Garethx

XL is before Sounds Of Memphis. They sound like the same version to me but I think the mastering and pressing is slightly better on the SOM. An essential purchase for Southern Soul fans as the other side If I Can't Run To You is one of the greatest female deep records ever recorded.

edit.

Maybe Play The Music Toronados sounds more right for now? Ballad flip of James Taylor sounds great also.

Hi Keith Have a spare Crosstown Express if you still need it. May have two spares if anyone else is looking. best, gareth

The melodic similarity between the Lillie Bryant single and This Old Heart of Mine could account for the scarcity of the former 45. Similarly Benny Latimore's rarest Dade 45, I'm A Believer is a dead ringer for Wilson Pickett's I'm In Love.

Why so many of these negative record threads? One of the great things about the fanzines of old was reading record reviews where people were bursting with enthusiasm in trying to spread the word about under-heard music. Nowadays it seems that it's easy to sit in front of a monitor and produce lists of crap records. It strikes me as peurile and counter-productive.

Just a quick note to say what a pleasant experience being active on the Sales & Wants section of the site has been lately. Sold some records to nice people for great prices and picked up a few good'uns too. Everybody's been unfailingly polite and everything's gone like clockwork. It's been a great way to reach the right audience with soul sales without global capitalism getting in the way. A big thanks to Mike and the moderators for making it all possible and to fellow forum members for their fine taste and good manners. yours in soul, gareth

I think that's highly unlikely. Goffin & King had split up as a couple by the time this was recorded and it doesn't sound anything like them vocally (for a start it's two girls as opposed to a male/female duo). Additionally they would presumably have been loath to record a composition by unknowns like the D-Men (Askew & Wadhams) when they themselves were America's premier songwriting team at the time.

The other side, On You Heartaches Look Good, has seen a pretty big revival in the last five or six years. Agree about How Can I Ever Find A Way growing on you: as a lad I dismissed this as girlie rubbish but now I think it's a beautifully crafted example of sunshine American pop from a golden age at its most charming and poignant. I remember a thread about white artists on Dave Flynn's forum a few years ago where one of the American contributors (possibly Jeff Lemlich) had a theory about the identity of Carol & Geri, the gist of it being that they were two white schoolgirls from the suburbs. The instrumental backing on the record is by a group called the D-Men who later recorded as The Fifth Estate on Jubilee. *edit: a quick bit of googling reveals that The Fifth Estate's retrospective CD on Boston Skyline "Ding Dong The Witch Is Back!" (titled after the group's only hit single) features the HCIEFTW track as an unreleased master from 1966. I've just played it and it's identical to the Carol & Gerri cut.

Pretty sure Grapevine did Johnny Moore about four years ago.

Sorry. Yes to Fuller Brothers, No to Storm Warning.

Ronnie Walker on Philips?

The Impressions "You've Been Cheating"? Jeff Perry "Love Don't Come No Stronger"? Chairmen Of The Board "Give Me Just A Little More Time"? Marvin Gaye "Little Darling"? Bobby Bland "Shoes" or "Yum Yum Tree"? Anyone mentioned Clara Hardy on Tuna or Jackie Day on Phelectron? I thought everyone had these now.

Very interesting Dave. I'd say it was the Memphis George Jackson (of Aretha, Sing One For Me fame) rather than the white guy on Mercury. Don't think it's on any of the discographies as yet, but have heard rumours of another record by him existing: this is presumably it. What's the other side like?

That'll teach me to read the entire thread. It would seem from the fulsome praise that it's receiving on other areas of the site that the record which unites this sometimes disparate scene (and would appear to be in most collections) is none other than 'Elusive' by Babe Ruth. "Who knew" as the yanks are fond of saying.

Edwin Starr SOS c/w I Have Faith In You?

I do not own a copy of The Showstoppers in any format. regards, gareth

Hi currently looking for a copy of HAPPY BEAT 102 RICHY CEE SHIP LIKE OUR FRIENDSHIP / SHE'S RIGHT ON TIME in VG+ or above condition. I know there's currently one on Manship's site, but I don't think the proceeds from my paper round will stretch that far. TIA for any leads, gareth

Clyde 'Steve Mancha' Wilson only sings on the Wheelsville 45 version of Did My Baby Call. The Professionals cut features a different singer: I don't know who he is (I was always led to believe The Professionals were essentially a dance troupe who didn't actually record all their own vocals on record, but stand to be corrected on that) but it's not Steve Mancha. Goldmine Soul Supply used The Professionals version of the track on their CD/LP The Essential Detroit Collection and mistakenly credited it as Steve Mancha on Wheelsville. As others have said Clyde Wilson had an extremely distinctive voice: his singing is in a higher register and is a lot more expressive than the vocalist on The Professionals. Both versions are great Detroit soul and I'd gladly listen to either.

Hi Mal I've heard most of the above at clubs on at least one occasion, maybe with the exception of Paul Walters, which is owned by at least a couple of the UK djing fraternity. The Turks was pretty popular at Stafford ("The Bad Bought The Good" side anyway).

That is a surprising price for Theola Kilgore. I suppose it's never been that easy to find and I would never sell mine as it would mean breaking up the Theola Kilgore collection, but it's still surprising.

Richard Evans was responsible for The Soulful Strings too. What they both have above the SOUL version is a cool and studious intensity.

Regarding SOUL versus Soulful Strings cut of Burning Spear: The Soulful Strings is more 'Northern', that's why it got played. Northern has embraced a lot of styles, but there's sometimes an almost-but-not-quite-tangible 'feel' to a record which marks it out as playable: an atmosphere that goes beyond a particular rhythm or tempo. SOUL's version probably sounds better to ears which have been bought up on Hip Hop; as James says it's beefier, darker etc. But it's not Northern.

"The Bottle" is just a fantastic piece of music and has been an anthem on all of the scenes on which it has been played. Rokk is an okay record and I'm sure if it had been around in quantity as a new release it would have had a brief day in the sun back then. I don't know that there's an inbuilt resistance to more 'off the wall' sounds generally. I think of Lifeline the other week and pretty much all the deejays played tracks that fell outside the remit of straightforward Northern in what has come to be accepted as the classic sense: as mentioned on another thread Sam played The Apaches, Mick played Foreign Blue Renaissance and so on. All went down really well, because they're good records and crucially the night had created its own atmosphere where people wanted to dance and it would have taken something pretty spectacularly bad or groundbreaking to clear the floor. This has been an interesting topic James, so thanks for raising it. Some of the tracks mentioned are great, others are dire and some are just plain ridiculous. I suppose they're all a reminder that at one stage the scene was peopled by the young and enthusiastic. The main aim was to dance and have fun; reflecting this whatever 'rules' which existed were made up as people went along. Youth cults were never meant to last this long and what we see now is the fallout of that, I suppose. When niters fail to have the special atmosphere which made us all want to go in the first place then that's a problem and the introspection about the nature of the scene, music policies, 'venue politics' etc. all get aired.

Another one from the Cleethorpes era which sounds pretty out-there today is Sidney Thomas "Look Let's Make Love" on Parallel.