Ian Dewhirst

Bada Boom! All 10 Backbeats and "Philadelphia International:The Re-Edits" are now are in the Amazon Soul/RnB Top 20! No.3 HURTXCD111 Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits No.5 BACKB026 Backbeats -2 Steps To Soul Heaven - More 70s & 80s Steppers No.6 BACKB024 Backbeats - Phillybusters - Underground Philly Dance Floor Gems No.7 BACKB027 Backbeats - They Call It Crossover - More Mid-Tempo Soul No.8 BACKB023 Backbeats - Smooth Grooves - Sophisticated 80s Philly Soul No.9 BACKB021 Backbeats - Soul A La Mode - 1970s Modern Soul No.11 BACKB029 Backbeats - Lost In Time -More Northern Soul Treasures No.12 BACKB030 Backbeats - The Pain Goes Deep - More Deep Soul Gems No.16 BACKB025 Backbeats - Busting Out - Ghetto Grooves from Dusty Cellars No.17 BACKB028 Backbeats - Mod Life Crisis - 60s Mod Anthems No.19 BACKB022 Backbeats - What's The Word? - Socially Conscious Soul Music https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=amb_link_19349665_33?ie=UTF8&rh=n%3A754576%2Cp_69%3A0x-90y&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=left-1&pf_rd_r=0SWT9EMJH9CMMRE84R02&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=205283627&pf_rd_i=297457#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A229816%2Cn%3A%21520920%2Cn%3A754576%2Cp_69%3A0x-90y&ie=UTF8&qid=1323942283 Happy Xmas to all! Ian D

Straight in @ No.3 on the Amazon RnB & Soul/Disco Chart! Amazing start! https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_srsubj_entry?ie=UTF8&index=music&field-keywords=R%26B%20and%20Soul%20%2F%20Disco Ian D

Yep, it's rockin' 60's Soulboy! Should be the soundtrack over Xmas if there's any justice! Ian D

There's something very very wrong in my life Ali. How come I can't even get to Philly and you're sending random holiday snaps of PIR headquarters....? You always were blessed with stuff like this. I'm in the wrong job......... Ian D

Wow, pre-orders on series 3 have way outflanked series 1 & 2, so it'll be a great Xmas this year touch wood! Amazon just doubled their order! Yippee! Ian D

For anyone who fancies a sneak preview of "Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits", my good friend and co-compiler Jay Negron threw a Philly Re-Edits launch party on his HUGE Saturday night show on New York's Disco 935. Download Link here:- Jay Negron Presents "Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits" Preview Party On Disco 935 https://rcpt.yousend...a8e772503a72368 Nice to know there's plenty of excitement abroad too! But there again PIR sold worldwide so maybe it's no surprise. Nice one Jay! Ian D

Hi Ali! Hope yer well and all is good! You lucky bugger! Even I haven't been over there yet! The guys over @ PIR will be reading this thread at some point I'm sure, so I'll point 'em to the pics. I keep telling 'em that PIR is one of the holy grails over here but they think I'm exaggerating....... Ian D

I refer the honourable Geeselad to the answer I gave earlier..... "However, with the advent of re-edit culture and the increasing sophistication of affordable new technology, suddenly there was no longer the need to physically access the original master tapes - a costly and expensive process at the best of times. Now a re-editor could work from the comfort of his laptop and craft a re-edit at his or her leisure. This meant that rather than working in an expensive studio and compressing all your ideas into several hours or even several days, now re-edits can be done to each re-editors individual time-scales, whether they be over a couple of weeks or even a couple of years in some cases. The result has been that now a finished re-edit can finally be presented once someone has lived with it and tweaked it for weeks, months or even years. So, essentially, the disadvantages in not having access to the original multi-track tapes (and being able to isolate each track separately) can often be outweighed by the sheer time you can spend in getting something absolutely right without the time constraints of using an expensive studio". So, no. No master tapes required for re-edits. However, the upcoming Tom Moulton project is all from the original master tapes, which cost a fortune in tape location, baking and transfer costs (which is why it will be more expensive than the usual Harmless release and also 'cos it'll be 4 x CD's in a mini box). There's a lot to be said for re-edits though. Because they have to work with the finished master it means that none of the original production can be changed too much which really suits a lot people since the originals were so brilliant. Sometimes remixing the master tapes means that a lot of the original instruments are replaced or over-dubbed which can mutate the record into something it was never intended to be. It's a fine line though Geeselad..... Ian D

Yep, absolutely the same re-edit plus his brilliant edits on "Satisfaction Guaranteed" and "Was That All It Was" - a remarkable trio from this San Franciscan veteran! You've never forgiven me for gazumping you with this in Morcambe a few years ago have ya???? The new Walter Mengon re-edit? Played it on the show last week dude! But let's do some haggling over the hols. I can feel some swaps coming up! Ian D

No worries on that score Jimmy! It's a wonderful package and worth it for the price for the Morning Star (aka Larry Sanders) re-edits alone. Also, a reminder about the Moulton PIR remixes which are coming in mid February, which should be right up your street. In fact, here's the itinerary for the Philly 40 campaign:- Philly 40 The Philadelphia International Records 40th Anniversary Campaign Harmless Records are proud to announce a campaign to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the greatest black music record companies of all time - Philadelphia International Records. Founded by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff in 1971, the label launched with the album "Going East" by Billy Paul in October 1971 but really hit its stride throughout 1972 with a brace of international hits from veteran Philadelphia based signings like the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and the Three Degrees. Legendary A&R visionary Clive Davis was responsible for bringing the Philly hit machine to the Columbia group for distribution - a gamble which proved to be extraordinarily successful as the major distributor struggled to keep up with the hits that were pouring out from Sigma Sound studio in downtown Philadelphia - the recording home of P.I.R. where smashes like "Backstabbers", "Love Train", "Me & Mrs Jones", "If You Don't Know Me By Now" and numerous others all rolled out in 1972 alone. Just two years later, Philadelphia International became the second largest black-owned company in the U.S.A. following Berry Gordy's Motown, which had similarly forged its identity with a trademark sound from Detroit. Jump forward 40 years and Philadelphia International is still independent and still owned by its original founders, Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff - an extraordinary achievement in an age where most other independent companies (including Motown) have long since been absorbed into large conglomerates. We are delighted to be welcoming Kenny Gamble to the UK in mid November where he will doing a number of specially selected interviews to support the launch of the campaign in January through February 2012. Details of these will follow shortly. In light of the above, we felt it was only fitting to celebrate the 40 anniversary of Philadelphia International with some brand new "Philly 40" PIR releases which have been long overdue and will be eagerly anticipated around the world..... HURTXCD111 Released: 16/01/12 Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits 21 of the hottest PIR Re-Edits which have been done by PIR enthusiasts from around the world. Fully approved by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff. HURTXCD118 Released: TBC Philadelphia International: The Roots of PIR What happened before PIR? Ace historian and compiler Richard Searling compiles the pre PIR gems from the Gamble & Huff stable plus an exclusive DVD interview with Kenny Gamble.. HURTXCD112 Released: 13/02/12 Philadelphia International: The Tom Moulton Remixes The godfather of the Disco Mix and inventor of the 12" format returns to the label where he started and remixes 15 more original PIR tracks to add to 16 of his best original PIR mixes. HURTBOX1 Released: 27/02/12 Philadelphia International: 40th Anniversary Box Set PIR expert Ralph Tee goes through the complete history of PIR with a lovingly compiled 10CD deluxe box set with 60 page booklet. That should keep you going for a while ay? Ian D

Hahaha. Wait 'til they hear J*ski's (aka Jay Negron) re-edit at full blast. That'll knock their friggin' socks off! Ian D

Hi Rick, Like I said, according to legend Sam plays hardball. My guess is that Atlantic business affairs probably quickly hit a brick wall and simply concluded that this would be a problematic deal to conclude, so probably lost interest pretty quickly. I'm pretty sure Paul Mooney on here could give a more detailed explanation as I'm sure he has publishing connections with Sam. In fact Paul has something of mini bonanza coming up as he has loads of publishing on this set of Backbeats! Ian D

You're welcome John. Busy time ay? Ian D

Yep, there should be a limited-edition vinyl 4 x LP Version out at the same time touch wood. Details will follow. Incidentally for anyone who's interested there's also a limited-edition vinyl version of Philly Re-Grooved Vols 1 & 2 that will be on the way soon too. Will post the details up shortly! Ian D

It was myself and Jay Negron who basically managed the process. We both seriously collect every PIR re-edit we can get our hands on, so we had to whittle down from over 100 different re-edits. Some tracks fell through due to licensing restrictions, namely Onur Engin's brilliant 8.00 re-edit of "Show You The Way To Go" - The Jacksons and Julian Love's athemic re-edit of "Living Together" - The Jacksons. Hopefully we'll be able to clear those two at some point in the future. And samples would be handy wouldn't they? OK, They should be on Juno shortly but I think I'll get a soundcloud link so people can hear how special these are. Good thinking Garv! Ian D

Great Swifty! Should be a refreshing blast of great music to hit the new year running! Ian D

Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits Released 16/01/2012 The first release of the 'Philly 40' campaign celebrating the 40th Anniversary Of Philadelphia International Records. This labour of love originally commenced sometime around February 2010 and has subsequently gone through numerous different drafts and licensing hassles until we eventually managed to complete the package below. The idea behind 'Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits' was really to examine the effect that the label has had upon subsequent generations of fans throughout the last 40 years. The sheer volume of credible new re-edits that have emerged throughout the last 10 years or so from the PIR stable is truly astonishing and underlines the enduring nature and international appeal of the label's repertoire. Thus we have a truly international flavour to the project with key re-edits from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, West Palm, Miami, Brooklyn and Philadelphia in the USA, Bristol, Grove, Sunderland and Manchester in the UK, Dublin in Ireland, Glasgow In Scotland, Stuttgart in Germany, Brescia in Italy and Toronto in Canada to name but a few. One reason why there has never been a package like this before is because it's extremely difficult to improve upon perfection anyway plus the quality control standards at Philadelphia International have always been top level and generally out of reach in order to preserve the integrity of the catalogue. However, with the advent of re-edit culture and the increasing sophistication of affordable new technology, suddenly there was no longer the need to physically access the original master tapes - a costly and expensive process at the best of times. Now a re-editor could work from the comfort of his laptop and craft a re-edit at his or her leisure. This meant that rather than working in an expensive studio and compressing all your ideas into several hours or even several days, now re-edits can be done to each re-editors individual time-scales, whether they be over a couple of weeks or even a couple of years in some cases. The result has been that now a finished re-edit can finally be presented once someone has lived with it and tweaked it for weeks, months or even years. So, essentially, the disadvantages in not having access to the original multi-track tapes (and being able to isolate each track separately) can often be outweighed by the sheer time you can spend in getting something absolutely right without the time constraints of using an expensive studio. So in the case of 'Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits' we were able to submit 2 full CD's worth of re-edits which had been fully completed and honed to perfection by everyone. In many cases the structures of the songs had been extended quite radically, the breaks toughened up, the beats altered and, in one case, a stone-killer ballad was transformed into a House anthem. My sincere thanks go out to Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff, not only for their stunning musical legacy, but also for their vision in understanding that today's audiences often require an additional slant on such evergreen classics. Thank you gentlemen! CD 1 Uptempo Good Time Philly 1) Satisfaction Guaranteed - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes 7.22 Re-Edited by Morning Star 2) Only The Strong Survive - Billy Paul 8.19 Re-Edited by J*Ski 3) Save A Place - The Trammps 6.37 Re-Edited by J*Ski 4) Free Love -Jean Carn 7.04 Re-Edited by Victor Rosado 5) Do It Anyway You Wanna - People's Choice 6.35 Re-Edited by Keep Schtum 6) Life On Mars - Dexter Wansel 5.35 Re-Edited by DJ Mila 7) Mysteries Of The World - MFSB 6.00 Re-Edited by J*Ski 8) Ain't No Stopping Us Now - McFadden & Whitehead 7.30 Re-Edited by Noodleman 9) Dance Turned Into Romance - The Jones Girls 6.55 Re-Edited by DJ Friction 10) Be For Real - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes 7.43 Re-Edited by Tim McAllister 11) Message In Our Music - The O'Jays 9.16 Re-Edited by Jimmy The Twin CD 2 Mellow Slinky Philly 1) If You Wanna Go Back - Jean Carn 6.46 Re-Edited by Morning Star 2) Darlin' Darlin' Baby - The O'Jays 8.08 A Deep&Disco Rework 3) You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else - The Jones Girls 8.36 Re-Edited by Henry Greenwood 4) Strategy - Archie Bell & The Drells 6.05 Re-Edited by Touchsoul 5) Let The Dollar Circulate - Billy Paul 6.41 A scratchandsniff re-rub 6) Easy Money - Dee Dee Sharp Gamble 6.56 Re-Edited by Todd Terje 7) Was That All It Was - Jean Carn 7.59 Re-Edited by Morning Star 8) Nights Over Egypt - The Jones Girls 6.59 Re-Edited by Womack & TOT 9) Don't Let Love Get You Down - Archie Bell & The Drells 8.00 Re-Edited by Ed Zone 10) Wake Up Everybody - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes 9.31 Re-Edited by Apt One Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philadelphia-International-Re-Edits-Various-Artists/dp/B0067FGO7U/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1323478170&sr=1-1 HMV Link: https://hmv.com/hmvwe...its&primaryID=0 i-tunes Link: https://bit.ly/rC9ZYE Should be a blinding start to the new year! Ian D

You're a lifer Dave. You can play the long game. It's never over if you stay the course. Someone will probably give you the bloody record for Xmas! Ian D

Absolutely. We just expanded the booklet to 60 pages and we have some BRILLIANT interviews with Kenny Gamble coming up with Richard Searling, Ralph Tee, Robbie Vincent, Andy Peebles and Trevor Nelson which we feel will cover most angles so we'll have some transcripts of those interviews in the booklet for sure. I think it's fair to say that Kenny had a ball in the UK and probably, for the first time in his life, had the opportunity to examine his career from a fan's perspective instead of his own work-driven perspective. It sounds crazy to us, but Kenny had absolutely no idea how much he is revered in our circles and it genuinly touched him deeply. As he said, he spent the best part of 30 years in recording studios and running a hugely successful business, so he never had time to smell the roses. He might have received a call telling him that "Backstabbers" was a hit in Europe but 30 seconds later he was back to producing another million-seller completely unaware that Philadelphia International was supplying the soundtrack to new global generation that would endure for the next 40 years. Watching Kenny Gamble finally getting to meet his core audience some 40 years later has been the highpoint of this millenium for me. And probably for Kenny too LOL. So things are rolling along beautifully with P.I.R. right now. The box set will obviously be a 'must own' and will sit beautifully on anyone's shelves. And then....who knows? Things are beginning to roll. Moulton just unearthed a hitherto unknown 70's recording of The Trammps "Trammp's Disco Theme" with an unheard alternative vocal to "Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart" which is awe-inspiring. However he also says the reality of remixing these tunes is emotionally draining and I completely understand what he means. Proper records! All good Scunnyjack. Emotionally draining but a good way to end the year! Ian D

Apparently Sam himself vetoed it according to what I've heard. A lot depends on what was in the original contract. My theory on this is that in the 60's and 70's especially, Warners, Elektra and Atlantic (WEA) were positioning themselves as an alternative to the more corporate Columbia/Epic, Capital, RCA label groups and because of their stance of being an 'artist-friendly' company, their contracts at the time built in a higher level of control to the artists. Quite often, the artist was given to right to approve all releases which meant that before Warners, Elektra or Atlantic could release anything, the artist or their management would have to sign-off the release. This worked beautifully at the time and the WEA labels quickly gained the reputation of being the most artist-friendly label group on the block and their phenomenal growth over the 70's especially was pretty much as a direct result of that image. However, things get more complicated further down the line, i.e. decades AFTER the original contract was signed. What seemed a great idea at the time, lost it's shine 20 or 30 years later when the company had to stick to the original terms of it's contract. So when Atlantic decided that "The Show Must Go On" was due a CD release, their business affairs people would have contacted Sam or his management and requested permission to re-release the album. Sam would have probably said, "OK. Well give me some money then" and Atlantic would probably say, "Well, you're still unrecouped from the advance we paid you in 1973 but if we re-release on CD then there's a chance we may finally recoup" and then Sam would have laughed and said "Show me the money or no release". Etc, etc, etc. Effectively stalemate. I've been licensing tracks from Warners for the last 20+ years and I've been amazed at some of the tracks which they turned down, many of which had never sold anything in the first place. So I didn't get it at all. Then I worked for Warners in the late 90's and spent lots of time studying up on their contracts and, sure enough, many of the contracts did in fact require an artist's sign-off before the release could be licensed or re-issued. Obviously, 90% of the artists that were signed were unrecouped, but they'd almost invariably want money to sign off on something, so it always made for a tense renogiation. By all accounts, Sam is not a pushover. Some say he's from the Chuck Berry school of negotiation - Chuck famously demanded his money in cash in a suitcase from every gig he ever played before he went on stage. So it's my guess that Sam played hardball with Atlantic and they just figured it would be easier to ditch the release and risk the fallout from the global Soul fraternity. There's really no other logical reason for the album to not be available to today's audiences. It's a masterpiece. If it had have ever been available, Kent would have got it by now surely. So it's obviously in legal limbo. If anyone's in touch with Sam please let him know that I'd be delighted to put it out (and I'm probably at the end of a 30 year queue LOL). I could cut a deal with both Sam and Atlantic and keep 'em both happy. This really is like the holy grail for the expanded CD format and it's kinda criminal that it's not available to today's audiences. OK, that's one of my new years resolutions sorted then! Ian D

The Anthony White P.I.R. album is one of those licensing anomalies. It kinda fell between the cracks when P.I.R. divorced from Columbia/Epic (now Sony) in 1976 and it's never been successfully reconciled. It would appear that some of the tracks fell into the pre 1976 Columbia/Epic controlled P.I.R. controlled repertoire and the rest of the tracks are directly owned by P.I.R. We're actually using 2 or 3 more Anthony White tracks on the forthcoming Philadelphia International 40th Anniversary 10 x CD Box Set, but re-issuing the original album is a bit of licensing headache because, frankly, no one really understands what the full story actually is. When Richard Searling showed Kenny Gamble the original Anthony White album, Kenny studied it for ages but couldn't recall it. However that album came out at a period of transition for P.I.R. and Kenny and Leon were busy trying to extricate themselves from Columbia/Epic whilst trying to maintain the momentum of the company. Something had to give and I guess that's why the Anthony White album got lost in the shuffle, so I feel a bit sorry for Anthony White. Despite releasing a brilliant album he got caught up in wider politics and never really recovered his career I found that album in 1976 and couldn't believe that such a great record could somehow slip through the net. And we're still talking about it some 35 years later, so maybe all is not lost! We're slowly making progress into unlocking the Philly International vaults. A major boost in that quest was Kenny Gamble's recent visit to the UK where he finally experienced first-hand the level of passion that we have for his work. He was absolutely stunned by the degree of passion we have over here and he made that absolutely clear following his visit. We're one step closer. Watch this space! Ian D

Or maybe even this..... Turbojazz feat George Benson "Go Broadway" https://soundcloud.com/turbojazz/george-benson-go-broadway-turbojazz-rmx Ian D

OK, any of you Artistics fans fancy putting a definitive CD together? I'm actually looking for the world's No.1 Artistics fan right now. Are you up for it Matt? And can you write sleevenotes? Ian D

Blimey. You're against legitimate releases then? Confused from Carshalton....... Ian D

This week we have the usual blend of some snappy Soulful House, some fabulous remixes, some killer re-edits, several great versions of the same songs and a whole heap of superior Soul music as per usual! Many thanks for the usual GREAT Sunday afternoon ORIGINAL MASTERCUTS crowd in the Starpoint chatroom and hats off to all our international listeners who were out in force this Sunday! Compliments of the season to all! Hope you all enjoyed it this week! Download link after playlist. Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 4th December 2011 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Download link below! Featuring...... 1st Hour Nicci - When You're Free - Blaze Vocal Mix Mathew Bandy feat Josh Milan - Wish - Original Mix Leon Ware - On The Beach - Atjazz Remix Frankie Knuckles feat Jamie Principle - I'll Take You There - Dimitri From Paris Remix Sandy Barber - Don't You Worry Baby (The Best Is Yet To Come) - John Morales Remix Lee Garrett - You're My Everything - Jimmy The Twin Re-Edit The Jacksons - Strength Of One Man - Womack Re-Edit Gloria Scott - What Am I Gonna Do - Walter Mengon Re-Edit 2nd Hour Etta James - At Last Stevie Wonder - At Last The Temprees - At Last Freddie Hughes - We Gotta Keep On The Casanova Two - We've Got To Keep On Ila Vann - Can't Help Loving That Man Bobby Patterson - My Baby's Coming Back To Me The Four Tops - Do What You Gotta Do Judy Clay & William Bell - Private Number Sly & The Family Stone - If You Want Me To Stay Paulette Reaves - Let Me Wrap You In My Arms Edwin Starr - There You Go Barry White - It's Only Love Doing It's Thing - Leon Deejay Re-Edit Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You The Chi-Lites - Stoned Out Of My Mind - Scratchnsniff Re-Rub https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2011-12-04-Starpoint.mp3 We'll be having a bit of a party on the 18/12/11 with the Chertsey collective of Spit & Spot joining the show for some pre Xmas/New Years Eve executive therapy plus Al will be down as well so it'll be a packed studio! Thanks for listening and catch you on the 18th! Ian D