Ian Dewhirst

OK, fair enough. Is it mint and is a fiver OK? This guy at my office is still gagging for one....... Ian D

Damn. Just tried that and f*cked my warped Matta Baby by not realising that my rear tyres are in fact @ 30psi. Please make sure no one else makes the same mistake...... Ian D

F*ck Paris Ken. Try finding me copies of the Antilles 12" on UK Creole which I can sell for £100 a pop all day long or Norman Giscombe Jrs "Get Up And Dance" @ £80 a pop, then we'll be talking....... Ian D

Look no further than Discogs. You can see what others are selling theirs for and adjust your own price accordingly. Also on some of the more popular items there's a sales history so you can see what the top, bottom and median prices have been over the sales history of the item. Also on Discogs it's a definite advantage selling from the UK for some reason. Say, on Norma Jean "Sorcerer" which is in demand in some circles at the moment, the only copies on Discogs are 6 from the US and one from Italy all priced between $5-$20/20 euros, so if you put it on @ a tenner from the UK you'd probably sell it immediately. Also what Ken forgets is that what's tat to us is gold for collectors in other countries. I've found a £120 record for 50p and a £70 record for £1 in the last couple of months - both of 'em terrible records by any stretch of the imagination but sheer gold for some people! The Northern scene was built upon buying 'tat' from the U.S. @ 10 cents apiece after all......... Ian D

Where there's tat there's brass lad....... Ian D

Worth listing on Discogs I'd say (which is easy - less than 30 seconds per listing and free - you only get charged when you sell something). Out of the ones above you'd probably immediately sell Curtis Hairston, Conspiracy, Shades Of Silk, Thelma Houston, Caroline Crawford and Norma Jean. There's plenty of buyers for this kind of stuff around the world so worth listing for sure...... Ian D

I don't clean 'em either. Like yourself I'd prefer the buyer to use his/her own methods. The downside is I've sold records which have never been played and only been on the shelves for the last 35 years hence I've classified them as mint only to receive complaints. Likewise when I remember I try and put Mint but dusty! Personally I think anyone's lucky to get a 30 year + record in mint condition these days...... Ian D

Well the last Original Mastercuts show of Winter 2010 and we'll all be glad to see the back of that! Welcome to Spring! We had the usual trawl through the eras with a couple of recent exclusives and an odyssey through the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's and 00's covering as many bases as we can in a mere 2 hours. Now that the weather's warming up hopefully we'll see some of you on the road this year, so keep tuned! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 28th February 2010 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring..... 1st Hour DJ Jose Burgos feat Sigma 2 – Free Man – Main Mix Al Green & Ann Nesby – Put It On Paper – Spen & Karizma Mix Light Of The World feat Cylena Cymone - Sunshine– Original Mastercuts Exclusive Randy Crawford – Don't Wanna Be Normal – Desa Basshead Rework Exclusive S.O.S. Band & Switch – Borrowed Secrets Steve Arrington – She Just Don't Know The Jones Girls – You Can't Have My Love First Circle – Can't Find A Love Wornell Jones – It Must Have Been Love Otis Clay – All I Wanna Do 2nd Hour The Steve Karmen Big Band – Breakaway Pt 1 Barbara McNair – Lone Lonely Town Edward Hamilton & The Arabians – Baby Don't You Weep Chico Lamarr – What Do You Think I Am Carol Anderson – I Found Love Clifton Dyson – I'm Giving Up Don Covay – The Overtime Man Marvin Holmes & Justice – Take The Time Out Tommy Tate – I Just Don't Know Ronnie Laws feat Randy Crawford – Show Me Gerry Deveaux – There Goes My Heart Carlton J. Smith - Love Gentlemen's Agreement - Breakaway Shirley Slaughter – I Love Him – Old School Remix Cool Million feat Eugene Wilde – Back For More – Album Version https://www.sixmillio...8-Starpoint.mp3 Al will be behind the decks next week 7/03/10 and I'll be back on the 14/03/10 and then see you all up @ Prestatyn! Enjoy! Ian D

Ego Booster! Ian D

I called in to see him and had a great day over at his place. On the way back I decided to call in at a club called "Dance Your Ass Off" (mainly 'cos of the Pop-A-Groove record which originally came from Bob in the first place). Big mistake. Full of blokes so I danced my ass out of there double sharp........ Ian D

I'm exactly the same. Whenever anyone asks me where I'm from and I tell 'em I spent all my formative years and youth in a mill town in Yorkshire called Mirfield and they say, "Oh my God. That must have been awful", I give them an enigmatic look and say, "Au contraire my friend, it was the eighth wonder of the world"....... Thing is, it was! We were lucky enough to be there and get on the ride......... Ian D

I doubt it's the same Cisco Ganesh. The Cisco I'm thinking of was more like Johnny Baker's own little label I think. I bet virtually all the copies of the record are over here too since you couldn't move for 'em at one time...... Anyone remember 'Disco' Bob Cattaneo from Daly City? He was the main contact for Bay area records and I think all the Johnny Baker's originally came from him....... Ian D

Bingo! Right answer Chorleysoul. Well done. (I never actually thought of that ). Actually that's exactly how it happened for me thinking about it. I heard all the Motown hits as a kid growing up and I guess it was a natural path to eventually go deeper. Also it helped that I was in Motown/Northern friendly place where every Youth Club played Motown, Soul and the 'available' Northern and there were whispers about this place in Manchester called the Wheel - so it wasn't too hard to gravitate towards Northern being in the middle of Leeds, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Bradford and Huddersfield - all ferocious Soul havens in the late 60's/early 70's. It's interesting how some people moved deeper into Northern travelling around the country whilst others chose to keep to a more local level and just go to the local Soul nights though...... Golden gateway is exactly the right term! Ian D

Nothing in the Demon listings either Dave....... Smith Connection - You Ain't Livin' Unless Your Lovin' Smith Connection - (I've Been A Winner, I've Been A Loser) I've Been In Love Smith Connection - Angel Girl Smith Connection - I Can't Hold On Much Longer Smith Connection - I've Come To Stay Smith Connection - My World is Empty Without You Smith Connection - Rainy Days & Mondays Smith Connection - Til There Was You Smith Connection - Under My Wings Smith Connection - Wish I Had You Smith Connection - I'm Bugging Your Phone (Parts 1 & 2 ) Smith Connection - The Day You Leave Not surprising though. I'm awaiting a list of a load of unreleased Invictus/Hot Wax/Music Merchant stuff which should be with me soon. Phil Dick also found a load of unreleased stuff on the H-D-H labels on a Detroit visit so the story's still unfolding on these labels..... Ian D

"Operator Operator" - Johnny Baker. From memory a tiny San Francisco indie called Cisco. Ian D

'Twas more of a late Friday night muse after seeing a ton of recent threads which appeared to attack a lot of previously successful records, venues, promoters, businessman and almost anything which has been a commercial success at some time or other, so just interested in people's views Ady. I've certainly seen a ton of comments deriding many aspects of the scene but the ones which seem to come in for the most stick are the ones which achieved a massive degree of commercial success or, as you say, overexposure in some cases with records. I guess it's hard to be objective when you've heard a record a zillion times but sometimes it seems to me that big success can be a minus on this scene, which is perhaps understandable I guess. Great Lou Johnson CD by the way! A case in point when you think of all the hits other people had on his songs...... Ian D

Here ya go Dave..... Jazz-Funk https://www.amazon.co...sl_76l8ba6a3e_e Rare-Groove https://www.amazon.co...ercuts&x=8&y=24 Or currently available from all good record stores.... https://www.amazon.co...23&sr=1-1-fkmr2 Ian D

Coming up LIVE @ 2.00pm today on www.starpointradio.com - another Soulful strut through all the eras featuring..... DJ Jose Burgos feat Sigma 2 * Al Green & Ann Nesby * Light Of The World feat Cylena Cymone * Randy Crawford * S.O.S. Band & Switch * Steve Arrington * The Jones Girls * First Circle * Wornell Jones * Otis Clay * The Steve Karmen Big Band * Barbara McNair * Edward Hamilton & The Arabians * Chico Lamarr * Carol Anderson * Clifton Dyson * Don Covay * Marvin Holmes & Justice * Tommy Tate * Ronnie Laws feat Randy Crawford * Gerry Deveaux * Carlton J. Smith * Gentlemen's Agreement * Shirley Slaughter * Cool Million feat Eugene Wilde See you @ 2.00! Ian D

OK posting early this week 'cos I'm out boogying this weekend in downtown Chichester at the final Chi-Soul which we just know will be a gas. So, bearing in mind that I'll be in the 'totally out there weekend zone' pretty much from early Saturday evening 'til just before the show I thought I'd better get my shit together early...... A KILLER show this week folks! I'll be tender for sure but the line-up this week will keep me trucking nicely until my whole world collapses around 4.05pm Sunday afternoon! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 28th February 2010 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring..... DJ Jose Burgos feat Sigma 2 * Al Green & Ann Nesby * Light Of The World feat Cylena Cymone * Randy Crawford * S.O.S. Band & Switch * Steve Arrington * The Jones Girls * First Circle * Wornell Jones * Otis Clay * The Steve Karmen Big Band * Barbara McNair * Edward Hamilton & The Arabians * Chico Lamarr * Carol Anderson * Clifton Dyson * Don Covay * Marvin Holmes & Justice * Tommy Tate * Ronnie Laws feat Randy Crawford * Gerry Deveaux * The Pacesetters * Gentlemen's Agreement * Shirley Slaughter * Cool Million feat Eugene Wilde See ya @ 2.00pm sharp! Ian D

Yep. Great post Rob. Lots of food for thought right there mate. Ian D

LOL, you're probably right Dave, but I'm just a mere vessel when organic creativity beckons........ Plus I'm pissed which probably helps......... Ian D

Truer words were never spake. What is it about us that loves to moan about success? Up until now I thought Northern Soul was bulletproof within it's own circle but if the truth's known this scene is probably the most ferociously difficult to survive within itself than any other scene I can think of. When I started off circa 1970-71, it was accepted that newies to the scene were 'divs' until they'd stayed around long enough to be accepted by one's elders. However, back then, no one was even thinking about looking forward. But here we are some 40 years down the line and we're dealing with a whole new set of issues. For instance:- 1) The evolvement of the scene. Those who were around in the 70's didn't necessarily experience the Stafford/100 Club 'lean' years and so a culture gap exposed itself. 2) The evolvement of the music. Northern Soul didn't get easier to find in the 80's, 90's and 00's, so the sound necessarily evolved way beyond the template which was popular in the 70's. 3) Age. Just like any other musical scene, the stuff which appealed to earlier generations wouldn't necessarily translate to a new, younger audience who preferred to forge their own identity with their musical preferences. However, the consistant theme throughout, is that if a record was a failure it would probably be embraced by the Northern/Rare Soul scene BECAUSE it was a failure. And the bigger the failure the better. Right? So we celebrate failure, yes? Ian D

Good point also. Are the Brits so idiosyncratic that this scene would probably not have thrived without such idiosyncracities? In other words, our love of commercial failure built the scene in the first place? Ian D

Including "This Old Heart Of Mine", "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" and "She's Fire". But does that make Jackie Wilson's "I Get The Sweetest Feeling" or Johnny Johnson's "Sweet Inspiration" less credible records? Ian D

A whole heap of recent threads on S.S. have lead me to believe that it's currently much more fashionable to ridicule success of any sort and applaud failure. Why is that? Some recent instances could include the following examples:- 1) Take such phenomenonally commercially successful Northern Soul records such as "This Old Heart Of Mine" - The Isley Brothers or even the completely reviled "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" - Frank Wilson. Both records are absolute pinnacles of everything a Northern Soul record should be, yet because the Isley Brothers was eventually a UK Top 10 hit and because Frank Wilson has become something of a cliche on the scene, both records are scorned and treated with disrespect compared to a no-hoper recorded in a shed in Carolina which always had little or no chance of any success. 2) Previously phenomenally successful Northern Soul venues such as, for the sake of arguement, Wigan Casino, which arguably did more to spread the popularity of Northern Soul then any other venue ever, are derided because of their success and the influence they had on the scene at the time. Likewise certain DJ's from certain eras. 3) Certain promoters who have had a long time career (in some cases all their lives) being involved in Northern Soul are derided for catering to large audiences, being commercially successful and essentially making a success of their efforts. 4) Even Berry Gordy, arguably the most influential person in Northern Soul history, is looked upon with suspicion because he was a successful businessman first and foremost and thus not so fashionable when it comes to icons of the scene. The consistant thread which comes out of all this, is that it would appear that anyone who has any kind of commercial success within Northern Soul circles is treated with suspicion or dread. Which is weird. Why on earth would anyone decry success in a given field? So my theory is that failure is fundamental to the popularity of certain areas within Northern Soul circles. Success is frowned upon whereas failure is applauded. Would this be an accurate statement? Ian D