Amsterdam Russ

I got an email yesterday advising that the books are now in the warehouse and will be shipped this week...

You can tell that it's the DTS logo. Seems to be a lot of these about in recent months.

Looking again this morning, I believe it's actually taken from the 30 minute 'featurette' that accompanies the film on DVD (or from the extra "40 minutes of footage not in the original film". Well, that's what it says on the back of my DVD cover).

If you haven't seen it, check out the documentary film Desperate Man Blues. Source: IMDB You want to see hunting for old records? Here's your man, and he has some great tales to tell in the film of heading out into the countryside and knocking on the doors of old black families living in wooden shacks, trying to find out of they might have some even older records stashed in the barn or under the bed. Watch this and you realise that it could just as easily relate to the hunt for rare soul vinyl. In fact, there is no difference. The hunt is the same, and so are the hunters - the genre is irrelevant. Just found a trailer for the film on YouTube. In it, Jo Bussard talks about record finds including one which netted him the only known copy of a particular 78, valued, he says, at US$50,000.

If you get the French Vogue/Pop release there is no distortion.

Contact details - is he on here? My telepathic powers won't extend that far from the Netherlands. Other sources still welcomed...

A long shot, I know, but I'd like a few 8" sleeves, preferably original Audiodisc ones. Anyone? If not Audiodisc, then just plain 8" sleeves would do. Is anyone out there selling them? I don't need many - 6 or even a dozen would be great...

Possibly both, but his main purpose is to draw attention to his record shop! He's just using eBay as a platform to advertise it to buyers interested in what he's got...

LOL - this guy does keep popping up. Thought he had this for sale at about 2 million a few weeks back! Anyway, the disc looks like an acetate pressed for dj-ing with - a product of the 70s.

Based on the strength of the refosoul file, I'll be wanting a copy of the LP...

Thanks for sharing some info on this seemingly odd and short-lived little label.

Keith Rylatt used to play this regularly at Bogart's in Kent. That would have been early to mid-80s. On what was possibly it's first outing at that club, I vividly recall him saying that the recording had been set up by 'a friend'...

I heard that it was an old Wigan cover-up...

Will be seeing them 1st November at the Paradiso in Amsterdam!

Sure, Pete. And I could post up a link to a vinyl pressing plant where you can make your own records! That's not the point though, is it? For some people, like me, original juke box strips are part of the paraphernalia of music collecting, just in the same way as original press ads are, or artists' publicity photos. It's not everyone's thing, but it is part of the whole for me.

If anybody has strips for Loma releases, I'll gladly take them from you. Let me know if you do...

It's an acetate, and just about every acetate plays with background noise/hiss. I think the seller is being very honest in their description, and good on them for being so clear, although the reserve they have on it could be another matter For me, acetates are wonderful pieces of history. I know that many couldn't care less about them, but how many copies of an acetate exist in comparison to the number of 45s of that track that get pressed - and how many of these fragile acetates survive the rigours of age? In a scene that values a 45 with a certain colour label higher than those without it, or thinks that the difference in lettering or design used on a release can increase or decrease the value of a 45, then why more don't value acetates for the extreme rarities that they are is beyond me. Still, the longer people continue to dismiss them, the happier I become - regardless of their sound quality...

More juke box strips, please...

Cover-ups are for uncovering. It's a sport. I suppose though, the point here is whether revealing it's identity will cause others to rush to find it - thus making it even harder to locate a copy in the ensuing feeding frenzy. On that basis, I'd keep it under your hat.

Wow! They're great - and I'm envious. How come? They're definitely not falling out of the covers of the stuff I buy.

I like juke box strips. I think they are marvellous little things, very evocative items that somehow help connect a 45 with the people and places of the times in which it was released. It's very easy to conjure up mental images of a record for which you have a juke box strip actually being played in a bar somewhere in 1960-whenever, and to imagine people dancing to it, or enjoying hearing it in the background whilst chatting with friends over a beer or a soda. From there you start to wonder what else was on that same juke box, how often 'your' 45 got played, and what sort of sounds were popular with customers. Anyone else get a kick out of these little rectangles of printed paper? Also, does anyone out there buy/sell these at all? I'd like to track down more of them...

He would have been playing the Paradiso in Amsterdam, on Tuesday. (Funnily enough, we were at the Paradiso box office last night, looking to get tickets for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings on 1st November.)

Sorry to see that your keyboard isn't working properly. Let me help you by tapping on my keyboard the missing letters of yours... Hugh Boynton - Girl I Feel It - (available to purchase from... Fl***y) Sor*y, look* like my keybo*rd has a probl*ms, too!

So - eight times Grammy nominated musician Kirk Whalum has Hugh Whalum for an uncle (and a musical family almost as big as the Neville Bros). Found this trailer for a dvd entitled 'The Gospel According to Jazz - Part III'. Led by cousin Kirk Whalum, and with an impressive sax cameo from the elderly uncle Hugh (arranger for River City Records, remember), it features an impressive line up of quality musicians and singers for those who appreciate such stuff. Wow - it just reinforces how ignorant I continue to be about music in general!

Thanks, Ed. Yes please, that would be very useful indeed. Thanks, Bob. I'll seek to explore possible connections. In the meantime, an attempt to scratch the surface reveals much about the arranger, Hugh Whalum. When you find he's such a distinguished musician, he's not difficult to track down. Here's an article I found straight off.. Hugh 'Peanut' Whalum - album review The Frank Foster mentioned is the same one who went on to international fame as a jazz saxophonist in his own right and for his work with Count Basie. He would become known to the soul scene decades later, particularly for his track 'Harlem Rumble'. So, auspicious starts to unearthing some information about this St Louis label. Any and all info welcomed...