Frankie Crocker

Christmas comes early to John Moneyship... Sinceres doubled in price. Kenny Shepard a similar increase. Si-Berians trebled in price. Johnny Summers rather disappointing for a good, rare record. Overall, a nice bag of quality items that should please the new owners.

Vastly overpriced so it won’t sell for that figure. May be rare, but not a glaringly obvious top-drawer sound. Perhaps the price can be negotiated down 50% to more realistic level?

You’re right, there’s been plenty sold - over 50 demos on Popsike, but all auctioned. Now it is in the £250+ class, it is auctionable on the off-chance it will realise a juicy sum. The number sold and filed away for good informs us there are now fewer out there to be snagged. I have the two variants of the demo, both bought at auction, but they will never be offered for sale. I doubt anyone will pop up on Soul Source with a mint demo for sale at an affordable set-sale price as this record is hugely in demand. The situation is made more complex by the shortage of genuine issues, so the safe way to go is to buy a demo. I take your point about auctions - sure, they push prices up, but it’s relative scarcity that contributes to this plus a willingness to pay for items that are fast becoming unavailable.

Correct, but there’s extremely limited availability! I doubt you will see a mint demo available at easily-affordable set sale price in the near future as it's an auction record. Sure, there’s been plenty around as evidenced on Popsike, but generally now firmly lodged in collections. Good luck with your quest.

In VG+ condition so probably Excellent as the seller grades conservatively. Not a record that can be picked up cheaply these days.

Got to be John’s feeblest auction ever. Just a couple of auction items fetching a high figure. Mainly Set Sale items fetching going-rate prices. Surely an auction should be for in-demand records that attract competitive bidders prepared to pay substantial sums. If a record sells for less than £200, it can’t really be a true auction item.

Let’s call it a coffee table book then. Something to flip through and look at the pictures (if there are any). Leave it lying around to impress people or inspire celebrities destined to feature on Desert Island Discs.

Well, I must say it’s good see my alma mater is publishing books, a worthy pursuit and much more worthwhile than caging up students behind fences at Owens Park. Academic books can be a hard read, even for academics, but they serve a purpose - this work could be the definitive text in decades to come. It is nice to know that someone’s interested in writing about our underground cult 45-50 years down the ages - also pleasing that someone with brains and a liking for books might just find the contents of interest. Studying society and it’s cultural aspects has become a growth area in Further Education - great that a music-scene can stand alongside a plethora of obscure academic topics. I hope people buy the books not destined for university libraries, and avoid the Kindle version. Record room shelves should be stacked with books to stop the records slipping over.

Actually, it’s ‘You Fine Foxy Thing You...’ Great sound by the way.

You’re absolutely right. Acetates are short-term records, extremely delicate and not designed or intended for frequent plays. Some can be truly unique and therefore worth having as they may be the only recording of the sound in existence. They can appeal to the DJ wanting to spin a one-off or the keen collector seeking all the work of a particular artist. Not totally sure, but ownership may involve copyright and offer scope to re-issue on a private label for financial gain - could someone confirm the legality of this?

Sorry, Andy. I looked in my box and could not find a copy. I have never seen this for sale on the open market. I would jump at the chance to own it - one of the very best sounds of all time.

Fuller Brothers...please could someone enlighten me?

It’s the best record to go ‘WOOO’ to. An absolute must-have record, especially if DJing. Actually thought it went a bit cheaply.

Major Lance sold for $466, about £355. I guess that’s about par for the course on a VG copy. Only four bidders though, so UK involvement close to zero.

Another one up for grabs on eBay finishing in 4-5 hours. Major Lance - You Don’t Want Me No More - Okeh WD in VG condition. Not destined for the UK but should find an appreciative buyer somewhere.

‘Tis a hard one...and on styrene. Mine’s a blue issue from Herman’s own collection but I turned down the Mercury one he put up for sale, and long gone now. Moral of the story is take now, pay later - I never regret buying records but it’s painful thinking about the ones I didn’t buy when I should have.

Some plain auction items on this Set Sale list. A few more peak figures maintaining the exponential trend for classic collectables. Thanks for posting as usual.

There seems to be a resurgence of interest in this specialist field. Major dealers are selling high end rarities that once graced old-timers’ collections. There are some great sounds on British labels that I would be proud to own such as Timi Yuro, Chapter Five, Father’s Angels etc but I ignore them to concentrate on US imports. Many British records were hard enough to find back in the 70’s so collecting has not become any easier. The field is very niche but worth the trouble as vinyl quality is superb. The label aesthetics alone are worth a serious look and the appeal of gathering label titles by number perfectly understandable. I take my hat off to anyone with a full run of Stateside or Tamla-Motown records...a fantastic achievement AND loads of great tunes.

But it will never sell at that price. Craig has lost touch with reality and overprices his records at the more collectable end of the market. His auctions used to be amongst the best around but now he just sells at maximum prices.

Check out Popsike for recent auction sales prices. Plenty of data on Soul Source too. Sam and Kitty has jumped past the £200 mark recently. Your Servicemen is an original as most have labels reversed. As indicated above, records in this price bracket have shot up lately. Hold on to them a bit longer and watch the values increase further. If you have to sell, both these records should go quickly if priced in line with condition. I’m keeping mine as both are top-drawer sounds.

True, but a 70’s song worth a brief mention. Chuck’s take is the one for me, but I was not familiar with Jimmy James’ version so thanks for posting.

J. J. Barnes on Groovesville perhaps?

The advert suggests that Scepter-Wand would handle the distribution for the minor label. Earl Harrison was a common Garrison release, but extremely rare on Wand with hardly any copies showing up. As this was the first Wand tie-up, it was evidently a flop. I have never seen a Honey Bees on Wand - this is a truly great sound, and rarely surfaces anyway, so I very much doubt it exists on Wand. QED. Sure, there are some real rarities on Wand but show us the scans. Dave has, and uses, Stak-O-Wax ringbinders as one of his information sources - is Honey and the Bees listed in there?

Hi Angus. I agree, a great sound and would be a joy to hear loud in a club. This will only happen if a DJ spends more than necessary - DJ’s going in big partly explains the inflationary spiral we constantly criticise. The collectors earn the pearls they chase and deservedly enjoy them at home - this is becoming harder and harder in the face of tough competition. I would rather see a good sound go into a collection (preferably mine) rather than have a UK dealer snag it to sell on at an exorbitant mark-up. When normality returns, it might be nice to see more collectors with top collections invited to guest DJ at the bigger venues - that way, we can hear the one-off rarities and unissued acetates rather than the same old tunes... Earl Grant, Jimmy Jones, Charades, Lonnie Lester, yawn...

Yes, the italic variation. Could this be a first pressing? The more common plain text variation evidently sold well, so I wondered if this was based on early sales of the italic release?