Willie Mitchell - The Champion - Hi

[macca]

if my memory serves me well, this old tub thumper was first played off a HI records lp/ep.

anybody have the gen please?

macca

[Quinvy]

if my memory serves me well, this old tub thumper was first played off a HI records lp/ep.

anybody have the gen please?

macca

Absolutely right macca, that driving beat ep. I sold mine a while back, complete with juke box title cards. Picture of train on cover, nice item but never played it.

Phil.

[MarkWhiteley]

I've got one... not in sleeve or anything, yellow vinyl thingy. About ex cond if memory serves me right. PM me if you're interested.

sorry it is in a sleeve, just not the pic sleeve...don't want anyone to get the wrong idea

[Guest]

I bought a Willie Mitchell LP about 24 years ago from Violet Mays in Sheffield on Hi, forget the title maybe its "Soul Bag" ?.........Gotta say i have the "Champion" and havent took it out of its sleeve for over 16 years...that is a travesty...what an incredible "Tour de Force" musically it is.

Brett

Edited September 23, 2005 by Brett

[Dave]

.........Gotta say i have the "Champion" and havent took it out of its sleeve for over 16 years...that is a travesty...what an incredible "Tour de Force" musically it is.

Brett

Spot on my old warhorse

Same can be said for Driving Beat

[Mandy]

Spot on my old warhorse

Same can be said for Driving Beat

[macca]

thank you very much kind sirs/madams. I'm tailing a london reissue, which will do until I can find a nice mint HI ep.

needless to say, we have john vincent to thank for this barn stormin' classic. what memories!

macca

[Quinvy]

thank you very much kind sirs/madams. I'm tailing a london reissue, which will do until I can find a nice mint HI ep.

needless to say, we have john vincent to thank for this barn stormin' classic. what memories!

macca

I'm pretty sure John Manship had mine, could be worth a phone call, he may still have it.

Best Regards,

Phil.

[pow wow mik]

I'm pretty sure John Manship had mine, could be worth a phone call, he may still have it.

Best Regards,

Phil.

Apart from the EP, it got an original 45 release in South Africa in 1967, same year as the LP.

Edited September 24, 2005 by mik parry

[Wally Francis]

Heard a tale it was a guy called BOB SLATER who found it and handed it to Mr VINCENT to play,anyone know if this is correct.

[macca]

looked on manship, but both EP & LP are out of stock at present. then looked on ebay & lo & behold. the 'that driving beat' LP, listed as 'new' for US$7.97+US$11 shipping. well chuffed I am...

macca

[Makemvinyl]

looked on manship, but both EP & LP are out of stock at present. then looked on ebay & lo & behold. the 'that driving beat' LP, listed as 'new' for US$7.97+US$11 shipping. well chuffed I am...

macca

absolute pap

Soul Serenade.Drivin Beat.20/75 great Memphis soul

Champion exactly wot it was

An Album filler nothin more, but still better than, Nosmoking and Gary lewis,Wigans Ovation etc and the

other stuff showing how the djs and marketeers were taking the major P at that time, so London records jumping on the bandwagon and transferring an Album track to a 45 Release, to try and popularise the soul scene,cant blame them.

poor popular peeps, follow the leader, rather than find your own way.

Doug

Edited September 25, 2005 by MAKEMVINYL

[macca]

absolute pap? album filler?

poor popular peeps following the leader?

whether a 'cut' is destined for release on 45 or not, is neither here nor there, we only have to look as far as motown on that score, they released some real clunkers, on both sides of the pond...

whether a track 'pleases us' or not is purely a question of personal taste, it would be loathsome of me to suggest that some folk are in possession of it & others, quite simply, aren't. who am I to question their 'northern soul criteria', lord forbid!

one must also assume that this particular track was considered valid 'go-go fodder' in the US due to it's inclusion on the 6 track 7" EP released over there. hardly an album filler then...

the record remains a true NS classic, john vincent (hereafter to be known as st. john) was the one chosen to bear the lofty message, & we have to thank him profusely for it. after 40 days & nights in the wilderness, wearing only sackcloth & ashes, locusts his only sustenance, he entered the city triumphantly, mounted on an ass, bearing the sacred tablet (HI 1088EP) for all to see. life would never be the same again for the evergrowing 'shufflero' sect, uncompromising ascetics that bravely challenged the 'thou shalt stomp around in circles only' edicts of the day.

in short, & with the utmost respect, your arguments are permeable, amigo...

macca

[Guest]

looked on manship, but both EP & LP are out of stock at present. then looked on ebay & lo & behold. the 'that driving beat' LP, listed as 'new' for US$7.97+US$11 shipping. well chuffed I am...

macca

What labels that on,motown re-released loads of his stuff in the 7ts & 8ts,

[Makemvinyl]

absolute pap? album filler?

poor popular peeps following the leader?

whether a 'cut' is destined for release on 45 or not, is neither here nor there, we only have to look as far as motown on that score, they released some real clunkers, on both sides of the pond...

whether a track 'pleases us' or not is purely a question of personal taste, it would be loathsome of me to suggest that some folk are in possession of it & others, quite simply, aren't. who am I to question their 'northern soul criteria', lord forbid!

one must also assume that this particular track was considered valid 'go-go fodder' in the US due to it's inclusion on the 6 track 7" EP released over there. hardly an album filler then...

the record remains a true NS classic, john vincent (hereafter to be known as st. john) was the one chosen to bear the lofty message, & we have to thank him profusely for it. after 40 days & nights in the wilderness, wearing only sackcloth & ashes, locusts his only sustenance, he entered the city triumphantly, mounted on an ass, bearing the sacred tablet (HI 1088EP) for all to see. life would never be the same again for the evergrowing 'shufflero' sect, uncompromising ascetics that bravely challenged the 'thou shalt stomp around in circles only' edicts of the day.

in short, & with the utmost respect, your arguments are permeable, amigo...

macca

the 6 track ep only got a release as part of two eps covering the album for the juke boxes of the time so it i dont believe was a general release item,just a filler for the juke box 6 track mini albums of the time.

and Ken we werent talking about gordy I can shovel pap all the time but solid southern Memphis soul

Doug

[macca]

solid southern memphis soul indeed. pap or not, I love the bugger & I'll sleep tonight knowing my 'soul credentials' are intact.

speaking of driving southern soul. I remember seeing a 60's film clip of black (& white) kids 'go-going' to davis & tyler's 'hold on help is on the way'. am I right in thinking D&T were in the Meters? I took this record to my local bar & it drew blanks. very strange... all that jazzy piano, the wailing sax, the rumbling bass, a chin stroker's delight... nowt' queer as folk...

macca

[Guest]

yep pitbull.Bob slater found the only copy of the Champion in a junk shop in Middlesbrough.Him and Jack Wardell took it too Wigan and offered it to Russ and others to play.They wouldnt,John Vincent did.

Years later the record company were looking for both of them to sue----the record was the only one sent to Europe to be put into a juke box for the american forces in Germany---not for sale.How it ended up in a junk shop is anyones guess--at the time 7 inch singles were used as ballast in ships--maybe thats how

[Guest funky4u]

RIP

[Wally Francis]

I was talking to JACK WARDELL some week's back and he told me the story,but BOB SLATER was taking hand full's of record's each week and in the end the dj's were waiting for him and Jack to walk through the door's at wigan.A lot of them take credit for discovering some track's but it's BOB SLATER who deserves the credit.

[Guest]

True---- Talking to Richard Searling a few months back----------he called Bob the number one-----------ive never met anyone to match him for knowledge .The record collection he had was second to none.

Records that were being broke at Wigan ,Cleethorpes and wherever---we would get back home and Bob would pull a copy out from under his bed or out of a cupboard full to the brim----never seen anything like it

[Dayo]

Did someone sample The Champion recently? I'm certain I heard it on the Moyles show as a talkover bed.....

[Ged Parker]

Heard a tale it was a guy called BOB SLATER who found it and handed it to Mr VINCENT to play,anyone know if this is correct.

That haunting name 'Bob Slater' never knew him but really do wish he hadn't wrote his name on every single he ever owned both sides as well

He had some real quality tunes loads of these ended up in Records and Relics in Blackpool he must have had a massive collection and can't have realised that much for it knowing the stories about what people bought things off Records and Relics for and they must have been making some profit.

[Jordirip]

That haunting name 'Bob Slater' never knew him but really do wish he hadn't wrote his name on every single he ever owned both sides as well

Ha Ha, Ged I've got a couple of records with 'Bob Slater' written on the label. Mind you I used to do the same thing back in the 70's, even scratch my name in the run out groove, just in case anyone nicked my pressings!

Jordi

[Wally Francis]

I believe it was Mr Manship who releived BOB SLATER of his vast record collection back in the 80s,I was told that he sold Manship in excess of 8000 singles.Now that's a serious collection in anybody's book.

[Simon T]

.How it ended up in a junk shop is anyones guess--at the time 7 inch singles were used as ballast in ships--maybe thats how

Is this talk of records as ballast realy true? If so, why use records and what does 'ballast' do on a ship?

[pikeys dog]

.How it ended up in a junk shop is anyones guess--at the time 7 inch singles were used as ballast in ships--maybe thats how

Is this talk of records as ballast realy true? If so, why use records and what does 'ballast' do on a ship?

Highly unlikely, ballast helds keep the ship upright, it's weight (or is it mass, forgot my GCSE Physics) is added to the lower levels of a ship to drag them down in the water.

If you didn't put ballast in a ship, it would bob around too much, finding it's equalibrium (not necessarily upright).

Styrene in particular would be too light, vinyl might just be heavy enough.

Sand and other minerals/ores would make a much better ballast (which is more likely what was used as they would have a guaranteed resale value).

[Guest]

Highly unlikely, ballast helds keep the ship upright, it's weight (or is it mass, forgot my GCSE Physics) is added to the lower levels of a ship to drag them down in the water.

If you didn't put ballast in a ship, it would bob around too much, finding it's equalibrium (not necessarily upright).

Styrene in particular would be too light, vinyl might just be heavy enough.

Sand and other minerals/ores would make a much better ballast (which is more likely what was used as they would have a guaranteed resale value).

What about heavy rock records would that work? or use Jon Bucks collection of emi disks .......