Garethx

It finally went for a bit over a grand! I'm shocked. Great record though.

Billy Proctor & Marva W. Taylor now sold. Blake, Andy: thanks very much indeed for the soundclips. gareth.

Sorry Sebastian, but it is not currently within my capabilities to provide soundfiles.

FOR SALE: Going to put these on here prior to ebaying them. Thanks in advance for any interest. Paypal, cashiers cheque, cash accepted. BILLY PROCTOR & LOVE SYSTEM KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES/ (I'M GONNA) CHOP DOWN THAT OAK TREE EPIC 8-50160 ISSUE M- £125 Fantastic and in-demand Philly dancer from 1975. Got to be pretty rare on an issue with both sides. Anglo American had the single-sided demo for £100 a few weeks ago. HOWARD PETERS THE THRILL WILL STILL BE NEW/ SOULVILLE CORAL 62546 YDJ M- IN COMPANY SLEEVE £25 Good deep soul from Nashville. Flip is a nice boogaloo style rave-up. Both sides written by Jimmy Radcliffe. Immaculate condition. MARVA W. TAYLOR NOTHING I'D RATHER BE THAN YOUR WEAKNESS/ I'VE LIVED THE LIFE FORTE 11151 M- £30 Marva Whitney on a great downtempo mover. The original mid-70s release and to my mind the best version of this much-used backing track. JOHNNY MOORE CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOUR LOVE/ I'M ONLY HALF A MAN WITHOUT YOUR LOVE JADAN 7740 VG++ £80 Up to the late, great Johnny Moore's immaculate standards, two great Chicago midpacers on his own label. Seen listed at upwards of £250. BOBBI ROW & THE ENGLISH MEN WHY'D YOU PUT ME ON/ FACTS OF LIFE MONEY 116 VG++ LABELS REVERSED £90 Lovely West Coast 60s group harmony dancer (I think I can categorically state these are not real Englishmen). Got to be one of the harder releases on this great label. TIP WATKIN YOU DESERVE THE RIGHT TO BE CALLED FATHER/ FAMILY MAN FLOWER 835F-3515 VG+ vinyl w/some water damage to labels £90 Scorching crossover, both sides. Seen listed at upwards of £200.

Here are scans of the Flower 45:

Todd Rundgren probably deserves his own topic, but must say how much I love "Fade Away".

Dave Thorley had a great Tip Watkin press shot and maybe a live poster among the soul memorabilia he took to Lifeline last year. Wonder if he still has them?

One of his other 45s on a Bell subsidiary (Mala?), "I Can Make You Happy" is very good.

The Sisters Love are cruelly underrated. So many great records. Probably the antithesis of a girl group in the same way The Dells or Masqueraders could never be charactersied as a "boy band".

Bobby Womack is soul music. If you can't find a Womack track to float your personal boat you shouldn't be here. I acknowledge he has his detractors and his recorded legacy can be mercurial, but he has traversed pinnacles of artistry that most mortals can only dream about. Wonderful pieces of recorded music abound throughout his career. As a writer for Wilson Pickett and others he gave us moments of soul history: "I've Come A Long Way" for Pickett is probably my very favourite song of all time. The early Minit albums still sound fresh: "Thank You", "Love, The Time Is Now" and others give a wonderful insight into how Sam Cooke might have sounded had he lived. The United Artists preriod encompassing the Communication, Understanding , Facts of Life and Looking For A Love Again albums is, for me, the finest concerted body of soul music ever put on tape. The humanity, verve and sheer skill in these recordings are simply and starkly historic: here was a man who took the genre of Rhythm & Blues to its very acme, stretching the form to its outer limits and in the process becoming the poet of a particular african-american experience. "I Can Understand It", "He'll Be There When The Sun Goes Down (Facts of Life)", "Doing It My Way", "Harry Hippie", "I Don't Wanna Be Hurt By Ya Love Again" and so many more recordings of this period are almost miraculous tracks, the ultimate expression of the possibility that the seeds 60s soul music had sewn. The playing, the singing, the feel of it all are scintillating. Even the albums made by the bloated, strung-out Womack of the mid 70s: "I Don't Know" and "Safety Zone" include enough essential moments to make them worthwhile, particularly the spookily apocalyptic tiltle track of the former in two shattering parts. The return to form on Columbia in '76: "Home Is Where The Heart Is" contains staggering moments of true heart, exultation, joy, pain, resourcefulness, sorrow and wisdom. "Home Is Where The Heart Is", "Something For My Head", "A Little Bit Salty", a chilling version of "A Change Is Gonna Come", a wonderful zip through Ace's "How Long" and crucially the amazing "Standing In The Safety Zone" (never really appreciated because its tempo never instantly lent itself to any UK dance music scene), all affirm what a majestic talent he had become. As singer, songwriter, guitarist and bandleader he had marshalled forces which, to my mind, created some of the finest soul music of all time. The follow up, "Pieces" just couldn't match such an illustrious predecessor, although "Trust Your Heart" and "Stop Before We Start" deserve honourable mention. The Arista lp has a couple of great moments: "The Roots In Me" (in duet with Melissa Manchester) sometimes vies for the title of Womack's Greatest Moment with the early Minit single "I Can't Stand It" for me. "Give It Up" is sheer perfection and I can't tell you what the intro to "How Could You Break My Heart" does to me each time I hear it. The Beverly Glen years and beyond all provide glimpses of the Womack genius: "If You Think You're Lonely Now" has rightfully acheived the status of a standard for the current generation of african-american singers and songwriters and there is much good music on many of the 80s and 90s lps. When he goes he's going to leave a hell of a gap. It will never be adequately filled. He is simply a legend.

A tough single to buy. Sold a copy and have no regrets as it's not really my kind of thing, but it would appear to be genuinely hard to come by these days. Last one I saw for sale was via Malcolm Baumgart at the Victoria record fair. He had something like ten quid on it until I told him that I had just sold a copy for over two hundred quid. Friends in the mod world swear by the other side, but I don't think I ever got around to playing it. Overall I would say it's an interesting 45, but should never have had a place on the northern soul scene. I would be interested to hear what others think...

This has been played quite a lot for the last decade and seems to be pretty popular.

Any spares of Queen Majesty on Jamaican original going? Doesn't have to be mint, just playable. best, gareth.

For me this is Johnny Truitt's best 45 and one of the greatest of all Fame productions. The other side, Baby I Need You is the one to get it for: if you haven't heard it it's a masterpiece. Completely faultless deep soul topped off with Truitt's brilliantly pure voice.

The Banana Splits also recorded the released version of "The Pretty Part Of You", did they not?

The Ambassadors "Ain't Got The Love Of One Girl" sounds great these days and appears to be drying up as a cheap single.

There's a soundfile of The Intrigues on soulclub.org. The Blues Bag Ltd. version is rarer, white and from Texas. Not as good. The Intrigues on Yew is cheap but sounds a million dollars.

It's not "I'm Gonna Love You" by The Intrigues or Blues Bag etc. is it? Can't do soundfiles but you should find one somewhere on here of either of the above.

The Notations on Twinight an absolute steal at that price.

hwcm.

A fascinating topic, and one of the areas of the soul scene that's virtually impossible to fully explain to outsiders: I guess all of these records were made for couples to smooch to and it's quite weird to see a floor full of people dancing to records like these on their own. Personally i think they have a diminishing place as club music for this reason, but the odd one thrown in now and then can sound devastating. Of those posted so far I must say that I've always thought "I Need You" to be one of Goffin and King's very best songs, and Chuck Jackson's version is pretty nigh unbeatable. The Arthur Alexander on Monument is a stone-cold classic of southern soul music and I must admit to long having had a fondness for Steve Davis's minor classic "Laugh A Little..." it's probably got nothing to do with soul music per-se but fits beautifully into this genre being very well crafted and genuinely emotional.

Aren't Maxine Brown's "Just Give Me One Good Reason" and "Don't Leave Me Baby" from her Epic lp? Both brilliant though.

Great topic Dave. A question we'll probably never get a definitive answer to, but the quest is the thing, I guess. How many copies of Tony Womack on Positive Sound out of Detroit are nestling in UK collections? Not a great record, but definitely obscure. Perhaps the more pertinent question might be what's the best 12" single. The answer should be one where the 12" version does full and complete justice to the record in question, where a single or album version just isn't enough. My first nomination goes to Kevin Keys' version of "Distant Lover". What does everybody else think.

The Charles Mintz original on Uplook is very rare: probably got a four-figure pricetag these days. It was re-issued with an instrumental version on the flip, as opposed to "What A Lucky Guy I Am" as per the original. The reissue is a pretty standard £10 or so. Hope this helps.

I've got the other Howard Peters 45 on Coral for sale if anyone's interested. It's a mint YDJ, and is probably (dare I say it) the better record: great deep one side, storming 'boogaloo' style rave-up the other.