John Benson

Sad news, I first came to know him during the back end of 1973 when I was going to some of the soul nights he was involved in around the Doncaster area along with his mate Paul Curzon. I bumped into him quite a bit over the years, including when he had the record shops in Rotherham and Donny. The last time I saw him was again in Doncaster, probably last summer. RIP Bill and condolences to his family & friends...

Well, either Richard got it wrong, or you misheard him. Yes, he is the current lead singer with Odyssey, but he wasn't ever in We The People. Steven (as far as I can tell) was only in his teens when he joined his mother Lillian Lopez in the group Odyssey in 1979 and at that time he wasn't on stage singing.

Sorry, you've got the wrong guy, Steven wasn't with We The People, it was Billy McEachern who joined Odyssey https://www.discogs.com/artist/1061156-Billy-McEachern

Here's a few more Rick, can't speak for all of them, but the one I heard wasn't anything special: John Rowles - I was a boy (CBS Australia & NZ, Philips Australia) 1970 Michael Allen - I Was A Boy When You Needed A Man (USA 1970) Marakis - Mais Pou Qui, Mais Pourquoi = I Was A Boy When You Needed A Man (CBS France 1970)

Speaking of getting mileage out of a song, she recorded "Your love was good for me" quite a few times, from the Federal release through about 3 King releases - this is one of them: King 6202

Sad news indeed, It was only a few weeks ago when I was told that he was ill and now in end of life care. I only knew him to speak to a few short years, but did communicate with him online from time to time. RIP and thoughts going out to Helen and the family.

Mine came from Tandy in Doncaster about 1975 - 76 when they were importing lots of cut out LPs from the states. I won't mention the price as it was much less than a pound... As Chalky says, from the photos, it certainly looks like a 'proper' copy!

Mine says May 2006, making it only 16 and a half ish years, but before that I was on Rare Soul Forum, was that also Soul Talk? Before that was Greg Tormo's email based list on Topica and Majordomo, around the mid 90's onwards which contained many people whom I'm still in touch with today. Doesn't time fly!

I seem to recall Paul Capon bought copies of the Black & Blue 45, including a number of white test pressings from Duke Hall in the 90s. Maybe he can elaborate on this?

I think that a lot of these alternate / slightly different takes sometimes come about by pure accident. The UK label requests the tapes for a particular track and someone in the US record label tape store just pulls out a tape with the song title on, probably not aware that it's a different take. Some of these differences took years to become 'known' by the collectors over here (or anywhere else). Pre internet, things like this were mostly word of mouth and not always common knowledge. Another to add to this is the UK London release of Chubby Checker's "You just don't know" I've never heard it mentioned that that release is sightly different from the Cameo Parkway release. The drumming on the London release is way more up front in the mix, almost dominating the recording. Whether it's a mastering thing or a different take, I'm not sure, but it's definitely different.

Maybe just a coincidence, but in early 1974 I bought a Duke Browner from Keith, it wasn't all that long after those dark red bootlegs appeared, so I assumed he was just getting rid of his copy (as they did in those days). I wonder if that was the same copy Pep sold him? If so, I still have it after all those years!

Hi Ian, no it didn't really, but I just dropped on it rather than actually searching for it! But on saying that, since then I haven't been taking notice how often it turns up.

I agree with the theory that it's unlikely that someone went to the trouble to create a fake B side and use those writer credits too. But it would be even better if someone could come up with the record - better still if we can get to hear it!

Yes, I spotted the comment that Ray made after reading that thread again earlier today. Only I didn't connect her name with the one on the label as we were thinking it was a man's name! So, are we to assume Michelle White used the name Bill? It's not likely to be her middle name now is it

Yep, as I suggested, it was already thought of then! What do I know... I also contributed to that thread as well, over 5 years back

Probably already thought of, but is anyone in contact with Ray Dahrouge? Maybe that would shed some light on the flip side, if one really exists at all

Yes Stevie, we have discussed this since then, it would appear that I was wrong. When I went to look for it in my collection, it turned out to be the USA copy! Up to now there's only 3 people on Discogs showing they have a copy - you and I are two of them!

Just spotted this after not long since adding the Bell Sound promo to Discogs. My copy, which I bought in the early to mid 80s also plays the wrong sides but confusingly, as Pep says, the matrix numbers match the labels. Which to my mind also suggests a mastering mistake, not just the labels being on the wrong sides (As some people tend to say) I've just added a note to the Discogs entry to try and explain this - it's not easy! Anyway, more to the point, I got wondering, as not all the promo copies are 'reversed' - do any issue copies exist like this, or was it discovered at the promo stage and corrected for releases? Mr Manship's latest guide has lots of the variants listed, but I couldn't see this one mentioned...

Here you go, the review itself plus part of the page with it on to give it some context.

Indeed!

I'm sure lots of you will be aware that this was and still is around on quite a few 12" singles - still sounds good though!

I've come across a few random USA singles with a solid centre (not those from other countries). But I just assumed they missed the dinking press for whatever reason. Maybe for quality control inspection purposes, I never really found out for sure. They don't have any promo markings as you might expect if they were intended for DJs, radio or clubs. But it's an interesting subject for the anorak types among us!

J McHugh is actually Jimmy McHugh - going by the stamp on this label. What makes you think the name is Janice?

Before he got working there, Ray and a few others used to go up Sheffield on a Saturday night and me and some mates used to meet up with him. I bet I haven't seen or heard of him since the late 70's.