Ian Dewhirst

Coming up LIVE in 2 hours @ 2.00pm today folks. I'll be joined in the studio by my occasional co-host Alan plus we've got a load of guests in this week so should be fun. Plus KILLER playlist of course! See you @ 2.00pm. Come join the party in the Starpoint chatroom on the front page of www.starpointradio.com. Laters, Ian D

OK entirely predictable. 4 days of partying @ Prestatyn last weekend completely wiped me out for the whole of this week. We're talking all round body aches, manflu and I've got the usual bloody chest infection which I get every year about this time! I'm not getting any younger that's for sure........ Big shout outs for everyone who was @ Prestatyn. Despite all the last minute problems it turned out great anyway, as we all knew it would. Great to link up with some of Starpoint's elite squad for the 6 hour LIVE broadcast last Sunday afternoon so big thanks to Mark Randle, Colin Curtis, Paul Goldsmith, Dimitri Soul and Chris Box. Pretty good value ay? Anyway, as always, it's just great to get back to some serious music and we have the usual 2 hours of Soulful utopia which covers some current and recent Soulful House beauties, a spectacular Dimitri From Paris re-edit, some 70's and 80's beauties including an exclusive new re-edit on a Patrick Adams beauty, some zippy Modern Soul, some bone-breakingly great general Soul gems including a brand new release that will surprise many and a final half-hour of stone-certified classics. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon, so indulge yourself and enjoy the vibe...... Also it's gonna be a full-house 'cos Champy and a few guests will dropping by to see the show in action so we'll be having a 'lil party ourselves by the looks of it! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst and guests between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 20th March 2011 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... Big Brooklyn Red * Dennis Ferrer feat K.T. Brooks * Deep Swing & DJ Meme feat Linda Jackson * Five Special * Gary Bartz * Al Hudson & The Soul Partners * Gladys Knight & The Pips * The Eight Minutes * First Class * Flame N' King & The Bold Ones * Park Avenue * Vernon Burch * Gerri Grainger * Silk * Tony Lindsay * Dottie Pearson * Melvin Brown & James Mathews * The Sons Of Champlin * Anita Baker * Johnny Guitar Watson * Bobby Byrd & Vicki Anderson * Average White Band * The Isley Brothers Hope ya can join me LIVE this Sunday afternoon! Should be a gas! Laters, Ian D

God knows. Ian D

Richard Searling circa '76 I believe...... Ian D

Frosted in my case. Ian D

Damn. I just tried an aeroplane spin for the first time in 35 years and projectile vomitted my shreddies all over the office! Ian D

Not so good for driving back 200 odd miles after a skinful though Steve! Unless it'd be the Sunday before a Monday bank holiday of course....... Ian D

Jet Star was the distribution arm of Mr P's empire and eventually the Jet Star label and overall distribution became the main areas of business for the company especially with their compilation albums throughout the 80's and 90's. Ian D

Yep, absolutely Garv. It's my No.1 objective this year. Good vibes coming from PIR so I'm cautiously optimistic. Will report back as soon as I have something to report! Ian D

Hysterical Pete. Hardly anybody in the history of the music biz would do a 'duration of a single's release' deal, mainly because it's impossible to define. If you never officially deleted a single, it could still theoretically be on catalogue for 50-60 years. Also look at the history of "The Champ", which was still being reissued by Pama into the mid 1980's:- The Champ - The Mohawks Release History Most deals back then were perpetuity deals anyway and that's assuming any paperwork was ever issued! Believe you me, no one chose an arguement with Mr P and no one ever crossed him and got away with it to my knowledge. I've had a few links with Jet Star from when I did the Rewind Selecta series in the 90's so I kinda know the set-up........ Ian D

It's funny 'cos Mr P was never known for his regular accounting skills. That's the understatement of the century. Phoenix have told me all the stories and they're still 2 years into trying to 'legalise' the catalogue and it's a massive, massive can of worms. Plus I've lost count of the amount of Reggae artists I've bumped into over the years who never even knew that Pama released their records in the UK. Plus my good mate Robert Blenman (former Head Of Motown UK) used to work there. Plus Mr P would generally do handshake deals and that was that. Pama/Jet Star has always been a hands-off impregnable company - everyone knows that. Next time you come to London we'll meet up for a drink with Robert Blenman and Lloyd Bradley. Their Pama stories will keep you going for years Pete! Ian D

Funniest thing I've read all year! Ian D

Yep, Mr Palmer's deals were almost always verbal. The whole Jet Star set up was bought out of adminstration a couple of years ago by a rights management company called Phoenix and I'm pretty sure they've spent most of that time trying to clean things up as best they can. I recently licensed "The Champ" from 'em for the forthcoming "The Breaks" album. I'll have a word with 'em and get 'em to dig out their library copy of the Volumes OK? Ian D

Yep, I know Tony. Val told me all the stories. Plus Ralph Tee reckons he's been trying for 15 years as well, so I'm under no illusions mate. So my main angle is the fact that the way that the music biz is currently receeding means that there's only a very limited window of opportunity to ever get this stuff out physically ever again. As you well know (and there are many times that I wished I worked for Ace), the opportunities to get unfettered access to the original master tapes and the ability to transfer 'em are becoming few and far between. With a bit of luck, I'm hoping the penny will finally drop with PIR. Incidentally, if that happy event ever happens, can you get your arse over to Philly and do an audit? Have a great time in Houston! Ian D

Oh, I almost forgot, in answer to your original question Garv, one of my Directors dug into his cupboard following my relentless harassment and eventually managed to produce a comprehensive 200 page book from 1999 which lists everything within the PIR master tape inventory. Staggering. There's no other way to describe it. The difficult bit is getting access to it. Working on it! Ian D

Hiya Garv, Good question mate. I've pitched a comprehensive game-plan for a Philadelphia International Records 40th Anniversary Campaign which would include a schedule of re-issues of some of the unreleased recordings which would be compiled in conjunction with Ralph Tee and all other expertise we can bring to the project. As everyone already knows, the potential of the unreleased PIR catalogue is the holy grail for many of us and one of the things that makes me get out of bed at some unearthly hour every day. PIR have acknoweldged receipt of the package and I await instruction from Kenny, Leon and Chuck. That's the only way it's going to be and that's fine with me. I'm pretty optimistic because I think that PIR share my my concern that this could well be the last opportunity to get this repertoire out in a physical format and also be able to cover the costs of transferring so much unheard material from the original tapes to a digital format. Also, speaking personally, Philly is one of my favourite periods and I would just love to see 2011 become a celebration of one of the most significant eras of black music in our history. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff are my personal heroes and I'm deadly serious about making sure their legacy is preserved to the best possible degree throughout the future. Nice article in the Guardian last week too........ Philly International - Guardian Article Fingers crossed! Ian D

A standard U.S. promo mail-out by a major in the 70's would have to be at least a minimum of 1000 but more likely 5,000 or 10,000 if they were servicing the whole country. America is a big place. It wouldn't have made any sense for Motown to press and service any less than 1000 copies 'cos that amount would only just service the prime-time R&B station jocks. Bear in mind that a standard UK promo mail-out at the same time would be 500 minimum............. Ian D

Damn, that's worrying 'cos that's pretty much what Rouncy said. But hey dthedrug the proof is in the pudding mate. I think it exists, Rouncy thinks it exists and you think it exists. So whack up a scan of one of those mauve Pama copies of the Volumes and we'll all die happy mate! And whilst yer at it, a Sue scan of Gerri Hall wouldn't go amiss either. Ian D

Well same here. I actually left a U.S. import copy in a second-hand record shop run by a biker in Morley that was PACKED with loads of Doo-Wop and early to mid 60's gear in the early 70's and it's always plagued me since I left the bloody place. Everything in there was just slightly too dated for me at the time and I shudder to think what else was in there. Typically when I tried to find the place a few years later it had gone..... So the record stuck in my mind and when I saw a Pama copy in a guy's box a few months after I hit the Morley shop, I thought to myself 'no big deal, it came out in England'. However, brother Tony and I couldn't quite collude on the label colour, which worries me a bit 'cos I could have sworn I saw a blue copy but Tony recalls the Mauve design. This is one of those things that's never gonna be settled until someone whacks up a scan. I must admit it seems almost inconceivable that, if it does exist, someone out there, preferably a serious U.K. collector, wouldn't be able to confirm it with a real copy. But the amount of gaps in that Pama label listing, plus the nature of Mr Palmer's operation anyway, mean that anything's possible. If it was ever pressed, then sooner or later one will turn up. It could easily turn up in a West London old Reggae boy's collection. That's part of the problem I guess. Pama was always patchily distributed. The first collection I ever bought from a guy in Huddersfield in 1972 contained the Mohawks and Bill Moss. Clifford Curry was widely available up North and I found plenty of other Pama soul releases in the cheap boxes up North in the 70's. But I can imagine Mr P pressing some initial copies of some releases to guage reaction and then maybe not bothering to do any more. Some of my mates have worked for him and very little was ever documented which kinda suited the operation. That was the nature of the beast. So I still reckon it exists. Ian D

Of "New York New York" fame. Yep, you're all right. It sucks LOL..... Ian D

Ah. Didn't realise that it was known Mick. I'm staggered it's never taken off. Completely new to me. That's what happens when you drop off a scene for 20 years! That would have been a HUGE record in my day........... Ian D

Where's Flynny when we need him........? Fascinating stuff Rick. It really doesn't surprise me that threads like this come up from time to time. Having worked for most of the major record companies and a number of indies over the last 35 years, I can say catergorically say that many releases get 'lost', slip between the cracks or never make it out to wider distribution fairly regularly for one reason or another. Sometimes it can be a pressing fault, a label copy fault, a legal problem or a pressing/distribution glitch. Sometimes a release date changes at the last minute, a tour date changes, a promotional tour gets aborted, an artist gets ill, the record company falls out with the management or a 'cease and desist' order comes through the door. In short, there's tons of reasons why a record may get pressed but never make it out of the warehouse. I've been actively involved in every aspect of certain releases and yet, several years later, I've bumped into a completely different pressing or pic sleeve that I never sanctioned or even remembered from the time. Shit happens and it wouldn't surprise me if someone can eventually turn up a Volumes on Pama or a Don Varner on Veep. I mean I only heard "Happiest Man" by Gerard on Laurie today for the first time! How can there possibly be such an unknown killer Northern Soul tune on a label which spawned Dean Parrish, Hoagy Lands, The Casualeers etc, etc? Happiest Man - Gerard - Laurie Records Anything's possible, especially if it's Northern Soul. Ian D

I don't doubt him either..........apart from the fact that I can almost swear that I've physically seen a copy in a guy's record box back in '73. But hey, 38 years ago is a long time...... Ian D

Mmm. PM-755 according to this...... /index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=93808 Ian D

Great to be joined by Al for this week's show plus Carl and Jen in the studio made for a memorable show on Sunday. Self-indulgence was the key this week with loads of regular faves 'cos it was my birthday however we did manage to fit in a couple of exclusives and some wonderful mixes and re-edits so check 'em out! And don't forget that next Sunday afternoon we'll be broadcasting LIVE from Prestatyn with all the Starpoint jocks who'll be there so keep it on Starpoint all weekend! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 6th March 2011 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... 1st Hour Intense feat Jazmina Let The Rain Come Down Frankie Knuckles feat Satoshie Tomii & Robert Owens Tears Neil Thompson/Ian D 'Thomohawk' Mix Tongue N' Cheek - Tomorrow Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr Shine On Silver Moon Glenn Rivera ReStructure Mix Donnie Who's Rockin You? Instant Funk I Got My Mind Made Up Victor Rosado Remix Basic Black Whatever It Takes Tafuri What Am I Gonna Do About Your Love Switch Keeping Secrets Neil Thompson Re-Grooved Mix 2nd Hour Mel Britt She'll Come Running Back Jodi Mathis Don't You Care Anymore Natural Four I Thought You Were Mine Eula Cooper Let Our Love Grow Higher The Internationals Beautiful Philosophy Ila Vann You Made Me This Way Rock Candy Alone With No Love Anne Sexton You've Been Gone Too Long Nolan Porter If I Could Only Be Sure Stevie Wonder Ordinary Pain The Lovelites You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling Charles Sherrell Why Can't I Be Treated Like A Man Aretha Franklin One Step Featurecast Re-Edit The Spinners Games People Play (They Just Can't Stop It) Al Green Everything Is OK Ashley Beedle Re-Edit https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2011-03-06-Starpoint.mp3 See ya LIVE from Prestatyn on Sunday! Laters, Ian D