Rick Cooper

Dave, I got my CD a couple of days ago. Royal Mail still seem to having a few issues so assuming you've ordered from Ace and not Amazon I wouldn't worry yet.

The shops that stocked northern records would have to order from the specialised wholesalers so not the likes of Woolworths, WH Smith, Boots etc. However, there were all sorts of strange places that you would find records for sale. These could be petrol stations, newsagents, corner shops and funfairs up and down the country who would have got a job lot from Bostock's in Bradford. These would include lots of MGM/Verve singles and always had copies of Spyder Turner - I Can't Make It Anymore on MGM. It was everywhere around 73/74 but is a great record that everyone would own , especially as it would cost around 25 - 50p . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34WLRnyMLiw

I suppose it would have been around the same time (Autumn 73) that I have a fairly clear memory of three or four older guys turning up at Pendulum in Manchester with some boxes of singles. This wouldn't be unusual but what stood out was they were from London, the records they had were unbelievable and they weren't for sale. I'm fairly sure there was a Four Larks - Groovin' at the Go Go as well as a Cooperettes Shing a Ling with the larger print title and artist as well as many others. Some of these got played that night. I think someone mentioned that one guy was Dave Rivers. Since then I've often wondered how and where they got the records. Did they get them from the US or were there imports knocking about in London? Would the UK record companies get sent every release from their US counterpart and they eventually cleared them to shops or collectors, or did shops like Soul City import titles in the late sixties. I remember a few people( @Modernsoulsucks) from Manchester would go to London record hunting in the early 70s although when I went later on there wasn't much around.

Found some Italian versions on YT

The Supremes recorded Where Did Our Love Go in German as Wo Ist Unsere Liebe. I think there might have been other Motown artists with foreign language versions, @Robbkmight be able to help.

7 out of 8, but with a couple of lucky hunches.

Long before CDs and downloads the only way to listen to a song would be on the 45 or LP so back then I'd try to buy everything I liked but also started buying records that were on certain labels or artists even if it wasn't a must have title. In the 70s the labels I'd look for were such as Ric-Tic, Mirwood, Okeh, Loma, Brunswick, Thelma, and lots of others. Never had , or wanted, complete runs of some of these but came close on a few. All were arranged by label so I suppose this would count as being a collection. Sold up in the late 70s but then started buying again in the 80s ,singles and the compilation albums on Kent, Soul Supply, Grapevine etc. Like others now buy the occasional cheap 45 but mostly CDs. If there are a series of CD titles I buy every volume as it comes out which might count as collecting but with the likes of Kent these are always too good to miss anyway. Having looked at RobbK's definition of a collector I'm perilously close in another area but that could be a subject for the Freebasing forum one day.

Not quite in the same league as the Shrine location, this is the building that in the 1960s to 80s was the location of Global Record Sales at 2512 North Broad Street in Philadelphia. Up to the mid 1960s they distributed a number of small indie labels that needed a Philly seller then went in to oldies where some great records went in and out of the door. The first photo was in 1976 and the second one from 4 or 5 years ago. The tree is still there but now a bit bigger. I think Virtue studios and Jamie /Guyden weren't very far from here.

Before my time so not guilty.

Chuck Cockerham would have never gone in a Soul Pack when I was at Global. One-offs were never put in packs, Ed Balbier was paranoid (probably justified) about rarities slipping out that he would sometimes check a box before it was sold. Collette Kelly quite likely as there was thousands of blue Volt and yellow Stax titles in the mid 70s.

Hi It could have been earlier than 75 , I'm not great with exact dates. I was going from the records I thought I remember playing that I think were getting towards The Mecca/Ritz type of 74-75. I did a couple of spots at Va-Va's when Richard S was away somewhere, possibly the US around 73. This would have been before Richard started at The Casino. Va-Va's was a weird club but the records Richard S played were some of the best new records ever.

The Oscar Perry - I Got What You Need sold for £363, which seems a lot but obviously must be the going price for a good clean copy. This record was one that Global Records had back in 75 or 76 in the same way as the Bits 'N Pieces record that I posted about on the auction results 31/08/22. I think the order would have been for 1000 copies as it was a big record at the time. We got Oscar's other record - Main String but probably only 500 copies. I've no idea if Peri-Tone had to re press the records or they had stock left over, the order was handled by a one-stop/distributor in New Jersey so I had no contact with Perri-Tone. Included with the records was this flyer for 4 Corner Get Down which also lists I Got What You Need but not Main String even though it had been released by then. I'd agree with John that it is a great record that most owners will be very reluctant to let go but £300+ might tempt a few more on to the market. Oscar Perry flyer.pdf

The Gloria Jones LP Come Go With Me went for £140, which seems a fair price as the record is still sealed, hopefully it won't have a piece of label pressed in the grooves. The record was one that I remember well from my spell at Global Records in the 70s. Sixties soul albums didn't sell particularly well back then, Global mainly sold C&W , Pop and Rock stuff but had some OK soul titles including Garland Green on Uni, Fred Hughes on Brunswick, Earl Van Dyke and some other mid 60s Motown titles. Usually Ed Balbier, the owner, would go to the US every month or so, buy from warehouses and air freight the records back. Occasionally he bought a job lot and sent these by sea in a container. This would be much better as there was a good chance of some rare titles, both as LPs and singles. One container was thousands of mixed LPs that had to be sorted into individual titles. We did this by opening a box, taking an armful of records and laying a title on the floor of a large space, then just piling more of the same until the pile was so high it nearly toppled over. It soon became obvious that each fifty count box had around 3 or 4 copies of Come Go With Me in it . There must have been at least 4 to 5 hundred by the time everything was sorted. Also there were hundreds of two James Carr LPs on Goldwax that soon got sold to shops in Japan. Other titles in smaller quantities were some OKeh records and a few very early Motown titles. The Gloria Jones sold fairly well to UK shops as it has some songs that people wanted on singles. It may have sold a few to Japan and Europe but it wasn't their type of thing. The copies from back then are probably, like mine, still in collections far and wide. I don't think these would fetch over £100 as they should be well played by now.

George Clinton has often said The Parliaments were a sort of copy of /influenced by The Temptations. His decision to form Parliament/Funkadelic was because he thought he would not get any success copying The Temps. More on the video about his work at Motown.

Not many comments recently but still essential viewing on a Wednesday evening. I don't really follow current prices so don't know if John's recent sales are the going rate but I thought I'd relate a story about the Bits'N Pieces - Keep On Running Away record. John remembers it as a Cleethorpes spin but I consider it a Blackpool Mecca Ian Levine spin that got loads of plays from other DJs after Ian pushed it. When Ian and Colin did the mid-week Blue Room at Sale I used to really annoy Ian by looking at the records as he played them and writing the label and number in a little notebook. Some of the ones that were very popular and only a few years old I used to add them to the orders we sent at Global Records to a place in the US that would order from the smaller labels and ship them to the UK for us. It didn't always work as some titles must have been deleted or all the stock had sold. However, quite often a month or so after posting the order ( no email, fax and not even a telex machine) a shipment would arrive that to my surprise would include something I'd taken a chance on. The best was The Carstairs on Red Coach but not far behind was Bits'N Pieces. I don't remember exactly how many we got but probably 1000. Also I'd added a few hundred of The Brothers, Sisters and Cousins- Smoke Screen record also on Nasco that was played at the same time. To use John's terminology the records were mint, unplayed never having any excessive DJ play , not only still in birth sleeve but in their birth 25 count box and packed in birth 200 count shipping box, showing only slight creasing to a few corners. Delivered direct from maternity department at Nashboro. Unlike Soul Bowl, Record Corner and Selecta Disc, Global mainly sold to other shops so the customers who knew their stuff were phoned with a list of new arrivals. Anyone around at the time might remember seeing the records for sale at their local shop, the usual price would be around £1.30 to £1.50. Bits'N Pieces sold quickly with some follow up re-orders, Brothers Sisters and Cousins didn't sell as well and was still in stock months after. Other importers must have ordered from Nashboro and it looks like it was re-pressed but not with the coloured band around "Nasco". John got £614 for the copy this week , which must be down to demand and no extra copies turning up in the last decades. The 1000+ copies that were in the UK from the seventies must still be around so maybe more copies will be up for sale soon. I like the record but for £614 I'd rather have the Soul Twins or The Artistics plus nearly £200 change.

Great track, would be nice on a single. It was on a CD Express Your Soul put out some years ago with Lev picking the tracks. Should be around quite cheap on the usual sites https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1O3FMQd1HE

Such a sad loss, great guy who always had time for a chat wherever and whenever he was.

Interesting question that I should think some people will have had, or will have to deal with. The one thing you can be sure is that HMRC will be well aware of the value of record collections just as much as paintings, jewelry, coins or any other collectables. My experience of dealing with an estate is that every asset had to be valued and any gifts made up to seven years had to be declared. This was quite a long winded process and most of it was done by an accountant. The total of all the assets plus gifts (using a sliding scale for gifts) was then subject to IHT if above the threshold. A record collection of, say £100000 plus a decent size house ( or a miniscule flat in London) along with other assets/savings could easily be subject to IHT. Not declaring a valuable record collection could end up with prosecution if HMRC found out. The whole thing's a minefield so it's best left to an accountant. If you find out how record collections are treated by HMRC maybe you could let us know.

In our house I'm usually "the very old dishwasher" but hopefully have many more years yet. I'm not sure how smart I need to be to wash up but I can tell when I need more Fairy or hot water. The concept that everything needs to be controlled by a smart phone is another way to sell more stuff at a higher price. For some people this maybe useful but like you I'm quite happy with a basic machine that does what you want. The last microwave we got can do loads of different things and can be programmed to come on and off anytime, yet all we do is bake spuds and warm things up. Our two year old printer can also do all sorts of fancy things but still gets paper jammed. Maybe we are all getting old and set in our ways but I suppose companies have to innovate or we'd never get any thing new.

The BBC recently launched Rewind as a place to search their archives for old interviews or news clips. This is the home page https://bbcrewind.co.uk/ I didn't have much luck searching but found this https://bbcrewind.co.uk/asset/6139d635544c6f002117180b?q=northern soul A clip of an interview with Sandy Holt and , if I'm not mistaken, a rare sight of Brian Rae dancing. There should be more stuff but I'm not the greatest at searching sites, maybe others might be able to find something else.

.......then got Dave Godin to plug it in Blues and Soul. Bought one from you , great record and really pleased to get it.

As a little nipper I'd have to queue up at the post office for a postal order to send off to F L Moore , Contempo or a couple of UK dealers. When I was allowed to get a bank account ( would it be age 16 or 18?) could then queue up at the bank for an IMO (International Money Order). I have a vague memory of having to show a passport but that could be for taking cash out of the country. Then there could be a wait of around a week for UK and months for US orders. I used to order a box of 100 mixed singles from a place in New York in the early 70s. Sent off the IMO then a box would finally turn up about 7 or 8 weeks later. Got some reasonable stuff but probably had Beat Ballad, RnB, Popcorn, Netherlands and Japan records but didn't realise it then. All this may have been a hassle but now you can sit at home with a laptop and credit card then 2 or 3 days later your record arrives. Where's the fun in that?

Here's some information about the RnB and Soul records that Liverpool groups performed and recorded which is worth looking at. Looks conclusive to me. https://medium.com/@pitt_bob/not-the-cunard-yanks-the-real-origins-of-the-beatles-r-b-covers-c6f2e2b3ff3b

I'm with you there about youngsters in US and Jamaica trashing their records. Also would include the Surinam community in The Netherlands and nearer to home, literally, people in this country who never put the sleeves back on their records. The ships ballast and wired bundles theory is, as far as I know, complete rubbish with no evidence. If ballast is considered to be a cheap, heavy cargo bought by the ship owners to keep the ship stable and then dumped at the docks on arrival that went out long before records were imported. This was discussed on here some years ago and I asked my brother who worked on cargo ships if he thought it happened. He told me that cargo was loaded with heavy items lowest but all cargo was equally valuable and costed the same, also ships hulls were not wet inside so no water damage to the cargo. The trade between US and Europe was massive so ships could get plenty of cargo without needing cheap ballast. The drill holes were done to signify the singles were deleted so not subject to royalties and could not be returned for full cost credit. As to stringing them on wire, why would anyone do that, it would take ages, just leave them boxed. The idea that ships had loads of singles wired up under bales of cotton just doesn't seem credible and outside NS forums I've never heard this. The five or six containers of singles I unloaded in the early seventies all arrived boxed and undamaged. Some records were water damaged but this happened in the US, I remember going through thousands of albums in New Jersey that had been soaked. Those not too damaged we sorted out for transporting by ship to UK. Apart from US teenagers mistreating their records radio stations often left the discs unsleeved, I once visited a radio station where the DJ was chucking the records about the desk and others were stuck on hooks on the wall, all without sleeves. Ian Levine's big find in Florida was ex radio station discs and all in bad condition. Sometimes I came across small quantities of singles that all had turned dull and slightly pale. I was told these would have been ex juke box records but these were usually titles from the charts. This doesn't explain why some titles are usually trashed so I'd think that could be down to almost all the stock being sold and then well played by the owners. If the record label didn't think it was worth another pressing there would not be any un played stock left. For small labels they might not have had the funds to press extra copies once the first run had sold out. Also some label owners might have thrown away all un sold stock as they thought they were worthless and just taking up space.

Thanks for finding this out. So, if there are any unreleased Ric-Tic/Golden World tracks there is no chance of an official release and other previously released tracks are also unlikely to be on an official CD. However if anyone finds a cellar full of tapes and acetates anything goes. It follows that other unreleased tracks on Universal Music Group labels will also never see the light of day which is a shame, to put it mildly.