Carty

thats the one yes, i will get it up , cheers.

what has not yet been mentioned on this thread ( i dont think) is the era of the soussan instrumentals, some of these were pretty ropey in hindsight , and these were played early on,one i remember, going to a go go , had a brilliant xylophone intro, no one would touch it today of course ,but it did the buisness back then. while we are on the subject, there was a great instrumental of the belles dont pretend that used to get serious play in 74 /75, the soul fox boot has an instrumental called pretention on the b side,this was not the one that used to be played though, i am wondering did the one played at wigan ever get put on 45s other than emi discs?

you beat me to it mr c

marsha gee baby i need you also booted on demand label, didnt little ann ( patience valentine , when hes not around) remain covered up well into the eighties, ?

love it

for me i didnt like the guy , never felt he was one of the lads , and the atmosphere at the mecca could not touch the casino, similarly i found the mecca crowd a bit up themselves ,a shower of tommy hunts .

There were some records that only sounded right at the casino, i remember john madara, play the game of love c/u ( eddie regan playin hide and seek ) was the top sound for richard for a couple of weeks, sounded absolutely electrifying,but then, once it was released , and playing at home , not quite the same, what about earl wright thumb a ride, perfect for the place, i dont care where they were played first and who discovered them ( actually its not true , i am interested in that stuff,) but what went on at wigan was an altogether more primal experience, the" you had to be there" cliche holds true,i was a regular from 74 till it closed, the mecca may have discovered some of the records first, but would you fancy spending your night out in a room full of ian levines ?, come on ,wigan was magic, hope youre well tony, catch up with you in the spring somewhere .

PMed you .

the laughing policeman dosent touch me i,m sorry to say, eula cooper however,is very uplifting, for me though the couple that speak to the soul when times are hard are keep on keepin on n f porter, and williams and watson quitter never wins, both songs speak of the need to persevere amidst difficulties , this works for me better than putting on a happy song, if i want something thats guaranteed to have me splitting my sides what does it for me is john cooper clarke health fanatic or evidently chickentown ( the early clips ) on you tube.

southpaw, actually, no , a couple of the seated passengers a bit worse for the wear drinkwise had an argument as to which one of them should have the journey home in the boot experience, so i got a seat on the return journey.

i found em easy enough to read

ok fair enough

train from manchester to edinburgh for the clouds all nighters 1979.1980 , used to collect vouchers off persil packs which gave cheap train travel, then another time bought a platform ticket and got under the seat on the train and jumped the barrier at waverley station, same again on the way back. it was easy in those days. went to the mecca in a car boot one night , the only space available, insane .

definately wigan, russ wild is on it also ged gibbons ( both stockport), i would say around 76 or 77

bob and earl band my little girl

first record every session in the early days of mr ms wade in the water, ramsey lewis, always first on,played by mike rolo. big sound for gall, one way out, vandellas, the soul twins brought their rarities to the party with stuff stuff like bari track,and ronnie and robin, the monitors share a little love was always played, kenny spence i think, gloria jones come go with me,also a weekly spin, as was bar b q mentioned earlier. as far as i know theres no t.v footage of mr ms in full flow. at times , usually about half an hour or so after it opened, the vibe was absolutely electric, the dance floor packed solid and always the place for the hardcore soulies,( along with the record bar obviously) i,m sure most of you know all this anyway, but for me that unbelievable atmosphere and energy that the northern scene is famed for was at it absolute zenith in mr ms the first couple of hours it was open . finishers for ms charles mann its all over and lainie hill time marches on .

love elkie brooks version of nothing left to cry, very soulful, couple of points, elkie brooks( elaine bookbinder ) is actually from broughton park in salford, not irlams o th height .broughton park is a mainly jewish enclave about a mile and a half from manchester town centre ,still manchesters most exclusive inner city area . her family still run the bookbinders nightclub in the town centre,( over 40s pick up joint so i am told) the skin colour of the artist is a strange one, i listen to whatever music i like regardless of skin colour. , some of the most soulful records ever made have been by white artists, timi yuro, itll never be over for me springs immediately to mind, HOWEVER, and i know this is kind of strange but feel there will be others out there that will identify with it, i think i would like the timi yuro record more if i thought she was black , its perverse, i,m not trying to defend this stance in any way, it dosent even make any sense to me but there you go .

think i,ll start using mine more after reading quinvys comments , i used to feel there was a richer sound out of the minidisc, i know they used to fare badly for distortion etc against c.d players in the reviews i read at the time, however i have come to realize its the effect it has on the listener that is all important,and on that criterea, they were pretty good in my opinion

also, there was a kind of sexiness about a mini disc dont you think,? the shape and the way you unwrapped the celophane , a bit like a pack of condoms ?( maybe its me )

i still have a cracking denon minidisc player, bought about 1998 before i had a pc and the cdr facility, i always felt i jumped in too soon with this ( which is not like me at all, wouldnt know where to start with an i pod, having never downloaded a tune yet!) i took it as a replacement for tape at the time, with the added extra that there was no re winding, almost a tape with a c.d remote,which was a big improvement then, i am sure there were cdr players around but at that time the mini disc did seem to be an improvement on that, after all, cds had been around for a while then, whereas the minidisc did look newer, technology moved on ( without me i might add) and it ended up probably bieng superceeded by the turn of the century, at some point in the last five or six years i have turned my back on technological progress, at least in the field of recorded music and re embraced vinyl,this has become once again a deep passion, my only regret being that i let it go many years ago.

theres one in sales today £ 15.00

john s, in awe of your incredible detailed response , always wondered about those stamps,how do you know this stuff ?

i remember sending off for both this and the silhouettes from an ad in blues and soul 75/76ish, slightly more expensive than a lot of other pressings , maybe £ 1.50 each, love the eddie taylor song, bought a copy on peacock in 1979 for £7.00 and sold it for not too much more in the early eighties,it always looked pretty on that peacock label, did i read somewhere that peacock records was a money laundering venture for the mob? anyway, if you want to sell the blank label copy, and the price is reasonable, let me know.

whilst i agree that some point things will start to rapidly decline, the doo wop thing was a late fifties thing, our thing is roughly 15 to 20 years after, ( not the music, but the people who are into it, as it was not new when it arrived here, ), so yes , at some point it will dip but it will not be for another decade or so ,( in my opinion )also very valid is the global following that seems to be growing, recently saw keb darge on youtube at a soul night in kobe japan, place was on fire, and everyone seemed to be very young ,wonder if these folks will develop a life long interest or move on to the next trend , Places like the black bee soul club in manchester seem to have a new generation of younger people attending (again my only visit to this place was via you tube , i need to get out more ) so their is hope, top and bottom of it for me though is that it will always be around as long as i am i am sure of that now, and after that, well, selfish bastard as i am i dont really care,.

also was booted on soul sounds ,( green?) and a red label with no name but the title and artist in large black letters