Roburt

I'm useless on record values (way out of date on what's now in & what used to be in but has now 'gone off the boil') but a few nice UK 70's (relative) rarities are ....... Sir Ted Ford on Ardent (9001) Sir Ted Ford on Barak (BAR 3) The Imperials & Ray Munnings (?) on Tammi Mickey Stevenson on Ember (EMBS 329) Shirley Alston on London (HLA 10506) A couple of Charles Drains on RCA (+ other UK 70's RCA stuff) Howeefeel on Contempo (+ a couple of others on Contempo from the same Chicago source) A few items that used to be 25p records have also shot up in price (relatively) -- the likes of The Bottom Line on GTO springs to mind). When did the G C Cameron on Flamingo come out (80's I guess, so that will not count) If we do slip over into the 80's, then the 4 Tops "Your Song" has to figure as well. Lots more UK items qualify but its too early in the day for my brain to be working well (I will I still had an effective memory ... old age, I does really suck).

I have to back up part of what Ian says above ......... Brazil used to be a great place to buy records from (not by actually visiting the country, that's too expensive for vinyl buying purposes), their 7" releases all played at 33rpm so to fill up the vinyl space there were just about as many 4 track 7" releases as exact local copies of US & UK singles. So down there you get lots of tracks on 7" that are LP only everywhere else. Coz of this, there were / are good things to seek out that were issued in Brazil. A few years back I used to buy 60's, 70's & 80's releases from a number of dealers there & get great stuff at good prices (the 60's stuff had obviously been 'picked over' for some time so the best items had gone but there were still a few real goodies to be found). ... THEN ... Brazil became more affluent, the pound dropped against their currency & locals started to show an interest in old vinyl. Over the space of about 3 months, all the old 7" soul / disco-ish stuff went up in price (in UK £ terms) by about 400%. I no longer even look to see what's available as a locally released EP (4 track 7") by say Major Harris, Al Green, Marvin Gaye or Ace Spectrum shot up from around £5 a copy to £20 to £25 a copy (haven't checked back there recently, so these prices may now be out of date). Not only that but the dealers that had always had 30 / 40 decent soul things on 7" went to having 1 or 2 instead. They told me it was because as soon as such items came in to them, they were being snapped up. So what used to be a great 'happy hunting ground' has dried up & I no longer even check out what dealers over there have up for sale. Luckily I had a good 2 years or so when I got loads of stuff from down there.

Back 'across the tracks' once again .... for a show in October 1965 ... .. top of the bill was the 4 ft 2 inch tall song & dance man Eddie T ..

A Mercury 45 that was released very late in Dec 68 was Aquarian Age "I Can't Grow Flowers" Mercury 72881. There's a good label scan of this 45 up on the net & the number on the 45 is 1-42844. Does that help at all ?

...... Would it be this one Ady ?? .. https://www.midwest45s.org/MichiganGaragePage.html

Bob, The members of Grand Theft were Peter Ross, Mike Foster, Keith O'Connell, Phil Knight, Neil Arnold & Tony Balch. They were actually signed to Sunburst Records (not the 70's US label that put out soul stuff but a label that seemed to exist just to release Whitesnake tracks). This Sunburst seemed to have a short lived deal with EMI (just for 1978). Not sure if the group's Peter Ross was related in any way to Episode Six's Andy Ross. The whole Grand Theft LP has a 'souly' vibe, bit like an AWB album. The group's 45 cuts "I Never Know" & "Turn It Over" (both B sides) aren't included on the album.

..... Finally got the ad to post correctly .... .. see description for the location of this April 1970 show in above post ........ Helen Glover was still on at the club.

.. having problems, posts loading slowly, then loading multiple times.

The 'London Soul Revue' hits the Shelbourne Hotel's 007 Club. The Shelbourne is an original 1940s Art Deco building on South Beach (1801 Collins Ave). It has recently been refurbished, so today it seems like a prime location to stay at on Miami Beach (though by all accounts many of the actual bedrooms still look like they are back in the 70's). Why this show should have been badged up as 'the London Soul Revue' I have no idea other than the fact that the theme of the hotel's night club back then was James Bond-ish. These days, the music featured at the hotel is a wee bit different .... ....

It's actually very easy to get this track, I have it for instance ..... JUST BUY the Kent CD 'Northern Soul's Classiest Rarities Vol 4' .... OHH, I forgot, most NS fans would rather eat glass than buy a CD !!

Ike & Tina were playing on the 'white side of town' in April 1970 ....

I seem to recall that the "I Choose You" guy (F*ck*n great track) was a Paris Holly from the Windy City. No doubt Bob A will know more about him (though he was around in the early to mid 80's -- Paris not Bob).

If you could 'Turn Back The Hands Of Time' you could go back to that dealer's site & actually write the details down.

.... Back down on Miami Beach now .... & another show at the Wreck Bar .. .... this was of course located in the Castaways Hotel complex (Ocean & 163rd St)...

...... RE: delivery put back by Amazon again ....... ...YEP, I got an e-mail from Amazon as well ... delivery not till after 21st June now ... .......come on,I've been a good boy ...... I deserve my CD asap !!!!!

Detroit's most dynamic stage act hit the scene (though not with a gangster lean) in 68 down in Miami. Billy Prince tells me that they didn't actually like the club at all (the Knight Beat @ NW 6th St & 3rd Ave -- it was too small he says) but as this gig was en-route to a big show in Jamaica with a host of top acts (Johnny Taylor, Joe Simon, Solomon Burke and others) they had to do it. He says he absolutely loved the Jamaican gig and that although the people were poor they were very nice ... ... ... he even enjoyed the 'Islands' experience after he had all his clothes stolen !!!

Bob, I think that the guitar work in "Pushin & Pullin" is too rocky but otherwise the tune is quite soulful (I like the keyboard work on the cut).... ..... It has an AWB / Olympic Runners vibe to me (in a 70's Brit Soul sort of way).

Anyone know much of anything about these ladies ......

Anyone able to put names to the faces in this pic of the Marvells / Fabulettes ..

I wouldn't have minded being in the audience for this Miami show ..... the line-up was even better than an old Prestatyn Weekender live bill. ....... and it included the Marvells once again .......

Not sure I fully understand the Marvel(l)s / Fabulettes story ....... I know the Mar-vels (their name seemed to get written / spelt a number of different ways) were around by 1963 and for 2/3 years they recorded under that name. Then they were renamed (on their records & by their new record label) as the Fabulettes ... BUT .. as they already had a 'high profile' on the Miami club scene, I believe they still did live gigs in their 'home town' as the Marvells. Anyway, after cutting as the Fabulettes for around 3 more years they were reduced in number (from 4 to 3) when Annette Snell quit & headed off to New York with Paul Kelly. So by 1969, the group were a trio and Annette Snell was a solo artist. If anyone can add more to their story (as I have laid it out above), please feel free to do so .... ..... anyway back to the ads ..... I'm not sure if Annette Snell was still a group member for this mid July 1968 gig but the picture of the group used in the ad shows 4 members ......

Their other EMI 45 is ..... "Love Burns" C/W "Turn It Over" .... EMI International Records 557 (1978) So the A side of that 45 is the middle track in the above post. The other 45 by (a) Grand Theft is on US Honey (wasn't that Harvey Fuqua's label) - "How Could U B So Cold" ...... so not sure its by the British group now. The full track listing for their EMI Int LP is ...... Pushing & Pulling; Two Separate Things; Love Burns; Paris To Peru; Body Talk; Seven Wonders; Keep On Smiling; Cold Man's Catastrophe.

Bob, . . . other Grand Theft tracks off the album ....

RIP Lou, another good one lost. I interviewed him at Prestatyn & asked what inspired "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un". He said it came about after a call home to his then girlfriend; she was missing him so he told her what she wanted to hear (the song title) .......... he got off the phone & wrote the lyrics out almost straight away. So I asked the obvious .... So did you head home in the morning ?? He broke down in fits of laughter and told us that he never went home to her at all.

LARS ..... Yes, I'm sure I have a few. I'll take a look.