Frankie Crocker

Maybe we’ve entered an era of ‘semi-instrumentals’ with the likes of Manny Corchado and Gentleman June Gardner being two of the biggest tunes in recent years? I put ‘Ton Of Dynamite’ in that category, but in truth, it felt like a vocal back in the day. None of the previous posts mention Mike Post or Travis Wammack, two of the biggest instrumentals of the 70’s. Super-fast dance music for serious dancers. There’s still a place for soulful instrumentals these days - plenty of top tunes have a great backing track on the flip eg Al Wilson’s ‘Help Me’, Saxie Russell’s ‘Psychedelic Soul’ to name but two brilliant pairings.

I hope you’re gonna treat the handbag brigade to 6 by 6...now that’s what I call a proper party-starter.

All you need to do is win a record then the message flashes up. I don’t know if eBay have published this new tactic. I got the new message at least twice when competing for records a week so ago, but not all the records I won. As mentioned above, instead of instant confirmation of the winning bid, the message informs the bidder calculations are taking place and to refresh the page to see the bidding history.

A recent eBay innovation involves them not stating ‘You Won This Auction’ but instead saying hold on while we calculate who won or words to that effect. This seems mighty odd. Yes, a last second collision of multiple bids could need sorting out. On the other hand though, this action gives eBay more time to act in their own interests...

Yes and Jack Montgomery and Danny Wagner...the words ‘Set Sale’ come to mind...

No, these two copies were different. John’s went up first. Then the second one popped up giving bidders the option of dodging the inevitable premium price John’s would go for. Tonight’s price for Chuck just proves some people have plenty of money and are prepared to spend it on rare records.

Hi Billy. Hope you’re well. I guess you missed the white demo on Steve Jeffries web-site hence your request. Just checked again and couldn’t see it so presume it was snapped up at a bargain price... Not seen a gold issue for quite a while so good luck in your quest mate.

Don’t know who the person is, but like you, I’m curious. I don’t think they own the records as they are generally ‘nice’ scans rather than a mixture of used labels. I’ve read some of the comments posted on YouTube but there is nothing to suggest who puts up the sound-clips. It looks like someone has set out to create a channel that has a sizeable following that could possibly yield a small financial return. Throwing the cat amongst the pigeons, it could be several people called Brian, Colin, Malcolm and Ignatius but I have no proof of this...

I used to have records delivered to my work address until I retired, but this was more to do with safe delivery with someone on reception to sign for them. The only time a delivery ‘failed’ was when someone in my block of flats stole the record from the postbox. Always best to tell your partner what you’re spending so they can see the assets appreciating and the estate growing.

Not seen one for sale for a long, long time. A really good sound and well worth searching for. Be prepared to pay whatever it takes to win a copy.

As were many of the records that now sell for three or four figures. I sold a copy with the help of Soul Source on 15/11/18 for £70 plus postage. Yet again, John achieves a stupidly high price for a common record.

Priceless. Dead rare. Price Guide indications are hopelessly out. If one in the USA was put on eBay, it would fetch a four figure sum. Are you selling or buying?

About right. Was £400 over the last decade. Styrene record so a mint unplayed copy is worth the money.

Sounds better on a black label...might colour my blue one in with a black felt pen... Evidently a rare label variation.

Thanks for posting as usual. Some of the record auctions have clearly finished with winning bids indicated. Other records appear to have no final figures as presumably the auctions continue beyond 6.00 p.m.

An interesting question, and one that's been covered in earlier threads. Essentially, early Northern dancers emulated 60’s soul artists’ dance styles seen in USA music shows featuring the footwork of Major Lance, Jackie Wilson, James Brown and others. When Wigan opened in 1973, the dance style was predominantly shuffling side to side with much rapid footwork. As the scene moved on, it attracted masses of attendees not aware of the Wheel-Torch dance style so the late 70’s witnessed the arrival of the ‘lazy two-step style’ popular in discos. Packed dance floors to some extent forced this ‘dancing-on-the-spot’ approach as there was no space to move side to side. The late 70’s saw the emergence of a modern dance style that later came to be called ‘shuffling’ - the faster sounds of the contemporary newies encouraged dancers to move backwards and forwards. Today’s events usually display a variety of dance styles with older attendees favouring the lazy-two-step, youngsters wearing trainers doing the ‘modern shuffling’, veterans embracing the Wheel-Torch old-style shuffle and plenty of free-style-dance-how-you-wanna punters generally doing their own thing.

Detroit Soul - never seen it sell for so much in all of my life... Jumped from £30 to £100 then to £200 in the last five years with (presumably) DJ spins provoking collectors’ interest.

Is this thread to do with the copy that was removed from eBay on Wednesday afternoon? It always baffles me when a record I’ve bid on is suddenly taken down.

Bonkers. More money than sense. This is not a particularly rare record. Mind you, it is a decent sound 🎶🎶🎶

Great sales list. Crackle at start of Tommy Bush is a recording flaw evident on all copies.

Plenty of set sale items flying out at set sale prices. I guess these get lost amongst a large inventory but they go swiftly enough when given an auction tag.

Thanks for the positive feedback. At first, I was reluctant to share the secret, but to hell with copyright - now you all know and can have a go yourselves. I’ve made five in all - my copies of Annabelle Fox and Dusty Wilson are off-centre - but it takes a good while, and then you have to use trial and error to position the adaptor in the spindle hole. The trouble is, you then need to keep the special adaptor for a specific record and handle it as though it was a British release. I do have a Tru Tones on Soulville (with matching custom adaptor) surplus to requirements so it might be put up for sale in the near future.

The black plastic spider adapter mentioned earlier has its merits - you would need to re-bore the spindle hole in the correct place. I’ve cut metal triangles from USA solid metal adaptors to re-centre the records below. It takes a while to file out the plastic then glue in the triangle, but once the adaptor has been modified, the record plays fine.

You didn’t miss out. The record condition was poor. The buyer will need to upgrade the purchase if they wanted it that badly.

It does indeed as I have one now. I had one ages ago, then acquired a demo - stupidly, I then sold the issue at The 100 Club. Years later, I regretted selling the issue and won another on eBay. So, there are at least two yellow issues, but I would estimate there are others out there. I quite like having an issue and a demo of a good tune, or in this case, two good tunes. Sad I know, but boy it helps me sleep better.