Steve G

Goodness, it's like Groundhog Day…..the same stories over and over and over again. There is so much more to the scene than those same old tired stories. Sad really.

True. Knowing a bit about trains helped here. The Crewe to Wigan train, actually a Preston service was normally a loco hauled train with carriages with a gangway throughout the train meaning you could walk through the entire train. Sometimes they put on an electric unit where you couldn't walk between the carriages. Whenever that happened funnily enough we'd be greeted at Wigan NW by her majesty's finest and their alsatians spread along the platform. I worked it out pretty quick - electric unit (no corridor), we're gonna get busted when we arrive at WIgan. Now for the police to get the train type changed so that they could marshall / control the people getting off at WNW takes some doing….why would they bother if they weren't concerned about drugs? Just saying' like.

Bellingham isn't that in south east London? Bit of a rough place as I recall. What RW said in the interview was "Over 4m people went in eight years and not one of them was ever prosecuted". Now he is talking about showing that there were "arrests inside the Casino" - totally different thing.

The whole theory is flawed…."off duty police officers coming in because they enjoyed it so much" Perhaps they were still on duty …. "A major deterrent was if you got a conviction you couldn't get a visa to go to the USA" - in 1973? I am sure that was a "game changer" for the average Casino goer wanting to dance all night . I don't understand why he persists in this "No drugs on my watch" stuff. Ridiculous. I also don't feel sorry for Russ like some. He does very nicely out of trading on Wigan Casino's name, gets more bookings than the rest of us put together and all with about 25 records. I mean that's some feat if you think about it.

Certainly every time I got stopped and searched it was OUTSIDE Macca. Maybe some Freemason skullduggery going on here between Walker/Marshall/ Winstanley and Sir Malachi Jerrico (New Statesman). A cosy arrangement that saw the police do their business outside, and not a penny changing hands outside of the upstairs record bar. These stories just get taller and taller as time goes on. The attendance numbers, the best disco in the world award BS, no one busted for drugs….I am sure by 2020 there will have been 10m through the doors and we'll learn that Michael Foot was a regular attendee.

CDBaby also now charging VAT on their downloads…..

Sleep well? Isn't this part of the clamp down on "corporate tax evasion" nice Mr Millionaireband keeps telling us is a good thing? Was thinking of opening a discogs account, as have a load of 12s but the problem for me is a lot of them aren't in their database and I think they have to be in a format before you can post them.

Very nice, went down well at Yarmouth.

Bettye Swann and Dynamics both spun at Soul Essence, OK it's not a northern soul niter, but these aren't old style northern soul records. Both had a good reaction.

Great record but not in the slightest bit rare. They pressed up loads thinking they had a hit record.

Looks like it may have been sold as it is no longer on the site……Good, excellent soul record….I am moving on

Its legendary in the Carolinas as hardly anyone there has it. Known copies are mostly over here…First heard this mid 90s, Sam had a copy and sold it….very hard record.

Dynamics is a Carolionas legendary 45, but mine is vg so I am selective when it comes out Agree on the rare scene.

No not at all my Mar Go came from a Soul Pack, how many came that way I have no idea( Jimmy Bo Horne incidentally was also a soul pack 45 as was Channel 3 etc.).

No it was a response to Sean.

Well Clarky has just been in touch to confirm that he did have Solid Solution on a 45 after all. He sold it to Japan for 1k and reminded me that I had forgotten to bid on it. Says he found it in S Carolina on a buying trip with Shay. So there you go.

And this is where I think you are missing the point Sean. Finding an "unknown" for the rare soul scene is not about going on JM's site and spending £3 on a decent AND KNOWN ballad / floater / front room soul pack record many of us got years ago…... I just can't imagine Maxine Weldon getting spins at Niters and upfront venues somehow. But I'll let the Soul Source Juke Box Jury make their own minds up about this one…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwwA-TJ17kY

Same reaction at Skeggy and Filthy Soul Mick

I have that too and plenty of others will have too since it was a soul pack record, and that's the point….Mar-Go is a known sound whereas Bettye Swann wasn't.

Good it was meant to get your attention. Find this constant "holier than thou" approach somewhat tedious to say the least. Soul Junction do indeed do a great job, but the scene cannot rely on the small quantity that SJ put out. I know Anthem fests are very popular but some people still want to hear something refreshing and new.

What a ridiculous conclusion. Plenty of youngsters are red hot on their vinyl searching.

I agree this copy looks over priced compared to what the rest of us have paid for our copies….but who knows it may be more in demand now than it was back then. It's certainly been getting plays from a number of us, and it's much rarer than comparable northern oldies that go for this sort of sum. No copies on popsike etc. and only one internet playlist mention….But once all the "diggers" and groundhogs start putting it on their wants lists, I am sure a few copies will come out of the woodwork from somewhere. They usually do. Obviously some people still don't get how difficult it is to find genuinely unknown records and break them. Just maybe then they should stick to "discovering" underplayed Luther Vandross and Teddy Pendergrass tracks. I am sure they'll find some if they look…..

The critics can say what they like, it always gets people up and dancing.

Ive still got that somewhere will try and dig it out.

It is known, as one or two have played it uncovered. I got mine from Butch and it's still covered. Goes down well, played it at Filthy last night. It's not an average album filler either…. It might be Sams copy for sale.