Sean Hampsey

Yeh - But did he go to Wigan, Tony? Hope you're well mate. Sean

Melvin also has a Myspace page, where he can be contacted directly. https://www.myspace.com/melvindavisdetroit And the J.L. Brown is available from Voices @ £25.00 https://www.soul45.com/acatalog/NORTHERN_SOUL_45s_OTHER.html Sean

Agree 100% Keith, JJ Barnes UK Stax 45 (Flip to Baby Please) and Holidays, Groove City 45, are identical and are both Steve Mancha. Same record. Sean

Yeh! Its alright that Dave. I'd buy one. Sean

Came out on at least two label variations, Nick. Mikim was Kim and her husband, Mickey Stevenson's brainchild, but distribution was handled by Stax exclusively through its Volt subsidiary. Sean

I bought this around 72/73 and remember being amazed, at the time, how much the backing vocal sounded like the 4 Tops 'Baby I Need Your Loving'. Not played it for over 35 years but pretty sure I've still got it somewhere. What does it go for nowadays as a matter of interest? Sean

Is it the Likely Lads? Great picture! (didn't realise they had cameras back in the olden days ) Sean

Jimmy Scott, we've already discussed. Triffic midtempo! Also, Ady, have you considered "Till You Decide To Come Home" Detroit Emeralds? Always a fave at my house! Sean

Ha! I was only saying to my daughter the other day, I wonder if another take was done, at Motown, where they swapped the parts over! Magnificent record. Sean

Bloody Good Track, Ady! Sean

I play it out often. World class Southern Soul. Sean

Especially not Tammi FFS! Sean

Agree mate. The negatives aspects of his life are well publicised. The Tammi stories and rumours are legend. His genius lives on through his work, and he was certainly a bad mutha in many respects! Still grateful for the magnificent work he left behind. Sean

No doubt, David Ruffin was one of the finest voices in Soul music. Sure, he was a flawed character, full of dark contradictions. His ego got the best of him and he was, eventually, shown the door. The Tammi stories, if true, are horrific. Of course, the Man was a slave to the drugs that eventually killed him. But he was some Soul Singer. Statue of A Fool, the song he always claimed that he wrote (though this was disputed) sums him up so well. Stil llove him as a great (truly great) artist. Sean

Sandi Sheldon "You're Gonna Make Me Love You" The ultimate STORMER - Accept No Substitute! Sean

Sold mine for a lot less than that, Brian, and his other 45 "Love Will Make Your Mind Go Wild" too. Don't think I got more than a fiver for the pair! Mind you, it was around 30 years ago Anyone wanna sell me the other one back? Sean

...with an awesome Deep flipside in "Pick Yourself Up" Never Booted. Yours is proper Jez. Sean

The Jimmy (& Louise) Tig, Bell 45 was recorded at Chip Moman's America Studios in Memphis, so yes Bob, most probably. Sean

£11 in '74 - a bit steep Ian, but to be fair I think a Duke Browner would get you an entire wardrobe nowadays. That said, I sold a Minter in 84 for only £20. Wouldn't give the miserable dirge House room. Think I'd prefer Tim's Badly torn Jumper any day! Sean

I always thought it suited you. Course, you were a lot slimmer back then!

Hi mate, As we were discussing earlier, Kurt is a serious Detroit collector. He will have had anything decent away before you and Rob got there. I'll ask him if he remembers what he got out of it! Sean PS: Goldie says Hi!

On the 'Ghost' front, lets not forget the flipside of the 45 became MASSIVE too!

That was trific Brian, so glad you put the effort in. Had my fair share of UK hits too. Three that immediately spring to mind... First was in the mid 70's, I got talking to a Rock & Roll dealer on a market stall in Nottinghamshire. Picked up a few bits off him, nothing too exciting, couple of bits on London (Ruby & Romantics etc. and a Charlie Rich "Love is after Me") for about 50pence each. I told him I collected R&B, left him my phone number and asked him if he'd ever got anything else to let me know. Less than two weeks later, he called me and said he'd acquired a 'Record Reviewers' collection and that there might be some things I'd be interested in. He'd taken out all the Rock asnd pop for his stall, but said I was welcome to take some of the 'Soul'ier' stuff of his hands. I met him at his place in Sheffield. It was truly breathtaking. He'd over 10,000 UK 45's, in boxes all over the place. apparantley the 'Reviewer' had passed away and his Widow had sold my guy the entire collection. Everything was stone Mint... all in original covers... and 99% of them were DEMO's.... Stateside, TMG's, Capitol, the whole nine yards...! Needless to say, he wanted a reasonable price for them (he was a record dealer afer all) but I left with a pile of Stateside Red & Whites and Green & Whites .... Incredibles "Nothing Else To Say", O'Jays, "I Dig Your Act" "That's What I Want To Know" "What's Wrong With Me Baby" "Breakout" etc. piles of TMG's "Why When Love Is Gone" "My Weakness Is You" "Lonely Lonely Girl am I" "Little Darling" etc and stacks of other 'random' label things... PP Arnold "Everything's Gonna Be Alright" Jerry Jackson "It's Rough Out There" and about a dozen more choice pieces... for less than fifty quid! Around the same time, I regularly used to visit a guy on a Market stall in Bawtry, picking up whatever Soul bits and pieces he had. Again, I made sure he had my telephone number to "call me first" if ever he dropped on any decent soul stuff. Lo and behold, the call came one afternoon and he told me that he'd just bought a "Girlie / Group" collection off a guy and that I might be interested in some of what was in there, and I was getting 'first pick'. I caught the train up to Leeds to see him the very next day. Can't begin to list the entire 50 - 60 pieces I came home with that day (all issues) but for starters:- Mary Love - Bitter Into Sweet - King Fascinations - Girls Are out To Get You - Stateside Sapphires - Gotta Have your love - HMV Barbara Mason - Keep Him - London Bettye Swann - Make Me Yours - CBS Chiffons - Nobody Knows - Stateside Reperata & Delrons - Panic - Bell Barbara Lynn - Water Running - London Barbara Lewis - Hello Stranger - London Kim Weston - I'm Still Loving You - TMG Mary Wells (several) on Oriole etc. Next was a bit more recent... and probably the best.... about 6-7 years ago, I was at the office and on the phone to Steve Mannion... talking music... instead of working... as you do. While we were chatting, I was also scouring eBay... (sorry Steve).... at which point Steve started asking me which I thought was the rarer... the UK or the US Alexander Patton "A Lil Lovin Sometimes". Simultaneously, as we talked it over, without giving it much thought, I typed "Alexander Patton" into eBay... ... and found a Mint UK Demo sat in the Pop section for £12:00 on a "Buy It Now"... ...which of course I did, in a heartbeat.... without letting on to my buddy on the end of the phone. Turned out the seller lived near Mansfield - about half an hour from my office - so I arranged, via email, to call and pick it up the next night! En route, I phoned the guy and told him I was on my way. T'was then I asked him if he'd any other records for sale. OMG. The young fella had an older sister... who, back in the mid 60's, used to date an EMI Rep. Needless to say... he was a very generous bloke... as he'd given 'big sis' hundreds of records (in exchange for sweet kisses I guess) over the year or two they'd courted. All I can say is she must have been very, very good at it! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Around midnight, I left the young guys house with the Biggest pile of UK Red & White demo's (HMV - Capitol - Stateside - TMG's) I'd seen since the '75 hit in Sheffield - MINT Red & White Motown - loads of early numbers, ("I Can't Help Myself" "How Sweet It Is" "Road Runner") "Can't Satisfy" on HMV "Lovers Reward" on Columbia and a few dozen other gorgeous Mint Statesides, Capitol 66, and, of course, the stunning Alexander Patton. Which all goes to show, that when you're scouring those racks and boxes, it pays to push a little bit harder and ask to see more. For years I made a habit of telling new acquaintances "I'm a Vinyl Archaeologist" ...and there's Gold in them there hills! Sean

BTW.... Apart from that particular trip, I reckon You and Tats would be able to make some pretty awesome contributions to this thread... don't you?