I've been asked about this so many times but I've never put it in writing.. I've been into Northern since I was a young lad. First niter May 1980 as a 15 year old and went every week until 1987 when I met and started dating someone who was to become my wife and mother to my sons. ( enough of that) I stopped going to niters after we bought our first house in 1988 and as we were saving for our wedding I almost stopped going anywhere soul orientated. But we used to love going to car boot sales, I occasionally found the odd motown or soul records but nothing exciting until March 1989 when we were at a car boot in Oadby, Leicestershire and I saw a record box with a piece of card sticking out saying "soul 45's"
I thought to myself, yeah whatever and proceeded to have a look, there were 11 records of only which there was only 1 that I knew, which was jimmy Norman, you know I'm in love on little star, so I asked the grey haired old gentleman how much for all 11 and he said £5 so I bought them all.
Once I got home I played jimmy Norman and then the rest of them one by one thinking wow these are good until I dropped the stylus on mac staten and the nomads there she goes on prelude..
now you have to remember at the time this was butch's Bobby Angele cover up.. it was just like the moment in the film when he uncovers the Salvadors I was swearing and dancing around the front room thinking f##£ing hell. I got told off for swearing too much lol but I was lost for words.
The next day I took it to show Rudzy in his shop in Leicester and he was as astounded as I was..
Among the 11 records were
Mac staten there she goes
Jj Jackson let the show begin
Pat Clayton someone else's turn
Jimmy Norman I know I'm in love
Sophisticates back up baby
4 others on little star star by jimmy Norman and Dorothy Berry and one on tjx which I can't remember off top of my head.. and 1 other which is eluding me at the moment.
Now here is the really interesting thing, I saw the chap at another car boot about 3 weeks later and told him I loved the records and asked him if he had any other records and where did he get them.
His reply was that during the 60s he worked at an American airbase in Cambridgeshire and the airmen used to bring all these 45's with them and left them behind when they left and as he liked soul and motown they used to give them to him..
I asked him if he had any more, his reply was sorry I sold loads of them and you had the last few..
To this day I wonder what else he had that he had sold and that someone had no idea what it was.
Regards Mick.