Neil Rushton

Went to Catacombs and The Torch and both amazing, different size meant different vibe. Best night at either club was Graham Warr coming back from USA and playing for the first time anywhere on Rare Soul scene Dena Barnes, Epitome Of Sound, George Carrow and other discoveries for about 2 hours.

Marie and myself would like to pass on our sincere condolences to Jean and family. Simon was such a lovely guy, and always so on the case that it's hard to believe he has gone, I'm struggling to take in the news 10 days after hearing it. It's just so sad. Simon loved his music and had amazing good taste. He kindly wrote an introduction to my book "Northern Soul Stories" which reflected how much the whole scene meant to him, and being Simon it was very articulate. One of his most endearng habits was always to be enquiring about things. He would, in typical Manc style, let you know if he thought something you had done was good or bad, but did so without any attitude, he just though it was important to get things spot on. I would know - from what Simon said - if the music at the "Summer In The Park" All-Dayer was going well or not. He was always right too! I'm going to miss him quizzing me about my days working in Detroit with the Techno guys, and asking about what was going on behind the scenes at The Manchester Ritz All-Dayers in the 1970's. When he told me he thought I had done a good job at The Ritz and that he had loved the All-Dayers it made me feel ten feet tall. Right, I'm off now to play two of his favourite records, Mel Britt "She'll Come Running Back" and Rhythim Is Rhythim "Strings Of Life" and think of Simon Lyster. Respect and Love to you mate, you are going to be missed.

Just for those on Soul Source who are into classic House Music. Mint 12's on New York's finest House label - the awesome Nu Groove. Original USA Nu Groove 12's, these are still in original unopened shrink wrap and were supplied to me as new releases by Frank Mendez and Judy Russell at the Nu Groove office in New York which I used to visit a lot. . TOTALLY MINT/PRISTINE Got loads more Nu Groove 12" not in shrink wrap which I will list if there is interest in these. All £10 each except NG 046 which is £20. Plus £3.50 P&P first disc, £1 each extra disc. Extra if to post overseas.. PM me if you are interested, got just the one of each for sale, and selling them as they are spare copies. NG 022- THE YOUNG & THE RECKLESS - IF YOU GIVE ME A CHANCE NG 034 - JUNGLE TECH - TRANSPHONIC NG 043 - CODE 6 EP NG 046 - LOST ENTITY EP (INCLUDES ANNIHILATE) £20 NG 065 - ASYLUM EP NG 068 - MAJOR PROBLEMS EP - SOLD NG 073 - PROJECT "86" EP NG 094 - N.Y. HOUSE'N AUTHORITY EP -SOLD

John Farrell had loads of Epitome Of Sound... I had 100 plus at least,maybe loads more,from him and he had more.

Well I had over 500 of the pink issue when new release and that was only me, so WD much rarer, the label said the 400 I had were all of them.

I sold lots to someone in Manchester, don't know if it was Dave?

The NUVJ people sent me 400 of the W/DJ demos for free many years ago. The demos had been stuck in their USA office all the time the record was repressed and so on.. I rang them up about licensing "Come On Train" for Inferno and in passing said to the guy on the other end of the phone that I really wanted a W/DJ copy. (A few years earlier I had a W/DJ one given to me by David Yates at DJM which got broken one particularly drunken night when we were playing records the night before a Ritz All-Dayer and I had never even seen a demo since) Dave released "Come On Train" in the UK and was sent from NUVJ/Vee Jay the one W/DJ copy which I wangled from him. I don't think anyone in the UK had ever seen another demo, which makes sense as I had now found out they had been lying in this office all this time. Anyway the guy was nonplussed and asked why I wanted a promo copy and I replied because I collected them. He said hang on a minute and came back and said we have 400 or so here, did I want them?. I spluttered yes please and he said as long as you send the advance for the Inferno release they would send the records for free. Didn't even charge postage. Unfortunately the Northern scene was imploding at the time and I sold them dirt cheap!.

I had the first copy in the UK of The Inspirations "No One Else Can Take Your Place". I bought it from Bob Cattanneo "blind" - he told me it was brilliant but refused to play it on the phone. As he had supplied me with tons of good stuff I agreed to buy it without hearing it and it cost me £32, which I think was 2 weeks wages for me at the time! Roll on a few years and I was importing records and via Bob I purchased an exclusive repress of the record from Joey Jefferson who owned Breakthough and Mutt & Jeff. Well Bob and myself thought it was a repress but it turned up with the Charles Diamond vocal. I cannot remember if we had 500 or 1000 copies but we struggled to sell them. Roll on a few more years later and myself and Bill Baker were in LA visiting Brian and Eddie Holland to licence Freda Payne/Chairmen Of The Board/Just Brothers and Eloise Laws to release on Inferno. While over we visited a few people and one of them was Joey . I had rung up and reminded him of my history with him on "No One Else Can Take Your Place" . He said he had another (the original)copy on Breakthrough which he would sell me. We went over to an area the taxi driver did not want to leave us in and Mr Jefferson triumphantly produced what he said was a 25 count box of The Inspirations one sided. Looking back Bill and myself believe he just had the one copy with other records in the box. But he definitely had the one copy so I wanted to buy it and reminded him he had said he would happily sell it we came to his place. Turns out he had a real gripe about the UK Soul scene because of Simon Soussan and in the end refused to sell me the record. It got quite moody, with Joey saying he would only sell the record if we flew him to London and DJM's Stephen James, who he must have spoken to at some stage, did the deal! Bill reckons it was only me saying (I lied) that Brian and Eddie were expecting us back at their office at a certain time and knew where we were that got us out of the place in one piece after I was daft enough to produce the cash I was offering to him in front of a shop load of characters who seemed very interested in these two obviously insane nglish guys with money on them having harsh words with Joey. Not good - mind you I had a gun "shown me" by Lew Bedell at Dore Records a year after that!!

STRANGE BOOK - GORGEOUS GEORGE (lLOVE INTERNATIONAL ) VOCAL / INSTRUMENTAL USA HOMARK 002 CLEAN LABELS - SEE ATTACHMENTS. CRACKLE ON RUN-IN GROOVE ON BOTH SIDES, BUT FINE WHEN MUSIC STARTS. A FEW LIGHT SCUFF MARKS ON DISC, BUT NOTHING THAT AFFECTS PLAY. £150 PLUS POSTAGE PLEASE PM ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED THANKS, NEIL

NOW SOLD. THANKS VERY MUCH. --------------------------------------------------------------- CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION MINT AS NEW AND CLEAN AS IT WAS IN 1966 WHEN RELEASED PRETTY SURE I GOT THIS FROM THAT HAUL OF UNPLAYED BRITISH DEMOS FROM THE LEEDS RADIO STATION LIBRARY THAT WENT ON SALE A FEW YEARS AGO. PRISTINE CONDITION ## Soul City demo.pdfSoul City demo.pdf STILL IN COMPANY SLEEVE - THE A SIDE HAS 101 STAMPED ON LABEL AND 101 IS ALSO WRITTEN ON RHS TOP OF SLEEVE. EVERYBODY DANCE NOW / WHO KNOWS THE SOUL CITY UK CAMEO PARKWAY C 103 £150 PLUS POSTAGE. PLEASE PM ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN OWNING ONE OF THE GREAT EARLY CLASSICS IN WONDERFUL CONDITION.

NOW SOLD THANKS NICE CLEAN COPY BIRTH OF A PLAYBOY /TAKING AL;L THE LOVE I CAN THE CHOSEN FEW (USA MAPLE 1000) PROMOTION COPY NOT FOR SALE W/DJ £90 PLUS £7 SPECIAL DELIVERY POSTAGE. PLEASE PM IF INTERESTED Thanks, Neil

UK EXPANSION seven inch single MINT AL HUDSON & THE SOUL PARTNERS I'M ABOUT LOVIN' YOU / WHEN YOU'RE GONE SLEEVE SIGNED BY AL HUDSON AFTER HIS APPEARANCE AT BLACKPOOL HILTON WEEKENDER SATURDAY JAN 3, 2015 £10 PLUS £2 POSTAGE/PACKING/ PAYPAL PAYMENT TO - sales@soulvation.biz PLEASE PM TO RESERVE A COPY. Thanks, Neil

NEW SEVEN INCH RELEASE ON EXPANSON TWO OF THE ATCO SIDES BACK TO BACK AL HUDSON & THE SOUL PARTNERS I'M ABOUT LOVIN' YOU / WHEN YOU'RE GONE £10 INCLUDES FREE POSTAGE & PACKING. PAYPAL TO - sales@soulvation.biz THANKS, Neil

THE FOUR PERFECTIONS I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH (VOCAL) (NEW CENTURY PARTY 291114) LIMITED RUN OF 191 COPIES WITH SOLID CENTRE COMMEMORATING THE FOUR PERFECTIONS APPEARANCE AT NEW CENTURY ALL--NIGHTER @ RADCLIFFE NOVEMBER 29, 2014. B SIDE IS LISTED AS I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH INSTRUMENTAL BUT DUE TO MIX UP IS ACTUALLY RETURN - MAURICE WILLIAMS. £10 PLUS £2 POSTAGE - PAYPAL TO - sales@soulvation.biz Please PM to reserve. Only got 20 copies left. Thanks, Neil

Label is New Century Party not Party Time and all credits are clear it is a reissue. We made the Ist lot solid centre so they would be a limited release for Chris and the event.

They won't look like the real ones.

NEW CENTURY SOUL ANNIVERSARY 29/11/14 SOUVENIR SINGLE MINT THE FOUR PERFECTIONS I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH SOLID CENTRE LABEL WITH DETAILS OF THE FOUR PERFECTIONS APPEARANCE AT RADCLIFFE. SIGNED IN TAMORTH 28/11/14 BEFORE A REHEARSAL AN OF COURSE THE GUYS WERE PAID FOR THEIR SIGNATURES. NOTE - THE A SIDE AS LABEL STATES IS VOCAL VERSION OF I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH AND ALL 4 AUTOGRAPHS ARE ON THIS LABEL. B SIDE LABEL STATES INSTRUMENTAL VERSION OF I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH BUT DUE TO MANUFACTURING COCK UP ACTUALLY MAURICE WILLIAMS - RETURN. ONLY 191 PRESSED WITH SOLID CENTRE AND WITH WRONG B SIDE - THE FORTHCOMING RELEASE WILL BE DINKED TO LOOK LIKE USA IMPORT, WITH NO MENTION OF THE NEW CENTURY ANNIVERSARY AND WILL HAVE CORRECT B SIDE. ONLY 100 COPIES OF THE RECORD SIGNED INCLUDING THE 71 SOLD AT THE ALL-NIGHTER. GOT 10 AUTOGRAPHED COPIES FOR SALE AND ONCE THESE ARE GONE THEY ARE GONE. TO £15 PER DISC PLUS £2.50 RECORDED DELIVERY. PLEASE MAKE PAYPAL PAYMENT TO - sales@soulvation.biz THANKS, NEIL

Great piece Dave. Looking back am really pleased with The Precisions CD we released on Joe Boy. When I interviewed George McGregor for research to write the sleeve notes for the CD, he was nonplussed by the value of "Sugar Ain't Sweet" (I got a copy off Johnny Powers) and insistent that with the right push The Precisions woulds have been as big or bigger than The Temptations. The fact that Otis Redding's manager, Phil Waldren, was acting as their booking agent shows they were looking destined at great things at one time.

On the basis that "The Northern Soul Scene" was born from say 1971 onwards - ie when the UK love of Rare Soul from USA really took off from the underground UK "Rhythm & Soul" scene - and that the culture was an integral part of the 1970's, any Northern Soul hall of fame has surely got to recognise Ian Levine?. He was the most influential DJ/taste maker in that decade and devoted his (sometimes churlish, often annoying, a lot of the time heroic, always sincere) energy to the "scene" and Black Music.. He discovered more unknown American Soul Records than anyone else else ever (even more than Graham Warr - my hero) and introduced them them to the UK,he co-produced records, co-wrote songs, kept the purist integrity of the Blackpool Mecca against the often cash in mentality of Wigan Casino, promoted and explained the RareSoul ethos better and more eloquently than anyone else, led a campaign againt bootlegging, and had the taste and daring to introduce 70's recordings into what was a 60's scene. He is a mate of mine but often a dickhead, but in all serousness a NorthernSoul Hall of Fame without Levine seems odd. He is not a very fashionable person to recognise these days - often due to errartic way behaviour - but if you know your history....(.And Brian Phillips deserves acclaim and love too ).

Love "The Art Of Stalking".

We mastered the Inferno release from a "Tainted Love" mixdown master tape sent over from AVI Records (who owned Champion) in LA and it was crystal clear. They also sent as a bonus a tape of Gloria's version of "A Touch Of Venus", done in the mid 60's, not the later re-record. Halfway through Gloria's starts giggling and the track grinds to a halt. Unfortunately the tapes went missing from a studio in Brownhills, near Walsall around 1981. But the Inferno single is superb sound quality.

The name "Northern Soul" was dreamt up by Cliff Clifford. At the time he was working as a Saturday helper at Dave Godin and David Nathan's Soul City store in Covent Garden. Cliff was at the front line dealing with the lads down in London for the day with their football teams asking for uptempo records with a Motown kind of beat, whether they were new or old records. His son, Paul Clifford, who is a leading Modern Soul DJ, says: "My dad had a brainwave and scrawled Northern Soul on the boxes where they kept the records for these people coming down from the north of England. That moment of inspiration started it all off". In the book Northern Soul Stories I managed to get a photo of Cliff Clifford in London with Berry Gordy. Cliff, who sadly died some years ago, was secretary of the Otis Redding Appreciation Society and was due to leave the UK and move over to the USA, starting off with a stay with Otis. Otis's plane crash happened just before Cliff was due to go. If he had quit the UK, he would never have worked at Soul City for Dave Godin, and the phrase Northern Soul might never have been thought up. So Cliff had the eureka moment and came up with the phrase, and his boss and friend Dave Godin popularised it.

Signed by the artists... Limited edition Butlin's Skegness Weekender Souvenir Records in Souvenir Sleeves. HERE I GO AGAIN / TIGHTEN UP - ARCHIE BELL THIS WILL BE A NIGHT TO REMEMBER - EDDIE HOLMAN WHAT - JUDY STREET £10 EACH PLUS POSTAGE AND PACKING £2 IST RECORD, 50P EACH AFTER. PLEASE PM TO RESERVE.

I never found out how that came from Richard Wylie.

That was my sense of humour....