Hammie

Got my first TOBI LARK - HAPINESS... For £3-00 in 1972 or 3 from my local electrical store in Bedford which had a record bar/sound booths. at the time I was earning about a fiver a week on an apprenticeship so had to pay my mum the board and lodgings the next week. My local record shop was a big influence on the start of my collectng, they used to get in imported soul records from Selecta, Contempo, and Global in Manchester every week to order.WE had a list of about a hundred records you could order. In those early days I got myself copies of Thelma Lyndsay-Magic City, Jackie Lee -Darkest Days, Superlatives-Uptite, Vibrations-Epic etc etc.. all originals for 75p each !! First serious purchase in the mid 70's... an issue of Yvonne Baker of Richard Searling at the Casino, he only sold it because he knew it had just been Bootlegged, unfortunately he dropped a clanger as it was the West Coast demo which got bootlegged that was the copy he kept, he asked if I would swap it back for the issue, no chance I said. First £100 record I bought was a Demo of Lada Edmund when I got back on the scene in the early 90's First £1000 record was the Cashmeres on Hem in 2001 thats when I knew I HAD IT BAD

I GOT IT .... AND YES I KNOW ITS A SECOND ISSUE BUT I CANT FIT A 12" IN MY BOX VICAR!!! ONLY JOKING. AND YES I WAS PLEASED WITH THE WINNING BID, AND OF JOHNNY'S AUCTION TOO ! NEARLY WENT FOR A COPY ANDY DYSON WAS SELLING RECENTLY FOR £500, BUT IM GUESSING HE SOLD IT AT PRESTATYN ? I KNOW ITS WHATS IN GROOVES THAT COUNTS BUT I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH AN AWFUL RECORD LABEL, YOU NEED TO HOLD IT UP IN GOOD LIGHT TO EVEN READ WHICH SIDE 'GOOD LOVIN' IS ON NEVER MIND THE CREDITS. ANYBODY ELSE THINK OF SOME HORRIBLE RECORD LABELS ? SEEMS MORE COMMON WITH 70'S AND 80'S RECORDS WHAT DO YOU THINK, ADD YOURS

ARABIANS - £200 - £250 (ISSUE UP TO £300) AMBERS - £80 - £100 (ISSUE UP TO £60) GENE CHANDLER - £60 - £80 (DEMO UP TO £100) ARTISTICS - £40 - £60 (DEMO PURPLE VINYL UP TO £100 OR BLACK STYRENE £100) APOLLAS - £60 - £90 (SAME FOR DEMO) ACE SPECTRUM - £100 - £150 (ORD ISSUE £60 OR DEMO £80) DEE EDWARDS - £60 - £80 KIM WESTON - £50 - £75 (ISSUE UP TO £30) BETTYE SWANN - £80 - £100 (DEMO UP TO £120) DEE DEE SHARP - £40 - £50 (THIS PLAYING CARD LABEL) (DEMO UP TO £75) HAVENT SEEN AN ILA VANN FOR SALE FOR AGES EVEN THO I HAVE ONE, HAVE A LOOK ON POPSIKE MAYBE ?

Around £400 for a green issue me thinks. White demo obviously exists but i've never seen one for sale so cant help you there.

Anybody know where I can get me mits on one of these ? Contact me on hamilton_ian@hotmail.com Cheers m,dears

Jackie Lee & Delores Hall werent bootlegged The Furys was

Fantastics on IMPRESARIO 124 - ANYTHING BETWEEN £300- £500 Nice one... l the cheaper stuff on SS7 is good too methinks.

JUST TO PUT THE RECORD RIGHT ON ALL THESE RAMBLINGS.... Marge Dodson is a BLACK jazz artiste Be your baby came out on a Decca jazz album entitled 'A lonely way to live' I dont think its a bad effort as a northern uptempo dancer rarity aside, better than some of the crappy r'n b the scene has suffered in the last few years Johnny Caswell is a northern classic as we all know, oh and incidentally Johnny is a white man and had long black hippy hair at one stage in his music career Freddie Chavez is a mexican The Martells were a white hippy outfit The Embers were a white Beach music band Conny van Dyke is a white country singer Paul Anka was a white crooner Danny Wagner is a Len Barry lookalike Whats rarity or colour of the skin has got to do with wether its a good northern dancer we allbeg to differ

The other version (same backing as Youngblood Smith) is by the DETROIT MAGNIFICENTS Im not sure wether this was obtained from a one off acetate owned by Rob Thomas. I get all my Grapevine promos from Dave Welding - but I do have to buy em unfortunately, still they'll make a nice collection for the future. There's also another vocal version of MINNIE JONES/21st CENTURY - Shadow of a memory which I've also got, but sitting here I,ve forgotten who Its by.

Pete Barons of soul was officially put out on Grapevine last year by John A.

Got an ISONICS - SUGAR of Ebay for $9-99 2 years ago. SHADOWS - My love is gone USA $1-00 amongst a list of Cliff Richards & the Shadows Velvet SATINS - G. AMERICAN (swirl design label styrene wd) $49-00 6 months ago Other bargains over the years.... A real CONNIE CLARK (with monarch matrix) sold to me as a boot at ST IVES £1-00 A real SWEETS on SOULTOWN (With Something about my baby on the other side) not the instro of satisfy me baby, sold to me as a boot at ST IVES £4-00 Best all time bargain..... I bought about 20 records in 1999 from a record shop in Gulfport, Mississippi when on a record trip. The records totalled approx $200-00 when it was time to pay, the guy in the shop was so pleased he said two of the records, which were VG condition I could have for FREE. I said thanks and then left for something to eat... oh did I not tell you, one of the FREE records was.... AL SCOTT - What happened to yesterday, needless to say a mate who was with me at the time said you F***in jammy Bar steward. Biggest COCK UP EVER..... Selling JOSEPH MOORE - MAR-V-LUS at Wigan in 1977 for £4-00 to help me raise some cash so I could buy Margeret Mandolph. I love hearing these sort of stories, so keep em coming

Hi there Hammie (of the south) here..... To my knowledge twas never booted or re-issued even on that yukkie pink n splotchy Wand label do you remember It ?. Believe It or not the record was only like £5 in the 70's !!!!! (yes that old story) Anyway I dont think there is a distinct difference in rarity between a demo and a stock copy.... value..... anywhere between £350 to £500 depending on your purchasing source. Unless of course your lucky enough to find one in your mates old record box - who hasnt been on the scene for years and just wants to get a few squids to get the car thro its next mot so you blag it off him for say a tenner and he's eternally grateful that you've helped him out..... oh so then he says what about this old copy of the Ivory's I've got on Wand too.. are you Interested ? get him to phone me Come on you England

Got a Temptations on an original Gordy Issue If you want It. £15-00 plus £2-00 P & P Ring me on 01234 340408 All the best HAMMIE