Garethx

A copy in Japan went unsold on ebay (twice) for $1000. As you say, a brilliant record.

I think you are correct Chalky. What does the Ojobco 45 go for these days? Great soul record with an R&B edge. Used to play this alongside things like Tony Matthews on Convoy before the whole R&B revival took off.

I've always been confused by this, too. Mine is light blue, but I always assumed it was the re-issue: I think I bought it off Rod Dearlove in about '87. Can anyone post up a soundfile of the green label cut for comparison. I agree with both Steves in a way: Mr G's acetate version blew me away, but think Mr Plumb is right about the Northern scene being "ready" for the released version now.

Apparently Jock Mitchell's "Nomad Woman" was released on a clean pressing on Golden Hit, according to Tim Brown. I'd love to hear it, as I think the record is, potentially, awesome. Has anyone else ever had one?

I must say that I prefer the "I'm A Lover" side of the Sidney Hall 45.

The 2+2 from Detroit are a black group. The lot on "Love Will..." are mixed: hence the name.

Chalky: do you know what the Bobby Adams is? I think I can remember Dean Anderson covering up a Little Milton 45 on Checker in the mid 80s. I'm not saying this is it, but this singer is right in the same "Bobby Bland impersonator" vein as Little Milton, Geater Davis, Merle Spears etc.

Pete, I wasn't saying that the absence of rules as to what constituted a good northern record was a bad thing: far from it, in fact. A maverick element seems to have been lost. I've wondered before on here whether some cherished classics would ever have a chance of becoming popular today. In many ways the remit of what can and cannot be played is seemingly narrower now than at any time in the scene's history, and that's a shame.

As an addition to the above I must add that the Kent lps have probably been more influential than anything else in spreading knowlege of rare soul both to an international audience and to people under 40. If records like the Maxine Brown and Melba Moore mentioned above had remained covered-up, unreleased acetates since 1984 I very much doubt there would be a scene left to play them on. Perhaps current newies deejays could take note.

Of course, Searling's got to be way up there. His playlists from late Wigan gave the scene something to aim for in the 80s, and showed there could be life after the period of mass popularity had ended. Into the 80s I think Dave Thorley and (briefly) Dave Withers were hugely influential in different ways. Ady C must take a great many plaudits for unearthing things like Torture, The Magic Touch etc. Into the late 80s Gilly and Rob Marriot carried the torch for new northern soul discoveries. In the last decade, Butch has been practically out on his own in terms of playing a consistent raft of high class new 60s discoveries. I haven't named anyone from the scene's 1970s golden age, a) because I wasn't around then and I think it was easier to be a northern deejay then. There were no rules as to what constituted a good northern record, and finding fresh sounds to play was like shooting fish in a barrell. I must also namecheck Soul Sam and Arthur Fenn for their enthusiasm in consistently seeking new sounds in a more modern vein.

I think quite a few people will agree with you.

If you have a copy Gene, you can clearly see it's not 1960s in vintage. I bought one off John Manship in the late 80s for something like £20 and was surprised by its' appearance when it turned up. This recording was legitimately released by Flaming Arrow label owner Eugene Davis after being played for the first time as an unissued track by Guy Hennigan. I don't know how many they pressed up, but Dave Flynn recalls finding a quantity in Essex a few years later, after Eugene Davis's daughter had moved to the UK to marry an English bloke. As an aside, it was in his dealings with Eugene D that Guy acquired the first two copies of Joseph Webster's current Crow monster. Not thinking that it was much cop, Mr Hennigan sold them for £2 each. The rest is history.

I think people would be daft to pay such a high price for this 45. I accept that it may be quite limited in quantity, but I'm sure not everyone is aware that it dates from the late 1980s, as it was unreleleased at its time of recording. Did John Weston play this at Cleethorpes? I'm sure I heard it somewhere. IMHO a pretty good record.

I don't think it is. That's more of a crossover tune, while this one is definitively sixties in origin... The vocalist on the Bobby Adams sounds a lot like Little Milton to me. Knowing my detective skills it'll probably be unmasked as David Essex or suchlike.

The Bobby Adams one sounds like the work of a professional singer. The rest are decidedly average. They remind me of the days when people covered up records 'cos there was something sub-standard about them and a c/u was the only way to drum up any mystique around or interest in them.

The Soul Fay one is Ronnie West "Lil Woman" on Goins. An old Kitch spin? Maybe one of the only ones apart from the Blendells to make much of an impression.

A really good album throughout. Both "Let Me Up Off My Knees" and "NYC" are blinding Miami deep soul at its' very best. What's an original of this worth now? Also, was it ever actually issued? I've only ever seen promo copies.

Another point: in discussing this we should remember that there are really two (or more) different Volt labels, albeit springing from the same source. The first, Atlantic distributed label owned and operated by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, which ran from 1961 to 1968-9, followed by the Al Bell-run (but still partially Stewart-owned) "independent" phase of the label (nationally ditributed by first Paramount, then CBS). Then of course, there is the Fantasy-distributed logo of the 80s and 90s. It is worth bearing in mind that each phase of the label created different rarities in different ways. There are three records before Otis Redding's "Pain In My Heart", for instance, dating from 1961-62. At least a couple of these are pretty scarce. Then there are oddities like the second Green Onions re-issue (originally on Satellite, then Stax) on Volt in 1963. While Otis Redding records received the lions-share of promotional budgets, there are 45s by the likes of The Admirals, The Tonettes, Deannie Parker, The Sharpels, Dorothy Williams, The Drapels, Oscar Mack etc, which hardly made it out of the distributing wharehouses or radio station storerooms. Volt in this phase is interesting to collectors because it had only one confirmed hitmaker: the vast majority of the other releases were almost bound to fail commercially, although I concede that 45s by the likes of The Mad Lads, Ruby Johnson and a couple of others were strong sellers in some locales. The second Volt label (essentially the seventies one) possesses rarities (like Paul Thompson) which are extremely hard to find in their commercial release format, but which are reasonably plentiful on single-sided WDJ format. It would be interesting to speculate on the quantities of Paul Thompson issues versus deejay-copies: does the latter simply appear far more plentiful because people don't really want the other side? There might be rarities from the 80s-90s that were pressed up in even smaller quantities than the examples mentioned above, but which are yet to emerge as such because nobody is looking for them yet. If you take a perspective wider than a strictly "Northern Soul" one, there are records which are probably much harder to find than Paul Thompson.

Billy what's the number of The Drapers on Volt. All the numbers are filled (by other records!) in the Volt discography.

The Dino & Doc 45 is pretty hard on an issue copy. Ditto Bessie Banks' immortal "Try To Leave Me If You Can"; I've seen more Paul Thompsons lately than either of these, yet neither commands a pricetag of over £30. Supply and demand and all that, I guess. I would imagine some of the pre-Otis Redding Volt 45s are pretty hard to turn up. Speaking of Otis Redding, you don't often see copies of early classics like "These Arms Of Mine" or "Pain In My Heart" in decent condition any more.

Think the common credit is (Little) Archie Himon as a writer and possiblly group member.

Sticking my neck out, I'd say the Magnificent 7 on Dial and Eastern are the same group... seem to remember a couple of common credits on the various records.

The George Wilson 45 is a great record. It probably suffers from being slightly too cheap to play out, and also from a slightly muffled and distorted pressing, but it is a fantastic piece of emotional and intense soul music. Rod Dearlove used to describe it on his lists as being like a '70s Sam Williams. His "If I Loved You" (as Georgie Wilson) is a great slice of unissued smalltown soul too.

I've got "Would You Believe In Me" on a pic sleeve US 45.

The funny thing about this debate is that I think Dave Bupp of the Magnificent Men is actually a really good 'blue-eyed' soul singer. Listen to their "Peace Of Mind", where he turns in a tremendous and entirely credible performance. The guy from the Magnificent 7 is really, really poor by comparison. So, you can see why I object to the Magnificent Men being termed 'poppy' whereas records like "Never Will I" are accepted because we don't definitively know the racial origin of the vocalist. Black, white, whatever; this guy simply cannot sing: in fact his incompetence is comic in proportion. Play the above soundclip to someone who knows nothing of the intricacies of the 'rare soul' scene and I guarantee you they'll bog themselves. I accept that the racial angle is a spurious way of rating records in any case. I prefer to buy records where the singing is far more than functional or merely competent: for me it's got to be exceptional. There are myriad records out there where the vocal talent, even from relative unknowns, is simply sensational. It is these that I prefer to concentrate on. When I can sort out how to work my new ear trumpet, of course.