Neil Rushton

"24 Hours Of Day" - LJ Johnson is on AVI Promo 12".. The instrumetnal of "Come Go With Me" is better than the inst of "Tainted Love". AVI got paid a nice royalty from me for the sales we did of "Tainted Love" on Inferno 12" and 45 after the Soft Cell hit. Neil

No.... they go to a gentleman in Detroit! Neil

Check out postings on "All About Thre Soul Section" - Unreleased Sidra ... soundclip for both sides on there. Neil

GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE/A DREAM PEARL JONES Unreleased Sidra 45 - neither side never before released on vinyl - storming Detroit 60's dancer on A side, flip great version of the crossover gem. Issued on revived Joe Boy/Inferno label. Stock copy black vinyl - £10 Limited run WDJ red vinyl - £20 Postage and packing free UK. Overseas - £3 Ist single, £1 per additional single. Stock ready in about 2 weeks time. Orders sent out as soon as records arrive., Pay Pal - bitsnpieces@btinternet.com Thanks, Neil

The Joe Boy and Inferno labels are being revived to jointly issue an EP and CD album by The Precisions to tie up with their appearance at Prestatyn. The album tracks the complete Drew label single releases incluidng the withdrawn "Sugar Ain't Sw... Tap to view this Soul Source News/Article in full

Stock copy - black vinyl - £10 WDJ - red vinyl limited edition - £20 Postage and packing free. Available in approx 2 weeks. Copies will be shipped out as soon as they arrive. Pay Pal - bitsnpieces@btinternet.com If you want to pay by cheque please PM me for details. Thanks, Neil

Copies available at end of next week. £10 each for CD and EP. Postage and packing free. Pay Pal - bitsnpieces@btinternet.com PM me if you want to pay by cheque. Thanks, Neil

I've checked and it's nothing to do with Danny Leake , it's a Paul Wilson production done before he worked with Ian. Neil

I've got that acetate, got it in thre 70's. and hung on to it, got it from Ian but it's not his producion is it, think it is Danny Leake production?.

Will try and sort tomorrow. Neil

What has "My Head's In The Stars" got to do with computerised music?. It's got the live instruments - played by top session players (ie humans) - from the seventies master tape from the sound of it? And you're not saying "24 Hours A Day" by Barbara Pennington or LJ Johnson are computerised are you? There's a massive strings section on them both - played by human beings, arranged by human beings. I thought "Standing On Solid Ground" was spoilt by the backing track and could have done, as you say, with some live players. But when you look at for instance "Baby I'm Still The Same Man" - James Wells, there's virtually a whole orchestra on that and it's got nothing to do with computers. Danny Leake and Paul Wilson, who Ian worked with in the seventies on lots of stuff, were brilliant arrangers of music played live, they were competing with the likes of Vince Montana at Salsoul so they had to be. All the Best, Neil

GIVE ME ANOTEHR CHANCE - PEARL JONES Magical uptempo Detroit 60's Soul ...never before on vinyl - and a great crossover flip side. Single coming out on revived Joe Boy/Inferno label in March. If you want to reserve a copy just send me a PM. Stock copy black vinyl. Limited issue WDJ demo red vinyl.

Yes, and it was (and still is) a gem. Neil

At the risk of starting World War 3 can I just say that having heard Ian Levine's remake of Evelyn Thomas "My Heads In The Stars" it's pretty damn good. The new version is by Gee Morris who was in Innocence. I am always confused as to why the Evelyn Thomas original is never mentioned when people talk about classics from the Manchester Ritz All-Dayers. "My Head's In The Stars" was one of those 70's floaters that mixed in great next to Billy Woods, Herb Ward Jimmy Burns, Idle Few, Bobby Hutton etc on Sunday afternons at The Ritz. LJ Johnson's version of "24 Hours A Day" is another one that seems to have been overlooked. I played at that Ritz revival all-dayer-nighter 5 or so years ago and was surprised how many people came up to ask which version it was. It definitely got its fair share of plays on AVI 12" at the All-dayers. .

Here's some of the artwork for the album. All the Best, Neil

Precisions vinyl EP and CD album are £10 each. If anyone wants to reserve copies to collect from me at Prestatyn can they please PM me? If you are not going to Prestatyn and want copies mail order, again PM me. Thanks a lot, Neil

Have just been told that John Smith from the UK has gone on to the Soulful Detroit site and claimed that our Precisions album is not a legitimate release. He is talking utter nonsense. Our release (which has been 6 months in the making) is licenced from the UK agent for Jet Eye Music from Detroit. Jet Eye is the owner of the Sidra/Drew masters and is owned by Johnny Powers, who was one of the original founders of Sidra. To be clear we have a licensing contract which gives us the right to release the new album and new Precisions EP in return for paying an advance against royalties. We also pay publishing royalties for the use of the songs. The Precisions and I believe Jerry Williams are putting out their own Precisions album which includes some (but not all) of the Drew masters, plus Precisions material from D-Town and Atlantic.To be clear,Jet Eye Music are 100% the owners of the Drew masters and the only deal they have done is with us. Our album includes a foreword by George McGregor, the famed Detroit songwriter, producer and musican, and he has helped us out with all kinds of information for this release. George was A&R man for Sidra/Drew, oversaw The Precisions career at the label and was involved in writing and producing some of their Drew masters (eg "Why Girl") He has seen our atwork and said he is thrilled by the way we have gone about things. Our sleevenotes could not be more respectful towards The Precisions and it is a real pity this situation has blown up. We also released a Precisions EP 2 years ago to tie in with their first appearance at Prestatyn and got in touch with the group - via Jet Eye Music - and they said they were happy to sign copies of the record at Prestatyn and they did so.I paid them for copies that were sold why they were signing autographs after their marvellous show and they confirmed that they were aware that Jet Eye had done the deal for the EP with us, and that they were happy with the release and that they understood a mistake crediting a Lou Ragland track (owned by Drew) to The Precisions was due to an innocent mix up in communications from Detroit to the UK. We have corrected that mistake on the new album. I understand the group are saying they own the songs and have not given permission for the tracks to be released. Not many of the song are written by the group and the ownership of the masters is a completely different copyright situation than the owner of compositions.Jet Eye Music's publishing arm owns some copyrights on the compositions anyway. Dave Rimmer has been on the Soulful Detroit site and defended Glenn Gunton and myself and we thank him for that. The last thing we want to do is crfiticise The Precisions or do something they find offensive, but we have acted 100% properly and with respect to one of our favourite artists. The Northern scene is so full of back biting that Glenn and myself thought it best to post this so anyone hearing rumours can hear direct from us what has really gone on. Neil Rushton

Yes, we will get it distributed wherever we can and will also be able to supply mail order via Pay Pal. I will get those details up tomorrow. Glenn Gunton has done a fantastic job with the graphics and getting Geroge McGregor to come up the foreword has worked really well....the man is a legend, as well as being a producer ad writer he was of the leading Detroit drummers in the 60's...it's him druming on "Agent O0 Soul" - Edwin Starr and he remembers it took him over 40 takes! He played on all Ollie McLaughlin labels sessions at Terri Shirma,and is co-writer and producer on one of the best records ever made - "Hit & Run" - Rose Battiste. He is behind "Happiness Is Here" - Tobi Lark and the other version by Barbara Mercer who he is married to. Cheers, Neil

The Joe Boy and Inferno labels are being revived to jointly issue an EP and CD album by The Precisions to tie up with their appearance at Prestatyn. The album tracks the complete Drew label single releases incluidng the withdrawn "Sugar Ain't Sweet". 1 - Such Misery 2 - A Lover's Plea 3 - Sugar Ain't Sweet 4 - Why Girl 5 - What I Want 6 - If This is Love (I'd Rather Be Lonely) 7 - You'll Soon be Gone 8 - Instant Heartbreak (Just Add Tears) 9 - Dream Girl 10 - A Place 11 - Never Let Go plus bonus tracks 12 - I Do, Don't You 13 - Such Misery (unreleased Ist version, featuring Paul Merritt) 14 - Send Me A Sign - Roger Fluker 15 - Baby You're Mine - Lou Ragland George McGregor (Rose Battiste,Terri Bryant, Barbara Mercer, Timmy Willis etc) was A&R director at Sidra/Drew. He has written a foreword to the album in which he says The Precisions on stage dance routnes were so amazing they put everyone else, including The Temptations, in the shade. He says that if the group had been on Motown they would have been major stars. Turns out that George recorded "Mr Soul Satisfaction" - Timmy Willis at his own cost. He did it at Muscle Shoals to get the Southern Soul horns sound and then took the master to Sidra and did a deal with them for it. They subsequently licenced it on to Veep and the success of this meant George got the job as A&R director. He knew The Precisions from when they were on D-Town and he joined Sidra after "Such Miisery" had been released. He decided to base the sound of the group around Billy Prince as lead vocalist and co-wrote "Why Girl" to capture the sound he envisaged. At the time copies of "Sugar Ain't Sweet" c/w "What I Want" had been pressed as promos to be the second Drew single but were off centre. Rather than remaster them George took the chance to get rid of "Sugar Ain't Sweet" which had been put together by Dale Warren as the A side of the single and replace it with "Why Girl". I imagine any spare copies of "Sugar Ain't Sweet" were junked and this is why it is so rare. George was partners with Mike Terry at the time and got him in to arrange the recordings, most of which were done at Terra Shirma except for "If This Is Love" which was laid down at United Sound. He has revealed that the female intro to "A Place" was done by Sandra Neal, who was a secretary at Sidra, because no female vocalists were around at the time! The bonus tracks are recordings that never got released by Drew. "I Do, Don't You" was a massive tune at the Trentham Gardens al-nighters and has been the cause of speculation as to whether it is The Precisions or not. George still has the master tape and says it definitely is the group, he wrote the song and produced the track, with Mike Terry doing the arranging. Track 13 is the first version recorded of "Such Misery" and was tried using Paul Merritt on lead vocals. He left the group shortly afterwards and his version was not used for the first Drew 45.This version wes previously released on a Joe Boy single credited to Timmy Willis due to duff info. "Send Me A Sign" was thought to be The Precisions in the past but is in fact the group's choreographer Roger Fluker. His dance routine inventions were so important to The Precisions that Drew let him make a record! "Baby You're Mine" is another Drew recording credited to The Precisions in the past. It is in fact Lou Ragland. There is also an EP coming out Why Girl Instant Heartbreak I Do, Don't You Such Misery (Paul Merritt version) Both the EP and album will be on sale at Prestatyn. Any record dealers interested in buying stock at Prestatyn should PM me. All the Best, Neil

Yes it was Stuart Henry.I winced when he dropped the Darrell Banks demo and wondered if he was pissed...it turned out he had multiple sclerosis. Sad, he was a nice guy. I recorded I think maybe 4 or 5 shows, and they were all done in the same Friday afternoon in London but then got broadcast with a week's gap between them on a Friday night, with the station pretending they were going out live from the "the grand duchy". The first one was broadcast same night as Wigan Casino Oldies night and I had people coming up to me saying they had heard it in the queue and what was Luxembourg like as a place to go to! I should have been so lucky. The tape you have got sounds like all 70's, I would have been plugging The Ritz (!) and I think I played different genres each show.If you can find that tape and copy it for me I would be very grateful. And if anyone else has got any of the other shows the same applies. Thanks, Neil

Too many to mention - but - interviewing The Tammps in my first week and getting really fed up when they denied any connection with The Volcanos, same thing a few months later with Candi Stanton when she denied recording "Now You've Got The Upper Hand", amazing face to face interview with Lee Garrett when he was signed to Chrysalis but remembered all about Harthon and doing background vocals on "Shing A Ling", interviewing James Fountain by phone and feeling uncomfortable that he was so broke when "Seven Day Lover" at the time was the biggest priced rare Soul 45 (and no, he didn't have a copy), spending time on a coach with Junior Walker and all he wanted to do was talk about how much he loved Buses, interviewing Hal Davis in NYC about 2Ist Century "Tailgate" amd not knowing he had co-produced "Do I Love You" which was pressed as Eddie Foster at the time, going to the New York Disco Convention and hearing world wide premiers that night for "I Feel Love" - Donna Summer and "Dance Dance Dance" - Chic, getting white label upfront promos of Brothers Johnson and Bootsy Collins albums, doing a phone interview with Maurice White of Earth Wind & Fire/Kalimba and feeling honoured, Millie Jackson getting X rated on a phone interview, the piece about Cleethorpes Pier which I thought was good, and lots lots more memories,including meeting Reggae producers in the office one week and the next they were on remand in Brixton Prison charged with murder, going on radio and being told it was wrong I was staff wrtier for Black Echoes and was white, doing Northern Soul shows for Radio Luxembourg with Stuart ?as the presenter and wincing when he dropped my London demo of Darrell Banks on the floor of the studio, meeting Van McCoy...... All the Best, Neil 4e All the Best, Neil

Black Echoes first issue cover date was January 30, 1976. I was first staff writer for the paper and that date was my birthday so I remember it will. Pete Harvey the editor know nothing about Northern Soul until he took the job but I soon got him converted and he was up for giving it maximum coverage and in return for him taking me along to all the record company "ligs" in London where I lived in the week I took him to a Cleethorpes Pier all-nighter and Manchester Ritz all-dayer.Pete was a lovely guy who sadly died in the 80's, much too young. Neil

Details of the Newquay Soul Weekender from April 3 to 6 have been announced today. This time around the music stays at the popular Griffin Hotel and value-for-money accomodation packages have been arranged at the nearby Cliffdene Hotel. For details of the friendly weekender go to ; - www.soulvation.biz Thanks, Neil

We are collectting that kind of info at the moment for a Sidra and assoicated labels compilation, but session would have been put together by Dale Warren who had a lot to do with Sidra at stage and actually signed The Precisions to Drew.Have found out that one of the owners of Sidra was father of Ronnie & Robyn! And interestingly, Timmy Wiillis "Mr Soul Satisfaction" was recorded by George McGregor at Muscle Shoals, that's where he got the sound of those Otis Redding style horns.