Frankie Crocker

Bizarre. This is a record that turns up regularly. The white DJ copy is more common than the grey issue. Big at Wigan, but that’s no justification.

It is a scarce record. Probably not even a semi-known as it has been under the radar for most of it’s life. For a major UA label release to be so unknown, that tells you it is a scarce one. I’ve only seen white demo copies in the last 15 years, so an issue may not exist. I’ve seen it advertised for sale once or twice at about £100. And the punchline is, this is a really good record. Quite likely blue-eyed soul, it is very catchy. There is one awkward drum-roll half-way through that would make dancers think, did the record jump? This could be the reason the record was pulled as the music does not flow as it should. My advice to anyone would be to grab a copy at any price before the masses stumble across it.

Megabucks!!! Usually goes for about a third of this price. Seems like a small quantity were discovered a couple of years ago and had trickled out to the point that few people were interested.

Actually a fairly scarce record these days, but surely not one that warrants this sort of price tag. John's sales pitch must have made a big difference. Just amazed that two bidders would go head-to-head for this release - watch out for Superlove featuring in a future auction...

Timothy Wilson available on rarenorthernsoul.com

Russ and/or Richard played R. Dean Taylor and Junior Walker ‘I Ain't Going Nowhere’ during my first two visits to the Casino March 1974. A few years later, the Casino was holding monthly Motown Allnighters on a Friday. This reflects the staggering wealth of danceable Motown related records. The Northern scene grew from Motown roots and the independent labels that sought to emulate Hitsville’s success. In reply to the original post, promoters put on DJ’s to please the dancefloor so Motown sounds evidently appeal to many of those attending who want to dance. In any case, there is no need to dance differently to Motown tracks as the more up-tempo ones have the same four beats to the bar as many Northern classics. That said, any dancer who knows where it’s at, would interpret the music played and respond accordingly by varying their foot movements. I guess much depends on the venues you attend, any music policy advertised and who rolls up on the night.

Correct Steve. Neil ran the Alldayers and issued Heart of England Soul Club membership cards which I have stored away. I used to pester him for his copy of the Vibrations ‘Cause Your’e Mine’, and he sold it to me at the Ritz. When I was there in the mid to late 70’s, the sounds were sixties oldies and mainly newies including several tailor mades, in today's language, that translates as classic Northern and 70’s crossover nudging into New York Disco. In other words, both Wigan and Blackpool sounds were being played so you could go to all three venues in a weekend and hear the same tunes eg Pointer Sisters, Carstairs, Willie T, Lloyd Michaels, Doris Jones, L J Johnson etc The Brian Ferry effect had definitely taken a hold of the crowd 1975-78 in the pre Jazz-Funk years. Loads of people wore drainpipe trousers, plastic sandals, mohair jumpers and Brian’s hair style but there were plenty of old-school Northern stylists there too. That said, the Ritz had much more in common with the Mecca than Wigan.

This is an old picture. The stage is set up for a big band or orchestra. Before vinyl records were used by DJ’s in the late 50’s and early 60’s, people danced in pairs to the sound of live music. If this is the Ritz, it might be sometime in the 1950’s. After this time, I guess it would have been taken over by one of the major entertainment companies such as Mecca or Top Rank and revamped with a raised dancefloor. I went to the Ritz between 1975 and 1978. The Alldayers were on Sundays. As you entered from Whitworth Street, you were impressed by the opulence of the venue. The stage was at the far end. There was a small bar in the corner to the right but the main bar ran along the left but memories of this are hazy. There were steps up to the dancefloor on the sides and near the main entrance, maybe 3 or 4, but not certain. There were gold-chrome railings around the dancefloor and usually people leaning on them as they stood out for a record. The carpets were red or maroon if memory serves correctly. I think the Ritz was used for a TV ballroom dancing competition, ‘Come Dancing’, so there may be video footage around someplace.

Mister M’s was better than the main room at Wigan. Manchester Ritz was good fun - you let the floor move you so dancing was effortless. Any wooden floor for me, especially with talc in a spot or two. Hated Marley tiles and painted concrete floors.

Earles Inc on Manship’s auction site. Set to break the sound barrier for this record price-wise...

Dean Parrish goes for a world record sum. Wow. Compulsive viewing. Thanks for posting.

Certainly worth looking into further. I once thought it was a re-issue label when I saw the Drifters-You Got To Pay Your Dues on it. This seems to be a legitimate issue but how this came to pass, I have no idea.

The gadget portrayed is unlikely to work, and if you choose to use the service advertised there is a no-money back guarantee so you will certainly lose out. All you can do with badly warped records is play them on old-fashioned turntables with heavy tonearms.

Not even small quantities, just tiny numbers. Even 1012 is pretty rare but the number of surviving copies of ‘She’s Fire’ is miniscule.

Interesting...higher than Jack Montgomery and some others worth having. The third release by the C.O.D’s so certainly more copies pressed than Kellmac 1010 and 1012, the last throw of the dice.

Robert Pruter explains the situation on pages 172-173 of Chicago Soul. Although ‘Michael’ was a Billboard chart success, the costs of pressing it up were huge and returns disproportionate. Kellmac contracted George Leaner’s Onederful label firm to do their distribution but this was disadvantageous to the company. Subsequent releases of the C.O.D.’s lacked the melodic quality of their early hit so failed to get radio station airplay or sales. ‘She’s Fire’ was released as Kellmac 1010 in 1967. By now, all the principals of the company are broke and the C.O.D.’s disbanded. Interestingly, Kellmac 1011 featuring the Combinations ‘What ‘Cha Gonna Do’ is also dead rare. Clearly Kellmac had no money to press up their final records in quantity. I suspect George Leaner would not have extended any credit to Kellmac given their lack of airplay and low sales. I wonder if Leaner regarded Kellmac as unwanted competition to his stable of labels, so was reluctant to help Singleton and Brownlee out? Both of the mega-rare Kellmac releases sold for over $8,000 apiece in 2012 so this figure could well be topped later today.

Jud’s video clips brought real enjoyment to many. One day, I hope he makes a comeback. Maybe the poster of YouTube clips should have sole editing rights to put the sad tossers out of business.

Depends on who’s interested. A top Northern DJ would be my preference. There are Chicago label hunters who collect by number so this would be a nice filler copy. There’s also the Mystery Shopper of Malibu Beach (no, not Harry) who has millions in the bank and is scooping the rarest of the rare at auctions.

Dollars. Not much difference between dollars and pounds nowadays...

All early bids have been cancelled. The auction has been re-started. Looks like the record has been given an extra clean to produce a better sound. I reckon someone with loadsa money has been speeding things up a bit to clinch the auction. I expect it to go above 5K now.

Thanks for posting. Most reassuring that the crazy prices I paid for some of these are higher than ever, therefore justifying splashing out in the first place...

Topped £1,234 within 24 hours. Sounds OK despite VG- grade. Shame it never had a widespread release compared to their other songs which number amongst the commonest Chicago collectibles.

Condition a limiting factor... Was hoping nobody would notice 🤫🤫🤫and skip over thinking just another copy of Michael or I’m A Good Guy😴😴😴...

Just learned that record stores in Michigan have been told to close, like here in Britain I guess. The store owners are self employed so under pressure to earn a living and cover costs. Online shopping will help some store owners to get by but it will be tough on both sides of the Atlantic. If you are stuck in the house, music will be one of the few pleasures during the grim weeks and months ahead so a few record purchases may help keep some businesses ticking over.

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