Frankie Crocker

Have PM'd you.

Interesting. I wonder where they've been turned up?

Vaguely recall one in recent months and it was in great shape. It was towards the top of the high auction prices list on SS...let's go check it out.

Just sold for $5,001.00, somewhere between 3 &4K. Has the seller had other Curtis Lee's recently? If so, are we likely to see further mint goodies on offer?

The students looked pretty sheepish as they wracked their brains on the bonus questions, tittering away to disguise their ignorance of contemporary youf culture. Maybe some of the wannabe DJ's out there should help promote university discos and educate a few students about the joys of Frank, Gloria, Al, Major, Dobie and 50,000 others. Did Aretha Franklin release any Northern tunes as that was the only name one team could come up with?

Dohhhh. Totally fooled. Have to say that I've not seen any of these listed let alone bid on them. Thanks for the heads up.

Wotcha Chalkie, I'm inclined to agree with your last comment which effectively involves us owners of the number two press embracing it and assigning a high value even though it could be one of those dreadful b------ things.

Oddly enough, this record doesn't feature on Popsike suggesting it hasn't been on eBay. Lew Stanley had a quantity of Oxford Knights #2 press and other bits on Delphi. The first press seems to be particularly scarce and the second met demand when it was doing the rounds 12-15 years ago. Lew certainly sold a good few. The second press records lack the Music City stamp but surely that would have appeared if the old plates allegedly held by the drummers were used? No one seems particularly bothered to be in possession of a second press suggesting that the actual sound is of greater importance than provenance. The second edition records look too mint and unplayed to be true but they resemble proper 60's vinyl rather than contemporary pressings. Can anyone shed further light on the mystery? Is it just possible that the record was pressed at two plants back in the day and stock from one was stashed away until it was discovered?

So, tell us what's in it. Any four figure records you picked up in the record bar for a fiver?

Clutter sums it up. Clutter in the record box. Clutter in the sales lists. Why don't eBay start a new sales category for Clutter so miscellaneous junk like bootlegs can be stuffed in there and serious collectors can be spared looking at endless pages of fake dross?

Just wait for the mug buyer to sell it on when he realises what a jerk he is... Bids starting at £250.00 'cos that's what I paid for it'...

Absolutely, it's the buyer who validates the transaction. On the other hand, we have a moral obligation to look out for our fellow vinyl gatherers when something toxic drifts over. On a practical note, it is annoying having to scrutinise the small print for fake labels when browsing sales lists.

Ah, but he is capitalising on the gullible. This could spoil it for new-to-the-scene record buyers who don't have much knowledge or spare cash. The records appear to be a bargain but are as pointless as goods bought in the Christmas Sales and never used.

Some will perceive these records to be cheaper value-for-money alternatives when in fact they are worthless. In time, they will cause confusion in the market and buyers will be duped. We are now in an era when bootlegs are made to look like the real thing so this innovation is sure to cause problems in the future.

Disagree. Immoral to take advantage either by faking records or cheating low IQ collectors of their hard earned money. Fakers should stick with handbags and watches rather than spoil our hobby.

You did the right thing. Better to go without than waste money on fake rubbish.

This is an awful practise. It won't be too long before these duds are sold on, and in the wrong hands will be marketed as the real thing. This seller gets my nomination as Mercenary of the Decade. It is a dirty, shady, unprincipled money grabbing wheeze that contaminates honest record collecting and is sure to cause problems in the long run. Although not illegal, what this chancer is up to amounts to faking, tampering, interference, fiddling and manipulation. He should be outed as an enemy of honest record collecting.

Good work George. I bid on these early doors, more to get a winning bid notification than a let's get a regular update on this and have a serious shot if they're on the low side. I should have been more alert as both Detroit Sounds and Empires have popped up very recently, yet they're dead rare. Hopefully you have saved someone a lot of bother but a few punters have been caught out even at this early stage, particularly if they're not on Soul Source.

Closer to 4K perhaps? Maybe a trophy-grail-monster destined to be re-auctioned in the near future?

Work your way up to Bari Track via Willie Mitchell's 'The Champion', Andre Brasseur's 'The Kid' and Baltimore and Ohio Marching Band's 'Condition Red'. Find out if you like instrumentals as they are an important facet of the scene. Earl Van Dyke's 'Six By Six' is one of the best Motown related instrumentals going.

Hi Joey. Sample as much music as you can. YouTube clips are a free source. CD compilations are worth a shot, especially the cheap ones that are generally the commonest tracks. Get to some venues and browse the collectors boxes, maybe with a wants list. Take a trip to the States with a portable record player - there's plenty of cheap vinyl for those beginning the journey. Don't do drugs and you'll outlive the rest of us on here and have spare cash to buy up the great tunes we oldsters can't take with us when shuffling off to the big dance hall in the sky...

So what mark would you give to David and Reuben if it's the first dozen notes of the Majestics that ruin it for you? The intro to Lester Tipton sounds like a lawnmower starting up but the rest of the track is pretty decent, maybe a 7 perhaps...

So what's wrong with this slice of music? The vast majority of the world are oblivious to it. Only the fortunate few will ever get to hear it, let alone own a copy (or three as some of us do) and I suspect the vast majority of Northern followers would give it a mark above 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 (where 10 is as good as it gets).

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed an increasing number of USA eBay sellers unwilling to send records to the UK? Why is there a growing reluctance to sell records to British customers?

Cheers Seb. Just checked the copy again and hooray, you've made my evening, it's made of vinyl. Must've been the delta mark that threw me...