Godzilla

Another white guy for sure, but Pete Wingfield has pretty good soul credentials as a singer, musician and writer.

Have you honestly never heard of The Office? Reminds me of the old Rowan Atkinson sketch where he plays a judge out of touch with the modern world "A digital watch ???"

I think you'll find that from the 70s onwards they were using a considerable amount. Ask a Dancehall collector for example. As for mastering, I know they used worn stampers and ancient pressing equipment, but I actually like the sound of lots of Jamaican mastered records. Horses for courses though I suppose

Hang about. Then you would be using recycled vinyl. I was always lead to believe that the sound quality was inferior. I understand that's why some original copies of records are noisy - because they used recycled vinyl in the first place. Same with loads of Jamaican stuff. KT is not a particularly noisy recording to my recollection

From AMG Evelyn Thomas was discovered in her hometown of Chicago, IL, by Ian Levine in 1975. Levine had come to America to discover talent for his newly formed Voltafine Production Company. His goal was to record American soul singers and lease the masters to major recording companies. Thomas, an ex-gospel singer, sung in a plain, unemotional voice that masked her ethnicity; Thomas is a black singer who sounds white, by design or by chance. Impressed by her voice and willingness, Levine cut some tracks and secured a deal for her with 20th Century Records. During this period, Levine was a constant victim of rip-offs and threats, but persevered to realize his dream, often having to call up friends and relatives for loans via Western Union for payoffs and to complete sessions. Ian Levine and Danny Leake produced Thomas' first 45 single, "Weak Spot," which was arranged by Paul Wilson and soon entered the U.K.'s Top 50. The success of Thomas' record and others prompted Voltafine to fly their American artists to England to appear on Top of the Pops, in hopes of breaking the recordings on Britain's pop charts. Thomas came over with fellow Chicagoans and Voltafine artists Barbara Pennington and L.J. Johnson. The appearances went well but the records never crossed, nor did they do anything in the States. Still, "Weak Spot" sold 70,000 copies, pretty good for a debut. After returning to Chicago, the threesome was soon flown back to England to tour the Northern soul clubs; this event was promoted by Terry King and was called the Chicago Soul Review. 20th Century welcomed Thomas with open arms and did all they could to help her while she was in England. Thomas went over well at the clubs, being blessed with a perpetual smile and a bluesy voice that Levine and Leake could transform to gutless pop/disco in a New York minute. Financially, the tour was a failure, drawing well in the northern areas but failing miserably in London proper. "Doomsday," Thomas' follow-up, didn't do as well as her debut, entering the chart and dropping out, only to re-enter again for a pit stop before disappearing completely; it sold less than half of what "Weak Spot" did. Back in the studios, Voltafine cut the Gloria Gaynor-influenced "Love Is Not Just an Illusion" and "My Head's in the Stars" for Thomas. Then came problems with an ex-manager who informed Levine that he was Thomas' manager under contract, and demanded that Thomas' royalties and contracts go through him. Levine insisted he had a valid contract, that is, until he was taken on a scary car ride in a Mercedes with Thomas' ex-manager, who now wanted 2,000 dollars for compensation. After some scurrying around and many phone calls, the ex-manager was satisfied and Thomas was again Levine's artist. Over the years, Thomas proved to be one of Levine's most prolific artists. To date, five CDs have resulted from the chance union of this Brit and American: The Best of Evelyn Thomas, Have a Little Faith in Me, High Energy, I Wanna Make It on My Own, and Standing at the Crossroads. Thomas' sweet, innocent voice can also be heard on some Redemption tracks when the group was billed as Redemption Featuring Evelyn Thomas, and her singles are included on many compilation CDs. A pretty good run for an American singer who never had a hit or significant record in her own country. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide

Sorry, should have made my self more clear. I meant "Other Side", the Blue Cat 45 was tougher than the Red Bird 45 "You'll Always be in Style". And that I thought "Other Side" was the better tune. Sorry for the confusion. My old copy played lovely by the way

Sold mine about 4 years ago for around £350 if I remember rightly and I'd expect JM's copy to go for double that easily. You see many, many times more of the Red Bird 45 than the Blue Cat one. Better record too IMO - but each to there own I suppose. Godz

Ronco's Black Explosion was another formative one for me A1 Love Unlimited Orchestra Love's Theme A2 First Choice Armed And Extremely Dangerous A3 Wilson Pickett Soft Soul Boogie Woogie A4 Tony Clarke (2) Landslide A5 Limmie & Family Cookin' A Walkin' Miracle A6 Jimmy Helms Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse A7 Delfonics, The Didn't Blow Your Mind This Time A8 Gladys Knight And The Pips I've Got To Use My Imagination A9 Whispers, The A Mother For My Children A10 Dells, The Sing A Rainbow/Love Is Blue A11 New York City I'm Doing Fine Now A12 Sly & The Family Stone Dance To The Music B1 Barry White Honey Please, Can't Ya See B2 Jimmy Ruffin Tell Me What You Want B3 O'Jays, The Love Train B4 Isaac Hayes Theme From Shaft B5 Stylistics I'm Stone In Love With You B6 Johnny Nash There Are More Questions Than Answers B7 OC Smith La La Peace Song B8 Billy Paul Brown Baby B9 Main Ingredient Everybody Plays The Fool B10 Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes The Love I Lost B11 Johnny Johnson And The Bandwagon (Blame It) On The Pony Express B12 Aretha Franklin Soulville

Here you go: LINK

- not totally lost on here then!

Nah, attempt at humour. I was quoting an infamous mangler of the English language from music papers in the 70s. I think Tony Smith remembers him, but unless Danny Baker joins this forum it looks like I've gone down a blind alley. Will remember to stick to the obvious if future. Sorry for interrupting the deadly serious stuff

Drowned In Sound! Where is Beatles band? This band who have not been as of late clear of circumstance. Beatles Band! Can we no longer hear there medolious throng? John! Paul! All in Beatles Band come forth! What question have we to put? Now? Arguments neccessary can begin with whole results expected for any return. Ringo! Here in Thailand Beatles band experience is long loved and can be hurt away from John, Paul etc. Please give any news to Samuel K. Amphong of address similar to above. yours as in rock! Samuel K Amphong.

Morning Jock. Hey! How come when you talk I can always understand you, but when you write on here it just looks like you've assembled a load of random words then jumbled 'em up a bit more before posting? Godz

What? Not the Nosebleeds??

Pretty certain Ronnie isn't Gaylord. There's bit of wiki info here: RONNIE GAYLORD I'm sure I read that the Ronnie of Ronnie and Robyn was really called "Bobby" something, and sang with a local Detroit band prior to the Sidra stuff.

Ascot Just looked at one - 7th ave NY.

Me neither - never have here or on Fryers. You just seem to get a word doc without html links. And the planeteoub.com website doesn't seem to exist either. Meant to mention this ages ago but I'm lazy

Have you got Exodus in there yet?

Yeah, you need the insurance. Most of the mail round here gets eaten by my cousin Rodan.

How much Brian??? ........... ................

Not to mention a bit of a looker too!

Well for starters it's an intriguing funk version and it's rare. It'll obviously be of interest to some people on here going by the funk thread in Media Source that has 649 posts and 10,679 views at the time of writing. Then there was the thread about Peggy Lee's "Spinning Wheel" - a funky version of a rock record sung by a white jazz singer, but that was acceptable wasn't it? Have you heard it and decided you don't like it - or do you already know what you like and therefore don't have to hear anything else? I think it's ace, although of course I realise it won't be to everybody's taste. Here's the reissue in case anyone fancies a listen. ">

Not unless penguins around 1975 wore drainpipe trousers and baseball caps... Godz

Nah, lolloping was a term of abuse coined by the die-hard 60s fans for the wiggly backwards and forwards walking about - as seen mostly at the Mecca and Manchester Ritz. I can remember people saying "look at that lot going lolloping onto the floor" when tunes like Pierre Hunt and Stanley Woodruff were played. That thing you're describing, Our Kid, was known as "shitlegging" in my old circles. I even know the derivation, but that's another story

What are the rules again? No garage but Soul/Northern is ok? If funk 45s are eligible, how about New Detroit? As in Johnnie Walker - Love at First Taste. I assume it's a sub of GM, as it's a GM production and label number is GM 163.