Frankie Crocker

It’s got great reviews in the Saturday and Sunday newspapers so we’ve booked up to see it on Wednesday. Well done to Soul-Sourcers for flagging it up well in advance.

There’s another in obituary of Dean in the Daily Telegraph dated Friday 16th July on page 25. Parts of it are similar to the Guardian version, but it reads more like a proper obituary, covering aspects of his life and career.

Thanks for posting. I managed to miss it yesterday when skimming the Guardian. This morning I retrieved it from the recycling pile and what a fine tribute it is, taking up three quarters of a page. Like yourself, there were bits that made me scratch my head, but overall, it was nice testament to Dean with ample historical context for those who need informing. I am not sure why Frank Wilson’s £25K sale rated a mention - perhaps this is a clue to the identity of the author? I would have liked to read about the Laurie story, the Boom years and Dean’s initiation into the scene at Cleethorpes, but overall, the obituary/article was a heart warming read.

One hundred smackers max these days Rod. And thanks again for the Idle Few on Blue Book that left the Manchester emporium for £30 a long time ago.

Talking of sound quality, has anyone noticed how some of John’s sound-clips suck pretty badly just lately?

Teddy Randazzo ouch - a set sale record any day of the week. Cajun Hart broke the sound barrier but the eBay hunters have pushed this one up and up recently. This Hamilton Movement was a bargain price given the condition of the copy a few weeks ago. High Keys doubled in price. John seems to be liquidating someone’s collection bit by bit, so they should be happy with the profits.

But not too many Mel Britts or Bobby Klines there... Most of the records won’t sell as the demand is not there. A million records isn’t much when you consider the top ten in the charts sold millions in the 60’s and 70’s. Even the top top Motown sounds barely sell unless they in demand by the Northern fraternity. The sounds we want are buried in the States and more likely to appear on eBay if they are rare, valuable or in demand. Discogs is handy for obscure, cheap unknown sounds, but how any of these actually turn up regularly?

Yes, most definitely if the price is right. Best to buy directly from the source rather than the middleman in Britain. If the record is mint unplayed, that’s surely worth taking into consideration. If you can use a USA address, postage costs and taxes will be lower too. We’re scraping at the bottom of the US barrel these days so grab what you can when it comes to market as it won’t be there in years to come.

Ah, but it peaked at The Dome. Big venue, Friday night crowd from far and wide, packed dance floor, dancers going bonkers. I was with the dancers - were you with the chin-strokers in the record room? Blue-eyed soul from New Mexico, Freddie Chavez influenced, what’s not to like?

Big, big spin at The Dome 15-20 years ago. I reckon if I found the dead stock, I could knock them out slowly at £1,000 at first then £500, £300 etc. It’s a real dancer that builds and builds.

Commonly used by college DJ’s in the 1970’s. Fine for disco-pop but Northern rarities call for special storage. White cardboard 200 boxes are ideal; with a lid, you can stack them; weightwise they are easy to handle; inexpensive when bought in bulk.

The language is terrible. Larry Santos and Cavaliers should start with capitals. It should read ‘practice’ with a ‘c’ as it’s a noun, the verb being spelled with a ‘s’. Funk has a ‘n’ in it. Don’t should have an apostrophe in it, as should ‘what’s’. Appalling has no ‘u’ in it. There should be an ‘’an’ before astonishing as this starts with a vowel. The ‘to’ in the last sentence should read ‘too’. Apart from that, I enjoyed the thrust of your point.

Agreed. Really only a £500 record, but a jolly fine one.

Thanks for posting as usual. Herbert Hunter fetched a nice sum, been creeping up lately. By comparison, Ronnie McNeir probably fell short of expectations. Johnny Summers copies have been available for set sale in recent years, and in ample quantity, so it is odd to see this one top £400. A hint of normality (eg Larry Santos, TJ Williams) this Wednesday, with the duelling millionaires staying out of the spotlight - I wonder if some bidders shied away from proceedings following recent events?

Good spotting Tim. If the poster is from 1965, the reference to ‘northern’ surely pertains to a regional compass point. Similarly, the reference to ‘southern’ on the badge featured elsewhere in the thread, relates to the bottom part of Britain. The Dave Godin claim has substance and has entered into Northern Soul folklore; can anyone name the artists and tracks who featured on records in the legendary box in the shop? Were the records in the box just soul records that travelled northwards, or were they indeed sounds that truly exemplified the Northern Soul genre as it came to be known?

With you on this Rod. Yes, all serious collectors pick up stuff to move on at a profit. But it’s one thing to be in the States picking up at records $3 a pop to flog £25 records in the UK to help cover the $5,000 cost of a fortnight trip. There’s not too much wrong selling records for £100 when they were bought for £25 in 1990 - collectors are entitled to a return on their investment when funds are needed to buy records that are more expensive due to price inflation. It’s a different kettle of fish when someone pays the book price (or trade value) for something then doubles the figure for a set-sale listing. Take Detroit Soul - All Of My Life, currently on the Rare Soul 45’s site priced at £375; this is a £200 record, having doubled in value over the last couple of years. Surely this record won’t sell for this extortionate sum? This sort of pricing makes the seller look greedy, and worst still, embarrassingly stupid as the record won’t sell. When a dealer regards customers as jackasses who might stump up stupid money, they are on a very slippery slope. Overpricing records for re-sale is bad for business if it gets the firm a bad name, draws negative publicity and sales drop off.

WOW. Really well spotted. If they’re for the collection, then fine. If they’re for re-sale, I’m in two minds. Intercepting records that other collectors have waited patiently for, then adding 20% to the price tag does not sit well with me or fellow vinyl hounds. It’s one thing to snag a bargain that’s an unknown sound. It’s a different story if price inflation distorts the market for years to come as US dealers attempt to extort stupid amounts of money for something a millionaire splashed out on. There was a time when major dealers cultivated sources (as you do Seb) and worked hard to ensure a steady trickle of records to make a living - now we seem to have entered a ‘flash-the-cash-and-have-a big-splash’ era that has serious buyers really scratching their heads.

No comment. Steve Jeffries bought them all.

Also interesting that the Francesco Mellina article mentions an intense smell of talcum powder. I very much doubt this as about 300 of those present smoked, so the air was thick with fumes and fag dust. Yes, a good few sprinkled talc, but not enough to overwhelm the smoke. The scent of Brut and West was definitely in the air. I will not lower the tone of the discussion by mentioning other smells.

I think you’re right. I only had an interest in a few so those were the ones I knew about. Chalky also mentioned the Dynamics (Lonely Man). The mystery buyer did not win all the big items, at least not using the same bidder ID, but the family may be using fresh bidder ID’s to conceal eBay activity.

The buyer of Joseph Webster, Hamilton Movement and IJ Harris spent $23,926 on these three records alone. This is roughly £17,208 in eBay money, but as we know, there’s always a bit more added on. When there’s a self-confessed millionaire in the family, money is no object when it comes to splashing out on anything, especially rare records. The message here is very clear, and if anyone thinks they are going to win any record the mystery shopper has targeted, they are wasting their time. Forget it. All these rare records are going in one direction only.

I can assure you it was very loud. If you danced at the front and hung around by the stage, your ears were ringing throughout Sunday. As you walked towards the stage, you could feel the sound waves hitting your chest, that’s how loud it was. Sure it was quieter up on the balcony towards the back. I would imagine plenty of regulars suffered from permanent hearing loss such was the output from the speakers.

Well spotted Ted. I’ve had my eye on this one since I first heard Joel play it out. I think he got his copy from Mark. This must be third copy to have surfaced on the open market in the last three years. With the auction far from over, you’ll need a calculator to assess the damage. So far, single bids of what must be massive proportions wiping out all contenders.

Maybe he forgot to record the instrumental side so now another copy is needed. I’ve heard he has really rare records mounted in picture frames. Any record that books below £100 is moulded into an ashtray or nut-dish. Two servants are employed on minimum wage to clean and polish the records that arrive by container each day. The pupils at the local secondary school who design the website had their coursework marks downgraded for making a dogs-dinner of the home page by mixing up tatty imports, karaoke recordings, 60’s non-chart pop tunes and new collectable British releases of unissued songs.

It will be a legal reissue if he has the copyright. I mentioned this consideration a short while ago. While we humble collectors want the records to play, some entrepreneurs need a top copy in the absence of master-tapes if the plan is to reissue the track.