Rick Cooper

Peter US imports then, but I'll pass on the eating part free or otherwise. Rick

Saw this crawling across the paving in the back garden this morning. Startled the dog and gave me a surprise as I'd never seen anything like it before, except on TV. Apparently it's a signal crayfish but what's it doing in a garden in Stockport, shouldn't it be somewhere hot and wet. It was relocated to the edge of pond where I hope it stays put. Rick

Steve Thanks for the info,saw it again today but on the ground this time doing the waggy tail thing and looked grey instead of yellow. Rick

Something on a phone wire Itchy and Scratchy

I've sold a few 78s including some to Germany. I got some very stiff cardboard from a car body repairer who saves it for me. It comes as boxes for Land Rover/Jaguar body parts so has to withstand being thrown around the backs of vans. Other car companies seem to use thinner card but still fairly strong. The parcel was two outer thick cards and one thin inner card with a circle cut out to hold the disc. It wasn't very heavy but was almost impossible to bend. All the discs arrived safely. Rick

Sue reissued a few records in the late 60s . The Fascinations -Girls Are Out To Get You had its initial Stateside release in Feb 67 , then Sue in June 68 followed by Mojo June 71. Obviously the Mojo issue was due to NS demand but maybe Sue just thought the song was still the type of record selling well in 68 and could do OK north and south. Phil Upchurch's You Can't Sit Down also came out on Sue in 66 after it's initial UA issue so again it was a club classic rather than NS demand. I'd go with Alan B and Roburt and say late 68 as Blue and Soul reviews of Edwin Starr , Tony Clarke, Dobie Gray etc mentioned that the records were put out due to demand from the North. Rick

Back in the mid 70s Bob Cattaneo (Daly City Bob) had loads of the Casanova Two on a white demo which looks similar to the one on ebay. I got quite a few copies from him and when they arrived they were fairly obviously not originals, thin vinyl and poor lettering. I complained to him that they were bootlegs. He sent me a furious reply saying how dare I accuse him of illegality and that they were genuine. I suppose he could have got them done legitimately but either way they weren't the original demo, if there was one. I think everyone dealing with him at the time got loads of them especially the guys in the West Midlands. Rick

A few more photos of the local heron, this time taken by my daughter, Laura, so better than mine Rick

I'd agree with Mal and Seb on this. Don't pay much attention to ads but this made me take notice. I thought some of the song sounded very similar to the Motown song This Old Heart of Mine. Rick

Our local heron on his (?) early morning visit to the pond . I've only ever seen one so assume it is the same heron , are they territorial? Rick

Listeners to Sounds of the Sixties on Radio 2 have no doubt heard the "Northern Soul Season " feature . Each week they play two records as examples of a northern soul favourite with a bit of info about the record and artist. Sometimes they get this a little wrong but usually good enough, unless you want to be very picky , which I do. This Saturday (2nd April ) they played The Carstairs- He Who Picks a Rose and then announced that it was a big record at The Golden Torch in the Yorkshire market town of Cleckheaton. I'm sure Cleckheaton is a nice place but a long way from the Torch. I hope someone puts them right before promoters put on a Torch revival at the civic centre, councillors add it to their website and groups of youths in baggy trousers roam Cleckheaton in search of the original site. The only famous thing I know about Cleckheaton is that (I think) it was where Julian Bentley used to live. Maybe he can give us more info about its notorious nightlife. Rick

Zannetti One missing on CD12 the Guy in the Hickory issue is Little Archie. My copy of this CD (Dial 3 for Northern Soul) has a slightly different cover. The shot of Little Archie is on the inside sleeve notes of my copy not on the front cover. Outta Sight also changed the cover on their RCA compilation . Rick

Russell You're absolutely right, not Roscoe Shelton as I said. The inner booklet for Northern Soul Collector 2 uses exactly the same shot of Bobby Freeman as the discogs picture from your link. Bobby Freeman isn't even on the CD. Someone at Outta Sight slipped up there, but hopefully they got it right for Roscoe Shelton on Northern Soul Collector 3 (CD14) ,pictured on the left. Rick

CD2 RCA- Right -Dean Courtney CD3 Soul of Miami - Snoopy Dean CD4 Collector vol 2- l to r- Sam Baker, Loleatta Holloway(?), Roscoe Shelton, Joe Simon, Jackey Beavers CD6 King - Mary Johnson, Cody Black CD7 Classiest Rs 3- Charles Drain CD8 Detroit - Albert Jones, Mack Rice, Edd Henry CD9 Dave Hamilton - Chico and Buddy, Little Ann, Dave Hamilton, Dottie and Millie CD10 4 Connoisseurs - Felice Taylor CD12 Dial 3 - l to r Joe Tex, Jerry Fuller, Bobby Marchan (?), Ron Holden, The Magnificent 7 CD14 Collector Vol 3 - l to r Roscoe Shelton, Ruby Winters, The Furys, Joe Simon, Ruby Andrews CD18 Classiest Rs2 - Jackie Washington, Charmells I've listed some not highlighted and duplicated other posts. Info of these from sleeve notes but a couple are not clear, so are marked ? CD16- Taking a guess from the first three artists listed could be Commands, Pic and Bill, and (fairly sure ) Oscar Perry. Also CD17- Barbara Perry? Rick

Paul Perhaps I'm getting Chuck Wood mixed up here as I think your'e right about Lee Roye , but what do reckon to Al Wilson = JR Bailey. Rick

Has it ever been confirmed who this Al Wilson is? The last I heard was that is supposed to be J R Bailey who was also Chuck Wood. Great record but yet another crazy price . Rick

At the time I wasn't that bothered about the Cream promos as they weren't that special so never kept a James Fountain. A white label US Peachtree demo of Seven Day Lover would be nice but as far as I know doesn't exist. Maybe they just used stock copies for promotion. Rick

James Fountain initial pressing was 5000, then another 5000 after a few weeks then I think another 1000 later on. Other releases were 1000 initially but I don't remember which, if any had a second 1000. Johnny Jones- Purple Haze was withdrawn after Decca claimed Brunswick still owned it, not William Bell who licensed it to Global. In hindsight it was perhaps a good idea not to clash with Nat Tarnopol at Brunswick and his Italian friends. The Peachtree Mitty Collier record was pressed in the UK for a customer in The Netherlands. A few (less than ten) were sold by Derek Howe at HMV in Manchester. Rick

Alan Not got the stamp anymore, it probably got chucked away when Global packed up. Remembered something else I've got from those days. A Seven Day Lover "silver disc". For some reason the pressing company sent us the the first set of metal stampers for the record when the second set was made for the next pressing. Ed Balbier thought it would look good if we stuck a label on it and got it framed. It looked like the real thing on the office wall even though it was a fake. I've not seen it for over thirty years but maybe I should dig it out get some white Special Advance Release labels with a big red "A" on , press up a couple of dozen copies, give them to select people and see what happens. Rick

The James Fountain is definitely a genuine promo copy as it was one of the ones I stamped with a rubber stamp back in 75. The promotional copies were sent out to radio stations and all the music magazines as well as some DJs who were on the mailing list . I sent each DJ at Radio 1 a copy addressed to them personally to make sure they got one. Some were also sent to music companies and distributors as we were trying to get a national distribution deal. Each copy would have had a press release with it . I can't remember how many were done as they were taken from stock copies when needed. The figure of 50 quoted above is probably about right but could have been more, but not over 75. The contract for the record included a clause that allowed 1 in 10 for promotional use . I think this was standard practice at the time as the contract was copied from another agreement, William Bell didn't object. I'm not sure if there was a tax rule about this as I didn't deal with that side of things. I didn't keep a promo myself but have a Showstoppers with its press release. The other record in the picture is a James Fountain test pressing. There were three copies of each release done. They aren't much to look at, the record manufacturer didn't use a nice label for the test pressings. Ric-Tic, I don't have the press release for JF and would really like to see a scan of the one you have. Rick

A contestant on Mastermind has chosen to answer questions on Stax Records for their specialist subject. If it's anything like the Philly Soul questions last year they shouldn't be too hard. Probably most people should get them all but it's a lot easier sat at home instead of in the black chair. Don't expect the existence or not of the Sandra Wright LP will be one of the questions. Rick

Following on from my previous post, here's another tale from my time at Global in the 70s. The first time I went to the US with Ed Balbier I stayed at his family home in Abington. This is a typical US suburb of average to large detached houses about 25 minutes drive from the centre of Philadelphia. After we had been there a few days he mentioned that there were a few boxes of singles in the basement that I should take a look at. Balbier also mentioned that he had asked Richard Searling to have a look at them when he was there a few years before me. For some reason Richard hadn't had a look, probably ran out of time or forgot. In the basement I found about ten or twelve 100 count singles boxes lurking in a corner. The first three or four boxes had quite a few titles on the Swan label, not surprising as it was a Philly label that Balbier had bought some of the tapes when it closed down. The best titles were Are You Satisfied by The Three Degrees and the other version by Sheila Ferguson* , Heartbroken Memories by Sheila Ferguson and Gonna Find the Right Boy by Audrey Slo. These were fetching up to £5.00 with the Audrey Slo record tipped as one to watch. I think Richard Searling had it in his DJ box but never quite got round to playing it. All the titles were in quantities of between twenty and forty copies. The next few boxes were OK but then in one box I struck gold. Around seventy mint, unblemished copies of Lenis Guess- Just Ask Me in, as John Manship would say, their birth sleeves and probably box too. For some people this is just another oldie but in its day it was absolutely massive. Perhaps a bit too frantic for today but it was perfect for "energetic" twenty year olds in the Torch. It was just right for the style of dancing that seemed to be popular then. Any DJ that had a copy would list it in their Blues and Soul advert. What a find, but not quite. This was 1975 and the record had had its heyday in 1972. It had been pressed, issued on a UK label and even had that female version by Elsie Strong done . So everyone who wanted a copy already had one and the idea of only wanting an original copy had not really taken hold. The records were sent over to Manchester and offered to the wholesale customers on the phone out of new stock. I think the price was 75p . Most shops took a few copies and I bought one . I don't recall any shops frantically phoning for more copies so I suppose they didn't sell well. I don't know why the records were in the basement or how long they had been there but probably many years. So whilst the record was huge in the UK and fetching big money Balbier had been about ten feet from them every time he went back home , so near, yet they lay neglected and forgotten until it was too late. I had a photo of the Global US warehouse from 1975 but it disappeared some years ago. However this is the building as it looks today. It goes back a long way so is bigger than it looks . It is now a Baptist Church. Rick * next day correction, not Helen Ferguson as first typed, should be Sheila Ferguson. oops...

Prices look just as I remember, nothing way below the going rate. People didn't earn a lot back then and £10 for one record was a big chunk of a weekly wage. Also records were so cheap in the US and the exchange rate was around $2.40 to the pound. Phil Flowers Discontented at £10 was a massive record that seems to be forgotten now. I got a VG demo on ebay some years back for £5.00. No mention of condition as John only sold unplayed records. The mention of ZTSC collectors reminds me of the strange obsession with collecting records just because of a pressing plant matrix ,weird. Rick

Apart from the copies Soul Bowl had Global sold 600 copies of Keep On Running Away and 400 of Smoke Screen. I ordered these from a place in New Jersey that use to get indie label records for us. These were all on the coloured label version, I never ordered any more copies so never had the plain label Bits and Pieces. Packed with the records was a fairly thick catalogue of all the other records available from Nashboro. There was a lot of Gospel and Blues LPs as well as the Soul releases from the last few years. I think they also had a golden oldie singles listing. It was fairly clear that they put a lot of emphasis on promoting their back catalogue so probably were quite willing to press up anything a customer wanted. I can't be sure but it seems likely that a re-press would be done on the plain label used for oldies. As to the price today I suppose it's all down to demand but £150 for a record that must have been around in the thousands seems crazy, but what do I know. There must be loads of similar records from the same era that are just as good but go for a tenner. Rick

Fantastic CD , all the tracks were previously unreleased . The Paul Williams featured titles you list are all outstanding but for me this is one of the finest performances of any singer .