Best Collection Ever? In Your Opinion

[boba]

Leiden is in Holland.

wrong, all countries that are not the US are the UK

[Guest sharmo 1]

Mate it's Leiden in the Netherlands not far from you is it ? I'll give you a clue walk out of the train station carry on for about a kilometer look to your left you'll see a big white restaurant behind that in the distance is a windmill He and the records are within walking distance of that windmill.I met him many years ago in Roosendhal I was suplying one of his businesses with styrene for making food tray's out of he was suplying most of the Europeon airlines with disposable food and drink containers for in flight refreshment.We didn't discuss music as he was a lot older and I arogantly thought that he wouldn't understand as he was getting on a bit then.The next meeting he took me and my ex wife to the five fly's in Amsterdam wow what a joint never seen a menu like it I'm glad he paid as well starters we're at 30 Euro's !! at this point we started talking about music then one thing led to another and off you go it wasn't untill around the fith time i met him that he showed me his collection and explained the situation , there were loads of bellsound acetates , shelly acetates , frankford wayne acetates ,A1 acetates no lables white lables you name it even some Boddie acetates !! i spent two day's going through and it was mind blowing to the point I had the realisation that We Brit's had been very foolish thinking that it was just us that had soul records.Iasked him about Frank wilson he knew nothing about it in fact he has very little knowledge about them .he started with nothing and both parents died during the war he lived on the streets as a boot polisher then started selling boot polish , lace's ect , he had a stall on Amsterdam market and was soon cutting key's ect soon he was selling second hand goods and a few years later bought his first shop selling second hand thing's including old 78's.within a few years he owned several shops in Amsterdan and outskirts (Haaleem ect.) by the late 50's he was selling records in a small shop and I think he hired out juke box's .He started to buy land in Rotterdam as the nazis had turned this city into a carpark , he then built a few small industrial units.Business's came and went and if one was in trouble rather than throw them out he would become thier business partners and this is how he made his money although he loved his record shop .he became aware of a need for jazz, swing and R-n-B records and on a trip to meet a relative in America met someone with a wharehouse ect ect ect soon his first container arrived and it was onwards from there but he sold wholesale and really liked to back and encourage "the small business man" He just kept buying all through the sixties and his records went all over Europe and he had two buyers from England one in London and one in Manchester , he sold back to the States as well Ron Murphy bought off him regulary as did people like Art from Chigaco and I know a massive distributor in California (who I deal with but won't mention) who he set up .he sold a big chunk of his stock to a company called Disc Glorie or something then concentrated on his cigar import business he's in his eighties and not married and everytime I go out for some chow with him he's alway's got a young beutiful bird with him he won't sell any of his collection even his multiples so that's all I can tell you regards Simon.

[Dylan]

The best collection in the world and I've been through Tim Brown's collection before He sold His rare peice's is Andrea Sliveins in Leiden.There were about 3000 unissued acetates and I'm going to tell you there were acetates there that totaly blew my mind.He stopped buying around 1997 so has very little after that and i can confirm he has a Frank Wilson , Jr,McCant's and all Magnetics , this is the guy with several copies of the proffesionals and George Pepp all of his records are mint and in a lot of case's unplayed .He brought containers from the states to Holland mainly selling the Deep soul type thing's and all the northern ect he kept ,He kept any record that he hadn't got he has copies of all the Shrine stuff that were pressed His collection is around 82,000 45's that include funk , soul , deep soul , southern soul , northern soul every motown and associated manufactured 45 and a dam fine reggae collection his R-n-B and popcorn peice's are stunning and include many late 78's I would say that in addition to this he has one of the rarest collection of blues recordings of which some are pre world war two I saw only three British thing's though regards Simon.

so is this a 3rd frank wilson or is this now with spomebody else ?

i'm a bit suprised nobosy else has mentioned it yet as its been discussed countless times on here.

It does sound like an amazing collection.

And I agree with Dave there must be some mind blowing collections over in Japan.

I recently watched a 2nd Richard Marks new york label single go though ebay for over 4000 dollars and assumed it was first copy but later found out there is another in Japan.

[Trev Thomas]

Steve he may have had a good British collection, but I doubt he had a good rare soul collection. Sorry to rain on your parade but this thread is meaningless.

i saw tony banks collection after he died, impressive by early 70's standards loads of british demos, but not too many u.s. things that would get you overly excited, this thread is totally pointless, how can you define what the best collection is, or who owns it, having said that i bet steve luigi probably has one of the best collections of bootlegs in the world

[Trev Thomas]

Mate it's Leiden in the Netherlands not far from you is it ? I'll give you a clue walk out of the train station carry on for about a kilometer look to your left you'll see a big white restaurant behind that in the distance is a windmill He and the records are within walking distance of that windmill.I met him many years ago in Roosendhal I was suplying one of his businesses with styrene for making food tray's out of he was suplying most of the Europeon airlines with disposable food and drink containers for in flight refreshment.We didn't discuss music as he was a lot older and I arogantly thought that he wouldn't understand as he was getting on a bit then.The next meeting he took me and my ex wife to the five fly's in Amsterdam wow what a joint never seen a menu like it I'm glad he paid as well starters we're at 30 Euro's !! at this point we started talking about music then one thing led to another and off you go it wasn't untill around the fith time i met him that he showed me his collection and explained the situation , there were loads of bellsound acetates , shelly acetates , frankford wayne acetates ,A1 acetates no lables white lables you name it even some Boddie acetates !! i spent two day's going through and it was mind blowing to the point I had the realisation that We Brit's had been very foolish thinking that it was just us that had soul records.Iasked him about Frank wilson he knew nothing about it in fact he has very little knowledge about them .he started with nothing and both parents died during the war he lived on the streets as a boot polisher then started selling boot polish , lace's ect , he had a stall on Amsterdam market and was soon cutting key's ect soon he was selling second hand goods and a few years later bought his first shop selling second hand thing's including old 78's.within a few years he owned several shops in Amsterdan and outskirts (Haaleem ect.) by the late 50's he was selling records in a small shop and I think he hired out juke box's .He started to buy land in Rotterdam as the nazis had turned this city into a carpark , he then built a few small industrial units.Business's came and went and if one was in trouble rather than throw them out he would become thier business partners and this is how he made his money although he loved his record shop .he became aware of a need for jazz, swing and R-n-B records and on a trip to meet a relative in America met someone with a wharehouse ect ect ect soon his first container arrived and it was onwards from there but he sold wholesale and really liked to back and encourage "the small business man" He just kept buying all through the sixties and his records went all over Europe and he had two buyers from England one in London and one in Manchester , he sold back to the States as well Ron Murphy bought off him regulary as did people like Art from Chigaco and I know a massive distributor in California (who I deal with but won't mention) who he set up .he sold a big chunk of his stock to a company called Disc Glorie or something then concentrated on his cigar import business he's in his eighties and not married and everytime I go out for some chow with him he's alway's got a young beutiful bird with him he won't sell any of his collection even his multiples so that's all I can tell you regards Simon.

what a great story, he sounds like a very interesting man who's had a very eventful life

[Guest gordon russell]

what a weird name.

dickie watt.....carlisle

[Steve G]

Mate it's Leiden in the Netherlands not far from you is it ? I'll give you a clue walk out of the train station carry on for about a kilometer look to your left you'll see a big white restaurant behind that in the distance is a windmill He and the records are within walking distance of that windmill.I met him many years ago in Roosendhal I was suplying one of his businesses with styrene for making food tray's out of he was suplying most of the Europeon airlines with disposable food and drink containers for in flight refreshment.We didn't discuss music as he was a lot older and I arogantly thought that he wouldn't understand as he was getting on a bit then.The next meeting he took me and my ex wife to the five fly's in Amsterdam wow what a joint never seen a menu like it I'm glad he paid as well starters we're at 30 Euro's !! at this point we started talking about music then one thing led to another and off you go it wasn't untill around the fith time i met him that he showed me his collection and explained the situation , there were loads of bellsound acetates , shelly acetates , frankford wayne acetates ,A1 acetates no lables white lables you name it even some Boddie acetates !! i spent two day's going through and it was mind blowing to the point I had the realisation that We Brit's had been very foolish thinking that it was just us that had soul records.Iasked him about Frank wilson he knew nothing about it in fact he has very little knowledge about them .he started with nothing and both parents died during the war he lived on the streets as a boot polisher then started selling boot polish , lace's ect , he had a stall on Amsterdam market and was soon cutting key's ect soon he was selling second hand goods and a few years later bought his first shop selling second hand thing's including old 78's.within a few years he owned several shops in Amsterdan and outskirts (Haaleem ect.) by the late 50's he was selling records in a small shop and I think he hired out juke box's .He started to buy land in Rotterdam as the nazis had turned this city into a carpark , he then built a few small industrial units.Business's came and went and if one was in trouble rather than throw them out he would become thier business partners and this is how he made his money although he loved his record shop .he became aware of a need for jazz, swing and R-n-B records and on a trip to meet a relative in America met someone with a wharehouse ect ect ect soon his first container arrived and it was onwards from there but he sold wholesale and really liked to back and encourage "the small business man" He just kept buying all through the sixties and his records went all over Europe and he had two buyers from England one in London and one in Manchester , he sold back to the States as well Ron Murphy bought off him regulary as did people like Art from Chigaco and I know a massive distributor in California (who I deal with but won't mention) who he set up .he sold a big chunk of his stock to a company called Disc Glorie or something then concentrated on his cigar import business he's in his eighties and not married and everytime I go out for some chow with him he's alway's got a young beutiful bird with him he won't sell any of his collection even his multiples so that's all I can tell you regards Simon.

Great stuff Simon.

Proves the point NO ONE knows all this stuff.

[dthedrug]

Here's one to get your teeth into. Forgive me if there has been a similar thread in the past.

What is the best Soul collection you have either seen or had definite knowledge of (not just rumours)?

I am thinking of content and quality rather than capacity.

I'll start the ball rolling with the amazing collection of 'Leeds Central' DJ legend and collector 'Tony Banks'

Tony had every demo on Motown (red and white and Green and white) Stateside, Columbia, Parlaphone, Fontana etc. etc. plus thousands of quality UK releases not regularly seen.

What collection do you know of??

HI ALL....This is one of the hardest questions, that has been put forward in the few years that I have been on SOULSOURCE,......Why? well over the many years I have been collecting SOUL, there has always been the person who has the records that I have wanted and even lusted over, but the reality would mean that even if I had the money, records like the Billy Harner instrumental would not be available for many years to come, However in saying that I have been very fortunate to have known the people who do own the top records, and have helped many to build decent collections of rare soul,

In the early days the meeting of John Wilkinson (Notts) 70 71 John was a WHEELITE and collector for 6 months his influence on me has lasted to this day, although I was a keen collector of soul, buying my records at CONTEMPOS in Hannaway St W1, It was John who made me appreciate the pleasure of finding & paying 6d for Chubby Checkers "at the Discotheque" like finding GOLD,

As I started to get the rare soul collecting bug, the situation in England was this, most records were hard to find, so the Junk shop was the hub of the collecting scene, as most junk shops got there stuff from house clearances, the second source for me was the discovery of a warehouse that was stuffed full of records 45s & LPs, and in with the 1000s of records, were the first imports that I come across, within a few weeks I had a decent MOTOWN collection, with artists like Earl Van Dyke, Bobby Taylor, Spinners, Debbie Dean, Vows, Ones & so on,

In 1972, the Record Collecting Bug had become infectious, and as such, it was this year that started my serendipitous travels into collecting RARE SOUL as an obsessive, meeting many like minded individuals. The best collectors are to many to name but, I will name a few,

Hammy & Tony Warret, Andy Spencer and more who I generalise when I call them Bedford Boys as Andy not from Bedford,

Top Collectors that I never competed against as their collections and knowledge was staggering, Ian Levine bought anything and everything that he did not no, and without doubt the #1 collector in 73, John Manship, had a box of R&W Motown in a box at the top of his base along with every thing else, Ady Crosdale top collector and SAGE, His Motown collection hit me so hard, that I sold my collection to a Cambridge dealer, as ADY had every thing, and I mean everything,

However it is my Mentor Mick Smith, who had the best collection of them all, his UK SOUL COLLECTION is the #1 in the world.

His knowledge of the UK soul Scene is so Deep, as he is a true pioneer of the scene, and has discovered many top tunes, and his US COLLECTION is also one of the best, he is know as Mr British so with out question it is MICK SMITHS Collection, that I would say is the best, & Ady C #2 with Butch #3

I should have had a far better collection than I have but wasted my time taking chemicals??? DAVE K

[Petedillon]

maybe better to re-title this thread..'the best collection youve ever seen'. because anybody can quote Tim Brown Manship, Ady or some guy in Holland(not disputing it,mind) etc..we know who probably has the best collections..or biggest... but to actually see something in the flesh(or vinyl) is something else..it can be , to us, awe-inspiring and unforgettable..so its relative and depends on what you think constitutes a great collection..

[Soulman]

maybe better to re-title this thread..'the best collection youve ever seen'. because anybody can quote Tim Brown Manship, Ady or some guy in Holland(not disputing it,mind) etc..we know who probably has the best collections..or biggest... but to actually see something in the flesh(or vinyl) is something else..it can be , to us, awe-inspiring and unforgettable..so its relative and depends on what you think constitutes a great collection..

Exactly... its all down to individual taste. They could have some of the rarest records on the scene but as we all know, rare doesn't mean good. Someone could have an entire / complete collection of the works of Otis Redding but to be honest, it wouldn't do knack all for me, in fact they could have the complete Atlantic and Stax etc etc catalogue and there'd only be a handful of 45's that would get my juices flowing and yet, they would undoubtedly have more records in their collection than most who seek Northern such is the quantity released.

Why does my soap box seem to be getting higher???

Steve

[Guest]

... there must be some mind blowing collections over in Japan.

I've had the pleasure of looking through a few and they were impressive as collections of Soul music in general, not necessairly Northern, which they were not centered around.

I admire any collection with a direction and purpose...love seeing label/artist runs...I recently went through one collection of UK label Ska LPs in Tokyo...had the lot, incredible, AND in fabulous condition...shame he knew their value!

Putting the US stuff aside, I must admit I'm pretty pleased with the way my 60s Soul Japanese press collection is coming along, but then again I've put in years of research (practically daily!), many train miles and of course money that I'll never get back (not many people collect them!)...and loved every minute of it! Turning up Japanese presses of Soul tracks that not even the Japanese collectors had seen, or were even aware of existing, has certainly been gratifying! Mind you, I now know what came out and 'simply' have to find them...a finite number to go for and I keep telling myself that I will only go for the ones I actually like...yeah right, who I am trying to kid...I've almost completed several label/artist runs! Roll on the book!

[Kris Holmes]

wrong, all countries that are not the US are the UK

that is a typical yankeeman misconception

[Kris Holmes]

dickie watt.....carlisle

sorry, forgot the above.

i know his brother, who also happens to not have a bad collection.

[Kris Holmes]

Someone could have an entire / complete collection of the works of Otis Redding but to be honest, it wouldn't do knack all for me, in fact they could have the complete Atlantic and Stax etc etc catalogue and there'd only be a handful of 45's that would get my juices flowing

i actually think any of these would be pretty impressive.

[Benji]

must admit I'm pretty pleased with the way my 60s Soul Japanese press collection is coming along, but then again I've put in years of research (practically daily!), many train miles and of course money that I'll never get back (not many people collect them!)...and loved every minute of it! Turning up Japanese presses of Soul tracks that not even the Japanese collectors had seen, or were even aware of existing, has certainly been gratifying! Mind you, I now know what came out and 'simply' have to find them...a finite number to go for and I keep telling myself that I will only go for the ones I actually like...yeah right, who I am trying to kid...I've almost completed several label/artist runs! Roll on the book!

What do you reckon, how many 60s soul record were released over there? Just wondering...

[Rich B]

I don't have a (northern) collection anymore, but I know for sure mine wouldn't have been the best, as when i was thinking of selling up a well known figure from the scene came to take a look and his parting comment was "I thought it would be better!"...

[Petedillon]

i saw tony banks collection after he died, impressive by early 70's standards loads of british demos, but not too many u.s. things that would get you overly excited, this thread is totally pointless, how can you define what the best collection is, or who owns it, having said that i bet steve luigi probably has one of the best collections of bootlegs in the world

just noticed this comment re Steve Luigi..whilst Steve did have a lot of boots early on, I know for a fact he has tried to steadily replace most of them with original stuff. So while making an attempt to promote a very successful club rebirth which he deserves a lot of credit for, I think it a bit unfair to label him a pressings man...which he maybe was but he now has a cracking US Motown related demo collection and shouldnt be judged so harshly..IMO

[Dazdakin]

Well if it's a collection of played eclectic through the range northern originals then my money would be on Simon Hunt - not alot he don't have but i don't think he has an Eddie Parker which others that are mentioned all do but that don't make one collection better than another, what does though is when you go to a person's house to sell a few bit's and you are just astounded at the vastness and quality of a person's personal 45 collection,, when you get tired of thinking of the rarest tunes that you know of and if by magic it suddenly appears in front of your eye's........NOTHING!! i mentioned got the shake of the head, it was truly the biggest thrill for me to see such tunage under one roof and in the same collection.......stand up and take a bow Mr. Mick Smith.........simply the best!!

[Chalky]

I doubt almost anyone knows what two major collectors have got never mind one major collector? Not to mention all those who are not part of or don't even no why northern soul is.

[Guest]

What do you reckon, how many 60s soul record were released over there? Just wondering...

Looking at just the 60's (inc Motown and Atlantic) on 7"...@1200 believe it or not

[Agentsmith]

And some quality shirts

spot on win, uncle t was catwalkin' last night......well, actually he was sitting down doing an hawaiian display! bit like andy riley of a good few years ago but quality shirts....the record collection goes without sayin'....RIGHT ON UNCLE TED!

[Trev Thomas]

just noticed this comment re Steve Luigi..whilst Steve did have a lot of boots early on, I know for a fact he has tried to steadily replace most of them with original stuff. So while making an attempt to promote a very successful club rebirth which he deserves a lot of credit for, I think it a bit unfair to label him a pressings man...which he maybe was but he now has a cracking US Motown related demo collection and shouldnt be judged so harshly..IMO

Edited June 30, 2012 by trev thomas

[KevH]

Steve he may have had a good British collection, but I doubt he had a good rare soul collection. Sorry to rain on your parade but this thread is meaningless.

edit.

Edited June 30, 2012 by KevH

[Mssoulie]

On 27/06/2012 at 00:42, Petedillon said:

just for the record..you are spot on Steve..Banksy had the best collection Ive ever seen . Spent days at his house..think of a record..uk demo, uk issue and in most cases US import too.. remember this was 1970 .. so the floodgates hadnt opened import wise yet.. the hours I spent trying to persuade him to part with stuff! 'come on Tony youve got 3 or four different copies of all this Incredibles 45.. no chance....Dont think you will have actually seen it though Steve, a bit before your time and he was very careful who got near it back then..it was legendary around Leeds back then though. I used to sell his 'TB.Super Soul-Jimmy Thomas 45's at the Torch later on..but thats another story..

Brighouse was one of the best nights around when he had it. Sprung floor as well..

[Robbk]

On 26/06/2012 at 22:28, boba said:

 

 

wrong, all countries that are not the US are the UK

What a strange thing for Bob to have said!    But I can't ask him what he meant (at least for a few years!)

I guess he meant that no other country other than USA, England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland could house the best Soul music record collection in The world.  Not Canada, not The Netherlands, not Belgium, not Australia, not Germany, not France.....  How could he KNOW that, for sure?  Has he met EVERY collector in The World, and seen all of their collections?  Or did he mean that there are no  other countries in The World that matter???  I suppose it was a joke, but I don't get the humour involved.  Strange thing for someone with a surname of Jewish Armenian extraction to say.

[Amsterdam Russ]

4 hours ago, Robbk said:

What a strange thing for Bob to have said!    But I can't ask him what he meant (at least for a few years!)

I guess he meant that no other country other than USA, England, Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland could house the best Soul music record collection in The world.  Not Canada, not The Netherlands, not Belgium, not Australia, not Germany, not France.....  How could he KNOW that, for sure?  Has he met EVERY collector in The World, and seen all of their collections?  Or did he mean that there are no  other countries in The World that matter???  I suppose it was a joke, but I don't get the humour involved.  Strange thing for someone with a surname of Jewish Armenian extraction to say.

It reads to me as self-deprecating humour - in the sense that stereotypical dimwit Americans aren't great at world geography, and that if a place isn't in the States then it must be in the UK.

Bob was mocking his own kind - his fellow American citizens.

[Blackpoolsoul]

Although I hate to say it I bet Manship's personal collection is a bit good and Dave Raistrick's got some stuff tucked away. Dean Anderson had some bits and bobs too back in the day

[Stephen Yoxall]

Hi just to add to the thread I've only had a very average collection but mean the world to me but the best collection I've ever seen is between 2 people Derek geenhoff from my own town and Simon hunt (sharmo) who I spent many hours early morning blown away by track after track 10 years ago I went to Derek's for nearly 18 months on a Thursday night (therapy) and started with British As then USA As and so on to cut a long story short some great collection out there