Ian Dewhirst

Yep. Also You Tube is an 'open' system which means it's accessible to hundreds of millions, that's why when you pump in a general search on a record it'll often be at the top of the page and instantly accessible to all. I'd class Refosoul as more of a connoisseurs tool and less as a general search reference.......... Ian D

Mike, With respect, I find Refosoul to be one of the clunkiest most user-unfriendly devices I've ever had to try and get my head around. Anything that's not easy to use and instantly workable I'm afraid just doesn't do it for me. This is no reflection on Soul Source or the fact that Refosoul is probably the best Northern Soul reference tool on the planet, it's just a shame that it feels like it was designed by a set of cluless programmers back in the early 90's who obviously delighted in making the system as inpenetrable as they possibly could. I've tried many many times to try and work with it but always ended up giving up because frankly, anything that's so clunky to use is a time-waster for me. Not just me either by the looks of it. I must read something on here every week from plenty of other people who can't use it either. Ease of use is a big thing with me just lately and it's not just Refosoul that hacks me off, it's tons of stuff that has been badly designed by people who don't understand the needs of the end user and the list is endless........ The other point is that when I'm searching for stuff I'm not necessarily just looking for input from the Northern Soul fraternity, as good as it may be. I like a wide palette and like searching for all kinds of stuff so when I highlighted You Tube it wasn't a personal attack on S.S. or Refosoul. It's a time issue Mike - I just find pumping a quick search into Google will take me to all sorts of places quickly and often take me on a tangent to other stuff which I'm interested in which I may otherwise never have found. In the same way, I wouldn't ever just go to one supplier for records because frankly I've found tons of stuff in the unlikliest of places, so it's pretty much the same on t'internet. But, in order to keep in harmony with everyone, I'll persevere with the dreaded Refosoul. I think the same people who designed the SAPS accounting system that I have to deal with every day at work and which is truly the worst designed system ever inflicted on the public must have designed Refosoul in their spare time. And whilst I'm at it, what's the deal with the random placement of emoticons that seems to be happening just lately? Hey, no one ever said it was going to be easy! Ian D

Good point Dante. I think it encourages like-minded people from around the world to explore music. The beauty of it is, if someone hears a record that really moves them and subesquently does a Google search on it, there's a good possibility that they'll bump into lots of other stuff which other people from around the world have posted. I'm constantly amazed at what's out there. I mean, I think I'm pretty damn knowledgeable across a number of areas but you never stop learning. That's the beauty of it really........... Ian D

Haha LOL. I saw that copy too Soulechoes! I was half-way tempted myself. You got the bargain of the century there mate. Great record and very obscure so well done. But good point you made about driving hundreds of miles to hear a record. This was something I did every weekend in my teens because I had no responsibilities, almost unlimited time and unstoppable energy. These days I'm loaded with responsibilities, have zero free time and I have to pace myself accordingly. However, what I can do, is zap the lappy up and then trawl the tens of thousands of forums, blogs and You Tube channels looking for stuff which rocks my boat and then track it down before a stampede starts. Much easier. Before it would have taken me several trips to the U.S. at massive expense, days and days of getting covered in cobwebs and rat shit to pull out a few killers and then try explaining to my loved ones why this was a good thing. Anyway gotta go. I just hit some guy's blog from South Carolina. He obviously collects Beach Music and I cannot believe what I've just heard..........! Ian D

Most Soul Sourcers do embrace new technology 'cos they're on here in the first place. But this is a scene which is governed by 7" pieces of plastic. So it makes me wonder if any Soul Sourcers actively use the Internet as a research tool to find new sounds? I haven't been in the business of discovering fresh Northern Soul since about 1977 mainly 'cos my career took over most of my free time and moved me in different directions. Plus I think most serious DJ's and serious collectors will agree that collecting or digging for Rare Soul is really a 24/7 obsession that doesn't leave much time for anything else. So, if the internet had been around back in the early 70's, I'm pretty sure that I'd have got even less sleep (which would be hard to believe) because my thirst (aka obsession) would have kept me up most nights in that constant search for new tunes. No doubt whatsoever. I use the internet all the time now simply because it's faster at getting me to what I want then going upstairs to the record room/library or across to the other half of the lounge which is my CD library. I spend a lot of time just researching stuff and looking for inspiration for new album ideas or new tunes for my radio show and, as a result, I constantly keep running into some FANTASTIC tunes from some weird sources. I'm amazed at where stuff springs up. It could be a French Boogie site or a Brazilian Disco Collectors site or more often than not, simply a general blog which is written by a serious music lover. I've discovered more utterly brilliant tunes which I'd never heard before via the internet then I ever did crate-digging. And I can do it all from my sofa, which, at the of 55 suits me better than spending 12 hours a day in damp, dusty basements sifting through tens of thousands of junk before the odd gem manifests itself. Yes folks, the internet arrived exactly at the right time for me. You Tube is rapidly becoming the No.1 key source for me. You key in an interesting record on Google and lo and behold, someone's posted it on You Tube. For instance, anyone into Deep or Southern Soul should check out Sean Hampsey's You Tube channel as a great example. When I was checking out some Hi/Cream/Paula/Ronn/Jewel/Soul Power stuff from the Demon catalogue I kept coming back to Sean's channel 'cos he'd posted some of the goodies up there and the Google searches kept bouncing me to either Sean's channel or zillions of threads on Soul Source. So I asked Sean if he fancied compiling a couple of KILLER albums for Demon as a direct result - I'll post the details shortly but rest assured, Sean was exactly the guy for this particular job. In my book, anyone who has the obvious knowledge, dedication and level of passion to spend time posting their thoughts or tastes on the internet should also be the people who should be entrusted with the job of compiling dedicated CD's in their areas of expertise. Check out Sean's You Tube channel:- https://www.youtube.c...JustSoulHampsey However, it can be frustrating too. I have a legion of like-minded mates around the world who know my tastes and if they bump into something they know that I'll like, then they call or e-mail me to see if I know it. One of these guys is my mate Jaffa who doesn't spend any time on forums but does obsessively collect all types of vinyl, so he's on the phone all the time. Because I've been around forever I know a good 70% of most of the stuff he flings at me, so when he rang last week and said he had a GREAT record by the Blade Family, I thought I already knew it. Their "Sweet Dream" had been on my shelves for 30 odd years before someone prised it out of me. I don't think I ever played the bloody 'B' side "My Baby's Gone". So I pumped into You Tube and had a nasty shock. It's f*ckin' GREAT. Her vocals are sublime....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWe5kcOCPqA A great tool. Anyone else use it for finding stuff? Ian D

Well I was kinda disappointed with her as a vocalist so, like yourself and purely in the name of research, I checked out her porno CV. I mean, hell, there's no doubt about it, she was pretty supple and could sure hit some interesting angles but for some reason I kept focussing on her chin, so the overall effect was somehow diluted to be honest. A bit like the record in a way......... Ian D

Wow. You should be in PR mate. Great enthusiam. Damn. I'm beginning to want the record myself now.......... Ian D

There are always surprises and they can crop up anytime, anywhere and quite often by complete accident. Some of my best-ever hits were in places that had apparently already been hit. Yeah right LOL..... I remember telling everyone that had ever asked me, that trying to dig L.A. was pointless. Soussan had hit it first and then I went on and cleaned up better than him. So no chance. Forget it. Several years later, Arthur Fenn went into an L.A. distributor that both myself and Soussan had been to at least 20 times and where I found the original one-off Si Hightower 10" test-pressing. He managed to hit a room that I had never had access to and had one of the best hits of all time. It was embarassing. Those 100 Joe Hicks originals and the first John Hendley could have been mine godammit! So anything is possible. Some of the best hits are accidental. After several days of serious digging in the worst parts of L.A. my then partner put her foot down and insisted that we go to the beach for the weekend. The understanding was that there'd be no record digging. So we went to the beach and after a couple of hours I got bored and said I was going to buy an ice lolly. As I walked up the street to look for a place that sold ice lollies I got inexplicably drawn into a 2nd Hand Furniture store and found a goldmine of incredible Northern Soul. It turned out the guy had run a music store in New Jersey throughout the 60's and early 70's and then re-located to L.A. and got into furniture and just put his old record stock in there 'cos he didn't know what else to do with it. I got multiple copies of incredibly rare records but guess what? I left 1000's of other records because I didn't know 'em. So it doesn't surprise me that some guy that trawls different areas for different stuff for his e-bay sales could well run into a hundred copies of a Northern Soul goodie. That's his job and good luck to him. He got a result. I'm off out tomorrow, heading into areas I haven't checked before, looking for interesting stuff whilst on the way to have lunch with a mate who lives 30 miles away. I'll probably find something that's valuable and worth picking up along the line. I found £200 worth of Boogie rarities last Saturday locally, so maybe tomorrow I could hit an incredible collection that's just been dumped in a charity shop. I'll be disappointed if I don't........ Lofts and basements are the way to go. I mean, your name is deadwaxdetective so you must know about these things.......... Ian D

None whatsoever. Ian D

Nah Mike. I mean how many Soul singers do ya know called Patsy? And how many have surnames called Gallant? And a song called "Get That Ball"? It could only be kinda crappish couldn't it.......? Ian D

Yeah but Andrea True Connection was much better at porn than singing - it looked to me as if Disco was cashing in on the New York porno scene........ Ian D

Because shortly thereafter she had a Top 20 UK hit with a track called "New York To L.A." which kinda gave the game away.......... Ian D

Yep. Odd. Even if the name didn't give it away then the voice sure did. I don't even know the record and I'm not even curious......... Ian D

Course I've got a copy! Found 2 mint white demos in Denver for 25 cents each so many happy memories of both sides! Ian D

Not to my knowledge Blake. Mind you, it was awful enough for Ian to have played it when he was in his Disco phase......... Sorry about the 15 month gap in the reply LOL. Was doing some research and dug up this great thread again! Top research material! Ian D

Not on this one I'm afraid. I think was covered in a thread from a few years back though....... Funilly enough, I have a contact who deals with S.S.S. regularly so I'll do a bit of digging and see what I can glean...... Ian D

"Get It Baby" - Stanley Mitchell at full blast! 100% unadulterated Northern Soul with the most relentless Detroit Rhythm section of all time, a brilliant Wylie/Hestor production and vocalist who has no other purpose in life other than to whoop, holler and shout "C'mon and Get It Girl" every 10 seconds or so. That gets my blood circulating! Ian D

Yep, that sounds right. The production company is Super-K aka Kasenetz-Katz who scored with a lot of bubblegum hits in the late 60's - remember "Quick Joey Small" by the Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus or "Simon Says" - 1910 Fruitgum Co anyone?. Some more info here:- https://www.answers.com/topic/kasenetz-katz Ian D

Towards the end of my Northern dee-jaying era I took to inscribing my name in the dead wax with a steel needle - I've never been a fan of defacing the record label with a pen or sticker. I learnt that lesson early on when I defaced my early Motown and British pressings with stickers but luckily had grown out of that by the time I found the Northern scene. But there was an issue with people wanting to nick records and targeting anyone who had 'em. One time there was a plot afoot to nick my entire box from Cleethorpes but that got stopped thank God. But after that, I thought that inscribing the records would be another security measure and wouldn't affect the value of them or ruin the look of them. Every so often, if I'm flicking through someone's collection I'll occasionally spot a record which jumps out because I used to own it and I can somehow tell. It's weird. Last time it happened was with the Lenny Curtis in Ginger's box. Ginger didn't believe me until I showed him the inscription. It's nice to think about the lives that old records of mine have touched over 35 years. Quite poetic when you think about it. The life of a Northern Soul record is pretty much top-of-the-tree isn't it. They're expensive, housed in luxurious sleeves in a warm record room, played every so often and kept in good maintenance , go to all the best gigs and parties and are lavished with love by their owners. I wanna come back as a rare Northern Soul record in my next life. Y'know, one of those perennial greats that no one ever gets rid of like a Salvadores or something. That'd be just great........... Ian D

LOL, I'm dying to read the review already Jocko. I take it the film company didn't provide the limo then? Ian D

Looks fine to me. Mine is slightly offset too and it hasn't gone anywhere in 35 years.......... Ian D

Wow. I just heard "Dancing All Around The World" - Little Richard and it's brilliant. Has an intro like Lorraine Chandler's "I Can't Hold On"........ Ian D

Wow, lovely show yesterday with a great audience so thanks to all for listening. Playlist and link below....... The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst LIVE from the new space-age Starpoint studio on Sunday 20th June 2010 UK time on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... 1st Hour James Ingram - Lean On Me - M.A.W. Mix Patti Austin & James Ingram - Baby Come To Me - Remix Dennis Ferrer feat K.T. Brooks - How Do I Let Go Five Special - The More I Get To Know You - Re-Edit Baiser - Summer Love The Chocolate Jam Co - This Time Otis Clay - All I Wanna Do Quincy Jones - Is It Love That We're Missing Rose Royce - Love Is In The Air Luther Vandross - She's So Good To Me 2nd Hour Joe Hicks - Don't It Make You Feel Funky Otis Smith - Let Her Go True Movement - Depression Garry Glenn - Gonna Give You My Love The Impressions - First Impressions Sampson & Delilah - You Bring The Tears Spencer Wiggins - Breaking Point David Sheffield - You're Wrong, You're Wrong Paulette Reaves - Let Me Wrap You In My Arms Debarge - I Like It Sly & The Family Stone - Running Away Lenny Williams - Gotta Lotta Luv The Jacksons - Show You The Way To Go - Onur Engin Re-Edit https://sixmillionsteps.com/drupal/node/1156 Catch you soon folks! Ian D

OK Stevie. Apologies. Just off to register the name 'Wigan Casino'........... Ian D

Which one Baz? I take it you mean Sigma Sound? No unfortunately. I did pass it a couple of times - once with Val Shively in the 70's but I didn't have the balls to walk in in '76. Wish I had. I did manage to get some great studio photos and interviews with Vince Montana when we did the Salsoul Orchestra anthology a few years back and I speak with a few of the original guys every now and then - for instance, I just licensed a track from Bobby Eli who is alive and well. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that Moulton's sat on TONS of stuff from the era 'cos he collects it and then sits on it forever LOL I'm actually going to do a mini documentary with the great man in the next couple of weeks so I'm going to interview him in his apartment and get him to dig into all the stuff in his archives (of which there are 1000's of tapes) so that should be fun. Dealing with his bloody cats probably won't be as much fun however......... I'll let you know how I get on. If I start finding any Sweet and Deep you'll be the first to know.......... Ian D