Sweeney

Why is this record so highly regarded? Is it a "Mod" sound? They sound white to me. With regard to finding records - surely now as a result of THE AUCTION the records to a certain extent find him - many people have admitted to sending him stuff to auction - causing quite a backlog of desirable records waiting their place in the sun. Makes you wonder - when a particular record comes up for auction how many further copies are waiting for the underbidders? Or perhaps I'm being overly cynical. Those with the money obviously get what they want - this is life, not just record collecting. But it just takes the fun out of it. Ferreting about either on the internet or in shops is part and parcel of the whole experience as far as I'm concerned. Re. Manship & condition. In my experience: Mint - Fine, Mint Minus - OK(ish), Anything else: Caveat Emptor.

Are you aware of George Lemons' version of "It's An Uphill Climb To The Bottom"? Guaranteed to make you weep. But not in a good way! Genuinely one of the very worst recordings I've ever heard, but Fascinating Girl runs it a very close second.

It seems every Manship auction end we get this type of post. Perhaps it's time to move on. Yes, I agree that the closing bids are ludicrous, but that's the Rare Soul scene for you. People like to spend more money on records than they're worth - it's what the scene has mostly been about, really. Why buy a record cheaply when you can pay through the nose for it and impress your mates! Are these auction records REALLY worth what people are paying for them? No. Are they even worth what the average Rare Soul fan is willing to pay for them? Probably not. Everyone seems to be happy enough about these auctions - from the idiots paying top dollar for records that are (relatively) easy to get elsewhere to Manship and the people who send the stuff in for him to auction. Even down to Soul Sourcers moaning about them! Fair play to Mr Manship: he's always been very reasonable with regard to trades etc. If there's ever been a record that I've really wanted, he either has it, or knows where one can be had. Bear in mind that as a business he has to pay wages, VAT, etc. so can't really compete on price with the 50 count box man selling some spares at a do. Do what I do - don't bid and find them elsewhere for a lot less.

I concur - everything they did had a fantastic level of QUALITY that few acts could match. My personal favourite is Please Take Me Back on Bell (t'other side of How Big Is Big). As a vocalist Lee Jones had few equals, possibly only Marvin Junior of The Dells.

Wasn't it the Lilian Dupree version on D-Town?

An interesting thread. On one hand I'm slightly amused at the high prices that items sell for on Manship's auctions, but if I was using Manship to sell a big ticket item I'd be delighted to get the sort of prices you see realised, but that's market forces for you I suppose. I personally believe that people on the Northern scene are only too happy to pay ridiculous prices for records - it's not the "average joe" responsible for the elevation of relatively easy records like Brown Sugar, Ace Spectrum, The Futures etc. it's people on the scene. "Outsiders" don't need to hype up record prices. There's a real kudos attached to the "rare" record. People think it's big or clever to pay big money for 45s on the Northern Soul scene. People love to go and hear DJs with expensive records. Most of those DJs for one reason or another can afford to pay thousands for records, very few people are actually innovating, searching for, and/or popularising records, (Butch comes to mind as one of those people). This fact - allied with the advancing average age and burgeoning virtual scene are going to be eventually responsible for the death of the scene. How many of the people coming into the scene in their twenties or so can afford to compete in financial terms when anything decent costs an arm and a leg? How many of the so-called super-rarities would even be played if they were a tenner? few, probably, but people kid themselves that they're worth the money, a sort of vinyl emperor's new clothes, if you like. Do the esteemed members of this forum remember the "scandal" of the Four Vandals? How many "Superstar DJs" were happy to pay big money to own this "amazing rarity"? How many punters convinced themselves that they remembered it from The Mecca? How many cloth-eared fools couldn't tell it was a poorly executed fake? I laughed like a drain when I first saw a label scan - it was so obviously not a real record. Laughed even harder when I heard the record folk were creaming themselves over - let's not forget it used to fill dancefloors! As for a "Law" to stop non-soul people spending ridiculous money on records - please! get a grip! If people want to spend hundreds or even thousands on average records I paid a couple of quid for, I - and I guess most people on this board would only be too delighted to sell. An example - one of my own personal holy grails was a copy of Billy Hambric - This is My Prayer on Fury. A deep soul masterpiece. My brother bought one many moons ago, and I've been after it since. Many years of searching didn't manage to bring one out of the woodwork. Didn't see one until last week, when I bought it for the princely sum of a tenner. I've seen more copies of the Del-Larks, Tolbert, Utopias (THIS is played as a Northern record for christ sakes!) for sale than that record. Go figure. Let's concentrate on quality rather than rarity, people.

Covers 33 (link above) are very reasonable

The earliest Aretha Franklin recording I've heard is from 1956 - she was 14. I find it hard to believe that a pop puppet like Joss Stone could give anything like as electrifying a performance as Aretha Franklin gives on "There is A Fountain Filled With Blood" or "Yield Not To Temptation". In fact I could put the cat amongst the pigeons and suggest that nothing Ms Franklin did in the popular music field was ever as mind-blowingly amazing as her live gospel recordings from the New Bethel Baptist Church, Detroit in 1956. I wouldn't really categorize Joss Stone as a white soul performer, more a soul tinged pop act. Yes, she has a good voice, but even better management who've had the nous to market her well and gain credibility by choosing the right artists to collaborate with. It's firmly in the "Nice-ish" pigeonhole, not the "So Soulful It Hurts" one.

going back to the early 80s and the excellent Blackbeat magazine - I remember an article by Tim Ashibende about the Velvet Satins and the variations in label designs - issues/demos, west coast/east coast, even a Canadian I believe. I think (and I'm not entirely sure) that he had uncovered something like 17 different label versions.

I think even Bobby Womack would find those a tad outlandish

Where do you start? I've had absolutely no problems buying stuff in over 5 years using Ebay. It were all fields back in them days. Even in the good old days of sending envelopes full of cash around the world in the vain hope that you might actually get something in return, it always worked as advertised. Recently, however I've started to try and reduce the huge quantity of country / rock 'n' roll / pop etc. that we all have lurking in our attics bought under the mistaken belief that they were rare soul monsters in the offing. Ebay seemed like they ideal way of doing this. My experiences of selling stuff have not only put me off Ebay, but have left me in grave doubts about the future of the human race. The amount of time wasters, piss takers and general morons you encounter when you list stuff for sale just beggars belief. Idiots that don't take the time to read auctions properly and have no concept of record grading. I recently sold a couple of records to a guy that sent them back complaining they weren't mint when they were clearly graded VG+ in the auction! Attempts to get him to reveal which grading system they use on HIS planet fell on deaf ears - maybe his careworker had limited his access to the internet. The sad thing is the feedback system means that there's little point in doing anything other than giving him a refund and trying to sell them to a sensible person. I'd be loathe to lose a perfect feedback rating because of one twat who doesn't understand the concept of an auction. Inane questions about the stuff you're selling - someone giving me a hard time about why I don't sell to the US when it states "Ships to: Worldwide" in the description. Anyone who makes a living out of spending the working day having to deal with the flotsam and jetsam that use Ebay as an entertainment channel rather than a place to buy and sell stuff has my respect! On the records described as Northern Soul on Ebay front - best one I ever saw was: Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street I must have missed the venue where that was big then!

Soho is a goodish bet - close to Regent Street - the Berwick Street / Broadwick Street part is pretty good for the number of shops in a small geographic area - Reckless has a good range of rarities in one of their shops - more run of the mill in the other. Mr CD is good for cheap CDs. Sounds of The Universe is especially good for funk / jazz & soul - and new stuff. Maybe not too many real bargains, but quite a good range of stuff. Hanway Street used to be good - but I think there's only one real shop of interest called JBs I think - It's off Oxford Street. Happy hunting

A fascinating thread My three enders would be: Charades - Never Set Me Free (MGM) Walter Jackson - It's An Uphill Climb To The Bottom (Okeh) I Need You Baby - Arthur Alexander (Monument) Not necessarily in that order though.

What about Lou Rawls - Dead End Street (Capitol)? I think the spoken intro is actually the best bit!

Tobi Lark - Challenge My Love/Sweep It Out in the Shed (Topper)

Another Northern Legend - I believe that Blowing Out The Candles has been played in some circles as a Northern record- what next!

More George Jackson sounds... no particular order Knight Brothers - Tried So Hard To Please Her (Mercury) Jackey Beavers Show - We're Not Too Young To Fall in Love (Mainstream) Walter Jackson - It's An Uphill Climb To The Bottom (Okeh) Connie Laverne - Can't Live Without You (GSF) Garland Green - You Played on a Player (UNI LP) Oneness of Juju - River Luvrite (Black Fire LP) Blue Notes - This Time Will Be Different (UNI) Skip Jackson & The Shantons - Promise That You'll Wait (Dot-Mar) Jackie Beavers - Lover Come Back (SS7) Gas & The Funk Factory - The Goodnight Song (Brunswick) Bobby Bland - Blind Man (Duke) The Exits - Under The Street Lamp (Gemini) Linda Jones - I Just Can't Live My Life (Warner Bros) Dorothy Morrison - I Can't Go Without You (Brown Door) Tommy Turner - I'll Be Gone (ElBam) Lenny Welch - The Right to Cry (Kapp) Charades - Never Set Me Free (MGM)

What about The Casanova Two (Freddie Hughes & Lonnie Hewitt)? We Got To Keep On is great - (as is Freddie's solo version on the Wand LP)

More: The Masqueraders Please Take Me Back (Bell) The Blue Notes This Time Will Be Different (UNI) Gas & The Funk Factory The Goodnight Song (Brunswick) The Unifics Tables Turned (Kapp) Tommy Turner I'll Be Gone (ElBam!) Skip Jackson & The Shantons Promise That You'll Wait (Dot-Mar) (far superior to the other side IMHO)

May I recommend the Knight Brothers 'Tried So Hard To Please Her' on Mercury - truly sublime.

I Need You Baby - Arthur Alexander Always Together - The Dells

Billy Jones on Poker - Ebay Auction Anyone know this? Is it as rare as claimed? Worth selling a kidney for? Worth the 3.5K starting price? Seller claims it has "Cover Up potential" Not if it's up on Ebay it doesn't!!