Frankie Crocker

Cheers Pete. My mistake. It is a C120 tape, not the usual sort I tend to use. I still have the box somewhere but am currently in Texas doing a bit of crate digging. C120 was the longest tape available and being thinner, easily got caught up in the machine. Over the years, it got twisted several times hence the quieter and distorted patches. This was the only tape we had in our family at the time so it got absolutely hammered until it went to Wigan and then the tabs were broken out. For the record, you have put up the B side first and the A side second. Part of the tape is continuous but much of it selective as I just had to have Butch Baker and Dana Valery, the standout tunes from the previous Saturday, my first visit to the Casino.

Something fishy going on. Bidders ducking and diving it appears. The appearance of the second copy has certainly rocked the boat. Retracting bids of this magnitude sets the alarm bells ringing whatever the circumstances. I doubt if all interested parties could now bid with confidence and the sellers may well not realise the prices hoped for.

Spot on Alan. I think the DJ says N F Porter Keep On Keepin' On. Not come across this number by Sam Dees but will be picking one up soon.

Would be very interested to know the identity of the unknown track if anyone can work it out, thanks..

The plot thickens. I have named the unknown sound without hearing Pete's upload. So, it appears that this tape could well be one made off my master copy although I don't really recall making one for anyone apart from myself. The original C90 being of thinner tape got munched up a few times and then I made another copy of it before the tape-to-tape machine packed in. I have now remade the tape, a manually remastered version you could call it, and I play this on the last Saturday of March by way of an anniversary celebration. I was evidently unaware of the Pussycat release back in 1974 even though that was when I bought my first Northern records such as Butch Baker, Gwen and Ray, Bob Wilson Strings etc.

Don't recall it being around in 1974 but got the Butch Baker pressing on Cherub that summer. Snapped up the pink Pussycat version when I first saw it in 1975 or 1976. It predated the CBS Special Products release if I recall, so I didn't bother buying this one.

Remarkable Pete. This is almost identical to a live Wigan tape I made on the last Saturday in March 1974, down to the multiple plays of Dana Valery and Butch Baker as he was known at the time. There is only one track on my version that I can not name and Pat Brady could not identify it when I gave him a copy. Is one of the unknowns by 100 Proof 'One Man's Leftovers'? My C90 tape finishes off with Junior Walker's ' I Ain't Goin' Nowhere' and has the Olympics 'Same Old Thing' early on, but otherwise it is very, very similar to this one. The same sounds were also spun the previous Saturday on my first visit to the Casino - the occasion was so overwhelming, I must have said I'm going back next weekend with a tape recorder.

Hi Pete. He was offering an original on Columbia for sale in March 1974. The Pussycat pressing was not available until a few years later.

Tragic. The thing is, I've seen similar at some do's, young debutante, six pints into the evening has plucked up courage and hit the nursery slopes during a mid-tempo number. All well and good until something a bit more up-tempo comes on and then this hokey-cokey malarkey just doesn't work, resulting in another toilet break or wallflower duty round the outside...

Am after a minter but awaiting retirement pension pot. Butch has a copy. Tony Smith #1 has one also as he confirmed earlier - Kenny Burrell tried to buy it but Tony knows his records... John Manship has sold two copies in the last 15 years or so. Nancy from Long Beach sold hers shortly after the recent Manship sale. The few copies that exist play OK apart from the chipped one so there is no quality-control issue with this release. As mentioned on a similar thread in the last couple of years, the record sounds a bit like Ray's 'Hard Workin' Man' on Jewel but is infinitely better than this RnB number.

I thought the record was on styrene... Travelling in the USA at present so not able to check my copy dating back to the Wigan era. Also sold another copy a few years ago and this was styrene if I recall correctly. Great record anyway and one to hang on to.

Abominable. Not seen it before. This bloke would be out of his depth in a puddle in the car park. I've seen better Dad Dancing at a wedding. Was this an April 1st post?

Ring wear results from the friction of adjacent records moving against each other. Back in the 60's, party goers would put their unsleeved records on the carpet by the record player and as they were shuffled around, the more prominent ridges got worn. Store stock jammed on shelves and were regularly pulled out whilst searching for a particular record would rub against each other. Unsold stock stored in large boxes that were subject to occasional shuffling around also suffered ring wear. Nowadays, records sleeved, shelved and handled carefully should not really experience ring wear. Plain white cardboard sleeves are thick enough to prevent labels rubbing. What's with all these 'in' jokes anyway?

Great story. Thanks for flagging it up to us. We've all been parted from records that we'd rather have hung on to so this shows what time may throw up.

Full marks for persistence. Only VG+ but expects the same return as a mint copy. This has writing on the label also. Could be worth $150 with a picture sleeve but would need to be at least excellent in condition. Probably styrene so could possibly even hiss. The 'VG+' when bought sounds odd...it could have been played many times on a cronky deck since then so buying this without a sound clip is asking for trouble.

My take also Chalkie. Rare Soul on CD The Vocal Groups Volume 1 has the earliest date of 1988. Track list is stunning so would never sell even though I have all but four on 45's.

The one you're referring to is The Soul of Detroit and is dated 1989.

In the same boat here. Received a record so badly buckled and twisted it was unplayable. Seller has refunded the record cost but not initial postage. Now the seller expects me to spend further money sending his dud record back. He refuses to enter into correspondence despite the possibility of dreadful feedback. The situation is compounded by excessive GSP costs despite a request the transaction be done outside this extortionate imposition. Is it actually the case that I am liable to pay for return postage when it is an extra cost brought about by the ineptitude of a seller who admitted in the original advert that he was no expert?

Are there original issues of Gee Baby? I've only come across promotion copies. Pat Brady has an 'issue' up for auction but it is described as a DJ copy and it appears to be the re-issue/bootleg with the lower case text. Now more confused...

or another by him on Gamble or Sassy...

Never noticed. Never heard this before either. Will try my copy when I stumble across it again. Thanks for the heads up.

Copy of Terrible Tom sold for a fraction of this on eBay a fortnight ago, go figure. Intrigued by the Frank Beverly story - why have so few turned up and are there others awaiting discovery?

Great stuff. Thanks for posting this. Corking tune - so chuffed to own a copy.

Thanks for this. I'm still trying to get a refund of the GPS surcharge but with little success. The cost of the record has been refunded though. Trouble is, the GPS funds are with the off-shore tax duckers mentioned by Ted, namely Pitney Bowes. So having paid handsomely for a pair of records, one an unplayable dud, some Jimmy who is a second-hand dealer rather than record dealer, expects me to finance the return cost of a useless record AND kiss goodbye to funds that he committed me to paying via the GSP...

Well, in spite of this discussion, folk are bidding on it like it is an original whether it is a reissue, label variation or perhaps, putting the cat among the pigeons, a Sheldon stamped very first issue, making all the rest later reissues timed to coincide with a subsequent Halloween...QED...