Ian Dewhirst

A previous thread about this too with both soundclips....... Ian D

I bet that was probably just after I split to the U.S. then, which was circa May '76. Deffo a Cleethorpes type record. My three copies didn't stick around long that's for sure....... Ian D

It started off on a Soussan list so the only action on it in Europe was from the Northern scene period. There were very few copies in circulation but I seem to remember Colin spinning it @ the Mecca - maybe someone else can confirm? There would have been no more than 2 or 3 copies in the UK at that point and there was no rare Disco scene outside of the UK that I knew of back then. So UK only demand in my view. Ian D

Well, I've had 'em both at different times but never together unfortunately. I found 3 copies of Charles Russell in a super-duper dodgy Watts record shop shortly before I had to get out of the area @ 3.30pm (the golden rule: get out of Watts before the schools turn out). In the dodgy record shop I got talking to a black guy who then persuaded me to go see his mates 'great record collection'. This was in a house in what's now known locally as 'the jungle'. We disturbed a poker game which was being played by 5 local gangbangers and I got 3 guns levelled at me before everyone cooled down. Very very scary. In the end it turned out the guy's 'great collection' was about 50 beat up Jazz albums. I ended up buying a few just to get out of there in one piece. The 3 Charles Russells and a Si Hightower remained intact luckily. The Bionic reissue could be an interesting story. I wonder if someone like Bob Catanneo is still around? He'd probably be a good person to ask if he's still active........ Ian D

I think it's exactly the same recording as the Psyche version which is ridiculously rare IMO. My guess is that the first version didn't sell anything and they got a whisper that people in the UK were looking for it so did a limited repress on bionic and assigned a different name. Don't know about any action on the Beach scene. Brilliant record! Ian D

It's a good point you make there Nik. My PR guy for Harmless says that ALL reviewers want the real thing. They even get cheesed off if they get a CD promo pack leave alone a file link. They 100% want the finished CD's because they get the whole package, sleeve notes, scans, photos etc which in turn generally inspires them to write decent reviews touch wood. I don't blame 'em. Me too! Ian D

Another good reason to buy CD's is that music has never been more easily available at such a great price. You can buy most Backbeats releases now for under £4 each brand new and posted to your door for free! And yes, the artists, writers and catalogue owners do see royalties on material that might not otherwise be out there! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/search?rh=i%3Apopular%2Cn%3A229816%2Ck%3Abackbeats+demon&keywords=backbeats+demon&ie=UTF8&qid=1319053474&ajr=0#/ref=sr_pg_1?rh=n%3A229816%2Ck%3Abackbeats&keywords=backbeats&ie=UTF8&qid=1319053509 There's 20 of 'em already and another 10 coming on Boxing Day! You never had it so good! Ian D

Yep, now I recall it. Deffo before the Contempo release then. Ian D

OK, back to square one again..........hopeless. Is there an equivalent for PC I ask myself.......? Ian D

Cheers John. I'll check it out and try it at the weekend. Ian D

Fair dos Carl. I thought you had a problem with funding any vocal sessions so my suggestion of possibly using some 40 year old acappellas was purely based on a quick cheap possible solution, that's all. I take your point entirely about wanting to write the song (although in 90% of cases I don't advise it because many people aren't gifted songwriters and only want the publishing income on what could be a mediocre song). As per usual, best of luck mate. I still wouldn't mind hearing the full instrumentals though. The bits I heard sounded great....... Ian D

The only time I tend to use an airport is when I fly somewhere. I presume airport is some sort of imaginatively-named transfer software or something? Simply by dint of the fact that you know about something called airport I know that you're far more computer literate than me LOL..... I'll look it up. Will it transfer my media library with all the correct file paths and playlists etc in EXACTLY the same order that they're currently in? Cheers, Ian D

Quite right of course and I refer the honorable gentleman to a previous thread mentioning just this subject:- Ian D

Also I'm curious why Apple would have DRM on the low-rate stuff only? I don't mind paying the extra 20p for the higher quality but really who the hell are they to tell me how many times I can burn or transfer something? Arrogant twats! In my line of work I often need to transfer multiple copies of things for different reasons so I don't like anyone telling what I can or can't do once I've paid for it! I like the way they make transfers OK for 'an unlimited amount of i-pods' LOL. That's precisely why I don't like Apple. Too bossy. 1 iTunes digital rights management (DRM) protected music includes audio with a bit rate of 128 kbps and allows users to transfer songs and videos to up to five computers, burn seven copies of the same playlist to CD, and sync to an unlimited number of iPods. 2 iTunes Plus music refers to songs and music videos available in our highest-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding (twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps), and without digital rights management (DRM). There are no burn limits and iTunes Plus music will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, Apple TVs, and many other digital music players. Ian D

I'll tell you what Chalky, it makes a change from arguing about OVO all the time. A key part in all this is precisely how computer literate somene is. I'm not remotely computer literate so most things are a pain for me to do. For instance, I've had a brand new laptop just laying here for 3 months because I DREAD trying to transfer everything from old lappy to new one - I don't want to lose any music and I need all my playlists exactly as I have them on the old laptop. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an easy way to accomplish this (and boy have I talked to enough people). None of this stuff is easy for me. I don't understand the logic of a lot of technical things so therefore it's like having to do homework for me. Plus I always get a really bad migraine when trying to figure out technical stuff. I'm just not designed for it. A good example is how are you expected to send a reply to a long S.S. quote on an i-phone as just one example? The i-phone scrolling system doesn't really work properly for that. Not easy for some of us mate...... Ian D

The problem is more with the all-invading pervasiveness of Apple Chalky. You either subscribe to it or you don't. I'm on pc so everything to do with Apple is a friggin' nightmare in terms of compatibility whenever it comes to transferring artwork, audio etc, etc. I've had years of transfer dillemmas so I'm a long-term none believer. I have an i-phone so I do use Apple products but they only seem to work properly with other Apple products, so it's all a bit of a hassle if you're not a 100% Apple convert. For instance, I plugged my i-phone into my computer and it synched up everything so now I've got 10,000 names, numbers and e-mails on my phone when I only really need a few hundred. There was probably a box I needed to tick but seriously, who has the time for all this? Plus EXACTLY the same thing happened to Sutty on EMS vis a vis playing from a burnt CD on standard equipment. The only tunes which wouldn't play were the i-tunes downloads (in fact it's on a thread over there right now), so not just me unfortunately...... Ian D

Hang on. I was talking about the Groovesville lookalike. I can't remember "Sweet Sherry" being on the 'b' side of the boot of "Boc To Bach" (which presumably was on a pale green Selectadisc boot right) but if it was, then yes, THAT certainly came out long before the Contempo 45. So if that is in fact the case, then apologies to all (eats large dose of humble pie.......) Ian D

I bet you I'm not! I have an almost photographic memory of what was booted up until I left these shores in '76 and J.J. Barnes wasn't one of 'em. I do remember seeing 'em sometime after I got back and thinking that whoever was booting Groovesville was taking a chance because Tony Hestor was pretty active in the business then....... Ian D

Mmm. Curious. I can't remember seeing a J.J. boot before I went to the U.S. which was in May '76. Also, I wouldn't have considered that "Sweet Sherry" was even worth booting back then as by the point Contempo issued it the tune was very much an oldie. I'm of the opinion that boot came out in the late 70's.......... If anyone can give me a definitive date or scan for the J.J. that'd be handy but if it's the Groovesville lookalike label I'd say waaay later than '75 Tone... Ian D

That's another massive own goal that the music biz scored against itself. I would have thought that adding liner notes, label copy and full credits would have added value to digital sales and boosted them even more. But like most things these days, they wanted an instant, easy solution thus devaluing music massively in the process in my opinion. Ian D

It needs to be put in context. CD sales have just had their biggest 6 months since 2004 in the U.S. but are significantly down in the U.K. mainly due to the mass compilation market shrinking. Vinyl is a tiny fraction of the whole market on both sides of the Atlantic so even a small increase in what is a niche market gets all the 'vinyl revival' headlines. I've personally noticed a much bigger swing to digital over the last 6 months especially - my last release, the "Weekender" soundtrack has sold very well across both CD and Digital with a ratio of 75% CD to 25% Digital - a rise of around 10% towards Digital. There was no point in doing vinyl as to reproduce the 3CD package on vinyl would have meant a 6 LP set retailing at around £40 as opposed to the CD @ £10.00. I personally have a house full of all 3 formats over here but my personal preference is to make sure I have everything on a pristine CD copy since I'm in the business of collecting masters and I need a bank of top quality digital masters. I HATE i-tunes with a vengeance because the quality is shit and there's all sorts of issues with the useability of the system. The final straw for me was Friday night when none of the downloaded i-tunes songs that I burnt to CD would play on the system I was working on. Everything else was fine except for bloody i-tunes and their stupid format. So CD for reliability for me (like Shinehead I have 1000's of CD's and they're all perfect), digital for overall convenience (except for the dreaded i-tunes) and vinyl for nostalgia and the smell! I'll dig out the official UK figures when I get back to work tomorrow and see how they're stacking up. Ian D

Nope, the Contempo 7" was before the boot. In fact, I vaguely remember this being pressed on O.O.T.P. as well..........? Ian D

LOL, all of which shows you how nuts the format thing has become..... Ian D

Ah good. That means you'll have a track-listing dunnit.....? Ian D

One of the best Northern Soul records that never got released........ Ian D