Ian Dewhirst

Good points. It never fails to surprise how many artists fail to have copies of their own recordings. And not just unknown artists either - I gave George Clinton my copies of Roy Handy, Shirley J. Scott and Tamala Lewis 'cos he didn't have 'em...... Ian D

That'll be local ordering. There's no vinyl at all in the Oxford St branch (which is the biggest store in the UK) and probably 98% of the other stores unfortunately. Since HMV are the only national chain that's a real shame but it does help the indie shops which are the lifeblood of vinyl anyway...... Ian D

Yeah but they measured those figures against the previous year which was disasterous. Believe me, I was using exactly the same spin 10 years ago in 1998 when vinyl sales were probably 1000% more! I wouldn't give that vinyl plant much hope of surviving unfortunately. Does anyone still collect 78's? It's a little like Canute trying to order the sea to retreat to be honest. Order up on those spare styli now I say! A shame.......... Ian D

Good call Mickey! One of the best Chicago records ever for me......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4pYXBbylAU Ian D

Fight! Fight! Ian D

Tell me about it Brett! I have a 16 year old who plays drum and bass on her shitty mobile constantly and brings her friends around who are constantly amazed when they see the record room and can't believe why someone would fill a room with plastic when they have more music on their bloody computers! Ian D

Bloody awful. Designed for Laptop or Mobile Phone tinny speakers. They have no idea about quality and don't seem that bothered frankly. I call it audio wallpaper for the blank generation....... Ian D

Ethnic cleansing of vinyl perchance.......? Ian D

Convenience is definitely king for those guys. I caught Carl Cox and John Digweed in Ibiza five years ago and it was all CD's and Laptops. No vinyl anywhere. Did the 10,000 kids in Space give a toss? No, of course not. Also, lugging vinyl around the world is a costly excercise these days! They can either have 80,000 tunes on a laptop or pay a fortune to transport a couple of hundred 12"ers! Also, hardly any of the dance companies bother pressing vinyl anymore. They may get 500 sales if they're lucky and that's not enough to break even leave alone run a company......... Ian D

Sorry Matt, it's not more popular then when CD's came out mate. I was Head Of A&R for the world's largest vinyl reissue company in the late 90's and I reissued some 400 albums and 150 12"'s between 1998-2002 and it was a law of diminishing returns unfortunately. These days it's really a cottage industry with a small but fanatical audience. Couple of other points which tend to confirm Brett's feelings:- 1) There is now pretty much only one decent vinyl pressing plant in the UK - most of the others have closed down (including Chris King's Independent Pressing which was superb whilst it lasted) and the art of pressing 7" singles is becoming like as difficult as finding dry-stone walling experts who know what they're doing. In other words, it's a dying art. Phil Dick and myself found this out the hard way when we did some Soul Intention releases 18 months ago. 2) There is only one major music chain left in the UK - HMV and they no longer stock vinyl in any of their stores. What remains is a tiny network of small independent shops which, more often then not, stock very few new vinyl releases whilst fighting to keep trading. Soul Source and a handful of other forums are probably the last bastions of true vinyl fanatics so we generally get a very subjective viewpoint on this subject. In the wider world vinyl is a quaint reminder of a bygone era. The same conversations about formats no doubt happened 100 years ago when people bemoaned the passing of the cylinder, then 50 years ago with the passing of the 78, then 30 years ago when the 8 track cartridge hit the dust, then 20 years ago when the cassette imploded etc, etc, etc. That's why I keep saying that it will be important to set up an archive or museum of the Northern Soul era otherwise future generations will not be aware of the sheer magic of a wonderful scene. Brett should be the curator! Ian D

C'mon let's paaaarty........ Ian D

So happy happy happy.......... Ian D

And keep smiling........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjzSIGt74T0 Ian D

Talking of making people smile and continuing a run of UK Soul hits, this one made No.1 in the UK and did jack-shit anywhere else! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1lMcPrJysI Ian D

And 60's Funfairs bounced along to this........ Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjcZulxe8okhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjcZulxe8ok Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzX9Dgu9dRc Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNLkE1onSrE Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WMauomZQF4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WMauomZQF4 Ian D

And I often sing this to my giggidy! Ian D

Close. July '73. All aboard the Dodgems......... Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eAOjdQWiJw Ian D

Will make those sleeve notes even more poignant now mate. RIP Willie...... Ian D

Also there's an H.B. Barnum connection as H.B. was a Capital in-house producer at the time hence the probable reason why the Tina Mason version was recorded. I found the first copy of Judy Street less than 1/2 a mile from the Capital Records building in L.A. too! If H.B. Barnum hadn't been on the credits I may well have passed it by as it was in amongst 1000's of Pop crap (which a lot of people would argue is exactly what "What" is LOL........) Ian D

Well, I'm renowned for my immense appendage so there would have been a few too many records to comfortably fit within the limited amount of space available. I did manage to snag a Lada Edmund Jr, a Johnny Caswell, a Sweet Three and a few other choice bits. Had to sneak in during a lunch break, so in and out within 30 minutes which is the story of my life.......... Ian D