Ian Dewhirst

By all accounts there was a collective of serious Japanese collectors who were doing the rounds in the late 60's. According to some very reliable sources they were taking at least 10 copies of everything direct from the companies at the time (especially from Detroit). This doesn't surprise me at all. In my experience the Japanese used to be every bit as tenacious as the early Northern diggers. It wouldn't be unusual for me to bump into these guys and end up arguing over a Little Charles record on Botanic or something similar. When I was seriously digging for Northern in '76 the only competition I was worried about at the time was the Japanese because they would get in the way looking for that Deep Soul crap that we weren't interested in at the time........ Flynny has a better overview on the Japanese side of things which is presumably why he moved there in the late 90's. I bet more stuff has been found in Japan over the last 15 years then anywhere else........... Ian D

In which case Flynny should have dug up some copies? I keep hearing these fantastic stories about some dedicated Japanese collectors going over to the U.S. in the late 60's and scooping up multiples of some super rare stuff which have been in Japan ever since. It wouldn't surprise me at all. I kept stumbling into serious Japanese collectors all over the U.S. in 1976. Because the yen was so strong at the time, the Japanese collectors could get to a shop or record fair stall and make a pre-emptive offer to buy the entire stock without any problems at all. In fact, the key issue to Northern collectors at the time was to get to a stall before they did. It kinda makes sense. I know a hell of a lot of stuff is sourced in Japan these days and they've been collecting rare Deep Soul for as long as I can remember so there's probably more chance of finding seriously rare stuff in Japan than anywhere else these days. But that Little Joe Romans record is still a seriously rare record in my eyes along with "So Sweet So Satisfying" - Bobby Treetop and even "Peace Of Mind" - E. Rodney Jones. I'd love to know what the respective original pressing runs were.......... Ian D

That's gotta be a different Charles Daniels surely Andy? How do you go from a killer Little Joe Romans uptempo Soul record from Chicago to a rip-roaring out and out C&W record from (presumably) Nashville? Gotta be a different Charles Daniels I would have thought.....? Ian D

More than anything else, Northern Soul taught me the value of a brilliant song, an incredible arrangement and mind-blowing production. Here's the one that got me into it all in 1967 when I heard it on Radio 1. An early Barry White production which I love as much now as I did 45 years ago! Ian D

See? Something else that Northern Soul has taught me after some 40+ years in! Sometimes it just be's that way........ Ian D

Yeah, what the hell was with those Jody records? What's the history of the Jody connection? It started with Johnnie Taylor didn't it.....? Ian D

LOL, but how many did YOU get to keep Kev? Great stuff mate! Your wish is my command LOL.... For instance, his hatred of funk was legendary. If he hit a load of funk in a place, he'd start snapping copies of the records in half! I'd say 'Oh c'mon Simon, you don't have to break the bloody records do ya"? And he just keep snapping 'em and saying, "It's repetitive garbage (pronounced REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE) baby boy, they just get in the way"! One time he was in real snit - I think he'd had a bust up with Sabrina and he was really pissed-off. We were driving along Sunset Boulevard in his car and he switched the radio on and the Isley Brother's "Fight The Power" came on and he went "F*&king FUNK! I HATE "f*&king FUNK"! and he jabbed the car radio's pre-set buttons to another station and the Ohio Player's "Love Rollercoaster" came on - steam started coming out of his ears and he screamed, "F*&king FUNK! What ees wrong with zees people? F*&king FUNK Motherf*&kers! Why can't zey play some Northern instead of this motherf*&king FUNK all ze time"!!! He then furiously jabbed the pre-sets again only for the Brothers Johnson "Get The Funk Out Of My Face" to come blasting out of the speakers. He looked at me, "OK, that's it now"! He then just jerked the car to a complete halt right in the middle of Sunset Strip and started smashing the car radio with his fists. When his hand started bleeding, he got out of the car, took off one of his shoes and continued smashing the radio until parts of the radio were all over the floor of the car. He then physically tore the radio out of the car and threw what was left of it onto the road and then started stamping on it with his other shoe-clad foot. By this point there was a half-mile tailback on Sunset and the horns going off were almost deafening and the driver of the car behind us was just watching all this with her mouth wide open in shock...... I said, "Err, Simon, maybe we'd better go......" He just got back in the car, slammed it into gear and said, "Well, at least we won't have to listen to that REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE anymore!" Ian D

Kev could start by telling everyone how he found 30 copies of the Casualeers (when the only copy then was one that Simon had in his collection) and yet somehow allowed Soussan to take all copies back to Simon's place so he could 'evaluate the one in the best condition' LOL..... My favorite is where Kev got access into a warehouse that Simon had previously been banned from and Simon ended up breaking into the warehouse through the roof window whilst Kev was in there. That's a sensational story He used to have to send his wife Sabrina around the record shops with a wants-list 'cos he was banned from so many places. He certainly knew how to piss people off LOL... Ian D

Only 'cos I left it there Dave! Ian D

I'm pretty sure I first found it on a rare early dig with Soussan. I can kinda remember pulling it out of a pile and saying with barely controlled excitement, "hey Simon. What's this Ray Agee on Soultown"? and him wrinkling his face and saying "garbage baby boy, garbage." So naturally I assumed that he knew the record and would have written it off. Probably too slow or too dated for the time. It's not like he even looked at it. Very dismissive. The bugger was that I kept finding the Ray Agee record after that including in some loads that Simon had previously been through. I always pulled 'em out because I'd have taken as many Sweets or Trips that I could find at the time, so picking out Soultown 45's was second nature but I never bothered taking 'em. In fact I remember finding 3 Ray Agee's in an LA garage full of stuff and leaving 'em even though something was nagging at me to take at least one. Hindsight's a great thing innit Jocko? Happy New Year! Ian D

Tell 'em the story about the Casualeers if nowt else Kev. That story alone completely explains the personality of Soussan back then. Another cracker is the Reddington's Rare Records warehouse story which still has me in stitches 35 years later! Ian D

LOL, I remember finding copies of Ray Agee back in '76 and Simon saying "don't bother with that baby boy. It's repetitive garbaaaaage". The amount of future biggies that we ignored because they were too dated or too slow or too RnB for the time is astounding - if I'd have brought back any of them in '76 they'd have been totally ignored anyway. We couldn't get arrested with things like James Dockery or Bobby Angelle or Fortson & Scott back then...... Ian D

Gotcha. Will do! Nice idea. Ian D

Hi Dave, Good. I think they're slowly coming into the racks now. I did investigate yesterday and was told that they should be racked everywhere 'in the next couple of days or so' whatever that means LOL. Never easy at this time of year but hopefully the message is getting through now..... Amazon sales are pretty spectacular so they're looking good now! Hope ya like 'em after all that LOL... Ian D

RCA UK had the UK rights for Brainstorm originally. I've got "Wake Up And Be Somebody" on a UK RCA 7". Whilst "Loving Is Really My Game" never came out on UK RCA it did eventually came out on UK Miracle I believe.......... Ian D

I think Pete Smith tried this with the Carstairs and had a similar result didn't he....? Ian D

Hey Steve, Happy New Year! Purely out of curiosity why would an insurance company insure people in flood prone areas? If the area is flood prone it wouldn't be a particularly good bet to insure would it? Ian D

Is Boogaloo still there? If it is, then it's within walking distance....... https://www.broadwayboogaloo.co.uk/ Ian D

Actually my company (Demon) does some business with the company which controls some of those early Monents/Whatnauts/O'Jays/Linda Jones masters (I just used some on the new Backbeats comps). They could well be interested.......... Ian D

Phew. Thank f*ck for that Darryl. I was beginning to think I'd just imagined the bloody things! Enjoy mate! I haven't had time to listen to 'em for a couple of months LOL.... Ian D

And the bugger had a go at me for wearing oxford bags in '76! Leather trousers in 2009???? That's the last time I take fashion tips from that guy! Ian D

Can't make it out Nik. All of the albums are in HMV's best-sellers so go figure! https://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?ctx=-1;1;59;-1;5&pGroupID=1&pSubGroupID=5&pGenreID=59&pTertiaryID=17 How these guys work these days is kinda beyond me though......plus there's lots of strange stuff going on so who knows what the score is? Thanks for the detective work though Nik. Ian D

I always dealt with him with a wry smile. It was really the only way to deal with him. Having said that, he taught me a lot in terms of watching the way he dealt with people much of the time. At least I learned what to avoid in the future to a certain extent. I actually checked him out in the early 90's when I went to L.A. again and he was certainly down on his luck then and I thought to myself (with a wry smile) "what goes around comes around". Ian D

I don't see why not. Don Cornelius made out like a gangbuster on "Uptown Festival". If anything it should be the other way around 'cos shortly after Shalamar sold a million Soultrain closed down and re-christened itself as Solar. Soussan wouldn't have wanted to fall out with Don Cornelius since Don was powerful in the business and Simon still had new records to promote but now on his own label (Harem), so whatever business differences they may have had would probably have been buried. Actually Simon introduced me to Don in a club called the Candy Box on my very first night in L.A. in '76, so they went to the same clubs. I was wearing oxford bags at the time so the main conversation was about my trousers! Ian D

Thanks Dave. I'll check how many stores they scaled 'em to. Bloody typical but it is Boxing Day so maybe some stores need a bit of time to impliment stuff. Who knows? But looks like I'll be on the phone tomorrow LOL.... Ian D