Ian Dewhirst

Actually whilst we're on the subject of PIR rarities, the whole PIR situation has recently changed as PIR have now sold the post '76 PIR catalogue to Sony Music. I'm really happy that Harmless managed to get the 3 key PIR releases out there last year - Philadelphia International: The Tom Moulton Remixes is Harmless' biggest-selling CD in the catalogue, the 10CD PIR box set sales have been phenomenal - it's Demon's biggest ever box set by a large margin and the PIR Re-Edits package sells week in, week out. I would implore anyone who doesn't have the above releases to grab 'em. All future PIR packages will be via Sony Music. A brilliant catalogue and it's been an absolute pleasure to work with Kenny, Leon, Chuck, Phil and the PIR operation. I wish them all the best for the future! Ian D

I can remember it being at the top of a Soul Bowl list for £1.00. John must have had a few hundred I reckon....... Ian D

Great answer. He deserves the benefit of the doubt for that! Ian D

Pretty hard to disagree with any of the above. Most of it is already happening. Digital is just continuing to explode year on year but, conversely, and on a vastly smaller scale, the right titles are still worth releasing on vinyl.... just. You have to do your sums very carefully before you commit to a vinyl release as a 100 unsold records can make the difference between commercial success and failure and that's a very tight margin of error. Plus records are bulky, heavy, awkward items to store, distribute and sell as the costs for warehousing, transporting, shipping and posting are all rising massively. I think vinyl will continue as a semi-viable format for a good few years yet. Prices on records across all genres have plummeted downwards over the last 10 years (apart from super-rare high value items) and that trend will continue as the baby-boomers clear out their collections. Luckily, a lot of the volume is being taken up by younger collectors who are finding great value items on vinyl plus they seem to like the cache of lugging vinyl around. There is also an upsurge of interest and buyers from other parts of the world and emerging countries like Brazil, Chile, Russia etc. So there's quite a bit of life in the old dog yet. It's difficult to counter the technological revolution because that fuels everything. Who wants 78's, cassettes or 8 track cartridges these days? Also, space is becoming a major issue. The influx of population to the UK and other factors are suddenly putting a huge premium on house and storage space. The big collections of the future will probably be in the hands of the few people who can afford to store them properly, i.e. have a spare room or two, and that will become increasingly expensive. If I hadn't decided to 'prune' my collection down to something more manageable around 10 years ago, I'd have been in real trouble when I recently moved! 12"'s and Albums are now down to around 20% of what they were 10 years ago whilst singles are hovering around 80% of what they were 10 years ago. And the wife still moans that there's too many. It's the CD's and Hard-Drives which are becoming a problem now. Ian D

I'd probably go for the Ebony's. I used to play it off the album until I finally located the 45. Philly Dave will know the toughest ones......... Ian D

Got a minter over here. No idea what it's worth but PM me by all means.... Ian D

Just wondered whether there could be a J.R. Bailey connection, since he wrote some songs (with Johnny Northern) which came out on Wand etc. A long shot I know but that's the only Bailey connection I can think of...... Ian D

Phew! Went in @ No.19 on the first midweek yesterday, No.25 today. If no one's bought this yet, can you buy it now please then we can be in the Top 40 come next Monday! Ian D

I always have a couple of thousand items on there. The listings takes around a minute a record if they're already on the database, so you can list 50 a session easily. I did 30 last night when I got a spare 40 minutes. I turn over a lot of stuff on there but mostly the less obscure stuff. It's pretty perfect for me as e-bay takes around 7-8 minutes a listing and is a lot more tedious IMO..... Ian D

Have a look here:- https://www.discogs.com/seller/Mastercuts There's a huge amount of stuff you could use and I'll sort a great discount for a bulk order! Plus just about to list a further 2-300 UK Motown and Northern too..... Ian D

Channel that passion and enthusiasm into your record choices whilst honing your presentation and entertaining skills and all should be good! Ian D

So it all went to plan then! Ian D

I said it with a smile Chalky. I'm only suggesting what the reaction might be, that's all. If someone put a different name on something that I'd gone to pains to produce I personally wouldn't be very happy. Just saying. Ian D

Well, you wouldn't want Betty in your face saying, "Oh thanks a million pal. I spend my entire life recording soulful masterpieces and you have the cheek to cover up my name and give the credit to someone who doesn't even exist???? Plus I don't get my correct PRS income either! Call yourself a soul fan????" Ian D

I wasn't around much when the Diane Renay version got played on the scene, so when Grapevine brought out the Laura Greene I thought that was the original version and Diane Renay was the cover-up name! So that's two mis-credited artists on legal releases due to cover-ups then. Any more out of interest? Ian D

Yeah, I remember it. It used to be on the Headrow in Leeds centre. A proper old-time record shop with listening booths I think. I've certainly had some of those sleeves in the past along with Auty's from Dewsbury and Woods from Huddersfield.... Ian D

Damn, Backbeats "In The Pocket" just got knocked off the No.1 slot on Amazon's Soul chart by "The Poet" by Bobby Womack as a result of that great BBC4 documentary. But that's OK by me! I don't mind being No.2 to an album like that! Ian D

Good! You should get the lot as vols 11-20 will be deleted in another 6 months or so. They're seriously hard to beat for the price! Ian D

That's a very good point Martin. Technically it's known as 'passing off' but let's say you're the Del Capris who sang "Hey Little Girl" and suddenly you're confronted with a legitimate release that credits you as the artist on a different song by a different group, then that would probably be a real pisser. That was probably Richard being cute with the cover-up name because of the similarity in the titles. Plus think about the poor buggers in the Construction too. They make one record and by a fluke of fate it goes big in the UK and then they find that they're gonna be known as Del Capris in future! In fact, even Discogs has 'em both listed as the same act which kinda underlines my point:- https://www.discogs.com/artist/Del+Capris,+The#t=Releases_Singles-EPs&q=&p=1 Bah! Talk about confusing. Who has the bloody time to spend unravelling this stuff.....? Ian D

Makes me wonder how many people bought the bootleg of Richard Temple's "Let's Do The Duck" and still think it's Richard Temple....? Ian D

His biggest selling UK album ever. Probably not either your or my cup of tea but he sure found his biggest-ever UK audience after half a decade. Bobby's always had a good reach to much wider audiences than most artists and he's sure confirming to type with his last album. Ian D

Blimey, that's putting it into a whole different league Steve. I'm not saying that I don't understand the reasons for it. I've just always found cover-ups annoying, even when I did 'em myself....... Ian D

LOL me too Carty! That image is indelibly printed in my brain now. Amazing that a bloke of that age could make such a great record ay? Ian

I've never really been into 'em. I just prefer knowing the actual record and artist, so cover-ups for me were always a minor source of annoyance. Most of the good cover-ups were still rare records anyway. Covering 'em up was just an exercise in frustration most of the time... Ian D

My abiding memory of Bub was when he drank the slops out of a metal bucket at the end of a night at the Central. Believe me, that didn't look like a particularly pleasant experience but Bub relished it. That's one of the things I liked about him. If he wanted to do something, he'd just go ahead and do it LOL. I like that kind of spirit. He sure packed a lot in with a relatively short time on earth. His spirit sure lives on though doesn't it? Ian D