Ian Dewhirst

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

OK, finished copies just arrived and they all look and sound great! Phew, I only just hit the deadlines and it half killed me but it looks like it was worth it so thanks for everyone's support! All 10 are now in the Amazon Top 10K rankings which might not sound like much but at this time of year is quite a feat for 10 'lil budget albums. I might just have a drink to celebrate now LOL..... Ian D

Look at that! A miracle in the season of goodwill. 'Tis truly a magical time.......... Ian D

The interesting thing about the Backbeats series, is that the differential between the top-selling ones and the least selling ones actually isn't that great at all luckily. With this new bunch, it's pretty much all Soul across the 60's-80's so they're slightly easier to target plus that's the general direction that the series seems to be going in anyway. We managed to avoid doing any Disco, Jazz, Hip-Hop, House or Garage in this lot although there's been a bit of righteous indignation from none-Soul quarters.......... Ian D

What were you doing to cause such excitement then I wonder? You seem perfectly reasonable to me. Many thanks for the tips - I'll get on 'em! Ian D

Good! That's what I want to talk to you about! Will buzz ya later! Ian

Well, I've been laid up for a week or so with the annual really bad chest infection which I get every year from the end of November to the beginning of December. Par for the course really. I think it's nature's way of telling me that I'm not 21 anymore and I really must start to take it easy. Well, no chance of that LOL. With 10 brand new Backbeats albums coming out on 26/12/11 (Boxing Day in the UK) and the Philadelphia International 40th Anniversary campaign launching in January with 'Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits' there's just no time to be ill. Plus I had to break-in a new laptop and somehow hope that everything transferred OK. For me such things are a major headache. So far, so good. It looks like I've managed to crank out this show via the new machine. Which is just as well as it's a killer! Took me 48 hours to work this one out Folks. Naturally it's un-missable........ 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. Featuring...... Nicci * Mathew Bandy feat Josh Milan * Leon Ware * Frankie Knuckles feat Jamie Principle * Sandy Barber * Lee Garrett * The Jacksons * Gloria Scott * Etta James * Stevie Wonder * The Temprees * Freddie Hughes * The Casanova Two * Ila Vann * Bobby Patterson * The Four Tops * Edwin Starr * Judy Clay & William Bell * Sly & The Family Stone * Paulette Reaves * Barry White * Al Green * The Chi-Lites See you in the Starpoint chatroom on the Starpoint homepage @ 2.00pm sharp! Thanks for listening! Ian D

Still early days and we're still wading through different ideas but initially...... The Five Stairsteps Leroy Hutson The Impressions Ann Peebles Lee Dorsey Otis Clay Syl Johnson Willie Mitchell Chairmen Of The Board Holland & Dozier Laura Lee Freda Payne Bobby Womack Gene Chandler Tyrone Davis Sydney Joe Qualls Curtis Mayfield Barbara Lynn Bobby Patterson First Choice The Delfonics Ann Sexton Young Holt Unlimited Barbara Acklin Linda Jones Jackie Wilson The Artistics Jean Plum Average White Band The Chi-Lites Honey Cone Quiet Elegance African Music Machine Erma Franklin Otis Leavill Walter Jackson Tommie Young The Montclairs Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes The O'Jays Let's put it this way, that's the shortlist LOL......... Ian D

I'm pretty sure that Fish and Soul Brother will have 'em up there. Actually they'll probably do well with 'em since it could be the first opportunity for people to buy 'em. I'll give 'em a call and get 'em prepped. Good thinking Russ! Ian D

Actually that's a good point Nik. Can you suggest any Mod forums that may be interested in 'Mod Life Crisis', 'Lost In Time' and some of the others? You could PM if you do....... Cheers, Ian D

Also not to be confused with the UK band of the same name......... Ian D

This is why I for one would like to simplify the process. Don't get me wrong, I went through a period in my younger years when I used to stay awake at night worrying about a scratch on a record or cue hiss on styrene pressings but those days are long gone. These days my time is compromised, so stuff like this makes me lose the will to live. I wouldn't force a trashed record on anyone. I want people to enjoy the record as much as I have. So 'Shit', 'OK' and 'Great' are good enough for me. Also, I need to listen to a record to make sure it's OK, which immediately disqualifies it from being mint. Which genius came up with that? Ian D

True. I think the Discogs definition of Mint as in 'never been played' has lodged with me for some reason. I've rescued some records from cellars which have 100% never been played. On the other hand, they may have been damp, covered in dust, cobwebs and rat piss. So I take your point Bob. Ian D

Phew. Result! If it takes a couple of Backbeats CD's to keep her at bay, then cheap at the price. Good job I never met her. Christ, she'd have been even more costly than that Brazilian ball of fire who wanted a boob job back in '87...... Brilliant advice! Thanks a bunch lass. Saved me a whole heap of stress. That's Theresa's a piece of work isn't she.......? Ian D

The grading side is very difficult, especially with rare Northern. For a start, I would never expect to find a mint copy of any record that's 40 + years old anymore. So, as a result, I would personally almost ignore the M catergory and console myself that any record which is that old and which actually still plays as it should without any obvious problems, is a result. So my definition of M is waaay lower then many other buyers. I know John Manship has tons of M records but there's not may people ever likely to hit a load like he did with unblemished records which had been properly stored. So people should get realistic about expecting M to be as good as new from some 40+ years ago. Plus, let's not forget that records were designed to be played. So if you buy a M copy does that mean that you'll never ever play it? I currently have a whole heap of rare 12"'s and other stuff on Discogs. Many of the records listed were bought new and never ever played because I used seperate copies for all deejaying as I know that they're the ones which will get trashed no matter how carefully you've tried to look after them. So, the grand majority of the records on my shelves are mint, in that they've hardly ever been played since I bought 'em. So I sold a few in the last week or so. All were mint, but after 20-30 years on my shelves, they're kinda dusty. One decent clean and they'll all come up as mint. The only problem is, that I don't have time to clean 'em. So I had one guy come back to me and complain that the record wasn't mint. I said it was, because I knew 100% catergorically that the record has never ever been played. However, many of the records are dusty, so should part of a dealer's responsibility be to clean the records up as well? Unfortunately that won't work for me since I don't have either the time or inclination to clean 'em up. So now I've added a disclaimer to my Discogs page which informs people that the records offered for sale and advertised as being M, are actually M but probably need cleaning. Is that fair enough or should I be doing more? I was actually thinking of following Pete's advice and never advertising a record as M on the basis that it's just easier to avoid that pitfall. But there's another part of me that thinks some people's expectations are just way too high and that trying to measure a 40 or 50 year old record against such expectations is simply naive. Ian D

Another contender for a Backbeats comp methinks. By the way Steve I need to talk to you. Can you PM me ya number again mate? Best, Ian D

These should work with the Hull crowd Daryl! I was thinking of you lot when I put 'Soul A La Mode' together. Merry Xmas to all by the way! Ian D

Well, that's what they were designed for Theresa. I must admit that Surrey housewives weren't the key target group. Most of the Surrey housewives around here seem to have a penchant for singing "I'm Every Woman" or "I Will Survive" at any given opportunity, but mostly when they go out en mass...... But otherwise, absolutely! All Backbeats albums are suitable for family buses on school runs or supermarket trips. They're designed to make normal life just a little more liveable What's the deal here Theresa? You get treated better than the majority of my personal concubine and favourite geishas, yet I'm not even sure if we've ever met LOL. OK, you can choose 2 on the basis of advance promotion via the Price Family Bus OK? If you like 'em, then you're bound to yap about 'em aren'tcha? Yep, I know the type LOL. Sean's the only compiler who regularly moans because the sleeve notes aren't long enough! I'm gonna let him go nuts on the Backbeats Artists series next year LOL.... Cheers m'dear. Here's to some exhilerating bus journeys in the near future! Ian D X

Hi Geoff, Long time no speak. Hope you are well and all is good. Available to everyone from Boxing Day! HMV have committed to include them within the Boxing Day sale and they will all be in the 2 for £10 sections at the front of the stores. However, this time there's no exclusive and the whole of series 3 will be available everywhere and to everyone. Indies should order through Proper but get in quick as we'll have to up their main order based on the volume of pre-orders we're receiving from the indies. All looking good mate! HMV are in the process of 'diversifying their offering' which means that in-store space for music will no doubt reduce and space for technology, games, magazines, i-pads, dildoes etc, etc will increase. I think they'll be trying to re-brand themselves as a 'lifestyle entertainment destination, or something along those lines. What will now happen now, is that the grand majority of people who still buy CD's, will probably get the mainstream and chart stuff from HMV and/or the supermarkets and what we call the 'deep catalogue' people will need to go to well-stocked indie stores (who will carry a huge range of back catalogue) to get their fix. It could the beginning of a rebirth for dedicated indie stores since there will be no competition from anywhere else (apart from online which is another question entirely). I see potential for every town having an indie record/cd/book type store maybe with a coffee bar and even listening booths 'cos there won't be many other places where music lovers can congregate and keep up with what's new. Mmm. That'd be like an old time record shop then.............. Ian D

Cheers Dave. Everyone should watch out for when I post up the FANTASTIC Kenny Gamble interview with Richard Searling and Ralph Tee. Richard brought original copies of all the early (ie pre Philly International) Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff associated records from the 60's including a whole heap of immaculate UK copies of the Sapphires, Doris Troy, Sheila Ferguson, Formations etc, etc many of which Kenny was seeing for the first time in his life and some of which he couldn't even remember! He listened to Doris Troy's "I'll Do Anything" and said it was like a Motown copy but couldn't remember recording it at all! We're in editing phase at the moment, so the clips should go up in the first week of January touch wood for the launch of the Philly 40 campaign. Will post up here as soon as it's ready! Best, Ian D

No trouble Garv. All that info was typed up long beforehand so it was a cut and paste job! More details to follow shortly...... Ian D

The PERFECT customer Biggray1. May your excellent choice become the very vanguard of exquisite taste and serve as a sterling example to Soul fans everywhere! Good call mate! Compliments of the season to you sir! Ian D

That's the plan Heath. By the way, if you're Heath Denton I owe you a few for mastering services don't I? Ian D