Rick Cooper

Hi It could have been earlier than 75 , I'm not great with exact dates. I was going from the records I thought I remember playing that I think were getting towards The Mecca/Ritz type of 74-75. I did a couple of spots at Va-Va's when Richard S was away somewhere, possibly the US around 73. This would have been before Richard started at The Casino. Va-Va's was a weird club but the records Richard S played were some of the best new records ever.

The Oscar Perry - I Got What You Need sold for £363, which seems a lot but obviously must be the going price for a good clean copy. This record was one that Global Records had back in 75 or 76 in the same way as the Bits 'N Pieces record that I posted about on the auction results 31/08/22. I think the order would have been for 1000 copies as it was a big record at the time. We got Oscar's other record - Main String but probably only 500 copies. I've no idea if Peri-Tone had to re press the records or they had stock left over, the order was handled by a one-stop/distributor in New Jersey so I had no contact with Perri-Tone. Included with the records was this flyer for 4 Corner Get Down which also lists I Got What You Need but not Main String even though it had been released by then. I'd agree with John that it is a great record that most owners will be very reluctant to let go but £300+ might tempt a few more on to the market. Oscar Perry flyer.pdf

The Gloria Jones LP Come Go With Me went for £140, which seems a fair price as the record is still sealed, hopefully it won't have a piece of label pressed in the grooves. The record was one that I remember well from my spell at Global Records in the 70s. Sixties soul albums didn't sell particularly well back then, Global mainly sold C&W , Pop and Rock stuff but had some OK soul titles including Garland Green on Uni, Fred Hughes on Brunswick, Earl Van Dyke and some other mid 60s Motown titles. Usually Ed Balbier, the owner, would go to the US every month or so, buy from warehouses and air freight the records back. Occasionally he bought a job lot and sent these by sea in a container. This would be much better as there was a good chance of some rare titles, both as LPs and singles. One container was thousands of mixed LPs that had to be sorted into individual titles. We did this by opening a box, taking an armful of records and laying a title on the floor of a large space, then just piling more of the same until the pile was so high it nearly toppled over. It soon became obvious that each fifty count box had around 3 or 4 copies of Come Go With Me in it . There must have been at least 4 to 5 hundred by the time everything was sorted. Also there were hundreds of two James Carr LPs on Goldwax that soon got sold to shops in Japan. Other titles in smaller quantities were some OKeh records and a few very early Motown titles. The Gloria Jones sold fairly well to UK shops as it has some songs that people wanted on singles. It may have sold a few to Japan and Europe but it wasn't their type of thing. The copies from back then are probably, like mine, still in collections far and wide. I don't think these would fetch over £100 as they should be well played by now.

George Clinton has often said The Parliaments were a sort of copy of /influenced by The Temptations. His decision to form Parliament/Funkadelic was because he thought he would not get any success copying The Temps. More on the video about his work at Motown.

Not many comments recently but still essential viewing on a Wednesday evening. I don't really follow current prices so don't know if John's recent sales are the going rate but I thought I'd relate a story about the Bits'N Pieces - Keep On Running Away record. John remembers it as a Cleethorpes spin but I consider it a Blackpool Mecca Ian Levine spin that got loads of plays from other DJs after Ian pushed it. When Ian and Colin did the mid-week Blue Room at Sale I used to really annoy Ian by looking at the records as he played them and writing the label and number in a little notebook. Some of the ones that were very popular and only a few years old I used to add them to the orders we sent at Global Records to a place in the US that would order from the smaller labels and ship them to the UK for us. It didn't always work as some titles must have been deleted or all the stock had sold. However, quite often a month or so after posting the order ( no email, fax and not even a telex machine) a shipment would arrive that to my surprise would include something I'd taken a chance on. The best was The Carstairs on Red Coach but not far behind was Bits'N Pieces. I don't remember exactly how many we got but probably 1000. Also I'd added a few hundred of The Brothers, Sisters and Cousins- Smoke Screen record also on Nasco that was played at the same time. To use John's terminology the records were mint, unplayed never having any excessive DJ play , not only still in birth sleeve but in their birth 25 count box and packed in birth 200 count shipping box, showing only slight creasing to a few corners. Delivered direct from maternity department at Nashboro. Unlike Soul Bowl, Record Corner and Selecta Disc, Global mainly sold to other shops so the customers who knew their stuff were phoned with a list of new arrivals. Anyone around at the time might remember seeing the records for sale at their local shop, the usual price would be around £1.30 to £1.50. Bits'N Pieces sold quickly with some follow up re-orders, Brothers Sisters and Cousins didn't sell as well and was still in stock months after. Other importers must have ordered from Nashboro and it looks like it was re-pressed but not with the coloured band around "Nasco". John got £614 for the copy this week , which must be down to demand and no extra copies turning up in the last decades. The 1000+ copies that were in the UK from the seventies must still be around so maybe more copies will be up for sale soon. I like the record but for £614 I'd rather have the Soul Twins or The Artistics plus nearly £200 change.

Great track, would be nice on a single. It was on a CD Express Your Soul put out some years ago with Lev picking the tracks. Should be around quite cheap on the usual sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1O3FMQd1HE

Such a sad loss, great guy who always had time for a chat wherever and whenever he was.

Interesting question that I should think some people will have had, or will have to deal with. The one thing you can be sure is that HMRC will be well aware of the value of record collections just as much as paintings, jewelry, coins or any other collectables. My experience of dealing with an estate is that every asset had to be valued and any gifts made up to seven years had to be declared. This was quite a long winded process and most of it was done by an accountant. The total of all the assets plus gifts (using a sliding scale for gifts) was then subject to IHT if above the threshold. A record collection of, say £100000 plus a decent size house ( or a miniscule flat in London) along with other assets/savings could easily be subject to IHT. Not declaring a valuable record collection could end up with prosecution if HMRC found out. The whole thing's a minefield so it's best left to an accountant. If you find out how record collections are treated by HMRC maybe you could let us know.

In our house I'm usually "the very old dishwasher" but hopefully have many more years yet. I'm not sure how smart I need to be to wash up but I can tell when I need more Fairy or hot water. The concept that everything needs to be controlled by a smart phone is another way to sell more stuff at a higher price. For some people this maybe useful but like you I'm quite happy with a basic machine that does what you want. The last microwave we got can do loads of different things and can be programmed to come on and off anytime, yet all we do is bake spuds and warm things up. Our two year old printer can also do all sorts of fancy things but still gets paper jammed. Maybe we are all getting old and set in our ways but I suppose companies have to innovate or we'd never get any thing new.

The BBC recently launched Rewind as a place to search their archives for old interviews or news clips. This is the home page https://bbcrewind.co.uk/ I didn't have much luck searching but found this https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/6139d635544c6f002117180b?q=northern soul A clip of an interview with Sandy Holt and , if I'm not mistaken, a rare sight of Brian Rae dancing. There should be more stuff but I'm not the greatest at searching sites, maybe others might be able to find something else.

.......then got Dave Godin to plug it in Blues and Soul. Bought one from you , great record and really pleased to get it.

As a little nipper I'd have to queue up at the post office for a postal order to send off to F L Moore , Contempo or a couple of UK dealers. When I was allowed to get a bank account ( would it be age 16 or 18?) could then queue up at the bank for an IMO (International Money Order). I have a vague memory of having to show a passport but that could be for taking cash out of the country. Then there could be a wait of around a week for UK and months for US orders. I used to order a box of 100 mixed singles from a place in New York in the early 70s. Sent off the IMO then a box would finally turn up about 7 or 8 weeks later. Got some reasonable stuff but probably had Beat Ballad, RnB, Popcorn, Netherlands and Japan records but didn't realise it then. All this may have been a hassle but now you can sit at home with a laptop and credit card then 2 or 3 days later your record arrives. Where's the fun in that?

Here's some information about the RnB and Soul records that Liverpool groups performed and recorded which is worth looking at. Looks conclusive to me. https://medium.com/@pitt_bob/not-the-cunard-yanks-the-real-origins-of-the-beatles-r-b-covers-c6f2e2b3ff3b

I'm with you there about youngsters in US and Jamaica trashing their records. Also would include the Surinam community in The Netherlands and nearer to home, literally, people in this country who never put the sleeves back on their records. The ships ballast and wired bundles theory is, as far as I know, complete rubbish with no evidence. If ballast is considered to be a cheap, heavy cargo bought by the ship owners to keep the ship stable and then dumped at the docks on arrival that went out long before records were imported. This was discussed on here some years ago and I asked my brother who worked on cargo ships if he thought it happened. He told me that cargo was loaded with heavy items lowest but all cargo was equally valuable and costed the same, also ships hulls were not wet inside so no water damage to the cargo. The trade between US and Europe was massive so ships could get plenty of cargo without needing cheap ballast. The drill holes were done to signify the singles were deleted so not subject to royalties and could not be returned for full cost credit. As to stringing them on wire, why would anyone do that, it would take ages, just leave them boxed. The idea that ships had loads of singles wired up under bales of cotton just doesn't seem credible and outside NS forums I've never heard this. The five or six containers of singles I unloaded in the early seventies all arrived boxed and undamaged. Some records were water damaged but this happened in the US, I remember going through thousands of albums in New Jersey that had been soaked. Those not too damaged we sorted out for transporting by ship to UK. Apart from US teenagers mistreating their records radio stations often left the discs unsleeved, I once visited a radio station where the DJ was chucking the records about the desk and others were stuck on hooks on the wall, all without sleeves. Ian Levine's big find in Florida was ex radio station discs and all in bad condition. Sometimes I came across small quantities of singles that all had turned dull and slightly pale. I was told these would have been ex juke box records but these were usually titles from the charts. This doesn't explain why some titles are usually trashed so I'd think that could be down to almost all the stock being sold and then well played by the owners. If the record label didn't think it was worth another pressing there would not be any un played stock left. For small labels they might not have had the funds to press extra copies once the first run had sold out. Also some label owners might have thrown away all un sold stock as they thought they were worthless and just taking up space.

Thanks for finding this out. So, if there are any unreleased Ric-Tic/Golden World tracks there is no chance of an official release and other previously released tracks are also unlikely to be on an official CD. However if anyone finds a cellar full of tapes and acetates anything goes. It follows that other unreleased tracks on Universal Music Group labels will also never see the light of day which is a shame, to put it mildly.

David Was the tape the mixed version used for the single or the session tapes? Assuming the former but would be nice to know if there could ever be an instrumental. Also do you , or anyone, know if Donni Burdick ever explained how he got the backing tapes to I Have Faith In You and I Miss My Baby (Bari Track)?

Hi Robb Do you remember what the Golden World tracks were on the cassettes. If you're referring to the tapes Rod and Dave had I thought they were only Motown tracks. It would be great to hear unreleased Tamiko Jones, Carl Carlton, Adorables and Parliaments but maybe not so much the Reflections tracks. Goldmine issued CDs of the Groovesville and Solid Hitbound tracks from Don Davis including some Golden World recordings so would these have been only those done by Davis. Any idea about what happened to the Wingate tapes?

I think I've got the Ric-Tic Relics CDs stuck in the loft somewhere, bought them years ago as there was nothing else available then (or now). The sound quality seems to deteriorate on these Soul World and Soul Kitchen discs over the years so would welcome an official release using original master tapes.

As a young teenager when US records started appearing over here, Ric-Tic was the one that really stood out and threw up some great tracks. Stuff by San Remo Strings, Bob Wilson, Al Kent, Edwin Starr, Laura Lee all fuelled a search for ever more obscure tracks, even a ZTSC numbered record had to be bought blind. I believe someone has a Ric-Tic tattoo and my school books had the logo scribbled on them. Some fifty plus years later the records are mostly quite common and cheap yet I don't think the label has ever had a decent CD treatment similar to Shrine, Mirwood, RCA, Okeh etc. Anyone explain why? The popular tracks are scattered amongst various compilations but there must be enough other records to make a decent couple of CDs. When Motown bought the label I'd have thought there would have been quite a lot of recorded tracks ready for issue but then shelved. What happened to the tapes, did Motown get them? Ace/Kent recent All Turned On CD included a couple of Ric-Tic tracks with extended playing times so the tapes must be available. Maybe @Ady Croasdell ,@Gilly or others would be able to come up with some answers. I'd also include Wingate and Golden World for a CD compilation and are there any unreleased tracks?

I asked Ralph at Passion Music if there is a volume 13, he replied that there wasn't but didn't say why. How long will it be before someone claims a friend of their sisters partners cousin had a copy but sold it.

Just checked mine and yes, no number 13. Looked on the Outtasight web site and there's no 13 listed. Maybe Glen at Real Side is superstitious and skipped unlucky 13 .https://www.outtasight.co.uk/#!/Outta-Sight-CDs/c/4408549

Same as SolidSoul I remember Stanky as a Lowton spin then everywhere else soon after. I'd agree that it got a big dance floor reaction but not one I'd want to own or play at home. I first came across it around 72-73. It was talked about as a record to look out for and Cobblestone was trending with The Vonnettes and Sounds of Lane at the time. I think Richard Searling had it in his DJ box, I can vaguely recall seeing his copy in one of his distinctive felt pen calligraphy white card sleeves. I don't remember hearing him , or anyone , play it in a club at the time. I found four or five copies when I worked at Global so put it on the Specials list (or kids list as owner Ed Balbier called it) If I played it I can't remember, never bought a copy and it never took off so I was surprised when it went big . Many years ago Dave K (DtheDrug) sent me scans of some old Global lists and it was listed at £5 on one then reduced to £3 or less on another as it didn't sell at all.

Thanks to Simon T for finding my post from 2015 that I had completely forgotten about so I didn't need to search around the loft to find the March 69 B&S to answer your question.

This is a page from Blues and Soul magazine that reviewed Chuck Cockerham (last three lines on right hand side) I put this on last time John sold a copy (not that long ago) but seeing as he has used the same sales blurb as last time I might as well put this on again. The review was probably done by Trevor Churchill who I think was working at EMI and handling the Amy/Mala/ Bell catalogue. They had launched UK Bell instead of using Stateside for the Bell labels so wanted to raise the profile for the new records. There was no chance that your local record shop could get the US Bell discs, maybe Soul City might have had them. I wonder if EMI would get a copy of every US record they had a deal with. The review seems about right as the record was unlike anything at the time. I think I probably bought some of the re-issues listed on the left side.

Anyone remember this