Agentsmith

to this day, richard is just THE consumate professional with the mic, information is neither negligable nor long winded..the response from the dancers is adulent and automatic such is the man's indelible charisma....its hard to get over the fact that he still has the enthusiasm and verve at gone 60

pete, is the second track in harley hatcher by any chance?

i have a copy of r.dean taylor's ghost in my house on canadian motown ( as opposed to other releases that turned up on different labels ). it was obviously timed to coincide with its u.k. issue in 74 however, the b-side, lets go somewhere is different in that it dosnt have the spoken intro...

its a controversial tune i suppose, but people have been chasing it now for about 6 or 7 years and ive noticed it turning up on playlists again, so perhaps people have got over the initial apprehension of chancing their arm with a blue eyed soul-a-like but its got that driving dynamic philadelphian production that can be only associated with one icon....the legendary thom bell,...how can anyone deny him respect?. anyway, good luck hunting this down...it should set you back at least 3 figures but imho, worth it.

look at chris anderton's site...he's got one for sale, think its a demo ( midastouchrecords )

2 tunes; fabulettes - "screamin' & shoutin' fantastics - "me & you" prices please....

im not critisizing or condemning THIS music....you're talking about people who still want to make REAL RNB/ SOUL, not these juvenile pop artists who THINK they're portraying what rnb & soul is......THATS THE DIFFERENCE...i know if i want to buy whats coming out of the states in the way of nu soul, i need look no further, for instance, than soul brother in putney...those guys have always been at the forefront of cutting edge, the same music that richard searling champions week in week out...WHO'S GOT THE WRONG END OF THE STICK HERE?, im argueing about pop music posing as "soul or rnb"...do these generations seriously think it all started with rap/hip hop/break dancing? innovative lyrics and music...i think not!...why do their videos have to flash, flash, flash, never concentrating on the singer for more than 1 second, its always in a backstreet/subway/disco and they all have to have their troup of "dancers" and it has to be choreographed?, white kids who think they're black....black kids who think they're black...NO ROOTS WHATSOEVER thats why we love what we love because our music is true to the word, whilst in the outside world everyone else is listening and singing along to a complete crock of shite....ffs, aren't we all glad we've got this scene?.....sanitised, understandable music, lyrically meaningful with imaginative colourful tunes that are great to dance to in one's own expressive manner....NOT 60 MILLION REGIMENTED ROBOTS WHO DONT KNOW ANY BETTER.

knew you'd read it....

poor al wilson,...if only he were reviewing the controversy he so inadvertantly created...i really though passport wasTHE get-on-board tune from the lp, played at the casino, but underplayed and almost instantly forgotten in the wake of the snake edification...its endurance may well be an annoyance to the vast majority now but alas, its place in the archive is cemented....you may all choose to browse another page, but it aint never going to be erased....afterall, were here talking about it now...this very minute......SO WHATS EASIER TO SWALLOW...A SNAKE OR A SHODDY GLASS OF WINE WITH NO CLASS?.

TOTAL AGREEMENT ON ALL FRONTS......what have we been saying for generations now?...there is music and there is CRAP....AND OUTSIDE OF OUR WORLD, ITS UTTER CRAP.....zero originality, substandard cover versions of classics, why are so called pop stars obsessed with jacko arobics thats got sod all to do with dancing.......are we the only people who still possess the art?, why do all these music channels ( both radio & sky ) spout r & b....WHAT THE HELL HAS TODAYS JUNK GOT TO DO WITH R & B?,...JUST WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEOPLE WHO ARE RUNNING A ONCE INFORMATIVE INSTITUTION?...god knows how many sages are turning ( constantly ) over in their graves....there isnt a single release in the last twenty or even thirty years thats memorable where " soul " is concerned. and before i have the weight of the modern soul scene bear down on me,...THIS IS NOT A SLIGHT OR REFERENCE TO YOU, beause there is still a hugely significant difference there as well...IN THIS DAY & AGE, THAT IS REAL SOUL FOR OUR GENERATIONS , if you like it like that and im certainly not disagreeable....ITS THE WORLD OUTSIDE OF WHAT WE KNOW THAT REALLY GETS THE GOAT....its easy to say who gives a toss, let them get on with it, they're brainless, mindless knobheads who have been brainwashed by djs who have no real knowledge or concept of what real music is other than making a thump, thump noise and fueling it with drugs ( ashamedly something we are also not unfamiliar with ) why has every " artist got to have 50 robots backing him/her up to make the video look credible? WHATEVER IS WRONG WITH THE CONCEPT OF DOING YOUR OWN THING, EXPRESSING YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN UNIQUE WAY?. mundane existance goes way back to sensible totp, gobsmacked airheads gawping at W.C.F. showing the primates how to dance ( so what if it was footsee? )...supreme rant for a saturday?, i think not, because we've been here before with this subject....i just think you all like to read my sermons when i get one on me, and i bet uncle ted will pipe up and say im off on one again!.

enjoyed listening to this.....didnt get to hear his show til i moved to telford in 2004.......80 miles across the cheshire plain and the signal was clear as a bell!!, what a great tune by johnny watson.....so much so, i gave tim a bell today and snapped up a copy.......10 years late!

of course you're right pete, alikened to soussan, anderson, koppel etc, levine was like the kid in the proverbial candy shop at the most exciting time, but when it came to "what do you think?"...colin was the catalyst who reaffirmed ian's commitment, ian reliant on colin's judgement.....colin just being ( and still is ) colin, who blazes his own trail. sadly, ians somewhat irrational preoccupation with trying to recreate "the sound" has left him bereft of the identity he had so diligently created all those years ago, a man at the forefront...no-one, however, will ever forget his contribution in the breakthrough of the northern soul phenomenon to a wider, willing young audience who were seeking an escape from mundane life and yes......richard & butch have followed in his path and took the scene further than anyone could have envisaged and in the process, established theirselves as the leading players, respected by all, during the course of which the creativity in their playlists evolved to encorporate the type of tunes ian wanted to foist on us in the 70's. perhaps that was trying to push the boundaries too soon and a good many failed to appreciate that so much so that the scene suffered that fundamental divide which has given for much literary debate over the decades,...only with time and our own maturity, have we come to terms with the necessity to give the crossover element the place it really does deserve within our musical circumference. messrs, searling & dobson have been patient in their deliverence of what is utlimately soulful to a now more appreciative and knowledgeable audience, whereas ian got bored and left a vacuum in which others persevered.

think this has already been explored on here, quite recently, but i guess the gist is the name is a reference to "the other man" sneakin' through the back door as the woman's guy goes out the front...and it fits so well in so many of those songs you're thinking of...anne sexton probably the most well known but isnt bobby patterson just great as well?

is the terrible tom actually help, truth & the portraits?

well im just presuming im correct, dont know any other record with that title by a group...but what a tune! and one im currently playing...great double header as well with "wasted years" on the other side.

the only one's i recognise are the cairo's and august moon...shows exactly how much i know about stafford!

very nice set there lass, hope to see you at lowton very soon!

absolutely right bro, point being that there was also a man behind the man.....named curtis who has immaculate taste and as such, pointed ian in the right direction on countless occasions over the years....who really was the headliner?

what i have always liked about butch is, his personality...always comes across in a down to earth manner, time to talk to everyone and as such, applies this trait in the same way to his djing...unpretentious in every sense of the word, but with the unerring ability to string tunes together in an unbroken sequence lending to constant dancefloor participation. he's always done this, no matter where. someone who dosnt naturally crave adulation yet garners so many plaudits from all corners of the globe. richard has a totally hyperactive outlook only calmed when behind the decks, where he is also in his element...the consumate professional, with the midas finger on the pulse of what the punters want. in recent times, the urge is strong to rebuild a superlative playlist and ive always been sure that he's got stuff tucked away for a rainy day, though he never lets on...thats his modesty to the fore. these two guys are very different in their persona but are less than a breath apart in their mantra of delivering thinking man's chinstroking music. i doubt they have any truck with being cast as the architypal king on the throne, though we, on mass, see them as the big hitters of our time. this is not taking anything away of course, from the many great djs who cast a shadow across our scene week in, week out......without them the world we know would not revolve at 45 rpm...its just quite simply that these two names have implanted on our brains the ethic of understanding how good the music is when its packed with quality and meaning...something that they have repeated over and over again for decades and still do to this day.

see how we've managed to navigate away from the subject topic?

well, surprise surprise!

DOH!.......typical pete smith haven't got a barry st john knocking about by chance have you mate?

is there anything by cilla we'd rather play than margaret little then?.....discuss

i'll second that steve, so ian, its time you committed to paper...nice glossy hardback please......with A LIMITED EDITION, GENUINE FIRST ISSUE BOOTLEG, AUTOGRAPHED BY SIMON! seriously, it would have to make fascinating reading...even amidst the gnashing of teeth!

we've seen pictures of barbara before...any of pearl that can be posted up? can somebody also put up clips of the embraceables for comparison?. its also funny how they both got to record "give me another chance" both appeared to be unreleased tracks but the pearl jones turned up much later and then of course, there's also barbara's version of the creations "a dream" was that also unreleased?.