Rick Cooper

Up In The Streets Of Harlem - One of their best sixties sides and a Bert Berns composition and production so got to be good.

For his 60s MGM tracks try the CD "Warm Soul" on Poker DECKCD104, includes The Panic Is On and You Can Count On Me. RCA and his final AGP tracks are on the CD "Tore Up" from Shout ,number SHOUT 44. includes the northern tracks and some superb deep soul recordings, an essential CD as it would be hard to get all the singles . Both these were on Cherry Red distributed labels but are deleted now so you may have to search around a bit. Rick

Not strictly a Manchester club , being a few miles away, but it(Druffies) was mentioned on this thread so this may bring back memories for anyone who was there on the night. I don't know why the DS thought it worthwhile raiding a small mid week club, probably an easy target. I don't remember who the main DJs were but seem to think Martyn Ellis did it quite a lot. Frank Elson visited a few times and wrote reports in his Blues and Soul column. The records played were very good for a small club. The main thing I remember is trying to persuade Steve Vickers to do a deal on the records he was selling, usually unsuccessfully .

Soul City's "Who Knows" is a revelation as going by Everybody Dance Now I'd never have thought the group could sound so different and produce a stunning version of the song. Barbara Lynn never made a bad record so no surprise there. The Helena Ferguson track is the flip of My Terms so also a good double -sider. Got the CD a few days ago and just as good as the other four. How about volume 6 ?

I think we'll have to wait and see. As with biographies of the rich and famous many writers will bring their own interpretation of the past but that doesn't, and shouldn't, stop other people from adding new books.

Chalky As Keith hasn't replied I thought I'd give you a little of what I know. Keith Gildart is an academic at Wolverhampton University and the book will be more a sociological study of northern soul rather than anecdotes of participants. He, and his co author, have been researching this for quite a long time now using contemporary printed source material such as my old Black Echoes, Blues and Soul, Fanzines as well as those provided by others. He has interviewed those who responded to his other posts on here as well as anyone else he could persuade. I don't know who they are but there will probably be some who he couldn't find or refused to take part. Regrettably, some who could have helped are no longer with us so the whole story can never be told. I believe he had to set a cut off year around the early 80s as the book would have grown to unmanageable proportions. This will probably upset many people but I think the idea is that it is a study of a youth culture. As with any books of this type there is bound to be criticism of his views but I hope his research is as accurate as it can be. Rick

I used to tape the show on a small reel to reel machine with the microphone by the radio speaker. As soon as Mike started talking I'd stop recording until the next record. I've still got the tapes but suspect I taped over them and don't have anything to play them on now. For some reason this record sticks in my mind as one he played over three or four weeks.

Gerald Simms?

Hi Dave Fine thanks, hope you're well. Bob found me some really good stuff at first , one offs like Double Cookin' and a Carstairs when it first started getting played. For titles like Celeste Hardie he must have bought all the unsold stock from the record company which is why it didn't turn up in quantity later on. It sounds like if he couldn't get enough original copies from the label he got extra copies pressed up via the record company. I'm sure if he ordered 1000 copies a small label would be happy to oblige but then they cut corners on label designs and vinyl quality, the Cassanova Two copies he had were rubbish. Rick

I found this letter from Bob Cattaneo a.k.a Daly City Bob or Soul Odyssey, which is his invoice from April 1975 for some records I ordered which includes 3 copies of Celeste Hardie at 50p each. As I ordered 3 of this but 20 Don Thomas it gives an idea how it was rated then. I don't remember it being played at the Mecca but as we left early to catch the best chippy in Blackpool before last orders we missed the famous last hour. I think Ian played it early doors at the Sale Blue Rooms but it wasn't really a major floor filler. As others have mentioned it sold for around a couple of pounds and was one that sold slowly and lots of people had it for sale. I think the guys from the West Midlands were buying in bulk from Bob so they must have had loads of this. It's possible that Bob discovered this and bought all the remaining stock for a few cents each. For a few years around the early 70s Bob Cattaneo was finding some great records for the UK. He soon learnt what was wanted and raised his prices. When stuff from the 70s started getting plays he could probably buy up loads of stock from the local record labels. Apparently he was quite a character so if anyone knows more about him I'd like to know. Of the other records on this invoice the Casanova Two was a nasty thin pressing which he vehemently denied being a bootleg , maybe he had a deal with the record label. The Johnny Baker could have been Shy Guy as I think Operator Operator was exclusive to Neil Rushton. The postage was a whole £5.00, extortionate, being 25% of the records total, but at least he declared the records as a "gift". Rick

JJ I haven't had a catalogue from Ace for years ( at least 8 ) so don't think they do them anymore. All their releases are on the website but the nice full colour catalogues were very nice. https://acerecords.co.uk/home Rick

This is one of a handful of records where the backing track is so strong, having a lot of instruments, top session musicians and solid production that even the best vocalist struggles to compete. Same goes for Crying Over You and Festival Time. Like others have mentioned Exus Trek brings back memories of The Pendulum and The Torch so that tips it for me.

Millarman Plagiarizing or sampling? now there's one for the lawyers. Using a couple of bars from I Got Plenty of Nothing as the intro I always liked as it sets the scene for the song. So sample, tribute or variation on a theme possibly, but still a great record. p.s. I see this is your first post, so first of many hopefully. Rick

Does sound similar to Jan Jones but probably a coincidence. Tony Clarke lifted the opening and organ instrumental break straight from Gershwin's I Got Plenty of Nothing , I assumed this was something to do with being an entertainer and a sort of reference back to old songs. No songwriter credit to Gershwin though, which was a bit naughty.

Always one of my all favourite records from when, as a little lad, I first realised that there was a whole load of music that Radio One ignored. Not sure where or when first heard it but still never tire of hearing it again. Tony Clarke never made a bad record so what else he could have done we'll never know. Rick

Since the imminent collapse of HMV back in 2018 the company was saved and the new owners had plans to revive the shops by refreshing the stock so that buyers would always find something unexpected and interesting. Since then I've been in the Stockport shop a few times but not noticed any change until this week. They have reduced the Soul CD section by about 75% and other CD categories by about 50%. Instead there is now loads of vinyl LPs in bins that make the shop look just like one from the 60s. The soul section is fairly small , mainly back catalogue but a few new recordings. If this is the way forward I'm not sure I'll buy much but it would be a shame if HMV couldn't survive the troubles affecting the High Street. Anyone else noticed changes in their local HMV. Most of the new CDs I buy I try to get direct from the label or small distributors as this, hopefully, gives them a better margin than going through Amazon. Just got the latest Soul On The Real Side CD from Outta Sight which I doubt even the biggest HMV would stock. Where do others get their CDs from? Rick

Hi gogs Yes, saw it after I'd posted but how about some nice pics. Rick

Long since gone but back in the late 70s I used to have a few Bobby Patterson yellow vinyl singles on Jetstar. I think they were all promos and at the time quite common yet no one has posted one up. Are they still around or have they disappeared in to dormant collections?

Harry Global Dog listing gives year only but I suppose you could work out early, mid or late release from the numbering system .https://www.globaldogproductions.info/ Rick

Didn't know Universal owned Capitol now , are they trying to get everything. The reports about the fire didn't list any Capitol artists such as Sinatra or The Beach Boys so maybe Capitol have their own archives somewhere else.

There was a report about this on the radio as well. The interviewee dismissed Universal's claim that nothing had been lost forever as he pointed out that these were the original multi-track studio tapes. So are any tracks that had never been released now lost forever? It looks that way but as Universal didn't seem to want to allow anyone to look at the tapes no one can know exactly what has been lost. Imagine what Ady and the guys at Ace could have found in tapes from Chess, Blue Rock, Smash, Philips, Mercury, MGM, Verve and loads of other labels. I hope Columbia, Warners, Capitol and others take better care of their tapes and get round to doing something with them apart from re-hashing more "greatest hits" comps. Rick

Tricky to find female only mid tempo on CD and even harder on LP, but maybe something here- https://acerecords.co.uk/the-girls-got-soul Worth checking all the Ace "Where the Girls Are" volumes. You can listen to snippets of each track on the CD but some could be a bit too pop sounding unless you like girl groups. An old CD that might be knocking around is "What More Can a Woman Do" on Westside. If you just want 60s females try https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/looking-good-75-femme-mod-soul-nuggets/ Maybe only 20 or so tracks are what you're after. I quite like this one as a comp even though some tracks are not soul they sound OK together. Another old one that is probably long gone is "Dream Dancers" on Soul Kitchen , not all female but nice mid tempo. Sound quality not great as it might not be quite kosher. Rick

A lucky squirrel found one of last year's apple crop and sat on the fence just outside the shed window.

Last Saturday Radio 2 had a program about London clubs around Soho in the 1960s by Carl Leighton-Pope with some music played in the clubs. It doesn't go into great detail but might be worth a listen. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0004rtz

Purist Some good points here, but a few things in the last paragraph I'm not in complete agreement with. Taking your example of Bobby Bell , RCA made a decision to sign him, pick some songs, rehearse him, pay session musicians, arranger, producer and studio time. Then have a record made with all the production costs, maybe have some photos done, perhaps buy a stage outfit, arrange a few live shows and mail out loads of promos. All this could be charged against Bobby's sales royalties but still had to be paid for even if some were in-house. This must amount to a large investment by RCA but then you state that to spend a couple of hundred dollars on stock copies would affect cash flow. I can't quite see how this makes sense for any company as they only get cash flow by selling records. If they then only press stock when they get orders how many orders do they want before pressing the record, 500 ,700 ,1000? Then if these sell what would the next press be 300, 500? What would happen to the orders from shops and distributors if they never pressed any stock? I can't see shop owners being too pleased to order a record without any idea when and if they would get it or not and the artist and his manager would be livid. Having imported, exported, sold wholesale and retail records for a few companies in the UK from 1972 to 1990 the main lesson I learnt was to get the stock in as many shops as possible as quickly as possible. The average customer would have a few pounds to spend and maybe three or four singles they wanted. If the shop didn't have their first choice they might settle for second or third choice but if the shop didn't have those they would go somewhere else. Almost no one would be prepared to wait whilst the shop ordered a record that might take weeks to arrive ,if at all. By next week there would be some other records they want. So every record shop would make an effort to get records in stock before the customers asked for them. Also record companies would go to great lengths to get their product in store. Although the Virgin shop I worked for was not on the chart returns list we still got reps calling in with new stock or phone outs from the company sales department. I can't see US teenagers being any different to here and record companies would be just as keen to get their releases in stores, even offering sale or return facilities. One other point is, if the companies held back on pressing stock until a record took off there would be a lot more titles, probably hundreds, on promo only and it would happen across every label. The handful of titles known on promo only are down to exceptional circumstances, such as legal problems , artist army call up, fraud , Dave's "shenanigans" or something else unusual. Rick