Ged Parker

Deeply saddened by this. There are so many on here who would have described Bob as a friend yet the circumstances of his death are not ones that imply a world wide network of true friendships. I'm not the best at just touching base with people for the sake of it, maybe that is a male trait. What I do know is that I wish I'd been closer than the odd clumsy attempt to get some obscure info or to score a hidden Chicago gem. I really wish Bob could have voiced his feelings in a way that could have avoided the eventual outcome. I'm saddened by his passing, sad I'll not get the chance to know him better, sad for his family and a little ashamed that collectively the world is a place where this sort of thing happens all too often. God's speed 'Boba', I only wish you had known your real value to this world.

Changing the bog roll does not count as a refurbishment

You're right of course in legal and technical sense and from a 'customer service' point of view too. But all other things being equal I still think it's easier for the person with the record to make the claim and posting a proof of postage slip is much easier and less risky than sending a damaged record the other way. Just my opinion.

I can see that as an example but I'm paying a brewery a set price for a keg of beer and they are employing a company to deliver it. If a record buyer wants to pay for special delivery then he is paying royal mail for that service for that service and me for the record. This is all semantics I know but in my practical experience the buyer in my case refused to return the record for the full refund I offered as soon as he raised the issue. It was a long term want apparently but he'd accept another record in lieu of the damage. In your example what if the brewery deliver the keg and I then ring them later and say it arrived empty? What if I then refuse to return the 'empty' keg but just want a discount or some extra product delivered free? I know full well what the brewery would say and I suspect you do too. The buyer eventually; at my suggestion; said he would accept me sending the proof of postage so he could make a claim and keep the record and any refund he got after all how am I supposed to put in a claim for damage without the 'damaged' article. He then decided I should make the claim and give him a partial refund and the record. I suspect the hurdles that Royal Mail put in the way of a claim did their job. So when asked to repackage the record in its original packaging and post it back in a jiffy bag with the proof of postage he just ripped the mailer to bits and sent only part of the front with the address and special delivery sticker and NO record. It was like he was doing everything he could to prevent an effective claim being made. The record may or may not have been cracked as he claimed, he didn't want a full refund when offered and was unwilling to return the record or even the complete mailer. If I'm expected to sort it out after that lot the buyer can go take a running jump. I can't believe I gave him a £100 refund just 'cause I was too busy to carry on being messed about and it had dragged on for weeks by then. He probably laughed his socks off. I thought I'd put the issue behind me but writing this has made me want to kick the cat into next week. (and I don't even have a cat)

Was an AtCO one on ebay in the last couple of weeks. Not that rare really should be $60 ish

Atco 6220 or Festival 25004 - both from 1962

I disagree for the reasons already stated by others above. It is simple to send the proof of postage to the buyer and they have everything they need to make a claim. I sold a record a while ago that was fine when sent and arrived damaged and this was the process I followed. The buyer though was put off making a claim by the post office so I reluctantly agreed to make the claim and take on the difficulty of trying to prove what I paid for something I'd had for 30 years. I asked that the buyer send me the record all the original packaging so I could demonstrate it was well packaged and send me back the proof of postage and I would do them a full refund. The buyer in their infinate wisdom sent me just the address part of the mailer that they had torn from the front. No stiffeners and none of the sides of the package and crucially no record. Needless to say I had little to prove either the record was damaged at all, or it was well packaged as the buyer had kept the record and actually detroyed any evidence that I'd packed it well. I cut my loses and sent him a partial refund losing out in the process. It was easier than f***ing about at a time when work was manic but not something I'd do again in a hurry. It may not be the buyers fault if a record get damaged but I know it wasn't mine. If the buyer pays for special delivery then it is they that are paying to have it covered not the seller.

Dave! pull your finger out mate stop scaring Steph like that. I was shocked as hell to hear the news and still can't believe it (the full dancefloor bit obviously). Seriously though mate get well soon. Steph if you need anything, anything at all just give me a bell.

I think Robs right here other than the Empress Ballroom within the Winter Gardens in Blackpool now has over 12,500 sq ft of dance floor since some of the carpeted areas have been reduced. It is 49mtrs by 24mtrs and also holds 3,500 in one room. When we had Bettye Lavette over in 2004(?) we didn't even use the Empress but four others in the same complex and had close to 2000 in. I think its touch and go between the two but as a venue the Winter Gardens has much much more dance floor space I'm sure (but that wasn't the question lol)

I also had it on a tape in the car and was doing 45,000 miles a year back then. Does that count?

It was Tony in the late 90's. Well what I mean is I was playing it

They're both crazy. They should be discussions relating to collecting rather than DJing IMHO.

The very premis of the question that official releases of a record are more or less original because of the size of the pressing is indicative of why some people think we're mad.

I think if a 'Northern Soul' record is one that has been played at a 'Northern Soul' venue and danced to then there loads. You may not like them but thats another story. This thread is another example how anally retentive this scene has become.

You're Gonna Make Me Cry has been in and out of my play box for years. Not well enough known for some people. Great all the same.

Yes I agree you're right and its what I like. That doesn't mean white vocalists are inferior it just means I generally prefer black vocalists. There's been many more black vocalists turning out soul over the years than white ones.

Not sure where soul music in general would have been without the teaming up Wallace Daniel Pennington and Dewey "Spooner" Oldham.

I was comparing Respect by Aretha to Hypnotised by Linda. Doesn't matter that Linda is the better singer Aretha's peformance is the better of the two. Just illustrating its complex.

No. Just like I don't think Dali was bad at his art because I prefer Monet. I like soul as a genre I think Linda Jones was a better soul singer than Aretha Franklin but I think that 'Respect' is better than 'Hypnotised'. It about so much more than skin colour.

Sometime GEMM gives that impression because dealers list stuff at the same price as on their own site PLUS the gemm commission so the same seller is dearer via GEMM that elsewhere. Like everywhere there's good an bad on GEMM I would make a joke about sweeping generalisations but no on ever gets it (and I mean no one!)

Jazzman records is a business Den so clearly he's trying to reissue stuff that will sell and so turn a profit. If you interested in saving the artists work for posterity an audio file will do that. If you're intersted in saving the record for posterity it has to be the original release surely? No point spending a load of money conserving a copy of the Laughing Cavalier is there.

I often take a 'sales box' and am still selling records out of a mass import I did years ago. I'm a passive seller mostly. If people look and what to do a deal I'm willing to listen but my start point is what I know records have been sold for in the recent past. I'm not upset if I don't sell anything it just limits my ability to buy new stuff. I mostly only sell things I have more than one of but that doesn't make them less valuable or make me price them any less. In terms of buying at venues. I look out of interest, to see what others value stuff at, to spot something new, to spot things on labels I collect but rarely to buy to be honest. The main advantage of buying at a venue is being able to see the condition followed by finding the obscure or finding a mispriced 'bargain'. Recently I have had some outlays to cover so advertised some things on here; some sold some didn't. I brought in most of what I wanted cash wise so the others will go back in the box or on the shelf. In terms of the 'true value' I'll use one of those sales as an example. I see a copy of this record at a nighter in a well known DJ's sales at £150 and there is a 'want' for it on here in the same week. I advertise it on here at £120 and then accept an offer of £110. I could have bought a copy from Craig Moerer for $75 up until recently apparently; but I didn't know that I just knew it was in demand. The week before putting it on here at £120 I gave away a copy of the same record to a good friend who I knew liked it. So is its value £150, £110, $75 or nothing? The market decides, it always has and always will.

You gotta push the envelope for sure or we'd all be playing the same 200 records................oh hang on loads are When Middleton was at it height they'd give any decent record a chance but I trusted Mick's judgement. If some others had sad it was not up to muster I'd have been banging it out all the more

I have a copy and played it once at Middleton. Mick Howard complimented me on a 'decent spot; well except that Benny Curtis' It's been back on the shelves in the record room ever since. No point listening to the praise of those you respect if your gonna ignore their critisism. I will say though no one gets to be a decent DJ without taking the odd chance. It is a rare one sure enough.

Most of my records come from more 'traditional' routes; but your probably right.