Frankie Crocker

Resisting the temptation to annotate this like a GCSE English text, I hope you get well soon and please note that the International GTO's - I Love My Messy Baby, is overrated, overpriced and much lower down the Northern tree than it once was, a wall of tempo that lacks melody and towards the end, loses direction...

What's the fuss about? Good piece of journalism from the Grauniad. Two decent tracks that are well passed their play-by date but still OK for an Oldies night, just. Does anyone get excited collecting UK sixties soul? Not me. They're generally US tracks on admittedly superior vinyl but almost always best on US labels, the original format and easier to handle with the centres pushed out. Holy grail is a term becoming far too commonplace, a marketing term aimed at pushing up prices rather than the best sounding record ever.

You would be perfectly entitled to have a go. eBay is clogged up with rubbish that it is completely intransigent about. Consequently next to nothing sells and serious collectors waste time looking. However, there are ways around this so ultimately eBay will choke off this revenue stream and punters will thrive elsewhere. eBay has become a global jumble sale and whilst there are still bargains to be found and more than a few rarities, the organisation is best used to buy unwanted Chritmas presents, household goods and other collectables.

Suspect it could be another bitter and twisted Woppy Doo dealer, can't sell his lifetime's hoard but has a few decent soul records having collected by number and is unaware that the B side is the money track. Probably moved to Stoke having heard a rumour about some serious collectors in the area and a popular discotheque. Might have visited Las Vegas and got hold of a Richie Rosen customer service manual...

Craig's organisation is as good as it gets. He has a crew of first rate employees. The customer service offered is exemplary. My understanding is that browsers are not allowed behind the counter, but when I dropped the hint, he politely declined and suggested lunch together. Sadly, stock has become depleted in the last year so auctions have become something of a damp squib. Still, the warehouse keeps throwing up great records, and if you move quickly, the rarities can still be bagged. Long may Craig be in business...

Always done this. Wish there was a way of pasting the same message to sellers time and time again. Not yet factored in the alternating orientation of cardboard stiffeners but a great idea - actually seen a couple of US dealers do this recently. For that ultra rare record, consider sending a 7 inch tin - these came with limited edition 45's back in the 80's and can be picked up for a few quid: leave the punk-rock/goth/pop record in the store and say you only wanted the tin...usually mystifies the shop assistant, but so what, all part of the crazy world of Northern Soul.

BobA - spot on as always...

Crow - Autumn Of Tomorrow has a start to clear the floor unless you know what's coming up. Harold Melvin's Get Out improves considerably after the spoken opening. Fugitives - Human Jungle has you reaching for the stop button until it really kicks in.

Neat story Dave. I found a load of these in Skippy White's basement in Cambridge, mid 1990's - never had any trouble selling the small quantity I took away. Remarkable that a record of this calibre could languish overlooked for 25 years.

Sure, the scene was characterised by drug taking but the book gives this aspect a disproportionate amount of coverage compared to other facets of Northern Soul. For the most part, drug abuse was not too overt so hopefully the film will not give it too prominent coverage. For me, the music was the drug, and for plenty of others who attended unassisted - hopefully, the euphoria will shine through and the movie-goers can figure out the dancers' motivation.

Hey dude, hang loose. This is a web-site for soul appreciation not grave-pissing...

Then why glorify drug taking in a book like Northern Soul: An Illustrated History? I hope the movie isn't tainted by constant references to drug abuse...

Might actually be more to it than meets the eye. I, and plenty of others, enjoyed Soulboy, warts an' all. The play, Once Upon A Time In Wigan, was brilliant also with just one regret, I saw it at Greenwich and Hammersmith but not in Manchester. This movie and soundtrack has the potential to be better than anything that has gone before it. Sure, there is a daft side to the crazy world of Northern Soul but this could be the real deal.

Sounds very promising. Bring it on...

I think you're barking mad... This record is dog rare so there's only a slim chance of sniffing one down. No point in hounding collectors for a copy and don't expect to find a lead on Soul Source.

Happy to fill in...always up for an expenses paid junket and more than willing to occupy chairs in Starbucks, use their Wi Fi, browse the magazines and books of Barnes & Noble for free and drink Frappaccinos at 10% off with a B&N card. Now there are only three major music corporations on planet earth, it's only a short step to sole control of the global music market by some merger involving Starbucks, Amazon and Apple. Sort of rotten bad luck for music downloaders but no problem for those who store tracks on vinyl...

It's a plot... Starbucks started off in Seattle and have converted every other shop on the High Street into a coffee shop and spawned numerous imitators filling in the gaps between phone shops and Pound Stores. Now Starbucks are taking over the Northern Soul World by stealth as they have stumbled across some half decent piped-music that's a cut above the average elevator tune. Maybe Seattle will become the new Wigan with aged soulies travelling from far afield to hog the armchairs and catch up with the latest releases borrowed from the archives of Universal, Sony and Warner. Perhaps the corporation is using Northern Soul as a tax dodge paying generous royalties to long-forgotten artists and ridiculous sums for 'unknown' tunes.

Returning to the title of the thread, it looks like eBay has lost its way due to high fees, postal charges and the quantity of bootlegs, carvers, reissues etc. Maybe one day it will reset the commission it charges and lower the Pay Pal fee, but don't hold your breath. There are now so many records for sale on the internet, it's impossible to search all sellers' offerings so buyers are forced to be highly selective. Whereas Price Guides were initially a mixed blessing, exposing obscure sounds at a price favouring store keepers, they are now highly inaccurate at the top and bottom ends of the price range. The bottom has fallen out of the market but this should result in wholesale discounting and possibly new entrants to the collecting ranks...watch this space.

Not so it appears. Record grabbing by hot-boxing DJ's for quick-spin and move-on purposes serves no one in the long run. Transient collectors who throw it it in and sell up cheap contribute to the problem. Serious long term collectors get by without knock-down 'bargains' but can well do without Loadsamoney types casually discarding records that ultimately discredit well regarded sounds. I imagine genuine collectors would not do anything rash enough to devalue their records or anyone else's collections but then, not every collector is a committed enthusiast with a high regard for the ethos of the scene.

Hi Pete. Nothing wrong with full-time dealers offering a discount, especially if the record has been in stock for ages and the profit margin suits. The increasing tendency for non-collecting DJ's to move records on because of limited dance floor reaction is devaluing decent records that could sit in another box for an oldies set or a revival night. Three figure tunes should be treated as such and not consigned to the get-rid-of-it-quick circuit. Owners of 'precious' collections have every right to be concerned if records they have paid top whack for are being traded like baseball cards. It isn't in dealers or collectors interests to fuel record deflation unless 25 count boxes turn up of former rarities. I think most of us regard the Price Guides as just that, a rough indication less 20% VAT, to help appraise an item to bid on rather than a value stamped on a sticker. Collectors in it for the long haul deserve to operate in a stable market vulnerable to enough idiosyncrasies without seeing their treasured sounds downgraded.

Dead rare but suffers due to Second Issue Syndrome. This illustrates how buyers' confidence tumbles when dubious releases enter the picture. The more second issues there are plus boots, legal re-issues etc, the more damaging it is to the credibility of the rare record market. Sure, press up unreleased tracks in a bona-fide manner paying royalties where due, but make a stand against the proliferation of third-issue, lookalike, turn-a-fast-buck vinyl best committed to CD or left in the clouds for the next generation of dabblers.

Absolutely Richard. It's one thing to express surprise at common records such as Nate Evans and Sonny Herman popping up and reaping in-demander type prices, but to devalue seriously hard to find sounds is not in collectors' interests. Quick discounting of three figure records by wannabe DJ's who must have the next Nolan Porter whatever is seriously damaging the value of prices, more so than the availability of Price Guides to US dealers who continue to augment the supply of scarce records. The price fetched by the Chandlers should go some way towards establishing its scarcity and current market value rather than have collectors/dealers announce how many they've had and how cheap they were in the pre-internet era.

Vince, don't be too disheartened son. Your records are worth owning, even though most of them are common, run-of-the-mill tunes; trouble is, factor in postage costs for a single record purchase and the buyer loses out. Many collectors have these sort of records, probably picking them up early in their gathering habit. The hard-core collectors are looking for high-end, mint condition sounds but these are so scarce, they crop up only infrequently - a few of these in a list gives the commoner sounds more exposure, and crucially, budget conscious multiple buyers will dabble in the minor sounds if the condition is right. As Ian says, the record market slumps in the summer and peaks in the winter so perhaps have a break to stockpile a decent haul of in-demand tunes and nicely-priced 'bargains'.

Did they have a CD for sale at the counter? Starbucks like to market an extravagant lifestyle through exorbitant coffees and World Music CD's so maybe this is a concession on the ethnic front as dreamed up by some bonus-obsessed suit who has accidentally stumbled across some catchy tunes?

Kent LP's. Soul Supply LP's. Then the 100 Club came along and a swarm of other London venues. By-passed by the Stafford scene as career took over but back on track by late '80's with the help of London record stores such as Rocks Off and Rock On. Trips to the States have provided ample sounds between occasional Soul Nites. Now addicted to Soul Source, eBay and YouTube, career is on the slide and main concerns are where to store all those records and find the time to spin them as much as they deserve to played...