Rick Cooper

I don't remember the Sunday open days for dealers. If I was working there when Balbier had these he didn't ask me to come in, just as well as I wouldn't have been at my best on a Sunday. I suppose he would have had most of his children helping. The eldest sons , Gregg and Brian, would have been in their late teens and the older girls around ten to thirteen, so could have taken care of purchases and the buffet. Did Ed let you go everywhere in the warehouse? usually access was strictly limited, also what was the name of your shop? He had another special promotion/competition for dealers whilst I was there. Over a few months the dealers who had the biggest increase in their purchases would win an all expenses paid trip to the Munich Beer Festival. I think it was probably the top five, plus a partner or guest, who went. As well as the winners all of the staff went and all of Ed's eight children, so quite a party. I have vague recollections of the trip but as you can imagine this is a bit hazy. Somewhere I have a photo of everyone outside the hotel but I've not been able to find it. As Mark has said Ed Balbier was a very hard working man who made , unknown to him, a contribution to the early days of northern soul. Mainly due to his decision to come to the UK in 1971 and especially locating in central Manchester and not London . Perhaps he had done some research before coming over. Rick

Not a mistake by the musicians but whoever edited or transferred the tape left the count-in and someone, Clarence? coughing on the master tape. Could be mis-labeled tape or the engineer doing the mastering slipped up . Anyway I always quite liked it but can't see a radio station wanting to play it like this.

The other side of the disc, Without Your Love, is on a 2006 Goldmine CD ,Beat Ballad Heaven. Tim Brown's sleeve notes for the track state that the record was withdrawn as the publishing details were left off the stock copy labels. A scan of the label shows the left side of the label blank, without publishers name. Without checking I think OKeh often didn't have publishers name on stock copies so maybe not required except for promo records. He also speculates that Charles Brandy could be Robert Banks, which judging by comparing the vocals sounds possible but without evidence I'd say it is just another unproven theory.

Rob I see you were asked before and this is a very old thread but could you explain exactly why HDH used a 1965 track three times for Just Brothers records. When HDH recorded new tracks wouldn't they have the resources to finish enough new songs for flip sides and not have to use Sliced Tomatoes again. Was it just as a favour to the Hollands' sister and brother-in-law or did Just Brothers use the song in their live shows and it had a local popularity. Rick

t . https://www.americanradiohistory.com/hd2/IDX-Business/Music/Billboard-IDX/IDX/1967/Billboard-1967-07-29-OCR-Page-0018.pdf#search="the shakers" The link above is for the Billboard review for One Wonderful Moment. I found the advert in the 5th August 1967 edition of Billboard but can't work out how to separate it from the rest of magazine.

I can't find it now but I've seen a full page advert for One Wonderful Moment in Billboard magazine online archives promoting it as a new release. I don't think it had a photo of the group, maybe some clever person could find it and post it .

I was told a story by the late Terry (Francis) Thomas about Scott's on Swingers. Anyone who knew him will know that Terry would always try to speak to the artist at a show and get something signed, usually a sleeve or a photocopy of the single. When Edwin Starr was touring in the late 70s following his disco hits ,Contact and Happy Radio Terry took along his Scott's on Swingers and showed it to Edwin. He was amazed to see the record and demanded to know how and where he had got the single as no one was supposed to be able to buy or sell the disc. It was the first copy Edwin had seen since it was made and he wanted Terry to sell it to him, no chance. My recollection of the record is that it started as a rumour amongst collectors around 73 or 74. I originally thought it was the product of an over stimulated imagination or another wind up like the infamous 6x6 vocal and The Spy vocal, courtesy of Dave McCadden . Fairly soon after that it turned up and I got a copy from somewhere as someone must have located a decent quantity, I'd think around 50 -75 . They were double sided and all unplayed. I don't know who found them, John Anderson or Martin Koppel would be the most likely but I have a feeling it might have been Neil Rushton. Neil was getting some very nice rare stuff , he had quite a few Bari Track around this time . Maybe @Neil Rushton could confirm or deny this. As it wasn't a "must have" for DJs the price wasn't a lot and I don't think it went up in value for decades. I sold one in 76 and don't remember a big price i.e. over £10. Rick

Stephen, I wasn't commenting on the records but on the fact that northern soul is now used on the TV , radio and other media so much that it's use on Cold Feet is just another regrettable appropriation of our music by the mass media. I wish they'd leave it alone. Rick

or maybe this one? or going back to the sixties Anna King did Mama's Got A Bag Of Her Own as a female take on JB, on YT

Yes, saw that as well but judging by the lack of response on here I guess we all are so used to hearing such records on the media that it's not as special anymore. Was going to mention The Great Pottery Throw Down on C4 had Tainted Love, Cool Jerk and I've Only Got Myself To Blame within half an hour, but so what.

Marginal , or someone else, must have redone the above CD with two extra tracks, You Got The Power and Someday The Sun Will Shine. On the Solid Smoke LP the last paragraph of Ollie McLaughlin's sleeve notes he says that they recorded several songs that were never released . Four are on the album but it is not clear if they are the only ones or "several" means more than the four. Ollie may not have rated Someday The Sun Will Shine or he may not have had the tapes for some reason. I think we can be fairly certain the CD version was not done from any proper tapes. Sorry the photos not too clear.

Hi Chalky I had a feeling that I had heard something about the Atlantic tape vaults so had a quick search which revealed that a fire had destroyed the tape vaults housing the original studio tapes . More details here under the heading- Long Beach Warehouse Fire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Records The Deon Jackson studio tapes could still exist if Carla/Karen kept the original tapes and only sent Atlantic the mixed tape. Same goes for other labels that Atlantic distributed but ,as you say, it would be great if the big labels opened their vaults for CD compilation before it's too late. Rick

Hi Siz- Hope you're keeping well after all these years. Thanks for posting, interesting to see the prices other types of music are fetching. I'm surprised to see Jazz and Classical albums are going for four figures, knew they were going for hundreds but not thousands. Do you know what was so special about the Led Zeppelin album that made it go for $2597 instead of $2.59. Rick

Try this one, hopefully this should make you very happy James Barnett- Take a Good Look

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