Rick Cooper

Julian There's a half page advert in Blues and Soul announcing the launch of 444 Records, which I put on a thread about the label round about ten years ago but can't find it now. The label design on the ad had a sort of art deco look to it. I think it listed Sam Nesbit as the first release but not sure it mentioned further titles and certainly not Chris Jackson- Since There's No Doubt. I'll try to find the issue with it in and post it again.

The Belgian Popcorn scene had couples dancing to Soul and RnB records which looked OK but a bit limiting. I've seen a couple dancing this way a few years back and they were quite good. Not something I'd like to see too much of.

Your'e not the only one who's confused. The singer sounds more like a male but is female so she is asking her man "Is it Jane or is it me? I don't know if the photo on the YouTube is the group but they have two vocalists, which adds to the confusion. Ady's sleeve notes for the Kent CD- 100 Club Anniversary Singles says of Make Up Your Mind "for some years it must have been the biggest sound down there"

Stuart Maconie's show was very predictable and boring, which was what I expected. He played almost every track from the televised and radio BBC Proms shows. Was this to show how much better the original versions are or how good the Proms versions are. It's the former for me but probably the latter for him. Two tracks that he omitted were Ray Pollard -The Drifter and Jimmy Beaumont's I Never Loved Her Anyway, were these judged too risky? Another missed opportunity from the BBC.

Get ready to party on New Years eve with Stuart Maconie's northern soul show on radio 6 but only for two hours. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tpg7

If Christmas shopping was as good as this record I might be tempted out.

For the last month or two there has been a TV advert from the NHS to persuade us old folks to get a vaccination against shingles. The background music sounds like a 60/70s funk track but not anything I can find. I've looked on YouTube and Google but couldn't find anything for this. The music starts off in a James Brown type riff and then a male voice sings " I don't wanna be an ???? man". then the voiceover drowns it out. The ???? sound like "imitated" but that doesn't make sense. Any ideas?

Radio Luxemburg for me as well. Also Mike Raven's Sunday night show on the BBC and Emperor Rosko on Saturday morning who used to slip in a few soul records that weren't in the charts.

Mark, yes some were discovered in the seventies as you say, but maybe many more weren't in the hands of DJs (or those that sold to them) or were still to be discovered from the US. Julian B's post of 5th December in the Bostock's in Bradford Market thread is a good example of how records were found but didn't suit the type of records that were popular in clubs back then but got played in the eighties . A few I remember having in the early seventies that only got played later include What Can I Do- George Kirby , Can You Remember- Rhonda Davis, Special Kind of Woman - Paul Thompson (all sold for peanuts). However, I think some records were just never found until the 80s or 90s. No one who found Jackie Day - Naughty Boy in the early 70s wouldn't have bought it blind and then not realised it's potential. Also the acetates from US studios didn't start getting liberated until later on, those who found these could probably give more details.

The prices look more like albums rather than singles. Twenty cents each for five million records is too high for singles and Morris Levy would never pay over the odds. Then selling singles for $1.70 to $3.50 in the 70s is unlikely. Also Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald are album artists, however it shows what went on back in the 70s.

Well let's hear them. In 1975 I got to go to a couple of lock up garages they had and the upstairs room behind some shops, but both of these were where they stored the pop titles and singles that had already been on the stalls and not sold. Both a complete waste of time.

Looking through the MGM and Verve label listing on 45cat, a few others I don't remember seeing are MGM- Carol and Gerri and any Invitations releases, Andrea Henry. Verve- Wilson Picket, The Chantells, Clara Ward- Right Direction, Billy Woods, any Nick Ashford, Barbara Banks, Tommy Yates. All the titles seemed to be from January 1966 to December 1968. Maybe MGM/Verve had a clear out limited to those dates which ended up at Bostock's. They also had a lot of mixed singles from loads of labels but again mainly 66- 68. These were unsorted and they put fresh stock out daily so it was easy to miss the one-offs. I think I got all the earlier Billy Butler OKeh singles and a few other good titles. Later on they found a small quantity of Alice Clarke -You Hit Me but Paul Bostock knew by then that he could charge a lot more for some titles, I think this could have been £3.00.

During 1972 and 73 I used to go to Bostock's in Bradford and later the stall in Leeds at least once a week. The titles in quantity are probably fairly well known but of the ones that I didn't see loads of are, (although they may have been very small quantities of some of these) MGM Tony Middleton- To The Ends Of The Earth Lou Roberts- Everything You Always Wanted Jewels- We Got Togetherness Roy Hamilton- Panic Is On also Count On Me Verve Youngblood Smith- You Can Split High Keyes- Living A Lie Howard Guyton - I Watched You Slowly Slip Away Robert Banks - A Mighty Good Way. I found one copy of this on a demo so there may have been a few more of this but not hundreds. There must be others as well that weren't there as the records seem to only cover those issued around 64 to 67 so no blue and yellow MGMs . As to why some weren't there it could be that there weren't any overstocks and returns on some titles as they managed to sell the initial pressing without enough demand for extra runs. The titles in quantity were all issues and they were packed in 100 count boxes, there must have been thousands of Spyder Turner- I Can't Make It Anymore but none of the hit- Stand By Me. I thought Bostock's got them through Soul Bowl but others may know more. @Ian Dewhirst would know a lot more about Bostock's and there are some past threads on here, somewhere.

Agree with Hooker1951 for Miracles- Going To A Go-Go but maybe this extended version is taking things too far.

As our esteemed Board member, Mal, has broken the rule I hope I can get away with my Tony Galla story. This is one of those records that I can clearly remember when and how I came across it, but not in a good way. When I was working at Global Records I found a single copy, probably around early 75 as it was not long after they moved to the Chepstow St basement off Oxford St in Manchester. What stood out was that it was the only yellow Swan label I'd ever seen, also Global's owner, Ed Balbier, had some of the Swan tapes in the US so could have issued it here. Balbier let me have the copy to see if I could get any interest in it. I played it at home but couldn't see how it could ever become popular so just chucked it into the rejects boxes. At the time early seventies tracks were getting played so it wouldn't have fitted in. About a year later Balbier shipped the Swan tapes over. There was a 1/4 inch final mix tape for Tony Galla which I played but still hadn't changed my verdict. Some of tapes were the 1/2 inch four track session ones which could have been mixed for the instrumental version. Tony Galla wasn't one of those so no chance of an instrumental, which would have been an improvement. I sold off most of my records late 76 but no idea where Tony Galla went. It would have been in a job lot to either Terry in Kidderminster or Gary Cape , @Dewsburyborn I don't think they would have thought much of the record either. I next heard about it was years later when it was mentioned as one of the new sixties discoveries played at Stafford by Keb. When I heard it played in a club it did sound a lot better. I have a vague recollection of reading that the yellow label issue was done for the US as it was popular in Pittsburgh and/or Baltimore. Balbier sometimes told me that some of the NS records had been big oldies in those areas. Something to do with a radio DJ. As John Manship doesn't mention this perhaps it's not true. Maybe @Chalky would know about this and who played it first.

Good to hear Terry the second, or Tell as I knew him has kept the shop going, even after lockdown, and is still attracting celebrity rock legends.

The late Francis (Terry) Thomas told me that Robert Plant would sometimes call in to his record shop in Kidderminster - Mister Tees. Robert would buy all sorts but mainly soul and RnB type stuff and had a good knowledge of most US recording artists. He must have an awesome collection by now.

I'm not sure where UK label singles are pressed now, a lot were pressed in Poland and other EU countries then shipped to the UK as there weren't any factories left here. After that they could be ordered from almost anywhere in the world. If @Bleep was asking about older releases (pre 2000) @Solidsoul and @Steve G have summed it up well. For our music there are some good examples that show the difference. Selecta Disc sold US special pressings and UK pressings on Black Magic. Soul Bowl had Grapevine , Neil Rushton had Inferno. These UK issues were done for a specialist market but they all could be ordered anywhere and the labels would have been very happy to get in the charts as some did. My small contribution is these UK pressed titles from the 70s The Spy was issued for specialist sales. Seven Day Lover was UK wide and could be ordered by any shop. I'm Not Strong Enough was for specialist shops ( not my idea but that's a long story). Share What You Got was done for a customer in The Netherlands although a few copies were sold in HMV Manchester. What makes these different is that Seven Day Lover and another five titles on Cream were listed in Music Master and the others weren't. This was a big red book that record shops used to find details of all available records. The problem was that some shops didn't deal with smaller distributors so couldn't or wouldn't have been able to order some records. Black Magic, Grapevine and Casino Classics were handled by major companies, Inferno and Destiny I don't remember being sold by the large distributors but definitely were UK issues as they were all listed in Music Master. Music Master listed some quite obscure stuff which was hard to get. I remember having to order Maryetta and Vernon Midgely LPs (loved by pensioners of the 1970s) for customers at Our Price by phoning Vernon. Music Master listed a few European issues as Conifer Distributors were allowed to market some EMI LPs in this country. They had a couple of nice 60s soul and RnB compilations. I've no idea how to define British releases now since everything has changed with the internet.

I'd also have put Cheatin Kind down as a Blackpool Mecca record but it was one that only got played near the end of the night as it wasn't the type that filled the dance floor so I can see why John swapped it for Andre Maurice- Cream Of The Crop. It seems Cream Of The Crop was first played at Blackpool and is one that could be considered a "Mecca" sound from that period (75/76). A few weeks after it first got played me and Terry from Kidderminster got a rare chance to be allowed in the store rooms at Oldies Unlimited. I think we were told everything we took would be 25p but we had to buy a large quantity. Amongst the ones we found were around 10 to 15 copies of Andre Maurice. Terry was selling records at the Mecca as well as his shop. One of these copies ended up with a Wigan DJ within a day or two and was also swapped for what are now big money titles, although nowhere near as valuable as Cheatin Kind. I think one was Get It Baby but maybe the lucky person who did the swap could let us know. At the end of John's video he asks if other people have done equally bad swaps. My worst one was swapping Lillie Bryant- Meet Me Halfway for Reggie Garner- Hot Line. In my defence Hot Line was getting a lot of plays at Blackpool and Meet Me Halfway was an oldie and my copy was in bad condition having had a lot plays for Barry Tasker at Manchester's Pendulum club three or four years before.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/154318724710460548/ Buddy Guy in the 70s according to this pinterest post

The media seem to have jumped on the Wigan 50th and many people will find it interesting to go to these sort of events and will, no doubt, enjoy them. I went to the first night and then for another couple of years but it got a bit predictable, except for the live acts. Other venues such as Blackpool Mecca were playing newer and better records so I hardly ever went to Wigan again. As a news item Wigan 50 is okay but you'll never get anywhere by looking backwards.

From the records played at The Torch the ones that stand out for me are those that I heard for the first time there even if they had been played elsewhere first. Jimmy Thomas - Beautiful Night Chubby Checker - You just Don't Know Pearlean Gray - I Don't Want To Cry Superiors- What Would I Do Tymes- What Would I Do Dramatics- Inky Winky Wang Dang Doo Lenis Guess - Just Ask Me Exciters- Number One Eddie Parker- Love You Baby Sam and Kitty- I've Got Something Good All fast and energetic, just like the people there.

The flip of Sweetness is a great Deep Soul track which probably swayed Dave Godin's appreciation. It didn't make one of his Deep Soul Treasures CDs but was title and lead track for a Kent CD - When a Man Cries. Dave came up to Manchester after The Wheel closed to visit the Pendulum club (at it's first location) but I'm fairly sure didn't bring any records, covered up or not, for the DJ to play

Artists doing their version of an old song can work if they bring a fresh approach but Texas seem to be jumping on a bandwagon, anyway no one could better James Barnett, not even Philip Mitchell. One upside is that writers Dan Penn and the relatives of Rick Hall should be in for a pay out and there is a small chance that some one could shed light on what happened to the mysterious Mr Barnett.

Good to hear that you've told Earl Young that Hold Back The Night was in the show and his response, hopefully other people will let some of the other artists know they had their records featured. I realise all those involved in the original records are elderly or no longer with us so didn't suggest they should have taken part, just a hope that they, or their families, will be told of the concert.