Seano

Great article thanks Chalky. I was lucky enough to get quite a few of the Mar-V-Lus and One-derful releases in a soul pack, very probably one of Soul Bowls, though I don't remember now. The Admirations and Young Folk 45s were some of the best of the bunch. I had another stroke of luck some years later when I had time to browse a music store in an airport in Scotland (I think it was Edinburgh, could have been Glasgow), and found an offer on CDs at 3 for £12. I picked up the 3 Charly releases covering Mar-V-Lus, One-derful and m-pac! as in the photo:

This looks very interesting. Here's hoping it makes it to at least some cinemas in the UK. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/may/03/swamp-dogg-interview-documentary

Great documentary, really strong tale of how influential black music has been on culture in the UK, and behind that, the essential place of record shops and nowadays, record sellers.

Good luck with the venture - it looks like you've made a great start! I had a quick listen through the tracks via your website. Nice track by Barbara Jean English. The Whatnauts track was already familiar, but I was intrigued by the final Escorts track, Look Over Your Shoulder. The opening riff was so familiar, and it suddenly hit me that it was used for Jill Scott's bit hit back in 2004, Family Reunion. It's fully acknowledged in the sleeve notes, I just hadn't realised. Meantime, I'd had a quick look on YouTube and for anyone who's not seen it, there's an interesting 20 minute interview with George Kerr talking about his work with the Escorts "The Untold Story of The Legendary George Kerr & The Escorts". It was posted 3 years ago, so I'd imagine you came across it already, maybe even that he told you to take a look!

Documentary on BBC4 right now about her life - Friday 28th Feb 9.05pm.

Following the sad news of Gwen McCrae's death yesterday, the Guardian has published an obituary today: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/22/the-late-gwen-mccrae-brought-emotion-to-dance-music-like-no-one-else Mike - not sure why when I post webpage links it doesn't come up with the graphics of the page; feel free to replace this posting when you get time.

That's an impressive archive! I'll be dipping into that periodically thanks Chalky 👏

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/feb/13/black-genius-documentary Following on from the excellent Summer of Soul, Questlove has partnered with Joseph Patel to make a documentary about the life of Sly Stone. The trailer looks very strong. Unfortunately for me it's coming out on Disney - anybody know if it might get to cinema?

Yes flipping any record over has always been important; I used to write a few bits based on this for Shades of Soul many years ago 👍

Yes of course, very much his perspective, and as Solidsoul says, the same is true of the books already out there and no doubt those yet to come too. I'm fine with that, still enjoy reading them, and I do find the way Manship writes engaging.

I always find John Manship's descriptions of the records and their history make fascinating reading, and the combination of final prices and when the auction took place strike me as lining up a series of books he could put out. Already written, just waiting to be compiled along with the scans of the records.

When I first heard George Benson's On Broadway (I think it was at the Casino) I was initially taken aback, partly because it was already fairly well known generally. But one of the interesting things about the changing music that flows through the scene is that it often helps you to be less rigid in your sense of what is or isn't Northern, and to just tune into whether it's good music and if it gets your feet going.

Thanks for these Chalky, I never bought them at the time so plenty of fascinating reading lying ahead. Skimming through the first issue I really like the overall attitude that comes across, and in impressive choice of artwork to grace the first edition too!

In today's Guardian : https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/29/fifth-beatle-billy-preston-thats-the-way-god-planned-it-film

Wow, some nice stuff there.