jazzyjas

I've got the promo 12" and found 4 sealed copies of the LP. This guy's nuts for asking that price! That's ok, I just saw a Slick Rick and Dougie Fresh "The Show'/'La Di Da Di" listed for $20,000. I must be rich because I've got 4 copies in my hip hop sales box and two in my collection. WOW! I can buy a house with that money! KTF Jas

I've heard it said somewhere that "Paris Blues" was a track played at the end of every one of John Manship's sets way back when he was a DJ. Was he partially responsible for this record's popularity or was this after it already went big at Wigan? And while I'm on the subject, how was Manship rated as a DJ? He gets a good slagging on this site as a dealer, but what about JM the DJ? Just curious. KTF Jas

As of late, I'v really enjoyed the B.J. Thomas version from his "everyone is out of town" LP. Strictly for the instrumentation and the laid back feel. His vocal is not so hot, but I like the guitars. Also, I've enjoyed the Motherlode version for going on 15 years now. Glad it finally caught on. The instrumentation and sound quality of that version is superb. Has instant dancefloor appeal I think. But I must agree with Gareth that the Electrifying Cashmeres version is undeniabley soulful and vocally a superior performance to all of the other cover versions. I don't rate the Bay Brothers version at all. The backing track is kind of nice, but those guys are shmaltzy and lack soul in my opinion. Why people were paying through the nose for that record is beyond me. Just bad adult contemporary sounding to me. I feel like I'm in a waiting room getting ready to have teeth pulled and it's playing low in the background while I'm rifling through the crappy magazines. And Pete, I'd love to hear the Alton Ellis version. Is it also on the Trojan Soulful Reggae Box set? KTF Jas

C'mon now. Ace/Kent - no question. The real deal. Most everything up there is crap. Funniest name on a bootleg label is McKinley Mitchell on the MEMORY PAIN label. KTF Jas

I had nice weather in Baltimore this weekend, but the real records didn't come out to play. Picked up a few odds and ends, but one of the highlights for me was picking up the Rose Royce LP on Epic for $1 with the track "Still In Love". Really nice jazzy soul song from 1982 with a long instrumental break. Would love to have the 12" of this. Really classy song. Also got a free Timi Yuro LP. Record is trashed but the cover is halfway decent. Quincy Jones "Stuff Like That" white promo 12" from 1978-NEVER SEE THIS! Got to be rare. My favorite finds were on CD though. Picked up some good used CDs. Got the out-of-print Motown Year By Year CD for 1964. Has "Midnight Johnny" and "If Your Heart Says Yes" by the Serenaders. I've been dying to hear that track again for the longest time. I havent heard it for years. not bad for $3.00. I also picked up a couple of the Dap-Tone CDs used-Sharon Jones and the Mighty Imperials CDs. I've really slept on this stuff because I get skeptical about people making new old-sounding soul music, but I have to admit, they do a great job of making things sound authentic. I was very impressed with the sound and the packaging. And then I picked up a nice Incognito CD from 1999-No Time Like the Future-had a nice house version of "Nights Over Egypt", plus "Fearless" which was a big Norman Jay spin. Always liked that group. I'm sure there's loads of great Acid Jazz that I've never heard, too. Heard a lot of people talking about D-Train on here...I'm working on running the entire Prelude label and so far I've got quite a bit, but I constantly get doubles. If anyone's looking for Prelude stuff, let me know. I have many spare copies for sale. I don't have Lorraine Johnson or Gayle Adams "Baby I Need...", but have loads of other titles for sale. If anyone needs D-Train and stuff like that, bw sure to PM me about it. Happy digging everyone. I'm hoping next weekend will be more fruitful in the northern soul department for me. C'mon Shrine, Hem, Hubba Bubba, Ru-Jac...where are you? KTF Jas

Different Peter Brown! I met Peter Brown who was one half of P&P when I was in New York. The other half being Patrick Adams. Do You Wanna Get Funky, Dance With Me, etc. wsa by the white Peter Brown who recorded for TK records in Miami. BTW-Ernie did you get my PMs, list, Barry's phone number? Hope the digging is going well for you. At least the weather got better. KTF Jas

Here's the brains behind the operation: https://www.jesters-fancy-dress.co.uk/staff.html

Shane Sheppard of the Heartbeats and later, Shep and the Limelites. Got this record and a Don Gardner on TNT in my collection. KTF Jas

My two favorite music books are: 1. Last Night a DJ Saved My Life-I absolutely loved this book! It covered damn near every scene that ever had a DJ involved, even dating back to the first public assembly of people to dance to recorded music around 1910 in the UK. Has whole chapters devoted to northern soul, reggae, disco, hip hop, house, etc. It's a British book, too-so it's very comprehensive and covers absolutely everything I think. I'm a difficult person to impress when it comes to books about music, but this book was mindblowing! 2. Spinning Blues Into Gold: The Story of the Chess Brothers and the Legendary Chess Records. This is another amazing book for people like us. It literally gives a blow by blow account of the goings on at Chess records since day one. It was jam-packed with information producers, arrangers, pressing plants, etc., so it kept me riveted the whole time. I reccomend both of these books because they both help get your head around every cool thing that has ever happened with the culture of black music and dance music, in general. Between these two books, it will help you get everything into a time line in your head of what went on and when, plus who was involved. Can't reccomend these books enough. KTF Jas

Stop down in Baltimore Ernie! Only 3 hours away on 95 south. Got northern down here! 410-732-7956 or cell: 410-746-6572 KTF Jas

Pete, I'm on a MacIntosh platform, so the program that I've used is SoundEdit 16. It's just a down and dirty little sound editing program. Nothing too advanced. When you're in that program, just highlight the entire sound wave and add the effect. Dead easy, but the quality diminishes slightly if you go to extremes. I presonally think Buster and Eddie "Can't Be Still" is just a hair too slow. Would like to get a decent recording of that to play around with. I don't have the record and it's only available on one crappy Belgian CD. plus other soundfiles I've downloaded sound terrible, too. Don't know if your Mac or PC, so I hope you find a suitable sounding editing program that will do what you want it to do. KTF Jas

Sammy Davis, Jr. definitely takes it! But here's some top cheese to me: "Can't Live This Way" Barnaby Bye-I've had the demo 45 for years, but I recently found this LP at a thrift store on my lunch break. "Wall to Wall Heartaches" Bobby Jason (has a "huggy-nes" quality) "Don't Pity Me" Sue Lynne (great backup singers on this one) "Love's the Only Answer" Kelly Garrett-anyone ever notice the drummer on this song? My God! So fantastic! Frankie and Johnny (already mentioned) LOVE this one too. Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant! I absolutely LOVE these songs! KTF Jas

Just checked my LP of "On Top Of Clear" from 1976. No musicians credits listed on that LP. No way of knowing if he's on there or not. Good luck. KTF Jas

I figured it out. Someone took the regular old Billy Butler "Right Track" and ran it through a sound program where you can change the pitch without changing the tempo. They basically pitched it up about an octave higher to fake a female vocalist. Hippo-LOVED that alternate vocal to "You Can Split"! I'd love to know more about that and get a high-quality MP3 of that one. Great stuff! Pete-Hope that answers your question. KTF Jas

After 20 years of DJing, I just hung it up, because I've done the hip hop thing since 84, I've done the house thing, I've played rare groove, reggae, requested garbage music at people's weddings and parties when I was earning money on the side in college. I've even DJ'd a shotgun wedding in Ohio if you can believe that. So it goes without saying that I've done it all. I can mix well, I can scratch, make announcements and all of this crap. All of this stuff combined made me aware of how to work a crowd, how to pay close attention to tempo and the crowd's reaction to it, and just overall common sense. Not all completely relevant to the topic of northern soul, but very important foundations of being a good DJ for me personally. I only gave up because I felt I had nothing left to prove. And for me to do a gig, it would have to be all of the right conditions. Playing gigs in Baltimore is a lost cause for me. When I started playing soul nights in Baltimore back in 1997, I brought nothing but original 45s and nothing else. The popularity of these nights was never solid, so they came and went. After I saw how much people didn't care in general, I just decided to make it easy on myself and just play CDs. Why should I break my back for this crowd? They couldn't care less about what me. I felt ok in doing this because I was playing to an audience of people that didn't know what northern soul was. None of these people were connissuers of record collecting or rare music for that matter. But when I got up on stage at LA, I was amazed at all of these amazing rare records I was seeing. I realized that this was the order of things and it heightened my appreciation AS A RECORD COLLECTOR. As a DANCER, I was disappointed to not be able to hear a few things that should have been no-brainers, but the rules were strict and I just lived with it. There were plenty of other sounds to make up for my missing ones. I was ok with that. AS A DJ, I can wholeheartedly sympathize with people getting angry about seeking out a rare record, paying top dollar for it, and have somebody come along and play on the back of your skill and/or hard work. It's disheartening, but I've rarely voiced my opinions about it over here, because some of these people have been my DJ partners and they don't understand. Having all of the cool compilations is all they need in their minds. No politics over here, so I just leave it alone. Which leads me to this... Say a group of northern soul enthusiasts go on a holiday to a location that requires air travel, where lots of other activities are planned and it doesn't all revolve around music. Then, later in the evening wherever they are vacationing, they want to put on a night in that location, just for themselves. Would it be strange to put the ethics aside and just make life easier and play CDs? Seems easier to travel that way and not have to worry about lugging the records around. Just wondered if there was any "neutral ground" anywhere? Not having a go at anyone's ethics, just wondering... Could this "anything goes" approach even be an attraction for a situation like this? The reason that I ask is because I know nights get put on in Teneriffe and place like that. And I know for a fact that if northern DJs played CDs over here in the states, practically no one would care. The only people that would know the deal are people like me and even I wouldn't care. I guess it's because something like this only happens over here maybe once a year, if I'm lucky. BUT-I guess if I came to England and saw Stardust after Stardust 45 being laid down, it would take some wind out of my sails. That's the lifelong collector in me I guess. I know one thing though...if I went to northern soul nights regularly I would get so sick and tired of hearing the same 15 oldies every where I went. I already don't want to hear Barbara McNair anymore. I have a need for progression in the music. I want a steady diet of good newies all of the time. It keeps me going and holds my interest. I'm glad things have progressed beyond Wigan. I'm glad Stafford happened and set a new standard for digging up unplayed sounds, which still continues today. NCSC in Manchester is the one and only offer for a gig that I have hanging out there and that's fine by me. And whenever that gig finally happens, I'll be in top form with a nice selection of music-high and low dollar stuff. If that's the one gig I do in a year-fine with me. It's about quality for me. I agree with points from both sides of the argument and I think it should be dealt with on a case by case basis and not be too extreme. Also, I'm just as much of a punter and a music lover as the next person, but when it comes time to get on the decks, I'm going with the Big Daddy "Keep It Real' approach...100%. KTF Jas

Hey everyone, I just ran across some pretty sad news while surfing the Soulful Detroit web site: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> My name is Pat Covington and I am the cousin of Ray Pollard, best known for his hit, Darling, Take Me Back I'm Sorry. My friend Nosey was kind enough to post this for me. It is with great sadness that I announce his passing. He lost his valiant battle with cancer on Wednesday, January 26th in Las Vegas. Although we will miss him, his music will live on in the hearts and minds of true R&B lovers everywhere. His funeral will be in Las Vegas on Tuesday, February 1, 2005. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> ( https://www.soulfuldetroit.com/forum/ ) All I can say is at least he got some deserved recognition before he died and his great sides will live on. R.I.P. Ray... KTF Jas

Hey everybody, I've got 26 items on eBay right now. All fixed price. Some are 12" singles and some are 45s. You might be wading through some 80s boogie and electro, so be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the list to see some northern soul 45s. Some are brand new and being posted for the first time, like James Conwell on 4J. https://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmajorwaxbuildup Thanks for looking! KTF Jas

Now I've got it!!!! Old Lady's Care = Ady Croasdell *****Thin Jim Nylon = Johnny Timlin**** A winners stylus =Russ Winstanley So a slum = Soul Sam Bad Greek = Keb Darge Inane Evil =Ian Levine

What I got so far... Old Lady's Care = Ady Croasdell Thin Jim Nylon = A winners stylus =Russ Winstanley So a slum = Soul Sam Bad Greek = Keb Darge Inane Evil =Ian Levine

WOW. What working conditions those would be. Funky Frankie is right, though. Image is important for the success of many people unfortunately. BUT-I still can't deny the fact that she has a very soulful voice. The looks are just a really really nice bonus. Taking the soul route will prove better for her in the end. Her career will have a chance to last longer. These mega pop stars burn hot and fizzle out before you know it. Just remember, her debut has been some pretty soul oriented material, so she will most likely mature well and get better with time and keep singing better material. If I had the opportunity to choose some material for her to sing, I would stick mostly with ballads and slower deep numbers like: 1. Things Have More Meaning Now-Peggy Scott-Old Town (on the now out of print Old Town & Barry Soul Stirrers CD put out by Kent-Nice one Ady!) People, you have GOT to hear this song if you haven't already. 2. I've Got to Cry-Chris Hamilton-Bell-Nice 45 I picked up years ago. Also included on the CD "Deep Soul Inferno" But for northern, I think she could do nice variations on these: 1. Stolen Hours-Patrice Holloway 2. Breakaway-Linda Lloyd-a more soulful less orchestral version 3. Satan Let Me Sleep Tonight-Brenda Starr 4. A Love Reputation-Denise LaSalle 5. Can You Remember-Rhonda Davis-this one especially 6. Wash and Wear Love-Lyn Varnardo-this could also be really great. KTF Jas

As an ex-breakdancer, I've got a lot of appreciation for the acrobatics. But I do agree about the footwork being important. You've got to have style on the floor and above all, stay on the beat. Then, from there, putting a series of moves and footwork together to keep a flow going and making some interchangeable routines. Doing a couple of acrobatics and walking off aren't the makings of a good overall dancer in my opinion. I compare it to all of these young hip hop DJs who are amazing at scratching and can't mix and get records on beat to save their lives. Dancing is meant to be expressive. The dancer in bags on the intro to The Old Grey Whistle Test documentary is great. The guy is just all over the room and one move flows into another. As far as it looking right, it just depends on the individual. If they looke like it's killing them, maybe they better give it a rest. I wish somebody would help me with my spins. I'm going crosseyed trying to analyze what to do to unlock the whole formula. Spin left? Spin right? Ball of the foot? Heel? Some days I'm good and other days I have no balance whatsoever. Being an ace northern dancer is one of my goals. I've got over 20 years of breakdancing, poplocking, and dancing two step in deep house clubs under my belt. I'm trying to adapt all of that experience and fit it in to my northern moves. As far as dancers I appreciate, my money's on Mr. "Soul Time" Carl from Notts. He does everything effortlessly and seamlessly. He's good at using his arms and hands too. Great guy if you've ever met him and really encouraging to other dancers trying to learn. Got him on video and I've studied his moves a few times. Dancing in close proximity to him in LA improved my moves a little, too. It would be a shame to see the acrobatics and bags go away completely. It's a part of northern soul tradition. But maybe those things just don't suit everybody, which can be embarrasing sometimes, I guess. But there's also something to be said about just getting out there and not giving a crap and genuinely enjoying yourself. Being able to let go can be a good healthy and therapeutic thing. KTF Jas

Actually Neil... Goody Goody-It Looks Like Love DID come out on an Atlantic 12" single. I've got it on a yellow label in a dark blue Atlantic disco cover. Great tune, that one. The LP cover on that one is some serious eye candy, too. Also, The Brothers is on a 5 track 12" EP that came with a plain jacket I believe. Prices on the Ashford & Simpson, Idris Muhammad, and Willie Bobo are through the roof these days! $200 and above. Jakki "Sun, Sun, Sun" was a massive spin at Paradise Garage apparently, and is sought after over here by fans of Larry Levan. KTF Jas

Hey...I've got an idea. Why don't you throw that Steve Mancha record on the turntable, talc the floor (and your ass), put on the piss pants and see what happens! Might be a new level of comfort! KTF Jas but then again, if I ever turned up a Salvadors 45 at the flea market, I might need to throw those on!

QUOTE: "Even if they got past the flyers they'd still have to contend with the "mumbling DJ's" ........and the no drinks on the dancefloor policy.......that's if they wanted to go into the scout hut/community centre/social club in the first place to hear all these KFC classics." You'd better BELIEVE I'd rather be at a community hall somewhere deep in the remote northwest UK, with people playing the best in rare sounds, even with a few KFC spins thrown in. The image is last and the music comes first. If I'm faced with a choice when I first set foot on UK soil, I'll gladly pass on a mod passion play do in London in favor of a major trek up to a place like Dundee to hear a guy like Keith Money play to a small crowd in a community center. To me that's quality. I think there are others that back me up on this, too. But that's just me. I guess it's just a matter of taste and what's more important to the person. KTF Jas

Here's a few I only WISH I had the opportunity to dance to: Crying Time Instrumental-Brenda Holloway Let It Be Real-George Hobson Life of Tears-Walter & the Admirations KTF Jas