Rick Cooper

Always one of my all favourite records from when, as a little lad, I first realised that there was a whole load of music that Radio One ignored. Not sure where or when first heard it but still never tire of hearing it again. Tony Clarke never made a bad record so what else he could have done we'll never know. Rick

Since the imminent collapse of HMV back in 2018 the company was saved and the new owners had plans to revive the shops by refreshing the stock so that buyers would always find something unexpected and interesting. Since then I've been in the Stockport shop a few times but not noticed any change until this week. They have reduced the Soul CD section by about 75% and other CD categories by about 50%. Instead there is now loads of vinyl LPs in bins that make the shop look just like one from the 60s. The soul section is fairly small , mainly back catalogue but a few new recordings. If this is the way forward I'm not sure I'll buy much but it would be a shame if HMV couldn't survive the troubles affecting the High Street. Anyone else noticed changes in their local HMV. Most of the new CDs I buy I try to get direct from the label or small distributors as this, hopefully, gives them a better margin than going through Amazon. Just got the latest Soul On The Real Side CD from Outta Sight which I doubt even the biggest HMV would stock. Where do others get their CDs from? Rick

Hi gogs Yes, saw it after I'd posted but how about some nice pics. Rick

Long since gone but back in the late 70s I used to have a few Bobby Patterson yellow vinyl singles on Jetstar. I think they were all promos and at the time quite common yet no one has posted one up. Are they still around or have they disappeared in to dormant collections?

Harry Global Dog listing gives year only but I suppose you could work out early, mid or late release from the numbering system .https://www.globaldogproductions.info/ Rick

Didn't know Universal owned Capitol now , are they trying to get everything. The reports about the fire didn't list any Capitol artists such as Sinatra or The Beach Boys so maybe Capitol have their own archives somewhere else.

There was a report about this on the radio as well. The interviewee dismissed Universal's claim that nothing had been lost forever as he pointed out that these were the original multi-track studio tapes. So are any tracks that had never been released now lost forever? It looks that way but as Universal didn't seem to want to allow anyone to look at the tapes no one can know exactly what has been lost. Imagine what Ady and the guys at Ace could have found in tapes from Chess, Blue Rock, Smash, Philips, Mercury, MGM, Verve and loads of other labels. I hope Columbia, Warners, Capitol and others take better care of their tapes and get round to doing something with them apart from re-hashing more "greatest hits" comps. Rick

Tricky to find female only mid tempo on CD and even harder on LP, but maybe something here- https://acerecords.co.uk/the-girls-got-soul Worth checking all the Ace "Where the Girls Are" volumes. You can listen to snippets of each track on the CD but some could be a bit too pop sounding unless you like girl groups. An old CD that might be knocking around is "What More Can a Woman Do" on Westside. If you just want 60s females try https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/looking-good-75-femme-mod-soul-nuggets/ Maybe only 20 or so tracks are what you're after. I quite like this one as a comp even though some tracks are not soul they sound OK together. Another old one that is probably long gone is "Dream Dancers" on Soul Kitchen , not all female but nice mid tempo. Sound quality not great as it might not be quite kosher. Rick

A lucky squirrel found one of last year's apple crop and sat on the fence just outside the shed window.

Last Saturday Radio 2 had a program about London clubs around Soho in the 1960s by Carl Leighton-Pope with some music played in the clubs. It doesn't go into great detail but might be worth a listen. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0004rtz

Purist Some good points here, but a few things in the last paragraph I'm not in complete agreement with. Taking your example of Bobby Bell , RCA made a decision to sign him, pick some songs, rehearse him, pay session musicians, arranger, producer and studio time. Then have a record made with all the production costs, maybe have some photos done, perhaps buy a stage outfit, arrange a few live shows and mail out loads of promos. All this could be charged against Bobby's sales royalties but still had to be paid for even if some were in-house. This must amount to a large investment by RCA but then you state that to spend a couple of hundred dollars on stock copies would affect cash flow. I can't quite see how this makes sense for any company as they only get cash flow by selling records. If they then only press stock when they get orders how many orders do they want before pressing the record, 500 ,700 ,1000? Then if these sell what would the next press be 300, 500? What would happen to the orders from shops and distributors if they never pressed any stock? I can't see shop owners being too pleased to order a record without any idea when and if they would get it or not and the artist and his manager would be livid. Having imported, exported, sold wholesale and retail records for a few companies in the UK from 1972 to 1990 the main lesson I learnt was to get the stock in as many shops as possible as quickly as possible. The average customer would have a few pounds to spend and maybe three or four singles they wanted. If the shop didn't have their first choice they might settle for second or third choice but if the shop didn't have those they would go somewhere else. Almost no one would be prepared to wait whilst the shop ordered a record that might take weeks to arrive ,if at all. By next week there would be some other records they want. So every record shop would make an effort to get records in stock before the customers asked for them. Also record companies would go to great lengths to get their product in store. Although the Virgin shop I worked for was not on the chart returns list we still got reps calling in with new stock or phone outs from the company sales department. I can't see US teenagers being any different to here and record companies would be just as keen to get their releases in stores, even offering sale or return facilities. One other point is, if the companies held back on pressing stock until a record took off there would be a lot more titles, probably hundreds, on promo only and it would happen across every label. The handful of titles known on promo only are down to exceptional circumstances, such as legal problems , artist army call up, fraud , Dave's "shenanigans" or something else unusual. Rick

Ed The unsold copies of Purple Haze on Cream weren't destroyed and I think after a few years were sold off. It seems to be fairly common, selling for around £15. If you've got a US Brunswick demo that is probably a lot rarer and worth more. Brunswick seems to be one label where promos are scarcer than stock copies and a lot more collectable. Rick

A rack... luxury.....what's wrong with the floor. Yes, records were usually mistreated by teenagers and end up in the bin however some radio stations weren't much better. The only US radio station I got to visit had the records for that show lying around on the desk and the rest skewered on short poles on the wall, all unsleeved. They didn't have a library but were only a tiny station in the middle of nowhere. Rick

Ed There's a story behind Purple Haze that ties in with this thread. The deal to issue the record on Cream was done with William Bell who produced the song via his Wilbe Productions. We issued the record but two weeks later it came out on UK Brunswick through Decca. After a few strongly worded letters and solicitors intervention we had to pull the record as we couldn't get the required documents from William Bell to prove the US Brunswick deal had expired. It's probably just as well as Decca had more money for lawyers and you wouldn't want to mess with Nat Tarnopol in the US, if you know what's good for you and don't want to have an "accident". The promos would have been sent out about 7 to 10 days before the release date so had Decca issued their record earlier we might have never been able to sell stock copies, but the promos would have been out there, a bit like the Darrell Banks on London v Stateside story. I think the Cream version probably sold about 5 to 6 hundred. Like almost everyone else I thought there was a line in Purple Haze that goes "Scuze me whilst I kiss this guy" but apparently it's "Scuze me whilst I kiss the sky", which may have made sense to Jimi Hendrix under certain circumstances. Rick

Chalky I've read something similar but I think it was when the royalties were calculated 10% was deducted from the sales figure to allow for freebies, faulty or lost copies. Rick

Ed I've never been that keen on the theory that record companies would only press stock copies if the record took off. It doesn't make sense to spend all that money on a recording session, mastering, labels etc to not spend a bit more having something ready to sell. Pressing promos and stock copies could be done at the same time for hardly much extra, having a second press of stock copies later would cost more per disc. Possibly mono/stereo promos might be done separately as the machine would have to be set up again. I've never read any evidence for this and suspect the idea started as musings amongst collectors in the 1970/80s to explain why some records hadn't been seen on stock copies. Since then some of these records have turned up on stock copies, such as Sam Williams on Tower. A few records are only known as promos but this is explained by special circumstances such as King pulling Junior McCants when he died just before the record came out. All the copies would have been destroyed , just a few promos escaping the crusher. Similarly Darrell Banks on UK London stock copy was supposed to have never been made until the one copy turned up, the rest being destroyed. It would be good to have some irrefutable evidence about how many records companies usually pressed but prior to the oil crisis in the 70s the cost of records was so cheap that they probably made a lot more than we might think. The only figures I've seen are for the Imaginations -Strange Neighborhood on Fraternity. @ady croasdell's sleeve notes on the Kent CD Classiest Rarities quote "Interestingly 3500 regular labels and 5000 demo labels were ordered for the first pressing, indicating why issues are sometimes rarer than DJ copies". Still some confusion here as the figures are for labels not records and each record needs two labels. Maybe Ady has some more figures he could share with us. When I issued records on Cream in the 70s I'd order loads of extra labels as they were very cheap, the pressing company held these for us to avoid delay if a quick re press was needed. Rick

Tomo If you're talking about US records on bigger labels from the 60s and 70s the rarity of some stock copies is down to what happened to them after they had finished selling. The record companies would send promos and stock copies to their distributors who would then try to get them on local radio or TV.Some promo copies would be given away to DJs and stock copies could be ordered by local shops. If the record didn't take off stock copies still at the distributors could be sent back for credit but the promos were a write off for the label so might be thrown away or after a while end up in a warehouse or bargain bins. When the stock copies got back to the record label they could sell them off , after drilling the deletion hole, or scrap them. For some labels I suppose they didn't want shops full of their flops so they destroyed a lot of stock copies, hence the rarity of some records. Rick

and meths in the afternoon

The view from the back door this morning, my workshop just visible through the bushes Managed to do the daily commute up the steps.

Zan, there's a name from the past. I think he was from Manchester or Stockport area. As a youngest I was told about some of the things that could happen to a stranger at the Wheel. One involved being relieved of money , records or a nice jacket by characters like Zan. Probably totally untrue.

Played at The Central and Pendulum ,Manchester and possibly The Torch. I think it mainly got played as being another version of a big record, it's a bit jerky for mass appeal. Do you know who Johnny and Lilly are/were? Always assumed Johnny is Johnny Copeland but that could be the obvious theory at the time.

Steve When I was working at Global / Cream records in 1972 to 1976 the pressing company (Lintone or Orlake I think) would always send three test pressings for each release. I don't think we had a choice as to the quantity. In those days no one did special white labels /promo or such like marketing tricks. I've still got one of each but don't know where the rest went. I'm not sure about US labels but probably similar. It's quite likely that bigger labels would get quite a few extra done so they could play the record to the salesmen and favoured radio DJs. I've seen an Atlantic/Stax test pressing for Wendy Rene Bar B Q that had a note from Jerry Wexler with it. The writing on your Sandra Philips doesn't look like 1960s US handwriting and there is no pressing plant name on it, but that may not be significant. Rick

The branch of Fopp in Manchester is a far better shop than any of the HMVs so I hope they can be saved if HMV folds. A better selection in all genres, more unusual CDs and an interesting selection of books. The shop tries to involve local public participation by having posters and info on local gigs and events. Last time I was there they were playing a CD that sounded interesting so I asked what it was. It was a Numero CD of obscure US Garage bands and the assistant was really enthusiastic and had a genuine passion for the music. Sadly this is lacking in the Stockport HMV. Quite agree about Derek Howe's singles counter at HMV Manchester, if only we could go back in time with a load of cash. Rick

If the HMV shops don't survive it could be the end of the type of record shop that most of us grew up with. Spending Saturdays going round the record shops was a way of life for a lot of teenagers from the 1950s onwards. Even if you didn't buy anything you'd meet up with other people with similar tastes, not the same thing as downloading or streaming. The Manchester HMV shop in the 70s had a great selection of singles when Derek Howe was there and was the busiest shop in town. I usually go in HMV in Stockport but never find anything worth buying. The stock seems to consist of loads of 2 for £10 CDs of tired back catalogue major label releases and the same old compilations of past hits. They don't stock any Kent, Outtasite , Soul Brother or other similar labels. In other genres they don't seem to have the stock to attract regular buyers. Could be the staff either don't know how to, or aren't allowed to stock any thing that could bring in committed customers. It doesn't help when they can't get the category for the artists right, this week I saw Jerry Reed and Bobby Bare in the Jazz section when, as I'm sure you all know,they belong in the bin, sorry that should be C&W section. Rick