Agentsmith

hi ezzie, just thought you might like to know, this is an old catacombs record

i was talking to ken earlier this evening about photographs featuring max, i suppose many of you out there have pictures of him, mostly the kind that announce "this is me with the legend!", having been a fixture at prestwich for a number of years, i was well chuffed when terry davies asked max to come and play a set at the longfield suite. this was off the back of terry appearing at goodyears some months earlier and being introduced to our lad then. i know terry appreciated the experience of a veteran showing he had lost none of his sparkle, exuberance or style and naturally entertained the dancers like water off a ducks back. it capped it all for me taking a photo on stage, max with his closest entourage...j.p. and ken. i also have the pics of max with ginger at prestwich and goodyears. i got a lot of pleasure being able to introduce tim brown to max as well at trentham gardens and, funnily enough i was also speaking to tim about him tonight and he remarked what a likeable guy he was on that occasion. probably my most poignant picture of all....is one i also took at goodyears about 7 years ago, that of max standing by the host of sales boxes, one arm round derek allen...thats a choker....another all-round good egg too long gone, two of the nicest, most unassuming blokes you could ever wish to meet. .......theyre upstairs now spinning, and guess what?.......ITS SOUL HEAVEN!

absolutely bang on! , and perhaps whoever you promotors and djs are and no matter where you are this weekend, everyone should observe a minutes silence or clapping even at say, midnight ( as most gigs are on at least til then or after) as a tribute to the man nationwide. rob.h

careful toad, you might get struck by lightning ( x-men)!!

thats an absolutely top idea that neil has had, especially for cats rats, many people we havent seen for years. get together after the dedication and have a drink before the trip to great wyrley. it probably hasnt gone un-noticed by many but there's a book in here as well as all the other tributes. so many stories to relate, max could read like a dictionary. havent been to temple street for decades so it will be very poignant, solemn and spinetingling just standing where THAT BUILDING stood and HIS MUSIC rang out. im sure you all agree that what wolverhampton c.s. are doing is a marvellous gesture that will cement the memories of max and his affinity with the city for all-time.

appologies, but i would find it hard to envisage marvin being given the task of producing the backbeat on a worldwide hit such as this, regardless of the fact, he was an accomplished musician and, he had already had hits....beside that the complete house band were in place and it was 1965 just prior to tamla motowns u.k. inauguration ( original stateside release). at this point benny benjamin was at the helm and dispite having a quick scan of my numerous manuals, there is precisely nothing to suggest otherwise that this is not benny's trademark drumroll...remember benny was one of the first musicians to be recruited by gordy in 59 from amongst detroit's jazz club ranks.

with reference to any posts here mentioning paying tribute at your respective gigs: so it should be and of course, a minutes silence in his honour......can all you djs and promotors assure that happens this weekend...yes? YOU MAY ALSO BE AWARE THAT ON JULY 10TH,NEIL RUSHTON IS STAGING THE CATS REUNION AT GREAT WYRLEY....36 YEARS SINCE IT SHUT ITS DOORS AND NOW ITS MOST LEGENDARY ASSET IS SILENT....HOW TRAGICALLY POIGNANT....SO IN HONOUR OF MAX WILL EVERY SISTER AND BROTHER MAKE THIS DATE AS SPECIAL AS POSSIBLE, IN PARTICULAR ANYONE WHO WENT TO THE CATS AND HASNT FOR WHATEVER REASON, ATTENDED A REUNION BEFORE, NOWS THE TIME TO MAKE THE EFFORT AND SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION OF A TRULY GREAT GUY...I KNOW THAT WILL MAKE NEILS DAY. i mentioned about the wednesday night sessions, yes max always did them on his own...at least thats what i observed....saturdays were for neil, bill baker, bazil and pep. i havent forgotten, however, there were others involved as well including: carl dene, oscar micheal, alan day alan.s, bob crocker, graham warr and various guests. i would like to think they looked on max as the star act and they were the supporting cast, views may vary on this but there's no doubt BLUE MAX WAS A GIANT WHO EVERYONE FOLLOWED. rob.h

elkie brooks, for a while, was lead vocalist with a group called vinegar joe. she was also referred to as one of the "3 liver birds" along with priscilla white and beryl marsden

WEBBY LAD, somewhere down the memory banks i seem to recall that the lead singer, and incidentally i cant recall her name at this moment in time, may have been the same person who fronted a group called liquid gold who, in 1980, had a big disco hit with"dance yourself dizzy".....now it could be chopping block time because if im wrong, then itll be pete smith calling the shots....so sharpen the axe just in case! rob.h

SORRY KEN, NOW IM TOTALLY MIFFED....NOT WITH YOU MATE, BUT THE FACT THIS IS ANOTHER DIFFERENT TAKE....YES ITS AN ACETATE AND IT HASNT BEEN DOCTORED BUT THATS AS FAR AS IT GOES....I HAVE TO TELL YOU THE ONE I REMEMBER IS DIFFERENT FROM THIS....IT HAS A DISTINCT BREAK IN THE MIDDLE AND CRYSTAL CLEAR CAR HORNS THEN A TEN BEAT RAP OF DRUM STICKS THEN BACK AT FULL PELT,....WHAT YOU HAVE THERE IS A DIFFERENT TAKE.....ILL POINT OUT THAT I WAS NOT PRESENT AT WIGAN AT THE TIME FOOTSIE WENT STELLAR AND I DONT KNOW WHO BRYN GOT HIS COPY VIA BUT IT SURE WASNT THIS VERSION. RESPECT, ROB.H

aye up ken, well spotted and i stand corrected over that minor oversight but fook! i havent seen one of these since the st. giles y.c. all-nighters!. and webby lad, pretention is the soul fox strings, BUT, its actually the belles band ( as described on the original acetate) DO YOU KNOW,....I WOULDNT BE SURPRISED IF IT WASNT THE SESSION MUSICIANS POSING AS THE BOB & EARL BAND OF "MY LITTLE GIRL".FAME. SIMON DID DOCTOR IT THOUGH WITH THE STRING SECTION WHERE THE VOCALS SHOULD BE - THE ORIGINAL BACKING TRACK IS....EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN!!.

if you dont mind me relating another story which im sure j.p. and kenny will smile at: max had been booked with jp to do a gig wednesday evenings at a club/bar in macclesfield, so we jumped in max's 4x4 and toddled off. it wasnt really a northern night as much as something to entertain the locals and bring a bit more cash over the bar as midweek is a dead scene.after 2 efforts we got to july....a nice warm sunny evening.....got to the gig only to find the owner had gone on holiday, neglected to tell max and had even stowed all the disco gear away and the bar staff didnt have the keys, so that was short but sweet.......a nice leisurely drive back then......so we were passing a fishing pool....j.p. of course being astutely observant quipped: "THATS A NICE LOOKING POOL.........WONDER IF THERE'S A BILLY BASS IN IT?" we fell about!, in a manner of speaking, it was unbrldled laughter and pleasure for the next hour or so as we all played off against each other with northern soul artists names changed to sound like fish!! PERCHY WIGGINS, JIMMY RUDDCLIFFE, DANNY WHITEBAIT, WHALE'S WALLACE, PIKE AND TUNA TURBOT.....IT WENT ON AND ON!! the upshot was j.p. couldnt let this one go and must have put the thread on ktf ( dont know if soulsource was going then) 2001 and all of a sudden it went ballistic. levine, who cottoned onto this was not having any of the funny side of it, proclaiming we were all being silly which resulted in the throw the bottle out of the pram comment: OOHH PERRRRRRRRLLEEEEEEASE!! HAD SO MANY GREAT NIGHTS OUT WITH THE THREE AMIGO'S BUT MAX ABOVE ALL, ENJOYED THE BANTER, MISCHIEF, JOKING AND CAMERADERIE THAT WE FOUND IN EACH OTHER. never a dull moment with max, always chased the clouds away....he will be an eternal ray of sunshine in everybody's memory forever. rob.h

kev, without doubt, and its been mentioned here, the fabulous emotions - "funky chicken" which was the cats signature tune and my personal "headbanger" and max's anthem psychedelic soul by saxie russell, vala reegan - fireman....just 3 off the cuff....hope that helps cheers, rob.h

ken, if you and claudette are of a frame of mind, in the near future, would you please do us all the great honour of keeping us abreast of developements with regards to arrangements. its less than 2 days and the grief is still fresh and raw but if the soul fraternity pulls together we can all be strong for each other...and for you who, were his closest friends. my only wish is that we could be meeting in happier circumstances but it seems that in recent times, fate is conspiring against us. miss you loads, love rob & may

ill never forget the week after i left secondary school, i started work in a little printers/stationers in walsall 1974. in those days some employers made you work a week in lieu, so i thought i wouldnt get any money straight away, so i told my mom and expected nothin. to my amazement and delight however, i was wrong and come the end of the week, i recieved the princely sum of £8!.....i didnt tell my mom and payed no board.... .......GUESS WHERE I WENT AND SPENT THE MONEY? i purchased the likes of paul anka, laura green, dean courtney and a few others and not a penny left!!....WAS I HAPPY OR NOT?! MAX'S SHOP REALLY WAS A SPECIAL PLACE, FULL OF GOOD TIMES AND HAPPY MEMORIES....AND GREAT TUNES rob.h

MY SINCEREST THANKS TO YOU CHALKY....THATS BOUGHT THE TEARS....HE WOULD HAVE LOVED THAT....WHAT A TRIBUTE ROB.H

john, wednesday nights, max was in his element!....one dj at the decks for 5 hours!!, every tune brilliant, like a conveyor belt he just reeled them off.a packed dance floor with the likes of steve powell, paul derby, jethro and jacko....dancers who went on to wigan, but this was their home...he inspired them all. one evening max had just got his hands on a copy of mike post coalition "fused"lp and during the course of the night he played "afternoon on the rhino" SIX TIMES!!, IT WAS SO AMAZING, IT PACKED THE FLOOR EVERY TIME and max loved it....he WAS that enthusiastic about the music. he was the first person to play "psychedelic soul" by saxie russell and it became a cats anthem...he got that when graham warr came back from the states 73 with literally hundreds, or was it thousands? of discoveries and this gem was amongst them. i know richard s. will be personally affected by this as well, he held him in such high esteem, im sure had wigan been mr. searling's baby, he would have had max on as a guest. things like popcorn wylie, johnny howard, otis blackwell, devonnes, connie clark, velvets etc., wigan anthems played by richard but first revealed to the scene by max........richard would have given his right arm to have had max spin them, such was his respect for the master. we have to commit his name to stone and carve it with pride and im sure, in time there will be a fitting memorial to the man known as....BLUE MAX ROB.H

MAX WILL ALWAYS BE "ONE OF THE FIRST - ONE OF THE BEST" i cut my teeth on northern soul via his record shop, every saturday morning, from 74 onwards through the rest of the decade, buying the latest sounds and taking them to a local youth club and playimg them on a garrard evry tuesday and thursday. the back of the shop was an aladdins cave, full of 25s and 50 boxes andwhen the cats closed, it housed the purple and white perspex sign in almost its entireity ( it was literally ripped off the wall by soulies standing on dustbins in temple street. there were masses of dj boxes out front as well as radios and stereos and tvs. we used to just stand there chewing the fat with every punter and dj who viewed this shop as a mecca. max had his hoppo's mainly sam the ram and johnny green in the early days, they used to send me down to wednesfield market on sat mornings to fetch breakfast sandwiches on my bike ( i was still at school but did a paper round which payed for my records). ill tell you now about the nosmo king record, max covered it up and it had a brief handwritten essay about the artist being born in southampton but emigating to australia. the first time he unveiled it was at the whispering wheels rollerdrome situated across the road from where the cats stood. this particular night levine was guesting there but before he came on, max spun a set including nosmo king. levine perched himself behind max and he kept turning aside to make notes in a little book, obviously tunes he had not got!....so when it came to nosmo he was grinding his teeth because it was covered up...max showed him the written info and ian must have swallowed the bait, thinking it was real!!. kev, i didnt know max had sold you his copy of the jewells....barry smith had an emidisc off him of this record but when it got to the 8 sec break the end was edited out....perhaps because max thought people would clear the dance floor thinking it had ended...i remember it at wigan and 1800 soulies had a different take on it...with regimented handclapping!!. max was probably the first dj to retire and sell his collection which prompted a stampede as in those days it was unheard of and he really did have the cream of the crop and every other known dj chasing them, pep and johnny tryce in particular but i do know that neil bought a substantial amount. in the event of things he simply couldnt turn his back on the scene and started again in a short space of time. see...its like a drug isnt it? it dosnt matter what you do or where you go in life, like richie adams says " i cant escape from you". the last time i met max, sadly for me, was at paul's ( harpo ) 50th last year....we spend so much time taking it for granted that we will still be around.....well, life kicks you the hardest when you least expect it and this year it has had a devastating effect. i posted max a few weeks ago about djing at brookfields and he said come along, only bogstandard oldies but everyone had such a good time....and that friends, brothers and sisters, is what max was all about,....always a handshake, cheerful greeting and big grin, always up for a joke and a chinwag about the tunes. i know ken, claudette and j.p. must be beside theirselves with grief and its something we share tonight....he was, and is, and always will be a part of us, deep inside....he showed us all the ropes. max was "one old dog who you couldnt teach new tricks".....because he knew them all. THE LAST RECORD PLAYED AT THE CATACOMBS ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAST GRAND ALL-NIGHTER, 13TH JULY 1974, WAS WALTER JACKSON... ......MAX PLAYED IT..... IT SUMS UP THE DESOLATION FELT NOW..... " WHERE HAVE ALL THE FLOWERS GONE?" ONE MORE PICKED AND GONE TO HEAVEN.......REST IN PEACE DEAR FRIEND

WE HAVE JUST READ THIS AND OUR HEARTS HAVE SANK, WE ARE TOTALLY SPEECHLESS... THIS MAN WAS A COMPLETE LEGEND AND TO MANY IN THE MIDLANDS, JUST LIKE ME, HE WAS LIKE A DAD YOU ALWAYS WISHED YOU HAD. HE WAS THE FIRST DJ I GREW UP WORSHIPPING AT THE CATS...HE WAS AHEAD OF HIS TIME IN MANY WAYS AND HE SURVIVED WHEN OTHERS MOVED ON. MAY AND I ARE TOTALLY HEARTBROKEN........OUR DEEPEST SYMPATHIES GO OUT TO HIS FAMILY, ESPECIALLY HIS WIFE LINDA GOD BLESS AND TAKE CARE OF YOU MAX

what about soussan's instrumentals? for instance: THE TERRIFICS - I JUST CANT GET ENOUGH OF YOUR LOVE - SOUL FOX the very first release from simon and a synthisized version of johnny sayles, when you look back now they're awful but at the time they were huge.

NOSMO KING: our dear mate max millward, god bless him, who we hear is in hospital with chest problems, im sure has a tale to tell about this tune and the fact levine hadnt discovered it first in 74. it came a few months too late for the catacombs, but the rest as they say, is history...however it most definitely WASNT produced for the scene as it was already a legitimate release. wigan's chosen few is also a misnoma as its actually a 60's record by the chosen few on roulette records, of course the wigan bit was tagged on to give extra credence to its credibility and to complete its makeover, soussan added a football crowd and carhorns....HOWEVER.... and here's the anorak thing again,...on the advance studio acetates he had cut, there is NO football crowd and the carhorns are LOUDER.

hope you dont mind me adding a foot note to this: the black magic release is actually different from the original acetate that was played at wigan, still the sharonettes but had a more 60's sound about it, sort of atmospheric. im pretty sure the late bryn lane posessed this as well as the genuine backing track to the belles "dont pretend" also on an acetate and NOT a simon soussan/soulfox product....if you notice on THAT bootleg he added a string section where the vocals were....on the acetate its just the straight forward original sound, he did the same with the sharonettes, as a result it lost some of its appeal.....didnt stop it from being massive at the casino though. as for acceptable homages to the scene: the exciters - reachin for the best - 20th century l.j. johnson - your magic put a spell on me - phillips james wells - baby im still the same man - polydor --------------------------------------------------------------- not REALLY that bad ( because we grew up with them as well) evelyn thomas - weakspot doris jones - he's so irreplaceable carol woods - heading down fools road tyrone ashley - running in another direction ......and to be honest, ian did a bloody superior job of fooling us all with the 4 vandals! good story attached to that...everyone remembers ginger's fracas with levine at stoke about this record but sam sussed it first. i have a photo of a handwritten note that sam placed on the decks at the ritz the same night levine was there.....it read: "THE FIFTH VANDAL MUST GO!". we all thooght it was very funny until ray threatened to take ian outside and give him a good hiding. that more or less, sent ian back into self imposed exile again.

DEAR MAX, GET BACK ON YOUR FEET PRONTO.....AND LEAVE THOSE NURSES ALONE ( OOH..MATRON!!) LOVE AND BEST WISHES, ROB & MAY

andy, i was going to bring the fact about the bootleg up in my most recent post but held back incase it did cause some sort of furore, not just with the artist, but as much with people who have purchased it because, hypothetically punters have engaged in funding someone elses ill gotten gains and it wrankles now because of your shock discovery that margaret is, infact still alive. you know it may have been easier, back in the day had she summised then, that there was some dodgy dealing going on behind her back, for which she was recieving no recompense....but to have this broke to her 40+years down the line....even though it was only "discovered" 8 or so years ago....she'd could be of a mind to say "well, hey can i see any of these moneys in my latter years?"....especially when you get round to telling her HOW MUCH a genuine one has sold for....of course, she would only have to look on ebay, courtesy of a relative even, to see one at auction. the other side of the coin is that she may not even be bothered about what might have been, but just admiring of the fact her recording is at last, being appreciated by generations of soul lovers across the pond....a legend not lost on many northern soul hero's still alive in the states. well, louvaine came over here with the detroit spinners for prestatyn and she's in her 70's....she loved the attention.....original post reference: andy, do the talkin and then set about getting her over to north wales and let her have her moment in the spotlight?

mischief makin eh,.....how come webby's not on this thread then?... and which one's the worst "monster"...beres hammond or chapter five?