Ian Dewhirst

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

Anyone know this version........a quite credible UK release from '88..... Tony Stone "Love Don't Come No Stronger" Ian D

A remix is where you have access to the original multitrack and thus you have a lot more flexibility with altering instruments or removing them completely in many cases. But this is expensive these days and almost economically unviable. A re-edit is basically when you only have the original song file to work with and you have to use your ingenuity to re-arrange the existing elements. Today's technology also means that many re-edits are virtually remixes except without having to resort to using original tapes and expensive studios. Even I got confused occasionally though. There's some pretty radical re-edits out there which would be called remixes in times gone by..... Ian D

Hi Dave, I spoke to Kev at length about this last night and I have a couple of projects in hand which you could probably contribute too - especially in terms of expertise and memorabilia. PM me your number and let's have a natter. Best, Ian

Actually I'm after a beer, even after the excesses of last night - a good case in point actually watching a full dance floor hearing Onur Engin's 8.00 re-edit of the Jackson's "Show You The Way To Go" for the first time. A monster record and so much tougher for today's dance floors with Onur's edit. Even Gamble & Huff had to agree so that's good enough for me! The point of the mixing is really relevent in this day and age as some of the older mixes sound badly dated when played alongside later productions. The re-edit culture has now sorted that out thank God! Ian D

LOL, that is one monster re-edit Russ. Pinky Velasquez. I'm coming to the conclusion that the 70's was the pinnacle for full orchestral arrangements and Barry White was pretty much one of the masters of string arranging. Those records really resonate with audiences too because synth strings still sound crappy! When you hear that edit over a big system it just destroys people. Never bothered with it first time around because that Barry White/Love Unlimited Orchestra stuff was considered to be too commercial and it sounded a bit corny next to some of the more radical stuff coming out at the time. Play it now and it'll fill the floor some 35 years later. Damn right too! Ian D

Those are really really nice Carl They've got a definite Salsoul/Philly thing going on. I'd like to hear the full versions if possible. Would you trust me with 'em as I have a couple of possible ideas that may be worth messing around with and which would sort out the vocalist issue? One thing which occurred to me was that I have all the First Choice Philly Groove full acappellas which I can clear immediately and which I think could work like a dream with those tracks. So imagine having a Rochelle Flemming lead vocal over those tracks! If anything comes out of it I can get Moulton to do a mix too! It actually sounds like a really viable project mate because this could also cross over to the young Disco Diggers and Re-Edit crowds. Also January/February 2012 would be a good time to release since that's when the Philadelphia International 40th Anniversary releases will be coming out so hopefully there could be a lot of interest in some new Philly stuff coming through too. You could also attach "Soul Recession" to the package. It sounds like there's a potential album right there mate. People love GREAT Philly records when they work properly. The stuff you're doing now isn't a million miles away from this beauty..... So let me get you the acappellas and see if anything works. How's that sound Carl? Ian D

I can remember the original album lying neglected in the cheap box @ Spin Inn in the mid 70's. Too funky for the North at the time I think..... Ian D

The shop was Jim Wilson's in Shoreditch, London and the water-damaged copies were in with 1000's of Doo-Wop 45's 'cos that what Jim specialised in. It wasn't an immediate hit that's for sure. I heard it somewhere or other and managed to get a copy early on but it took a good 3 months or so to really take off, mainly because of some of the early believers who used to pester me to put it on. Believe it or not it was fairly radical because of the intro and it didn't really sit with a lot of the other stuff at the time. But great records often take time to break through. There was a similar problem with Al Jones' brilliant "Only Love Can Save Me Now" on Amy which had a slow intro with some ridiculous crooning from Al before it broke into world class Northern Soul. That one never broke at all unfortunately...... Ian D

You mean you can actually listen to it again???? Ian D

"Marching Out Of Your Life" - Betty Baker & The Jaxsis Ian D

Only nutcases like us would dream of running record companies LOL. It's an open invitation to be flopped over a desk with legs spread and royally rumped isn't it........? Ian D

Also must highly recommend this brilliant book about the history of Warner Brothers US from a guy who worked there for almost 40 years and tells it exactly as it was! So good, I read it once, then immediately re-read it again! Exploding: The Highs, Hits, Hype, Heroes, and Hustlers of the Warner Music Group https://www.amazon.co.uk/Exploding-Highs-Heroes-Hustlers-Warner/dp/0380978520 Ian D

LOL, I'm not sure if that's the best game-plan. Heaven forbid if you get morbid John LOL. He could write the greatest book ever but I'm not sure if he wants to......... Ian D

LOL, I know the feeling Rick. One of the major clearing houses for 45's in the mid 70's was House Of Sounds in Philadelphia. House Of Sounds took up a whole block and (I think) was around 5 stories high. Each floor was filled with hundreds of 20' x 20' wooden crates that were each packed with 45's. I can't vouch for the accuracy, but off the top of my head, I'd say that probably each floor held at least a few hundred 20' x 20' crates apiece. Vinyl paradise. When I got access to 'em I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The guy that took me in there looked at me with sympathy and said, "it's all yours. Have fun". So I climbed into the first crate and started digging through 1000's of 45's. They all seemed to be Country & Western. I spent 4 hours in crate no.1 and went through maybe 20,000 45's and didn't find jack. So I switched to another crate, climbed up the ladder and started wading through crate No.2. Same thing. Spent 2 hours wading through crap. So after 6 hours of intense crate-digging and the only thing I found was a Total Eclipses on Right On, I climbed out of crate No.2 and took stock of he situation. I'd maybe covered a quarter of crate No.1 and the top layer of crate No.2 and found just one OK record. I looked around the ground level floor and realised that it would take me the best part of a year working 5 days a week to do just the ground floor. And 5 years to cover the entire warehouse. So although I KNEW that there were incredible rarities in those crates, there simply wasn't enough time in the world to dig 'em out. That's when I realised that the sheet AMOUNT of 45's that the U.S. was pressing in the 60's and 70's dwarfed anything that my brain could understand. It sounds hard to comprehend, but there were simply too many 45's. For sure, you could maybe get lucky and hit a crate that was full of Detroit cut-outs but it might take several months before you found that particular crate. Which could mean months of going through C&W cutouts before you hit a rich seam. In short, mind boggling. When I eventually gave up, halfway through my second day, the guy that was looking after me just laughed and told me that I was looking for a needle in a haystack. He was right. A few years ago I hit a similar place in New Jersey but this time I was looking for rare 12"'s. Exact same thing again. It would have taken a year to comprehensively go through every crate on the ground floor. Myself and a mate spent 2 days going through a just couple of crates out of 1000's before we eventually gave up. For sure, we found some killers in those couple of crates, but the sheer logistics of the operation and the overall hit rate against the time spent going through it all eventually crushed us with the sheer volume. There is such a thing as too many records. Ian D

Stoppit! Ian D

Which, hey, is the whole point of the thread innit....? Ian D

I can't remember ever hearing "Mama's Baby" anywhere. Not that great a record IMO anyway.... Likewise these two..... Bobbi Lynn - Jump Back In The Arms Of Love Marsha Brody-Right Combination They were around in droves but I can honestly say I can't remember ever hearing 'em out anywhere. The Bobbi Lynn's were virtually all water damaged from memory. I always remember wondering why there were gazillions of water-damaged Bobbi Lynn's on Look but no Freddy Chavez's anywhere! Ian D

In fact, the 2nd known copy of the Invitations "Skiing In The Snow" came from a U.S. Woolies for 10 cents! Ian D