Sean Hampsey

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.

Those images remind me of a Lock up me and a couple of mates were in, outside Baltimore, about 10 years ago. Me, Tats Taylor, Rob Wigley and Bully were doing the rounds around Washington / Baltimore. On the Sunday we ended up at a Record Show in West Virginia. I got chatting to a dealer (a Black guy named Jerome) selling a load of Soul LP's. Bought a few off him and then asked him if he had any 45's. He said he had a Lock up full of stuff as he'd had a Record shop until '74 and when he closed up shop he had locked away his stock, just living off his thousands of LP's ever since. I asked him if I could see them (it would have been rude not to ask). He said He'd think about it... and that I should telephone him that evening. Me and the lads got back to the Hotel and I made the call around 7:00pm. He told us to drive out to a Holiday Inn and meet him there 'Because you can't come into my area'. We duly met him around 8 o'clock. Jerome appeared in a white Van, flashed his lights... we flashed back.. and he drove up to the side of our car. "OK" he says "Get in the back, lay on the floor... and don't look out of the window" He drove for about 20 minutes with the four of us laid on the floor in the back. Eventually he pulled up outside a dark, unlit, Industrial Estate and told us it was safe to get out. The lock up was just like those in John's picture. Wall to ceiling racks along both sides and the back wall. He threw a couple of pasting tables into the middle of the room and started pulling boxes of 45's off the shelves. Must have been half a million 45's in there. Talk about kids in a candy store! We'd set out on the trip for Bobby Reed's, Vivian Reed's, Cashmere's, and the like... and were well rewarded with everything we'd set out for... at a dollar each. As we left (around 3:00 am) he told us he had just as many 45's at his house, but we were off home the next day and never got to visit. I've still got his details though (the answer is NO... before you ask) and I'm off to the states next month... mainly around Memphis, but just might drop off and see if Jerome has any of his old store stock while I'm there! ...if one of you lot haven't beaten me to it! Sean

I left my Missus on the Beach in Hawaii. Best days work I ever did! Jellys in Honolulu were having a sidewalk sale. Everything from the basement was put out onto the pavement in crates. As much as you could carry - 10cents each. Had to buy two new cases from the shop next door to ferry back the cargo (Jimmy McFarland, Sandy Wynns, Joannie Sommers, Steve Mancha's etc). Damn cases cost more than the vinyl! Sean

Well it is waaaaaaaaaay past your bedtime!

PS: Were the Terrible Toms issues or Demos?

Agree Ian, but, we both know that for the open minded, it can still be phenomenal every day! Most of the 'Big Finds' were of records that were only 5-6 years old when found. Nobody ever thought it was any really great shakes at the time... cos, frankly, it wasn't! Its only in hindsight that everyone gets so lathered up. In the 70's every man and his dog was turning stuff up... thick and fast because stuff was all so plentiful... and available! I'm off next month, Record hunting, and will probably bring back a pile of 5-6 year old Southern 45's that most people wouldn't pay ten bob for... ...YET! The fact is, history is repeating itself every single day. You've only got to look at what's changing hands for big bucks on eBay these days... its as much the rare 70's and 80's stuff as it is the 60's 'Trad Northern'. That little number on the other thread by Clifford Curry might well be another "Will Collins" or "Prince Phillip" in 3-4 years time (and, incidentally, where were they when we were all getting turned on by copies of Clara Ward and Dottie Cambridge etc.). In another 10 years, I reckon that people will be willing to pay more for a copy of the contents of your laptop than they will for a copy of Frank Wilson! (Tongue firmly in cheek). Sean