Rick Cooper

Enough's enough, how about some rain

You're right about the number of instrumentals with loads of them coming from Simon Soussan. I remembered one of his sales lists that he put out having 7 or 8 exclusive instrumentals that he was asking offers for. However when I found it Just Walk In My Shoes was not one of them, but I also found an ad for Wigan from April 1974 that claimed to have a load of instrumentals but again no JWIMS. Around about this time I seem to remember Soussan came to the UK and did a spot at Wigan that mainly consisted of his custom made instrumentals. From what I've heard this didn't go down too well and most tracks were never heard of again. It could be that JWIMS was one of those that were never played again. I think Pete Smith has quite a lot of recordings from Wigan so he may have the one with Soussan DJing. From the list of instrumentals I only remember a few, does anyone know if the others were all Soussan's. Rick

This is the last ad in B&S for the Leeds Soul Festival. As you can see I'm listed as a "Super-Soul-Spinner" which is new to me but ,yes, I was one of the guilty party to the debacle. The first choice for the DJ line up would have been Richard,Russ, Ian, Collin, Kev and Keith. However the first four would have been busy that night and I don't think The Casino or The Mecca would have been very happy if they had appeared at Leeds. Kev and Keith would have been less tied down and worked for Chris Burton many times. Andy Hanley was DJing throughout the north so was a good choice and as I was living in Leeds I got added at the bottom of the bill. Hunter Smith, the owner of Jumbo Records and a really nice guy was an unusual choice as he wasn't considered "northern" and I'm not sure if he was there. My recollections of the night are much the same as most people. Bad sound , dirty floor, rubbish dance area and whilst the acts were OK, setting up the sound systems meant the records were stopped and nothing happened apart from "testing testing 1 2 3" and howls of feedback. It's easy to criticise but at least Chris Burton tried to put something special on , it was probably too ambitious and the venue was not suitable. I don't think I stuck it out till the end, especially as according to another advert in the same B&S I was DJing with Richard Searling at an all dayer in Barnsley the next day. Rick

This should come with a warning before playing, painful and hard to listen to. Walter Jackson - The Bed

Darrell Banks Open the Door/ Our Love is the greatest record ever , however on Our Love I think J J Barnes voice suits the song better so only just tips it for me. Same backing track so Mike Terry on both versions , what more could you want. Rick

In our back garden we have a few shrubs and small trees. One of these has had masses of flowers this year and for the last week has been invaded by loads of bees and wasps. Anyone identify the plant. This year all the flowering trees round here seem to have had a very good year and insects look to be a lot more numerous. Is it the same everywhere?

Steve Thanks for that. I've not used a photo printing machine before but I'll give it a try. Looks like I may have a duff card so next time I'll import the photos more often. Rick

Martyn The camera works fine with other cards so it must be the card. I'll get a card reader and try doing what you say. thanks a lot Rick

HELP NEEDED I've got a camera memory card with over 50 photos on that stopped working and states that it is not initialized. On my laptop it says I need to format the disk in drive E. When I attempt this it warns that formatting will erase ALL data. Can anyone tell me what's happened, why and can I fix it without losing all the photos. Any suggestions , even bad news, would be much appreciated, but keep it simple as I'm no expert on computer stuff. thanks Rick

I'd put it as a late Torch and Catacombs spin. Maybe a bit too frantic and pop sounding for any earlier plays. I'd be very surprised if it got any plays at the Wheel. ABC in the States rated it enough to take out a full page ad in Billboard, they should have spent their money on Earl Jackson, Willie Hutch or Jackie Lee instead. Page 17 on the link below https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/60s/1967/Billboard 1967-08-05.pdf Rick

Quite an interesting initial post and some fascinating replies but I'm not sure the original question has been addressed. To use the old cliche of an inept and out of touch record label and artist releasing a record to an indifferent public whose tastes are for a different style, only for us Brits with our superior taste to rescue the record from oblivion seems patronising and arrogant even if it maybe sometimes close to the mark. Looking at the facts mentioned so far for Revilot 208 I think a different picture emerges. The record was listed on the playlist of at least one radio station from a small sample in the Record World radio chart. The station was in Lansing, ninety miles from Detroit. Lansing is the state capital of Michigan but I don't know anything about it's record scene , maybe @RobbK or @the yank could let us know. There was some promotion done, going by the signed copies given away at the car dealership. A 25 count box was found in the 80s from the unsold stocks. The record was not in the bargain bins of record shops and totally unknown to Robb or other US and UK collectors for many years. Most of the copies offered for sale over the last years have not been in good condition and look played. Revilot were having success with the Parliaments record RV 207. I've done a little more digging around for anything else but found only negatives. Billboard magazine didn't mention it around the same time the radio station in Lansing listed it. However, just as matter of interest in four weeks Billboard had RnB chart tips for Jerry Cook, Adventurers, Seven Souls,Victors, Frank Dell and Leon Haywood- Baby Reconsider. They didn't chart but at least got a mention. From a few record sales and wants list I have from 1972-7 , Martin Kopell, who was constantly buying Detroit titles didn't have it for sale and Bob Foster and another Detroit collector in Sweden both had it on their wants lists but only as a missing number. The Detroit Free Press newspaper mentions Revilot but you have to pay to see the whole page. The bit that is visible seems to be about either Darrell Banks or The Parliaments. So from these facts it could be that the record got radio plays and sales outside Detroit. Someone, Revilot or Jackey Beavers, did some promotion by giving copies away.The copies given away would probably not have been looked after or even kept. This resulted in all of the initial pressing never going to the usual bargain bins for unsold stock, only one 25 box left untouched at Revilot. It was totally unknown until the 1980s and is still a rare record. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 10 is so rare that it only exists as a label listing to 1 for Wade Flemons -Jeanette "rare" it has slipped from 10 to maybe 6 or 7. It is likely that the copies coming up for sale now have been bought and sold a few times so not as common as it seems just by counting ebay sales. The copies coming new to the market could be from mum and dads pile of old records in the old folks cellar and in a poor state. Jackie Beavers didn't have a follow up on Revilot so perhaps they weren't 100% behind Jackie or he wasn't happy with them. Anyway the rarity of the record is probably down to a number of facts that are unique to it and not the usual reasons for other records. Rick

A copy just gone on Manship's auction . Currently at £15 so I'll give it a go at £30 , that should do it😉. ( only joking ) https://www.raresoulman.co.uk/jackey-beavers-love-that-never-grows-old-i-need-my-baby-revilot-rv-208.html

The original post from Solidsoul was comparing the rarity of Jackey Beavers to other Revilot records , which it certainly is. Even compared to any record on any label I'd rate it as rare. Back in the 1970s it wasn't even listed in the label listing for Revilot as no copies were owned by UK collectors. When it turned up in the 1980s it was always rated as a hard record to find and in demand from collectors, even if it wasn't one for the masses. If a record could only be called rare if there was only a handful of copies known, Manship would have to tone down his OTT descriptions. The last one sold on Discogs was June 2016, not sure about ebay but dozens is still fairly rare. Finally if it wasn't rare Julian B wouldn't still have it. Rick

Yes, that's what I was getting at. A few radio plays resulting in some sales but not breaking in other areas so not worth pressing enough to service national ,or East coast, distributors. The point I was trying to make is rare records, such as this one, may have sold a fair amount but not enough for a record company to promote it further. If it hadn't sold it would probably be more common.

Kegsy, are you sure about this. Looking through Record World I found it listed in the Radio Exposure Chart for 12th and 19th August 1967. So it got some radio play but I couldn't find much action following this. I'd suggest it got a few plays managed to sell most of it's small initial pressing but didn't take off, so Revilot didn't press up more copies. Also the label had a hit at this time with the Parliaments I Wanna Testify, which would have been their priority. If it hadn't sold anything it probably would have been in the deleted stocks sold off by the label. Another possibility is Revilot and Jackey Beavers not getting on so they didn't try to push the record even after limited radio plays. No follow up record could be because of this. Anyway I don't think we'll ever know for sure why it's so rare . The Record World link here, look for the page that is turned sideways https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Record-World/60s/67/RW-1967-08-19.pdf P.S. Anyone with a few hours to spare might like to look through other Record World issues to find the most obscure record to get reviewed. Dena Barnes and Epitome of Sound are a couple that had a good write up. Rick

Always ask for CDs at Christmas and birthdays as I can't think of anything else worth getting . Usually buy Ace/ Kent , Outtasight and other labels still putting out interesting stuff. Maybe not buying as many as fifteen to twenty years ago when the major labels were also issuing some decent stuff. Supermarket £5 and under selections just a waste of money. mike- got some CDs less than a month ago but more than 8 days but no category for this.

The Richard Kent Style were appearing twice around Manchester that weekend, maybe they performed one of their releases:- Just A Little Misunderstanding

Found a copy of The Manchester Evening News for June 1966 amongst a load of old newspapers. The "Where to go....."page makes interesting reading. Ben E King was appearing at The Twisted Wheel , so no surprise there, but I didn't know they allowed entry from 7 to 11 pm and then re opened for the nighter. If you didn't fancy The Wheel the Limit Club in Middleton had an all nighter for only 5/-, or how about Jimmy Cliff at the Jigsaw for 10/-. Other acts on that weekend were Wayne Fontana, The Move, Dave Dee Dozy etc, plus others that I've never heard of but sound interesting. Even Jimmy Saville was in town. Rick

The Goldmine CD -Big City Soul- Volume 1, GSCD 42, is all Liberty/Minit/ UA tracks and still seems to be available for a reasonable price.

Not exactly great photos, just a few deer in the distance, but they are a herd that are roaming free locally. I first saw three or four a few years back but they ran off as soon as they saw anyone. After the snow last week they appeared in this farm field, seemed to like it and stuck around for about five days. They've gone now but as far as I know are still in the area. Re wilding starts here.....

This is the old post about the Volumes. The photo looked better in the magazine but I don't think I could find it again.

The existence of The Volumes on Pama was discussed on here about 4 or 5 years ago. I vaguely remember seeing a photo of the record in a fanzine so I got it out and posted a scan of it on here. I was quickly informed by a number of people that this was a well known practical joke done by a Mr T Wheel (get it ..Twisted Wheel). As it was ages ago before computers etc it was a pretty good photo and looked convincing. The record may have been a planned release by Pama but it never came out, just like Darrell Banks on London issue, so could there be one lurking somewhere, who knows..... Rick

I quite liked the street scene clip. Good to see no one on a phone or holding a coffee. Simple times but everyone seemed happy and relaxed.

B&Q have been using Sliced Tomatoes for ages but just seen their ad and then followed straight after by some sort of sauce using Richie Barrett I Will Love You. Crazy. A chocolate bar a while back used Mean Man by Betty Harris . Assume the ad people just type a few words into YT or such like and pick a track from the results.

Nothing to do with the value of the record but as a bit of useless trivia there was a tape and one acetate done of the backing track of Are You Satisfied for a possible B side for a UK Cream release in 1976. Both seem to have been lost as Joe Boy couldn't find them when Rollercoaster gave them access to the Swan tapes. Rick