Garethx

Ady Croasdell's been hammering Eddie's My Name for the last couple of years at the 100 Club. I'd say very few of the records mentioned so far fit into the 'genuinely forgotten' category.

Connie McGill & The Visions "I'm So Happy I Found You" on Camille. A wonderful cheap disc with a fantastic whistling 'solo' which is oddly moving. Haven't got a soundfile, but people who are new to this record always seem to be knocked out by it on first heairing.

Out with the old, in with the new. I sold a Re Flores a couple of years ago just as it started to get resurrected. If i'd held on for a couple of months I'm fairly sure I could have got a lot more for it, but as soon as everyone started to flog it to death I didn't need to listen to it at home any more. You can't keep them all unless you've got very deep reserves of disposable income. If you have a need for fresh sounds of the expensive variety, selling the odd bit is completely understandable, especially when the record in question has started to reach the status of 'rare soul national anthem'.

Nick there have been a couple of copies of BW "Baby I Can't Stand It" on ebay recently, but before that I'd hardly seen one for twenty years. Cheap when it does turn up (I got one last month for a fiver) but seemingly pretty rare. A sh*t hot record, for me the mighty Womack at his very, very best.

I think a few Memphis productions on Decca like Tony Ashley and The Rayons hardly made it out of the pressing plants. A shame because they were great records.

Both sides of the James Fry on Hi are absolutely brilliant. The other side is called Tumbling Down and is fantastic deep, while Still Around ticks all the right boxes for a cooking midtempo southern soul record with great horns and jet-propelled bass playing. I've never seen an issue copy of this 45, only the orange demo, and would consider the issue to be pretty scarce. As for the deejay copy: maybe £40-50 nowadays, but well worth it, as it's a great record. James Fry's real name was James Frierson and his sister recorded as Wendy Rene on Stax. He wrote a small number of sides recorded by other artists on Hi and a couple of other Memphis labels, but for me his pinnacle of soul achievement was writing Don Bryant's monumental deep soul 45 "I'll Go Crazy" (the other side of Shop Around on Hi). Anyone who even remotely likes southern or deep soul should try to check out this amazing record; for me it's a milestone in soul history.

I agree wholeheartedly with Russ. The records mentioned previously in the thread as the gold standard were almost all discovered before Wigan even opened in 1973! Are the posters saying that nothing of value has been unearthed for over thirty years? That is plainly not the case. The sets at the Lifeline weekender by Butch, Mick H, Sam, Arthur Fenn, Christian B, Andy Whitmore, Cliff Steele, Dean Anderson and others all illustrated that there is plenty more mileage in the rare soul scene. A few of Butch's cover-ups would have been massive records at any venue, at any time in the scene's history: The Mighty Lovers, Martha Jean Love and the Just Brothers (admittedly this has been known for over twenty years) to name but three. The depth of quality lesser-knowns, shrewd re-activations, downright one-offs and proven long-term rarities played by all these guys is pretty staggering. Every year I hear at least ten 'new' records that blow me away. They might not all have the same type of sound as Bob Relf or the Tomangoes, but they live with them pretty easily as quality pieces of soul music.

Perhaps Soulfulsaint can tell us all about discovering the Betty Cee 45 in the 80s?

In about 1990 I gave a copy of The Lavells to a mate who wasn't really into soul because it isn't really soul. Are people playing this now?

Perhaps a similar story to another case of a Georgia soul 45 getting a JB production credit on national release. Jimmy Braswell's "I Can't Give You My Heart" makes no mention of JB on the rare local issue (Gene), but the King release of the track states: "A James Brown Production." Braswell also recorded at least one record on Jar-Val. Might be a connection here somewhere.

There is also a version of "Sweet Little Girl" by Gene & Eddie on Ru-jac.

I'm a massive fan of Gwen McCrae as an artist, but must admit I prefer Vanessa Kendrick's version of 90%. A pretty hard to get 45.

Agreed Brian. This record is awesome. Anyone who's into seventies soul and doesn't know it will be bowled over.

That's a picture of John Whitehead. Sad news about Gene McFadden. RIP.

Some great records mentioned by everybody so far. Must give special mention to the Patti Austin Coral sides: so many stunning songs, performances and productions. To cap it all she was so young when she recorded these 45s. What makes them great is the fact that while she sounds so technically accomplished they still sound like records ripped from the heart of a young person. That's an incredibly tough balancing act to pull off. I must aslo mention a couple of group records here: "I Don't Want You" by The Lovations on Cap City, a stunning midpacer with a wonderfully wistful quality; and The Rayons "Do You Love Me" on Decca: maybe the finest instance of sixties girl group deep soul (admittedly this field would only warrant a slender chapter in the encyclopedia of soul genres). Is it true that this particular 45 is thought to be a one-off? While not being a particularly huge fan of non-soul Girl Groups, I must ask at this point: who could fail to love The Ronettes "Be My Baby"?

Interesting to note that at one time I couldn't give Earl White Jr away. I tried to use it in a trade with a well known dealer about twelve years or so ago for Arthur Freeman's "I Want To Come Home" on Jumbo, which at that tiime was pretty hard to come by. He said "Earl White is a good record, and a rare record, but who's going to buy it off me once I've got it?" Years down the line the roles have been reversed, with Arthur Freeman probably 'worthless' in terms of the rare soul scene. Still a brilliant deep soul side, though.

Did anyone else pick up a copy of Willy McDougal in '88 in a "Mutual Record Co. Baltimore" striped factory bag? My copy of Monroe Taylor from Soul Bowl years earlier also came in such a sleeve, but I've never seen any other records that did. Is it just a coincidence that both were presented in this way?

This is Deneice Williams, later to find worlwide stardom on Columbia.

I've been thinking about the "What Would Jesus Do" movement in the states and wondering how those principles might be applied to the soul scene. If he were a collector would he stick to originals only, or buy the odd cheeky pressing of a sound he really liked. If he deejayed would he think it acceptable to play from CDs (for the right crowd)? If he were a promoter, what kind of do would he put on? The best in newies, thinking man's oldies, a bit of crossover and a smattering of R&B possibly? What would his views be on the subject of smoking at venues? And would he cast the record dealers out of the soul night/allnighter? Your thoughts please...

The other file is a WMV, and is about 3MB, so will take a bit of uploading. If anyone wants me to pass it on, just drop me a PM and i'll email it to you. best, gareth.

Which do, Colin?

Here you go... First file is the original 7" as posted by Brian Ellis in the 'rarest modern record' thread last year.

Thanks to Andy Mann I now have the soundfile I needed. Can't say that there's a radical difference between the two versions, but only listening on small PC speakers.

Bobby Byrd I Know You Got Soul 7" Condition: M- Label: King 6378 Genre: Funk Release Country: US Release Date: 1971 6378.Lee Fields style cover of the Eric B classic !!! C/W "It's I Who Love You".Hole punched.

Some of these posts bring back many happy memories. Curtis Mayfield at Dingwalls, particularly. It was awe-inspiring to be in the same small room as a legend. Ditto when Sam Dees played there (although seeing SD live was always quite problematic for me, as I always got the impression he detested performing live). Saw Al Green at Hammersmith Odeon in the early to mid 90s, and he was everything you could expect him to be, a wonderful vocal talent and a master showman with tons of natural charisma. Anita Baker, too, at the same venue on her first visit to Britain in the 80s was a phenomenally intense performer, far, far removed from her coffee-table incarnation of later years. I can still hear her earth-shattering rendition of You Got To Feel The Need In Me which genuinely thrilled and moved. Mark Bicknell mentions Otis Clay and I must state that he is pretty much the last of a dying breed, a straight down the line, all action, no-frills, blue-collar, real soul man, and an absolutely dynamite vocalist with a fantastic grasp of the dynamics of live performance. Seeing him you really could be transported to his roots in the hell-fire gospel tradition. Quite simply, he's awesome and I would urge anyone who can to see him while you still have the chance. Andy Dyson made the point here a few months ago that many of the soul greats are now operating on half-power due to advancing years, but went on to say this is not the case with OC. How true that is.