Modernsoulsucks

More like £50 Ian!! Back then it seemed there was nobody into it really and prices were low. I didn't find Poets actually. Around late 80's Anderson was opening his Manchester "Expansions" shop and the stuff that was selling well then was the rare groove/2-step/ crossover stuff. Me and Dave specialised in that as it was somewhat easier to find than Northern and John took about £400 worth of LPs off us. Instead of money I took Poets and Trannells off John. I'd never heard either then so not sure if they were "unknown" at that time. Anyway John found it,I just ended up with it. And yes I did uncover Maurice McCallister. Found it in a shop just outside Baltimore and like Willis 45 it was with quite a few oddball artists and local labels. There's no magic formulae or specialist knowledge involved at all. If I didn't know it I played it and with Mr. Soul I was in the right place at the right time. Same with "unknowns". If you look at enough 45s even a moron like me can find something with the right ingredients. ROD

You could ask Lew Stanley if he's heard owt as Eden ain't that far away from Chapel Hill. Only guy I know in Eden if he's still active is Ken Searcy. ROD

Could it be that it's nothing to do with cock-waving and Sam simply likes the record so much he wants to own it? Maybe Dave, but I think it's more to do with getting a 45 to dj with as has already been referred to on this thread and as Brian points out he is not that sentimentally attached to his 45s if he feels a sale or trade will improve his playbox. Every chance of Arthur moving on at a later date. ROD

I don't mean "fillers" as in so-so or not worth having but for a DJ of Sam's standing, reputation, popularity etc is it the best use of 5K to be maybe then seen as following Butch. I know you hear on this site that all DJs are trailing in Butch's wake but Im sure they're are those on here who would prefer to shell out that money on something Butch didn't have. ROD

Mischief, of course it's up to Sam if he has 5K to spend on a 45. However Im approaching this from the point of view of a DJ buying a tune to feature in his spot. Should a top DJ buy what is really now a very rare "oldie" or could that money be put to better use. There's Sam playing Butch's Parliaments or Arthur Willis and IMO kinda slipping down the DJ hierarchy. I ain't heard him play for ages anyway so maybe he has his own 60's discoveries and the former two are just fillers? ROD

Trevski, I kinda know Barry through Dave Withers. Barry may have found it whilst in the USA as I have no idea how long he lived over there for. I do know Dave used to stop at his place in Detroit in late 90's and Dave would obviously have been aware of the record then. Coulda been lying in Barry's collection but if Butch had first copy, then it came off me. ROD

Forgot to add, that for a supposed top dj to splash out that kinda money on a 45 that's been around and played by Butch and Rob Thomas for two, it smacks of laziness and lack of imagination. Surely 5K would have got him something new to all of us. There are guys on here who do the clubs regularly. Let me ask them. If you had 5K would you go out and buy somebody else's top sound or try to find something that would be associated with you. JT,Paul-S,John Weston,SteveG,Gavin Page etc ROD

Well I sold it to Butch in late 80's/early 90's. Found it in the old Clock Shop near Kannapolis in N.C. tucked away with some pretty oddball label stuff under a counter. In the same boxes I got Little ? on a blue label which Butch bought as well, and a Reggie Sadler on Panther which Phil Wainwright took. Swapped those and more for Beach 45s. I thought it had a reggae flavour to it too. ROD

I may be but I coulda sworn I heard a copy that sounded nowt like CP release. Pete says it's the same so I guess it is but someone on here may have the London re-issue to check. ROD

No idea on individual titles cos a lot go back to beginning of scene anyway but first spot I noticed that featured a lot of downtempo stuff that I thought was different, and have to admit it didn't like much at first ,was Roger Banks. ROD

I hate to rain on Ged's parade but £10 for a VG Servicemen is maybe not such a good deal if VG is the usual rubbish 45 you get off most Ebay dealers, other than guys like Moerer who appear to know what they're doing. I NEVER buy VG and anything I consider VG that turns up goes back straight or ends up in the bin. Im also surprised that someone considers VG condition to be worth half the value of Mint condition. In my book more like 20% if you're lucky especially on something like Servicemen which is reasonably common. There are exceptions obviously but they would be confined to those 45s of which there are only a handful. As for "bargains" on Ebay this thread gives no indication why they're considered such but I have the sinking feeling that the price guides will come into it somewhere. So my "bargains" this month were Gerri Granger "Breakdown" Big Top DJ £11 inc P&P, Ethics Wale £24 inc P&P, Ethics Vent DJ £17 inc P&P and Don Varner South Camp DJ £15 inc P&P. Respectively £75,£100,£40[for regular issue] and £75 in guide. All 45s were Mintish by the way. I make that £67 for a supposed value of £290 which is less than 25% I actually shelled out. I got myself a fantastic bargain there!! Er.... but then I saw Ethics on Wale sell last night for less than I paid albeit in VG+ condition and I saw Don Varner in a sales box at £50 but still there so no takers at that price. Not quite as good as I first thought. Bearing in mind the current thread on prices I gotta say that anyone who takes the guides seriously, and I know there are people on here who refer to them all the time when valuations are requested, is living in cloud cuckoo land. Im really happy with my "bargains" but not because I paid under the odds. I like the records and buying off Ebay Im sure I paid the going rate. ROD

Im somewhat surprised by Paul's relaxed attitude to people who buy boots. Don't they put money in the bootleggers' pockets and keep them in business to produce the next batch? However, I can well understand why people buy the boot in preference to the cost of the original and personally have no problem with it. I have no idea who is doing boots nowadays but if you're reading this next time you make a bit of dosh out of it, a percentage to Save the Children or similar may make you feel a little better next time Paul or someone draws attention to your dodgy dealings. As for the young lady reportedly playing an entire set of boots, although an absence of a playlist makes it just conjecture, I would have found it a little dull I guess as I would have heard them all before but then most djs playing originals tend to feature rarer 45s first spun [and hammered] at Wigan or Stafford so not much difference really. All in all not much of a shock-horror story as it's impact is minimal on the whole. Finally I hope Chalky keeps his promise and gives Bridget a spot. A bit more input from other areas would be refreshing and go some way to close this divide between the dance floor and the collector. ROD

He's been in contact thanks in response to my message via ebay. He seems very disorganised but was extremely apologetic and Im now sorted. However although I appreciate that all you who know him agree he's a nice guy if you buy a 45 from here and don't receive it, then send two PMs a couple of weeks apart and don't get a reply, as a one-time dealer in 45s, I'd say it's not good customer service. Anyone on here who has bought 45s off me either on here or when I did mail order as Out of the Past in Manchester will tell you that I don't expect sellers to have standards other than those I apply to myself. ROD

I just checked his "Me" page and he ain't been on here since 27th November so I've contacted him via Ebay. Im sure Brad is a very nice guy but seriously if you put an ad on SS to sell 45s why wouldn't you go back every now and then to check for replies. It's a bit sloppy isn't it? Still, my wife is very nice too but I wouldn't let her out on her own!! Thanks for all the input. I can sort this out now hopefully. ROD

I saw that Hampton 45 and did wonder why it wasn't attracting higher bids so I assumed that some guys had contacted seller and requested matrix details to confirm "Nashville" stamp or absence thereof.There was this identical bootleg going around at one time so hard to tell from the picture if original but it does look like mine [with the Nashville stamp] and I got my copy from N.C too on a buying trip years ago. Someone may have got a bargain if everybody was like me and couldn't be arsed to contact seller. ROD

Thanks for info people. I'll give it another week to turn up and then I suppose I can now phone him or write to him from details supplied by PM. However, IMO pretty rubbish service from a seller. That's NOT answering two Pms querying non-arrival and I won't bother buying from him again. ROD

Brad advertised a few 45s on here back in November. I bought Reflections "Romeo & Juliet" and sent him £8 by Paypal which he accepted on 29 November. So far no sign of my 45 and I've had no replies to two enquiries I sent by PM on 17th and 29th December. OK it was only £8 but bit miffed he's not got in contact when I've contacted him twice now. Anyone on here in contact with him? I guess he may have sent it surface but just wondering if anyone else has had any dealings with him outside of Ebay. Thanks ROD

Ralph's!! That's where I got mine from. Later design ABC which later I figured was a repress as Ralph used to sell all the early boots. ROD

Is that some Italian mob film? I have noticed down through the years that quite a few of that type will feature soul/doo-wop tracks. I liked the early Robert de Niro thing. Was it "Mean Streets" where he's dancing to "Mickey's Monkey"? ROD

OK Adey,I sit here corrected, although to be pedantic myself Im not so sure that Kurt Harris is slower than Ray Pollard!! I meant to put in my original post that my view is obviously predicated on my club experience and as I was lucky enough to go to the Pendulem in my formative years and kinda started off collecting UK releases I did get to hear a lot of downtempo sounds that you wouldn't hear at say ,the Torch. First hour at the Pendulem on a Friday and their Sunday night do's were full of such 45s. ROD

Well as the guy who turned up Jackie Day the phrase "scene changing record" never occured to me.It was more like "Hey this sounds like a Mirwood 45". I remember finding that Linda&Pretenders and sold it to Guy as a kinda Frankie&Classicals type sound. To me both just fitted in with what had gone before. I think with the exception of the Carstairs we may be inventing artificial cut-off points that didn't actually exist. From what I remember of the end of Wigan to the start of Stafford the "problem" was that the 70's/80's 45s had come to dominate the playlists and dj's such as Sam and Richard had appeared to lose interest in 60's,citing the usual "drying up" argument and lack of quality. My mate Dave Withers and I disagreed, as did those termed the 60's Mafia, and Dave and I had a go at dj-ing with a predominantly 60's playlist. A lot of our playlist were Wigan 45s that were popular at the end there such as Executive IV,John&Weirdest,Classics,Combinations {Kell-mac] and some that had been tried but failed to take off big-time such as Del-Tours,Royal Robins,Topics[Dream]. Others were our own such as Limelights,Monique,Phoenetics,Combinations{Kim-Tone], "What's your game"and of course the unissued Motown. Others I forget. Whatever, they were all IMO quality 45s that weren't being heard that much. To be frank an uphill struggle against the likes of King Tutt and we jacked it and it took Guy and Keb to really persevere and change it around to restore a balance. I don't think there was a difference in 45s played at Stafford and previous clubs. People mention beat ballads and midtempo stuff which of course there were but then Barbara McNair was huge at Wigan and right from the start the Tams was always a slow shuffle. OK a tinge of Latin influenced by Adey's R&B nights but then we always had "El Watusi". So I'd say that the rare soul thing has not really changed since it's inception. A mixture of styles and tempos. However I think Dave Thorley by giving us and Keb,Guy,Rob,Butch etc a stab at it,when he coulda stuck with Richard for one, did give the whole thing a new lease of life. ROD

I think it's the decks promoters use. Whenever I've done a spot I've noticed a lot of hissing, usually followed by boo-ing and then Im paid by the crowd throwing small change at me when a cheque would do. ROD

Updated this list. Thanks for looking ROD

I think £70. It was unbelievably catchy but it reminded me of Gonzales too at the time. Yes,say hello to Bob for me. Did he buy a copy off me. He was always moaning that I sold stuff to other people before him but Im sure he got a few worthwhile things from me as I didn't really play favourites apart from maybe Dave the Dentist who was my dentist and the first time he forgot the novacaine did tend to concentrate my mind on things he might like!!! ROD

I LOVE IT!!!! My Trojan Horse into the modern scene!! I knew all along that all you lot really wanna do is dance around your manbags. Had 6 between me and Dave Withers. Sam probably got it off us and I think Butch bought a copy too. Did I laugh!! Until I saw last night's finishing price on JM's site. ROD