Ian Dewhirst

And the bugger had a go at me for wearing oxford bags in '76! Leather trousers in 2009???? That's the last time I take fashion tips from that guy! Ian D

Can't make it out Nik. All of the albums are in HMV's best-sellers so go figure! https://hmv.com/hmvweb/navigate.do?ctx=-1;1;59;-1;5&pGroupID=1&pSubGroupID=5&pGenreID=59&pTertiaryID=17 How these guys work these days is kinda beyond me though......plus there's lots of strange stuff going on so who knows what the score is? Thanks for the detective work though Nik. Ian D

I always dealt with him with a wry smile. It was really the only way to deal with him. Having said that, he taught me a lot in terms of watching the way he dealt with people much of the time. At least I learned what to avoid in the future to a certain extent. I actually checked him out in the early 90's when I went to L.A. again and he was certainly down on his luck then and I thought to myself (with a wry smile) "what goes around comes around". Ian D

I don't see why not. Don Cornelius made out like a gangbuster on "Uptown Festival". If anything it should be the other way around 'cos shortly after Shalamar sold a million Soultrain closed down and re-christened itself as Solar. Soussan wouldn't have wanted to fall out with Don Cornelius since Don was powerful in the business and Simon still had new records to promote but now on his own label (Harem), so whatever business differences they may have had would probably have been buried. Actually Simon introduced me to Don in a club called the Candy Box on my very first night in L.A. in '76, so they went to the same clubs. I was wearing oxford bags at the time so the main conversation was about my trousers! Ian D

Thanks Dave. I'll check how many stores they scaled 'em to. Bloody typical but it is Boxing Day so maybe some stores need a bit of time to impliment stuff. Who knows? But looks like I'll be on the phone tomorrow LOL.... Ian D

I mean the racks at the front that usually have lots of crap in @ 2 for £10. Their sale was meant to kick off today in all stores. Damn. That means I'll have to submerge from my pit tomorrow and venture out LOL..... If anyone else has been near an HMV today, then please gimme a shout! Ian D

I don't think this was ever booted. Not enough demand anyway and it's not too difficult to find. I found 3 copies last time I was in the U.S. about 5 years ago. In fact, if anyone wants one let me know as my mate ended up with 'em and he's probably still got 'em as he's not on the scene.... Ian D

Ah, this why I'm saying look in the 2 for £10 Sale racks at the front of the store Toad. For some reason HMV don't always rack 'em in the specialist sections (and that's if they even have 'em anymore). I drove myself mad trying to find the first 10 Backbeats in HMV when they came out 'cos HMV were racking 'em in the areas that no Soul fan would look, namely the 2 for £10 sections at the front of store! The only way I could get these into HMV was via the regular HMV sales campaigns (this is due to the low Dealer Price on Backbeats). So they'll be in there but probably not where you'd expect to see 'em ho hum...... Just a small part of a bigger set of problems for CD retailing at the moment so it's not like I can necessarily make an issue about it I'm afraid. I'm kinda happy that they're supporting the series at all to be honest! So next time you're in there, can you check the sales racks mate? All 10 were scaled out to every store, so they should be in there somewhere hopefully. Ian D

Out today! Available from your local HMV's but in the 2 for £10 racks at the front of stores or from all good record stores! Ian D

So being the Xmas break, I'm doing my annual catch-up of everything I missed throughout the year due to a ridiculous workload LOL. So I finally got around to watching the film "Horrible Bosses" (which is brilliant by the way) and halfway through the film a song jumped out and grabbed me by the jugular. It doesn't happen that often. The last time was when I heard a neat tune using the sample of Alicia Myers' "If You Play your Cards Right" in the film "Smokin' Aces" roughly about this time a couple of years back. But this one is a real beauty. A really aggresive uptempo funk workout which lifts from James Brown and Kool Moe Dee and samples Dyke & The Blazer's "Let A Woman Be A Woman And A Man Be A Man". Basically a King Hell B*stard of a record! I've been listening to a lot of Lee Dorsey and New Orleans stuff just lately, so this really hit the spot. Plus it reminded me of the World Column LOL. See whatcha think.... The Heavy - How Do You Like Me Now Ian D

Great article. I didn't realise Bob was tied up with Rick from Dusty Groove so that was interesting (I met Rick when he came to London sometime in the late 90's). It's interesting how different people get into it isn't it? In the North of the UK in the late 60's and early 70's obscure Soul music was relatively easily available in most places. Even the youth clubs were playing decent Motown and Soul, so from a relatively young age we were exposed to it and had plenty of opportunites to dig deeper if we wanted to. Record supplies were abundant and cheap with Bostocks, Global, Soul Bowl, Robinsons etc mass importing U.S. 45 cut-outs which cost the equivalent of 5p-25p each. So really we were spoilt with choice. I did a Saturday job in Bradford in 1971 and brought 40 U.S. records back home every week for £2.00 (my Saturday wage was £2.50 at the time). That was a brilliant way to discover music for me. And cheap. However, in the U.S. I've found many collectors who were self-generating, i.e. not necessarily influenced by a 'scene' but rather by their own curiosity and passion. So they'd tend to have wider collections which took in a lot more influences and their collections would often be better to look through because they'd have all sorts of oddball records. The best stuff I found in L.A. in 1976 came from a 'Garage' (60's local L.A. recordings) collector who looked like Charles Manson and had a similar taste in music. But the stuff he had was incredible. It's good to see that the U.S. has people who care enough about the local scenes. If there was a Bob in every U.S. state, then loads of stuff would be unearthed. Nice one! Ian D

If ever there was a time for a rich Northern Soul loving businessman or woman to make a once in a lifetime investment in a slice of history then it's got to be now surely? The circumstances may never happen again if this is true. It'd be a perfect venue for that Northern Soul cultural museum I've been rattling on about for years. It'd be good for Manchester as well. There'd be plenty of curators to draw from I'm sure. Anyone rich out there? Ian D

Ah, well that explains it better. I don't think any of those made it over here or to anyone connected with the scene otherwise it would have been at the Bobby Treetop/E. Rodney Jones/Bobby Copney/Ronnie Savoy level. Mind you, I guess most rare records were around in some quantity back then if you were in the right places. Shame no one's invented a time machine yet........ Ian D

Brilliant stuff Jason. They look fantastic mate. I wish I could get 'em racked like that everywhere! They should sell well @ Blackpool too! Compliments of the season to Laurence, Malcolm, Alex and Johnny too! Hope you sell a shedload LOL! Ian D

Oh, almost forgot LOL, you can hear 3 tracks off 'Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits' on this week's Original Mastercuts show - links below playlist....... Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst and the Swansong 4 boys, Spit, Spot and Stick between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 18th December 2011 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... 1st Hour Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Satisfaction Guaranteed (Or Take Your Love Back) - Morning Star Re-Edit Jean Carn - If You Wanna Go Back - Morning Star Re-Edit Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Be For Real - Tim McAllister Re-Edit Odyssey - Inside Out - DJ Friction Remix Invisible Man's Band - All Night Thing - Disco Deviance Re-Edit Cee-Lo Green feat Wiz Khalifa - Bright Lights, Bigger City Sade - Hang On To Your Love - Mathew Kyle Re-Edit Rena Scott - Come On Inside - Chris Baron Re-Edit Jocelyn Brown & Soulpersona - In The Middle 2nd Hour Gregory Porter - 1960 What Lee Dorsey - Who's Gonna Help A Brother Skip Mahoney - Janice (Don't Be So Blind To Love) The Spinners - Split Decision Glam Sam & His Combo - The Last Days Of Disco Mandrill - My Kind Of Girl Master Plan - Clinton Park The Staple Singers - Let's Do It Again Collins & Collins - You Know How To Make Me Feel Good McFadden & Whitehead - I've Been Pushed Aside Shirley Jones & Jean Carn - Whatever It Takes - Joey Negro Club Mix Cee-Lo Green - I Want You - Jack Splash Remix Luther Vandross - Merry Christmas https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2011-12-18-Starpoint.mp3 https://www.originalmastercuts.com/OriginalMastercuts-2011-12-18-Starpoint.mp3 Enjoy! Ian D

Phew, sorry for the late posting. Xmas parties and daughter's 18th birthdays always get in the way LOL.... Well a party it certainly was with Champy, Carl Mason (or should that be Carlito LOL), Spit, Spot (Steve Warner & Mark Fenton) and the newly christened Stick (aka Steve) joining me for a killer 2 hour LIVE session - seat of your pants radio and all that. It was a very merry show folks! Plus a full-house in the chatroom too, so major shouts to all the Sunday afternoon regulars and the good peeps from around the world. This year's been a gas. Plus we kicked off with 3 killers from the Upcoming "Philadelphia International: The Re-Edits" project, found some awesome fresh re-edits, some downright brilliant tunes from the last 12 months and some tasty show faves. Playlist and 2 Download links below (we've zapped another one up in case the other is 'streamed-up'). Enjoy! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst and the Swansong 4 boys, Spit, Spot and Stick between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 18th December 2011 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... 1st Hour Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Satisfaction Guaranteed (Or Take Your Love Back) - Morning Star Re-Edit Jean Carn - If You Wanna Go Back - Morning Star Re-Edit Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes - Be For Real - Tim McAllister Re-Edit Odyssey - Inside Out - DJ Friction Remix Invisible Man's Band - All Night Thing - Disco Deviance Re-Edit Cee-Lo Green feat Wiz Khalifa - Bright Lights, Bigger City Sade - Hang On To Your Love - Mathew Kyle Re-Edit Rena Scott - Come On Inside - Chris Baron Re-Edit Jocelyn Brown & Soulpersona - In The Middle 2nd Hour Gregory Porter - 1960 What Lee Dorsey - Who's Gonna Help A Brother Skip Mahoney - Janice (Don't Be So Blind To Love) The Spinners - Split Decision Glam Sam & His Combo - The Last Days Of Disco Mandrill - My Kind Of Girl Master Plan - Clinton Park The Staple Singers - Let's Do It Again Collins & Collins - You Know How To Make Me Feel Good McFadden & Whitehead - I've Been Pushed Aside Shirley Jones & Jean Carn - Whatever It Takes - Joey Negro Club Mix Cee-Lo Green - I Want You - Jack Splash Remix Luther Vandross - Merry Christmas https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2011-12-18-Starpoint.mp3 https://www.originalmastercuts.com/OriginalMastercuts-2011-12-18-Starpoint.mp3 Al and Carlito will be back on Christmas Day with an Original Mastercuts special! Should be perfect Xmas day listening! See you on the 2/01/2012! I hope you all have a killer break and listen to lots of music! Merry Xmas to everyone! Ian D

Hi Barry, I'm thinking about 'leaking' a couple of tracks over the holiday period to some of the key radio shows. Maybe a couple of the lesser-known but brilliant tunes like: The Whole Town's Talking 8.39 Billy Paul The Devil Made Me Do It 10.35 Robert Upchurch What Tom unearthed on the master tapes is phenomenal. The Robert Upchurch track is the Sigma Sound players at the top of their game - a jam to die for that had to be edited down for a 7" single! This is the way it should be heard! The cover's pretty cool as well:- Can't wait myself! Ian D

Coulda fooled me Robb. I've never ever found one in 40 years. It was as rare as hen's teeth in the mid 70's. Did a load turn up somewhere? Ian D

i-tunes link now added..... i-tunes Link: https://bit.ly/rC9ZYE Ian D

And available from Boxing Day from any good record store for a fiver or less! BACKB021 Backbeats - Soul A La Mode - 1970's Modern Soul Compiled by Ian Dewhirst 1 Bobby Womack I Don't Know 2 Lloyd Price Love Music 3 Gavin Christopher This Side of Heaven 4 Don Thomas Come On Train 5 Willie Hobbs 'Till I Get It Right 6 The Anderson Brothers I Can See Him Loving You 7 Africano Satisfactorise Your Mind 8 The Montclairs Hung Up On Your Love 9 Gene Chandler Don't Have To Be Lying Babe 10 Wales Wallace Somebody I Know 11 Skull Snaps I'm Your Pimp 12 Barbara Lynn Movin' On A Groove 13 Sidney Joe Qualls I Don't Do This (To Every Girl I Meet) 14 Jackie Wilson Because Of You 15 Brief Encounter Human 16 Bobby Walls & Co Just You and Me 17 Danny Hunt What's Happening To Our Love Affair 18 Tony Drake Suddenly 19 Ben Monroe Broken Home 20 Ann Peebles If This Is Heaven 21 The Impressions Love Love Love 22 Leroy Hutson Ella Weez 23 The Winstons Color Him Father HMV Link: https://hmv.com/hmvwe...primaryID=music Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.co...22298685&sr=1-1 Ian D

Tom Moulton's brand new remixes of..... Back Stabbers 9.36 - The O'Jays (Win, Place Or Show) She's A Winner 7.28 - The Intruders The Love I Lost 12.28 - Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes The Whole Town's Talking 8.39 - Billy Paul Year Of Decision 6.44 - Three Degrees The Devil Made Me Do It 10.35 - Robert Upchurch When Will I See You Again 5.52 - Three Degrees Where Will You Go When The Party's Over 9.05 - Archie Bell & The Drells This Time Baby 9.50 - The O'Jays Mind blowing! Easy as that! Ian D

Whadayya think Steve? Moulton's now finished up on the PIR remixes - 31 in total, so I'll let you when they're ready! Obviously they're unbelievable! Merry Xmas by the way! Ian D

Way Hey! No.1 with a bullet! Way to go! https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=dp_srsubj_entry?ie=UTF8&index=music&field-keywords=R%26B%20and%20Soul%20%2F%20Disco Ian D

One week to go before release! Available in HMV from Boxing Day and Amazon delivered to your door! Merrry Xmas! Ian D

Coming up LIVE @ 2.00-4.00pm today we have a sneak preview of some of those Philadelphia International Re-Edits, some fabulous remixes, some killer re-edits, some 70's corkers, some great raw funky stormers and the usual blend of superior Soul music throughout the show! Plus this week we'll be having a 'lil pre Xmas party where I'll be joined by Spit & Spot (Steve Warner & Mark Fenton) and Steve Johns from Swansong Four for some Xmas jollies. Meanwhile Champy and Carl Mason will be in the other studio knocking out a special Xmas show, so it'll be a full house this afternoon! Hope you can join us in the Starpoint chatroom on the Starpoint homepage where it's always lively on a Sunday afternoon! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst with the Swansong 4 boys between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 18th December 2011 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes * Jean Carn * Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes * Oddysey * Invisible Man's Band * Cee-Lo Green feat Wiz Khalifa * Sade * Rena Scott * Jocelyn Brown & Soulpersona * Skip Mahoney * The Spinners * Mandrill * Lee Dorsey * Don Covay * Lee Mitchell * J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sounds * Master Plan * The Dramatics * The Staple Singers * McFadden & Whitehead * Collins & Collins * Cee-Lo Green See you in the chatroom LIVE @ 2.00pm! Ian D