Rick Cooper

I have only just read this posting so sorry for coming in a bit late. The Leah Dawson boots were done by Global Records in Manchester when I was working there in 73. The owner of Global Ed Balbier would for some strange reason boot titles that were never going to sell. He was possibly told by someone in the US that it was a big title in the UK. Most likely it would have been John LaMonte at House of Sounds near Philly as the quality of the pressings were really bad like the other stuff they did. Maybe Selecta-Disc didn't want them . When the Leah Dawson arrived all the likely shops would be phoned up to get orders. The price to them would be around 75 pence but within a month or two the price would drop as shops hadn't re-ordered. I remember the records as being very thin and loads of them being warped. Balbier never asked me what to boot and didn't say what was due in. He didn't trust anyone to advise him but then got screwed with these no hopers. Other Global boots were Ed Crook -That's Allright Lovettes - Little Miss Soul Duke Browner-Crying Over You (sold quite well but lots of faulty returns) Arctic Titles, but these were Jamie/Guyden re issues Rick Cooper

I suppose this is going to be the start of another media blitz around northern as these films are going to be promoted and journalists have to to do a write up. As in the past many mistakes and generalisations will distort the truth but we will have to learn to live with this. One of the constant facts that is always reported is that northern soul records were all failures. Paolo Hewitt picks on the Shrine ,Carnival and Topper labels as examples of labels that ''died on the vine''.Yet all these labels especially Carnival had many local hits and a few national chart records. This constant belittling of black american record labels of the 60's is so entrenched that it is accepted as gospel. Part of the fault for this is down to the usual experts who get interviewed write books and CD sleeve notes and want to appear as saviours for a bunch of '' failures''. Maybe it's time to give the music and artists more credit and stop calling them all failures when in reality from 63 to 68 Soul music was massive and hugely succesful. Rick.

About 15 US copies of Shane Martin turned up in a parcel of singles at Global records in the early 70s. I'd never heard it or played it so it went on the ''pop''listing sent out to dealers. Within a day Pep from Wolverhampton had ordered 10 copies. This rang alarm bells as Pep only ordered soul singles. I don't think Pep got any , well not at 22p. So Pep may have discovered it or someone in the W Midlands knew it. If Levine had played it first I probably would have known it , although Levine had records in his DJ box that he never played. UK issue collectors such as Dave Stubbs may have known of the CBS tracks before any DJs played them. Rick

I definately could not be said to have discovered Tony Galla just because I owned a copy in 73. I'm sure someone must have argued before that ''discovering'' a record means getting it heard or talked about. For Tony Galla I thought Keb was supposed to have been responsible (or guilty). I don't know if it's been mentioned before that Tony Galla was a big record in the Baltimore/Pitsburgh area in the late 60s, can anyone confirrm this. Going back a step how about giving credit for discovering records to some of the record labels owners/employees from the 1960s and early 70s who issued US records that had not been chart hits.Labels such as Sue ,Action ,Pama ,President ,Track ,Beacon, Soul City all have some big early records to their credit. Also employess at EMI, Decca and Pye who managed to get loads of great stuff issued. Names such as Trevor Churchill, John Abbey and Dave Godin deserve a mention. Rick Cooper

I found a copy of TG around 73 or 74 at Global Records when I worked there. It was on a yellow Swan label. Global also had the studio tapes for it. I thought it was rubbish so stuck it in my reject box. Sold it as a job lot to someone for peanuts. Still think its rubbish, sorry. Rick Cooper

When I was living in Leeds in 71 to 73 I used to bunk off college on Thursday morning to go to Bostock's Bradford stall. Arriving early I'd wait for Paul, Ma and Pa to open up. They would bring a couple of 100 count boxes of singles each to top up the racks. These could be bulk of the MGM/Verve stuff or even better, boxes of mixed one -offs. Some of the finds I remember were ''Gallop''-Milton Wright, ''Mighty Good Way''- Robert Banks, ''Cop a Groove inst'' Bobby Wells, ''Unsatisfied'' Lou Johnson, 3 or 4 Billy Butlers on Okeh, ''You Hit Me''- Alice Clark . I think they advertised the bulk titles in Black Echoes when they realised that people (thats you Julian B and Ian D) were buying from them and re-selling at quite a profit . In 74 or 75 when I was working at Global I got to go to their warehouses. In one they had boxes of stuff that had been out on the stalls and not sold, so not much worth buying but I found a Marie Knight Musicor demo. The other place, which I think was like a row of garages, had the bulk titles which they sold us at a few pence each for use in Global's soul packs. Paul Bostock had a shop in Manchester in the late 70s mainly selling LPs, but still loads of Kim Westons and Spyder Turners. Anyone remember what sort of labels never turned up. I can't recall any Motown, Chess, Atlantic , small West coast labels or Ric-Tic/GW . Rick Cooper

As Neil rightly says the Four Perfections record was owned by Irving Weinroth and the instrumental version never came out on ''Partytime''. I had it done for the Cream release at the Grand Prix studio in Philadelphia in 1976 ish. I left Global/Cream records due to a bust up with Global's owner ,Ed Balbier, just before I could get the record pressed. Some time later Global got round to pressing it but didn't promote it and I only found out years later that it had been issued. Neil issued the vocal and instrumental on Inferno as there was still a demand for it. The missing tape probably got lost when Global shut down and the original studio tape may have been left at Grand Prix. As backing tracks go I think it grooves along quite nicely and may feature some of Phillys top session men but I never thought to ask Irving at the time. In those days I don't remember anybody caring too much about who played on records. Rick Cooper

Although working 10 years after the mid 60's my experience of issuing singles at Global records in Manchester probably follows small labels in the US. The records (James Fountain, Johnny Jones.4 Perfections and others) were leased from the label owners so there was no recording costs but we had to pay an advance against future sales. The label designer had to be paid and sheets of logo only blanks printed up , many thousands, as it was not cost effective just doing a short print run. This cost seems to have been too much for some US labels as many are stock designs. The master tape was sent to the pressing plant (I think it was Lintone or something like that, in London). A master pressing stamper was then made (mother) this was used to make the metal stampers that made the discs. These would wear out after a few thousand copies and then new ones were made from the mother. I don't remember the exact figures but the cost of mastering was a considerable one. We then received 3 test pressings to check the sound quality and then the pressing plant would compete the run. I think the initial order for '7 Day Lover' was 5000 but others were 1 or 2 thousand. Probably 1000 was the minimum order but even selling 1000 would not recoup the initial costs. If the initial run was selling well a second order of the same or more would be ordered , this could take a week or so to get done. It didn't make sense to order less than 500 when a record could die in a week. We also were sending records out to radio stations and DJs. Like small US labels we were trying to interst the major labels in distributing the label, with no success. Global records had no interest in the artists so selling records was the only way to make any money. This seems to be the same for most US labels who could'nt care less about the artists, not even telling them if the record was issued. The artists were expected to make money from personall appearances. A record would need to sell tens of thousands before royalties became due as costs were charged against sales. John Broven's recent book about indie labels gives a detailed explanation of this. A hit record would allow the artist to charge more for a show. Anyway the initial pressing would probably be about 3000 as a lot of selling in the US was sale or return also distibutors expected free records and radio stations might get a box or two. If the record started to sell the company might not get paid for months . This probably sent many labels to the wall and leading to another northern rarity. All this only applies to companies hoping to make money from selling records . The self contained group who cut a record to sell at gigs or try to get a deal only needed a couple of hundred and would not expect to cover the costs. There unsold stock could be stuck in a cellar somewhere or trashed years ago, who knows? The walk in record booth is the subject of Ben E King's ''The Record'' on Atlantic. To get back to the original subject , the records that will probably never turn up are those that had to be withdrawn. This could due to legal problems, someone dying, getting drafted or being 'asked' by Mr Gordy what career they want to follow. The inital pressing would have to be destroyed but a few might have survived. So the ones that come to mind are Frank Wilson Junior McCants Don Varner on Veep Len Jewel on teri de 2 on Wand (Ivories? and the other one?) but I'm sure other people can name more Rick Cooper

Hi Ian When was in Philly with Ed Balbier (Owner of Global) in74/75 we would go to House of Sounds to pick up LP orders but he said it was a waste of time looking for N soul as John Anderson got everything first. I got 1 copy of Tony and Tyronne as it was the top record of an open box I walked past. Back in the UK I let Curtis play it at Sale Blue Rooms . I then witnessed Levine break the 100 mt record as he sprinted from the bar to the stage to demand to know how Colin had got the record. He thought it was his exclusive and no one was allowed to play his records. The amount of stuff at House of Sounds was truly awesome, and as you say would take weeks to sort through. I had to help Balbier spend all week at Scorpio and American Record Sale searching for bloody Hank Williams , Porter Wagoner, Willie Nelson type C+W LP's. Going back to Bradford Market , Paul Bostock later opened a record shop in Manchester Arndale but sadly died in a car crash. You mentioned hearing me play Mr Big Shot first, but again I think this was a Levine discovery. I got 1 from Global as soon as I knew it as there was a wall of shelving of one-off stuff sorted by artist but never listed or offered for sale. I also found The Coasters and Van Dykes records there , they had probably been there for years. Rick Cooper

When I was working at Global records in Manchester I arranged the lease of the Four Perfections for issue on Global's Cream records. The label owner was a guy called Irving Weinroth who I met in Global's North Broad St warehouse . He gave me a copy of the record and a couple of unreleased Showstoppers tracks. The instrumental on the flip of the Cream copies was done at Grand Prix studios by Walt Khan (producer or Life 'Tell me Why'). Irving was a white (Jewish?) middle aged guy who reminded me of Arthur Daley as he had a sheepskin coat on . He told me his son was something to do with the label also that the producer listed on the Four Perfections record, Kip Gainsborough,was a made up name from Kip their dog and the street they lived on. Maybe they did this to hide some one under contract to another label. If you listen to the instrumental I think the sax sounds very like Mike Terry. As he was on the Showstoppers record this seems likely. Anyone agree? Rick Cooper

This is a bit late as I've only just managed to get on the forum . Not a lot has been said about the original Pendulum venue off Deansgate so this is what I can remember. I saw a tiny advert in Mcr Evening news anouncing 'Sam and Dave' playing soul records at The Pendulum.Having missed out on the Wheel which had just closed I made it to the big bad city for the first night. The club was in a modern building and on the second floor above the pub .At the top of the stairs ,doors lead through to the bar area and a partition seperated this from the music area. In the far right corner was the DJ stage and in the left corner a small raised dance floor.I never tried the dance floor out ,my moves were strictly reserved for the bedroom floor. Not much room to dance especially if Malcolm was getting carried away. The crowd would mainly be ex Wheel regulars and sported the fashions of the time, blazers with coloured braid. Levis ,shermans , facial hair flourished and we all ,even me, had a full head of hair, one driving glove on etc .The music was mainly Uk issues ,Incredibles,Sharpees,Jackie Day,Chuck Jackson,Mary Love (on UK King 'nice') imports were coming over and Ric Tic and Mirwood especially. Edwin Starr Back Street was big as it summed up the club.One record that sticks with me from then is Jimmy Lewis 'I quit you win' as it never seemed to get played elsewhere. Dave Godin made a visit which caused quite a stirr and everyone had to behave and be nice. I think he wrote about it B&S but I'm not going in the loft to check through mine. The club was always busy and after a year or so moved to its new venue at the MSG where it reached its legendary status with Barry Tasker and Richard Searling playing fantastic records as many others have said. I DJ'd there for 2 or 3 weeks as Richard left and Barry asked me to join him. At the time I worked at Global records which seemed to be a reqirement for the job. For some reason Richard returned and I was out, in those days clubs only had 2 DJs. Had the Pendulum been an all nighter it would have been up there with the big4,but it still must be rated as among the top clubs . Other clubs in Mcr followed but they just didnt have the same atmosphere Rick Cooper Disclaimer- some or all of the above may just be a figment of my imagination so feel free to corect me.