Rick Cooper

The James Fountain is definitely a genuine promo copy as it was one of the ones I stamped with a rubber stamp back in 75. The promotional copies were sent out to radio stations and all the music magazines as well as some DJs who were on the mailing list . I sent each DJ at Radio 1 a copy addressed to them personally to make sure they got one. Some were also sent to music companies and distributors as we were trying to get a national distribution deal. Each copy would have had a press release with it . I can't remember how many were done as they were taken from stock copies when needed. The figure of 50 quoted above is probably about right but could have been more, but not over 75. The contract for the record included a clause that allowed 1 in 10 for promotional use . I think this was standard practice at the time as the contract was copied from another agreement, William Bell didn't object. I'm not sure if there was a tax rule about this as I didn't deal with that side of things. I didn't keep a promo myself but have a Showstoppers with its press release. The other record in the picture is a James Fountain test pressing. There were three copies of each release done. They aren't much to look at, the record manufacturer didn't use a nice label for the test pressings. Ric-Tic, I don't have the press release for JF and would really like to see a scan of the one you have. Rick

A contestant on Mastermind has chosen to answer questions on Stax Records for their specialist subject. If it's anything like the Philly Soul questions last year they shouldn't be too hard. Probably most people should get them all but it's a lot easier sat at home instead of in the black chair. Don't expect the existence or not of the Sandra Wright LP will be one of the questions. Rick

Following on from my previous post, here's another tale from my time at Global in the 70s. The first time I went to the US with Ed Balbier I stayed at his family home in Abington. This is a typical US suburb of average to large detached houses about 25 minutes drive from the centre of Philadelphia. After we had been there a few days he mentioned that there were a few boxes of singles in the basement that I should take a look at. Balbier also mentioned that he had asked Richard Searling to have a look at them when he was there a few years before me. For some reason Richard hadn't had a look, probably ran out of time or forgot. In the basement I found about ten or twelve 100 count singles boxes lurking in a corner. The first three or four boxes had quite a few titles on the Swan label, not surprising as it was a Philly label that Balbier had bought some of the tapes when it closed down. The best titles were Are You Satisfied by The Three Degrees and the other version by Sheila Ferguson* , Heartbroken Memories by Sheila Ferguson and Gonna Find the Right Boy by Audrey Slo. These were fetching up to £5.00 with the Audrey Slo record tipped as one to watch. I think Richard Searling had it in his DJ box but never quite got round to playing it. All the titles were in quantities of between twenty and forty copies. The next few boxes were OK but then in one box I struck gold. Around seventy mint, unblemished copies of Lenis Guess- Just Ask Me in, as John Manship would say, their birth sleeves and probably box too. For some people this is just another oldie but in its day it was absolutely massive. Perhaps a bit too frantic for today but it was perfect for "energetic" twenty year olds in the Torch. It was just right for the style of dancing that seemed to be popular then. Any DJ that had a copy would list it in their Blues and Soul advert. What a find, but not quite. This was 1975 and the record had had its heyday in 1972. It had been pressed, issued on a UK label and even had that female version by Elsie Strong done . So everyone who wanted a copy already had one and the idea of only wanting an original copy had not really taken hold. The records were sent over to Manchester and offered to the wholesale customers on the phone out of new stock. I think the price was 75p . Most shops took a few copies and I bought one . I don't recall any shops frantically phoning for more copies so I suppose they didn't sell well. I don't know why the records were in the basement or how long they had been there but probably many years. So whilst the record was huge in the UK and fetching big money Balbier had been about ten feet from them every time he went back home , so near, yet they lay neglected and forgotten until it was too late. I had a photo of the Global US warehouse from 1975 but it disappeared some years ago. However this is the building as it looks today. It goes back a long way so is bigger than it looks . It is now a Baptist Church. Rick * next day correction, not Helen Ferguson as first typed, should be Sheila Ferguson. oops...

Prices look just as I remember, nothing way below the going rate. People didn't earn a lot back then and £10 for one record was a big chunk of a weekly wage. Also records were so cheap in the US and the exchange rate was around $2.40 to the pound. Phil Flowers Discontented at £10 was a massive record that seems to be forgotten now. I got a VG demo on ebay some years back for £5.00. No mention of condition as John only sold unplayed records. The mention of ZTSC collectors reminds me of the strange obsession with collecting records just because of a pressing plant matrix ,weird. Rick

Apart from the copies Soul Bowl had Global sold 600 copies of Keep On Running Away and 400 of Smoke Screen. I ordered these from a place in New Jersey that use to get indie label records for us. These were all on the coloured label version, I never ordered any more copies so never had the plain label Bits and Pieces. Packed with the records was a fairly thick catalogue of all the other records available from Nashboro. There was a lot of Gospel and Blues LPs as well as the Soul releases from the last few years. I think they also had a golden oldie singles listing. It was fairly clear that they put a lot of emphasis on promoting their back catalogue so probably were quite willing to press up anything a customer wanted. I can't be sure but it seems likely that a re-press would be done on the plain label used for oldies. As to the price today I suppose it's all down to demand but £150 for a record that must have been around in the thousands seems crazy, but what do I know. There must be loads of similar records from the same era that are just as good but go for a tenner. Rick

Fantastic CD , all the tracks were previously unreleased . The Paul Williams featured titles you list are all outstanding but for me this is one of the finest performances of any singer .

The record warehouse ,House of Sounds in Upper Darby Pa, gets a few mentions in the stories of finds so I thought I'd see if the building looked like I and others remember it. Searching the online Billboard magazine archive I found this ad from 1971 The address in this advert is a small low building so not the later warehouse. The only other place I could find was a tiny advert for BB Records, knocking out packs of 100 Country and Western singles. The address for this is Quarry St and Hamilton Ave, Darby Pa 19023. The only building that looks a possible for House of Sounds is this one Anyone recognise this as the right building. I thought it had windows but it looks as though they have been bricked in. Rick

Hi Rod Better late than never. Terry and I got Little Joe Romans and Landslide demo from Florida in 75/76 . The stuff we got from Oldies Unlimited in 74 was mainly early 70s Philly records including Andre Maurice- Cream of the Crop, which was just getting played at the Mecca. I suppose Richard Searling did that swap with you as Get it Baby and Sister Lee were played out oldies for him and Andre Maurice was a new spin. Anyway I think you owe me a drink for that deal. Apart from the Philly records from Oldies Unlimited we also got quite a few 60s Canadian issues. The best was a Ben Aitken -Satisfied on Warner Bros but also got most of the Stone label Detroit records, Eddie Parker -Love You Baby, Timmy Willis- Mr Soul Satisfaction and The Precisions releases, at least 5 copies of each title. When we paid for the records in his office there was a few shelves of singles that looked like runs of UK labels such as Stateside and London. We asked if they were for sale or could we have a look. The answer to both questions was a firm NO. If they were his own collection I'd assume they would be Rock n Roll or pop as I don't think he had any interest in soul.As other people have said he was quite a character and a shrewd business man. Incidentally, we only got the stuff in Florida because your contact there, Jose? failed to turn up when we had arranged to meet him. It's a long story. Rick

Hi Ian Yeh ,fine thanks. I don't know how I got credited with Mr Big Shot (Malc Burton also mentioned it earlier). My recollection is that I first it heard at The Blue Room in Sale when Ian Levine DJ'd there on a weekday night. Next morning at Global I checked the Gene Chandler section in the collector's odd and ends rack and found one copy. It must have been there years. I may have taken it somewhere that Friday and people assumed I had discovered it but Levine should take the credit. Another Constellation record I found in the same way was Dee Clarke- Hot Potato, one copy on the shelf for years. That's My Girl was probably there as well, but if someone had played it in 75/76 would it have taken off. Rick

I've not seen this thread before, great read, such dedication and disregard for personal safety. A few posts have mentioned me so maybe I should tell a few stories of mine. These may repeat stuff I've posted before but newcomers and casual readers may find something new. Global Records was mentioned a few times. This was one of the first companies to import records in to the UK. Based in Manchester, it was owned by Ed Balbier from Philadelphia. He seems to have owned a couple of record shops in Philly in the early 60s as I found a couple of quotes from him in the Billboard archives. By the mid 60s he was a distributor of indie labels and then moving into the oldies and deletions business. Somehow he must have found out that his warehouse full of old records was worth more in the UK than the US. Maybe UK collectors started turning up at his warehouse. By the early 70s he had relocated to Manchester with his large family and set up Global in a small basement on Corporation Street. His eldest son Eddie Jr stayed in Philly keeping the house going and the warehouse operating. He never set out to specialise in northern soul, the main business was in Country, Rock and Pop albums and oldies singles. However he knew it was worth employing someone who could pick the titles that were in demand. Derek Howe was one of the first to work there, then Barry Tasker and Richard Searling. Barry was one of the best DJs in the early days and gave Richard Searling his big break at Manchester's Pendulum Club. I got a part time job at Global in 72 ish then full time around 73. By then Balbier had moved to larger premises on Princess St and then to the whole basement of an office block off Oxford St. This was about the size of a football pitch so could hold a huge number of records. The titles in large quantities were listed for wholesaling to shops and northern titles listed on a "specials" list. There was also loads of other stock that was lying around. Some of this had been roughly sorted by artist for a unlisted collectors stock. The idea was that if someone asked what they had by ,say James Brown, it was easy to find a large selection. This proved handy when something started getting played by a known artist. I got Landslide as soon as Ian Levine played it by simply going to the Tony Clarke section. Same for such as The Coasters, Crazy Baby, Mr Big Shot and The Van Dykes. Obviously Barry and Richard had got plenty of good stuff before me so it was when new stock arrived that I got the best records. Balbier would go to the States every five or six weeks, staying in Philly and using the warehouse as a collection and packing facility. Two or three times a year he would send a container by sea freight instead of the usual air freight. He would tend to fill these with anything he picked up cheap, both singles and albums. I don't know where he bought them from but was probably smart enough not to buy anything that had already been picked clean. The singles always had some great stuff but not massive quantities. I wouldn't have time to play every unknown title so probably missed some good stuff. Also northern was still a fairly narrow genre so even playing everything I couldn't have predicted the move to mid tempo, beat ballads, RnB or funky over the last thirty years. The best container had multiple copies of Eddie Spencer, Tobi Lark, Mikki Farrow, Jimmie Soul Clarke and most of the Miracle label. Other one offs I remember were International GTOs , Gwen And Ray and Michael and Raymond. I got quite a few unknowns but just kept them rather than selling them to DJs, many eventually got plays at Stafford and later. I got to go to the States with Balbier a couple of times. This should have been a dream come true but was very disappointing.I would have to get up very early, be driven 40 to 80 miles to huge warehouses full of albums, spend eight hours sorting boxes looking for Country and Rock music, getting back late at night exhausted.We went to The House of Sounds one day but as others have said there were too many records to have any chance of finding anything. I did get a copy of Please Operator just as Levine started playing it but this was the top record of an open box I just happened to walk past on the way out. On one trip I was sent to Boston as Balbier had a tip that a shop had a load of soul singles. I got there only to find a few thousand average records , the only good find was the then unknown Marsha Gee on Uptown. My last trip with Global I was sent on my own. Another employee, Will, was already there, living in the warehouse, sleeping in a tiny little room with instructions to never leave after dark. I flew in and was met by Eddie Jr and as it was late I stayed with him that night at the family house in the suburbs. Next day , Sunday, I got the train to inner city Philly to meet Will. As I was leaving the train station a young man approached me ,asking the time. Being a young naive Brit I stopped to tell him. He then grabbed my jacket, pulled out my wallet, took the contents and calmly walked off.No guns, knives or any violence so I wasn't too bothered especially as it wasn't my money he took. I got to look through books of mug shots at the police station and ride around in a cop car looking for the scoundrel. I think this is the incident Steve(Ernie Andrews) refers to earlier on but I was definitely not hospitalised. Again the work involved a 10 or 11 hour day sorting albums with hardly any time to look for singles. The warehouse still had loads of singles but as it was February and -15C at night all I wanted to do was keep warm with a beer in the tiny office. Looking back I should have spent time going through some of paperwork and files . This may have been useful and would have been interesting. I left Global in 76 and sold most of my collection to fund a trip to the States with Terry (Francis)Thomas- Mr Tee of Kidderminster, but that's another story Rick P.S. Ian, compared to you most people are sh- sh- shy

John's original listing and the finishing price:- Short Kuts Featuring Eddie Harrison Your Eyes May Shine In 1968 Memphis came to Britain almost unnoticed, well who were the “Short Kuts” ? who indeed was Eddie Harrison? Even though “Soul” in the UK was at it’s very height, this release sneaked out without so much as a nod or wink from the active Soul fanzines or the Soul Jocks of the day… seems everybody missed it, no adverts, no or little Twisted Wheel spins in fact “Your Eyes May Shine” was completely overlooked with “Eyes wide Shut”. Surprising because this is undiluted “stompin” Northern Soul spitting attitude and indignation on ever note. Although a group, this is a Sam & Dave clone written by Isaac Hayes & David Porter, produced by Marty Lacker the driving force behind Maurice Pepper’s “Pepper Records” of Union Avenue, Memphis. If it wasn’t for the label credits you’d swear this was Sam & Dave inside the Stax Studio’s giving it up this punchy, powerhouse Northern soul dancer.. it certainly sounds like that famed Soul-dance Duo, at their most convincing.. As the 1968 British DEMO press in near perfect condition, still in it’s birth-sleeve, it is totally Dog-Rare and highly desirable; especially as, at long last the Northern Soul scene is being shook by it’s turntable activity of late. TheUSA Pepper release is quickly rising in value, this variation you just don’t see. It is of course it’s rarest form.. so click the soundfile to enjoy what we all missed in the late 60s but what has now been given it’s long overdue chance for Northern Soul appreciation. Having said all that, as you’d expect from a Memphis production the flipside also requires you attention, as the pace drop for a fine mid-tempo to Deep Soul session that highlights the purity of this gatherings vocal assets as they sound much more like the group they are.. another killer Soul session.. Two great sides, one very elusive disc as the 1968 DEMO. Sorry, this item has already been won! The winning bid was £ 230.00

Avid readers of John Manship's auctions will have noticed he has a UK copy of Your Eyes May Shine by the Short Kuts finishing on 18th November. His sales spiel is spot on except for the fact that he says that it wasn't reviewed. To be fair I didn't know it had a UK release until I saw it on ebay some years back and I only saw the B&S review recently when I got my old B&Ss out of the loft. I first heard the record when it was around on the US Pepper label in the late 70s when Soul Bowl found it in quantity. It wasn't played when it came out in 69, which is strange as it is the sort of record that would have done well. Perhaps United Artists wasn't a label that shops and buyers would expect to put out soul records. Had it been on Stax or Atlantic it may have done better. I'll leave it to others to complain about the ridiculous price he gets/got and the fact that it has been on ebay for under £30 over the last few years. The other records reviewed on the page I wish I had bought are Linda Lyndell and the Chess Requests EP but pocket money wouldn't stretch that far. Rick

sj The first Bell Sounds review I could find was from March 1968 and ran to the last monthly Blues and Soul of November 1969. When the mag went fortnightly in 1970 the Bell reviews were dropped but they started the Contempo Record Club which offered any single or LP from the US charts at 8/6d and 38/6d each. As well as reviewing Bell group singles they also did some US Chess and Stax releases. The singles weren't generally available, even if they were my pocket money and Saturday job only stretched to a couple of singles a week. Rick

Mal Sorry , small print. Review is; Easy going offering from Chuck Cockerham lacks dynamite and is destined to be just one of the many issues that are immediately forgotten (Mala 12036 Flip; Hey There). In 1969 things were getting a bit more funky so the reviewer was maybe comparing it to the newer harder records coming out. Just shows how some records eventually get their day in the spotlight. Rick

Came across this review in the March 1969 issue of Blues and Soul of the Chuck Cocherham Have I The Right single. It's right at the end of the Bell Sounds list and says it will be "immediately forgotten". Well not completely as went it for £1500 this year. I tend to agree with the review but others may have another opinion, what's yours? Rick

Looking through some old Blues and Soul mags came across these reviews for the Constellations singles on Gemini Star. I think the "Bell Sounds" reviews were probably done by Trevor Churchill as he was at EMI looking after the Bell group issues for the UK. It wouldn't have been possible to order these from your local record shop, unless that was Soul City. I suppose it was to try to raise the profile of the records from the Bell group. He must have been sent every release from the US unless Soul City got them for him. Anyone got any more info? Would EMI have been sent every US release on the labels they represented? If so what happened to them? Imagine every Veep, UA,Capitol,Tower, Okeh, Musicor, Amy,Mala and all the rest arriving weekly. Rick

Patto Here is some more Decca info but no answer to the small print question. ./forums/topic/195133-decca/?page=1 I understood that Decca and Brunswick releases often had small and large print versions but the large print version tends to be the rarer( and they look nicer). They were done at the same time just different locations. I think I had the small print Hide Nor Hair way back before it was popular. Rick

I don't think it was played in the 70s or early 80s. My first recollections of it would be Lowton and Prestwich in the mid to late 1990s but may have had earlier plays at all-nighters. The memorable thing about this record for me is hearing it on Peter Kay's TV prog Phoenix Nights or something similar. Three of the main characters were hurtling along in a car with Take a Giant Step blaring out. Someone was shouting over the music just as the silent break starts , deafening the others. Can anyone confirm this in case I'm imagining the whole thing. Rick

Marge Dodson had at least one album in the late 50s but nothing like Be Your Baby. She sounds like a mix of Peggy Lee, Julie London and Lena Horne singing the usual jazz songs of the time. The album cover has a photo that looks like it is taken in a way that makes her look like Lena Horne i.e not as a black woman. Like many other Jazz artists in the 60s she was told her old stuff wasn't selling and had to get with the "new sound, like Motown". I've got a CD that notes she had an album in 1968 that is described as MOR soul,this could be a Decca release with the single on. I've got the Soul Kitchen CD mentioned by Stateside above, and agree that it is a great track that should be played more. I'd rather hear this than Holly St James for the thousandth time. It's just the type of record that seems to be overlooked because it was first played at a time when the returnees had yet to return. Rick

There is a series of Ben E King CDs issued by Sequel in 1996 which has a listing of his Atco sessions compiled by Peter Burns in 1970. Checking through these for any info on Gettin' To Me only adds Artie Butler as arranger and exact date as 3rd February 66. However looking at the other sessions reveals another fifteen unreleased tracks. There is only the song title listed without writer credits so hard to say if they are all unknown songs. From Feb 68 was Hangin' On and You Were Meant For Me and October 68, The Look of Love and Givin' Up, the last two could be the well known songs. Anyone (Ady) know if any of the other unreleased tracks exist on acetates or are they all lost for ever in the fire at Atlantic. As to if Ben E King talked about Gettin' To Me, Ady would be the one to ask but many artists seem to have little memories of their recording sessions. Maybe they were more concerned with live appearances. Rick

Dave Well done, somebody screwed up as the originals were kept well away from the boots. Rick PS Shane Martin was on the pop list for 22p until Pep tried to order 12 copies.

Keith I've got Blue and Soul starting from around issue 12 up to 1980s you could look through. I'm just outside Manchester so not too far. Up to issue 12 Steve (above) could help. PM me for details. Rick

The Global list with Duke Browner was the wholesale list for shops but with the price codes and info changed for mail order or callers to the warehouse so the copies are the bootleg. The originals were listed on the collectors list . This was a single page of titles that were in small quantities or valuable. The original Duke Browner would have been up to around £3.00 but definitely more than 60p. Dave K emailed me some Global lists years ago but I can't get them to load anymore. Global's owner Ed Balbier used to refer to the collectors list as the "kids list" , which was not very nice. Rick

I sometimes took a few records to sell to the Blue Rooms in Sale back in the 70s. One night I had a copy of The Glories- I Worship You Baby on Date when it was quite an expensive record. Someone picked it out, asking how much it was, but he seemed to get annoyed at the price and the fact that I wouldn't take a lot less for it. Later on he came back and asked if he could show it to his mate. Five minutes later he gave it me back. When I got home I found the record had a crack from the edge to the label ........ right on soul brother, KTF...... Rick

Don't forget "The Whip" Looks like the record company and TV station tried to start a new dance but with little success. I always thought that the film Hairspray looked like a good interpretation of dance crazes in the US, unless it was overdone for the film. Line dances didn't seem to catch on in the UK but I have a vague memory of seeing some older dancers dancing in line at a youth club in 1967/8, only happened a few times . Some records had a few special moves that the girls used to do- "down on Funky Street" would mean a bended legs dip down, weird... Rick