Still Diggin

Yes, when eBay was a little more transparent this happened a fair bit.

I would like to think there are lots of potential punters out there who are really keen to have a look at somewhere different, travel a bit further etc, however as mentioned above if you have have no clue how adventurous or thought provoking the music policy is, then there are an awful lot folks who will just stay at home assuming it is just a variation of the top 500 northern.

Well if you and Mark have played it, I feel fully justified in my opinion! 👍Living in Norfolk did have it's advantages with regard to a Soul bowl visit, however as a self employed decorator during that period it was very cut throat, so my buying power did not get me too high up the pecking order. However he was unlocking the potential of so many incredible soul records in that period you had to be doing something seriously wrong to not come away with something to treasure. Think we all wish our wisdom and knowledge was better back then. Although I had stopped buying uptempo 60's by then he did occasionally offer me the odd one or two. He offered me the Poets on J2, however due to it's jovial backing I decided it sounded like a beach record and likely to end up on his front page, what a plonker. I know another local guy Andy Gill had one from him. He also offered me Bobby Rich for either £75 or £100 , again, wrong side of northern by then. He offered it to Chris as well. I think everyone who visited there wondered what the rejected all these years later.

I do not recall anyone who was collecting and playing out any crossover records when that term was fresh ever being deluded to what period or style it was attributed to. 67-74 beat ballad to mid tempo soul. In the last 15 years all sorts of records have been given the term. How deaf can they get! Looking back it was easy to see how that scene emerged, many a soul collector had lost patience with 90% of new releases lacking real instruments and way too much of the uptempo sixtees getting played was just to bang average. So there was this little void of soulfull music in the middle of those time spans, some of which was tricky to dance to, but not half as tricky as the Velvet Satins with your shoe laces undone. Just to say, that Prince Ella Johnson 45 that Dave mentioned above is tremendous, running at Jimmy Bo Horn pace i'm really surprized to not see it in playlists, way tougher than Ella Woods easily as good IMO.

Fantastic ! . Interviews with such unsung talent don't come round to often. 'melodies of love' by these guys is in my top ten of 80's soul ballads. Thanks Mick.

Just think of all the great cheap soul records a man can buy on discogs, one of which is John Edwards 'Messing up a good thing', IMO it's also one of the best! R.I.P. John

Black Buddah 'Baby oh Baby Pork vg £200 Hard driving funky soul track with great horns, most of the soul output on this logo is tough to find, this being no exception. Plays great for the grade, with minimal suface noise.Rare one for sure. Sold Jesse James ' If you want a love affair 20th cent promo ex+ £40 Classic 70's soul. SOLD Master Plan 'Clinton Park' Delite ex+ £40 Classic soul harmony lyrical masterpiece. Glenda Smith- Whyte 'Reach up' World ex+ £150 Gospel inspired dancer from the pen of Moses Dillard, excellent production and vocals, rare demo. Dana v Andrews 'Mr Justice Davida ex £200 Recently re-issued, heres a proper one. Valentinos 'Stay Away' Clean vg £250 Took this in a trade with three other 45's, looks like the copy that was on ebay a few years back. Probably twenty times rarer than 'Sweeter'. Lots of pen marks on both sides and lots of marks, Wrote by Bobby and Leon Ware. Plays really well for the grade with a few audible marks at the start. SOLD Full refund if not happy. Message to reserve. Cheers Andy

Hey Mark, can you remember when the coach broke down and we got back at 6.00am, I had to start work at 7.30 after cycling four miles. Got there and tried to have a kip at lunch time laying flat on the floor boards, this pesky plasterer then tied my shoelaces together while asleep, after 30 minutes got woken by the foreman to resum work only to piss straight back over!

Well if you're happy with it that's fine, AI or not, however if you listen to the Coffee version featuring Leon Bryant I would say it's all about delivery and passion of which that has in abundance, you can pitch Marvins voice however you want and I'm afraid it won't be for me.

To be honest I couldn't give a hoot if this is Marvin together with some odd AI tinkering, After all you can go on YouTube find the uploader Mastermind sounds and listen to a shed full of stuff with in the sweet ballad and group genre, all loosely based on similar existing backing tracks, with both ficticous and known artists.There is even a mash up of the Carol Dionne rarity ' I need you', scary times indeed and as someone mentioned before ' I'm glad I lived when I did'. Personally If I want to listen to ' If this would were mine ' then the first port of call would be the Sweet James Epps version.

I find these threads regarding ''Low Rider'' soul thought provoking but somewhat anoying. The first slow harmony record by a lesser known group (certainly to me at the time) that really grabed me was the Festivals 'So in love' on Gordy, that came from an old second hand store in 1979 for 25p. However at that point I was collecting all kinds of soul, however by the late 80's I was looking for more group stuff like the Festivals and single artist ballads to boot., by the end of the 90's, 50 percent of my purchases were slow soul, by the end of the 2000's 80 percent at least were slow soul. So your'e probably thinking were is all this going, point is i'm not the only one, there are numerous collectors both over here Japan and in Europe having followed a similar path just getting on with it and have done it for years, nothing new. I don't think it was untill the late 90's sombody talked about ''Low Rider'', I had no clue what they were on about, only to realize there was a parrallel scene of a knowledgeable bunch of good guys with smilar taste in California. As for 'sweet soul' term being used to ramp up prices on the net, anyone who has being looking for this stuff for any length of time pretty much knows whats rare and what isn't. It does not help when it would appear there seems to be a poor understanding of what sweet soul actually is. For the most part the lead is sung in Falsetto or counter/high tenor. Obviously group or single artist. There have been thousands of soul records listed since the bandwagon jump in ''Low rider'' in the last ten years that due not fit this cryteria, but listed as sweet soul, there are some group records that that would follow a similar lyrical portrail or concept that some would argue should fit this crytria, I dont. Records on my turntable like Longstreets on Mighty oak, Essence of life on Sir Ran Rap, Arterials on Mary and common favorits like Touch of Class 'I'll be your rainbow' Smokey Robinson 'Wev'e come to far to end it now' are SWEET SOUL and i know those guys in California dig these records. As for the Ace CD, IMO there are some nice unreleased tracks. You will notice there is a picture of the Nightchill group featured, with sleeve notes eluding to not knowing who the group were other than Dave Hamilton only knowing the lead singers first name. The group sent me the same photo over twenty years ago, however it was signed by the group. they were - Anthony Robinson, James Smith, Tyrone Marshall, Nathaniel Harriot.

So I assume one bloke has his headphones on dancing to High Frequency 'Summertime' and the bloke next to him has his headphones on dancing to Ray Pollard 'The drifter'. surely the Drifter guy is gonna like he's had a stroke! then get a few lifesize cardboard cut outs of Tommy Cooper riding a donky to make the dance floor look busy, what could go wrong?🤣🤣🤣

Great photo Chris, amazing the pictures you can take sun bathing in the dunes on new years eve!

I find it difficult to accept some of the accreditations made on discogs to certain artists, more so when the time frame between releases spans nearly a decade. Productions change dramaticaly so vocal delivery accomadates this in such a way it can sound like a different artist. IMO Bobby King on Motown and Warners does not sound like the chap on the Luna 45, however the chap on the Lunar 45 does sound like the chap on Reprise with the Stevie Wonder cover. Like I say maybe it's just a time frame thing.

I also thought it was a slightly different mix, however the point I was making is it is Bobby King singing, with no evidence of it being Rudy Love.

A good captivating soul record is often it's simplicity. often wondered if it was Al 'alonzo' Wilson as it does sound like him. But that was from down south.

Given the fact this record is the same as Bobby king on Lunar then it would be reasonable to think King Superfly is just a play on Bobby's surname to negate contractual issues. Where is the provenance this has anything to do with Rudy Love. I stand to be corrected as my time spent at school was limited.

Just dropped you a line. Andy

Great choices Kev, as expected!

Excellent thread to start, however it may have been best to limit the suggestions to American based artists, as I can see this decending into numerous biddu type productions based on carribean and islands acts that lived over here, of which there are several hundred some mentioned already, not saying their all crap but it could go on forever. Car;l Douglas mentioned above also had a different flip in the Uk with his Buddah release, in the States it was 'Marble and iron' in the uk it was 'Do you need my love to get better', off to play the flip 'Lean on me' a soulfull piece if ever there was one. Thanks for the nudge on Carl.

Just wondered if you have the group members for the Four Wonders?

Great subtle harmony, busy chap back then was Ronnie Mcneir.

It saves them from bringing a stick.

To be fair Chris even the thickest of skined collector was reluctant to spend a shed load of cash on most titles like that for the simple fact most of us thought in the end they would slowly start to drift over from the states and end up being a fiver as most were relatively knew, even after the best part of forty years you could probably fit all the known copies of those titles you mention ever found in a bucket and still have room for your shoes! but the thing is if you wanted to hear it you had three options, buy it, turn up, or scrounge a hissy cassette off ya mate! , no youtube mixcloud discogs spotify re-issue etc. Everybody's an expert now without going out of the front door. Good times back then for sure and credit to Poke, Sam Arthur, Robin, Richard etc for the inspiration.

Many thanks for getting in touch Peter, your best bet would be to contact Steve Guarnori, he has just brought out the wonderfull book which is All Platinum the making of a sound. In the book are scans of the Maple 45's, Collector Greg Tormo let Steve have a scan of the Prescott 45. I still have the 45 which plays reasonably well, but had sadly been in a basement which at one point in time been underwater, this has rendered it unfit for what you would need it for, some info on the label is ok, but some missing. A very rare 45 indeed,