Tommy Dent Soul Thing On Cobblestone

[Modernsoulsucks]

I don't think it's a pop record. Sounds black to me. Just the beginning reminds me of those mindless poppy Wigan instrumentals. Not keen on that constant clapping effect either really.

 

My prime was 8.15am November 17 1984. You should have asked me then. Been downhill since.

 

ROD

[Guest gordon russell]

F88k me, I am a soul snob and a crossover king,  and I think Tommy Dent would have me gliding side to side over the dance floor any time.  Sounds like the messy excitement sort of thing that would work at 3am.

 

Mind so would the United Sounds, just slower and maybe a little back to front glide rather than side to side.

 

Its not often I get the chance to agree completely with Steve G, so a childish high five down to his Ivory tower in Londinium, since he is completely correct.

He has houses all over the gaff........one minute london (islington for sure) the next  chipping norton.

[Guest gordon russell]

Its got some interesting titles that on first glance make you think of long hair and smoking dodgy fags, but on closer inspection I wouldn't be surprised if it was primarily Black music? However I don't know 99% of them so its just a guess. Any further insight Mr S?

 

And as for Tommy Dent being pop, I don't get that at all, he may be blue eyed but I would say thats a heavy piece of Black music. Judging a piece of music as soul or not purely based on its Northernability as some of the early posts do does make me chuckle.

yeh they wouldn,t of played it at wigin  (not good enough)

[honky]

No.

 

I didn't know it was blue-eyed. Is it ?

 

ROD

[Labeat]

Just got in from work.... Tommy Dent (my new hero) is jet black with lovely white teeth,

that track.... Soul Thing just oozes class

[Steve Foran]

There was the other Tommy dent up for offers on here this yr ,maybe that is it ?

Thanks Nev maybe that's it.

[Blackpoolsoul]

The Marmite tune just sold on Ebay for £3208 Australian seller

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOMMY-DENT-SOUL-THING-RARE-NORTHERN-SOUL-/233496728191?hash=item365d7d527f%3Ag%3AeIYAAOSw61BeSOJX&nma=true&si=5g7ezDmP0l7leWwBUs0glQcT2Lk%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Edited February 23, 2020 by Blackpoolsoul

[Louise]

On 30/07/2014 at 15:32, Modernsoulsucks said:

I don't think it's a pop record. Sounds black to me. Just the beginning reminds me of those mindless poppy Wigan instrumentals. Not keen on that constant clapping effect either really.

 

My prime was 8.15am November 17 1984. You should have asked me then. Been downhill since.

 

ROD

The flipside is deep soul.

Dave

[Arthur Fenn]

As i recall this is probably the mintish copy that went through ebay quite reasonably 3/4 yrs ago for about $2.5K so not a bad return on investment. Not a record i like tho 

[Guest Shufflin]

not keen on the sound, what boggles though is paying big bucks for lower condition (VG) records, the description would have put me off

[Sebastian]

23 hours ago, Louise said:

The flipside is deep soul.

Dave

That would be a very wide definition of deep soul. Has got the same gravelly vocals, but the flipside is an uptempo dancer as well.

It's the sixth track on this mix of mine if anyone wants to hear it:

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Sebastian

[Sebastian]

19 hours ago, Arthur Fenn said:

As i recall this is probably the mintish copy that went through ebay quite reasonably 3/4 yrs ago for about $2.5K so not a bad return on investment. Not a record i like tho 

No, the copy that sold two days ago on ebay is not the same copy as the 2012 one.

The copy that sold now has got writing on the "Miss Woman" side, the copy that sold in 2012 didn't. Ofcourse someone could've written on the label during those 8 years, but that would surprise me.

[Sebastian]

 

Copies of 45's can turn up anywhere. Labels sent promo copies of records all over the world for various reasons.

For example one copy of this Tommy Dent 45 turned up in Sweden back in 2010 via a record company / publishers archive. 

Another copy has emerged through a UK publishers archive.

 

 

 

Edited February 24, 2020 by Sebastian

[Blackpoolsoul]

36 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

 

Copies of 45's can turn up anywhere. Labels sent promo copies of records all over the world for various reasons.

For example one copy of this Tommy Dent 45 turned up in Sweden back in 2010 via a record company / publishers archive. 

Another copy has emerged through a UK publishers archive.

 

 

 

Of course these makes me think of the almost impossible task of trying to find out who he was ?

What we know is that he was probably New York based at the time.

I did wonder at one stage if he was Tom Dent the Author/ Civli Rights from New Orleans, but he left New York in 1965 and there is no mention of him singing

https://faulknersociety.org/tom-dent-author/

[Sebastian]

1 hour ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Of course these makes me think of the almost impossible task of trying to find out who he was ?

What we know is that he was probably New York based at the time.

I did wonder at one stage if he was Tom Dent the Author/ Civli Rights from New Orleans, but he left New York in 1965 and there is no mention of him singing

https://faulknersociety.org/tom-dent-author/

 

See post three in this thread:

 

[Blackpoolsoul]

22 minutes ago, Sebastian said:

 

See post three in this thread:

 

Wonder if anything appeared ?

[Weingarden]

Dumb thing I did: Got a copy of this from Greg Tormo a million years ago and loved it...quickly stumbled on a second copy for, I think, $40, and assumed it wasn't rare, having found two copies randomly within a couple months. And so traded on my spare for very little. Oh well.

 

[Siz Sale]

Spotted this

https://www.popsike.com/TOMMY-DENT-SOUL-THING-RARE-NORTHERN-SOUL/233496728191.html

 

[Blackpoolsoul]

29 minutes ago, Siz Sale said:

Spotted this

https://www.popsike.com/TOMMY-DENT-SOUL-THING-RARE-NORTHERN-SOUL/233496728191.html

 

That's the one I quoted on 23rd February 

[Guest]

Wessex Auctions (Chippenham) today sold a copy of Toomy Dent on Cobblestone for a whopping £2900 .

It was an individual lot in a large auction of rare soul. It included: acetates, demos, unknown cuts (particularly some unknown Buddah releases from Monk Higgins publishing) , rare northern and a few rare deep. The more expensive lots such as Tommy Dent and Lainee Hill (£500), Kenny Wells (£320), went for considerably more than their estimate but those with an estimate of around £100 went for about £60 - £80.  Some 380 items and maybe a dozen only not sold. Personally I'm happy with what I paid. I had expected to pay more. Prices seem to have dropped for middling price records but stayed high for the genuinely rare

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/wessex-auction-rooms/catalogue-id-srwess10237/search-filter?archiveSearch=False&type=Vinyl Record

 

[Modboy1]

Don’t forget all these prices will not include the extra 20% or so commission (17% Auction House commission + VAT on the commission). 

So the Tommy Dent for example would have actually cost the buyer £3480.00 !!! and the Lainie Hill would have been £600.00 and so on...

[Merve]

There were some interesting results. I stopped bidding on Lainie Hill because I would think it a £300 - £400 record tops as opposed to £600 +. There were some nice job lots that went through at reasonable prices.

[Modboy1]

Agreed, the top end items just seem to get more expensive with time (as is the case with many other genres), but the lower end items which presumably many collectors already have, seem to go cheaper.

[Wiggyflat]

Modboy 1 are you the ebay seller that bought the publishing house collection and sold it on ebay and then Wessex.....if so i owe you a few quid!

[Modboy1]

Yes that’s me, I still have tend of thousands of records from that library and still selling them on Ebay, not just Northern Soul, but Psych, Mod, Prog, Rock etc...

You are the guy that bought the Mike Batt Acetate from me, why would you owe me money?

[Blackpoolsoul]

Blimey a copy has just appeared on Evilbay item 274726551988

The seller has mentioned The Wessex auction copy (but not the price) and wants $24,999 or make an offer

 

[Dobber]

The seller appears to sell dvds,so he has fell lucky on this 45,probably paid next to nothing for it! i would imagine a collector/dj will put him right on a true figure and get the record!

personally to my ears it sounds like a boring stax bside,not something i would break my neck trying to obtain!

alsofurther down the page there is a bill cosby little ole man for £2.5k

and tc lee and bricklayers for £2.5k

so that's 3 jokers selling at ridiculous prices !

[ThomasEDentIII]

I've heard his acoustic version of this and "That's What Love Will Do" on a cassette tape my mother had.
"Soul Thing" is my least favorite of his discography, and I really enjoy the songs where he has a softer tone. Although "Hair" is always a fun one, too.

[Kenb]

5 hours ago, ThomasEDentIII said:

I've heard his acoustic version of this and "That's What Love Will Do" on a cassette tape my mother had.
"Soul Thing" is my least favorite of his discography, and I really enjoy the songs where he has a softer tone. Although "Hair" is always a fun one, too.

I guess you are a relative...?

Is there anything you can share about Tommy, the 45 in question, recording, associates, etc.

best

Kenb

[Blackpoolsoul]

On 27/07/2014 at 23:12, Pomonkey said:

There's been 3 copies spun in NYC for 15+ years, and actually holding a 1968 photo of Tommy right now, we've spoken to him and tried to convey how highly we regard all his work, he's amazingly interlinked to many artists we've worked with over the years and a classic example of the countless unsung greats of 60's soul recording.

Never seen a photo of him just found this article from New York

[Roburt]

With his connection to Benny Gordon, not surprised Trude Heller would book him ..

.