Rick Cooper

Good to hear Terry the second, or Tell as I knew him has kept the shop going, even after lockdown, and is still attracting celebrity rock legends.

The late Francis (Terry) Thomas told me that Robert Plant would sometimes call in to his record shop in Kidderminster - Mister Tees. Robert would buy all sorts but mainly soul and RnB type stuff and had a good knowledge of most US recording artists. He must have an awesome collection by now.

I'm not sure where UK label singles are pressed now, a lot were pressed in Poland and other EU countries then shipped to the UK as there weren't any factories left here. After that they could be ordered from almost anywhere in the world. If @Bleep was asking about older releases (pre 2000) @Solidsoul and @Steve G have summed it up well. For our music there are some good examples that show the difference. Selecta Disc sold US special pressings and UK pressings on Black Magic. Soul Bowl had Grapevine , Neil Rushton had Inferno. These UK issues were done for a specialist market but they all could be ordered anywhere and the labels would have been very happy to get in the charts as some did. My small contribution is these UK pressed titles from the 70s The Spy was issued for specialist sales. Seven Day Lover was UK wide and could be ordered by any shop. I'm Not Strong Enough was for specialist shops ( not my idea but that's a long story). Share What You Got was done for a customer in The Netherlands although a few copies were sold in HMV Manchester. What makes these different is that Seven Day Lover and another five titles on Cream were listed in Music Master and the others weren't. This was a big red book that record shops used to find details of all available records. The problem was that some shops didn't deal with smaller distributors so couldn't or wouldn't have been able to order some records. Black Magic, Grapevine and Casino Classics were handled by major companies, Inferno and Destiny I don't remember being sold by the large distributors but definitely were UK issues as they were all listed in Music Master. Music Master listed some quite obscure stuff which was hard to get. I remember having to order Maryetta and Vernon Midgely LPs (loved by pensioners of the 1970s) for customers at Our Price by phoning Vernon. Music Master listed a few European issues as Conifer Distributors were allowed to market some EMI LPs in this country. They had a couple of nice 60s soul and RnB compilations. I've no idea how to define British releases now since everything has changed with the internet.

I'd also have put Cheatin Kind down as a Blackpool Mecca record but it was one that only got played near the end of the night as it wasn't the type that filled the dance floor so I can see why John swapped it for Andre Maurice- Cream Of The Crop. It seems Cream Of The Crop was first played at Blackpool and is one that could be considered a "Mecca" sound from that period (75/76). A few weeks after it first got played me and Terry from Kidderminster got a rare chance to be allowed in the store rooms at Oldies Unlimited. I think we were told everything we took would be 25p but we had to buy a large quantity. Amongst the ones we found were around 10 to 15 copies of Andre Maurice. Terry was selling records at the Mecca as well as his shop. One of these copies ended up with a Wigan DJ within a day or two and was also swapped for what are now big money titles, although nowhere near as valuable as Cheatin Kind. I think one was Get It Baby but maybe the lucky person who did the swap could let us know. At the end of John's video he asks if other people have done equally bad swaps. My worst one was swapping Lillie Bryant- Meet Me Halfway for Reggie Garner- Hot Line. In my defence Hot Line was getting a lot of plays at Blackpool and Meet Me Halfway was an oldie and my copy was in bad condition having had a lot plays for Barry Tasker at Manchester's Pendulum club three or four years before.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/154318724710460548/ Buddy Guy in the 70s according to this pinterest post

The media seem to have jumped on the Wigan 50th and many people will find it interesting to go to these sort of events and will, no doubt, enjoy them. I went to the first night and then for another couple of years but it got a bit predictable, except for the live acts. Other venues such as Blackpool Mecca were playing newer and better records so I hardly ever went to Wigan again. As a news item Wigan 50 is okay but you'll never get anywhere by looking backwards.

From the records played at The Torch the ones that stand out for me are those that I heard for the first time there even if they had been played elsewhere first. Jimmy Thomas - Beautiful Night Chubby Checker - You just Don't Know Pearlean Gray - I Don't Want To Cry Superiors- What Would I Do Tymes- What Would I Do Dramatics- Inky Winky Wang Dang Doo Lenis Guess - Just Ask Me Exciters- Number One Eddie Parker- Love You Baby Sam and Kitty- I've Got Something Good All fast and energetic, just like the people there.

The flip of Sweetness is a great Deep Soul track which probably swayed Dave Godin's appreciation. It didn't make one of his Deep Soul Treasures CDs but was title and lead track for a Kent CD - When a Man Cries. Dave came up to Manchester after The Wheel closed to visit the Pendulum club (at it's first location) but I'm fairly sure didn't bring any records, covered up or not, for the DJ to play

Artists doing their version of an old song can work if they bring a fresh approach but Texas seem to be jumping on a bandwagon, anyway no one could better James Barnett, not even Philip Mitchell. One upside is that writers Dan Penn and the relatives of Rick Hall should be in for a pay out and there is a small chance that some one could shed light on what happened to the mysterious Mr Barnett.

Good to hear that you've told Earl Young that Hold Back The Night was in the show and his response, hopefully other people will let some of the other artists know they had their records featured. I realise all those involved in the original records are elderly or no longer with us so didn't suggest they should have taken part, just a hope that they, or their families, will be told of the concert.

Not my thing for various reasons but obviously it was an enjoyable event for lots of people so can't complain. What would be nice if some of original artists, producers, arrangers and musicians (or their families) were aware their work had such a prestigious airing. The Performing Rights Society should have collected a considerable amount of money, some of which should filter down to the songwriters. I'm sure they will be more than happy to receive payment after so long.

It would have been around 67/68 I started buying old soul (as NS was called then) and then I'd probably only heard about the record rather than heard them in a club. My local youth club played quite a lot of Motown/Stax/ Atlantic and Edwin Starr but that was about it. I used to get F L Moore's lists and would buy a couple every month or so and then bought fairly regularly from B&S/Contempo when they started listings in B&S . I went to Soul City and Contempo once around 68/69 and bought a few but lack of funds and knowledge limited my spending. I've often wondered about F L Moore so maybe @Roburt or others could shed some light. Who was/is F L Moore and was it a regular shop that spotted the demand for old records. Where did they get the records from, was it in bulk job lots from the US, ordered by title from the US or via an importer in the UK. How did they know what to charge for each title as from what I remember of the lists there was a price range from under 10/- to 17/6 +. I think I heard that they had some titles in very small quantities that never made the lists such as one copy of Leon Haywood's Baby Reconsider. If so did they know they were valuable and who to and how did they sell these. Finally, they seemed to stop the lists just as demand was taking off. Why was this, as being one of the first to sell NS they should have been able to capitalise on the rising demand, did their supplier cut them out? As to what was the first major imported NS title Bobby Bland- Call On Me is a good candidate. I remember it was one that was in demand and supply was very limited. At the time I tended to think that Bobby Bland was an artist for the old RnB and Blues fans so not for a young gun like myself, of course I now see the error of my ways. I got Bunny Sigler's - Let the Good Times Roll on French Stateside from Contempo and remember this being quite an event as up till then they had not had many in demand titles just loads of Chess/Checker/Cadet titles. I don't think EMI were involved in importing this as they wouldn't have bothered importing a few hundred copies just for a niche market and the legality could have been tricky . There used to be an importer called Conifer that handled European EMI label titles that UK EMI didn't issue but when I was dealing with them in the 70 and 80s they only handled albums. Maybe Blues and Soul imported them from France which would have been fairly easy. I reckon this could be the first NS major import,even if it had been released in the UK, as it was a one off from France rather than the hundreds of US titles coming over.

Fascinating stuff, especially the Detroit 60s charts. It must have been amazing to hear records from all these small labels, just shows that the old line that these records disappeared without trace is way out. In 1976 I spent three weeks travelling from NY to Florida with Terry Thomas (Mr Tee of Kidderminster). These photos are of a radio station we got to go round ( Terry would just go in anywhere and ask, not always successfully, to be shown round). We got to meet a DJ during his show but I don't remember who or what the format was, probably soul/RnB, it would be nice to see a chart of what the station played. What I do remember is that all the singles were unsleeved on the desk with back ups hung on wooden dowels fixed to the wall. There is a WPDQ in Jacksonville so it could be that one but it is now a sports radio station. A year before this I was working in Philly and tried to listen to the local radio stations. The playlists seemed to be mainstream hits from the major artists and labels with almost nothing from small indie labels. One title that was getting a lot of plays was Fat Larry Band's -Centre City. Ian Levine started playing this at The Mecca but it must have been at least six weeks after I'd heard it in the US. Perhaps it was a local Philly hit before going national and then making it's way over here.

Two tracks as J.G.Lewis are on Kent CD - Mainstream Modern Soul 1969 to 1976- CDKEND 440. tracks are I'm The One Who Loves You What Am I Going To Do

A couple of trivial facts about Tell Me Why, Walt Khan, the records producer, mixed the instrumental track of The Four Perfections I'm Not Strong Enough in 76 for the UK Cream release. Maybe not as good as Bari Track but he bought out the instruments really well. I had to collect the finished tape from Walt's studio in Philly and on the wall of the reception area was a framed stock copy of Tell Me Why. I told Walt the record had been played in the UK, which he was surprised to learn. The record hadn't taken off in the US but he must have been proud of his involvement to get a copy framed. Of course I should have asked if he had any copies to sell or were there any unreleased tracks, but I didn't. Walt Khan went on to produce quite a few big disco hits so may have got some real silver or gold discs to display.

Rick John Abbey is on Facebook and seems to post things fairly regularly, he may answer a question about this if you contact him. I should think he could write a very worthwhile book as he was a major player for quite a few decades.

I think I went to most of the all-nighters at Va-Va's as there was no where else to go. The club was not the usual type of venue, being more of a trendy disco with flashing lights and mirror balls. The dance floor was good but, as has been said, had glass or mirror screens around it, a bit weird and not what we were used to. The records Richard played there were all the top sounds and most you couldn't hear any where else. I don't remember if there was another DJ with Richard, maybe Martin Ellis. In those days DJs seemed to have more stamina so didn't need a squad of others to do an all-nighter. For some reason Richard couldn't do one night, I think he may have been in the US, so he asked me, and others, to help out. The DJ booth was at the edge of the dance floor with a glass screen in front and behind which was strange. There was a good atmosphere at VA-Va's but had no chance once Wigan Casino opened.

Oldies Unlimited seemed to be very active around the 1970s as a seller of pop oldies but never tried to compete in the rare soul market. Selecta Disc had the mass market and Soul Bowl for rarities. I think the owner was Anthony Lewis and definitely not the guy in the above photo. I think he would have been in his thirties and looked like an accountant or Geography teacher. He was straight to the point and blunt but in a nice way. He was probably fed up with us lot spending all day messing up his stock and then only buying less than 100 records. I got to go sometime around 74 or 75 with Terry Thomas from Kidderminster. He was selling records at The Mecca and his shop so could buy in quantity. We were shown a small back room with loads of boxes which he said we could take whatever we wanted for a fixed price. There weren't any TK titles so they must have come later but a lot of smallish indie labels from Philly and NY such as Today/Perception and Jay Walking. There was quantity of Andre Maurice- You're The Cream Of The Crop, which was a new spin for Ian Levine. We also found some Canadian records mixed up with the US stock, three Precisions titles , Eddie Parker- Love You Baby and Timmy Willis on Stone in small quantities. The best finds were one copy of Ben Aiken -Satisfied on Warners and Billy Butler- I'll Bet You . I don't know where he got his stock from, maybe Soul Bowls excess or containers from The House of Sounds in Philly after John Anderson had taken his pick. Oldies Unlimited wasn't a major supplier of rarities but did sell some great stuff that is now fetching good prices.

These are some photos from our visit (me and Terry Thomas) to Tone/TK in 1977. The first shows the main frontage, going down to the right was the warehouse and going left was the office and recording studios. We were being shown around by the lady in charge of promotion and she let us go in the offices. Here we met Betty Wright and shown the studio. Outside we bumped into Steve Alaimo who was just leaving. We got to go in the warehouse and allowed to sort through the stock. However after less than an hour it was obvious we weren't going to find any old records. All the stock was less than a year old which could have included some titles that would go on to fetch good prices but at the time wouldn't have been worth buying. The people we met at TK were all really friendly and welcoming.

Julian I bought a few Action singles as new releases and they all had plain sleeves, I've never seen a company sleeve and couldn't find anything on Google images. I remember having a small Action promo leaflet that had all the titles issued up to the last few red/yellow ones. I got it from Ralphs Records in Stockport so Action must have sent these out to the small indy shops that stocked their records. It's long gone now, both the shop and the leaflet.

Joel, Great article and fascinating background info to a much loved record. It would be good to hear what Bruce has to say about the Partytime issue and maybe ask him the story to the Four Perfections record on the same label. There's a white label vinyl single sided test pressing of a Showstoppers record that has ST 102 on the run out. Could you ask Bruce about this, was it going to be a follow up to House Party and was it recorded at the same session?

Here are some pages from the "Pen and Paper" pages of Blues and Soul where they printed requests from readers looking for old records. Makes interesting reading as it shows the records and people at the start of northern soul, although it wouldn't have been called that yet. One letter from Wheel DJ Les Cokell and a few from Fred Benson, who seemed to be on the ball, I wonder if anyone sold them the records they wanted. The "records wanted" section only lasted about 10 months. Also is the review for Your Chess Requests EP highlighting the built up demand for The Entertainer. Also released the same month Short Kuts and Lynda Lyndell records which I could have bought, but didn't.

Like @Nickinstoke I remember a lot of reissues around 1968/9 as I was just starting to buy singles but was too young in 64 -66 when the records first came out. To check what the titles were I had a quick check in some Blues and Soul mags. Some are July 68 -Fascinations- Girls Are Out To Get You . Bob and Earl- Harlem Shuffle. Homer Banks-A Lot of Love/Sixty Minutes August 68 - Your Chess Requests EP (Tony Clarke- Entertainer) The EP title says it all. October 68- Doris Troy - I'll Do Anything. The review for this says "been in demand since it was deleted some months ago" January 69- Jackie Lee-The Duck. Jamo Thomas- I Spy May 69 - Tony Clarke- Entertainer, now on a single June 69-Dobie Gray- In Crowd. Flamingos - Boogaloo Party March 69 - see PDF B + S singles March 69.pdf Soul City , Action, B&C, Beacon, Pama and a few other labels were issuing some records for the first time here that are now Northern titles but I think they just wanted to put out records they liked and had realised that they would sell well north of Watford

Mal, Yes records as ballast totally untrue , NS myth number 5. Spyder Turner's first MGM record -Stand By Me got to number three RnB and twelve on Pop Billboard charts so could have sold near or over a million. I Can't Make It Anymore only made it to 95. I don't remember Stand By Me in the Bradford market stock. Quite often the record labels would press up loads of a follow up record and then have thousands left over when it didn't sell as many as they hoped.