Godzilla

Reports coming in overnight of the passing of Noel McKoy. Haven’t seen anything official yet but the news seems to be coming mostly from musicians who are his contemporaries, plus Eddie Piller etc. Very sad if true - he’ll have been just 61. Seen him loads of times with James Taylor Quartet and guesting with the likes of Snowboy and various Acid Jazz type outfits. I’ve always thought of him as a true - if possibly a little under-rated British Soul talent.

At least I learned it’s pronounced “Soo-Lay”…

Erm. He’s not dead.

Soul LPs for sale – all brand new sealed Shipping in UK £6 signed for – any amount Overseas ask for quote Sorry – no EU sales at present Bank transfer preferred. Paypal F&F by request PM to reserve/ask questions. David Ruffin – David (first time on vinyl) - Universal/3rd Man £40 SOLD Bettye Lavette ‎– Blackbirds – Verve £15 East of Underground - East Of Underground – Now Again £19 Timeless Legend ‎– Synchronized – Pendulum / Expansion £15 Tomorrow's People - Open Soul – Stage Productions / P-Vine (Japanese import with OBI) £35 Ultimates – You’re My Lady – TSG/ P-Vine Japanese import with OBI) £35 ON HOLD (I Think...)

Just played it to Mrs G as a "guess who is this" She said "is it Bruce Willis"? - close!

Jackie Wilson was a Golden Gloves boxing champion aged 16.

News in from Ramsey’s official site that he died peacefully at his home on the morning of September 12th aged 87. A true giant of the music world. RIP https://www.ramseylewis.com/

No worries! The guys just told me it's gone anyway. Glad you're sorted

I think we may have a Probe copy at the shop Stephen. I'll ask the guys there to check after they open at 10.

Gabriels album Angels and Queens part 1 out on CD 30th Sept. No release date for the vinyl as yet. Should be a cracker!

Thought we'd just sold the very last copy on Discogs but Ruben the wonderboy just messaged me from the shop to say he's found another couple of copies in the cupboard of doom. These are New Old Stock copies - last of a batch of 20 we picked up a few years ago. They are unplayed but might have the odd fine paper storage mark and a teeny bit of bubbling to the labels as seen in pics. Two great sides taken from Alice Clark's legendary LP. Proper soul music. Edit. One left now. Asking £24 each + £3.50 signed for post in pro packaging. PM or shout below.

Very sad news indeed. I was lucky enough to catch her at The Ponderosa Stomp in 2019, where she put in a terrific performance and was wickedly funny in the Q& A session. Some great stories of her childhood with Willie too. The flip of Able Mabel is a big fave in our house. RIP Mabel.

This might help...

Sun Ra connection mentioned here: https://thevinylfactory.com/features/the-strange-story-of-sun-ras-lost-doo-wop-christmas-hit/ Dovetailing with his own performances alongside RnB and doo-wop vocalists in Chicago throughout the ’50s, the recordings he made in this period are among the first known El Saturn releases. Featuring a skeletal Arkestra, they showcased local RnB vocal groups like the Lintels, the Clock Stoppers, the Metros and Ra’s favourite, the fantastically named Cosmic Rays – four teenagers from rough neighbourhoods who worked in a barbershop. (The Cosmic Rays feature on ‘Dreaming’, which is included on Strut’s new compilation.) and a denial here. This is fun! http://campber.people.clemson.edu/sunra.html Dante Carfagna has tracked down a record Alton Abraham once said he had made, by a group called The Clock Stoppers. It turns out to be the work of a soul unit from 1967 (not a vocal group—one W. Truman does all the singing). It was released on a label called Clock and there's no reason to think Sun Ra had anything to do with it.

Absolutely. Probably shoudn't go down this path again, but too many folk see that one off auction/discogs/ebay price as the new standard. My point, perhaps not made as clearly as it could have been, is that there seems to have been a general decrease in the interest in lesser known records. I should make a sign saying "No, sorry, we haven't got Bob Sinclar - Tribute" to save time answering...

I wouldn't argue with that Rod. When I used to get over to Manchester more often and it was still on Tib Street, I loved to get in Beatin Rhythm early, grab boxes of 45s and listen to tons of stuff that I didn't know. Always came away with a big bag of records, some that turned out to be bargains and some that subsequently I discovered I could have got cheaper - but rarely all from the same place, so factoring in postage I was still happy. There was a lot of that evident when we first opened the shop, but over the last few years I've seen it reduce a bit - the exception of course being straight after lockdown ended when everyone seemed to have money to burn... I was actually wondering if the general sense of gloom regarding the economy was having an impact lately - coupled with the increasing sense I get that more and more people purchasing soul records these days seem to see them as an investment that must increase in value, leading to buyers playing it a lot safer and sticking to known sounds...

I commented that it had slowed - not stopped. Thanks for the advice on how to run my shop though!

I'd back this up too: We have a physical shop and have a few Shweppes crates of soul 45s with a deck for customers to listen. Most of the tunes that are not top 500 style or tried and tested oldies have notes on the sleeve, so that people don't have to sample music that they're not into eg Crossover/group harmony/blue eyed/garage dancer/beat ballad/Detroit/Philly/Mecca/Wigan spins etc etc. It feels as though fewer and fewer folk are prepared to spend time listening to/buying sounds that they are less familiar with, whereas we can sell copies of The Flirtations on Deram day in and day out during the summer season. I'm not sure why this is and I'm all ears as far as any theories go! Meanwhile, given the terrible (from UK perspective) exchange rate with the States, I'm sorely tempted to cut down on the number of originals and expand the Kent/Outta Site/Expansion re-releases as that market seems to be a lot steadier.

It doesn't matter. If you're bootlegging/counterfeiting then you are depriving the rights owner of revenue. If you sell a boot second hand it's not really different to selling an original second hand. The rights owner makes zilch in either case. In terms of what encourages bootleggers, I'd suggest that it's people buying them new from source, rather than paying large amounts for historical boots.

Loads of these sold out but some restocks due soon. PM for details Ta!

Loads of these now sold out but soe re-stocks due. PM with any queries Ta! Hi folks Don't buy from eBay scalpers! We're an independent, bricks and mortar record shop and we will have limited stocks of the following. All correctly licensed reisssues. Under RSD rules we can't sell or take orders online until 8pm on Friday, so please don't ask yet, but we'll happily supply any of these after that point - while stocks last. Signed for postage will be extra. Thanks for looking! We'll update with instructions Friday morning. Barbara Mason – Lost 80s Sessions LP £20 SOLD OUT - more stock in roughly 2 weeks Bobbi Humphrey - Baby Don't You Know 12 £18 SOLD OUT - more stock in Next Week Deep Heat - Do It Again 7 £13 Eunice Collins - At The Hotel 7 £13 SOLD OUT - more stock in roughly 2 weeks Fir Ya - Keep On Tryin' 7 £12 Flame N' King & The Bold Ones – Ho Happy Day 7 £12 Guitar Ray - You're Gonna Wreck My Life 7 £13 Ike & Tina Turner - The Soul Of Tina Turner LP £22 SOLD OUT - more stock in roughly 2 weeks Las Vegas Connection – Runnin’ Back To You 7 £13 SOLD OUT - more stock in roughly 2 weeks Willie Tee - Concentrate 7 £13 Willie Tee - First Taste of Hurt 7 £13 Various Artists - De-Lite Soul LP (Blue) £25 SOLD OUT - more stock in Next Week

First episode had the Rock-A Teens original version of Woo Hoo - as covered by the 5,6,7,8's in Kill Bill. Everything is available on compilations, spotify playlists etc so it's not hard to search for cool early 60s tunes if you're a switched on person looking for interesting songs for background music.

This year RSD is back to normal ie no online sales for a week. As usual, we'll be buying in all the soul related RSD releases, so rather than pay inflated Discogs/eBay prices, drop us a line from 8pm onwards on 29th April and we'll do our best to help. Thanks! Edited typo where I wrote March instead of April!

I think we have one in the shop. I can check tomorrow...

We have both types of music here: Country AND Western....