Rick Cooper

When I was a about fourteen I remember going ten pin bowling and a group of hip teens were on a nearby lane. They kept the jukebox going and repeatedly played Give and Take by Jimmy Cliff . This would have been as a new release in 1967 and I thought it strange that a record totally ignored by the BBC was on a jukebox in Wythenshawe. A few years later I used to go to a local disco in a pub that had a jukebox instead of a DJ . This had loads of Motown , Stax , Atlantic on it but this was when a rare soul scene was just starting up. Particularly popular was the Spinners I'll Always Love You, that must have been played four or five times a night. I suppose it's not that surprising that jukeboxes would have some obscure UK soul releases on as it was teenagers who were the main customers and they didn't want to hear the same stuff the BBC played. Back in the 60s the charts still had loads of MOR crooners ,C+W , and novelty songs so the jukebox operators would pick anything from the new releases that they thought would be popular with their customers. Rick

A record that ,whilst not the greatest, is one with special memories. I first came across it as a reader's tip in Dave Godin's column in Blues and Soul and thought with a artist and title like that it's got to be something special. The reader was, I'm fairly sure, our own Julian Bentley (JulianB on here) who I met some months later who, guess what, had copies for sale.. I can't remember it being bootlegged in the 70s as it was not a title with a big enough demand. The usual dealers such as Selectadisc didn't have it . From my time at Global Records in the late 70s I seemed to get the impression that Original Sound was a label that was still active and maintained stock for many years after first release. They also ran an Oldies series for the early rock n roll hits which were available from them direct or through regional distributors. It's possible that the record was popular in one of the various regional music scenes in the US and was pressed at different plants , which accounts for different deadwax details . Rick

The Columbia titles were legit and maybe the Eric ones. One copy of Frankie Beverley If That's What You Wanted on Sassy at £3 presumably from Neil Rushtons find. Rick

Steve I've not seen Big Scotty for years, how is he? Pete Sorry to hijack your question. Rick

I got one demo from Bostocks stall at Bradford market in the early 70s which was unusual as all the other 1000s of Verve records they had were issues. If there were issues I'm sure they would have had them. Rick

In the (almost) words of Major Lance- Ain't Much Sole ( In These Old Shoes) Bought these around 1972 as ordinary shoes but after a few years worn for soul nights only, as excellent for shuffling and sliding around all the major venues. Used over the next forty five years but eventually had to admit they were past their best, but couldn't chuck them away. Maybe I could get them stuck back together and polished up for one last outing. Also still got a black leather Levi/Wrangler style jacket bought second hand in 1971. Still just about fits but if I wore it anywhere I'd look like some sad old git who thinks it's 1975. Rick

Well, you learn something everyday. Not heard of Sunshine Pop before but would these count, Robert John- Raindrops Love and SUNSHINE, John Lucien- What a Difference Love Makes, Lee Andrews -I've Had It, Leroy Taylor- Oh Linda.The last three more Sunshine Soul than pop but all have that happy, bouncy rhythm. I can't see the connection to Mitch Ryder and some of the others listed, more like blue eyed soul. Ian Levine championed this type or sound from the early Mecca period , playing Spiral Starecase early 70's. Les Cockel also seemed to like this style so maybe some got late Wheel spins. Rick

Pete When Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up came out I thought the whole record sounded like The Street People on Vigor, which I'm sure Pete Waterman would have been familiar with. Controversial saying Lou Ragland sounds like Rick Astley as it's the other way round Rick

Geater Davis = Bobby Bland

Not a soul artist as such but Marilyn Moore got jazz critics in a tizzy with her singing. Sounds exactly like a famous voice that is always described as unique. See what you think.

Original recording available on CD with some tracks not on the LP. Great CD with excellent sleeve notes from Dave Flynn . https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/would-you-believe/ Rick

Sam Cooke seems to have a few sound-a-likes, as well as James Phelps and Ovations that Nick mentions, Bobby Harris seems to have based his style on Sam, even recording a tribute single- We Can't Believe You're Gone. Often wondered if record producers forced singers to sound like someone else or it's just coincidence. Bob Brady also does a good Smokey Robinson. Loads of artists copy The Impressions , enough for Kent to issue a CD - "Impressed" Rick

Having met Keith (Prof Gildart) he seems to be making a concerted effort to produce a worthwhile study of the subject. By using primary source material I assume this is the accepted method for social history research. People's memories of events fifty years ago are not always the most reliable but are valuable as oral history so I'm sure he'd welcome articles or magazines from the early sixties. He has had all the Blues and Soul and most of Black Music and Black Echoes from way back . Maybe someone has some of the very early fanzines that he could borrow. If we want to see a thorough and true telling of soul in the UK why not support him now instead of moaning when it's too late. When the study is published it won't be locked away as ,I believe, academics have to allow the results to be available on request or on line if not published in book form. If like me you think of university professors as ancient men in tweed jackets and half round specs, Keith is nothing like that and is very approachable. Rick

Here you go, my SX 200 from 1970 Rick

I think Tony Banks discovered this when he went to the States around 1972/3 and played it at Leeds Central as well as having copies to sell.

Paul I get your point about condition as all the copies that were knocking around years ago are probably in a really bad state now. Anyway I'll probably be shouting "I don't believe it" when the auction ends at three figures. Rick

Millionaires- Never For Me . US Philips. Common?- Definately , Most Expensive?- might be about to find out as, believe it or not, Manship has put it up for auction. With over three weeks to go it's already at £71. I know it was a long time ago but this record was a regular 25p item in shops around Manchester. I assume it has been getting plays again. Rick

Nabay - Believe It or Not - Impact 1032. I think this covers the classic last release explanation from Derek and Roburt. Was it financed by Nabay or done as a favour, seem to remember Kev Roberts had a story about this, even though he hates it. Rick

Chalky Totally agree with you on this. A UK/EU test pressing is a few ( three to five copies) sent to the label to check quality before the bulk pressing.The white label was used because even if the labels had been printed it would have been too much trouble to get labels for each test press that day. There was no charge for these and no royalty or publishing due. These white label copies being sold these days would have been done after the real test pressing had been approved and no way would the pressing plant have done them for nothing. I hope any sales of these are included in the figures for fees due. I can't see why anyone would want these unless they think they are going to be worth more. I suppose the white label trend started with the advance distribution of dance/rave tracks back in the 80s/90s. Genuine test pressings from 50's to late 70s should be very rare although Decca seemed to do quite a few on each release. Rick

Always well attended with people coming from across the country. Seem to remember the main room was quite light until later on , especially in summer. Great dance floor as it was one of those council buildings that would have ballroom dance sessions. I think there was a smaller room for record dealing and plenty of space for sitting about. Like Kegsy, I especially remember Sam's DJ spots at Whitchurch as it was one of the only places I saw him. He had some great discoveries such as Patti Young ,Epitome of Sound, Moses Smith and Pookie Hudson. Never any trouble and always a friendly crowd, not as divided as the Ritz became later in the 70s. Rick

Sounds right. The Youtube clip for Come See About Me has Mary and Florence singing on it so ad makers may have picked a small section and repeated it. Next time it's on should be able to recognise it. A trailer for a Channel 4 programme is using Nowhere to Run instrumental by Earl Van Dyke, is this the the start of a trend??? Rick

BBC TV are showing a trailer for a forthcoming music series which has a backing track playing on it. It sounds like a Motown track, possibly Supremes, anyone know what it is? Also is this the series the BBC were asking people to send in their music memories some months ago? Rick

Kris More useful would have been a crystal ball in the 70s and a huge wad of cash Rick

John Do you know any more about B.B. Records selling the Motown packs? I'd assume it was Bernie Binnick who was everywhere in Philly in the 60s and 70s. I think he was also involved with John LaMont at House of Sounds, also in Upper Darby. What year was the add from? When I was visiting the US in the early/mid 70s, I don't recall shops hiking prices for Brits. They usually had racks or boxes with a single price tag, mostly between 25 cents and a dollar. I never paid more than a dollar each.There was one place in Florida that Ian Levine went to that tried to charge more but we walked out. Our best find was from a place in Miami that had back rooms full of Chicago labels. The other customers at this place were US collectors looking for RnR , Blues and Group discs. He charged a dollar each as long as you spent over 100$. If you made a mess you would get a foul mouthed tirade and firmly kicked out. Rick

Assuming Jem is referring to US releases only the success, or not, of a record is not as obvious as it may seem from a placing in the Billboard top 100. To get a position on the national chart a record had to be selling and getting radio plays across the whole country. Plenty of records we like could have sold very well in large cities or areas without registering at a national level. This type of record must have sold or the record companies wouldn't have kept on issuing them. Anyone who looks at the Billboard magazine archives from the 60s will have seen that many titles that were once dismissed as having vanished without trace get mentions, reviews or chart placings. Some of the smaller labels also placed adverts for their products. Searching the Billboard site can be a bit of a pain but a good example is on the recent post "Dear Family" from Lorraine Chandler. John (Roburt) put a page from Billboard April 66 on this. Record picks are O'Jays- I'll Never Forget You, Dee Edwards-All The Way Home,Lorraine Chandler-What Can I Do(RCA), Tony Middleton- Don't Ever Leave Me (To the Ends of the Earth on the flip) and Ray Pollard-It's a Sad Thing. Not a bad list, even if they didn't make the pop charts they got noticed and probably sold a few thousand or more. However I'd agree that it is hard to see why some great records didn't do better whilst others were successful , probably just got lost in the hundreds of records issued each week. Small labels had an excuse but the majors let some good records fail. As Jem wanted nominations I'd put forward George Carrow - Angel Baby. Columbia tried their best with two demo issues but it seemed to fail as I don't think he had any other Columbia releases. An explanation for the failure of Jem's pick of Linda Jones- I Just Can't Live My Live could be because it sounded out of date by it's issue in 1969. My feeling is that the Summer of Love -1967 meant that soul music was dropped by the pop (mainly young white) buyers in favour of hippie trippie stuff. Then the riots of 68 could have had an effect on the play lists of pop radio stations. Soul music then got marginalised to the fringes of the record industry, hence many of the great indie labels closed down and majors folded their soul labels. This is just a theory but maybe the US members like RobK could confirm or deny this. Rick