Okehdownsouth

Pete Absolutely fantastic! Thank you again for another great tape. Two things amaze me about this: 1) I was there and have forgotten a lot of the records. 2) How the hell did you manage to get a portable recorder to run for almost 2.1/2 hours without changing the batteries! My poxy Alba used to last about an hour at most before the two U2 batteries started to give up and the tape would run slower and slower until it stopped. If only I could have fed it some gear so that it was running at the same speed as me! ` I will have a hunt around the attic over Christmas and see if I can find any tapes that I made at the time I will send them to you

I have had similar problems with missing and late deliveries and personally I blame ebay shipping. My understanding is that the seller despatches the parcel to ebay and they repack it and send it on. This takes longer and costs more money that buyer has to pay the seller loses control of the shipment because we all know complaining to ebay is a waste of time AND if the item is coming from the USA you will get stuffed for import duty because ebay uses the full sales value including freight and declares it to HM Customs who then charge import duty at around 40%!!!! I have bough a couple of records that ending up costing me a shed load more because the only choice was to right off the money and leave them at the post office where they would be destroyed or cough up the extra import duty. I know that this is going off the point somewhat but is just another reason why ebay pisses me off!

Peter Sorry about the Christine Cooper/Janie Grant confusion, just a reflection of my age and impending permanent downward path to complete senility! I totally agree with what you are saying about the number of records, he sold a few unplayed minters for me a earlier in the year and split them up over a couple of months and the results were staggering!

Some really nice records from JM this time a round but did some of them go a tad cheap? Tony Middleton for £359, Christine Copper for £137, Judy Street £361 looked very cheap compared to some other sales in the past 12 months. Tobi Legend was a bit over the top at £910 but where will you ever find a stone mint unplayed copy?

Maybe we should start a new game called "Name That Tune Someone writes and asks us to name a tune that they heard 30 or 40 years ago that they think was played by a certain dj at a certain venue but they can't be sure which dj or which venue. They can't remember who it was by or any of the lyrics or even if sounded a bit like another record and then we send in guesses and he replies saying sorry not that one until we get so pissed off that we give up. As it it such an original idea it might even be turned into a TV show, or have I heard that before but can't remember?

To me this sounds like a slighty better production of the stuff that Levine insists on "producing" Decent vocals but decidedly dodgy electronic backing tracks that just make it sound manufactured. If this girl wants a career in this type of music then she should team up with a decent jazz funk band and do some live recordings. Then we might sit up and listen but all of this out of the box backing track stuff just gives me a head ache and putting it on vinyl is quite honestly a waste of good vinyl

I an effort to try to placate those of you who have differing opinions I thought that I out to at least have a listen to see if it is quite as bad as I remember, 1975 was aferall a long time a go. Well the first one at the top of the youtube page ahs lots of comments all saying what a great record it is and lots of people seemed to love it? There is predictably a comment from Dr Watson, need I say anymore

What I love most about this site is the way that someones point of view prevokes so many great comments from the NS fraternity and shows that despite sometimes being subjected to such shit records we all still have a great sense of humour. I was there at the time Mecca, Wigan, Cleethorps, St Ives and if I was honest probably did get stuck on the dance floor on one of those "Christ this gear is great nights" when almost everything got my feet moving. With regard to the addition of Frankie Crocker to this list of shite. please retract that. I know that it's not soul and probably not even something that could be classified as Northern Soul but then neither is The Crow, which is a so obviously a funk record but that even got into the recent NS Film. Thanks again all of you for your comments, great fun and I learned a bit as well

I have just seen a copy of Barnaby Bye Can't live this way for sale on eBay and it got me thinking how much it might cost me to buy every copy that still exists and burn the f@cking the lot! The copy I have seen is mint and is a demo which being an Atlantic Demo means that you get the same shit on both sides. Stereo and Mono for that authentic 70's feel. It has currently has attracted one bid of $6.00, I doubt and hope that it will get anymore because thankfully the seller has misspelt Barnaby but still the simple fact it has a bid on it proves that someone very sadly thinks that this record has some merit and value. This worries me enormously, not only because someone out their obviously believes that this piece of crap falls into the category of Northern Souls but they may also think that it is Soul Music rather than a piece of complete shit played by some egotistical DJ who thought that he was so great that he could play whatever crap he wanted and the mid 70's Wigan crowd would love it and him. The real reason for my concern is because if I did go ahead and try to buy them all up it could end up costing more than the real value of each record which is somewhere between f@ck all and the price a 2nd class stamp

Rita & The Tiaras looks cheap compared to the copy that John Tefteller sold on 2015-05-04 which went for $6309

I hear that there was an All-Nighter there on Saturday 24th October with a very impressive line up of DJ's. I would have gone had I know earlier, any news and views would be appreciated

I agree that the long term investment value is probably not that great, short term however sometimes is really good. I few years ago I bought hundreds of records to replace the ones that I sold when I left the scene in 1979 and some I bought 2 or 3 copies just because they seemed cheap, they were records that I liked and they were in good nick. Recently I have sold quite a few of the doubles on ebay and through John Manship and an investment of a couple of thousand turned into almost 6 grand!. What did I do with the money? Bought more records of course!

He is at it again! Another "fun" labled copy on eBay and people are bidding again! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291569031096?clk_rvr_id=907026408819&rmvSB=true

What I find incredible is that the seller actually says that it is not an original and the buyers still keep bidding, either they cannot read, are blind, bit I think just bloody stupid! I hope that the winner looks on this site

I agree and feel sorry for the poor buggers that are being conned because eventually they will find out. I know that it's a bit self righteous but if I see any advertised as Original Acetates I bombard the sellers with emails telling them that they are just crap copies until they submit and either remove them or tell the truth. Suggest that you all do the same until these con merchants get the message and go away

£2600 FOR A MINT COPY LOOKS REASONABLE IN TODAY'S MAD RECORD MARKET. WAS IT A BARGAIN OR HAVE PRICES REACHED A PEAK?

It is simple there are a lot of people who want to buy rare soul records and particularly ones that are in good condition. There are now more DJ's and more collectors with a lot more money than ever before and that will push up prices. The more popular the record the higher the price, Bloody simple! When Nick Mason paid £37,000 for his Ferrari 250 GTO in 1977, a car that originally only cost £6000 in 1962-64 people said he was nuts, what are they saying now it's worth £25 million! It is worth that because there were only ever 39 made and more people want one than there are cars available. Put that into perspective for a rare record where maybe only a couple of hundred copies have ever been found. When there were only a couple of big soul venues and most record dealing was done in the record bar so of course it seemed like there were loads of copies because there were probably only a dozen dealers and most of them had a copy or maybe a few more. Now then think how many have been lost or trashed since the early 70's and that couple of hundred gets reduced down to probably less than a hundred, now that is a rare record if it is mint condition it is worth a lot of money. So will all those cloth cap wearers stop moaning that their fish supper isn't 2 shillings and thruppence anymore and although there "seemed" to be loads of copies of this and that around in 1970's they are not around anymore or they very rarely come up for sale so if you want it you have to pay the highest price at the time. Or are they just moaning because they didn't buy them when they were £3 or £4 each and are cashing in?

What is killing the scene is grumpy old men moaning about the price of records. In 1973 when I wen to my first allnighter I was 15 and earned £4.00 for working 2 ten hour shifts in a poxy hotel washing dishes, peeling spuds and scrubbing floors. After I had paid my bus fares I had about £3.20 left. If I spent 50p on a mint UK demo on Motown or Stateside in a second hand shop I thought that I had spent a fortune. The fact that I sold one of those very same records last week for £900 only makes me very very happy! I think that fact that there are more venues and more DJ's and more collectors is great and shows that the love of great rare soul music is still alive. I will keep buying soul record until I the day I die.

Frankie You don't have to buy British that was just my suggestion to others here in the UK. British hifi manufacturers are the best in the world but you can buy decent equipment anywhere. Rega, Michell and Pro-ject sell all over the world you don't have to spend a fortune just visit a few hifi shops most of the bloke who work in them are very helpful because they are all hifi nuts and can help you Just one piece of advice if you buy mail order try to get the dealer to install the cartridge because for a novice to get it right is not easy. The first time I tried it took me most of a weekend and I walked away from it at least twice because I was getting so frustrated because it is so fiddly. You will still need to check that the alignment and load is correct before you use it but that is quite simple but you need to buy a few tools. It is worth the time a trouble because I have thousands of 40-50 year old records that look and play like the day they were pressed.

Has anyone been to this venue? Is it any good? Anyone got a play list?

Oh no I don't ! I own a metal stockholding company and I do supply some of the UK hifi manufacturers with aluminium plate and extrusions and I have visited their factories and have seen how hard they work to make great gear.

Sorry I was rambling and for some reason when I hit submit reply it disappeared! if you really want to know I will re-write it

This was my record and I sent it JM to auction because to be honest I think it is crap, the vocals don't match the backing track and to me it sounds like the worst of Simon Soussan. It has been in my collection for donkeys years and was only ever played once which was enough for me. I saw that a few copies had gone for around £500 which I thought was nuts so I asked John to auction it for me. After commission I got just over £700 which was a staggering amount but has now been put to good use increasing my collection of "proper" northern soul records. The fact that it was a "manufactured" not original issue record puts it in the same league as Ian Levine's Four Vandals. Sorry if that upsets some of you but this site is for people to voice their opinions.

Wanted cop of Len Jewell- Bettin' on Love MUST be EX or Mint Please let me know price and condition, payment by Paypal