Ian Dewhirst

Yep, from HMV online from tomorrow I think. Ian D

Hiya Geoff, Yep the first 10 are all available via Proper Distribution at a phenomenal Dealer Price. I didn't really publicise 'em that much at the time 'cos there was no marketing budget due to the low Dealer Price but in case ya missed 'em here are the track-listings. Only a few that are good Soul Source material but I'm sure you could use some of 'em so here they are:- Livin' The Nightlife - 80's New York Garage Classics Backbeats BACKB001 1 Young & Co - I Like (What You're Doing To Me) 2 Class Action - Weekend 3 Serious Intention - You Don't Know - Remix 4 Cultural Vibe - Ma Foom Bay - Love Chant Version 5 Paul Simpson Connection - Treat Her Sweeter 6 Adeva - In & Out Of My Life 7 Sleeque - One For The Money 8 Colonel Abrams - Music Is The Answer 9 Dinosaur L - Go Bang # 5 10 Cuba Gooding - Happiness Is Just Around The Bend 12 K.I.D. - Hupendi Muziki Wangu (You Don't Like My Music) The House That Jackin' Built - The Roots Of Chicago House Backbeats BACKB002 1 Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body (The House Music Anthem) 2 Farley Jackmaster Funk - Love Can't Turn Around 3 Adonis feat 2 Puerto Ricans, A Black Man & A Dominican - Do It Properly 4 Frankie Knuckles - Your Love - You Got The Love Remix 5 Mr Fingers - Can You Feel It 6 Jaimie Principal - Waiting On My Angel 7 The Nightwriters - Let The Music (Use You) 8 Master C&J - Face It 9 Housemaster Boyz & The Rude Boy Of House - House Nation 10 Frankie Knuckles - Baby Wants To Ride 11 Ralphi Rosario feat Xavier Gold - You Used To Hold Me 12 Joe Smooth - Promised Land Philly Disco - 70's Dance Floor Anthems From The City Of Brotherly Love Backbeats BACKB003 1 Archie Bell & The Drells - Let's Groove 2 Dee Dee Sharp Gamble - Breaking & Entering 3 Teddy Pendergrass - Only You 4 Jean Carn - If You Wanna Go Back 5 Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Don't Leave Me This Way 6 The O'Jays - I Love Music 7 M.F.S.B. - Summertime & I'm Feeling Mellow 8 Teddy Pendergrass - You Can't Hide From Yourself 9 People's Choice - Jam Jam Jam (All Night Long) 10 Jean Carn - Was That All It Was 11 Billy Paul - Bring The Family Back 12 McFadden & Whitehead - Ain't No Stopping Us Now Boogie's Gonna Getcha - 80's New York Boogie Backbeats BACKB004 1 World Premier - Share The Night 2 The Affair feat Alyson Williams - Please Don't Break My Heart 3 Shot - Main Thing 4 Vicki D - This Beat Is Mine 5 Rhyze - Just How Sweet Is Your Love 6 Kreamsicle - Hold On 7 The Glen Adams Affair - Just A Groove 8 Lukk feat Felicia Collins - On The One 9 Mike Gee - Rapper's Revenge 10 Convertion - Let's Do It 11 Klassique - Somebody's Loving You 12 Komiko - Feel Alright Saturday House Fever - 90's Garage Anthems Backbeats BACKB005 1 Gary Vonquest - Victim Of Love 2 Extortion feat Dihan Brooks - How Do You See Me Now? 3 Cassio - Baby Love 4 Alexander Hope - Saturdays - Saturday Nite Mix 5 Keisha Jenkins - Goin' Through The Motions - Motion Mix 6 Toni Martin - Deeper - Blaze Mix 7 Alexander Hope - Let The Music Take You 8 Bobby Blackwell - Let Love Through 9 Leisha Moore - Damn, What A Feeling 10 Debbie Pender - Movin' On 11 Kathy Brown - Happy People - Original Blaze Mix 12 Darryl D'Bonneau - Let There Be A Way That Driving Beat - 60's & 70's Northern Soul Stompers Backbeats BACKB006 1 Jackie Wilson - The Who Who Song 2 Rose Batiste - Hit & Run 3 Bunny Sigler - Girl Don't Make Me Wait 4 Cindy Scott - I Love You Baby 5 J.J. Barnes - Our Love Is In The Pocket 6 The Just Brothers - Sliced Tomatoes 7 Len Barry - When You Call Me Baby 8 Johnny Caswell - You Don't Love Me Anymore 9 The Fascinations - At The Top Of The Stairs 10 Fred Hughes - Baby Boy 11 The Parliaments - Don't Be Sore At Me 12 The Delfonics - You'll Get Enough 13 Gloria Edwards - My Love Is Getting Stronger 14 Lavern Baker - Wrapped, Tied & Tangled 15 The Cooperettes - Shing-A-Ling 16 Adam's Apple's - Don't Take It Out On This World 17 Gene Chandler - Mr Big Shot 18 Darrell Banks - Somebody Somewhere Needs You 19 First Choice - This Is The House (Where Love Died) 20 Willie Mitchell - The Champion 21 The Demures - Raining Teardrops 22 Johnny Johnson & The Bandwagon - Sweet Inspiration 23 Marvin Smith - Have More Time 24 Johnny Jones & The King Casuals - Purple Haze 25 Erma Franklin - I Get The Sweetest Feeling 26 Epitome Of Sound - You Don't Love Me 27 Johnny Howard - The Chase Is On 28 Eloise Laws - Love Factory 29 Mel Britt - She'll Come Running Back 30 Young Holt Unlimited - California Montage Gimme A Break - 70's Breakbeats & Future Samples Backbeats BACKB007 1 Average White Band - Schoolboy Crush 2 John Davis & The Monster Orchestra - I Can't Stop 3 The Chi-Lites - Are You My Woman (Tell Me So) 4 The Evasions - Wikka Wrap 5 Al Green - I'm Glad You're Mine 6 Honey Cone - Stick Up 7 Syl Johnson - Different Strokes 8 Little Royal & The Swingmasters - Razor Blade 9 Kid Dynamite - Uphill Piece Of Mind 10 Boobie Knight & The Universal Lady - Lovomaniacs (Sex) 11 Laura Lee - Crumbs Off The Table 12 Vaughn Mason & Crew - Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll 13 Parliament - Come In Out Of The Rain 14 Freda Payne - Unhooked Generation 15 Sound Experience - Devil With The Bust 16 Dexter Wansel - Theme From The Planets 17 The Jones Girls - At Peace With Woman 18 The Stylistics - Hurry Up This Way Again Back To My Place Baby - 70's & 80's Seductive Soul Backbeats BACKB008 1 Al Green - I'm Still In Love With You 2 Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand The Rain 3 The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her 4 Teddy Pendergrass - The Whole Town's Laughing At Me 5 The Average White Band - A Love Of Your Own 6 Paris - I Choose You 7 Windy City - I Still Love You 8 Manchild - Especially For You 9 The O'Jays - Brandy 10 Teddy Pendergrass - Close The Door 11 Walter Jackson - It's Cool 12 The Jones Girls - Eternally 13 Margie Alexander - Whatcha Trying To Do To Me 14 Dexter Wansel - The Sweetest Pain 15 Jean Carn - Don't Let It Go To Your Head 16 Dee Dee Sharp Gamble - Just As Long As I Know You're Mine 17 Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - You Know How To Make Me Feel So Good Windy City Soul - Smooth 70's Soul From Chicago Backbeats BACKB009 1 Windy City - Windy City Theme (Vocal) 2 Tyrone Davis - What Goes Up (Must Come Down) 3 Barbara Acklin - I'll Bake Me A Man 4 Mr T - Love Uprising 5 Ginji James - Honey Babe 6 The Promises - This Love Is Real 7 Mighty Doug Haines - I'll Be Right Here 8 Lyn Roman - Stop! I Don't Need No Sympathy 9 Sidney Joe Qualls - Run To Me 10 Barbara Acklin - I Did It 11 Major Lance - Sweeter As The Days Go By 12 Otis Leavill - I Love You 13 Windy City - Fool Or Your Man 14 Eddie McLoyd - Once You Fall In Love 15 Gene Chandler - Let Me Love To You 16 Tyrone Davis - Turning Point 17 Jackie Wilson - It Only Happens (When I Look At You) 18 The Chi-Lites - Stoned Out Of My Mind 19 The Dells - Your Song 20 The Impressions - All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You 21 Gene Chandler - Does She Have A Friend For Me 22 The Chi-Lites - You Don't Have To Go Soul Steppin' - 80's Soulful Steppers Backbeats BACKB010 1 The Dells - All About The Paper 2 The Impressions - Fan The Fire 3 Patti Labelle - When Am I Gonna Find True Love 4 John Davis & The Monster Orchestra - Bourgie Bourgie 5 Mike & Brenda Sutton - Anyway You Want My Love 6 Greg Henderson - Dreaming 7 Steve Shelto - Don't You Give Your Love Away 8 David McPherson - You Can't Stop 9 The Underground - Behind My Back 10 Scandal feat Lee Genesis - Love Either Goes Or Grows 11 Sound Troupe - Can You Really See Me 12 Dee Dee Sharp Gamble - Easy Money 13 Teddy Pendergrass - You And Me For Right Now 14 Walter Jackson - Touching In The Dark 2nd batch will be available everywhere from the 1st September. Best, Ian D

Yes, the bugger got there before most of us TC. I can't imagine what he must have found 'cos I cleaned up plenty every Saturday lunchtime from around '72 onwards when I used to work at John Laing down by the station. Used to spend my whole Saturday job wage at Bostocks and come back with 40 U.S. singles every Saturday and spend the rest of the weekend playing 'em. We got spoilt. I don't think there has ever been a better place for discovering U.S. unknowns for 5p each since then! Ian D

Glad ya like 'em Baz. I figured that if I could get clearance from the labels to do 'em at this price then it can only be good for spreading the music a bit further then the confines of looking for the 7" singles etc, so figured a 'sampler' type series at the right price would be the way to go. Also I didn't want to compete with Ace/Kent because frankly they do the best job imaginable catering to connoisseurs and the serious collector market so I've gone the route of competitive pricing in the hope I can snag a large audience who'll try 'em for a fiver a pop. Hopefully it seems to be working as the series has really taken off in a number of territories so here's hoping I can get more of 'em out there......... Ya finding anything in Houston? I was there in '88 and snagged some decent bits and pieces but nothing phenomenal. There was an awful lot of stuff 'in storage' over there at the time which was frustrating 'cos there always seems to be a timing problem in getting people to open their bloody storage lock-ups. One guy dicked me around for 3 days before I had to split but not before describing the stuff he said he had which he reckoned included muliples across the whole Don Robey catalogue! Maybe they're still there........? Best of luck! Ian D

That's 'cos I wanna get 50 of the buggers out there by next year, so since there's another 30 to go I've gotta save some stuff for the next ones Dante. This shit's not easy y'know.......... Ian D

Yes, folks, it almost half-killed me but the next 10 Backbeats albums are now released and in your local HMV for a fiver a pop. Recession-busting or what? I'm joined on this lot by the good Sean Hampsey and Dean Rudland also doing compiling honours, so here are the tracklistings and cover shots...... "Yowsah Yowsah Yowsah" – 70's New York Disco BACKB011 Compiled By Ian Dewhirst 1 Moment Of Truth Helplessly 2 First Choice The Player 3 Eddie Holman This Will Be A Night To Remember 4 Ultra High Frequency We're On The Right Track 5 Loleatta Holloway Hit & Run 6 Players Association I Like It 7 Lucy Hawkins Gotta Get Out Of Here 8 Ripple The Beat Goes On & On 9 Gary's Gang Keep On Dancin' 10 TJM Am I Dreaming 11 Jackie Moore This Time Baby "Love & Jealousy" – The Deeper Side Of Southern Soul BACKB012 Compiled By Sean Hampsey 1 Quiet Elegance Do You Love Me 2 Barbara Lynn This Is The Thanks I Get 3 Otis Clay I Die A Little Each Day 4 Syl Johnson Could I Be Falling In Love 5 George Jackson I'm Gonna Wait 6 Jean Plum You Ask Me 7 Al Green One Woman 8 Ronnie Lovejoy Until You Get Enough Of Me 9 Fontella Bass I'm Leaving The Choice To You 10 Bobby McClure To Get What You Got 11 The Patterson Twins Back In Love Again 12 Oscar Perry I'll Take Care Of You 13 Willie Walker I Love Her 14 Quiet Elegance Will You Be My Man In The Morning 15 Syl Johnson Anyway The Wind Blows 16 James Fry Tumbling Down 17 Ann Peebles Give Me Some Credit 18 Bobby Patterson Take Time To Know The Truth 19 O.V. Wright Let's Straighten It Out 20 The Masqueraders Wake Up Fool 21 Bobby Powell When You Move You Lose 22 Don Bryant I'll Go Crazy 23 Jean Plum Back To You 24 Otis Clay It Was Jealousy "Motor City Soul" – 70's Soul From Detroit BACKB013 Compiled By Ian Dewhirst 1 Chairmen Of The Board Everything's Tuesday 2 Freda Payne You Brought The Joy 3 The Barrino Brothers I Shall Not Be Moved 4 The Honey Cone While You're Out Looking For Sugar 5 The Silent Majority Colors Of My Love 6 Flaming Ember Westbound No.9 7 100 Proof Aged In Soul Somebody's Been Sleeping (In My Bed) 8 Freda Payne Bring The Boys Home 9 The 8th Day You've Got To Crawl (Before You Walk) 10 Holland & Dozier New Breed Kinda Woman 11 Laura Lee (If You Want To Try Love Again) Remember Me 12 The Politicians ft McKinley Jackson Love Machine 13 Flaming Ember I'm Not My Brother's Keeper 14 Brian Holland I'm So Glad 15 100 Proof Aged In Soul One Man's Leftovers (Is Another Man's Feast) 16 The Honey Cone One Monkey Don't Stop No Show 17 Tyrone Edwards Can't Get Enough Of You 18 The Hi-Lites That's Love 19 New York Port Authority I Guess I'm Gonna Cry 20 Scherrie Payne V.I.P. 21 The Honey Cone Want Ads 22 Melvin Davis You Made Me Over 23 Tyrone Edwards You Took Me From a World Outside 24 Eloise Laws Stay With Me 25 Holland & Dozier Why Can't We Be Lovers "Gimme That Beat" – 70's Sophisticated Funk BACKB014 Compiled By Dean Rudland 1 The Chi-Lites (For God's Sake) Give More Power To The People 2 Satisfaction Unlimited Somebody Else's Woman 3 African Music Machine Blackwater Gold 4 Chairmen Of The Board Finders Keepers 5 Laura Lee If I'm Good Enough To Love (I'm Good Enough To Marry) 6 Chairmen Of The Board Skin I'm In 7 The Politicians Free Your Mind 8 New York Port Authority I Got It 9 Average White Band Pick Up The Pieces 10 Ann Peebles It's Your Thing 11 Smith Connection I'm Buggin' On Your Phone 12 El Dorados Loose Booty Pt1 13 The Memphians Sliding In And Out 14 Jackie Wilson Love Uprising 15 Gregory James Edition Shaft 16 Willie Henderson Funky Chicken Pt 1 17 Honey Cone Don't Count Your Chickens (Before They Hatch) 18 Holland Dozier I'm Gonna Hijack Ya, Kidnap Ya, Take What I Want 19 Natural High Bump Your Lady (Pt1) 20 8th Day Cheeba 21 Parliament Breakdown 22 Red Holt Unlimited Do It Baby 23 Rynell Wynglass Bar B Q Ribs "Philly Freedom" – 70's Dance Floor Anthems From The City Of Brotherly Love BACKB015 Compiled By Ian Dewhirst 1 First Choice Armed & Extremely Dangerous 2 The Delfonics I Told You So 3 The Trammps Where Do We Go From Here 4 Archie Bell & The Drells I Could Dance All Night 5 Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes Wake Up Everybody 6 The O'Jays This Time Baby 7 Lou Rawls You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine 8 Dee Dee Sharp Gamble Nobody Could Ever Take Your Place 9 Bunny Sigler Can't Believe That You Love Me 10 Billy Paul I Trust You 11 The Trammps Trusting Heart 12 Archie Bell & The Drells Where Will You Go When The Party's Over 13 First Choice Smarty Pants 14 Teddy Pendergrass The More I Get The More I Want 15 The Futures Party Time Man 16 Frantique Strut Your Funky Stuff 17 Lou Rawls See You When I Git There 18 The Philadelphia Int All-Stars Let's Clean Up The Ghetto 19 The Jones Girls You're Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else "Soul Time" – Soul Classics 24 Hours A Day BACKB016 Compiled By Ian Dewhirst 1 Bob & Earl Harlem Shuffle 2 Alvin Cash Twine Time 3 Willie Mitchell That Driving Beat 4 Barbara Lynn You Left The Water Running 5 Jackie Wilson Whispers (Getting' Louder) 6 The Capitols Cool Jerk 7 Jackie Lee The Duck 8 Erma Franklin Gotta Find Me A Lover 9 Gene Chandler Nothing Can Stop Me 10 Lee Charles Wrong Number 11 Billy Watkins The Ice Man 12 The Artistics I'm Gonna Miss You 13 Barbara Acklin Love Makes A Woman 14 Young Holt Unlimited Soulful Strut 15 The Lost Generation You're So Young, But You're So True 16 Otis Leavill Love Uprising 17 Barbara Acklin & Gene Chandler From The Teacher To The Preacher 18 Major Lance Sweeter As The Days Go By 19 Jackie Wilson I Get The Sweetest Feeling 20 Tyrone Davis Can I Change My Mind 21 Lavern Baker I'm The One To Do It 22 Walter Jackson Let Me Come Back 23 Average White Band Put It Where You Want It 24 Syl Johnson Back For A Taste Of Your Love 25 Al Green Take Me To The River 26 Quiet Elegance Mama Said 27 Tyrone Davis If I Could Turn Back The Hands Of Time 28 Deon Jackson Love Makes The World Go Round "The Big Apple Bites Back" – New York House And Remix Culture BACKB017 Compiled By Ian Dewhirst 1 Double Exposure Everyman - Joe Claussell Remix 2 First Choice Let No Man Put Asunder – Frankie Knuckles Remix 3 Inner Life Ain't No Mountain High Enough – Larry Levan Remix 4 First Choice Doctor Love - Kerri Chandler Remix 5 Skyy Call Me - Blaze DJ Vocal Remix 6 Candido Jingo - Mount Rushmore Remix 7 The Todd Terry Project Bango (To The Batmobile) 8 Black Riot A Day In The Life 9 Hardhouse Check This Out 10 Afrikali Out Of The Jungle - The Truth Mix 11 The Jungle Brothers I'll House You "Crate Diggin' Fever" – The Cult Of Rarity BACKB018 Compiled By Dean Rudland 1 The Futures Ain't No Time Fa Nothing 2 Jean Carn Don't Let It Go To Your Head 3 Laura Lee Crumbs Off The Table 4 Average White Band Work To Do 5 Al Green Love Ritual 6 African Music Machine Tropical 7 Maryan Farra and the Satin Soul Stoned Out Of My Mind 8 Jackie Wilson Shake A Leg 9 Alvin Cash Ali Shuffle 10 Tyrone Davis Something You Got 11 Barbara Acklin Just Ain't No Love 12 Honey Cone Sittin' On A Time Bomb 13 Archie Bell & The Drells Don't Let Love Get You Down 14 The Jones Girls You Can't Have My Love 15 MFSB Picnic In The Park 16 Ann Peebles Beware 17 Holland & Dozier Don't Leave Me (inst) 18 Bobby Marchan Push The Button 19 Tommie Young That's All A Part Of Loving Him 20 Strutt Front Row Romeo 21 Satisfaction Unlimited Seeing Through The Eyes Of A Blindman "I Get My Groove" – Crossover Soul From The Deep South BACKB019 Compiled By Sean Hampsey 1 Syl Johnson We Did It 2 Gloria Edwards Don't Mess With My Man 3 Fontella Bass Now That I've Found A Good Thing 4 Bobby McClure Was It Something I Said 5 Eddie Mcgee What Made You Change Your Mind? 6 Imported Moods What Have You Done With My Heart 7 The Montclairs I Need You More Than Ever 8 Oscar Perry Let Me Grow Old With You 9 Al Green I Tried To Tell Myself 10 Ronnie Lovejoy You Got To Know 11 The Patterson Twins Looking For A Lover 12 Little Johnny Taylor How Are You Fixed For Love 13 Bobby Patterson Everything Good To You (Don't Have To Be Good For You) 14 Jean Plum Here I Go Again 15 Ann Peebles I Didn't Take Your Man 16 Henry Shed Something's Drastically Wrong 17 Bobo Mr. Soul Hitch-Hike To Heartbreak Road 18 Pat Brown Love On Loan 19 Barbara Lynn Nice And Easy 20 Otis Clay Brand New Thing 21 Bobby Patterson I Get My Groove From You 22 Ted Taylor I Want To Be A Part Of You Girl 23 Phillip Mitchell Little Things 24 James Fry Still Around 25 Ann Peebles If This Is Heaven 26 Jean Plum Look At The Boy "Jazzy Vibes" – Soulful Jazz Licks From The 70's BACKB020 Compiled By Dean Rudland 1 Michael Pedicin Jr Sneaky Return 2 Norman Harris In Good Faith 3 Leon Huff Latin Spirit 4 Lou Rawls Trade Winds 5 Dexter Wansell Latin Love (Let Me Know) 6 MFSB Metamorphosis 7 Hysear Don Walker Killing Me Softly 8 Lionel Hampton Them Changes 9 Larry Willis Out On The Coast 10 Reuben Wilson Cisco Kid 11 Jimmy McGriff Red Beans 12 Mike Longo Like A Thief In The Night 13 Dexter Wansel What The World Is Coming To 14 Gamble & Huff Orchestra Is It Something I Said 15 Natural Essence Killing Time 16 Funk Incorporated Give Me Your Love Hope ya like 'em all! Pretty good value for a fiver I reckon........ Ian D

Yep, the first place I met Ady and then yourself when I used to travel down from Leeds record hunting. Great days! Ian D

There's a red hot re-edit of Silvetti around at the moment which I played at a beach party in Ibiza in May and which blew 'em away. I reckon they heard me play it and now it's crossed over to Majorca! Ian D

Well Disco was alive and well before it ever got integrated into the Northern scene. In fact, it could be argued that the two were always interlinked anyway. The Northern scene adopted First Choice's "This Is The House Where Love Died" - their debut release and then they had the crossover Disco hit with "Armed And Extremely Dangerous" - their second release. Similarly Millie Jackson's "My Man Is A Sweet Man" was a mainstream 'Disco' record which sounded perfectly at home on Northern dancefloors. Really, when you think about it, the only difference between Northern and Disco is the difference in production techniques which was pretty much the difference between 60's recordings and 70's recordings really. The bpm's are the same and the subject matter in the lyrics was often the same. Some of the more twee Disco tracks from the 70's could be compared to some of the more twee Supremes recordings from the 60's, in which case neither would be played on Northern dancefloors for being too commercial. I can remember a time when Four Below Zero's "My Baby's Got ESP" was roundly denounced for being 'too Disco', yet it still went on to be a monster eventually. I'd say that the U.S. had very little influence on what was played in the Northern clubs for the most part. The Disco records which the Northern scene liked tended not to be the ones which crossed over and any that did get played got rapidly dropped as soon as they became crossover hits. For that reason I'd never class a record like Tavares' "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" as even remotely Northern despite it's brilliance. It was always a pure Disco record to my ears. I personally didn't like it when records like Esther Phillips "What A Difference Day Makes" and "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel" were played in the Northern clubs. To me they didn't really sit properly with the older stuff and I could hear 'em in all the local clubs anyway. However, I did like the more obscure and obviously less Disco contemporary releases which were played at the time which would never have been played in the local clubs, if you see what I mean. I can remember happily going out to local clubs and hearing the likes of Van McCoy, George McRae, Tavares etc and loving 'em for what they were in that context but I was looking for something different on a weekend when I hit the nighters............ Who would have though that Imberboy would turn out to be a closet Disco freak? Patrick Hernandez was bad enough but he's now showing alarming signs that his musical education may have been better served had he been hanging out at the Saint in New York rather than hanging around the back streets of Wigan in the early hours. Have you checked "Savage Lover" by the Ring or Patrick Juvet's "I Love America" yet Simon? They should be right up your street mate! Ian D

Corectomundo. Ian D

Nope. Horrendous (sigh....).I cut and pasted the clip number but obviously no cigar........too clunky mate. There's easier ways to drive yourself mad on a Sunday night......Ian D

No I think I can handle a Refosoul search thanks Chalky and if it takes me a further ten clicks to post the bugger up then so be it. T'other sides not bad either...... There I did it! Still a pain in the arse though..... Ian D

Mmmm. Maybe I should start making my tropical island retirement plans early then.......? Ian D

Yep, credit where it's due Sean. It's a great advertisement for people who may not otherwise know about that kind of music and if they stumble into your channel and get off on Ann Peebles then great! Job done. And the next set of Backbeats should be in the shops in a couple of weeks. I'll post up track listings and info on a seperate thread shortly 'cos your albums should be dead certs for SS'ers. Also I'm getting some banner ads for these done so hopefully they'll be up on here shortly too! Best, Ian D

Which is pretty much the point I was trying to make. Never intended it to be a 'who has the bigger dick' battle between You Tube and Refosoul. They both have their uses...... Ian D

Yep. Also You Tube is an 'open' system which means it's accessible to hundreds of millions, that's why when you pump in a general search on a record it'll often be at the top of the page and instantly accessible to all. I'd class Refosoul as more of a connoisseurs tool and less as a general search reference.......... Ian D

Mike, With respect, I find Refosoul to be one of the clunkiest most user-unfriendly devices I've ever had to try and get my head around. Anything that's not easy to use and instantly workable I'm afraid just doesn't do it for me. This is no reflection on Soul Source or the fact that Refosoul is probably the best Northern Soul reference tool on the planet, it's just a shame that it feels like it was designed by a set of cluless programmers back in the early 90's who obviously delighted in making the system as inpenetrable as they possibly could. I've tried many many times to try and work with it but always ended up giving up because frankly, anything that's so clunky to use is a time-waster for me. Not just me either by the looks of it. I must read something on here every week from plenty of other people who can't use it either. Ease of use is a big thing with me just lately and it's not just Refosoul that hacks me off, it's tons of stuff that has been badly designed by people who don't understand the needs of the end user and the list is endless........ The other point is that when I'm searching for stuff I'm not necessarily just looking for input from the Northern Soul fraternity, as good as it may be. I like a wide palette and like searching for all kinds of stuff so when I highlighted You Tube it wasn't a personal attack on S.S. or Refosoul. It's a time issue Mike - I just find pumping a quick search into Google will take me to all sorts of places quickly and often take me on a tangent to other stuff which I'm interested in which I may otherwise never have found. In the same way, I wouldn't ever just go to one supplier for records because frankly I've found tons of stuff in the unlikliest of places, so it's pretty much the same on t'internet. But, in order to keep in harmony with everyone, I'll persevere with the dreaded Refosoul. I think the same people who designed the SAPS accounting system that I have to deal with every day at work and which is truly the worst designed system ever inflicted on the public must have designed Refosoul in their spare time. And whilst I'm at it, what's the deal with the random placement of emoticons that seems to be happening just lately? Hey, no one ever said it was going to be easy! Ian D

Good point Dante. I think it encourages like-minded people from around the world to explore music. The beauty of it is, if someone hears a record that really moves them and subesquently does a Google search on it, there's a good possibility that they'll bump into lots of other stuff which other people from around the world have posted. I'm constantly amazed at what's out there. I mean, I think I'm pretty damn knowledgeable across a number of areas but you never stop learning. That's the beauty of it really........... Ian D

Haha LOL. I saw that copy too Soulechoes! I was half-way tempted myself. You got the bargain of the century there mate. Great record and very obscure so well done. But good point you made about driving hundreds of miles to hear a record. This was something I did every weekend in my teens because I had no responsibilities, almost unlimited time and unstoppable energy. These days I'm loaded with responsibilities, have zero free time and I have to pace myself accordingly. However, what I can do, is zap the lappy up and then trawl the tens of thousands of forums, blogs and You Tube channels looking for stuff which rocks my boat and then track it down before a stampede starts. Much easier. Before it would have taken me several trips to the U.S. at massive expense, days and days of getting covered in cobwebs and rat shit to pull out a few killers and then try explaining to my loved ones why this was a good thing. Anyway gotta go. I just hit some guy's blog from South Carolina. He obviously collects Beach Music and I cannot believe what I've just heard..........! Ian D

Most Soul Sourcers do embrace new technology 'cos they're on here in the first place. But this is a scene which is governed by 7" pieces of plastic. So it makes me wonder if any Soul Sourcers actively use the Internet as a research tool to find new sounds? I haven't been in the business of discovering fresh Northern Soul since about 1977 mainly 'cos my career took over most of my free time and moved me in different directions. Plus I think most serious DJ's and serious collectors will agree that collecting or digging for Rare Soul is really a 24/7 obsession that doesn't leave much time for anything else. So, if the internet had been around back in the early 70's, I'm pretty sure that I'd have got even less sleep (which would be hard to believe) because my thirst (aka obsession) would have kept me up most nights in that constant search for new tunes. No doubt whatsoever. I use the internet all the time now simply because it's faster at getting me to what I want then going upstairs to the record room/library or across to the other half of the lounge which is my CD library. I spend a lot of time just researching stuff and looking for inspiration for new album ideas or new tunes for my radio show and, as a result, I constantly keep running into some FANTASTIC tunes from some weird sources. I'm amazed at where stuff springs up. It could be a French Boogie site or a Brazilian Disco Collectors site or more often than not, simply a general blog which is written by a serious music lover. I've discovered more utterly brilliant tunes which I'd never heard before via the internet then I ever did crate-digging. And I can do it all from my sofa, which, at the of 55 suits me better than spending 12 hours a day in damp, dusty basements sifting through tens of thousands of junk before the odd gem manifests itself. Yes folks, the internet arrived exactly at the right time for me. You Tube is rapidly becoming the No.1 key source for me. You key in an interesting record on Google and lo and behold, someone's posted it on You Tube. For instance, anyone into Deep or Southern Soul should check out Sean Hampsey's You Tube channel as a great example. When I was checking out some Hi/Cream/Paula/Ronn/Jewel/Soul Power stuff from the Demon catalogue I kept coming back to Sean's channel 'cos he'd posted some of the goodies up there and the Google searches kept bouncing me to either Sean's channel or zillions of threads on Soul Source. So I asked Sean if he fancied compiling a couple of KILLER albums for Demon as a direct result - I'll post the details shortly but rest assured, Sean was exactly the guy for this particular job. In my book, anyone who has the obvious knowledge, dedication and level of passion to spend time posting their thoughts or tastes on the internet should also be the people who should be entrusted with the job of compiling dedicated CD's in their areas of expertise. Check out Sean's You Tube channel:- https://www.youtube.c...JustSoulHampsey However, it can be frustrating too. I have a legion of like-minded mates around the world who know my tastes and if they bump into something they know that I'll like, then they call or e-mail me to see if I know it. One of these guys is my mate Jaffa who doesn't spend any time on forums but does obsessively collect all types of vinyl, so he's on the phone all the time. Because I've been around forever I know a good 70% of most of the stuff he flings at me, so when he rang last week and said he had a GREAT record by the Blade Family, I thought I already knew it. Their "Sweet Dream" had been on my shelves for 30 odd years before someone prised it out of me. I don't think I ever played the bloody 'B' side "My Baby's Gone". So I pumped into You Tube and had a nasty shock. It's f*ckin' GREAT. Her vocals are sublime....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWe5kcOCPqA A great tool. Anyone else use it for finding stuff? Ian D

Well I was kinda disappointed with her as a vocalist so, like yourself and purely in the name of research, I checked out her porno CV. I mean, hell, there's no doubt about it, she was pretty supple and could sure hit some interesting angles but for some reason I kept focussing on her chin, so the overall effect was somehow diluted to be honest. A bit like the record in a way......... Ian D

Wow. You should be in PR mate. Great enthusiam. Damn. I'm beginning to want the record myself now.......... Ian D

There are always surprises and they can crop up anytime, anywhere and quite often by complete accident. Some of my best-ever hits were in places that had apparently already been hit. Yeah right LOL..... I remember telling everyone that had ever asked me, that trying to dig L.A. was pointless. Soussan had hit it first and then I went on and cleaned up better than him. So no chance. Forget it. Several years later, Arthur Fenn went into an L.A. distributor that both myself and Soussan had been to at least 20 times and where I found the original one-off Si Hightower 10" test-pressing. He managed to hit a room that I had never had access to and had one of the best hits of all time. It was embarassing. Those 100 Joe Hicks originals and the first John Hendley could have been mine godammit! So anything is possible. Some of the best hits are accidental. After several days of serious digging in the worst parts of L.A. my then partner put her foot down and insisted that we go to the beach for the weekend. The understanding was that there'd be no record digging. So we went to the beach and after a couple of hours I got bored and said I was going to buy an ice lolly. As I walked up the street to look for a place that sold ice lollies I got inexplicably drawn into a 2nd Hand Furniture store and found a goldmine of incredible Northern Soul. It turned out the guy had run a music store in New Jersey throughout the 60's and early 70's and then re-located to L.A. and got into furniture and just put his old record stock in there 'cos he didn't know what else to do with it. I got multiple copies of incredibly rare records but guess what? I left 1000's of other records because I didn't know 'em. So it doesn't surprise me that some guy that trawls different areas for different stuff for his e-bay sales could well run into a hundred copies of a Northern Soul goodie. That's his job and good luck to him. He got a result. I'm off out tomorrow, heading into areas I haven't checked before, looking for interesting stuff whilst on the way to have lunch with a mate who lives 30 miles away. I'll probably find something that's valuable and worth picking up along the line. I found £200 worth of Boogie rarities last Saturday locally, so maybe tomorrow I could hit an incredible collection that's just been dumped in a charity shop. I'll be disappointed if I don't........ Lofts and basements are the way to go. I mean, your name is deadwaxdetective so you must know about these things.......... Ian D

None whatsoever. Ian D

Nah Mike. I mean how many Soul singers do ya know called Patsy? And how many have surnames called Gallant? And a song called "Get That Ball"? It could only be kinda crappish couldn't it.......? Ian D