Johndelve

Arrived today, just played it, fantastic...

Great Alex ! Jimmy Jules is a marvellous find, six cracking LPs in a row, well done... great Christmas present for us...Best John

Posted 2 hours ago 17 hours ago, Johndelve said: You said : As long as I know it's AI, who loses? I said, a week ago : All the professional musicians, writers, singers, arrangers, producers etc, who will lose their jobs, income opportunities because people choose to spend money on AI items rather than 'real records'. Expand I take that point a bit, but the aim of the game is to produce music people like. If AI can produce music people like better (and I'm not sure it will, I think people will listen to it if it's free, but I can't see them paying for it) then those musicians, writers, singers, arrangers, producers etc will have to find something else to do - like buggy whip manufacturers and wheelwrights and stable boys did when the internal combustion engine made the horse and cart redundant, or vinyl pressing plant workers did when we moved to CD (and CD factory staff did when we moved to online). Along the way, don't forget, those musicians etc have benefited enormously from automation and AI in every other field... if cars were all still made by hand instead of robots most of them would be walking to gigs, for instance. Not to say there aren't concerns and worries - there are. I don't know how we'll adapt, but we always have before. In terms of music, it will probably put a premium on real music and live performances, so quality artists will survive and maybe even thrive. Who knows - it might even see a revival of small local gigs. I personally think it will be a bit of a flash in the pan - people will always prefer art made by other people. I think you are talking about two completely different things. The examples of automation you quote without doubt were of a huge benefit to millions of people. (And to the detriment of those who lost their jobs as a result. ) But they were industrial processes which are always subject to ways of doing things quicker and cheaper. The end result, in short, was better and the winners far outnumbered the losers. Is anyone saying use of AI is better than what came before? It may well lead to someone like me being able to produce a record but I don't have any talent so not much use there..... And artists aren't - with some exceptions, obviously - driven by impulses of making money, they want to make art, or at least create work that others want to look at, listen to or read. The winners will be the small number of people who know how to manipulate AI and the losers will be the much larger group of artists who lose out. And we are only really talking here about creating records. What about the books that are already being written by AI? Jesus Christ. Even worse than making music. I bet authors just LOVE AI. I don't think AI is going away at all and it clearly isn't a flash in the pan. Millions of people won't give a toss how a record is made. It's only a relatively small number of long standing soul fans on here ( and doubtless the long standing supporters of other types of music) and the artists themselves who will care.

You said : As long as I know it's AI, who loses? I said, a week ago : All the professional musicians, writers, singers, arrangers, producers etc, who will lose their jobs, income opportunities because people choose to spend money on AI items rather than 'real records'.

AI is here to stay, no question, and it has and will have many benefits in certain walks of life. But in art/ music /entertainment ? A disaster. Ask musicians, artists, writers etc. what they think of AI when it puts them out of work....

It's not a double LP. The vinyl is a straight reissue of his ABC LP. The only way to get the 'bonus' tracks is indeed via the CD. btw his vocal on " I can't stand a woman two timing a man" is phenomenal. God knows why this isn't more of an in demand' 45.

Just to be clear though : there are NO unreleased tracks on what is, I agree, a fine release. Only pity is that it is not on vinyl, given the general lack of interest in CDs.

Isn't it just. I think I have it all too, but I'm delighted Kent have put this out. Their releases nearly always have good sound quality but think they have surpassed themselves here, it sounds crystal clear. And Spencer Wiggins" Uptight Good Woman" is an astonishing record, genuinely incredible power in his singing and way too long since it was mentioned on Soul Source.

Thanks. That is indeed stupid money, especially as another copy of same CD - mint and from UK - is for sale at just over £8. It's what I call "the ebay syndrome". Clueless people are trying to sell things on there all the time that can be purchased on discogs at a fraction of the price. Agree that the Backbeats series was very good.

Just as a matter of interest: which ones are fetching "stupid money"? I've just checked around ten at random on discogs and all are only around a fiver...

Every LP that Soul 4 Real puts out is essential, but this is the best one yet ; just played it through three times in a row. Even if I have nearly all these cuts already, it's great to hear them in such a setting. Alex Subinas has great taste and doesn't simply go for the obvious cuts. Betty Swann's magnificent "It's time to say goodbye" is an inspired choice, just about the only track I know that has male and female backing singers alternating and I'm delighted that Doris Troy's exquisite "He Don't belong to me" is on here, the first time ever on an LP. No album in 2024 will be better than this.

And also, as far back as 1966, there was a specific dance created called "Function at The Junction" - that Shorty Long had a hit with. That is more or less the same as line dancing, so it is hardly a new thing in black culture, although clearly it is a radical and unwelcome departure for "Northern soul".

In her own interview Elsie states that she left the business circa 1966/1967.....about a decade before many of the songs above were recorded....

You're right, absolutely no way this makes any sense. In so many different ways. For a start, as said above, you can't record backing vocals to a song - "Shining Star" - that wasn't even written at the time. No technology in the world can make that a reality. Yes, of course, if it was just "oohs" and "aahs" but not if one is singing actual words. (Plus the fact that the backing vocals on that record are clearly performed by men. As indeed are all the sixties' Manhattans records I know.) Elsie Baker sounds a smart, likable and very switched on woman based on an interview I listened to but she also seems to be claiming in that interview that either- it isn't quite clear exactly what the claim is - The Debonaires recorded "Baby Love" before the Supremes or sang the backing vocals on it. That actually makes more logical sense than the Manhattans' story but I still suspect would be news to most people.

Arrived yesterday. Very good stuff. Recommended.