Sean Hampsey

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdcoT0hNHQQ A long overdue recognition for a truly great singer. Tremendous stuff. Sean

Great stuff Paul. Beautifully put together. Sean

A truly GREAT Soul Singer. RIP Solomon Burke. Sean

Can you have a word and tell her I'd like 'em as well mate! Good spot Chalky. They look great. Thanks buddy, Sean

Yep - I can think of a lot worse ways to make a living. Did I ever tell you about my old job... with Jayne Mansfield and the lobsters? Oh, and when you're next there, please pass on the Rotherham lads fondest regards to Suzanne Bolton. The sweetest lady in the whole of Alabama! Sean

I'm assured there's a huge bunch of stuff yet to see the light of day, Mark, from the likes of George Soule, Bettye Swann, Candi Staton, Spencer Wiggins, Marcell Strong, Roscoe Robinson etc. The Candi Staton "One More Hurt" is an outstanding dancer (I'll be playing at Rugby next weekend, if you can't make Just Soul) but the deep stuff is also mouthwatering, by all accounts! Spare a thought for poor Mr Rounce, who has had to endure the past nine months, wading through all those dusty old tapes! Don't envy him for a minute, poor guy! Sean

Wonderful mate. Bloody Wonderful! :-)

Are we talking Candi, Spencer etc. Steve? Sean

That's the spirit guys! Miss this one and weep. Hard to recall a richer time, in the past 10 years, for real quality. Hats off to Ace / Kent - Still delivering the goods. 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?

Hi Rob, Don't you ever wonder what we left behind? Especially when you consider that we each had a box at a time, to go through. That means that we each only saw 25% of what was actually there (i.e. so did you, so did Tats.... and..... so did, a very young, Bully!). What was in HIS boxes that he didn't spot? I tell thi'.... I'm off to have another look! Sean

Dave is far too modest to join in this thread (although he definarely should) Ian, even though he's had more hits than Cliff Richard! One of the absolute TRUE Gentlemen of the UK Soul Scene.

Sorry boys... I just couldn't help myself!

Mention of Blakes name reminded me of how him and Kev Johnson went to some old boys place in London, only a few years ago, and picked up some amazing stuff! Apparantley the guy had been a bit of a DJ, back in the day, and Blake got the Bobby Taylor on Mowest off him and other nice things! Just goes to show, there's still some great bargains to be had, even on home turf!

When the Taxman comes a knockin' it don't matter what colour you are! I was leads to believe that the IRS closed him down.