Derek Pearson

Following on from the Bessie Banks Quality 45 thread I suddenly thought blimey a rare issues thread would be pretty interesting. But it surely must've been done to death many times before said self doubt in my ear? Off the very top most bit of my head here's some I can recall within 30 seconds of counting: Bessie Banks Quality Carl Hall Columbia Corey Blake Capitol I know there's tons but I just can't filter them out at the moment...... And I know as other people start adding to the list I'll be going "oh yeah how did I forget that....." And finally one of my top favourite issues you need to hear before senility takes over - Lorraine Johnson "Can I Hold you to it" Atlantic demo's are double sided but the issue has "If you want me to be more of a woman, You've got to be more of a man". Both sides way beyond awesome. Or is it the other way round, songwise, re the demos and issue? derek

I don't think I've ever heard that other 45 "Baby you sure know how to get to me" either on Quality or Contempo. Probably might have done possibly? Always had the double sided white demo but never the blue issue. And yeah the flip "Try to leave me if you can" is rather special indeed. The lightbulb has just gone on! That would make a great thread wouldn't it - Rare Issues which you need - but it must have been done to death surely many times before, hasn't it? Tell you what - 'cos I'm a rebel without a clue - I'll start a thread on rare issues now and wait to get told off hahaha. derek

The trouble with us old schoolers - of which I am one, now I'm past the 50 mark - is that sometimes we value a record at year 2000 prices and overlook the blindingly obvious facts that (a) that was ten years ago and (b) demand forces prices up. Now I know all this, you don't need to tell me..... but just like Pikeys Dog said earlier I always sorta thought BB was a thirty quid touch. And because of what I've stated above - these days, if I'm thinking of shifting off any record of value I do a fair bit of prowling around the internet to try an' gauge its curent price. Now I've got a lovely clean Quality WDJ that I might consider letting go - so you can imagine I was quite shocked/suprised/pleased when I checked Popsike 3-4 months ago to see what sales of BB were fetching - gulp, anywhere from £150 rising up to £250. In Pearson world everything is still 1974 hahaha. derek

Derek Pearson & special guest Andy Dyson Shades Of Soul 21.00-22.00pm. Bradford Community Based Radio BCB106.6FM On checking through my notes I was quite surprised to discover tonight's guest had appeared 3 times on BCB during 2009, yet surprisingly hadn't made it back into the studio at all last year. So an early recall at the beginning of this year was imperative. We welcome Andy Dyson and his box of tricks back into BCB Towers accompanied by an old mate of his, Nick Stevenson. Blimey 3 of us in that small studio chatting away, it was sheer luck we managed to play any records at all........ Fasten your seat belts and await 60 minutes of the good groove. It could go anywhere and often does. Expect the weird. Expect the wonderful. You can rely on us. And as usual if you're interested in hearing the show live there's 2 ways to go about it first try the good old 106.6FM frequency on your radio if you live within say 10 miles of the studio and secondly through the wonders of the world wide web www.bcbradio.co.uk Onwards, Derek All Era's. All styles. All over the place. Andy Dyson's choice of eleven tunes: dorothie berrie - woman needs a good man (USA) darondo pulliam -how I got over (Octavia) ramona jones -ease off lover emanuel laskey -just the way emulations -move a little closer billy stewart - I do love you bell brothers -give it up jg lewis -what am I (IX Chains) johnny Gilliam -baby take me back (Modern) gail Anderson -my turn now chuck Henley -standing in the need of love Dee Pee's varied selection of nine old 45s: Charles Spurling "She cried just a minute" King; The Ballad's "I can't see your love" Wee; Sandra Richardson "Stay here with me" Inter/Soul ©1974; Loleatta Holloway "Mother of Shame" Aware ©1973; The Vipers "Little Miss Sweetness" Duchess; Little Ron Johnson "I keep telling you" Hard Times; The Enticers "Calling for your love" Cotillion; Melvin Davis "You made me over" Invictus ©1973; The Masqueraders "Now that I've found you" Hi ©1973. with special guest Andy Dyson - Bradford BCB Radio 106.6FM 9-10pm - sixty minutes of the good groove

I refer back to a thread I started on 18 December 2010 in which I stated that "I'd drafted summat dead interesting about Mister Mancha and was gonna tag on a couple o' sound clips to explain". Coughs. And a month went by. So who exactly was John L. Brown? John L. Brown with the Rayettes "I'm Losing You" (J. Brown, M. Davis, S. Mancha) 2:45 / "Sweet Young Love" (Like-It-Is 690) Produced by Nate Johnson. J. L. Brown "True Love"* 2:55 (J. L. Brown) / "Baby Baby"** 2:45 (J. Hall, J. Brown) (Clifton 501) *Produced by Mr. Sol John L. Brown (think that should have read Mr Soul?) ** Produced by Jeanette Hall & John L. Brown. If John L. Brown wasn't a pseodnym for Steve Mancha well he certainly had a penchant for recording his songs then didn't he? Let me explain: out of the 4 songs recorded by Brown –in discussion here - 3 of them were previously sung by Mancha. Listen to the sound clips and see what you think – aren't Mancha's "I Don't Want To Lose You", "Just Keep On Loving Me" and "I Won't Love And Leave You"; Brown's "I'm Losing You", "True Love" and "Baby Baby" respectively? john l brown with the rayettes - i'm losing you - like it is J.L. Brown - True Love - Clifton 501a J.L. Brown - Baby Baby - Clifton 501b Call me mental but I'd always thought J.L. Brown was infact Steve Mancha under another name. I'll be the first to admit I haven't got that type of acute hearing that can immediately distinguish different voices but even with my ears both singers sounded very similar indeed. On first hearing I straight away recognised the pair of songs Brown cut on Clifton were songs Mancha had laid down previously at Groovesville. I just sorta assumed Brown had re-jigged the title to get round the copyright issue somehow. So in December of last year after playing the Clifton 45 on radio, I thought I'd delve into the record a bit more and see what I could find out. And the more I did. The more the mystery box opened. Within days of hearing me play "True Love" on the radio, fellow Soul Sourcer Premium Stuff contacted me to ask, 'what's the story on this Clifton 45'? He suggested J.L. Brown was indeed Steve Mancha as John L. Brown on Like-It-Is Records was - he reckoned – the same man. To be honest I'd never heard of this Like-It-Is 45 before, but being the wizard at Maths that I am, I soon added two an' two. My first port of call was a trawl through Popsike to see if details of either record were documented. Only one John L. Brown sale was listed from October 2010 at $115. The UK seller described said 45 as: "The A side is to me actually Steve Mancha's "I Don't Want To Lose You" which came out on Groovesville. The flip chorus instrumental is more of a mystery!" Which leads me to wonder if "Sweet Young Love" was maybe a previously unreleased Groovesville instrumental backing track or summat? Similarly Popsike only mentions one sale of the Clifton single in November 2008 which went for £30. A quick input of both the names used by Mister Brown into the search engines of the 2 major song writing websites of BMI and ASCAP turned up nothing at all. A quick flick through Refosoul unearthed this sound clip posted by Diggin Dave on 2 March 2010. Steve Mancha was born Clyde Darnell Wilson on Christmas, 1945 in Walhall, SC. There have been numerous articles written over the years about this great singer/songwriter from South Carolina who travelled north and made Detroit his second home. But of all the ones I've seen there's no mention of, or any connection to, this mysterious John L. Brown. So here's the punchline: If Mancha was indeed J.L. Brown under another name were the latters simply a straight reissue of the earlier Detroit recordings or did Mancha re-record his material again to disguise it slightly. And if Brown wasn't Mancha in a mask just who on earth was he? Your thoughts and opinions welcomed. derek Steve Mancha RIP.

The flip side "I'll be right there" is rather super indeedi. Now Records 2922. Light Green label. derek