Ian Dewhirst

For sure Chalky. It used to be quite frustrating when we'd chase down a rare record and someone with a bigger cheque-book swooped in and got it. That started creeping in from the mid 70's and I've no doubt it still goes on today...... Ian D

"I Can't Hold On" and "I Can't Change" - Lorraine Chandler. Proper Detroit Northern like.........also "I Can't Help Loving You" - Paul Anka - not for the vocals but for the sheer majesty of the production and arrangement......... Ian D

Point taken Nev but let's not forget that every DJ starts off as one of the 98%. That's how you learn your art. Just like your football analogy, 98% of football players are probably Sunday leaguers and only the 2% get into the premiership. That's not to say that the 98% are crap though - far from it. Circumstances often dictate the direction that people go in life and not everyone wants to be a week-in, week-out DJ - there's much easier ways of making a living rather than zinging around the country every week. I mean what makes a professional footballer? Training, fitness, skill, dedication etc. What makes a professional DJ - training, skill, experience, knowledge, confidence, dedication and a box full of ever-changing great records. It's not for everyone and you certainly don't do it to get rich that's for sure. In my Northern days I clocked up tens of thousands of miles every year, wrote off three or four cars, never slept from Friday to Sunday every week and was constantly broke. Had some great records though! And I wouldn't generalize about the Pro's either. I don't think anyone would accuse Sam or Butch of turning up an hour before their set, only playing tried and tested records and patronizing the audience. Most 'pros' that I know take it very seriously. So let's not make this a pros versus amateur 'cos everyone starts off as an amateur. Also the circumstances these days are very very different. There's ten zillion Northern venues every week and they all have DJ's. I mean, is there anyone out there that ISN'T a DJ these days? Ian D

Oi! Don't hold back Steve....c'mon what's he working on now.......? Oh, did I mention the sleeve notes by one Steve Handbury by the way.......? Ian D

Inspired choices Steve. "The Cellarfull Of Motown" is No.1 on the Amazon Pre-Release chart and "Philly Re-Grooved - The Tom Moulton Remixes" is No.2 so money well spent I reckon........ Ian D

Agreed. An effective DJ must always be inspired. I don't think merely going through the motions in any arena is good enough these days. There is such a thing as a good balance though. A true professional will balance his or her set accordingly according to the crowd. The way we broke stuff 35 years ago was to try and maintain the atmosphere with the 'bankers' and slip the new spins in wherever they'd fit the best. Sometimes those new spins would be things that we'd played earlier, as the club was warming up, or later, as the club was winding down. Hence the appeal of slots like the 'last hour at the Mecca' where Ian and Colin would specifically play the lesser-known gems to an audience of aficionadoes after the main crowd had split for Wigan. Similarly, if I had 2 slots at an all-nighter, the new spins would invariably be spun in my first set and then, if a record was demonstrating a level of big popularity in the first slot, it could be promoted to the last slot if it looked like a goer. However, sometimes it took ages before a record was promoted to a prime slot. Ridiculous as it sounds now, a record like "Job Opening" - The Del Larks was a guaranteed floor-clearer for a good 3 months before it eventually took off. The only thing that kept that record going was the small band of enthusiasts who used to badger me to play it every gig. Same thing with "Stubborn Heart" - Ernest Mosely, "Set My Heart At Ease" - Mikki Farrow, "Ain't Nothing You Can Do" - Joe Mathews and dozens of others. Floor clearers the lot of 'em. The thing is, it's never ever guaranteed what will appeal to the crowd at any given time. A good DJ will realise that and programme accordingly. That's why I applaud DJ's like Ian Levine for persevering with "Hung Up On Your Love" - The Montclairs (which was guaranteed to clear the floor every time) and Richard Searling for relentlessly playing "She'll Come Running Back" - Mel Britt (a very difficult record to break amidst a welter of 100mph stompers) early on. Both mammoth floor-clearers initially, but both records went on to become all-time classics. Sure, it's different circumstances these days but the principles remain the same. Any DJ worth their salt should know how to programme effictively for the crowd they have. If you're only playing for yourself, then you're short-changing the audience unless you're the luckiest and most musically gifted guy on earth. Go back to your bedroom and play to your heart's content for yourself 'cos you're your own best audience. I mean, how can you fail? The measure of a good DJ is someone who can turn their vision into reality via clever programming and not someone who bludgeons their rapidly diminishing audience into submission. If I'm going to be totally honest, you can probably count the amount of genuinely great DJ's in any field on two hands maximum if you're lucky. There's roughly 2% of naturally gifted DJ's in any given arena and the other 98% are either semi-pros or aspiring hopefuls. It's a skill and not something you can do simply because you have a box of hot records. Ian D

Interesting point Chalky. Established DJ's who have already 'paid their dues' probably have an easier ride than new up and comers. However, established DJ's are generally there for a reason and that's usually because they're good and provide what the majority of the audience wants to hear. The thing that makes an 'amateur' DJ and/or a collector different from a pro, is that the pro will understand all the different requirements of the audience better and know how to balance priorities better. The only way you learn these things is to be persistent and keep playing to good audiences. If you're any good as a DJ the bookings will keep coming in and the confidence factor will grow. In this day and age where virtually everybody is a DJ sometimes the lines get blurred. A DJ is there to inspire and entertain the audience with his/her choice of music and you'll generally find that the Butch's of this world are there for a reason. In Northern Soul terms he absolutely ticks all the boxes. Presumably Butch started as a collector didn't he? Ian D

LOL, I'm working on it Martin. Actually I think the Moulton project will probably appeal to SSers more than the Dimitri project as the material is slightly older for the most part. Plus Tom's just so good with strings......... Ian D

Cheers Mike! Ian D

Well, Philly Groove pre-dated the 12" era, so all of the above were 7" and album releases only. However, Tom always wanted to get his hands on the tapes because he knew all the musicians anyway and knew what the quality of the recordings was like. Plus "This Is The House Where Love Died" was always one of his favourite-ever tunes so naturally he couldn't wait to get his hands on the original master tapes. If you like beautiful early Philly masterpieces with full orchestration, then this album's for you. And Chris definitely hasn't been listed in the thankyou credits...... Ian D

Wait til you see the You Tube clips of the interview we did with Tom at his apartment which should be ready for this coming Monday. It's every collector's dream to see some of the stuff he has in there. At one point the camera lovingly lingers over a master tape which says "The Volcanoes - 1966" on it so the mind boggles at what he has in that apartment! A man after your own heart Steve, but much less organised in his approach to record and tape filing! Ian D

Hi Garv, Well these things tend to work at their own speed, which from our point of view can be slow. There's all the problems of the costs involved in transferring tapes, baking masters, formatting 'em etc, etc and no one really wants to pay for all that if they can avoid it. Then there's any potential legal issues which in some cases may mean the artists wanting to re-negotiate his/her/their contracts which can be a grey area at the best of times..... However, with it being the 50th anniversary of Holland-Dozier-Holland as a songwriting team and the 40th anniversary of Philadelphia International Records in 2012, I'm rather hoping that these issues with H-D-H and Philly International can be resolved for the bigger picture. So watch this space I guess..... Will obviously feed out any info as it comes in so stay tuned....... Best, Ian D

Yep, coming out on Monday 30th August is one of the most eagerly anticipated albums of the year among music aficionadoes - "Philly Re-Grooved - The Tom Moulton Remixes"...... If ever you wanted to hear these Philly classics allowed to fina... Tap to view this Soul Source News/Article in full

LOL, that's right. We've been co-opted by Wayne 'Dr Evil' Hemmingway and his dastardly plans for world domination........ The view from over here in the 'establishment' is wonderful! Ian D

Mmm. Now we're talking. A bit over the top for early postage though. I think the bacon sarnie is a bit more practical...... Ian D

Which co-incidentaly I'm playing on the show on Sunday (how does that not surprise me)! Also worth checking out is the wonderful "Love Enough To Care" from '79 currently available on Soul Intention 7"........ Ian D

I think the difference is that this was such a good major event that the atmosphere was akin to, say, the opening of Wigan Casino, Cleethorpes Pier or something similar. The other thing is that the audience was probably on average much younger (by about 20-25 years LOL) than most Northern events these events so the energy levels were right up there which is probably what Simon's alluding to more than anything. It certainly made me realise that a wider age range crowd makes a hell of a difference in terms of energy and atmosphere. Ian D

I got accused of it last week with 300 people on the dancefloor! Guy was talking bollocks of course. Fact is, if you're a DJ it's your job to keep people interested, create the right atmosphere and keep the dancefloor lively. It obviously helps if your taste happens to appeal to the vast majority of the audience, otherwise you might just as well invite some mates around for a pint and a listening session............ Ian D

I think Steve Plumb did for a start. However, whether anyone was working there or there as a customer it makes little odds. It was just a brilliant event full stop. Ian D

Agreed! I think I heard Eddie say over the mike that it was the best gig he'd done in 30 years didn't he? I was out having fun in the crowd and the atmosphere was absolutely electric. The thing that struck me is the floor was absolutely ram-packed with an age range of 18-60 and everyone was getting off. Quite simply one of the gigs of the century and a refreshing burst of optimism for the future in my book because Vintage @ Goodwood will undoubtably set the pace for events from this point forward. The Sunday night session in the Soul Casino was slightly less jammed but the atmosphere was equally brilliant. Absolutely awesome....and that was just the Soul Casino. When you consider that the other arenas were equally as busy it's mind-boggling that everything worked so perfectly. I spent quite a bit of time at the Warehouse and that was equally as good as the Casino in terms of atmosphere. The clips are already appearing on You Tube - this guy's caught a whole heap of sets all around the festival, so everyone can scroll through the clips..... An unbelievable event that will undoubtably become a yearly event for everyone's diary! Simply awesome! Ian D

I thought the entire weekend was a gas. The festival was brilliantly organised and the attention to detail was fantastic. Every one of the different venues and stages all had great sound systems and there was just tons of tons of things to see and places to go. The Soul Casino was absolutely rocking it most of the time and the refreshing thing was seeing so many younger people getting off on Northern and 70's Soul. The music was almost universally great, whichever venue you happened to be in and I thought all the DJ's worked their nuts off. A brilliant nice eclectic LARGE crowd who were pretty much up for anything. Very refreshing. This was a 100% sell-out with over 20,000 people in attendance over the 3 days and 22,000 on Saturday by all accounts. Hats off to Wayne Hemmingway for getting it so right in every detail. I'm looking forward to next year already! Ian D

Of course they were legal. Decca had an ongoing deal with Abkco which came about following Allen Klein's management of the Rolling Stones..... Ian D

Blimey, a cracking price on the Jack Ashford album. I sold 2 of 'em for £20 apiece last year, so it's jumped a bit since then........ Ian D

Yep, I can do a review of the Saturday/Sunday but it could be very subjective 'cos I'm almost guaranteed to have a good time - too many mates there to fail really. So you'll get a predictably optimistic slant from me I reckon. Hopefully a few people can give their views because there's plenty of S.S.ers going in different guises, I.e. DJ's, Sellers and Vintage/Retro fans etc so it'll be interesting to see what peope's views are. There's been a huge upswing in interest and ticket sales in the last couple of weeks so hopefully they've timed it just right! Should hear some great music too! Earth, Wind & Fire and Leroy Hutson live plus a great DJ lineup that has me salivating as a fan. Oh and if the missus is getting on yer nerves just send 'em to the shops. Job done. It's a no brainer for me! Ian D