Sunnysoul

Of course, I should also mention that born and bred in Oz are two of the greatest blue eyed soulsters in Doug Parkinson of "I'll Be Around " fame & Renee Geyer "Be There In The Morning" !!!

How 'bout living Down Under ! Venetta Fields (Ikettes , Mirettes) Freddie Paris Chelsea Brown (also of "Laugh IN" TV fame) Doug Williams Steve Clisby (fabulous lead voice of "American Gypsy"!) Gil Askey (THE Gil Askey , one of the most legendary of all soul RnB producers / arrangers) Billy Washington (fronting his own version of the Drifters Down Under!) Marcia Hines (of course!)

"LOVE TEST" Mel Carter (Airwave) "HOW CAN I HELP BUT LOVE YOU" Don Thomas (Myrrh) Both Brill !!!

Chris, what's the going rate for Stephens and Foster these days ? You just never see it up for sale, it's a really tough piece to find innit ?

The Tiffanies - Happiest Girl In The World - Arctic White Demo - 80 (toughie) This was the very first release on Arctic and, considering the legendary status of the label among soul enthusiasts, its amazing that this is not a monster on the northern scene ???? I mean, this is proper uptempo girl northern !!! I can see this very easily going the way of Honey & the Bees "Dynamite Exploded" ... And as Dave says , it's a tough one to locate, being the first release ... Buy it !!!

Pete, it looks like the Radiants in the background too, probably a Chess family day out ....

I would love to see some original footage of The Action with the fabulous Reggie King singing lead. Can Pete Smith oblige ? And does anyone have any memories or stories about the Action? Thanks in advance !

Hey, and aren't those girls so young , must be barely 16 !!! Wonder if they are the same group as the Dolls on Maltese 45 ???

It's off the Texas TV Show The Beat , isn't it Pete ? Do you still have your own DVD's of the show for sale or if you don't , is it still available generally (who DOES own the rights) ? I remember several topics on this a couple of years back .... you got a bit annoyed from people asking ???

Guess this is a totally forgotten sound and would NEVER be played on the scene now, but I love it and I'm after a copy: PRINCE JOHNNY ROBINSON "This Girl Is Rated X" There was another nice version by Anne Byers , I think , got a release on UK Power Exchange 7" , but I'd like a copy of Prince Johnny's version ... Can any old timers tell us when this was first popular on the scene ? A Meccca sound I would guess, right ? Or did Wigan play it ? Cheers!

Tony, I have several questions , if you can help please : What was the studio date of Earl Van Dyke's version ? What was the actual release date of the original 45 ? Have either Riser or Nixon ever been interviewed in depth at all over the years ? Riser especially was fairly active in the Motown organisation and would prove to be a wealth of information on this and many other Motown matters. Was Tom Nixon the same Nixon who went on to work at the Stax organisation in the early 70's (Temprees etc) ? Did Motown routinely record the kind of one of studio demo "one offs' of the kind we are all debating about here with Six By Six (as against proper legitimate original acetates that have come to light over the years) . If so , there would surely be loads of these sorts of random one offs floating about over the years ...? If the Six By Six vocal IS kosher, it begs the question why would Motown audition a wannabee on a totally obscure Earl Van Dyke backing track which as a legitimate 45 release failed to go anywhere near any pop or soul charts (to my knowledge that is!) at the time of its release ? I hear what you say about the Herb Alpert sound , especially the prominent trumpet charts, but personally , even with Berry Gordy being as cynical as any label owner in seeking to get a hit , I still wouldn't think Berry released it to cash in on the Herb Alpert sound , and as we all know Motown never seriously promoted any of Earl Van Dykes records for fear of him becoming an "artiste" , right ? Thanks in advance ....................

I know a lot of people on here will disagree , but personally, seeing fantastic original footage like this actually means MORE to me than owning a lot of the very rare records that I've spent loads of time and money collecting over many many years ... Great stuff ! And I encourage others to post up great footage like this ... a I hope Pete Smith is documenting all these clips so we don't lose 'em in the future ....

Fantastic footage which begs the question ... does any film footage exist of the original Wheel , Mecca , Torch ???

Judging from the interesting and informative posts in this topic so far, would it be reasonable to conclude that the traditional perception of the original skinhead movement as consisting of youths obsessively collecting ska/bluebeat/rocksteady records (in a similar way to the Northern Soul scene) is in fact an inaccurate perception ???? If anything, it would appear that the later mod and ska/rude boy revivalists of the late 70's were much more into collecting original rare ska records... Does everybody agree?

THE ADMIRATIONS : " HEY MAMA / LONELY STREET " (CORAL) Great double sider , Hey Mama being a driving RnB style mover, and Lonely Street a fantastic mid tempo big city beater . This record will go big for sure one day ...

Ken Chaney was part of Young Holt Unlimited too !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ady , I don't think it's the Philly session men because the composer credits on the flip side track called "Sumpin' Heavy" have always made me think it's the same guys who were collaborators and band members with Roy Ayers on all his classic early 70's Polydor funk LP's, so that might explain as well the Polydor/Spring connection with Roy Ayers and his band being contracted to the larger label , and of course Roy Ayers at the time being based in New York where that musical was staged ..................... By the way Ady , would you be interested in coming Down Under and doing a guest DJ spot at the Australian National Soul Weekender ????

But Sebastian , how the hell did it ever appear on that famous compilation of British white 60's RnB bands back in the 80's ????

That's interesting, I had always assumed that the ska / rock steady era had its own accepted well known clubs in various pockets of the country , like the Wheel or the Mojo but perhaps on a smaller scale, where skins would congregate on the weekend, or was skinhead culture really just a localised thing in each city or town where it was really all about just going to pubs or the football or beating up some poor unfortunate and then just playing their ska records at home ?

Always wondered , in that magical period from say 1967 to 1972 , was there ever any ACTIVE interaction between the rare soul scene and the ska/skinhead/suedehead scenes? Obviously there were loads of people in that era who were into different types of music at the same time and would buy various records , and it's well known that your typical skinhead at that time was just as happy playing a Motown Chartbusters LP as much as their latest Trojan 45 purchase or whatever .... But I'm very curious to know, were there ever any identifiable groups of skinheads (and I don't mean one or two isolated individuals) that would go to the Wheel in Manchester one weekend , and then the next weekend go to a ska do somewhere else in the country ? And vice versa, were there groups of soulies that would have one foot in each camp ?

What do you mean ? You threw it off the side in a fit of disgust at the prices !!!!

Pete , innocent but serious question here, and this is not meant to cast any aspersions on you specifically, but as you're a well known and respected dealer, I'm curious as to your opinion ... If a record has cue burn, do you down grade the condition of the record ? In other words if it LOOKS mint but has cue burn do you give it only an Exc grade or VG+ or whatever ... If a dealer sells a record with cue burn but does NOT mention that when he sells it , is the existence of cue burn alone a valid reason for a purchaser to return the record ?

Is this really an issue ? First and foremost I love Soul Music and for the whole of my adult life I have spent loads of time and money acquiring a massive a collection of rare soul vinyl, which is the most obvious manifestation of my passion for the music. I do it for the love of it ! The "ups and downs" of the values of soul records has always been a great talking point for most collectors but really, do most people collect soul records as an "investment" ? Frankly, if my 1000 pound rarities of today are worthless in 20 years time, it makes not the slightest difference to me. And they can gladly bury me with my worthless vinyl ! My point is ... that the music and the records have given me, and will continue to give me, the greatest pleasure in life ... right to the very end. So if you TRULY love Soul Music and collecting Soul Records, should the thought of what they might be worth now, next week, next year or in 20 years time ever really cross your mind ? If anybody is really worried about the future worth of their soul vinyl, or if you want to provide financially for your loved ones in the future, then my friendly advice is very simple: just sell up everything right now and put yourself out of your paranoid misery, so you won't ever die wondering ...

That fantastic LP by the New Sounds on All Platinum with Don't Take Your Love and Sweet Memories amongst many others ... what would be the current market price of a US original ??? (Not the Jap re issue)

Derek , to Down Under , is $10 AUSSIE any good to ya?