Benji

Motown did record a few of their big hits in Italian and German. Not sure but I think there were also French and Spanish versions.

guys, many thanks for your input! I think it's now safe to say the Romanceers were a studio outfit and they recorded specifically for Pickwick. As said before their recordings are pretty sparse on the orchestration side so I first thought the songs might have been demos. Now I think Pickwick simply tried to save money and hired just a few musicians instead of proper studio bands. They have three songs on the album, all were chart hits around that time, "walking in the rain with the one I love" (love unlimited), "You're the man" (M. Gaye) and "First time I ever saw your face" (R. Flack). I'm not really into the Gaye and Flack covers but the Love Unltd. one is great. I prefer it to the original version. The Chi-lites tracks are just the a- and b-sides of their 3 Blue Rock 45s.

Picked up the "The Chi-Lites/The Romanceers" album on Pickwick recently. Chi-Lites are a well documented soul super group. But what about The Romanceers? Does anyone have any info about them? They seem to be an all girl group. Their recordings on the album sound a bit "basic" in orchestration, so the songs might have been demos. Maybe they were a studio only group?

Honestly, I think most of the EU dealers don't give a f*ck about any new releases might turn into hot in demanders. They are merchants. They order what they think will sell to their customers.

Maybe I misread your post. But to me it read like you were against UK labels selling parts of their limited releases abroad because their main market should be UK in your opinion. Sorry if that was not correct.

I wonder what your reaction would be like the next time you try to order a limited press 45 from say the US and they cancel your order saying they only say to US because that's their market...

I'm a rather recent convert to the "lowrider" sound (must be an age thing 50+ 😉). However I don't see any point in splashing out $$$$$ for these records. I just want to listen to them, don't need to own them. Guess this dick-waving one-upmanship transferred from Northern Soul 45 to Lowrider 45s.

Yes it is. And a fabulous side too.

Obviously not….😉

What's a collector? Oxford dictionary: "a person who collects things of a specified type, professionally or as a hobby." As this forum is basically about vinyl records, in my opinion no matter how many records you buy, or for whatever reason you buy records, if you buy records you're a collector. Vinyl isn't any longer the main format. It's a niche. And to a certain extent so are CDs. So if you keep on buying vinyl or CDs you're a collector. If one is only interested in the music and not the format they can easily stream the music.

latest Discogs feedback is from 2015 so not really relevant.

Kenny Sheppard. Just because it's included in a WC themed comp doesn't mean it was actually played there (IMO).

Have no idea where this topic is heading for. @Sceneman says he's never seen a 5 Stairsteps 45 before. A number of members say there are countless of 45s. Then @Sceneman says he hadn't seen any 50 years ago at London record stalls to prove his point????????

I highly recommend Behringer U-Control audio interface. Shouldn't cost more than 20 euros or so. It connects amp and PC/laptop. For recording and editing I use free app Audacity.

Why not saying it's canadian instead of "red issue"?

Yes, some sound clips are mixed up. That Enchanters track is ace, right up my street.

Just by looking at the label one can tell the Volt 45 is not genuine. But I guess there's a market out there for collectors who rather have an unofficial US 45 lookalike in their collection than a fully licensed UK 45. Stunning track which nicely fits in with the other Deep Soul releases. And unlike the counterfeit you get another stunning beauty on the flipside when you buy the UK release.

My opinion (and I had a similar experience): Based on the pictures posted in this thread buyer is wrong, seller is right. No need to refund. I'd show the buyer the pictures of the 70s pressing and the recent one. Unless buyer is blind they'd spot the difference.

Sorry for hijacking this thread. Got my copy like almost everybody else in the early 90s. It came in white cardboard sleeve and with the photocopied track listing done by Rob's brother Chris as shown in the pic. Discogs lists another issue/press whatever with a proper colour printed sleeve and inlay. Has anyone seen that before? The Hitsville Masters - Volume 1 (1982, Vinyl) - Discogs Discogs lists both presses as from 1982. The white card board press is definitely early 90s. Maybe the other one is infact from 1982?

Irma Franklin is a bit like Maxine Brown - Let me give you my lovin. Countless copies floating around for ages. And then suddenly, like if there was a secret Rare Soul Committee deciding this is a rare record, all copies disappearing and prices soaring. I paid 15 or 20 each for both Tobi Lark 45s on Topper in the mid/late 90s. Back then the hardest on Topper was the Decisions. And it isn't even a Soul 45.

Ambers on New Art prime example for the recent collector's interest in downtempo/sweet soul/lowrider soul. Copies floating around at 15-20 for ages. Then suddenly price goes through the roof. Check out Discogs sales history. It illustrates it quite nicely, below 100 up to end of 2020. Then woosh up to 300 within 8 months. I once had the Topper label complete. Both takes of Priscilla Page, although not at the same time. Sold them all in the early 2k's, didn't see any point of keeping them back then. Shrewd businessman I am I sold both Tobi Lark 45s at 75 each to benefit from the rising demand.

Many years ago off-center records were available at a tiny fraction of their value. Most collectors didn't have a clue about how to fix it. I bought quite a few off-center records back then. Here's what I did: As already been said before easiest way is using cardboard and cutting it out. Once you have that piece of cardboard ready, put it in the record hole in the correct position and fix it on the flipside using the adhesive part of post-it notes. use many of them to really fix the cardboard. You can also use sellotape but using post-it notes the label on the flipside won't be damaged.

My profile says I joined in 2004. But that's when I "re-joined". Can't remember when I actually joined the first time. I know I left the site for some time after an argument, but don't know if my account got deleted or not. I was a member of one of the email lists since late 90s. Wasn't KTF. Was it Rare Soul Talk again? I remember KTF was more about the scene, Rare Soul Talk predominantly records. @Mike: Weren't you based in Paderborn when you started the email list? Anyway, you've been doing such a great job for well over 2 decades, many thanks for this!

Just to avoid any misunderstanding, it's not an UK release, it's from Singapore. I Just mentioned it just came out at the same time as the UK one for reference. Probe obviously had some faith in this song. They did issue it in a large number of countries, as exotic as Yugoslavia. Some of those releases went for over 20 Euros on Discogs so I thought there's a market for them out there. As the Singapore seems to be pretty rare I thought 20/30 might be a fair price for it?

Nobody? 😢