain quarters the sales of colourful label scans might increase

I'm glad I got that part right about it being on one of your comps Pete, I worry I'm losing my ability to accurately remember anything these days so that's pleased me no end. When I ran the first Northern Soul SwapMeet it got played on the decks and I heard it and thought "WOW", played loud it sounded fantastic. Mistakenly I thought it was already sold so sulked pretty much the whole day. Some time later I found out that it hadnt actually been sold when I heard it, I must have misunderstood what was said to me, but Mick Holdsworth had bought it. It took me some years but eventually I ended up with it. From memory it has RMCoy name either written or typed on it, so whenever I used to play it in venues that's exactly what I called it, not so much a cover up name but a way of identifying it for future requests ( and it did indeed draw some requests)

I have an original Bell Sound acetate of a song with this title, and it had passed through the hands of several soulies before I got it, so it could well be the one. From memory it's a Rose Marie McCoy song but who the actual singer is I'm not sure, think Pete Smith had a sound file of it on one of his compilations, or that could be BS, and it could have been another person entirely ;-) hope this helps

Cant remember the exact title, but I'm pretty sure I can't have been the only one who bought the Epic 45 by Luther Vandross which has a very similar title to the one on Cottilion "Dont Wanna Be A Fool" - worse part is that I sold my Cottilion 45 before the Epic one arrived in the post - and still don't have one :-(

It seems lots of the posters share the same opinions by and large (and yes we recognise those amongst us who loved and lived through the fantastic post stafford, pre revivalist years, where the spirit of the blitz shone through, and sixty through the doors for a soul nite was worth writing multiple paragraphs about) but although my favourite times on the scene in the past have been at either one room venues, or one main playing newies and one smaller room playing quality oldies, these days I think the variety of music is just too broad to be handled in one room. Perhaps this might explain better what I'm trying to say. Having spent time in the main room and thoroughly enjoyed it, I had a fabulous time when I popped into the R'n'B room at the last Radcliffe. Lots of the tunes I heard, maybe a third of them, were not what I'd call R'n'B. To me they were old Stafford tracks or old Catacombs tunes etc, but this ISN'T a criticism, because I understand that these magnificent tunes which sat beautifully alongside the out and out R'n'B probably wouldn't get aired anywhere else these days, and the chances of main room play at a big Niter is very unlikely for most tracks of this ilk. To me this is the best arguement in favour of multi room Niters like Radcliffe. I also stuck my nose in to the Modern room next door when Neil Rushton was banging away with pounding recent soul, and the happy faces dancing away in there summed it all up. Dancing the nite away with a smile on yer face, now who said that? Personally I like almost all the branches under the soul scene tree ( with funk being the exception) but cannot imagine how you can make a banging Y2K set work alongside early soul/popcorn/r'n'b, so I do think that multi roomers are perhaps what we need now for our bigger Niters. There is an "unless" at this point - unless it's advertised as a limited amount of styles, i.e. Oldies only, Modern & Crossover only, etc. or a "special" one room venue, like the 100 Club. Perhaps a part of the problem is when venues don't advertise accurately exactly what's on offer musically? Like a lot of folk it seems, I too would rather drive miles past "Commercial Soul and Motown" nites to go to venues playing more interesting music. I'd rather go out less often, travel further (and hence pay more money out) to hear good music, good dj's, or have a grand social with friends made over the decades. This weekend, health and wealth permitting (and not counting whatever soul nites I may get to) I shall be Niter-ing at Rugby. Partly for the social side in the record bar, but mostly to listen to Rob Gray, who is a perfect example of the type of unsung DJ who can get it right imho and deserves more main room time. Also I know during the nite® I shall spend time in the Freestyle room in the hope that my mind will be expanded by DJ's (or Collectors) who may bring some new, or forgotten, gems, to give that 'tingle' we all crave. That feeling we had back when we were kids when we heard, say Lenis Guess or Willie Hutch's Love Runs Out, for the first time. That feeling that had us jumping trains, begging lifts, and hitching, hundreds of miles each weekend, spending every penny you could earn to get home stinking of sweat when you'd danced while the 'normal folk' slept their nights away. Doom and gloom ? Are we saying it in the hope that some who seem intent on ruining our scene will effoff ? The best times for me were when it was more underground, when there was maybe 2-400 regulars you'd see at most every Niter and decent soul nite, topped up with great folk who mostly stayed regional but loved the real scene just as much. But lets not forget it was also fabulous when there were tens of thousands in the 70's, and venues were packed, and northern, albeit watered down northern, was played everywhere from the local Mecca Ballroom and Night Clubs, to Miss Selfridges and Chelsea Girl. I'll welcome anybody into the tribe - if they're for real. But perhaps you'd better get somebody else to handle the situations when they arise, because I'm too old and grumpy now to explain to somebody why James Carr is Northern, and has been ever since the Wheel. Personally I'd much rather send folk out to the door where they paid in, with a note saying " please give this person their money back and tell them not to go to any northern doo's ever again, because they're making themselves unhappy and worse still they're making me and all the other genuine soulies unhappy". Useless requests seem the norm at silly soul nites (not saying this previously mentioned J Carr incident was at a silly soul nite, dunno where that happened? just speaking from personal experience) They generally disrupt the flow and almost always start with something like " Oi mate, play Christine Cooper" when that very record had been played less than 20 minutes earlier, or the classic, and I swear this happened to me, while it was on the decks and coming out of the speakers !!! I'm not anti Oldies, far from it, but I'm repeating what was said earlier, I want to hear a mixture of well known tracks along with 'less often played' in fairly equal measures when I'm at such an event ( and good oldies DJ's seem to be able to pull this off) Personally I don't consider commercial events or those that use various arists CD's, to be part of this scene, as I understand the definition. The scene to me is DJ's playing warm and fuzzy vinyl through big bass heavy systems, and they can stick crystal clear clarity where the sun don't shine. Let's remember what it was that started this thing, the pursuit of vital, exciting, recently discovered alongside previously tried but never quite made it's, and classics from previous clubs and years dropped in for good measure. Yes the flow of exclusives has slowed, but there's maybe twenty thousand tracks that folk could hear, and loads of album only things, and tons of exciting early soul/R'n'B/Popcorn yet to have it's day, so why be boring? Boredom is the only thing that will ever kill my love of this scene....that and Funk :-) " It's just too easy today " - this is my favourite quoted answer to why the scene isn't as it once was, and perhaps this is the truth (out there) that Fox Mulder spent his time chasing Finally, without getting political with a large P, everybody's saying there's financial hardship for most folks right now, and it's gonna last and last. Yes, Okay, I'm not an idiot, I see it. Record prices falling, not yet back at the all time low 80's levels but certainly heading in that direction, but like Lou said, I shall still keep collecting until they put me in my box, and if the best we can manage is to go 'round each others houses once a fortnight, with a once a year get together in the old folks home at the seaside, then so be it, "Book me a ticket. Can I pay by Paypal ? " :-) Now Get Out & Enjoy Yourself, It's Later Than You Think !!!!!

I've mentioned this on here before, but will try again - When this record was very popular (and about £60) I swear one night at ( I think) The Orwell (or somewhere similar that those guys dj'ed at) somebody played a unique version, similar to the single but different enough to tell it was different. Max & I talked about how it actually improved on the 45 version on the journey home, so I know I'm not going daft or dreamed it, but ever since when I mentioned it to anyone (other than Max) who would have been there, all I get is blank looks and "don't remember that John". Maybe somebody had got a home brewed mix, but it sure sounded "real". I washoping when they put out that CD that this "other" version might appear... alas 'twernt so

sorry Pete, wasn't aimed at you and I certainly hadn't counted your sales ( or any other UK based seller) in amongst what I was talking about, I was purely basing it on USA sellers on internet, hence the term 'find' ( which to me means a new find of quantity, almost always in the USA) I did a trawl back through the USA sites I'd visited but most dont keep any info on what's sold and gone, but this is just from ebay, both buy it nows and auction - there's 14 Gerri Graingers here in just over the last fortnight or so - 14/7 16.49 - $250 15/7 07.50 - $250 16/7 10.10 - $250 18/7 03.00 - $250 25/7 04.29 - $267 25/7 15.43 - $250 26/7 06.44 - $250 27/7 13.08 - $250 27/7 17.31 - $250 28/7 06.46 - $250 30/7 06.02 - $250 31/7 08.48 - $250 02/8 12.13 - $280.50 Plus one that ends 8/8 currently $200 I was trying to make the point that we seem to miss many of these multiple sales when they are records which retail 250 or less, sorry if I knackered up your sales Pete.

Okay we all know that records are sometimes like the old saying about buses (one doesnt come along for ages then three come at once) but just lately I seem to have seen this happen more and more. For example maybe 10-12 copies of "I Go To Pieces" on the usual Bell demo 969 in just over a week, and there were some the weeks beforehand. Also seen lots of copies of The Squires on Gee, even several Billy Sol on Domar all in the same week, etc. Is this just coincidence ? is it boxes have turned up? or is it dealers jump on the bandwagon when they think someone sold one for a decent amount and decide that this 45 is now " hot " (and they're not ! ) Are we preprogrammed to notice multiple copies of records only when the sale price exceeds £400 ? (like Four Tracks, Danny Moore, etc) and therefore do these £70-£250 type multiple records slip by unnoticed when they appear in bunches? and before anybody say's I'm just paranoid I'd like to remind them it's wednesday not tuesday...

There's 14 on Popsike, assuming they're all different copies, not exactly a wedge I'd have thought?

Think it was me wot dun it guvnah, for twas my Johnny Henley "Ooh Baby" c/u, about 15 years back mebbe? ( always thought it sounded like the vocals from the Tie 45 Memories/No Time, hence the c/u) Not saying it had never been tried before by some other DJ, but not to my knowledge or I wouldn't have covered it. Could it be mostly the same initial find copies circulating the scene, cause there's only 1 copy I could see that had been sold on ebay when I looked at popsike? ( Cant think of many records where there's only one copy sold on ebay ??) Remember the last conversation I had with Nige Shaw before he passed away, and we almost agreed a deal for him to buy my spare copy, sentimental fool that I am I wish he'd had it now....

Without finding my notes ( and that aint gonna happen any time soon) my guess would be 1984-85. Here's my thinking. Guy says he started DJ'ing at TOTW summer 83 and it wasn't in his early sets. The record lasted as a popular dancefloor record for quite a decent amount of time at TOTW, so it probably wasnt anywhere near the end. From memory pretty sure Guy told me he played it at somewhere like Derby at a soul nite or some club where there was a party where lots of soulies were, then later the same nite he played it for the first time at Stafford, so it's first Niter play was at TOTW (unless Rod or Dave played it anywhere? but I've never heard anybody say that) btw it's the first record I use when somebody who doesn't know what Northern is, asks to hear the sound of N/S.

I remember Blue Max having/playing 5 different records which had this Fuller Bros backing tune, the 3 mentioned above, plus (was it?) Love & Brotherhood " Sugar Pie Honey" on Chess, cant remember the other one tho'? Think it was a female vocal by an artist with two other known northern 45's - gosh its horrible getting old and your memory going ! There's another 3 "same difference" 45's - Stan Mitchell Quit Twisting My Arm = New Holidays My Baby Aint No Plaything = (cant remember, help somebody)

What about those who bought as they went along, through each decade, slowly adding to their collections, working at buying right & putting the effort in, going to the source, trading up etc. I doubt they've spent that much in real terms? To my mind if you were an active buyer in the 80's and 90's (pre returnees) and knew what you were buying then this is when records were at their cheapest ( compared to wages, cost of living etc) It's different if you're talking about starting from scratch now - a decent average playbox, say approx 300 records at a grand average += £300, 000, but that's the same if you compared starting fresh at the bottom in any field. There's some football clubs in this country that would run you 30 million + to buy, that a few years back you could have had for the price of a packet of fags.

How about " King For A Day / Angelina " Stewart Ames ? great shout on Toni Basil btw

Anything by The Magnificent Men, but especially Keep On Climbing & Forever Together. Staying with Capitol, The Outsiders made some great floor packing Northern tunes.

I might be wrong but think I bought it as a new release on an orange label, and it was quite a while before I saw one that was different?

The best advice I ever got came via a Guy record hunting tale. When he told me about how he'd got the various Stafford era acetates (M.Move, Backstreets, etc) he told me that when visiting george Mcgregor he'd taken him down to his basement and he'd got these acetates stuffed behind some water pipes. He ran them under the tap and played them, whilst still wet, and Guy said he was both thrilled and horrified in equal amounts. Thrilled at these awesome unknown tunes, but horrified at how George was treating them. When he asked George why he was so rough with these discs he said words to the effect of ' dont let them dry out, and damp them regularly. If theyre dirty wash them with soft washing soap'. Ever since then I damp my acetates regularly whenever I remember, and, touch wood, none has started to flake any worse than they were when i got them ( some were pretty bad and flaking a lot, and if they are too bad you just have to accept they cant be saved and bin them) I use old fashioned block soft soap ( the sort that comes in a bar that yer nan used for hand washing clothes with a washboard) and luke warm tap water to clean them, which I do when i first get them home, but hardly ever after ( unless there's some reason to clean them, but cant see what purpose regular cleaning serves ?) I think keeping them in card or paper sleeves, or wrapped in newspaper (as George McGregors were according to Guy) will help dry the moisture out of them, but its not really a hardship to damp them is it? I have always made myself sleeves out of card to fit the various oddball sizes, easiest is to cut down a 12" disco sleeve if you've got an 8" for example (yes this is where you insert your own funny one liner hth

My worst was a box that was approx a 10 inch cube. Rolling about inside were two single pages of newspaper scrunched up. I suppose you'd say they were each the size of an average egg. The only other thing in the box was the record - oh, and a large amount of air. No sleeve, no cardboard, no polystyrene shapes, nothing at all to stop the record moving about in the box. On the outside of the box was a large bootmark ( you could see the laceholes in the dirty impression) which was also deeply dented. This was partly on top of the customs charge label, which to me proved that whoever kicked this box had done so after the parcel was in the customs/UK postal systems care. Of course I didnt find any of this out until after I'd paid the additional customs charge, which from memory was about £ 35 on top of the £ 190 odd I'd paid for the record.. I photographed the packaging and the item - all 100+ pieces of it. I honestly didn't think a seven inch 45 could smash into so many small pieces. I got nowhere with the post office/customs, but did manage to get some money back through ebay/paypal. To crown matters off the exchange rate had fluctuated quite wildly, and because I'd charged paypal to my credit card and got stung on the dollar/pound exchange rate I lost even more. Think in the end I got back about 140, meaning I lost about £ 85, but on the plus side I had got a dented box for my money...... They say you can't put a price on memories......

Just a thought - you regularly see " will not ship to Italy" etc, but I've never yet seen anyone write on their ad "will not ship to U.K. " anybody ? (my point being it's unfair to lump us Brits in with other countries with problematic postal services - or dodgy buyers. )

Is it just me that thinks there's a similarity between Servicemen's "Sweet Magic" and The Volumes " Just Can't Help Myself" ? I played them one after the other when out dj'ing years ago and it hit me there and then..... no ? just me then. ah well, I'll get my coat.....