When And Where Did Us Imports 1St Appear In The Uk For Sale?

[Sceneman]

ok this is a tricky one as someone always knows somewhere where they were ,but actual US soul imports actually on sale in a shop.

whereabouts in the UK got the 1st up servings and how ?

London ? Liverpool ? Newcastle ?

the UK bands needed examples to listen to and must have had a golden source .

the UK record companies were very anti imports so must have tried to block any imports by any means at their disposal.

my 1st spotting of actual imports of 45s was Transat Imports in Lisle street in Soho ,in around 1964.

also Guy Stevens was importing large amounts of imports but mostly Sun and general rock and roll stuff,

but he kept the most desirable soul to himself for later issue on Sue.

 

 

[Guest Garry Huxley]

i read an article once about some early ted's hanging around the docks in liverpool to buy r&b records of the skint black sailors after spending wages on booze & prostitues, One said before it was called rock n roll it was r n b.

I cant imigane it was until much later that legit imports were forthcoming as iv'e met loads of record company producers who had loads of records sent to them for uk licencing if approved.

 

Garry

[kevinsoulman]

USAF BASE PX SHOPS IF YOU WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET IN ONE

KEV

[Steve G]

Soul City stocked imports and started in 67. Before that there were one or two places in london (and probably elsewhere!) that took limited numbers of imports - probably albums mainly. David N. was telling me about one such place near Leicester Square that he used to go into but it was very hit and miss. Also I've seen adverts for mail order from the mid 60s.

 

I remember John A. telling me that when he was a young DJ in Glasgow mid 1960's, one of the clubs he was booked at had some shelves of imports, which mightily impressed him as up until that point he'd only seen Stateside / London etc.

Edited March 12, 2013 by Steve G

[Roburt]

 Also I've seen adverts for mail order from the mid 60s.

I bought from Soul City from 1967 & if they were out of a certain 45 on UK issue, they would offer me the more expensive US 45 version of the track. Used to actually visit the shop on trips to London plus buy on a regular basis from them via mail order (still got a few letters from Rob Blackmore who dealt with mail order stuff at the shop). Always went for the UK version (if they had it) as they were 8/4d whereas most of the import 45's were 15/-.

ALSO used to send off to quite a few dealers who sent out mail order lists of US import soul 45's (haven't kept any of those old lists but seem to recall most originated from guys based in the greater London / Kent areas). My faves back then were the auction listings as I would bid silly money (2/8d) on singles that were unknown to me by artists I knew of. I got the Sapphires "Slow Fizz" that way around 68 but never liked it. But I did get loads of good 45's for little money that way. Sometimes I'd also put in a low bid for a 45 by an unknown (to me) artist on a label I knew had put out some other good stuff (Congress, Ric Tic, Calla, Thomas, etc).

Known tracks (allniter club plays) always went for a lot more than the minimum bid (which was 2/6d if I remember correctly). You had to bid around 12/- to 15/- to even stand a chance a winning one of them. 

Edited March 12, 2013 by Roburt

[westrex]

Soul City stocked imports and started in 67. Before that there were one or two places in london (and probably elsewhere!) that took limited numbers of imports - probably albums mainly. David N. was telling me about one such place near Leicester Square that he used to go into but it was very hit and miss. Also I've seen adverts for mail order from the mid 60s.

 

I remember John A. telling me that when he was a young DJ in Glasgow mid 1960's, one of the clubs he was booked at had some shelves of imports, which mightily impressed him as up until that point he'd only seen Stateside / London etc.

 

Before 1970, the importation of US records was a costly business as the import duty was as much as

the cost of the records themselves. To make it easier and cheaper, the records were drilled with a

small hole (usually on the label) they were now technically "damaged goods" and could not be sold at

full price, Albums usually had one of the corners cut off the outer sleeve, and sold as damaged goods. Record shops such as F.L. MOORE in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, and record dealers

spcialising in mail order importation of deleted and in-demand 45's, Brian "45" Philips etc, were now

importing hundreds of records in this fashion and then in 1971 import duty was altered and records

from america flooded into the UK and were soon being sold on market stalls nationwide and very cheaply. I hope that this makes the subject of WHO and WHERE were imports first sold? a little easier

to un

 

 

[Roburt]

F L Moores were advertising in US music trade papers (asking for cheap old / new US 45's) from November 68, so I guess they were on the go with decent quantities of US soul 45's from late 68 (think I made my 1st trip down there in early to mid 69).

Edited March 12, 2013 by Roburt

[Gene-r]

ok this is a tricky one as someone always knows somewhere where they were ,but actual US soul imports actually on sale in a shop.

whereabouts in the UK got the 1st up servings and how ?

London ? Liverpool ? Newcastle ?

the UK bands needed examples to listen to and must have had a golden source .

the UK record companies were very anti imports so must have tried to block any imports by any means at their disposal.

my 1st spotting of actual imports of 45s was Transat Imports in Lisle street in Soho ,in around 1964.

also Guy Stevens was importing large amounts of imports but mostly Sun and general rock and roll stuff,

but he kept the most desirable soul to himself for later issue on Sue.

 

Was Transat Imports the shop run from a flat in Lisle Street by Guy Stevens?  I have heard he started his record business there.  Though nowadays it's full of Chinese restaurants and 'model flats' (whorehouses - and it's possible one of these could be where Stevens originally 'did business' from).

Edited March 12, 2013 by Gene-R

[Guest Dave Turner]

Ok , not wishing to divert from the main content of the thread, and I don't know if this has been done before, but who was the first to pack a suitcase and say  "Fook it, I'll go and find my own". The first with the sole intent of going to the US with the aim of coming back with said suitcase full of records, and I don't mean someone on holiday who just happened to pick a few up.

[Sceneman]

Transat imports was in a basement in Lisle street and the owner wasnt Guy Stevens , he was an ex record company gent whos name i dont know ,who had a bad drink problem .every saturday he would have fresh suplies of all the good stuff ,which wasnt cheap .

this is near leicester square so is prolly the place referred to elsewhere .

 

Guy Stevens used to sell records at the Scene club during the week and i still have some R&R he sold me .he certainly had 1000s of records on his stall at the club .

i am not sure where else guy stevens was selling 45s .How he was getting such huge supplies at that time so easily is a mystery ,as it wasn't cheap or easy to fly back and forth across the atlantic then,and he was getting all the best stuff on a regular basis every week.he really had his finger on the pulse !

 

also there was a barrow near leicester sqare owned by a bloke called Lee around that time that had import albums on his stall.

but i still feel that there must have been a big dealer somewhere up north that had plentfull stocks for all the early bands 

like the Beatles and Animals ,as they were all well familiar with all the names and tunes they copied .

they had to get their info from somewhere .i have never heard any of the big names say where they got their records from .

[Sceneman]

Ok , not wishing to divert from the main content of the thread, and I don't know if this has been done before, but who was the first to pack a suitcase and say  "Fook it, I'll go and find my own". The first with the sole intent of going to the US with the aim of coming back with said suitcase full of records, and I don't mean someone on holiday who just happened to pick a few up.

it wasnt easy to go flying back and forth at that time ,this was in the era of turbo prop airliners that flew slowly and limited luggage allowance.and to afford a ticket you would need to be very wealthy 

Edited March 12, 2013 by sceneman

[Ian Dewhirst]

Ok , not wishing to divert from the main content of the thread, and I don't know if this has been done before, but who was the first to pack a suitcase and say  "Fook it, I'll go and find my own". The first with the sole intent of going to the US with the aim of coming back with said suitcase full of records, and I don't mean someone on holiday who just happened to pick a few up.

Graham Warr and Simon Soussan went pretty early on......

 

Ian D

[TOAD]

didnt ian levine have a plane ?

[Robbk]

I saw US LPs and 45s for sale at HMV as early as 1965.  But they cost a pretty penny.

[Guest Dave Turner]

it wasnt easy to go flying back and forth at that time ,this was in the era of turbo prop airliners that flew slowly and limited luggage allowance.and to afford a ticket you would need to be very wealthy 

 

Yes mate, I am of an age to know that but the fact is some folks did and as Ian Dewhurst points out Graham Warr and Soussan were early players at that game. Anyone know when JA started going over?

[Amsterdam Russ]

US record imports would have first appeared in the UK circa World War II, when in their vast numbers the Yanks were "over-paid, over-sexed and over here".

[Guest gordon russell]

 

US record imports would have first appeared in the UK circa World War II, when in their vast numbers the Yanks were "over-paid, over-sexed and over here".

and overplayed? lol

[Steve G]

US record imports would have first appeared in the UK circa World War II, when in their vast numbers the Yanks were "over-paid, over-sexed and over here".

 

Yes but that's not the exam question.....Nil points for that answer

[Amsterdam Russ]

Thank you for that, chief prefect.

[Guest Polyvelts]

Before 1970, the importation of US records was a costly business as the import duty was as much as

the cost of the records themselves. To make it easier and cheaper, the records were drilled with a

small hole (usually on the label) they were now technically "damaged goods" and could not be sold at

full price, Albums usually had one of the corners cut off the outer sleeve, and sold as damaged goods. Record shops such as F.L. MOORE in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, and record dealers

spcialising in mail order importation of deleted and in-demand 45's, Brian "45" Philips etc, were now

importing hundreds of records in this fashion and then in 1971 import duty was altered and records

from america flooded into the UK and were soon being sold on market stalls nationwide and very cheaply. I hope that this makes the subject of WHO and WHERE were imports first sold? a little easier

to un

I always wondered why those little holes were there, had no idea - then again after reading top 10 playlists in echoes I could never

Believe how many great records were on the C/U label !!!! Dur !!

[soulpaul0]

I always wondered why those little holes were there, had no idea - then again after reading top 10 playlists in echoes I could never

Believe how many great records were on the C/U label !!!! Dur !!

must omit thought the cutting off the corners on lp's was because they where over stock and to stop people selling at full price 

you live and learn

[Davenpete]

Russell Acotts in Oxford were importing jazz and blues in the 30s (for the Dons - black music being a very intellectual pursuit early on) - I've heard it said that later they used to get RnB amongst the full-on blues (probably an 'oh bugger' accident on their part), certainly in my shortish time they had suprising things like the Luther album... It would even potentially fit with Roger Eagle (being from Oxford) getting his hands on stuff others couldn't get.

Dx

Edited March 13, 2013 by DaveNPete

[Paul McKay]

Drill holes etc mentioned above were the sign of "deletion" to prevent returns to distributors being returned again for full price credit. Import duty has always been charged on cost of said imports and so cheap deletions would attract less import duty than fresh pressings.

[Steve G]

must omit thought the cutting off the corners on lp's was because they where over stock and to stop people selling at full price 

you live and learn

 

And you would be absolutely right soulpaul10 - hence the term "cut outs".

 

.....mind you that doesn't stop other people on here just making things up whenever they don't know the answer to something....

Edited March 14, 2013 by Steve G

[Pete S]

must omit thought the cutting off the corners on lp's was because they where over stock and to stop people selling at full price 

you live and learn

 

 

It was...