purist

What name ? There were some collectors, in the early years especially, who always put their signature in the run out groove, and some of them had the appearance of being part of the records pressing. (cant think of any of the names now, but bet there's some still in my collection)

Was there any connection between Gary Sole and that Gary Knight " Night People " ? I remember you telling me the story years ago, but I've forgotten now ? ( rugby tomorrow ?)

Didn't this used to be a rule of the forum, that you couldn't mention anything on ebay that was still " live " ? Or am I getting mixed up and it was a rule of the old Soul Talk list ? Personally I agree with Callum, and wonder if sometimes sellers deliberately get their ebay sales mentioned in threads by mates etc, in order to push up the price ? Bargains are few and far between, but it enriches my life when i hear that so-and-so collector has bought some major rare 45 for a pittance on the Bay* ! (* can also be read as a). internet generally, b). some riffy basement/warehouse, c). on a dealers list where it's been listed for the 'wrong' side/ wrong category/underpriced, etc

Think this may have made a brief appearance at Top Of The World, mid 80's ? Sounds great played loud in a venue ! Top Pick Tim !

I love the Willie Tee 45, and we would all agree it's really hard on a wdj, but is it correct that the red issue is the rarer, as I remember seeing written on a dealer list years ago ? ( At the time it broke I seem to remember discussing it with one of the DJ's... might have been Pat or Ian Clark?... and it was something like " There's 4 copies, 3 wdj's and one issue", so perhaps that's where the idea started? Popsike shows 2 issues and one wdj ( although there's several wdj looky-likeys whch I guess are emidiscs/carvers?) I just wondered what folk think? Either way, it's one of my most favourite tracks of all time and always puts a smile on my face !

I think you would have loved the middle years at Albrighton

Somewhere back in the mists of time - probably in an early edition of Soulful Kinda Music - I wrote an article called something like "The Trades Description of Northern Soul". My idea then, as now, was that all flyers & adverts should be an accurate description of what type of nite® it's gonna be. To simply say 'oh just look at the DJ's names' isn't enough, as many DJ's can play more than one style ( one of my all time favourite sets in a lifetime of listening to this music of ours was when Butch came to Albrighton one nite and played a complete set of Crossover, blew everybody away, chin strokers included. So if I can use No. 1 as an example then that destroys that arguement) I never know if I'm lucky or unlucky because I like virtually all styles & types of N/S (with one notable exception) but even I want to know what I'm going to. My usual dominating choice leads me to rare soul events, but maybe once or twice a year I fancy a good dose of Classic Oldies, but too often the nights described as such are not what they claim, but are handbag nights with 70's disco night club hits sitting alongside pop chart Tamla Motown, so the problem works up as well as down. The best idea is to ask folk who go to a venue regularly or as somebody said look at playlists, but not everybody has the time to ' do their homework'. so put me down for a tick in the Flyers/Ad's should be accurate column ! and if you're out and about tonight, then I hope you find the correct venue/room for your music preference.

To me the phrase came into use to describe events which played music from the 60's and other decades. As it came about in an era when there was a clear demarcation between the 3 scenes, handbag, nostalgia/oldies, and the true northern/rare soul scene ( which stuck to the original ethos of constantly trying to find fresh ( whether they be newies and recent discoveries, or fresh because it's something we haven't heard for many a year) tunes to keep people coming back for more. At Albrighton they tried doing it several ways. One way was to alternate DJ's with a predominantly 60's DJ, and then follow them with a mainly 70's or x-over or New release Soul DJ, and do this throughout the nite ( but to be fair no one stood at the side of the stage with a shotgun in case you strayed from your appointed path) Another version was tried where each DJ was to try to fit plays from several styles/ decades into her/his set. Of course this makes it difficult to book certain DJ's who only play one style or decade. No one was ever told they couldn't play Oldies, but let's be honest here, it was never gonna do your credibility any good if you did play more than the odd one or two, and then only if it was neccessary to make your sets flow, or to break a specific newie on the back of a similar Oldie, or some other reason. This era was when DJ'ing moved forward with a leap and competition for places made for more adventurous DJ's and playlists. Like everything, people (who often were not around on the scene when it started) take something they don't understand and then co-opt it to suit their own ends, hence the current use, which a great number of people are unhappy about. It's the same as when fools think the term Rare Soul applies to Top 500 Oldies which are rare by quantity. They are not Rare Soul because they cost a lot of money, or there's only a handful of copies. Job Opening is a (fantastic) Classic Oldie, it's not Rare Soul. Rare Soul is a sound which encompasses many styles, 60's Newies, 70's, 80's, X-Over, Beat Ballads, Latin Flavoured,etc, ( we half-jokingly use the phrase, "would it have been played at Stafford" ) but it's often easier for most to say what it isn't, which is Classic Oldies, irrespective of whether it's a 3 known copies 45, or not. So you might ask what distinguishes Rare Soul from Across The Board? imho only the playing of new releases which happened at ATB events ( although they did play new releases back at Stafford - but they were 80's new releases

Digging through a box today I found my copy of The Gambrells " Find A Love / Jive Talk ", which I rate as a perfect example of a record that quite easy to find on issue, but darn difficult on a wdj ( only seen 2 or 3 in my lifetime) two fabulous sides imho

The one you're thinking of is Carl Hall (Loma 2086 - Nov 1967). The promo has long and short versions of 'You don't know nothing about love', whilst the issue comes with the long version on one side and 'Mean it baby' on the other.

Generally, yes, 80/90% of titles I see sell for much less on ebay. Not talking about indemanders, biggies or current spins by such and such a dj, but general good quality northern related. It especially applies to less obvious, say the things you want are not top 500 oldies or classics. Lots of ebay things seem to then reappear a couple of weeks later on sales lists, dealer sites etc, with a reasonable mark up to ensure they've made a small profit. Could of course be coincidence how the exact same titles reappear in around the time it takes to get a parcel mailed from the states For example, somebody asked so price quoted on here today for George Freeman Down & Out on a lovely looking purple issue, I checked back cause I keep a list of ebay prices on certain things for my own reasons, last couple I saw on ebay were £77 and £101 (and this one was unplayed, which to me adds a small premium to the value) Yet folk on here said price 150-200 for the issue. It's not perfect ebay, but you pay less to cover when things dont work out imho some more examples of ebay prices - Adams Apples mint vinyl demo £140 Determinations Bing £39 ( super shiney vinyl, as new) Jive Five Puzzle wdj £18 Monorays Love wdj unplayed £12 but on the other hand - Fab Jades Rika Bootleg £90, not the genuine article but a boot, for 90 flipping quid !!! What is that saying ? Buyer Beware ! hth

Always loved that Jimmy Dockett Kev. I fancied a listen, but gobsmacked its not on refosoul, youtube or soulgirl ! and john manship aint got one to listen to either, wonder how many others there are that you cant find sound files for? if you like stafford stuff my recommendation is to just buy it !

I've got a demo (collected all the northern related demos years back) and speaking purely from memory I can only remember one Loma demo which is the same both sides, requiring the purchase of a stock issue to get both sides, and this wasn't it. My label collection is packed away, so to check 100% would require me going digging, so hopefully somebody else will answer, but if they don't answer shortly pm me and I'll go look. great tune btw. ( and a perfect example of under heard, lesser known that would grace any dance floor)

Issue anyone ?

Styrene / stick on label? that and the fact that outside of a brief period when Guy was spinning this it's never been what you'd call a " hottie", makes me think it's more likely an oddity rather than a boot. What if anything can you see in the run out groove? Personally I don't think you can beat holding the record in your hand and looking at it for assessing whether it's dodgy or not, so without holding it, based purely on the pic and your info regarding owning it for years, I'd go for oddity. hth.

I collect RCA's amongst other things. One night I saw an issue Gia Mateo, and was gonna buy it but a mate said " that ain't rare, I've got one at home which we could do a trade on". Sure enough I saw his issue when I dropped him home, but never got it off him. So having seen two issues in the space of several hours I haven't noticed one since. I've always presumed issues became rarer on some labels as they were shipped out on a "sale or return" basis, and all the unsold stock went back to be recycled. Could well be wrong, just a theory based on working in the industry for a while.

Thanks for that Matt. Keep promising myself to get down to Move On, but these days I'm lucky if I can manage one venue per weekend, but I will get there soon, promise !

As some people will be aware (those who were at Rugby last saturday nite for example) my son and his film school mates are doing a short student film on N/S. It's in a documentary format, and amongst the themes they're looking at are what are t... Tap to view this Soul Source News/Article in full

The first boot I remember was the pale blue one without any art work, just plain lettering. A good many years before I saw one which mimicked the real label?

Just sent mine in, please keep us up to speed with how it's going. cheers john pugh

In my experience putting the price you wanna pay for your want helps you get the record (even if it almost always gets answered with " I've got one but I want a fiver more than you are offering, can you come up to my price, it is a minter after all :-)

Make it easy on yourself, buy the British one on Pye Disco Demand.

Cant remember the film now, so I'm hoping someone else will. There's 3 old black guys sitting outside a store and every time the store comes into view the old guys are back there again, commenting on life. As I remember 2 of the 3 were old northern artists (the other being some old comedian possibly?) and it got talked about quite a lot on the scene at the time the film appeared. Could it be " a Spike Lee Joint " or similar? most likely a 90's film? help !

Two great sides imho