purist

Yes.

Is the only UK issue the Kent one, done in the 80's? from memory it had a yellow label, and had two other tracks, the happy r'n'b Huey song and a Mary Love track ( maybe "Bitter"?) or was it released on some other label ? never see them about, wonder how many would have been pressed/sold ? Ady ?

Wow that alt version sounds so different and so much better. What is the cd called, and is it available, anybody know ? btw didn't some american guy turn up at the B'ham record fair a few years back with a handfull of mint unplayed copies, and were they £60 each, but you could only buy one per person? or am i getting mixed up with another tune? John Weston knows, John are you there ?

You sure about them dates Jack ? I thought you started it before Wigan closed down? Didn't we used to arrange lifts for the weekend while Wigan was still going, and I thought we did the whole moaning conversation about the umpteenth last nite rip off in the Wheatsheaf? I know we were still doing the lift arranging in the Stafford era, as well as Oddfellows, Warrington, etc. and the buses you ran to several other further flung venues. When we were at the previous USOS at the Royal Hotel, standing outside having a cool off I couldn't help but look up the road in the direction of the Wheatsheaf. So many happy memories, and a few photos somewhere. Good job there's no photos of those burglars who went to a certain lads flat in order to make sure the nite went ahead one thursday. You must remember, when the lanky plonker had locked the disco gear in his flat ? cheers john pugh

The key point here is condition, and how much below or above the regular venue box price of a decent player & looker should a vg or totally mint record vary. it seems to me that most 45's ( maybe 3/4 of them ?) offered as recent finds stateside are vg at best, yet people ask, and indeed get a stupidly high price. I think it's a kind of wishful thinking that sets in especially when in front of a screen, and faced with the ticking clock of an auction. These overly high prices then get transfered to the sales on source, as folk think " well if somebody paid £100 for a rough vg then mine is worth £150" I also agree that if a collector needs to thin the herd then they are likely to ask up to 50% above the sort of prices you yourself would charge Pete, I know 50% above wouldn't get me to take stuff out of my collection in most cases, but then I'm a collector not a seller

Almost at the end, two gem like lines, "It never ends.... there is no end to collecting" "They stop collecting when they die" yep, that's about the size of it, at least it is for me. thanks for the link

might be talking out of my rear end Joan, but they worked with Lorraine Chandler, and it was said years ago that it was her input that they wanted to acknowledge. The reason was supposed to be that she had contracts that prevented her name being used by another label. As I say it's probably BS, but that's the legend I remember. john ( I never know whether it's worth bringing out these old stories, many of which were at best only partly based in truth, with a lot of Niter Record Bar guesses added imho? the net has expanded our true knowledge, but if we don't note the early ideas they will be lost forever, but would that be a bad thing ? )

Dave, my copy came from Tim, did yours have "George Washington" written in the credits as the artist (instead of Gino Washington) because this one does? ( I understand that Tim might have had more than one over the years, just thought you might remember your old one)

The utterly gorgeous Hep'Me 114 - Ray J & Norma Jean "This Is Our Song Of Love" (parts 1 & 2) - sounds fantastic played loud at an appropriate venue ! one of my fave crossover records ever, can you tell :-) john

I really like their " City Life ", sounds great played loud in a venue. Not to be confused with Buddy Holly frontman Jerry Naylor's popular classic "City Lights". if you dont know it dont go expecting the next great sound, just a good little track, £20 not £200 might be a clue. (p.s. I've always wondered if they were the same group?) btw having spent my life totally avoiding pop music, and every other form of music that wasn't soul, n/s, etc. I had no idea that all these other versions existed, and I'd like to say thanks, for nothing, for wasting my life listening to tracy ullman, kylie,etc. my wife looking over my shoulder while I was typing this, reckons one time big time, ex scottish now americanised, singer Sheena Easton covered a soul classic, anybody else remember what it was?

You are of course correct in saying that whether you own the Young Folk 45 or not, you still must also own the Miss M. 45 because of its double sider credentials. This was one of those classic " let's cover up the flipside several years after the top side was a popular known tune". Neither costs as much as a round of drinks, so treat yourself to both and join the northern label completists union from my less than reliable memory it was covered as Christine Cooper (?) and survived as a cover up for longer than you'd imagine. I write old cover up names on the sleeve so if anyone is deperate I can go looking. Cant be more accurate than say sometime between 78 and 85 (just because I remember a club that ran in that time frame where it was a regular play)

Pretty sure quite a few assorted black country types & wheatsheaf regulars are in these photos. In the top right hand photo I think the lad in the red sweatshirt is Steve Powell, and the lady with her back to the camera is his wife? Oddfellows always had a good turnout from our area. Also of course the irrepressible, exuberant, lovely human being known to one and all as Pickle (R.i.p.) appears in the same photo. I always thought of it as a Niter that didn't take itself too seriously, even though they had some of the best dj's around at the time, which made it special in its own way. I love getting the old videos out and watching them, being transported back to a happier, more free and easy time. Like wise when I'm out somewhere whenever I hear a tune that I think of as an Oddfellows tune....

There's a few photos of me in my youth with these patches/badges being used to cover where I'd put holes in the knees of various trousers when coming off scooters. I thought that's what they were for, patching clothing in a make do and mend type of way. I never got into the whole collecting them thing and usually gave them away. The only thing I liked was the car stickers, and a while back I saw a van at a venue that was covered in what looked like original car stickers. One badge I did find when clearing out some stuff at my moms was a Keighley ( have I spelt that right, it doesn't look right?) think it must be mid 70's? would anybody think that has a value?

There's been a couple for sale that I've seen, and they were around the 300 pound mark, so I think 1500 is way over the top. I personally like it, from the NMD nites, but dont think it has mass appeal as its not 100% northern, or 100% x-over/modern, kinda having a foot in both camps but not the whole body in either. My neice, who lives out there, has asked all over Barbados and the local surrounding islands for a copy for me, but to no avail. so its not exactly gonna be a common find. I think Simon told me his copy was found in europe? scandanavia? The guy himself runs talent shows I think, an island hughie green if you like :-)

Anyone looking for a black stock copy, I have a spare, bought in mistake for their other RCA goodie. Cash offers or trades of similar value

Soul Joe Clements - Ever Ever - Stafford Guy Hennigan Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else's Guy - I will never tire of this track.

It's rare, and fits into the category of " collection sticker" ( in other words, once they get into a collection they stick there) If you've not got one, can I suggest you buy the affordable & findable "My Woman's Love" by the same group to keep you going. It's subtle beauty should not be dismissed the way it often is (outside of Stafford era and X-Over fans)

I've had several and never noticed this fault, mind you when I'm playing oldies at home I often get fed up with most records after about a minute :-)

It's on Triumph. 60 quidish, seen it go up a bit lately. mostly demo's it seems, I like the multi coloured issue label. looks proper. Quite often on the bay, belgium addresses or texas for some reason? Same as her RCA gem "That's Why I Cry" well wroth the investment if you like big voiced gals. check out her Brent 45, Breaking Hearts c/w Fly By Night. Two good sides, FBN being the more venue played of the two, but neither side is over played. The label says Varetta & The Thomases, but think from memory she gets a name credit as writer of one side, so it's definately her ( can't really mistake that wonderful voice)

One nite at TOTW Stafford in the mid 80's my wife suddenly declared this was to be her last niter. No rows or anything, she just said "you'd enjoy it more if you went with your mates". She'd probably done something approaching 10 years by then. I thought she'd have a break for a few weeks and then come back to it. I was wrong, it's got to be getting close to 25 years since she "retired", and in that time she's been to a handful (maybe 5) of soul nites and zero niters in total, and all of them have been soul nites with some special theme ( 40th birthdays, new years eve, etc) yet she loves the music and always dances around the house when I play stuff ( although I can't convince her on the validity of some r'n'b and the slower midpace stuff doesn't often get approval status, and she won't entertain 2K or popcorn at any price- " not northern" is the quote) As for the record buying, we made an agreement when we were young and both earning decent wages, that I wouldn't criticise her for the amount of money she spent on clothes, shoes, make up, tights, etc and she had no say in what I spent my money on, and we've stuck to that ever since. Wouldn't work for everybody, but it works for us, well it has for about 34 years together.

Many thanks for this. One of the best things I've EVER seen or heard on the net. The net has changed vastly our knowledge of soul music, and I'd like to relate this tale for those amongst you who have only recently become soul converts as an example of how we'd chase any leads to try to track down info/records back in the good old days. I read in some obscure privately printed book that Walter Scott often left behind his Bob Kuban band mates to go sing in Chicago studios under various names, as a way of supplementing his income. This fitted in with what we already knew from the few artists we'd got to interview who'd also told us about recording under a variety of names. Because of his vocal ability and tone sounding at times more black than white, I spent a whole evening listening to all the tracks I knew were his, and trying to compare them to any tunes of lesser known chicago recorded acts. You can just imagine the lightbulb moment when I suddenly thought of the LA CINDY 45. It had to be him, guesting with the Admirations while their lead singer was away doing his national service maybe ( it's funny how your brain finds a way to make the facts fit the theory) I knew that somewhere amongst all the junk I'd kept over the years was on a live venue tape with one side of it on. I totally convinced myself that I was right, so now I am so pleased that someone has actually got to the right people, and blown my silly theory out of the water. How strange that they also got their tunes played on the scene under their various guises - you'd never have connected Walter & Admirations with Velvet Hammer - now i'm Happy too !!

Gawd Pat, I remember going to a radio one roadshow at the Laff, sure to be about '68/69, although all I do remember about it was chasing after a blonde girl named Ann. Was there more than one at the laff ? think there was also one at the civic or wulfrun that I went to? anyway back to the good music nites - My memory from most of the 70's is gone due to the lambretta accident I had on the way home from the Laff one nite. Bits I do remember include monday nite live acts, some you mentioned (although I spent many a happy nite there, inc the girlie thursdays ! working in the construction trade we got paid thursdays, so always spent part of the nite there making arrangements for what we were gonna do that weekend, and how we were gonna get there. Even on the pop nites they'd always play a fair amount of northern & current new import soul) I was up on stage dancing with several of the acts, inc Chairmen of the Board and Rufus featuring a very slim, very beautiful Chaka Khan. Major Lance was very cool. I think he performed live there on several occasions, 3 or more times maybe ? On one soul nite after talking to him for quite a while he asked me "where can I get some snow, man?" - Naive, I hadn't got a clue, I thought he must be from a sunny country and had never seen snow before, so I told him he'd have to wait for winter !! It was a few years before I knew where he came from, and what he meant - Is there a more snowy city than Chicago !!! If he hadn't said Man at the end of the sentence I might have twigged, Snowman I ask you Having managed to get a laff membership card at 16 ( looked old even then, were you supposed to be 21 or 18 to join? ) it was a difficult dodge getting in to the teen thing, and being that few years older than most I felt out of place. It was not really the done thing to talk to the "kids", especially as the lads I hung out with were all 2/3 years older than me. Perhaps that's why I ended up first talking to/meeting Harpo at Blackpool Mecca, despite living about a mile apart in wolves and obviously attending many of the same places ? happy days, well about one day in ten was happy, the rest were...... Just remembered one time when Major Lance was on at the Laff was when he was doing a bit of a tour and we saw him at 3 venues the same week. As well as seeing him at the Laff he did a performance at two venues in manchester on the same day, one was a dayer at a club called the Hardrock under the 'New' Torch banner, and I'm guessing the other might have been the Ritz? We moved from the one venue to the other so we could see him perform. I think this might have been '74? anyone confirm when the Ritz started?