Steve G

Hello Marc, yes a number of us have been saying broadly the same thing to Ian. Some people just don't have the stamina once they realise there is no short cut......Steve

Might as well be judging by some of the rubbish I've heard played in the name of rare and underplayed.

Sir, with respect, you are moving the goal posts again in an attempt to breath life into this corpse of a thread Could you even name 200 current in demanders Ian? Actually some of them are relatively cheap, still...and that proves the point that they don't have to be big money top be played or good. Get over the money thing.....get yourself out more yeah!

Winnie modesty fails me momentarily, but I have the vast majority of them, acquired over the last 35 years . I always pack a few of those type of sounds in the box, just in case I get mugged by a gang of oldies fans . And there's a few I do have that I can't stand like Al deLory or The LaRue - they would never go in the box, but things like Silhouettes, and Lou Ragland may get in there - especially at local do's where I know you have to mix it up a bit. Played Candi Staton the other week too, and Lou Pride on Friday . But records on that list would not form the mainstay of what I lug about to venues, unless I was specifically booked to do an oldies set. I can and do occasionally do that, but only by prior agreement . Cheers Steve

Yes it is because Ian's question was around "how much it costs to become a Top DJ". He based it on his perception of what type of record would be needed to become a top DJ if you were starting out now, and the current prices of those type of sounds. We've all replied that Ian wouldn't need that type of record as there are plenty of other good ones to pick. Clever buying and you could build a great collection to DJ with. Not the Eddie Parkers, but great other records. And becoming a DJ isn't just about having a certain records anyway. Plenty don't have the Salvadors, Del Larks etc. But whatever records you buy, it takes time, learning, watching etc. No short cuts these days. Bearsy, I'd missed that - 8k in the 70s - a fortune.....Actually more than FOUR years wages for me in 1977. He must have been a proper "Chawdick" Steve

James Fountain was £170 wasn't it? You keep going on about the financial side of things - you know Trevor Francis was the first million £ football player - but so what? WHy would anyone want to amass that list today though Ian? Sure there are some classics on there but are you saying or implying they are the best records ever or something? As we've all said there are plenty of cheaper good records you could buy, and in fact some on that list ain't rare at all.....who sang "Round and round in circles" - was it the Exportations or something - I should know I have a copy in the lock up on EMI. But it seems like this discussion is becoming a bit round and round in circles. Steve

Ian a strong list of classic oldies. I am sure if you still had those records you could - if you wanted to - get some bookings at "oldies nights". So if your post about if you want to become an "oldies DJ" then I kind of get where you are coming from. But the scene has moved on so much in those 40 years you have spoken about. For me there are a number of fine records on that list (not all), but playing out I'd only drop at max one or two of them into a set as "fillers" really and only if neccesary. I know that may sound harsh if you like your oldies or are a scene 'returnee', but as I say things have moved a long way on for many of us......Who was it who said the best record I ever bought is the last one, or the one I am about to buy? ATB, Steve

Ok fair enough Ian. Just keep seeing these posts about "how much money" etc about DJs, rather than about how good an "ear", how good an "eye" - reading the floor, mixing it up a bit but not going totally off piste etc. Heard you were pretty good back in the day too . But y'know I actually think it was probably far easier in the 70s with Soul Bowl, Manny, and all the others turning up and supplying the jocks with an endless playbox of records, overnight hits that broke into monsters within a fortnight once played at Wigan four times a night, loads of unknowns turning up every week etc. in fact maybe all you needed THEN was the dosh to buy them eh? The scene is far more fractured these days and one persons great unknown is another persons pile of cack. Some of this so called "underplayed" is great, some of it is truly awful. A great tune can clear the floor, and a bad one can fill it. But the message remains the same - that apart from a few "get out of jail" records that every DJ needs in their box, try whenever you can to play records you personally believe in whether they are £10 or £5,000. ATB STeve

Strewth Ian. I cannot work out whether you are wanting to get back on the bus, or regretting ever getting off it in the first place, despite your post saying "je ne regret rien". You are beginning to sound like a big name 70s DJ who wants to make a comeback, but without the big cheque book / house re-mortage that the others had. Let's disect the rest: -3-4 bookings a week? Oh yeah right! Maybe in someone's front room. No one gets bookings like that. -Records costing a weeks wages then versus now a month's wages. Rubbish on two counts - you can still get loads of great dancers cheap like the Admirations on OneDerFul for under a tenner (I just checked and it's there). And there are lot's of lesser known things you can seek out and get relatively cheaply. Second these so called "top sounds" ain't exactly lying around on peoples floors, so they ain't easy to source even if you have the dosh. Back then in the 70s for most of the top DJs as much as it was about breaking new records, it was about having the then instant hits that the other jocks had - this weeks Wigan monster. I often think Wigan actually completely distorted the UK scene by it's dominance for so long. Nowdays, in terms of what gets played - if you exclude the "Teddy Boy" nights, it's much less predictable - of course there are the holy grails, but they tend to last a long time. As for owning things like Salvadors, Eddie Parker, Tomangoes, Del Larks, - if I was starting out as a DJ now, wouldn't want them, because someone in front of me will play 'em. I see this so often at venues where these monster oldies get played by the first available name DJ on the night, leaving the other "monster oldie" DJ's with 'em going ashen, and scrabbling around dusting off the cobwebs at the middle and back end of their playbox. Get something else to play, lead rather than follow. - Frank Wilson, yeah the less said about that the better, I notice your comment was tongue in cheek so guess you agree it ain't the rarest by a long way - but it is the most HYPED record ever. I wonder what would have happened if Kenny didn't take it with him and told the punters "Nah am bored with it, left it at home". Said it before, it's all about having a passion for the music, building a collection, buying what you like, learning, watching. etc. And pushing the envelope a bit - always put something new in. Stay away from the "Pollyfilla Principle" - i.e. buy what you like, not what you think you need to "fill the floor". That is why so many DJs are collectors first and DJ's second (again I exclude the handbag nights where it may be different). There simply is no short cut by trying to build a box of "Top of the Pops" hits. So will we start to see you treading the boards again, or lingering in dark corners of the record areas at Niters such as Lifeline and the 100 Club, or are you going to remain "covered up" behind your keyboard firing off these 'damp squibs'? Steve

Two discussions (at least going on here). The first one is the old chestnut of what makes a good DJ - in my very humble opinion, it's having an ear for the music and an eye for the dancefloor. Good taste has to be near the top of the list. The second one is about whether you need to spend a fortune to be a DJ. This was Ian's original question - Answer no, unless of course you are trying to re-create the NS Top 500 and need to own "Del Larks", Eddie Parker, Mel Britt etc. There is an endless suply of good records, no one knows or has them all - despite what some people think - we can be grateful for the fact that vinyl was cheap to produce in the 60s and 70s (up til the oil crisis) and the overproduction has left us with a wealth of quality music that will last us our lifetimes. As for a DJ "refusing to play something because they don't have it on an original" - that's missing the point. No self respecting DJ I know of walks round with bootlegs in their playbox. They probably don't even own any, except maybe some left overs in the garage from their early days on the scene as a teenager, along with the Javells etc . So the suggestion that DJs are refusing to play things they don't have "on original" is completely unrealistic.

Lost interest probably, like all of 'em.

Some good points on here but it's all relative. I remember back in the 70s not being able to afford most things on the lists that poped through me letterbox. The top DJs spent a fortune compared to us mere mortals - £35 for Lou Pride, £20 for this etc. Records more than a whole week's wages. These were guys who by and large were 5 - 10 years older than me. As soon as a new record broke big all too often the Top DJs seemingly all managed to get a copy. Another famous name with £100 weekly "pocket money" to spend each week etc etc. Please let's not try and rewrite history making out that DJs in the 70s didn't spend money and the records were all 50p throwaways - certainly not the rare stuff. Also agree with the point that you got to collect for a long time to build up a collection and know what you're doing. I've seen one or two go at it hammer and tongs to develop a "trophy box" of titles by spending their inheritance, lottery winnings, or their bosses cash whatever. But the examples I can think of never have the depth and soon lose interest in it all when they realise they are not revered. Also agree with the point about dancing to one DJ and not another - really funny example of this at a nighter recently. But as the member is on here not going to embarrass them publically.

B side of the acetate apparantly came out according to Chalky - presumably a Zodiac thingy

Yeah quite a few others. Promatics being the best - and even that came out in two versions....

Very good Dave

So let me get this right then - the Yardbirds rip off Major Lance, and they in turn get ripped off by The Servicemen.

Gareth, That's an interesting theory, and I've now been to my shelves dug out both my Nolan chance records and my Bunky stuff...... And it does hold some water timewise if Nolan Chance was issued on Constellation in 65, I know the matrix suggests a recording date of 65 (65-279). His other one on the label was however some time earlier - it's 144 and has a 64 matrix number so I am not sure I agree with Robert Pruter's theory of JLTW being "hot on the tails" of "If he makes you" - looks like quite a gap to me and two seperate recording sessions....As you say it's what's in the matrix of the Bunky record that counts, but what i cannot fathom is why it would have a Constellation release number, since Bunky used 7750 to start his labels - not only Bunky but also B&B which had Mill Evans as 7750. Unless Bunky put it out again and it was the first one on the label, which is possible. BTW Bunky was bad at release numbers as well I have 2 different 7751's one by Glenn Watts and the other by The Esquires but on B&G (not B&B)! I like going to the shelves!!! Oh and in response to someone elses question - not all Bunky's went through Scepter.....The Esquires did and one or two others. Steve

My take on this is different. I reckon it was pressed up on the wrong label. I have all the Bunky's apart from this one and they never had the Constellation numbering system, so I reckon the plant pressed it by mistake on Bunky labels rather than Constellation. Realising their mistake they trashed it and repressed it but one or two got away from the crusher. The same thing happened with J Kelly & premiers, destined for Roadshow but pressed on Wand by mistake (11278). ANyway all speculation, but that's my theory on the Bunky release.

Darren, That scan wherever it came from looks like a 90s lookalike . We await Thursday with baited breath to see what a real one looks like and whether it's the same.

It originally started as a rod dearglove front page £6 item in the mid nineties and that's where I got mine. I think he had 6-7 of them......

the sound quality on that CD is awful in places. The bonnetemp 45 comes out ok though. Steve

Don't forget the Johnny Dollar slow version

Think there's an edee Leatherwood on Ebay Edit: Not there now must have finished last night.

Been playing the 45 for some time - has a great feel to it.