Steve G

Hi Benji, deep soul and southern soul for example.

You need to get on with it Roburt, none of us know what its around the next corner. Something as simple as little stickers on the covers of the rarer ones. When someone does come to look and says that Larry Clinton is a £40 record, she'll know that is bs. The non rare ones can go in the skip.

It will eventually die out and we're already seeing a loss of value of certain other types of soul music. But I'll be gone by then, so cannot see my remains caring too much to be honest. Enjoy it while you can.

Is this thread limited to northern oldies?

Good news for North American Soul Sourcers who are interested in a copy..... Dusty Groove should have some copies of this book in next week. Postage will obviously be a lot cheaper than shipping from the UK..

A week ago I started shipping my All Platinum book “All Platinum - The Making of a Sound”. After one week I have seen sales of approx 35% of the print run (there will not be a re-print by the way). I am delighted with the level of response so far. I am also delighted with the feedback received. So a big thank you to everyone for their support and kind words. Although I will happily sell individual copies worldwide, I also realise that the cost of shipping such a big book overseas are not cheap and I am currently talking with potential distributors in Europe, Japan and the USA. Nothing concrete yet on that front and if anything gets sorted, I’ll update everyone. UK copies are £45 + £5.50 P&P for a total of £50.50. Paypal to allplatinumbook@gmail.com. That is also the email address for wholesale enquiries.

I'll echo the PP process. If you don't hear back, yes raise a ticket (on the PP site). They will then "reach out" (and no I am not a member of the 4 Tops 🙂 ), and if the seller does not give an adequate explanation for goods not received, you should get a refund. Good luck, that is a lot to lose just before Xmas especially.

Mobile, Alabama. Dropped my then gf off at the beach for a bit of sun and headed to this store run by an old red neck type. Sign on door "Thieves will be shot" etc. Anyway, LPs were all on displays but the 45s were not. Rather than let me wander and root around his store, he insisted I go through these four books of catalogued 45 soul records. I did this for about 45 mins, but it was all common stuff and there was nothing I wanted in the books. When I told him, this really made him a little pissed, he couldn't believe I had not found anything. Then he says "I have a store next door, you can go in there and look". That's more like it I thought. "Just bang on the wall when you're done and I'll come round and unlock the door and let you out" he told me as he proceeded to lock me in this dusty store. Within about five minutes I realised that I had been transported to "Val Doonican Central". The store had loads of records, but they were the sort of thing you see wheeled out at UK boot fairs every week. Utter crapola. Anyway I started banging on the wall, but no one came. So I repeated my banging several times, but to no avail. Now realising that I was effectively abandoned in this old shop, short of smashing the front window, I went out to the back room. There was no back door and only a small window high up above an old toilet, but it was too narrow for me to crawl out of. So I resorted to banging on the walls again, harder and harder but getting increasingly less comfortable with the predicament I was now in. Eventually he turned up and opened the door, but he was just as pissed that I wasn't carrying any records with me. "Nothing there either for you eh?" he astutely observed. We parted company with him thinking I was a time wasting idiot, and me thinking of how much crap this Colonel Sanders character had managed to accumulate. I was now late to pick up my gf from the beach, and to cap things off as I was driving in the car and heading back to the beach, bells started ringing, red lights started flashing and the railroad crossing gates came down. Nothing happened for ages, but eventually four or five diesels came past, quite slowly. When at a crossing, a train with four or five diesels is never going to be good news for someone in a hurry. After what seemed like an age, the end of the train eventually passed through and the gates went up. When I got to the beach it was raining and there was no sign of my gf anywhere. She had disappeared and was nowhere to be found, despite several drives up and down the beach front road. So, here I am in Biloxi, a wasted day, no records and now no gf either!! In the end, I decided to turn into a gas station to see if anyone there had seen her. Inside and sitting in the corner on a small chair, there she was! To make matters worse, what had happened shortly after I had dropped her off was that she had started getting unwelcome attention from some "roustabout" and had left the beach and taken refuge in the garage to get away from him and stayed there for hours! Not a good day. Thank heavens we now have mobile phones and global connectivity!

Does anyone do a World Northern Soul Darts Championship? 😀 Just out of interest what are the prizes for dance championshps like these days?

Just to clarify Robb, Pete Garris, although working at Scepter in promotions, was co-owner of Garrison with Sam Goff, another Scepter employee (married to Florence Greenberg's daughter), and the records on Garrison were (in theory) distributed by Scepter as you say, although clearly not very well after "Humphrey Stomp". The label was not owned by Scepter. As we all know a number of Garrison 45s never got beyond the promo stage. The label was designed primarily for licensing what was described at the time as "independently produced masters". We will never know for sure whether The Ivories 45 (as it appeared on Wand) was destined for Wand or whether Garris had originally thought about it as a release for Garrison. We just cannot say for sure as we don't know what was in his mind. Garris used the Scepter promo staff for distributing records on Garrison (albeit not very well), so there would be no real difference whether it came out on Wand or Garrison and "Humphrey Stomp" continued to sell well after its national "Garrison" release. The evidence for this came from Jimmy Raye and is in my Scepter book when Raye complained about promotion being pulled on his record by Scepter to concentrate on working "Alfie". Did you get a copy of my book? With regard to the 12266 number I agree with Tony Smith. Assuming it was mastered early in December 1966, its release would have been after that date. Wand had the record out by March 1967. When the other two presses were done is not known by me, but presumably they used the same plates (hence the 12266 number reappears).

I would say for it to be a UK release, it needs to have been available to order from high street record shops (or in a few cases via specialist clubs - e.g. Blue Horizon). Records pressed in the USA even if for UK demand (Carstairs, Milton Wright etc.) are not UK releases in my book. I am not sure that the Motown Appreciation Society 45 fits into this definition, but there is always an exception to any rule.

All Platinum - The Making Of A Sound - Author: Steve Guarnori View full article

All I can say is that most people told me that Wally Roker was a "good guy". We have no idea why the Manhattan LP came out in the UK credited to "Tyrone Davis" but it is a stretch to suggest that the US licensees were the ones behind the name change and I haven't seen any evidence to suggest anything other than the fact that the US guys licensed some tracks. It is certainly true that Roker was overstretched when he was running Canyon / Soul Clock etc., and distributing other labels such as Pride (he told me that he was over stretched himself). At the end of the day, it all comes down to contracts and what is agreed within them.

The point is that the gift has to be from the sender. The fact that you are buying it to give to someone else as a gift is neither here nor there as far as the authorities are concerned. Sorry, but that it is the way it is.

The Artistics (Audiodisc Acetate) (VG) - £465 Corey Blake (Capitol 4057) (VG++) - £950 Kris Peterson (Top Dog 102) (VG++) - £525 The Four Sights (Shy-Soul 101) (VG++) - £923 Ree Flores (M&H 9343) (VG++) - £3,350 John Bowie (Merben 503 dj) (VG++) - £750 J.J. Barnes (Invasion 1001) (VG++) - £2,505 The Ascots (Bethlehem 3046 dj) (VG++) - £350 Sy Risby, Chuck Flintroy And The Night Train (6th Avenue 601) (VG++) - £250 Garnet Mimms (United Artists 951) (VG++) - £180 King Arthur (St. George International 402) (VG++) - £170 The Atos (Pato 107) (VG++) - No Bids The Sensations (Way Out 2005) (VG++) - £2,150 Jimmy Burns (Erica 02) (VG) - £4,500 Spider Turner (Good Time 1019) (M-) - £745 Kavetts (Len Dre 101 dj) (VG++) - £500 Melvin Davis (Groovesville 1003) (VG+) - £325 Ernest Wright (Surviving Hearts 2804) (M-) - £430

Anyone got the scores on the doors please?

More often than not vinyl and CD. Not the obsession with og vinyl though, that is the preserve of part of the northern soul scene.

Hello Mike, I went through every single issue of Billboard in 1977-1978 on another project, but kept an eye out as well for the disco award because when I heard about it I thought it was rather odd. I couldn't find a single mention of WC in the context of any award although there was a feature on Barry Kingston and RK Records and their Wigan links and an advert for "old masters" to be sent to "Wigan casino Records" (casino Classics).

It's the old maxim. If you say it often enough, it becomes "the truth".

Not that Billboard best disco in the world nonsense again? FFS.

The genuinely rarer ones - there were never enough copies for them to take off properly. Gwen & Ray, Eddie Rey, Eddie Daniels etc.

A few years ago, purely by accident / coincidence, I came across someone who was into northern in the 70s. He had left the scene then and is now a multi millionaire with more money than he knows what to do with. When we got talking about it, he wanted me to take him to a venue (100 Club which he had heard of) so he could relive his youth (one more time) and he also told me he wanted to buy some records (mine were not for sale obv.). His knowledge only extended to the basic / obvious stuff and I got the impression that he originally bought boots in the 70s as he talked about this chest full of records he had bought at the time that had now long gone or were in his mother's loft (I can't remember which as these conversations get mixed up). By the end of the conversation, he told me how he had now decided he was going to buy some of the records once more. I can assure everyone that money was the last thing on his mind. Loose change to get what he wanted, he probably spends the same on his monthly car valeting and gardeners bill, or a trinket for his wife. I am sure he is not alone and that is just the world we live in. I don't think it's him buying this particular 45 as he appeared to have disappeared again soon after our initial conversation, but there will be plenty of others like him out there.

I always recall the Va Va ads from 72-73. I never went of course, but there was a list of sounds for you to come and hear. At the time, most of these were either cover ups or "rare". What is this thread about anyway? 🙂

Exactly this. And certainly by the time of Blackpool and Wigan (when I joined up for this ride), rarity and exclusivity was 100% "a thing". Even as kids, we wanted something exclusive that practically no one else had.

I thought I’d just update everyone on my forthcoming book "All Platinum - The Making Of A Sound" which is now in its final pre-production stage. Although I am not yet taking orders, I am confident that this book will be out in time for Christmas 2023 (I still need to see how much a printer will charge me). It is a comprehensive history of this most misunderstood of record labels, where so much incorrect “history” is awash all over the internet. A company that had an amazing array of creative talent pass through its doors which, combined with Sylvia’s flair for spotting a hit or a new trend, led to an explosive mix of hits and misses. The story takes the reader through the history of All Platinum from its humble beginnings in 1967 in chronological order, through to its decision to purchase the Chess catalogue in 1975 and then on to 1979 and its ultimate demise. There are many exclusive interviews with people who were there and quotes from insiders. As well as the company’s hitmakers, The Moments, The Rimshots, The Whatnauts, Donnie Elbert, Linda Jones, Retta Young etc., the obscurer acts to sign on with Joe & Sylvia have their stories told too. The penultimate chapter deals with the demise of the company and the birth of Sugar Hill Records. Whilst I have left the Sugar Hill story to someone else, the book finishes with the “death by litigation” that has persisted from the 1970s into the 21st Century and ultimately beyond the lives of Joe & Sylvia R. I haven’t stayed away from the controversy that surrounded the company either. Joe & Sylvia had as many detractors as they had champions. The book also looks at how the company’s musical explosion in the UK and Europe came about in the mid 70s, another fascinating story in itself. The second part of the book is the most comprehensive discography featuring over a further 200 pp and showing what I believe to be every record released, distributed or pressed by the company (including some that I am sure you won’t have seen before and titles for some of the famous “missing numbers”. The book totals 534 pages in A4 size and in colour! So, make a note to add “All Platinum - The Making Of A Sound” to your Christmas list. Steve