Ian Dewhirst

It's almost a golden rule with me - never lend records to your mates! And be careful who you leave with your records. When I was living in Leeds in the late 70's, I had a younger girlfriend living with me who lost her job so she was hanging around my flat all day whilst I was working. Because the flat was small I had thousands of records everywhere and it was tough to know where everything was (I ran a record list at the time called Vinyl Junky which literally listed 1000's of stuff). One day, on the way home from work, I stopped at a local back street record shop which was only a few streets away and started digging around and suddenly started finding all sorts of oddball goodies. The weird coincidence was that I had copies of everything myself. Until the penny dropped. These were MY frigging records!!! I asked the guy where he got them and he said, "Very weird. Some attractive young girl keeps coming in every couple of days or so and keeps selling me bunches of these american records"! Cue one ex-girlfriend. And yes I got all the records back including stuff that now routinely goes for £100's of pounds these days The Differences, The Chandeliers, Johnny Bartel, Si Hightower etc all spring to mind. Close call though. Good job none of the other record hounds went in there at the time! By the way does anyone know the definitive story about what happened to John Abbey's record collection when he ran off with Tamiko Jones and his wife sold his entire collection for 10p each? Now THAT is a horror story.......... Ian D

Maybe not quite as sophisticated methinks. Phil Spector was the king of cramming everything onto a record - hence the 'wall of sound' moniker. However, George Martin had a massive budget and all the technical advantages of working at Abbey Road with some of the best engineers and tape wizards at his disposal. I think Norman "Hurricane" Smith was instrumental in a lot of the St Pepper work if my memory serves me well..... Whereas I always got the impression that the 'Snake Pit" was very much a 'bash 'em out and get the next session in' kinda environment, so I reckon that Motown worked very much to a uniform template which got the end mixes down pat after a while - especially once the production-line really got rolling with major hits with the Supremes, Temptations and Four Tops. Also the same musicians, engineers and mastering no doubt contributed to the sound as well. But I really don't think the studio was that sophisticated in comparison to other set-ups. Also have to give a shout for brilliant mixing and mastering on the Brunswick records at the time - I can't believe the clarity on Jackie Wilson, Barbra Acklin and Artistic's records from the time considering there were full orchestras on the stuff. Absolutely stunning..... Ian D

Yep, yer right. Both great examples (bear in mind that I don't know some of the tracks mentioned in this thread). Robbie Lawson always sounded rough over a big system and most of the Creative Funk releases were like listening to horns on acid LOL....... Ian D

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye Who Is He And What Is He To You - Creative Source Footsteps Following Me - Francis Nero Beware Of The Stranger - The Hypnotics Superstition - Stevie Wonder Suspicious Minds - Candi Staton Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell Ian D

Blimey, 24 years is a long time to spend at a weekender! Ian D

Agreed! Can't believe I missed that one! I'm not sure if it's sampled or re-played but it's definitely the same horn riff. Dunno where Brian Higgins (the producer) got it but it sure wasn't me - I met him a couple of years back and played some 80's stuff but no Northern. Weird...... Ian D

Still some bloody awful mixes though. The Motown stuff stills sounds brilliant these days and they were mixed specifically to sound good coming out of small tinny transistor radio speakers - one of the reasons why the drums and tambourines are so loud in the mixes. However, if you listen to The Malibus for instance, the bass is so loud that it effectively distorts everything underneath it, so even the vocals are fighting to be heard. Another horrible mix (and record) is "We Got Togetherness" - The Jewells, where everything but the kitchen sink is just way up in the mix so it all ends up sounding like a horrible noise towards the end. Talking of MGM releases, the mix on The Embers "Watch Out Girl" is the diametric opposite - way too quiet! You'd have to really choose the right record to play it after otherwise you could lose the floor if you weren't careful....... Ian D

RARE! Never seen it. Most of the stuff available in one form or other but I'd be very interested to hear "Fever Heat" - Jimmy Peterson 'cos I don't now it and it sounds great from the description..... Ian D

A good nights sleep then Dave? Okey Dokey, anyone ready for a Black & White Minstrel Show thread yet LOL..... Ian D

Well it's not so much the financial compensation, it's more whether you'll able to replace some of them I guess. Were they all totalled or did you manage to rescue a load? More to the point (and without making you feel worse), were there any real heart-wrenchers that will be a bitch to replace? You obviously have my sympathy Sean - I wasn't imagining such a calamity when I started this thread. Best, Ian D

I'd have mine triple encrypted and sent to the government for safekeeping!

Wouldn't be caught dead with anyone elses MP3's mate. Mine would be RARE! Ian D

Yep, yer right. When we start discussing Johhny Dankworth records it's time to call it a day LOL... Night, night Ian D

Always a risk with basements - water has a tendency to go downwards! But I was wondering whether Sean had 'em insured for their true worth or just under a contents policy? It's notoriously difficult getting rarities insured - lotsa paperwork and lotas premiums etc..... Ian D

I wasn't too happy when my Joe Mathews snapped. I HATE styrene presses....... Ian D

And Emperor Rosko was good on Northern too. I saw him once @ Brighton Locarno when I was 17 on holiday and he played "I've Been Hurt" for me. I was dead impressed, mainly 'cos he turned up on his Harley Davidson with a blonde behind him, rode right through the venue, up a ramp to the stage, parked up, grabbed the mike and said "Brighton, Are You Ready To Rock!" Great gig and not a bloody laptop in sight LOL...... Ian D

Wasn't some kind of ultra fast horn instrumental where he used to intersperse a couple of 'woofs' from his dog Arnold LOL....... Ian D

Surely it the Hairy Monster Dave Lee Travis's theme wasn't it? Ian D

Absolutely right! Ian D

What!!! And you'd deprive future generations of potential Northern Soulies the priviledge of hearing a monster rare tune? Typical of this bloody generation....it's all me me me........ Ian D

Yeah, I have seen that and looks quite fun to use but I think the Ableton gear allows you to do lots of interesting things which can improve the mixes. Haven't learnt it yet but I've yet to hear a negative thing about it. Will report back round about March next year...... Ian D

But what will you do when that rare original wears out or gets too worn to play? Remove it forever, thus depriving people of the right to hear it? Ian D

The only difference is a cosmetic one Chalky. It'll cost £20 to cut it to a carver, there'll be a slight loss of quality but you will be credible 'cos it's vinyl LOL! And the thread has weaved around an interesting series of viewpoints, all of 'em interesting, but the point of the thread was 'does it make any sense to play rare originals at venues and wear 'em out eventually'. The general concensus seems to be that it DOES make sense, so I wouldn't want to be a collector looking for a decent copy in 10-20 years..... And if you're going to do a carver on that King Moses I'd seek written permission from whoever paid the big money for the original copy and take a couple of bodyguards with you to any gig you might play it at! Ian D

And I do Mark! But I do think the Serato scratch thingy is a bit of a fraud really - probably designed for showman scratchers rather than anything else. Ableton Live seems to be the software in favour right now, so this is what I'll be learning from January onwards - not for Northern gigs I might add! Greg Wilson also uses a Reel-To-Reel together with a laptop and I was knocked out when I saw what he could do - as were the several hundred punters who never left the floor all night. He played a devasting set of live mixes from the early 70's - things like "Grazing In The Grass" - Friends Of Distinction. "Low Rider" - War, "Soul Makossa" - Manu Dibango etc, etc and THAT'S when I realised the possibilities of laptops even though I was cynical up to that point. Not looking forward to learning it though LOL.... Ian D