Soul Bowl Memories

[vince ayres]

First of all apologies if this is may be in the wrong section and if it's been done before! I'm sure there must be plenty of people like me on here that used to visit john at soul bowl (the big farmhouse)in kings lynn and thought that there must be some great stories of phenomanal finds! We can all give our stories of finds in the states but to this day it's still one of the most fascinating places i've ever been to i only wish i had the knowledge back then

Does anyone remember the endless racks of 45s so high you couldnt reach the top shelves and the huge stacks on the floor so you couldnt even get at the lower shelves! Not forgetting the huge array of posters covering the entireity of the ceiling (anybody got any photos of the place?)

I first went there in '85 and can remember being overcome by the sheer volume of 45s, however i did come out with some great tunes without spending a fortune, for example endless acetates on edgewood,virtue,frankford wayne etc not forgetting the awesome josephine taylor "i'm gone" on an unissued 12 inch onederful acetate which i remember selling to mr. bicknell back in the day and is still doing the rounds today and also a track by jerry and his uniques which i believe steve green now has(put up a soundbite if you're reading this mate) best of all was being given the sparkles try love as it was only vg

Great days indeed and john was always a pleasure to deal with

Does anyone else have some great stories and photos?

hope you've enjoyed the waffle vince

[Dave Thorley]

John simply is, was and always will be 'The Man', his contribution has been emmense outside the U.S. and also there as well. No other persons name is still mention as often when I travel round there than his and always in a positive fashion.

Days spent at his place were always fun, some times costly, but always a joy.

Dave

[vince ayres]

John simply is, was and always will be 'The Man', his contribution has been emmense outside the U.S. and also there as well. No other persons name is still mention as often when I travel round there than his and always in a positive fashion.

Days spent at his place were always fun, some times costly, but always a joy.

Dave

well said mate! and you're quite right i dont think i've been anywhere in the states without being asked if i knew john anderson!

[Pezer]

Living in Kings Lynn, i remember standing outside thge shop in Portland St in the mid 70's first thing Thursday mornings on list day, to get what i wanted before he got in and answered phone.

Must say he could often be a bit moody, n didn't look too pleased to see me there!.

[Soulman]

Living in Kings Lynn, i remember standing outside thge shop in Portland St in the mid 70's first thing Thursday mornings on list day, to get what i wanted before he got in and answered phone.

Must say he could often be a bit moody, n didn't look too pleased to see me there!.

John wasn't moody, he just needed a few cups of coffee and some fags to get going in a morning. He's one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet (Marisa too, his wife). It wasn't just the posters on the wall. What about the photo's of John and Popcorn Wylie (long before he had been to the UK) where John had the biggest afro you could imagine. The piles of records that sat on his mailing bench where the sun would beat down on them (how they never warped I'll never know). The gold discs hung up on the end of the racking (Mel & Tim, etc etc). The garage across the courtyard which was full to the ceiling with boxes of 45's and 12's. The house where eventually, the kitchen would become the office and the bedrooms upstairs were also full of 45's and the conservatory/porch area was in the end the mailing area and where the soul packs would be assembled.

I came away with many, many great records. John was kind enough to give me quite a few for nowt. I guess I must have been a good customer. Got a Daybreak, a Candi Staton, Emanons and loads of others just as a gift.

One of the strangest things I ever came away with was Toby, his cross eyed Siamese cat. I'd left my sunroof open and was setting off down Long Lane towards the main road when all of a sudden I saw Toby jump up onto the parcel shelf. Don't know who was more startled. Anyway, turned round and took him back. John loved that cat.

Happy days

Steve Handbury

[Pauldonnelly]

Hard roe To How..Otis Lee when it was still c/uped

Found three copies under a stack of records that I had to mover to plug in the stereo, thought "shall I steal the fookers?" nah I gave all three toJohn expalining he could get a right result on these.

He played em and responded with a "what a pile of shyte, if I get rid of these at £20 you can have one for fook all" In the event I told him to list at £100"

He rang the following week, " I have a shit record for ya foc, where did you find this shit, I could have sold 100 of them"

PMSL

[Soulman]

Hard roe To How..Otis Lee when it was still c/uped

Found three copies under a stack of records that I had to mover to plug in the stereo, thought "shall I steal the fookers?" nah I gave all three toJohn expalining he could get a right result on these.

He played em and responded with a "what a pile of shyte, if I get rid of these at £20 you can have one for fook all" In the event I told him to list at £100"

He rang the following week, " I have a shit record for ya foc, where did you find this shit, I could have sold 100 of them"

PMSL

Hi Paul

That's John all over. I lost count the number of times he would say a record was shite... also the number of times he said he didn't like Northern. In the broadest Scottish accent he say "Ah dunno aboot this Northern thing. Ayd rather deal wi the Japs 'cause theyre inte the ballads. I've sold 'em loads of Northern only 'cause they've got a good flip... and this Northern thing aint gonna last".

Made him a few quid though.

Heres another little tale for you.

We went down to the local Mercedes garage and neither John or I were suitably dressed (he always wore jeans). When nobody came to talk to us he just turned and said "C'mon, let's f*ck off oota here". There were a few stares as we walked out the showroom. We went back to his house. A week later I called round and the first thing he said was "Fuc*in Mercedes... I showed em". He'd gone out to BMW and ordered a Black 635CSI with all the chrome removed. Stunning motor at the time. Automatic though (as were all Johns cars as he never passed his manual test).

A year later he was in Manchester (when he had Expansion Records) and bought a Maserati Bi-Turbo. About 12 months later he decided to go back to Mercedes. When the guy asked him if there was a trade in, John showed him the Maserati. The salesman couldn't find any info to to the deal and had to ring up the garage where John had bought it from. The salesman asked for a trade in value and the guy on the end of the phone said something around £20K (bearing in mind John had paid over double that). Merc salesman says "No, I think theres been a misunderstanding. The Maserati is only 11 months old and its very low mileage, to which the guy on the phone says "Yes they are all in good nick and low mileage coz there always in the f*cking garage being mjended". Must admit John did have a lot of bother with it. He laughed when I said to him "Jeez John, you could have kept for another 6 months by which time I could have paid you £10K". Think I had an XR3i at the time. I know John hated that car coz he couldnt stretch his legs in it. It was his fault for being tall and not my fault for being a normal 5' 8",

Steve Handbury

[vince ayres]

Hard roe To How..Otis Lee when it was still c/uped

Found three copies under a stack of records that I had to mover to plug in the stereo, thought "shall I steal the fookers?" nah I gave all three toJohn expalining he could get a right result on these.

He played em and responded with a "what a pile of shyte, if I get rid of these at £20 you can have one for fook all" In the event I told him to list at £100"

He rang the following week, " I have a shit record for ya foc, where did you find this shit, I could have sold 100 of them"

PMSL

according to john all "northern" records are shite which makes you wonder why the hell he had so many of them

[Guest Dave Turner]

according to john all "northern" records are shite which makes you wonder why the hell he had so many of them

Nowt so strange as folk

Apparantly he did like "Alexander Patton "Lil Lovin' Sometimes" .............................................................. just

[Pezer]

When i first knew John he couldn't even drive, he used to turn up at Portland St in an old vauxhall viva, driven by Marisa!.

[Soulman]

Actually, if I think about it, it's John Anderson (God bless hime) that made me poor.

Steve

[Sheep]

Yes, I used to go regularly to soul bowl early 70s, and my claim to fame is, I listened to quite a few records on this particular day and got a pile I wanted to buy, in that pile there was a Billy Woods on org Sussex at £8, after adding everything up, did not have enough to buy all, so put 2 back, one of which was Billy Woods !!!. Yes !!!!!..............

Sheep

Edited June 4, 2011 by sheep

[Sheep]

Another claim is, went there on a sat after up all night from the mallett in cambs, so pretty tired, John played Down in the dumps by Tony Hester on a master acetate, must have been nervous or tired or both, but i kicked the table the deck was on and scratched the master, John was very nice about it and said not to worry, lovely guy.

[Dave Thorley]

Edited

Edited June 4, 2011 by Dave Thorley

[21 Again]

Ah soul bowl only spoke to the man on the phone (understood the man no probs being a fellow jock). Got great sounds from John always got what i wanted through a phonecall mainly the modern biguns e.g. Daybreak,Will Collins,Roy Dawson,Ike Strong,Pretenders,Bobby Thurston ,Ridout and a few more. His lists were always somethin to look forward to,great when he started doin the indie stuff in the later days.

[Rick Cooper]

I went to the Kings Lynn shop three or four times with Rod Shard and Terry Thomas and picked up a few nice things but no good or bad luck stories from those trips, but it may be of interest to some people as to what happened to the millions of records that no one wanted.

When I worked for Global in Manchester around 75 we needed cheap stuff to put in soul packs so Balbier contacted John ,or it may have been the other way round. Anyway I was sent off to far off Kings Lynn in the largest hire van I could get without an HGV licence. John then took me to what I think may have been an old primary school or village hall about 4 or 5 miles out of town. This was full to bursting with boxes of singles. I think a price of 1p per single had been agreed for a quantity of 20000 plus . We loaded up the van with as much as possible within the weight limit and John counted the records as 100 per box but added an extra 1000 or so to make up for any light boxes and throw in a few extra for myself.

I'd leave Kings Lynn late afternoon and stop somewhere to have a root through the boxes. Not a thing ,nothing, zilch,zero. John must have been the most efficient sorter of them all.I got to keep a couple of hundred singles but they were all the sort of thing that looks better than it sounds.

Back in Manchester I'd unpack and sort the records, play the ones in large quantities and send a sample of the ballad type records to a number of the main shops in the Netherlands. Usually we could sell quite a few thousand this way at 65p each and the rest could go to soul packs.

I think I made about 3 or 4 of these trips and remember getting loads of Sue/Symbol/Eastern titles on one trip and lots of tiny Chicago labels on another. Some of the Netherland records were really good so why John didn't bother selling to them direct I don't know. Maybe getting £10 to £30 per record from the northern collectors was just too easy.

Rick

[vince ayres]

I went to the Kings Lynn shop three or four times with Rod Shard and Terry Thomas and picked up a few nice things but no good or bad luck stories from those trips, but it may be of interest to some people as to what happened to the millions of records that no one wanted.

When I worked for Global in Manchester around 75 we needed cheap stuff to put in soul packs so Balbier contacted John ,or it may have been the other way round. Anyway I was sent off to far off Kings Lynn in the largest hire van I could get without an HGV licence. John then took me to what I think may have been an old primary school or village hall about 4 or 5 miles out of town. This was full to bursting with boxes of singles. I think a price of 1p per single had been agreed for a quantity of 20000 plus . We loaded up the van with as much as possible within the weight limit and John counted the records as 100 per box but added an extra 1000 or so to make up for any light boxes and throw in a few extra for myself.

I'd leave Kings Lynn late afternoon and stop somewhere to have a root through the boxes. Not a thing ,nothing, zilch,zero. John must have been the most efficient sorter of them all.I got to keep a couple of hundred singles but they were all the sort of thing that looks better than it sounds.

Back in Manchester I'd unpack and sort the records, play the ones in large quantities and send a sample of the ballad type records to a number of the main shops in the Netherlands. Usually we could sell quite a few thousand this way at 65p each and the rest could go to soul packs.

I think I made about 3 or 4 of these trips and remember getting loads of Sue/Symbol/Eastern titles on one trip and lots of tiny Chicago labels on another. Some of the Netherland records were really good so why John didn't bother selling to them direct I don't know. Maybe getting £10 to £30 per record from the northern collectors was just too easy.

Rick

fascinating story rick, i bet you'd love to look through the same records now as tastes have changed so much over the past few decades vince

Edited June 6, 2011 by vince ayres

[Dean]

I know this isn't what you are after Vince. I'm only putting it up for any opportunity to embarrass Garry Churm for those who may know him.

Think it was about 1977 although can't be sure, certainly before I had a car and was getting regular petrol money form Mr Churm . Garry came up with a plan for us both to cycle from Mansfield to Kings Lynn to visit Soul Bowl, 80 odd mile . Garry assured me he knew where it was. Set off one evening, through Newark onto Sleaford. The original idea had been to sleep rough but G had been alarmed by a dead stoat in the road. We slept at Inga's cafe in Sleaford, we met Inga in a pub just at last orders. If you know Garry please ask him about his one night affair with Inga, I really shouldn't add more detail. Set off for Kings Lynn after a good breakfast, when we got close Garry acknowledged that he thought Soul Bowl had recently moved but was in the countryside somewhere near Kings Lynn . I guess I consider myself lucky it's kinda flat around there. We cycled miles and miles. We ended up crashing a very posh garden party at Dersingham and ended up at Hunstanton (although we did get the bikes onto a bus there for the last few miles as we were so hopelessly lost).

Never did find Soul Bowl, although Garry did find his appetite for large german ladies. The cycle back in one day was dreadful.

Now let's see if we can tempt Garry to join up and comment . . . . . . I know you'll read it

[KevH]

I know this isn't what you are after Vince. I'm only putting it up for any opportunity to embarrass Garry Churm for those who may know him.

Think it was about 1977 although can't be sure, certainly before I had a car and was getting regular petrol money form Mr Churm . Garry came up with a plan for us both to cycle from Mansfield to Kings Lynn to visit Soul Bowl, 80 odd mile . Garry assured me he knew where it was. Set off one evening, through Newark onto Sleaford. The original idea had been to sleep rough but G had been alarmed by a dead stoat in the road. We slept at Inga's cafe in Sleaford, we met Inga in a pub just at last orders. If you know Garry please ask him about his one night affair with Inga, I really shouldn't add more detail. Set off for Kings Lynn after a good breakfast, when we got close Garry acknowledged that he thought Soul Bowl had recently moved but was in the countryside somewhere near Kings Lynn . I guess I consider myself lucky it's kinda flat around there. We cycled miles and miles. We ended up crashing a very posh garden party at Dersingham and ended up at Hunstanton (although we did get the bikes onto a bus there for the last few miles as we were so hopelessly lost).

Never did find Soul Bowl, although Garry did find his appetite for large german ladies. The cycle back in one day was dreadful.

Now let's see if we can tempt Garry to join up and comment . . . . . . I know you'll read it

Wondered when Inga would get a mention...Has Garry still got his Penny Farthing ?

[Guest Dave Turner]

I know this isn't what you are after Vince. I'm only putting it up for any opportunity to embarrass Garry Churm for those who may know him.

Think it was about 1977 although can't be sure, certainly before I had a car and was getting regular petrol money form Mr Churm . Garry came up with a plan for us both to cycle from Mansfield to Kings Lynn to visit Soul Bowl, 80 odd mile . Garry assured me he knew where it was. Set off one evening, through Newark onto Sleaford. The original idea had been to sleep rough but G had been alarmed by a dead stoat in the road. We slept at Inga's cafe in Sleaford, we met Inga in a pub just at last orders. If you know Garry please ask him about his one night affair with Inga, I really shouldn't add more detail. Set off for Kings Lynn after a good breakfast, when we got close Garry acknowledged that he thought Soul Bowl had recently moved but was in the countryside somewhere near Kings Lynn . I guess I consider myself lucky it's kinda flat around there. We cycled miles and miles. We ended up crashing a very posh garden party at Dersingham and ended up at Hunstanton (although we did get the bikes onto a bus there for the last few miles as we were so hopelessly lost).

Never did find Soul Bowl, although Garry did find his appetite for large german ladies. The cycle back in one day was dreadful.

Now let's see if we can tempt Garry to join up and comment . . . . . . I know you'll read it

Brilliant mate, just brilliant. Didn't see any signposts for West Winch then

[vince ayres]

I know this isn't what you are after Vince. I'm only putting it up for any opportunity to embarrass Garry Churm for those who may know him.

Think it was about 1977 although can't be sure, certainly before I had a car and was getting regular petrol money form Mr Churm . Garry came up with a plan for us both to cycle from Mansfield to Kings Lynn to visit Soul Bowl, 80 odd mile . Garry assured me he knew where it was. Set off one evening, through Newark onto Sleaford. The original idea had been to sleep rough but G had been alarmed by a dead stoat in the road. We slept at Inga's cafe in Sleaford, we met Inga in a pub just at last orders. If you know Garry please ask him about his one night affair with Inga, I really shouldn't add more detail. Set off for Kings Lynn after a good breakfast, when we got close Garry acknowledged that he thought Soul Bowl had recently moved but was in the countryside somewhere near Kings Lynn . I guess I consider myself lucky it's kinda flat around there. We cycled miles and miles. We ended up crashing a very posh garden party at Dersingham and ended up at Hunstanton (although we did get the bikes onto a bus there for the last few miles as we were so hopelessly lost).

Never did find Soul Bowl, although Garry did find his appetite for large german ladies. The cycle back in one day was dreadful.

Now let's see if we can tempt Garry to join up and comment . . . . . . I know you'll read it

Thats insane! It sounds like the kind of "cunning plan" baldrick would come up with destined to fail at the first hurdle

[Dean]

Thats insane! It sounds like the kind of "cunning plan" baldrick would come up with destined to fail at the first hurdle

Apart from the German fraulien frolics it was all a bit Enid Blyton " Two go mad for vinyl in Norfolk" or given the result "Norfolk'n Good" .

The lengths we'd go to for a smell of vinyl in those days. . . . . . fond memories. My hands were so cramped after the ride home I couldn't play with myself for weeks . . . . . . again fond memeories

[KevH]

Apart from the German fraulien frolics it was all a bit Enid Blyton " Two go mad for vinyl in Norfolk" or given the result "Norfolk'n Good" .

The lengths we'd go to for a smell of vinyl in those days. . . . . . fond memories. My hands were so cramped after the ride home I couldn't play with myself for weeks . . . . . . again fond memeories

I told you a tandem was a bad idea.

[kevinsoulman]

I know this isn't what you are after Vince. I'm only putting it up for any opportunity to embarrass Garry Churm for those who may know him.

Think it was about 1977 although can't be sure, certainly before I had a car and was getting regular petrol money form Mr Churm . Garry came up with a plan for us both to cycle from Mansfield to Kings Lynn to visit Soul Bowl, 80 odd mile . Garry assured me he knew where it was. Set off one evening, through Newark onto Sleaford. The original idea had been to sleep rough but G had been alarmed by a dead stoat in the road. We slept at Inga's cafe in Sleaford, we met Inga in a pub just at last orders. If you know Garry please ask him about his one night affair with Inga, I really shouldn't add more detail. Set off for Kings Lynn after a good breakfast, when we got close Garry acknowledged that he thought Soul Bowl had recently moved but was in the countryside somewhere near Kings Lynn . I guess I consider myself lucky it's kinda flat around there. We cycled miles and miles. We ended up crashing a very posh garden party at Dersingham and ended up at Hunstanton (although we did get the bikes onto a bus there for the last few miles as we were so hopelessly lost).

Never did find Soul Bowl, although Garry did find his appetite for large german ladies. The cycle back in one day was dreadful.

Now let's see if we can tempt Garry to join up and comment . . . . . . I know you'll read it

inga's cafe was in heckington 4 miles on from sleaford had many a slap up meal there after a night out

kev

[Pauldonnelly]

I know this isn't what you are after Vince. I'm only putting it up for any opportunity to embarrass Garry Churm for those who may know him.

Think it was about 1977 although can't be sure, certainly before I had a car and was getting regular petrol money form Mr Churm . Garry came up with a plan for us both to cycle from Mansfield to Kings Lynn to visit Soul Bowl, 80 odd mile . Garry assured me he knew where it was. Set off one evening, through Newark onto Sleaford. The original idea had been to sleep rough but G had been alarmed by a dead stoat in the road. We slept at Inga's cafe in Sleaford, we met Inga in a pub just at last orders. If you know Garry please ask him about his one night affair with Inga, I really shouldn't add more detail. Set off for Kings Lynn after a good breakfast, when we got close Garry acknowledged that he thought Soul Bowl had recently moved but was in the countryside somewhere near Kings Lynn . I guess I consider myself lucky it's kinda flat around there. We cycled miles and miles. We ended up crashing a very posh garden party at Dersingham and ended up at Hunstanton (although we did get the bikes onto a bus there for the last few miles as we were so hopelessly lost).

Never did find Soul Bowl, although Garry did find his appetite for large german ladies. The cycle back in one day was dreadful.

Now let's see if we can tempt Garry to join up and comment . . . . . . I know you'll read it

Ive just broke a rib laughing FANTASTIC.

========================================

Smudge tell em about the Guys from Uncle story.

=========================================

ANOTHER STORY

I went over their one Saturday after a wirrina nighter and JA offered me the Jewels...

"how much"?

" 6 quid"

"f*ck me John I only earn 10 a week and I need some gear for Wigan Tonight, yep I'll have it"

MONDAY

"Mum cant pay me £1 board this week"

"no problem son, go and live in the fookin shed"

"ok"

3 days I lasted..three fuckin cold nights sleeping with mowers, rakes and scweppes cases..."WE GOT TOGETHERNESS"did we f*ck as like

[vince ayres]

["Mum cant pay me £1 board this week"

which century was this

[Guest smudgesmith]

Ive just broke a rib laughing FANTASTIC.

========================================

Smudge tell em about the Guys from Uncle story.

=========================================

ANOTHER STORY

I went over their one Saturday after a wirrina nighter and JA offered me the Jewels...

"how much"?

" 6 quid"

"f*ck me John I only earn 10 a week and I need some gear for Wigan Tonight, yep I'll have it"

MONDAY

"Mum cant pay me £1 board this week"

"no problem son, go and live in the fookin shed"

"ok"

3 days I lasted..three fuckin cold nights sleeping with mowers, rakes and scweppes cases..."WE GOT TOGETHERNESS"did we f*ck as like

The Guys From Uncle

Started going to see John when his little place was "Lynn Discery" in Norfolk street and bought some great tunes.......thats another story.

Cochise was one of the biggest records in the country at this particular time,being played off the album.Whilst at Andersons,John comes through from the other room with a blue thumb demo on a 7" "this anygood to you Smudge?"

How many have you got John?

A few

Can I take a couple?

yes no probs......£1.00 each

I asked John what else he had tucked away,he came back with The Spy,The Guys from Uncle,another popular tune at tune time.Again I bought 2 copies.

When I arrived back in Peterborough I told Paul D about these and he rang John and reserved copies of both.

The following Saturday I was DJing with John Vincent and Frank in Bourne Lincs.I played Cochise and both Frank and John had never seen a single.....a deal was done for both copies.A similar thing happened with The Spy.......again a deal was done leaving me with neither tune.

Sat morning I rang Anderson and told him that Paul had asked me to pick up his copy of the Spy which I did!........you can guess the rest

PS About 1 yr ago I came across a mint copy of THE GUYS FROM UNCLE....put it in a mailer and put it through Pauls door........30 yrs late but Thats Northern Soul.

[Guest]

Ive just broke a rib laughing FANTASTIC.

========================================

Smudge tell em about the Guys from Uncle story.

=========================================

ANOTHER STORY

I went over their one Saturday after a wirrina nighter and JA offered me the Jewels...

"how much"?

" 6 quid"

"f*ck me John I only earn 10 a week and I need some gear for Wigan Tonight, yep I'll have it"

MONDAY

"Mum cant pay me £1 board this week"

"no problem son, go and live in the fookin shed"

"ok"

3 days I lasted..three fuckin cold nights sleeping with mowers, rakes and scweppes cases..."WE GOT TOGETHERNESS"did we f*ck as like

Were these cases the ones for splits bottles , or the ones for syphons ?

Malc

[dthedrug]

John simply is, was and always will be 'The Man', his contribution has been immense outside the U.S. and also there as well. No other persons name is still mention as often when I travel round there than his and always in a positive fashion.

Days spent at his place were always fun, some times costly, but always a joy.

Dave

Hi All ..I totally agree with you statement, I did put a few lists up last year, if any one wants me to put a few more to get a flavor of what it was like to receive them, the rare northern section, is must reading, and shows what was big back then may be a cheap sound today and visa versa.

Some of my favorite records come from John, and he was the main source of my 1 st collection, as i said before £1.75 for Nolan Chance demo in 1975 now £200+, I think it was on Thursdays that I would phone Kings Lynn. if only I had more knowledge back then rather than being influenced by records played at WIgan? I missed out on some super rare soul, but I have no regrets with what I did Get, my 2 favs were the Lovemasters Pushin & Pullin & Joshia Jo Amstead, Iv'e got the Vibes both were front page 85p recommendations from John,

DAVE KIL

[Soulman]

List dropped throught he door one Thursday and had my usual quick scan through it. One record immediately got my attention however, it was obvious John or Marisa had made a typing error. I rang spot on 8:30am, the usual time John would plug the phone into the wall socket and, pretty much as always, I managed to get through first. Ring ring "Hello Soul Bowl"... Hi John... "Oh hiya Steve"... I think you've made a mistake on number 56 but I'll take it anyway. As he looked down the list there was the Empires on Candy Demo for a mere £5. I paid him the £50 which it should have been. Still a bargain and far cheaper than the £1300 I eventually sold it for a couple of years ago

I always liked spending money with John

Steve

[Ted Massey]

I remeber ringing him at 8.25 at Strensham services M5 before mobiles . is no14 still available wait a minute seemed like a bloody hour Yes is still here Eddie Daye on Shrine £75 mnt as well you beauty

[Tony Smith]

< >

Edited June 9, 2011 by Tony Smith

[Tony Smith]

List dropped throught he door one Thursday and had my usual quick scan through it. One record immediately got my attention however, it was obvious John or Marisa had made a typing error. I rang spot on 8:30am, the usual time John would plug the phone into the wall socket and, pretty much as always, I managed to get through first. Ring ring "Hello Soul Bowl"... Hi John... "Oh hiya Steve"... I think you've made a mistake on number 56 but I'll take it anyway. As he looked down the list there was the Empires on Candy Demo for a mere £5. I paid him the £50 which it should have been. Still a bargain and far cheaper than the £1300 I eventually sold it for a couple of years ago

I always liked spending money with John

Steve

I remember that well, I sold my copy to Geordie Martin thinking he'd turned a load up!

[vince ayres]

just found this in a box, god knows why i keep old lists! Heres one of johns list from around the mid eighties i think?

hopefully the photos have come out ok. This list is truly eyewatering and i've highlighted a handful of bargains just for a laugh although if you're as sad as me you'll probably be looking for other bargains, check out the differences on monca which sadly i put a mark by and never bought, what a twat

[slimharpo]

I dealt with John when he was living in Glasgow and putting out lists, late 60s early 70s. I can't pretend I bought anything rare as it was usually newish releases of the time. A good bloke who when I last saw him in Prestatyn still remembered me! Or siad he did

[Guest Dave Turner]

Opportune moment to add a link to an old Soul Bowl thread for those that probably missed it.

Plenty of list scans just to piss everybody off

Edited June 10, 2011 by Dave Turner

[Guest Paul]

What do you call the guy who was once a partner with John before Soul Bowl? John Taylor or something? (not his real name, it was a trading name).

Anyway I used to buy a lot of records from him too.

[slimharpo]

What do you call the guy who was once a partner with John before Soul Bowl? John Taylor or something? (not his real name, it was a trading name).

Anyway I used to buy a lot of records from him too.

Me too. John Taylor was a DJ at a club in Norwich. He also sent out separate lists to JA, again mostly favourites of the day although he might have included rarities that I didn't have a clue about. Nice bloke too.

[vince ayres]

has no one got any photos of the inside soul bowl?

[Soulman]

GOT SOME PHOTOS OF THE BOWL (BARN AND HOUSE) BUT THEY ARE ON THE OLD FORMAT CALLED "PHOTOGRAPHS". OH HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. JUST LIKE VINYL IS NOW DOWNLOAD, MY PHOTOS ARE ... AS THE SAYING GOES LOFTED.

[vince ayres]

GOT SOME PHOTOS OF THE BOWL (BARN AND HOUSE) BUT THEY ARE ON THE OLD FORMAT CALLED "PHOTOGRAPHS". OH HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED. JUST LIKE VINYL IS NOW DOWNLOAD, MY PHOTOS ARE ... AS THE SAYING GOES LOFTED.

any chance you could scan them?

[Sheep]

Remember John Andersons business partner !, or employee, not sure if it was JT, he might have been a later business partner He was a bit of a Policeman compared to JA, he used to be fussy where you stood and what you looked at.

There was a guy who used to DJ in Norwich and he always had a handful of new records from Soul bowl, this must have been john taylor and did DJ in norwich and had a record shop there as well, always interesting to hear him, reemeber funk sisters do it to it, well before it got played elsewhere.

Edited June 13, 2011 by sheep