Garethx

An interesting thread and the points Kev Roberts has made are particularly illuminating: I think he would have a farly good handle on what would have worked and what wouldn't at particular times in the venue's history. The fluctuations in tastes and fashions were lightning quick compared to today's scene: amply illustrated by the fact that there are still comparatively large swathes of the scene for whom records like the Jean Carter and Martha Jean Love coverups are yet to register, when they have been a feature of Butch's sets for a long time. I think it's fair to say that things like these and the Just Bros. cover-up now feature in his sets almost like revisited oldies. I think maybe the title of the thread might be broadened to include other great niters of the past because I can certainly see particular current big spins having had the potential to be big spins at some of the other great historical venues: The Parliaments might possibly have been a bigger record at the Torch than it might have been at Wigan for example, and the likes of Ellipsis and Billy Byrd could surely have been monsters at the Mecca, Cleethorpes or the Ritz. The point has also been well made above that Wigan circa 1980 was practically a different allnighter altogether from the one in the same venue five years earlier. A big feature of our scene and the special something that keeps it relevant is the collision of time and place: certain records only make complete sense at certain venues at a given point in time. It's that alchemy which makes it special. Carla Thomas's unissued monster "I'll Never Stop Loving You" has almost come to represent the 100 Club as an iconic record for that venue. To hear it at the last Anniversary ten minutes before chucking out time was enough to bring a lump to the throats of strong men. It's perhaps irrelevant in such instances to speculate whether it would have had the same impact at Station Road in 1974 because there are a welter of forces which almost guarantee that it probably would not. Does that diminish its magic in any way? Certainly not in my eyes. I applaud Russ for starting the topic as it is a potentially fascinating one, and it's certainly worth making the point that the 'oldies only' brigade are missing some great current spins. It's also worth making the point that the scene has not been able to survive on 'newies only' since before Stafford, so it's the age old dilemma about the correct mix of familiar and less familiar sounds. As ever I always go back to the position that the best deejays will be able to build sets of the best records available to them, from all eras and in a variety of styles and flavours.

Good call. "Song For Aretha" is a tremendous record and seems under-appreciated by soul fans. I played it in the lounge at Yarmouth one year and lots of people came up to look at the record spinning on the decks. I only have it on 45 and wonder if the album lists the vocalists who appear on it as their contribution is very intense indeed.

Jerry Wexler once said that a lot of soul singers could scream, but Wilson Pickett could scream in tune, at will, every time. I've thought for a long time that "I've Come A Long Way" is probably the greatest soul record ever made, bar none: Pickett, Womack and the American Studios band at the very height of their collective powers, elevating southern soul to an artform. Hermon Hitson's screaming is also rather good on most of his records.

Marco owns a copy.

John Ridley's notes on Charley Wynn are here, plus a soundfile of the excellent deep side of his Jim Gem 45. He seems to think that Charley isn't Jimmy: https://www.sirshambling.com/artists/C/charley_wynn.htm

Hi Ady There's an excellent Jimmy Jules 45 on a yellow Jim Gem label: "The Same Things That Make You Laugh Will Make You Cry". I don't have a copy but I'm sure someone here will. It's exceptional Northern in the Southern style if that makes any sense.

The difference between the alternate mix and the 45 is nothing short of astonishing. All of the mudiness and lack of dynamics which the record exhibits has gone. When I was asked to organise the funeral music for a friend a few years ago Simon T kindly sent me an MP3 of the alternate cut. I'll see if I can dig it out as it takes the whole thing to a different level.

Not rare as such, Nev. Fifteen to twenty quid, but a brilliant record that is worthy of spins at the right venue. It's also on the tremendous "Prophet Of Soul" album.

I'd say that Ady's Extremes 45 is on a continuation of the earlier Paro label because of the involvement of Bobby Sanders: different kind of serial numbers but that could be to fit in with the Highland numbering system on the latter release. I should mention that I originally bought the Floyd White 'blind' off John Manship in the late 80s for about 75 quid (!) years before I found the dozen or so cheap copies in the US.

Tony's post clears up any confusion I might have had about the sequencing of these releases.

Hi John I came across a hit of these in a couple of mainstream music stores in California about seven years ago: for a while they seemed to have been dumped in outlets like Amoeba (I found copies at Amoeba stores in both San Francisco and Berkeley along with a few copies of Guy's old 'Lord Thunder' cover-up). I wonder if they didn't come from the huge find at Ray Dobard's warehouse in Oakland but proved to be of little use to the John Manships of this world. I eventually sold them all and some collectors bought a couple of copies each. An interesting record which was just the wrong side of 'early' for me personally. It's a bit twee but the guy has a good voice and it has a certain atmosphere. Johnny Heartsman was involved with the early Jesse James records on Shirley and a host of other Bay Area R&B records. The Paro label design is certainly very attractive, but I'm afraid I can't help with information on other releases.

These last Atlantic-distributed Stax and Volt releases used the logotypes which had previously existed on the album covers as opposed to the label marques (i.e the stack of records and the multiple lightning bolts for Stax and Volt respectively). Atlantic owned the copyright of the outer album logotypes but Stax had ownership of the label marques which, ironically, it chose not to use on records again. It did however mean that the neon 'stack of wax' could remain above the Stax building in Memphis. It is my understanding that these records were recorded before the Stax-Atlantic split and released after it. Atlantic itself had been sold to Warner Brothers/Seven Arts at this time, which precipitated the re-negotiation of the Stax/Atlantic deal. Time shows us it was an incredible oversight by Jim Stewart to sign away the Stax masters in the early 60s, but he was still very new to the record business and couldn't have any idea what a valuable commodity the recorded legacy of, for example, Otis Redding, would one day become. I'm sure if Stax themselves had owned the 1960-1968 masters rather than Atlantic they might have survived the financial travails of the mid-70s.

It would be nice if a vehicle were found to release this on. One of my favourite records ever which I'm glad Kent anthologised on the Dave Godin series as all copies of the US 45 I've heard play with slightly annoying sibilance through one channel. I don't know if the French release plays any better.

Of course, Kev, but I think it will strike a chord for many. Good to see Barry posting again as well.

I think Paul's post is one of the most trenchant ever made on here.

Chi-Heat is a subsidiary of ICA. The same label as the current Willie Dee biggie. It's a good bit rarer on that label but I don't know if it's a case of a local or first release. One thing to bear in mind is that all Chi-Heat copies are styrene, while the ICA copy exists on vinyl. The Chi-Heat version is credited to Edee Leatherwood. As Jordi says a fabulous record and funnily enough one of the two-step tracks which always seems to go down well with lovers of 60s soul. To me it has the same kind of flavour as an updated Maxine Brown Wand record: polished, sultry and sophisticated but still extremely soulful.

Ii think you can hear most of his material on Spotify James.

Unnecessary for me personally. If it is Mayer Hawthorne I quite like some of his other stuff and appreciate what he does in some ways. I wish that he stuck with this general approach, but on new material as that is more interesting to me. However if it gets fans of 'old' soul music to listen to his other stuff then I suppose it serves a useful purpose. These kind of note-for-note covers of old music are not for me though: I think it's fairly clear that this is a wholesale facsimile of the Jesse James recording, adding nothing in terms of interpretation or arrangement.

It's good that the Rambler 45 seems to be around in a bigger quantity and at a more realistic price again. A tremendous piece of soul music. It's got me thinking of what a stable of fabulous artists La Beat had at one stage.

I think it's unnecessary and pretty dire to be honest. But thanks as always for posting Pete.

You're absolutely correct Mark. When I posted initially I couldn't be sure if it was "How Can I" or "Tin Man" on the 12" EP. Checking back on an old thread about that particular release Ady states there were less than 100 copies of that pressed, so it's pretty rare.

I'm sure someone will oblige, Tony.

Originally an unissued Aware recording. The only releases of this are as a Kent Select 45 (backed with The Pretenders A Broken Heart Cries) and the John Edwards "Careful Man" CD on Kent. There's no 'original 45' as such, although the Kent one is every bit that if you see what I mean. I don't know if these were a limited run or if they can still be picked up via the Ace Records website or through Amazon etc. but it's worth doing a search there. The Careful Man CD compilation features lots of other wonderful unissued recordings as well as all his tremendous Aware material and in-demand cuts for Bell, Weiss etc. An essential purchase and for me one of the best CDs ever.

I'm sure Rod Shard can shed more light on this but I wonder if Dave Withers didn't actually play this before Searling.

I appreciate what you're saying up to a point, and I've no wish to turn this into a thread about the merits (or otherwise) of bootlegging, but I'll just say that keeping exclusive tracks exactly that (exclusive) is what kept people travelling to venues to hear them. I wonder if the widespread availability of soundfiles of rarer tracks these days isn't contributing to a degree of lethargy in actually going out and supporting venues. Look at it from a deejaying point of view or from the point of view of those who help turn up new sounds, be they rare 45s or unreleased masters. Is it any wonder that Motown shied away from trawling their vaults for decades when the cream discoveries such as this had already sold in significant quantities on unofficial and underhand releases? It would be lovely to think that Motown could put something together which was a well researched and beautifully presented collection of unreleased Northern sounds from various artists rather than just the single artist box-sets (which are admittedly fantastic) or the rather shoddy Various Artists offerings they've treated us to so far.