The Fox

Hi I know this is a long shot - did you sell Chance Canfil? Thanks

Of course sound quality is important, but you can play reissues etc and still have sound quality and ntegrity. It's all about honesty.

Personally I go to Northern Soul events for the music. Perhaps that's why I'm more relaxed about the debate.

Totally agree that an imaginative set doesn't need to cost the earth but I think the point has been missed. Other scenes still appreciate originals but they don't get excited if it's not all original. I love going to big alnighters and seeing the video of the rare copies being spun but I absolutely wouldn't care if the dj put on a boot/reissue to keep the set alive. I'd rather hear it that way than not at all. The acceptability of reissues in other scenes make a broader range more viable - it's not seen as a ain to buy and play a reissue for the love of the music rather than the rarity of the label. As has been said earlier there's never going to be agreement so the debate will just drag on. Just remember this, we all live on a spectrum of acceptability and we have to respect that.

These OVO arguments make me smile everytime. It's really interesting to compare this with similar scenes such as the Rockabilly / RnR crowd. Some of their sounds are mega rare but no one cares, even at large events if reissues are played and DJs are judged solely on the quality of their sets musically rather than the depth of their pockets. That doesn't stop the collecting of records and nor does it prevent appreciation when originals are played. True, dishonesty should be rooted out but I'd rather have a rich and varied set of mixed originals/reissues than hear the same old tunes that someone has paid too much for just because they're original.

Loved this for ages but someone in Mexico seems to be buying them up and charging enough to fund a small army.

Don't want to sound like I'm in denial (perhaps I am) but the label and shape of the dish is exactly as described for the good un higher up. This doesn't have a nashville stamp so wouldn't be the pittsburg one. Does anyone have have any knowledge of the Audio Matrix copy? The picture I added above is the actual copy, as you can see there is no bevelling and the print is bold and solid. The only other info is the number is etched not stamped.

I know what you're saying Mal, but it looks like the original posted further up, I was just adding to the possible list of genuine pressings

Just to add some info to this - I've just bought a copy of the 'no faces' demo and it all appears authentic as per the pictures. My copy has a VERY feint Audio Matrix stamp in the deadwax. Hope this helps?

Yes, I clocked that, but perhaps I'm just a bit cynical. It would have been a much more attractive offering if (for example) they had put out a previously unissued take or track.

Although it's a decent tune, I'm not sure why they're re-issuing the Duke Reid tune when you can buy the original fairly cheaply and the Treasure Isle reissue for less than a tenner.

I see this has been issued again by FTM as the flip side to an extended mix of Hey Sah Lo-ney. I'm not so sure about the spoken word bits at the start and end of HSL but the mix sounds decent enough and IMHO you could definitely play it out at a soul night (perhaps fading the vocal intro and end).

We don't know Rob personally but absolutely love his persona when we see him dj'ing. In the nicest way he always reminds me of a veteran spitfire pilot. If you read this Rob, thank you, you have entertained us for many hours and are an absolute legend in our house :-)

If it's your guilty pleasure then it's probably a lot of others' too. I've never played it at our local Legion soul nights but I play it at home sometimes cos just as for many people of a similar age it's really nostalgic and one of the first 'northern' tunes I ever heard. If a dj played it I'd dance to it even though it's not considered cool anymore.

Great topic Malcolm, that's inevitably returned to the OVO vs reissue/boot topic. The simple answer is that it's only a con if there is deception involved. So if you go to an OVO event and someone plays a boot the punters are being conned (likewise for passing off boots as original when selling records). Are the prices a con? That's a bit more of an grey area in my opinion. On a simplistic level if the seller is being honest about the product then it isn't but on another level if it is the scene's obsession with OVO to the extent that the average Joe is shamed into parting with high prices because of the perception of unacceptability then there is an element of conning. Not by the seller but by the OVO evangelists who make them think that it matters to that extent. In my youth I used to do 'mixtapes' of tunes I couldn't afford to buy. I think most of us did. But I also bought records from my local shop as far as my budget stretched. These days I have a bit more money so the balance has shifted a bit more in favour of originals but I'm not ashamed to say I will buy a reissue if the original is outside my budgetary grasp. So for example I bought the Don Gardner album to get the 45. When people feel pressured to deny they own boots /reissues or to think it is only acceptable to buy originals I think that's sad and the deception in the scene that they (reissues etc) are unacceptable is verging on a con and pushes up prices which is also sad. Before I get a hail of abuse from the OVO folks, please let me be clear, I fully respect your love of the originals and understand the collecting obsession. But I would also ask for respect in return of my love for the music no matter what issue I choose to listen to it on. If we could get over this (unlikely I know) then the con of overpricing might reduce because the supply and demand relationships would alter.