Garethx

The records above are pressed at two different RCA plants in the U.S.

Dream My Heart is probably one of the Shrine records I've seen the most copies of. The trick is finding it in acceptable condition. John Anderson had a totally mint one about seven or eight years ago, and he wanted £400 for it, which seemed to represent reasonable value for money. A great soul record.

Different pressing plants. Monarch in California would have overprinted titles on their Tamla blanks with black type (silver on Soul, Gordy and Motown), while the other vinyl copy of the Brenda Holloway 45 is from somewhere else, possibly in the midwest. I don't know if anyone has done an exhaustive study of the number of pressing facilities used by Motown in different parts of the US, but there are probably several regional variations of each of the popular (and not so popular) titles. It might be useful if someone could post a scan of a Motown 45 which is defintely a counterfeit. I don't think I've ever actually seen one.

This Isley Brothers 45 looks completely legitimate to me. Tony is correct in mentioning the number of Motown 45s which were counterfeited at the time of their release: the Miss Ray case is notorious, and several other Motown hits fell victim to more organised bootlegging. It must be remembered that Motown were an independent who were able to shift relatively huge numbers of records: a situation which aroused the interest of many shady figures in and around the record business (they thought that Mr Gordy probably didn't have the muscle to fight off such attacks, and that Motown's chart supremacy would not have the longevity it subsequently enjoyed).

A Tex-Mex group, I would guess.

*On a related note I'd be interested in buying the P-Vine lp with "All I Need Is Someone Like You" if anyone out there has one for sale.

I've seen Al McCall 7" DJ copies. I suspect the issue is 12" only.

Only released in the late 1980s, although it's a late 60s recording. Practically every copy is on this side of the Atlantic. My guess is that only a couple of hundred were pressed and all are nestling in collections, hence the relatively high price. I offered one for sale on here in February at £110 and could have sold it many times over. I am led to believe Guy Hennigan was the first dj to play the record and that no original 60s acetate exists.

As has been pointed out many times Hattie Winston appears in Becker. I'm pretty sure Patrice Holloway was in at least one episode of The Streets of San Francisco.

Wow. Never knew this made it to 45. Is it for sale Phil?

There's a copy of the Tayster lp on ebay currently, Buy It Now for $49.99. All the non-45 cuts are really excellent, with extra special mention going to the super-deep "Otis, Heaven Will Welcome You" maybe my favourite Carence Reid ballad. I'm sorry I can't provide soundfiles, but this lp is pretty good value for that price. I think I paid something like $90 in the days before ebay.

The Big Upset is by Paul Kelly, inspired by Muhammad Ali beating Sonny Liston in Miami, apparently. There are dozens of Calrence Reid records as artist, writer and producer which either have been spun or are worthy of rare soul scene spins. A big favourite of mine is "The Price I Have To Pay" from his Tayster lp: a neat midtempo item in the Purple Mundi mode.

The Fiery Spartans and Pic & Bill are identical recordings.

Sad news indeed. Could someone please post up a soundfile of her "I'm Losing The Feeling" on Chess: to me one of the greatest soul vocal performances of all time.

While it's a tough record it shouldn't be too expensive: how much did the ebay copy go for?

Quite a tough record to obtain Dylan. I was fortunate to find one in the long gone "Sea Of Tunes" record shop in Camden Town over twenty years ago for 50p. Classic Fame at its finest. The other side is a strange version of Carl Perkins "Matchbox": the record which gave it's name to the terrible pub rock and roll revival act of the early eighties.

I'm pretty sure this is Morris Dollison/Cash McCall. A great songwriter: That's How It Is (Otis Clay/Laura Lee) is one of the greatest songs in all of soul. The RC cut mentioned above is fantastic and I'm sure its time has come.

Agreed. A great price for Thomas Bailey, especially on an issue copy. Someone buy it!

Thanks Tony, Christian and John for your input. Looks like I have an original.

The bootleg was aimed fairly and squarely at Island Soul collectors.

The vinyl of the copy I'm holding in my hand is pretty standard in weight as opposed to radically heavy. Looking at the type through a glass it doesn't have the giveaway photostat quality which the "pressings" of this I've seen before exhibited. However I've never had an original for direct comparison when faced with the stamping marks on the bootleg in the past, hence my question. Another thing has occured to me about this particular copy: it has a BB hole as does the only copy listed on Popsike at the moment. The obvious boots, as well as the copy that recently sold on Ebay were all un-drilled.

Can anyone out there tell me definitively what the differences between a genuine original and the bootleg are. Label wise they're fairly close, both being a simple yellow label. I think the typesetting was done at an Atlantic pressing facility looking at the records: other Henry Stone logos of the time, principally Dade, were distributed by Atlantic/Atco at that particular time. I don't know if there are any other 45s on the Blade logo. I have just bought a copy of this 45 for a fairly top-end price from a UK source, and am curious as to how it stacks up with a copy which just went through Ebay. Run out grooves on the copy I've just bought read as follows: on the Rain From The Sky side: H165 DUKOFF on the I Can't Go On Anymore side: H164 DUKOFF The recent Ebay sale has the following: "This record has a hand etched matrix, the A side reads "BL-165-A Rain From The Sky", and the B side reads " BL-165-B I Cant Go On Anymore" The B side also has a number etched through that appears to be "BL665A". I got it from a collection of singles that came out of New Orleans a few years ago. I've not had this title before so I can't verify anything more than this. Please don't hesitate to ask questions about ANY record I have listed." Has anyone out there got a genuine original release to check against, or can anyone tell me if there is reference to this 45 in JM's bootleg guide. Please help, 'cos I'm puzzled. TIA, gareth.

Yes, Tony, The Cornet as in Horse's Cornet. Other people may have run events at the Wessex subsequently, but I'm pretty sure the last actual Function was there, rather than at what became The Jongleurs. It would have been some months after The Cornet became a comedy club and there might only have been one FATJ there, but I'm almost positive that this was the case. I think there will be an advert for the relaunched Function in an issue of Black Beat which I still have. Summer 1984. I'll try and check at some point over the weekend as the magazines are in my cellar. A record I can vividly remember being spun there which accurately dates it all is Garland Green's "Ain't That Good Enough" played by Ian Clark, which was really taking off around then, after not having really been played anywhere in a concerted sense before this date. My membership card for the Function had a false birthdate on it: 1st April 1966 (a year in advance of my actual birthday) because I would have been too young to legally get in at the time. I'll also try and dig that out as well as a rather nice flyer for the Soul Drifting boat trip which would also have been in summer 1984. Has anyone got any recollections of that particular event?

I think the chronology of the Function had the Coronet before the Wessex. I have a distinct memory of the original Functions being held during the winter at The Coronet, while the first event at The Wessex was definitely the following spring/summer. The 101 was at least three years before this. The Coronet was a large room above a pub, with not that much of a dancefloor. The Wessex was as mentioned above a 'banqueting suite' and had much more of a wedding-reception-like atmosphere with a large dancefloor. The sounds at the Wessex were far more Northern-oriented than the Coronet.

Sounds I remember from the Function at the Junction are things like Boomerang by Otis Leavill, Candy by The Astors, Under The Streetlamp by The Exits. It was pretty much an attempt to get back to the basics of 60s club and mainstream soul as opposed to playing just rare 'Northern' soul, although some classics of this type such as Epitome of Sound were played too. Ian Clark played some of his big sounds of the time: i.e. Cashmeres on Hem, Jo Ann Coucey, Empires etc. but also mixed in classic 6Ts West Hampstead type sounds. Perhaps people who played at the event, like Tony Rounce, Tony Ellis, Ady and Pete Wid can recall some of their playlists. As I said above, the atmosphere was probably as important as the actual music, although that was always great too.