Amsterdam Russ

Should anyone be in the slightest bit interested and have 43 minutes & 19 seconds to spare, I've put together a new compilation of current favourite tunes and shared it on Mixcloud. There's some 50s/60s R&B, an unusual Mexican release, a classic Gospel tune from 1954 taken from a 78, an interesting B side or two, a great R&B release from this year, some Northern Soul, of course, and an album-only crossover track that I found on a Warner Bros in-house demo disc. There are also a couple of vintage radio ads mixed in. Watch out for the 1960s 007 commercial! https://www.mixcloud.com/HarveySoulFinger/rb-northern-soul-lucky-bag-2/ Enjoy!

Completely agree with you, Pete. The seller had a couple of others that also had pencil-annotated sleeves, indicating that they all came from the same source. I'd want to know all about that source before I even considered bidding on this one or the others, and to be honest I was somewhat surprised that the seller didn't offer anything in the way of provenance for any of the discs. Without that, there is only doubt. I'd not be so bothered about the lack of a label if the provenance was solid - I've got a number of acetates without labels. It only means that the lacquer disc is of a type/brand that came label-less when purchased, and someone couldn't be bothered to stick one on when it had been cut (and wrote on the sleeve instead). Who knows, maybe bidders had communicated with the seller before hand, and had the authenticity confirmed. Considering the final price of this one, I'd really be very surprised if they hadn't!

Fully understand what you're saying, Pete. My train of thought is based on this being legit. Of course, without provenance...

The fact that it's four seconds shorter suggests to me that it wasn't cut at the time the take was done. Instead (and presuming its legitimacy), it would have been cut - still pre-release, mind you - as a file copy. I think the pencil scribbles on the sleeve support this.

Weet je dat, of was het Google vertalen? / Did you know that, or was it Google talking?

It's the 'Sh' that links the groups I listed, but I see where you're going with 'Sandells'. Then we're just one letter away from 'Standells'. Carry on playing the letter substitution game and it shouldn't be long before we arrive at 'Martha Reeves and the Vandellas'!

Here's a nice little mid-tempo track on an acetate I've had for a while. Finally got around to adding to YouTube recently. Anyone able to ID it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzQo4NBz3d0

Always a pleasure to behold! No Great Crested Grebes here, but I do have a fine goose.

Yes indeed, and Justin Hayward is given the writing credit on both the Dry Well and 'Ellen' versions. The guy who commented on my YouTube vid and claims to have been a member if Dry Well says that it was after seeing the Moody Blues do the song live in concert that they decided to record it themselves.

It's been an anxious two weeks, but at last it's here... Freddy Hill & the Reno-Bops - Mr Lucky on Ru-Tee Hit Records. Absolutely love it

About £20... Do like both sides, but especially 'What about me boy'.

You might find this recent thread of interest...

Three copies that I'm aware of, possibly four. Apparently the singer, Marilyn Fowler, was a local gal. Have to say that as soon as Huey P Meaux's name was mentioned, it was an immediate "of course" moment. The arrangement's got his fingerprints all over it, especially the sudden shift half way through into the New Orleans style!

No, when I say it came out of Texas, I mean it actually came from Texas - from someone who had part of Huey P Meaux's estate.

Don't know why this popped into my head, but... As a young and very naive teenager, I used to go to a local youth club in Maidstone, Kent. It was a Methodist run place. They played Northern and Motown there, but only because I and a friend took along our Grapevine and Inferno LPs and whatever 45s (reissues or real) that we'd bought recently and commandeered the decks for as long as we could. For reasons that are still unclear, the youth club let a couple of older boys attend quite regularly. One of them, Ian Arnold (and I've posted here previously asking if anybody knew him) wasn't a boy at all. He was a man, probably in his late 20s or early 30s. He was also not long out of Maidstone prison. He was the first Northern Soul dancer we'd ever seen and what we saw absolutely amazed us. Of course, we set about trying to copy everything he did - the fancy footwork, the spins, splits and backdrops and whatever else. He was an instant hero. However, this bloke had a mate, known to us only as "Biffo". He too, I suspect, had also been recently released from Her Majesty's Pleasure. Unlike our hero Ian, Biffo was a slime bag of the highest order. You felt greasy just being in the same room as him. Biffo saw that us youngsters looked up to the older Ian, and set about trying to impress us as well. As well as tales of derring-do, all long forgotten, Biffo had one party trick, and this is where the bullshit comes in (see, there was a point to this ramble): when you weren't looking, he'd peak at your LPs. Then he'd deliberately turn the conversation around to that LP and show us how deeply knowledgable about music he was by... quoting from memory the catalogue number of that album. To this very day, some 30 years later, I can still remember Biffo trying to impress by plucking out of the air "PLD 8000". We pretended to be amazed at this incredible feat of memory. The reality, of course, was that we'd sussed out his game. Anyway, you'll be dying to know what PLD 8000 is and the extent of Biffo's musical knowledge. Well, it was one of the first Soul LP's that I'd ever bought (this being circa 1980). The sleeve notes were full of musical insight for us empty-headed soul acolytes. The two LP's of this limited edition release got played time and time again (although disc one was the clear favourite). I still have it - in fact I've pulled it off the shelf just so I can type the number of it here and add some authenticity to my story. I look at it with great fondness for it's grooves are full of music, memories. It reeks of nostalgia. This double-albumed opus of soul - the catalogue numbers of which Biffo sought to gain high status with two impressionable and blotting paper clean kids? It was the Pickwick Records "Black Magic" double-LP from 1979! Biffo was without a doubt full of BS... and after dragging out such a minor anecdote, I think possibly I am as well! Just found a scan of this immortal album...

Roy Hamilton used to get played out a lot, including at the 100 Club, I'm sure. Mind you, that would have been something like 25-30 years ago.

Excellent - and thanks a lot. It's not something I intend to do straight away, so I'll be in touch when/if I need more from you. Much appreciated.

I must have been unlucky. Now that I think about it, I was unlucky four times... * A 45 from Spain that was badly graded. * Kelly Garret - Love's the only answer - graded ex, but came with a 30-45 second hiss in one channel (seller completely professional and refunded without fuss). * A 45 from Italy that was badly graded and came in flimsy packaging (for which I was overcharged). * A 45 from a UK seller, also poorly graded, and also with flimsy packaging on which the seller made a good profit on p&p costs. eBay offers buyer protection & a powerful dispute process. Soul Source offers the threat of loss of reputation (and Rod). Facebook doesn't offer any protection when you buy from people you don't know.

Lol - did you p-p-p-p-pick it up?

This has got to be one of the most comfortable/safe online sources to buy from - in the world!

What's a "mizell"?

Have to say that earlier this year I quit the two or three record buying/wants groups on Facebook that I was in. The noise level in those groups is far too great ("Great tune, mate" / "Wish I could afford that, but got to feed the cat" / "Tom, Dick & Harry played that in me bath last week"), and I had a couple of crappy deals off people. Doing business here and on eBay, and buying from those you know, is considerably more reassuring and much more "hassle free" (IMHO).

I don't 'hunt', I use eBay's 'saved searches' function. Every day I get a dozen or so, often more, alerts from ebay when things I'm after are for sale. You can have up to 100 saved searches, which is great, but is also a bit frustrating if, like me, you have more than that on your Wants list! I work from home and am sat in front of the computer for most of the day. So, when the ebay alerts come in, late morning or mid afternoon, I get right on them. It's a much more efficient way of 'hunting' in my view.