Candiman

I love You Better Stop It, and Don't Ever Go Away. Wonderful arrangements. I did a deep dive into some old mailing lists earlier this year. On one of Rudzy's early lists in 1976 he had at least one demo copy listed- only as Happy Girl (the B side) - for 35p (That's £3.16 in today's money). I didn't buy it a) because I didn't know it then and b) because my funds wouldn't stretch to buying multiple blinds. Although I did buy Kool Blues blind off the same list - it was nestling just six rows below Happy Girl/You Better Stop It. If I knew then and all that. By around 2009 I remember looking for a copy but would I think have been lucky to pick one up for about £100 (£168 in today's money). Now it would appear you would be lucky to pick one up for less than £300. I realise in 1976 there were still plenty of plums to be found. Also, I guess it was not fast enough to be in demand in the 70s. So I'm interested to know when You Better Stop It became an in demand record?

Syl Johnson's "I Hear The Love Chimes" in a Hammersmith pub at the weekend. Made me interrupt the conversation with my wife to say "Wow!". The playlist was soul and funk slanted but nothing really similar (I remember AWB, Raphael Saadiq, Gap Band). Love Chimes did make it to a 45 B side but I think of it as an album track (from one of his great early-mid 70s Hi albums) so pretty obscure. I find music in public places - pubs, supermarkets, chazzas etc - a lot more interesting nowadays with a lot of more obscure stuff getting an airing. Probably it's the Spotify effect and some more enlightened managers allowing their staff to choose a playlist. My favourite local chazza chain is St. Peter's Hospice, I always hear some great jazz and soul in their shops. Whoever schedules their "station" has really good taste. Just a shame my hit rate in their vinyl bins has fallen off a cliff lately!

Perhaps they're trying a bit too slavishly to copy the latter day Wigan Casino model.

Indeed. Get me started on Candi and I can't stop. This sounds so much more alive than the released "Sweet Feeling". It's almost like you are in the studio with her and the band.

Lyrics bear some similarity to Simon Dupree and the Big Sound "Castle In The Sky" 1968, also recorded by Blonde On Blonde as "Castles In The Sky" in 1970. But it's neither of those. As the lyrics are so close in places I'm betting it's not called "Castle In The Sky".

This is one I can never play just once when I pull it out of the boxes, and I wish it would go on a bit longer (not the only reason it gets multiple plays though, it's just sublime). Did BKE ever make just an average record? Brothers Of Soul - I'd Be Grateful (aagghh, why do I seem to lost the ability to embed a youtube link properly!)

Yes, definite shades of Chat GPT in the intro. Just out of interest I put "summary of Northern Soul" or something like that into Chat GPT recently just out of curiosity and some of the text rings a lot of bells with that. Overall not a terrible article for the layman though, if there are any laymen around now as the NS scene has been done to death now in mainstream media hasn't it? Being a huge fan of Candi Staton the multiple "Stanton" references really grate. How did that happen?! For the layman you can't really fail in listing 10 "overlooked" classics of the scene, but the choice of Lydia Pense over Barbara Lynn was really weird in itself.

https://dogpatch.libsyn.com/surek Just listened to John Kirby & Dante Carfagna’s latest Dogpatch podcast – the subject matter being Greg Surek’s record collection which, following his passing last year, has been acquired and is now being sold off. It is both a beautiful (for the music), and fascinating (for the insights) listen. I’ll be honest I had not heard of Greg Surek, and I notice he has only two hits when you do a search on this site. But listening to Dogpatch’s homage it is clear that, at least to those that knew him, he was up there as one of the gurus of Rare Soul. Interested to know if anybody on here (apart from Matt Weingarden, who Dante namechecks) was invited to the sale? PS: Matt Weingarden – surely another of the top gurus of Rare Soul, he’s been doing his stuff at Downtown Soulville for over 30 years now.

Yes, I think it was Robbie Vincent who turned me on to Terry Callier. I certainly bought Fire On Ice when it was released in 1978. Unfortunately never saw him live. Straddled Soul and Folk. His early 70s albums are beautiful.

Gorblimey indeed.

Would be interested to know - did this have a date written on the label 2/15/67 ? That copy was part of the big find at the estate sale of 60s Gospel/Christian DJ in the DC area back last Autumn. It sold for $1000 on ebay in July. Nice profit if it was.

Started warching series 1 last night. It's got me hooked. Builds the atmosphere and great acting I think.

Prisca has a photo of a book page, or liner notes possibly?*, on her Facebook account that describes the recording of her first single in some depth. In the narrative it states Prisca was 18 at the time of recording. It also states that Dennis Gilmore (of The Precisions) was Prisca’s older brother. So now I’m confused: was Prisca’s maiden name Page or Gilmore? It would have to have been Gilmore if Dennis is her brother. At the bottom of the photographed page there is some text that cannot be read as it is covered by emojis but it is possible it says that Page was just a made up recording name? *Kent’s “Birth Of Soul (Special Detroit Edition 1961-64)” maybe??

Here is just about the most recent home page I could find https://web.archive.org/web/20230929100641/http://cosimocode.com/ and when clicking links it seems to show the most recent capture of each page, which is cool!

Yes, thanks! Just found Wayback Machine myself! Will it be there forever I wonder!?