Rick Cooper

Not my thing for various reasons but obviously it was an enjoyable event for lots of people so can't complain. What would be nice if some of original artists, producers, arrangers and musicians (or their families) were aware their work had such a prestigious airing. The Performing Rights Society should have collected a considerable amount of money, some of which should filter down to the songwriters. I'm sure they will be more than happy to receive payment after so long.

It would have been around 67/68 I started buying old soul (as NS was called then) and then I'd probably only heard about the record rather than heard them in a club. My local youth club played quite a lot of Motown/Stax/ Atlantic and Edwin Starr but that was about it. I used to get F L Moore's lists and would buy a couple every month or so and then bought fairly regularly from B&S/Contempo when they started listings in B&S . I went to Soul City and Contempo once around 68/69 and bought a few but lack of funds and knowledge limited my spending. I've often wondered about F L Moore so maybe @Roburt or others could shed some light. Who was/is F L Moore and was it a regular shop that spotted the demand for old records. Where did they get the records from, was it in bulk job lots from the US, ordered by title from the US or via an importer in the UK. How did they know what to charge for each title as from what I remember of the lists there was a price range from under 10/- to 17/6 +. I think I heard that they had some titles in very small quantities that never made the lists such as one copy of Leon Haywood's Baby Reconsider. If so did they know they were valuable and who to and how did they sell these. Finally, they seemed to stop the lists just as demand was taking off. Why was this, as being one of the first to sell NS they should have been able to capitalise on the rising demand, did their supplier cut them out? As to what was the first major imported NS title Bobby Bland- Call On Me is a good candidate. I remember it was one that was in demand and supply was very limited. At the time I tended to think that Bobby Bland was an artist for the old RnB and Blues fans so not for a young gun like myself, of course I now see the error of my ways. I got Bunny Sigler's - Let the Good Times Roll on French Stateside from Contempo and remember this being quite an event as up till then they had not had many in demand titles just loads of Chess/Checker/Cadet titles. I don't think EMI were involved in importing this as they wouldn't have bothered importing a few hundred copies just for a niche market and the legality could have been tricky . There used to be an importer called Conifer that handled European EMI label titles that UK EMI didn't issue but when I was dealing with them in the 70 and 80s they only handled albums. Maybe Blues and Soul imported them from France which would have been fairly easy. I reckon this could be the first NS major import,even if it had been released in the UK, as it was a one off from France rather than the hundreds of US titles coming over.

Fascinating stuff, especially the Detroit 60s charts. It must have been amazing to hear records from all these small labels, just shows that the old line that these records disappeared without trace is way out. In 1976 I spent three weeks travelling from NY to Florida with Terry Thomas (Mr Tee of Kidderminster). These photos are of a radio station we got to go round ( Terry would just go in anywhere and ask, not always successfully, to be shown round). We got to meet a DJ during his show but I don't remember who or what the format was, probably soul/RnB, it would be nice to see a chart of what the station played. What I do remember is that all the singles were unsleeved on the desk with back ups hung on wooden dowels fixed to the wall. There is a WPDQ in Jacksonville so it could be that one but it is now a sports radio station. A year before this I was working in Philly and tried to listen to the local radio stations. The playlists seemed to be mainstream hits from the major artists and labels with almost nothing from small indie labels. One title that was getting a lot of plays was Fat Larry Band's -Centre City. Ian Levine started playing this at The Mecca but it must have been at least six weeks after I'd heard it in the US. Perhaps it was a local Philly hit before going national and then making it's way over here.

Two tracks as J.G.Lewis are on Kent CD - Mainstream Modern Soul 1969 to 1976- CDKEND 440. tracks are I'm The One Who Loves You What Am I Going To Do

A couple of trivial facts about Tell Me Why, Walt Khan, the records producer, mixed the instrumental track of The Four Perfections I'm Not Strong Enough in 76 for the UK Cream release. Maybe not as good as Bari Track but he bought out the instruments really well. I had to collect the finished tape from Walt's studio in Philly and on the wall of the reception area was a framed stock copy of Tell Me Why. I told Walt the record had been played in the UK, which he was surprised to learn. The record hadn't taken off in the US but he must have been proud of his involvement to get a copy framed. Of course I should have asked if he had any copies to sell or were there any unreleased tracks, but I didn't. Walt Khan went on to produce quite a few big disco hits so may have got some real silver or gold discs to display.

Rick John Abbey is on Facebook and seems to post things fairly regularly, he may answer a question about this if you contact him. I should think he could write a very worthwhile book as he was a major player for quite a few decades.

I think I went to most of the all-nighters at Va-Va's as there was no where else to go. The club was not the usual type of venue, being more of a trendy disco with flashing lights and mirror balls. The dance floor was good but, as has been said, had glass or mirror screens around it, a bit weird and not what we were used to. The records Richard played there were all the top sounds and most you couldn't hear any where else. I don't remember if there was another DJ with Richard, maybe Martin Ellis. In those days DJs seemed to have more stamina so didn't need a squad of others to do an all-nighter. For some reason Richard couldn't do one night, I think he may have been in the US, so he asked me, and others, to help out. The DJ booth was at the edge of the dance floor with a glass screen in front and behind which was strange. There was a good atmosphere at VA-Va's but had no chance once Wigan Casino opened.

Oldies Unlimited seemed to be very active around the 1970s as a seller of pop oldies but never tried to compete in the rare soul market. Selecta Disc had the mass market and Soul Bowl for rarities. I think the owner was Anthony Lewis and definitely not the guy in the above photo. I think he would have been in his thirties and looked like an accountant or Geography teacher. He was straight to the point and blunt but in a nice way. He was probably fed up with us lot spending all day messing up his stock and then only buying less than 100 records. I got to go sometime around 74 or 75 with Terry Thomas from Kidderminster. He was selling records at The Mecca and his shop so could buy in quantity. We were shown a small back room with loads of boxes which he said we could take whatever we wanted for a fixed price. There weren't any TK titles so they must have come later but a lot of smallish indie labels from Philly and NY such as Today/Perception and Jay Walking. There was quantity of Andre Maurice- You're The Cream Of The Crop, which was a new spin for Ian Levine. We also found some Canadian records mixed up with the US stock, three Precisions titles , Eddie Parker- Love You Baby and Timmy Willis on Stone in small quantities. The best finds were one copy of Ben Aiken -Satisfied on Warners and Billy Butler- I'll Bet You . I don't know where he got his stock from, maybe Soul Bowls excess or containers from The House of Sounds in Philly after John Anderson had taken his pick. Oldies Unlimited wasn't a major supplier of rarities but did sell some great stuff that is now fetching good prices.

These are some photos from our visit (me and Terry Thomas) to Tone/TK in 1977. The first shows the main frontage, going down to the right was the warehouse and going left was the office and recording studios. We were being shown around by the lady in charge of promotion and she let us go in the offices. Here we met Betty Wright and shown the studio. Outside we bumped into Steve Alaimo who was just leaving. We got to go in the warehouse and allowed to sort through the stock. However after less than an hour it was obvious we weren't going to find any old records. All the stock was less than a year old which could have included some titles that would go on to fetch good prices but at the time wouldn't have been worth buying. The people we met at TK were all really friendly and welcoming.

Julian I bought a few Action singles as new releases and they all had plain sleeves, I've never seen a company sleeve and couldn't find anything on Google images. I remember having a small Action promo leaflet that had all the titles issued up to the last few red/yellow ones. I got it from Ralphs Records in Stockport so Action must have sent these out to the small indy shops that stocked their records. It's long gone now, both the shop and the leaflet.

Joel, Great article and fascinating background info to a much loved record. It would be good to hear what Bruce has to say about the Partytime issue and maybe ask him the story to the Four Perfections record on the same label. There's a white label vinyl single sided test pressing of a Showstoppers record that has ST 102 on the run out. Could you ask Bruce about this, was it going to be a follow up to House Party and was it recorded at the same session?

Here are some pages from the "Pen and Paper" pages of Blues and Soul where they printed requests from readers looking for old records. Makes interesting reading as it shows the records and people at the start of northern soul, although it wouldn't have been called that yet. One letter from Wheel DJ Les Cokell and a few from Fred Benson, who seemed to be on the ball, I wonder if anyone sold them the records they wanted. The "records wanted" section only lasted about 10 months. Also is the review for Your Chess Requests EP highlighting the built up demand for The Entertainer. Also released the same month Short Kuts and Lynda Lyndell records which I could have bought, but didn't.

Like @Nickinstoke I remember a lot of reissues around 1968/9 as I was just starting to buy singles but was too young in 64 -66 when the records first came out. To check what the titles were I had a quick check in some Blues and Soul mags. Some are July 68 -Fascinations- Girls Are Out To Get You . Bob and Earl- Harlem Shuffle. Homer Banks-A Lot of Love/Sixty Minutes August 68 - Your Chess Requests EP (Tony Clarke- Entertainer) The EP title says it all. October 68- Doris Troy - I'll Do Anything. The review for this says "been in demand since it was deleted some months ago" January 69- Jackie Lee-The Duck. Jamo Thomas- I Spy May 69 - Tony Clarke- Entertainer, now on a single June 69-Dobie Gray- In Crowd. Flamingos - Boogaloo Party March 69 - see PDF B + S singles March 69.pdf Soul City , Action, B&C, Beacon, Pama and a few other labels were issuing some records for the first time here that are now Northern titles but I think they just wanted to put out records they liked and had realised that they would sell well north of Watford

Mal, Yes records as ballast totally untrue , NS myth number 5. Spyder Turner's first MGM record -Stand By Me got to number three RnB and twelve on Pop Billboard charts so could have sold near or over a million. I Can't Make It Anymore only made it to 95. I don't remember Stand By Me in the Bradford market stock. Quite often the record labels would press up loads of a follow up record and then have thousands left over when it didn't sell as many as they hoped.

Dave, I got my CD a couple of days ago. Royal Mail still seem to having a few issues so assuming you've ordered from Ace and not Amazon I wouldn't worry yet.

The shops that stocked northern records would have to order from the specialised wholesalers so not the likes of Woolworths, WH Smith, Boots etc. However, there were all sorts of strange places that you would find records for sale. These could be petrol stations, newsagents, corner shops and funfairs up and down the country who would have got a job lot from Bostock's in Bradford. These would include lots of MGM/Verve singles and always had copies of Spyder Turner - I Can't Make It Anymore on MGM. It was everywhere around 73/74 but is a great record that everyone would own , especially as it would cost around 25 - 50p . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34WLRnyMLiw

I suppose it would have been around the same time (Autumn 73) that I have a fairly clear memory of three or four older guys turning up at Pendulum in Manchester with some boxes of singles. This wouldn't be unusual but what stood out was they were from London, the records they had were unbelievable and they weren't for sale. I'm fairly sure there was a Four Larks - Groovin' at the Go Go as well as a Cooperettes Shing a Ling with the larger print title and artist as well as many others. Some of these got played that night. I think someone mentioned that one guy was Dave Rivers. Since then I've often wondered how and where they got the records. Did they get them from the US or were there imports knocking about in London? Would the UK record companies get sent every release from their US counterpart and they eventually cleared them to shops or collectors, or did shops like Soul City import titles in the late sixties. I remember a few people( @Modernsoulsucks) from Manchester would go to London record hunting in the early 70s although when I went later on there wasn't much around.

Found some Italian versions on YT

The Supremes recorded Where Did Our Love Go in German as Wo Ist Unsere Liebe. I think there might have been other Motown artists with foreign language versions, @Robbkmight be able to help.

7 out of 8, but with a couple of lucky hunches.

Long before CDs and downloads the only way to listen to a song would be on the 45 or LP so back then I'd try to buy everything I liked but also started buying records that were on certain labels or artists even if it wasn't a must have title. In the 70s the labels I'd look for were such as Ric-Tic, Mirwood, Okeh, Loma, Brunswick, Thelma, and lots of others. Never had , or wanted, complete runs of some of these but came close on a few. All were arranged by label so I suppose this would count as being a collection. Sold up in the late 70s but then started buying again in the 80s ,singles and the compilation albums on Kent, Soul Supply, Grapevine etc. Like others now buy the occasional cheap 45 but mostly CDs. If there are a series of CD titles I buy every volume as it comes out which might count as collecting but with the likes of Kent these are always too good to miss anyway. Having looked at RobbK's definition of a collector I'm perilously close in another area but that could be a subject for the Freebasing forum one day.

Not quite in the same league as the Shrine location, this is the building that in the 1960s to 80s was the location of Global Record Sales at 2512 North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Up to the mid 1960s they distributed a number of small indie labels that needed a Philly seller then went in to oldies where some great records went in and out of the door. The first photo was in 1976 and the second one from 4 or 5 years ago. The tree is still there but now a bit bigger. I think Virtue studios and Jamie /Guyden weren't very far from here.

Before my time so not guilty.

Chuck Cockerham would have never gone in a Soul Pack when I was at Global. One-offs were never put in packs, Ed Balbier was paranoid (probably justified) about rarities slipping out that he would sometimes check a box before it was sold. Collette Kelly quite likely as there was thousands of blue Volt and yellow Stax titles in the mid 70s.