Joesoap

Odd reply. Yes I know it's her second album. And where did I say the rest of this?

Always loved this 12" RCA sleeve design. Can't think of a better-looking company sleeve tbh. (No idea what the record is btw. Grabbed this off the internet).

Heard exactly the same record playing in the lobby of a Premier Inn about a year or so ago! Quite often hear quite random bits of northern and other obscure soul in various local pubs near me - Kentish Town / Camden area for some unknown reason (or did - can't be arsed going out any more since lockdown. Lol). Used to go in this pub near where I worked about ten years or so ago in Clerkenwell. They had this mixtape (or CD I suppose) that they'd sometimes put on and it had this INCREDIBLE 70s / 80s modern soul track on it that i have never heard before or since. I'd always ask but somehow whoever did the mix was never there at the time. I'm sure it must have been a complete unknown because if it wasn't, it was so good it would have been huge and I'd have already known it! To this day, I often wonder what that was...

Yes. Saw that somewhere. Just Googling around though and found other release dates going back to last year. So who knows? Sounds like an ambitious / expensive project - double album, recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis, full band, strings etc. You'd imagine a major label was behind it but seemingly not...

It's not for me but I can see why people have started collecting them. For many people who weren't around at the time but have got into the music in more recent times, there's undoubtedly a mystique / romanticism about the Torch / Mecca / Wigan, etc era. So I can understand why those people maybe covet them as artefacts of that time (particularly when originals are unaffordable) Also, we all remember when they were plentiful and cheap and more or less despised. Things like that often end up being collectable when they dry up and become scarce... As I say not for me (although there's a pretty good Mel Britt one I had and which someone trod on and broke at a party. Never going to own an original. So might cough up to replace that one day..!)

Don't know. Just found something online which says double album, vinyl coming out on Izipho later this summer but nothing on their site and nothing definite on her site or her Bandcamp..

Kim Tibbs has got an album coming out. Guess they want people to buy that?

Songs about people who are about to, 'leave and walk right on out that door' = HUGE category.

Tbf..don't most of them have one of six themes? 1. 'I'm lonely' 2. 'I love her / him but she / he doesn't notice me' 3. 'I'm going out with this girl / lad: she / he is amazing! ' 4. 'I think she / he might be going off me..' 5. 'She / he cheated on me!' 6. 'She / he has left me. I'm gutted' Any I missed?

Have had a few delayed like that myself recently. All turned up eventually. Bit of sympathy here though. Had Covid myself about 5 weeks ago. Despite being jabbed 3 times - fatigue and low energy for weeks afterwards (and still experiencing that a bit).

Found an article about Ian Smith and his career here. Label presumably an outlet for his musical activities: https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/throat-cancer-cant-stop-singer-4983605 He's also quoted in this fascinating article about Huddersfield's reggae club/ sound system scene of the 70s! (amazed to learn it had one!) https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/31/champion-sound-huddersfield-ruled-british-reggae-scene

Great thread. Couple from me. 1. Charming collage sleeve from Disques Vogue (also love the modernist label design). 2. Same as the one above that's got a Major Lance record in it (actually a company sleeve for the Brazilian Motown label!)

Not sure I fully understand your reply. It's a black artist (Georges Thurston) from Quebec. Was recorded at Muscle Shoals. I'm not suggesting it beats the Staple Singers classic but for my tastes, it's a good quality and enjoyable record in its own right and soulful. The LP is very decent too with one other track that would be a bit of a monster if recorded in English! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Thurston

The originally released version is actually the below. Recorded in Muscle Shoals and released in 1976 by French Canadian soul group Boule Noire and credited to Thurston- Alves and Mitchell. Same musical backing / arrangement but different recording and lyrics (in Franglais!) I love it. The LP is did quite well in the French-speaking world and this track was b-side of a top 5 record in that part of Canada. The Staple Singers version came out with a bunch of previously unreleased stuff early 80s (this 'Time Around' LP). They left Stax for Curtom 74 / 75. Suspect 'Tripping On Your Love' dates from just before that. Anyway, by the time that eventually came out, a publisher presumably already had claims to it based on the Boule Noire song... Coincidentally, recently finished reading Rob Bowman's excellent book about Stax. This track isn't mentioned but whole operation ended in a hideously complicated legal mess (including the publishing division). So there could be any number of reasons why the credits got changed...

It's a bit of a dogs' dinner, isn't it? That link - you either have to schlep thru every individual release or search on artist / title. How on earth do I know what artist / titles you are releasing? Can't see a way of searching by genre - that would be better. Then, even if there's something you want, you've got to get up first thing on a Saturday and go and queue and you MIGHT get it....Do they not understand that people with jobs and families or whatever have other things to do on a Saturday? It feels like making your customers jump thru hoops for the 'privilege' of giving you their money. No thanks... Finally (and sadly) physical record shops are a moribund thing now. Used to LOVE trawling through second hand record shops looking for bargains and unknowns. Nowadays, no one takes their unwanted records to sell to their local second hand record store. They put them on line. So the shops are full of dross. And the stock which does make it there is priced according to Discogs anyway. So what is the point of going to a physical shop? Anyway, sorry for negative vibes. Is there any previously unreleased stuff?

Never heard it played on the northern soul scene and AFAIK it never had any profile or popularity on the scene. Believe it was a mainstream radio / minor pop chart hit at time of release in UK . I'd class it with The Love Affair and Foundations, things like that. Great soul-influenced pop records. Nothing at all wrong with that, but not northern.

Johnny Harris arrangement. One of the greatest UK arrangers of the 60s. Quite a number of UK-produced 'northern' records were done by him (Although, 'Movin' Away' and John E Paul are the only two I can think of off the top of my head. There are others...). Not that 'Nothing But a Heartache is 'northern' IMO...

Those were from New York I believe, done for the underground disco scene there, judging by the other releases on la Coupe.

Is this published yet? Got one on order but not clear whether it's being reprinted or just not out yet?

Found this CD in a charity shop a couple of years ago. Really well put together compilation / package. But one inclusion I found very surprising is Victor Knight 'Chinatown'. Now I remember that very well from the 100 Club during the Stafford era. Was it really played at the Catacombs? Quite a downtempo / leftfield record considering the style of you associate with that era...

I think it's a shame for younger people that that the unbelievable excitement / mystique / invention we had from music seems to have petered out. But imagine if we'd spent our younger years on things that our parents' / grandparents' generation were into..? Nah. Can't say it would have appealed to me to be honest, for what that's worth.

I've always had the idea that WHIGTL is pressed badly off centre. I've definitely bought and returned at least one copy for that reason, and have a vague idea I must have had or listened to other copies to have formed that impression. Wasn't aware of two releases. Might offer an explanation...? Similar oddity though, from Calla around the same time...Bobby Dukes 'Just to be With You' (C-184). Demo and issue with vocal / instrumental dated 1972, and then, for some reason, a demo with the INSTRUMENTAL on both sides dated 1974. Why on earth would they decide to re-issue / promote the instrumental? Another cock up at the pressing plant or some sort of tax fiddle going on or something?

Thanks. I thought that series was unofficial but can see from the image you posted that it's not.

Universal Mind 'Reach out for me' (Red Coach) Mecca record I think? My question is, on YouTube two or three people have posted an amazing 5 minute+ version of this. But on Discogs, the promo and issue both have 3.30 on the label. Have also searched comps and can't find any extended version. Anyone got any idea where this long version derives from?

I had a copy of Carol Anderson on Whip for about a fiver off some random dealer at a London record fair in the mid / late 80s. That copy got nicked a few years later along with a load of other nice stuff I'd got mainly through obsessively trawling UK second hand record shops, stalls, etc. As others have said, those days are long gone thanks to the internet. This is both in terms of prices and decent / interesting stuff finding its way into physical outlets at all. Collecting 'Northern' via the internet is a rich person's pastime these days and a different type of collecting altogether IMO. Not for me - the fun's gone. Can see the same thing happening pricewise in 5-10 years with other genres of black music I collect so concentrating on those nowadays (albeit via the internet)... while I still can!