Sean Hampsey

Those images remind me of a Lock up me and a couple of mates were in, outside Baltimore, about 10 years ago. Me, Tats Taylor, Rob Wigley and Bully were doing the rounds around Washington / Baltimore. On the Sunday we ended up at a Record Show in West Virginia. I got chatting to a dealer (a Black guy named Jerome) selling a load of Soul LP's. Bought a few off him and then asked him if he had any 45's. He said he had a Lock up full of stuff as he'd had a Record shop until '74 and when he closed up shop he had locked away his stock, just living off his thousands of LP's ever since. I asked him if I could see them (it would have been rude not to ask). He said He'd think about it... and that I should telephone him that evening. Me and the lads got back to the Hotel and I made the call around 7:00pm. He told us to drive out to a Holiday Inn and meet him there 'Because you can't come into my area'. We duly met him around 8 o'clock. Jerome appeared in a white Van, flashed his lights... we flashed back.. and he drove up to the side of our car. "OK" he says "Get in the back, lay on the floor... and don't look out of the window" He drove for about 20 minutes with the four of us laid on the floor in the back. Eventually he pulled up outside a dark, unlit, Industrial Estate and told us it was safe to get out. The lock up was just like those in John's picture. Wall to ceiling racks along both sides and the back wall. He threw a couple of pasting tables into the middle of the room and started pulling boxes of 45's off the shelves. Must have been half a million 45's in there. Talk about kids in a candy store! We'd set out on the trip for Bobby Reed's, Vivian Reed's, Cashmere's, and the like... and were well rewarded with everything we'd set out for... at a dollar each. As we left (around 3:00 am) he told us he had just as many 45's at his house, but we were off home the next day and never got to visit. I've still got his details though (the answer is NO... before you ask) and I'm off to the states next month... mainly around Memphis, but just might drop off and see if Jerome has any of his old store stock while I'm there! ...if one of you lot haven't beaten me to it! Sean

Here ya go mate:- https://cgi.ebay.com/DOCTOR-DR-WHO-ARC-TARD...1QQcmdZViewItem Don't know if it'll work or not, but if it does I'll go halves with ya! Can picture the scene... 1976, Me and Griff (pissing wet through) stood behind the stall, counting the coppers in the box... meanwhile, a bunch of teenage soul boys from Mexborough, eagerly thumbing through the latest batch of Selectadisc pressings and current releases... while old Mr Adams scours for a mint copy of Benny Hill on Columbia... "ere, this new Ann Perry "Circulate's" a bit tasty innit?" "Nah, too fast for me Neil... bet it sounds great slowed down" Enter.. Alan, back from Rochester... clutching his latest finds... "Try this 'Revels' "Everybody Can Do The New Dog" on Jamie... great little dancer!".... "Yeh, sounds OK but... I Prefer the flipside though, "True Love" Alan... maybe the scene will be ready for that in 30 years or so!" "OK I'm doing "Seven Day Lovers" on Peachtree, at 3 quid, if anybody still wants that old thing, and I've got a box of these Joe Murphys on Vivid... nice double sider... anybody fancy it at a quid apiece?" "Come off it Al... where's the good stuff.." "OK... Ronnie McNeir if you fancy, (tenner to you) but I'm keeping the Jimmy Burns on Erica to me sen... reckon it'll be worth a few bob one day" "Might be right Alan... but I reckon these Import Ujimas, Essex IV's and Brothers Guiding Light's I've got ere will be fetchin' £20 one day. I've got a dozen of each at 65p if anybody fancies a punt...?" "No takers? Ok.... One day lads... one day" "If only we could see into the future" Sean

No, it's a different tune and lyric entirely. The Howard Tate song is a very Soulful, midtempo, record. Whereas, the Bobby Paris "Night Owl" is an uptempo, singalong, affair! Sean

Don't forget to flip it for the better of the two sides (IMO). The awesome rendition of Sam Dees "Just As Soon As The Feeling Is Over". One of the finest 45's in the history of the Universe! Sean

You'll find the Male vocal of this on the flipside to James & Bobby Purify's "Let Love Come Betwen Us". A great version, so often overlooked! Sean

He's off cruising Bahamas at the Mo. We just booked for Memphis, next month, before he went. Could get very messy! Sean

Certainly am mate. Was looking forward to the Saturday night until I heard that you're going to your mates bash! Won't be the same without ya... and that 'knowing look' you always give, across the floor, when the tunes are just 'going down!' Might even play Henry Shed for you if you stay! But certainly not that Norris bloke (offa Corrie). Far too giddy for my liking! Sean

Yeh... but not as good as your last played clip, Binsmeister! Henry Shed poo poo's all over it! (IMO). Sean

Cor Blimey Ady... Mr Turbinton's never been out of mine! Next to Gene Chandler he's the absolute 'slickest' deliverer of a good lyric in the history of the world! Could listen to him all night. Just a tremendous vocalist. Sean

I left my Missus on the Beach in Hawaii. Best days work I ever did! Jellys in Honolulu were having a sidewalk sale. Everything from the basement was put out onto the pavement in crates. As much as you could carry - 10cents each. Had to buy two new cases from the shop next door to ferry back the cargo (Jimmy McFarland, Sandy Wynns, Joannie Sommers, Steve Mancha's etc). Damn cases cost more than the vinyl! Sean

Kittle known fact: It was actually covered up as "The Artistics" in the late 70's. Lovely little tune.

Love Roshell Anderson's voice. His "Know What You're Doing When You Leave" and "The Grapevine Will Lie Sometimes" are stone classics! I also used to play his Jerri outing "Let's Steal Away" as a new release. A great little mover from the Tyrone Davis school with a superb mid ballad flip in "Come On Back". Though I remember the reaction when he 'burst' onto the scene, I'm sure he gained lots of fans in the Deep soul fraternity and I well recall Dave Godin comparing him to Toussaint McCall at the time. Also worth picking up his "I'm Cracking Up" again on Sunburst. Sean

If we're avoiding the obvious (Womack, Carr, Ruffin, Dees, Hutch, Jones, Jackson, Knight etc.) The voice of Bobby McClure is one of the most underrated in the Soul world. Just blows me away on almost everything he ever recorded. Sean

Spotted Ken. Did you mean Della Reese Alan?

To avoid any confusion, correct title is "How Can You Lose". An inevitable Sat'day night typo! Sean

U right. T'was booted twice in the 70's... but the Black Demo aint one of 'em!

Spot on Mark, it is all still out there... but Soul fans have to dig harder to find the quality of yesteryear. For me that might mean buying lots of new albums every month, doing the research, staying 'in touch' and informed, seeking out recommendations from those whose 'taste' you trust and basically just not accepting the weird notion that the artform is no longer in existence or that the artists, somehow, are no longer capable of producing the art! The Maurice album is a real gem and "It's Been Revealed" and the like will certainly be getting a spin in my Essence set next month! Sean

Well it is waaaaaaaaaay past your bedtime!

PS: Were the Terrible Toms issues or Demos?

Agree Ian, but, we both know that for the open minded, it can still be phenomenal every day! Most of the 'Big Finds' were of records that were only 5-6 years old when found. Nobody ever thought it was any really great shakes at the time... cos, frankly, it wasn't! Its only in hindsight that everyone gets so lathered up. In the 70's every man and his dog was turning stuff up... thick and fast because stuff was all so plentiful... and available! I'm off next month, Record hunting, and will probably bring back a pile of 5-6 year old Southern 45's that most people wouldn't pay ten bob for... ...YET! The fact is, history is repeating itself every single day. You've only got to look at what's changing hands for big bucks on eBay these days... its as much the rare 70's and 80's stuff as it is the 60's 'Trad Northern'. That little number on the other thread by Clifford Curry might well be another "Will Collins" or "Prince Phillip" in 3-4 years time (and, incidentally, where were they when we were all getting turned on by copies of Clara Ward and Dottie Cambridge etc.). In another 10 years, I reckon that people will be willing to pay more for a copy of the contents of your laptop than they will for a copy of Frank Wilson! (Tongue firmly in cheek). Sean

You show up to others just as they show up to you! Or similar!

Just wait 'til I see Jackie from Maltby. She'll have yer arse in a sling! (Not quite as fierce as Dennis from Maltby tho ). You still waxing about Rochester Alan? Remember when you used to come on my record stall 76/77 with some of your finds! If only we knew then what those 50 cent 45's would become. Some of us might have stashed a few away for a rainy day! Sean

Cheers Adam. Unmissable IMO! Sean

Nah... it's just eBays new 'privacy' procedures. They're just ordinary bidders, like me and thee! Sean PS: Thanks for the tip on the Will Collins. Me and L***H are onto it!