Mick Holdsworth

Yes, Paul Kyser did do an almost identical repress. I believe he tried to pass them off as originals, and some folks were stung. There was a thread on here a few years back with scans of the looky likey, and original side by side.

I'm pretty sure that both Shirley J Scott and the Prophets have never been booted, so the only grey area would be the Roy Handy, of which the boots are moulded, and originals are styrene. As to the origin of those Roy Handy boots, I'm sure they are indeed American, probably from the ususal suspect, alongside SuperDuck Cheers Mick

I had car trouble and Brian lent me his AA or RAC membership card for a few weeks back in 1980 / 81 (around the time he was in a leg cast and walking on crutches). His name was clearly visible and I had to "be" Brian about three times. For the life of me I can't remember what his mame was though. I'm thinking Williamson / Wilkinson, something like that, but I could be miles out, and the more I think about it, the more I think it was something else. Anyway, happy anniversary Brian Mick

I remember the Jerry Blavat LP showing a diagram and instructions on how to do "the 81". Just had a look for the image and found this. Cheers Mick

The recent batch I had from Soundswholesale just about fitted inside the standard white cardboard covers without trimming them (Although the batch before did need trimming). They're on eBay etc. Cheers Mick

No, at least not in the 70's or 80's. (There could be a more recent boot, but nothing pre 21st century) Cheers Mick

I didn't know you could even do that. So you have "Some" things listed properly, so does that mean if anyone clicks your homepage from one of your links they can see all your listings ? Although it's not perfect it's a good transisional method, at least folks can see all your stuff if they click a button or two.

Dave, It is possible to do a completely automatic upload, (ie you don't go and find the discogs release number first, but just upload as you would musicstack etc). However to do this you need to have a "Big" catalogue. eg Craig Moerer has nearly 29000 items up as I write this. I'm sure his was much bigger than this last year when I looked into it late last year. https://www.discogs.com/seller/recordsbymail/profile If you click on any item within that page you'll see his items bypass discogs normal system, ie there is NO RELEASE NUMBER referred to in either the url or the description. So that gived CM the ability to upload anything, either common items or rare items that don't have a Discogs release number. For the rest of us, it is semi-automatic. This involves going to discogs and searching for your record in their database, getting the Discogs RELEASE NUMBER and adding it to your own offline database. If you have an item that isn't on their database then you have create a Discogs Release No. either from start, or by cloning an existing on (eg if you have a demo and there's only a stock copy in Discogs) Finally, from you own database, output the file as a csv file in EXACTLY the following format ... "price","external_id","release_id","comments","media_condition" 7.08,"NSR2842","2168214","Original : ","Very Good Plus (VG+)" 7.08,"NSR2861","4801866","Original Demo / Promo Copy: ","Near Mint (NM or M-)" 8.26,"NSR2212","2998481","Reissue : Double sider, backed with her classic","Mint (M)" 8.26,"NSR2460","3713897","Reissue : Two biggies from Jackie with no previous US single release","Mint (M)" 8.26,"NSR2835","3311890","Original : ","Near Mint (NM or M-)" 17.70,"NSR2463","5393252","Reissue : Two superb versions of the Motown classics","Very Good Plus (VG+)" 17.70,"NSR2722","2684245","Original : Excellent Philly style Soul dancer from Ohio.","Near Mint (NM or M-)" Notice there is no need to enter any artist, tiles etc, as this is all contained on Discogs under release number 2168214 or whatever. You don't need to enter anything in the fourth column (Comments) but the column needs to be there. Hope that's some help, Cheers Mick As a footnote, there was quite a bit on the Musicstack forums about this, and I'm sure there were sellers with larger catalogues than 29000 who said they were having to doing it the semi-automatic way, so maybe there isn't a clear ruling on when Discogs will let you do it, or when they won't. Maybe it's more to do with how much Discogs feel they will make from the commission on sales.

I seem to remember hearing Jeff Perry - "Love Don't Come No Stronger" out and about right from the start. Also Spinners - Working My Way Back was also played extensively as a new release - Think it hit No1 in the charts very soon after release.

No idea Martyn, The situation has been a can of worms for ages, now he has finally closed the company, I don't know what happens to our private info. Hopefully nothing, but ..... Cheers Mick

Gemm has finally closed for good ... This is the most recent statement from Roger Raffee (the owner) .... After being in the internet marketplace business since August of 1994, and as you already know, the very first internet company to serve as a marketplace for vinyl records, CDs, and other types of music related product, GEMM has found it can no longer compete in a business where the bigger companies, such as Amazon and Google colluded to control which companies get exposure in search results, and have had a long history of keeping GEMM buried from sight in those search results. Regrettably, therefore, we have ceased business operations effective July 8th, 2015. You will be receiving a notice from the federal bankruptcy court within the next week containing information about submitting your claim. Regards, -Roger Raffee (GEMM.com) It's been on the cards for 18 / 24 months, Those of you who only buy through Gemm would probably be unaware of the problems, however those who are Gemm sellers would probably know all about the problems, which had nothing to do with google placement, but with sellers not receiving payments from Gemm for a long time and in recent months not at all.

It's never occured to me, but it sounds like a very good idea. Unfortunately, I know absolutely nothing about the subject, and suspect there's a bit more to it than we see on TV shows. Cheers Mick

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I think there's a red / white demo boot / reissue from a while back. Maybe with another track on the flip (Bettye Swann?). It could be that's what you've seen. Cheers Mick

OK, there seems still to be some confusion ... 1. There is only one label design for the instrumental. This being with a large middle, and "Cyril Shane Music" on both sides. 2. For the Vocal, there are at least three, possibly four variations in label design and/or pressing. 2a. There is a vocal version with a 3 pronged push out middle. ( I can't remember which side has "Pedro Music" on now, probably WATM). 2b. There is a vocal version with large middle, "Pedro Music" on WATM side, and "Cyril Shane Music" on PSMTT side. 2c. There is a vocal version with large middle, "Cyril Shane Music" on WATM side, and "Cyril Shane Music" on PSMTT side. 2d. I think I had or saw a large middle varation with "Pedro Music" on both sides, but I'm not so sure now. Best to ignore this possible variation, so i'll put a line through it, but leave it readable. Now variation 2c is the one that will cause confusion, as the labels / pressing are identical to the instrumental - ie they used the same labels. As to any differences in vinyl, well firstly I feel there must have been a difference in the matrix numbers, although anyone familiar with early seventies polydor matrix markings will know that they are nearly always a blurry mess (in comparison to clear markings on presses from EMI / Pye etc). This was no exception, and studying the two sets of markings side by side with younger eyes about 25 years ago, I could really only tell that the "shape" of the markings were different ... maybe ... sort of. With modern HD cameras and scanners, someone with both records could probably work it out much easier now, let the tech do the hard work. The other thing that's been mentioned is the scroll of the discs. (ie the width between each revolution) Well, initially, they are both scrolled to fill the available surface, as they should be. So the only way to tell them apart is to look at the tightness of the scroll. 25 Years ago, with both in front of me, I could spot it clearly. (As a point of reference, the Open boot was also scrolled correctly to fill the whole record) In comparison to the vocal, the instumental had almost twice as much gap between the grooves. (The shorter the song, the wider the scroll). If you look closely at the grooves of a twelve inch with a normal length song, you should see what I mean. Cheers Mick

No, because there is a vocal with Identical labels

Yes John, no copies of the inst have either solid or pronged middle. Also I don't know of any vocal with a pronged middle and Cyril Shane on both sides. Actually, let's all forget the "solid middle" bit, that was just a bad choice of words earlier on. I meant pronged / push out Cheers Mick

I know Pete, I didn't realize myself until I also had them side by side, and in my case they were different. As said, It took me ages to find one that matched up. I even began to think (wrongly) that maybe the "Cyril Shane" on both sides was only the Inst, making it easier to spot. But in time I found the correct vocal, so that busted that idea.

Actually as to the Solid middle vocal, I may be thinking of the pronged one - but either way I know it took me years to actually find the correct Vocal variation, to line up with the instrumental. Although it has no bearing on the case, I've just noticed I had done some touching up on the middles of those scans above. Can't remember why now. Cheers Mick

The Instrumental label is identical to "one" of the vocals. Basically you need "Cyril Shane Music" on both sides and a large middle There are about 5 releases of the vocal mixing "Pedro Music" and "Cyril Shane Music", and even a release with a solid middle, but only one variation ticks all the boxes. Cheers Mick

Depends if you like half a song ! As it only times in at one and a half minutes each side, it always makes you want a minute more. (Check your PMs) As to rarity, as Pete mentioned above, clearly one of the rarest - Someone once tried to quantify it, think we got to about six "known" copies, but that clearly didn't allow for yours. If you've been trawling through the old threads from a few years ago, you may be able to work out where they are now, or at least most of them. I'd say that as years go on a few more "fresh" copies may turn up, but doubt there will ever more than a dozen, even though Blue Max reckoned he personally had six copies in his shop, mixed in with the normal vocal take, and those went out to local Wolverhampton buyers in '71 Anyway, a very good find and best of luck with it. Cheers Mick

Great stuff, thought that would be the case (If it had been a US Open boot that would be a bit of a let down to say the least) About 6 years ago I sold my UK copy for £1000 - probably be more now. Cheers Mick

I know this may seem like a stupid question, and apologies to Aaron is that is the case, but can I ask if the label is UK Kama Sutra, with the Inst of "Please Spare Me This Time" on the flip, or is it on US Open. ? Cheers Mick

And from "Too Late" ... "Don't need no woman to help me starve to death"

Darryl Stewart was on here a few years back