Steve G

Yes a lovely record even if the vocals are a bit weak. As the Plumbmeister says one of those turning point records, and a great dancer too. Ray Dahrouge wrote it and later covered it on Polydor, and he's on here as well......Steve

Hey Jocko, thanks for the comments. Do you think Mr Dewhirst and the folks over at manifesto would accept a few editorials from me? How about some dancing lessons in Manifesto then? : Mark, the joke was in the words "kick" and "heel", a "heel" being someone who plays the part of a villain. But I am sure you knew that. Steve

Hi Mark - Does Russ get a kick out of being the "heel" ?

Sorry guys, I no longer get upset by this sort of thing. If the lady wants to make a bit of money teaching others how to dance then so be it, good luck to her. And please spare me the "this is commercialism" line - several years ago at a weekender Tim A and myself were discussing the fact that there were more clothes stalls in evidence than there were record stalls! It was a shocking revelation. The complete comercialism of NS has been there for years now - everything from car stickers, to birthday cards that play Frank Wilson. I even succumbed at one point and purchased a "Darrell Banks London demo" mug to drink me tea out of So why not some lady who teaches people to dance? The way I see it the majority of the NS scene today is just a retro revival scene playing the same 200 records like the Teddy Boys / Rockabilly lot and some would say now what remains of the scooterists. There is nothing "cool" or "underground" about this brand of NS at all and if you want to find a scene that sticks closely to the original principles of NS - well there are a few obvious clubs and promotors, but you have to search them out. So unless you are all going to give the handbag sellers at the weekenders a hard time as well, and berate Johnny Vaughn for his cringeworthy TV "send ups" leave this woman to her classes and her happy punters......who presumably can now do airplane spins without knocking the beer tables over -unlike me. As for Winstanley, well why would anyone be surprised he is popping up on a commercial NS site? - his contribution to the soul scene since Wigan closed has only been to harp on about Wigan Casino endlessly and try and recreate it in increasingly bizarre locations - at least this time he has travelled beyond the boundaries of Wigan for once, up as far as Preston.........yipee doo! Perhaps it's time to be serious about re-employing the term "rare soul" again so as to distance ourselves from the pungent smell of overt commercialism that hangs over NS.......but only on condition that the usual suspects don't start posting up how many good records are not "rare" (we know that)....

What me a curved ball? :yes: At this rate I'll be eating Gavin's famous "sock" at Yarmouth

I am not that cynical folks. Clarkie did tell me it was a wind up when I asked him about it at Yarmouth. Anyway let's see if anyone actually gets it. I've never been afraid of eating my hat if I get something wrong and Dave T's comment about Ernest Kelly is interesting - so if it does exist is it being suggested that it was not a contemporary release at the time of the album but something done some time later? The plot thickens.

This is a serious comment, but I have got a feeling he is related somehow to George Bush.

It's a tough one. But agree with the others, totally silly price, especially for a deep 45. SOundclip anyone?

AGree a great sound. John A found the first copy in Allentown, Pa. in a hillbilly record shop / warehouse - it was probably the most unusual thing, as being found there and with the title you'd think it was a "country" release......rather than a blasting northern sound.

Yes think that was Russ, and it was probably ahead of it's time as a record. Fact remains though relative to his position at a weekly venue, top spot, scene in it's heyday, the level of quality discoveries is poor.

I like it, but then again I am a sucker for major label oddities. But not at the silly money that's being banded about. There's a lot of these nice pop edged blue eyed 70s things about, but this one is a good production. And I have always thought JS was light years ahead of it's 1973 release date in ternms of feel and production. No doubt about it Ian this came later than the JS, even if he did record it at the same time. Good one though.

No No No, we're not ganging up on you Dave honestly. I am hardly Winstanley's biggest fan am I? But I will concede that he did play some good records. Just not enough of them Steve

Love music was a Russ sound.......like you heard him spin it every time in that period.

That's an interesting point. Some would say that the whole WC thing did untold damage to the soul scene in this country with the split between oldies and newies, 60s v 70s, the complete neglect of things below 120 bpm and things like Muriel Day. Not for this thread but I have heard it said....when compared to others scenes such as Europe.... DD Barnes was a good Russ one, but Mark you have to admit for a guy that had a two hour set every week for eight years at a club, the list is a bit on the "thin" side even if it does contain some goodies. Does Russ really see himself as an "underdog"?

Hey Malc I am trying to be objective in my post ......and yes Richard was getting most of big stuff from John A in the late 70s. That's the point about "discoveries". I know stuff did turn up in shops and stalls and some stuff was discovered that way but most of it came from dealers, Soussan, Anderson, McCutcheon etc etc. BTW Frank Bloody Wilson also came from Soussan..... So this obsession with DJ's 'discovering' records is a bit of a misnomer. Levine can of course lay claim to "discovering" many records because he was going round junk shops in the USA and bringing back unknown records at a time when most of the rest of us got no closer to the USA than watching "The Andy Williams Show".

Wasn't Yvonne Baker first played at the Mecca? I might be wrong on that but it's a niggling thought. Maybe the Mecca played it later I can't recall. Rather than "discoveries" which is always a misnomer since most people at the time discovered these records in their letter box or in a bin at Soul Bowl or a market stall in Bradford, maybe "broken by" would be a better expression to use (and I don't mean broken as in Pete SMith's Carstairs). Whilst I am a big critic of Russ and the Wigan bandwagon he has promoted he did play some good records such as Willie Hutch "Love games", Larry Hale "Once" and Lee Fields "Take me back" I believe was his too. But it's all so hazy now someone else may lay claim to beating him to it.....

Yep we've documented this one before as PD says. They found clem martin the label owner and he had a garage full of his old stuff, good and bad. He has since died and his widow found some other stuff - acetates etc. Sometimes it does happen that way. Interesting story on Dave godin and Shirley Lawson - thanks DtheD

In principle yes as long as it is "accidental damage"

The highest I have heard is £4k. It is a 60s record I have and I don't want to reveal the person that paid that amount for a cracked copy. It's not a nice thing to do. But I did hear they paid £4k for a cracked copy......

Don't know the UK version. Eddie Carr is the version I am thinking of.

I guess you all know there is a slightly better version of this on WHC?

TV mini-series "Ellis Island" featured both Ben Veren and Melba Moore amongst a cast of thousands (Melba of course was a bit of a thesp. but not sure whether Ben appeared in other films). And I spose we should mention "Live and let die" as well in this section BJ Arnau and Lon Statton.

Stuart if you still need the cover let me know. I'll scan it. I only have a desktop so would have to do it in two halves. Steve

I have the album, from memory it has a green psychadelic cover with an tough looking McKinley on it.....Steve

It's a great record, so well produced. I even like the other version (Yvette Anderson I seem to recall though that was a local production).