JJMMWG DuPree

Some people like the songs and some like the records. I can go along with that, but I cannot deny that there are a whole lot of people out there who care more for the rarity of their records than for the people responsible for the sound on them. Anyone who renames the artist and title of a record is making sure that the people who still own a share in the content will not get any reward for their efforts from them.

Because someone had offered me money to do it, and to be offered monay to play Northern Soul I thought it might be worth taking a punt and coming on here and asking. I thought I'd explained that in the OP.

Well, I got the replies that I was pretty much expecting, but I must admit I wasn't expecting some of the vitriol that came my way. I'm roughly the same age as the musos that made a lot of these records, yet you simply assume I would make a hash of it because I haven't got that magic something that they had. I would have been playing the music because I like it, most of the musicians on the original vinyl were just doing a job.

Why are you discussing the musicians at all? They're just working stiffs. Some enjoy it, some hate it, most just get on with it, just like factory workers. Musicians arrive for the job, play the dots that the man has given them to play, get paid and go home, and that applies to the people who played on the original records just as much as the orchestra. As stated on the programme, they used the original arrangements whenever they could, the rest of the time they copied them out from the discs. In other words the only difference between the performances was with the singers, and they all seemed to be putting their all into it. My only criticism would be the gaps between the songs. Too long. I was shouting "Get on with it!" in nearly all the breaks (Much to the consternation of my fellow motorists...).

Now that is truly ironic...

There are some naff live albums but personally I usually prefer live albums to studio recordings so, yeah, I'd buy it.

I've just been reading about the Proms NS gig, and I'm remembering a pre-lockdown discussion I had with someone I assume was an agent. He told me I should form a Northern Soul group. There was only one NS group within miles he said, and he thought I could clean-up. Me, I wasn't so sure. I love live music, but NS it seemed to me was all about rare songs played on original vinyl, and while a group could certainly outperform vinyl on the rare-songs front, I had serious doubts about the viability of the project. Who goes to listen to live Northern Soul? Then along came Covid and during the endless hours of lockdown I got quite into the project, wrote a few arrangements, dug out a few non-NS songs that actually had a NS structure that I could rearrange, and looked up some really basic stuff on the internet that could have been NS if it had ever been properly recorded. I put about a dozen of these arrangements into Notion and then spent hours (Literally) trying to get them to sound like real human beings, just to get the idea... Then I had a break in. They obviously knew what they were there for, they took my computer and my backup (And my mum's old mobile which happened to be on charge). I spent the next couple of weeks depressed as a concertina and by the time I'd perked up the idea of going through all that hard work again didn't appeal to me one little bit... Do people go out to see live NS bands or groups? Should I have gone for it? Could that have been me performing at the Proms? Someone put me out of my misery. Please.

It's almost pot luck whether you're going to get stuck with VAT. Everything VATable should be charged, but they don't have the manpower at C&E so I've had quite a few cheapish singles and CDs sneak through, so far no LPs have made it unscathed though. It's best to allow for VAT and import duty and then it's a nice surprise when you get a free ride.

Curtis Mayfield, Little Richard, and Dusty Springfield NOT concentrating on her US outings. Her 50s beginnings, the swinging 60s, and her comeback in the late 80s deserve just as much, if not more, attention.

I had that album and it didn't have any give-away. Now I feel cheated...

Looking at that WEBB chart I can't help thinking, sometimes those university boffins with too much computing power and time on their hands get it right. They declared, after accumulating mountains of research, that 1966 was the year in which pop music reached its peak, after which it began a slow decline. I'm not saying there's no good music about today, but it's undeniable that there isn't nearly as much of it. Oh, I nearly forgot... Do we know who 'The Fabulous Feminine Society. were?

Why does this make me think of The Banana Splits?

Just thinkin'. I remember when it was 'Record Shop Day'...

I was right on with this until the oven appeared. No way is my vinyl going in the oven! I did once warp a record by putting it on the window ledge for a moment and forgetting it. I shoved it between two pieces of cardboard and shoved that into the middle of my collection. That was about 30 years ago, I've just checked it. It's verging on playable, I may yet get to hear it again before Covid-19 gets me.

I knock the 's' off and get a lecture from my browser. I guess I'll try getting in via Tor.