Ian Dewhirst

Yep. I liked it from the off but the bootleg coming first put me off playing it. There was sort off no point really. I found an original copy in '76 and remember thinking it was a great record which had been wasted pointlessly. And Ric-Tic's right. The Jessica Jackson & The Outlaws is another prime example of pointless bootlegging along with Lou Courtney's "Me And You Doing The Boogaloo". What I think happened was that Soussan had got used to supplying Selectadisc with x amount of titles per month, so he jumped the gun on a few records before they had a chance to go big simply to keep the production line going..... A real shame in the Sunlovers case...... Ian D

Haha I don't think so. Plus I never saw Russ as a 'big man' either. It was fairly straightforward. He ran Wigan Casino and booked the DJ's, so whether you liked him or not, you still had to deal with him if you wanted to play the Casino. He ran a great nighter with over 100,000 members and numerous highly pleasurable nights throughout the 70's for a whole generation. He didn't take advantage of the scene - he provided a much-needed nighter venue at the time following the closure of the Torch and Va-Va's. And for the record I never socialised with Russ or kept in contact. We had a pretty arms-length relationship but he was always OK with me so I've no reason to knock the bloke. I saw him for the first time in 30 odd years last year at the 100 club and he couldn't have been more pleasant. He's just a bloke who loves Soul Music and happened to run a highly successful venue for a decade. I can think of a zillion far worse characters than R.W...... From the film companies point of view, since they were covering a part of the Northern Soul scene in the early 70's, it probably made perfect sense to them to approach the guy who ran the largest venue over that period - I mean, he was there every night wasn't he.........? Ian D

But he would probably argue that he earnt the right to claim some benefits from Wigan Casino. Fair play to the bloke. He put Wigan on the map didn't he? It's seems like it's kinda fashionable to knock Russ and I think it's a bit unfair. He was the one who put a lot of energy into Wigan Casino. He started the biggest ever nighter in Northern Soul history from scratch and maintained for a huge amount of time. It outlasted Studio 54 for a start! He had to pre-advertise the first night for months in Blues & Soul, set up a membership scheme, deal with all the applications and post the membership cards out, sort the sound system, book DJ's and keep the local coppers happy. He also gave regular guest spots to most of the DJ's at the time and dealt with the attendant politics pretty well I thought. He ran a huge all-nighter week in week out for years and arguably spawned a whole new generation of Northern Soul lovers. So whatever anyone's views on his social graces or record selections, I reckon he has as much right as anyone else to consult on a project which features his creation. This film is par for the course and probably to be expected. It's probably more akin to a UK version of "54" - the film based around Studio 54 then an accurate reflection of the scene. I just saw the trailer and personally I can probably take or leave it, but it's not aimed at me or a lot of the people on here. It's aimed the middle England audience so don't expect any miracles LOL.... It's a little UK film that'll probably make its costs back and appear on DVD in 6 months. Probably not to be taken too seriously...... Maybe it'll spur Paul on to make his own film? It could be very theraptic for him and then he could channel all his passion and energy into his own vision instead. Ian D

This is a perfect example of a record which really should have been a No.1 monster tune in the mid 70's but was never given a chance. It's a 100% bona fide original Northern traditional stomper with all the perfect ingredients and all the right credentials. As far as I can remember, I don't recall anyone in the UK having this record before it was bootlegged. The first we knew about it was when Selectadisc shipped in a couple of thousand bootlegs attributed to Eddie Parker & The Sunlovers on a label called Aliza. Nobody knew it and we couldn't see the point in shipping in a bootleg which had never been played. It seemed like Soussan had really shot himself in the foot with this one 'cos nobody bothered buying the boot and they were always in the 25p sections of people's boxes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcT9PxL0sJU A real shame 'cos I think it could have been right up there with the best of 'em if it had been given the opportunity. Also, whilst we're on the subject, does the Inspirations version of this actually exist or is it simply the exact same track with a name switch? Ian D

I disagree. I don't know why people keep having a go at Russ Winstanley. He played Northern Soul around Wigan for years before the Casino was set up, so I don't think he was as opportunist as you make out. He was the one who put all his endeavors into building arguably the most popular Northern Soul venue of all time and good luck to him. Were the Abadi brothers opportunists when they opened the Twisted Wheel or Chris Burton when he opened The Torch or Mary Chapman when she opened Cleethorpes Pier or Dave Thorley when he opened Stafford? Without the Casino and all the other venues over the years there wouldn't even be a scene. If Russ hadn't have opened Wigan Casino the scene wouldn't have grown the way it did. He also gave a lot of DJ's the opportunity to break a lot of records in those years and that's something we should applaud surely? All this bile and hatred that keeps pouring forth simply fuels negativity. It's a free world and no one is forcing anyone to watch anything. I don't know what the films gonna be like 'cos I haven't seen it so I'll reserve judgement until then. Ian D

Hang on Jocko. Angelina Jolie and Lara Croft were one and the same weren't they? This is becoming even more confusing then the Donnie/J.R. Bailey/Bobby Hebb/William Bonney/Len Barry thing........ Ian D

The Anderson Bros boot didn't fool me for a milisecond Mart. I had an early original and I could tell immediately plus the quality was abysmal I seem to remember.......... The only ones that ever had me perplexed were a Richard 'Popcorn' Wylie "Rosemary What Happened" white promo on Karen which I swear was a boot (but I can't remember anyone booting it) which I found in the Carnaby Street indoor market for 75p in the late 80's (which just doesn't seem right) and a couple of MGM promos - The Embers, The Velours and Lou Roberts I think, which I can't remember being booted but which sure looked like boots to me. But I concurr with Sebastian. It would be nigh-on impossible to boot anything 100% accurately these days and hope that it would fool everyone. Not a chance in hell in my view. Too many sniffer dogs focussing on every minute detail! And for the record, the one which I thought was a definite boot from the word go was "Wee Ooh I'll Let It Be You Babe" by Louise Lewis (Miss L.L.). It looked like a boot in the first place and they all came from Simon so if it was gonna be any boot which had been 'set-up' from the word go, I'd say it was that one. Ian D

From memory the original is a darker blue label with heavier print. I thought the boots looked pretty obvious to be honest. Mind you, there weren't that many originals around really. Market demand for an artist called Wombat singing about life's problems in a Michigan Country & Western twang obviously wasn't a huge hit with the public. Great record though! I hated it at the time but have since grown to like its idiosyncratic stance on life......... Ian D

Damn. I just wrecked a Don Gardner, a Del Larks and a Billy Woods trying that. If Oldfeet could explain how one achieves this it may save me a few quid........... Ian D

I had a mint Joe Mathews which I'd inadvertently left in a pile on the floor and which got cracked whilst my record room was being hoovered! It still played pretty much perfectly and I bolstered it with some masking tape on the B side to keep as intact as I could. But for some reason that was the point when I decided that having so much expensive vinyl on the shelves didn't make so much sense at the time, so that was the single event that made me sell my 3rd Northern collection. I knew the chances of finding another Joe Mathews would be slim and I didn't want to pay a fortune to replace the cracked copy...... ......sold it to little Gary from Leeds for £180 in the late 80's at a Griffin Hotel All-Nighter in Leeds. I still think he got a bargain....... Ian D

No, it doesn't work like that. In order to make an exact copy of the original pressing you need the original stampers. Stampers have their own individual imprints so anyone who's even halfway sussed, owns a genuine original or who has access to the price guides should be able to tell the difference. I can probably tell 99% of fakes without too much trouble....... That's not to say I haven't been almost fooled on occasion but there again I don't spend much time examining run-out grooves and dead wax these days....... Ian D

T'wasn't a boot though Ian. There was nothing to compare it to was there? Ian D

It's just the reality of having to go through all that trouble to produce a boot which may sell a few hundred. Not worth it. If you think about it, trying to replicate an original 60's record these days is akin to trying to replicate an original painting. There are just too many experts in this field for anyone to get away with it. If a painting is worth a few hundred grand then there's a real incentive to have a go but a record that's worth a grand or so probably doesn't justify the trouble IMO.... Ian D

Well unless you can drag up a printing process from 40-50 years ago with all the attendent machinery (i.e. none digital in any way), find someone who knows all the original processes, source the type of paper that was used for labels back then, replicate the artwork precisely and then get the exact same stamper to put the labels on the record I very much doubt it! And that's just the labels. As for the type of vinyl they used back then, it simply can't be done anymore. The last time I checked back in the early 00's, there were only two suppliers of vinyl pellets left and they were both in the former Eastern bloc countries. It's not that a pretty close copy couldn't be made - it could. But you'll never be able to exactly replicate a record from 40-50 years ago. The correct materials are simply no longer available. And even if by some fluke you got around all the above it would cost you a small fortune in buy in the expertise to copy an original - probably more than the cost of the original record! You're from industrial town Mart. You should know that LOL..... Ian D

Yep, I go along with that. Pretty much impossible to accurately replicate a 60's record these days. The printing on the labels is the main giveaway............. Ian D

Yep, it's pretty much the best site to sell 12" Dance stuff on. It's primarily used as a research tool as the discographies are surprisingly good for the more mainstream stuff. Also it's much, much simpler to list items - it takes aproximately 30 seconds to list something on Discogs as opposed to 6-7 minutes on E-Bay so Discogs is much more user-friendly. Also, you don't pay any fees until you sell something. Pretty good IMO.... Ian D

Simples! Ian D

You could have taken the shrink-wrapping off Ken! Ian D

I think it was the Parliament influence Steve......... Psychedelic Soul......... Ian D

Hope so Stuart. I just checked with a colleague @ Demon and they have nothing for McKinley Jackson and/or the Politicians. A decent scan of the album sleeve might be the best you'll get. You could try Blues & Soul as they had a decent archive of old Press Photos and Bios etc but I'm not sure who to contact there these days....... Ian D

Well, following the terrible news last Wednesday we naturally played a few Teddy P tunes this week to pay tribute to one of Soul Music's most treasured vocalists. RIP Teddy. We love you....... Other, than that it's the usual trawl through the eras covering as many bases as we can over 120 minutes and we sure packed 'em in this week..... Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst Sunday 17th January 2010 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Ist Hour Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes Is There A Place For Me Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes Bad Luck Pts 1 & 2 Teddy Pendergrass You're My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration Quentin Harris Mix Tortured Soul In My Fantasy Tom Moulton Mix Cool Million feat Meli'sa Morgan Sweet Baby Switch You Pulled A Switch The Spinners Got To Be Love Stephanie Mills feat Teddy Pendergrass Two Hearts Al Green Where Love Rules 2nd Hour Teddy Pendergrass We Got Love Martha Reeves No One There Jerry Butler One Night Affair Quiet Elegance You Brought The Sun Back Into My Life Bill Brandon Baby Love Is A Two Way Street James Brown People Wake Up And Live The Supremes Up The Ladder To The Roof S.O.U.L. feat Larry Hancock This Time Around Lou Wilson & Today's People Settle Down Teddy Pendergrass Only To You The Staple Singers Tripping On Your Love Average White Band feat Ben E. King Get It Up For Love Ashley Beedle Re-Edit Friends Of Distinction Ain't No Woman (Like The One I Got) Gene & Bobby Hang On In There Baby Teddy Pendergrass Heaven Only Knows https://www.sixmillio...7-Starpoint.mp3 Al is behind the decks next week and I'll be back on the 31st January so catch you all then! Many thanks for listening everyone. See ya next Sunday...... Ian D

"Im Gettin' On Life" - Wombat and "I Know You're Leaving Me" - Si Hightower Ian D

Well, another one of those weeks folks. Marvin, Barry, James, Luther, Levi, Michael, Woody and now Teddy. Soul vocalists don't have great life spans do they? Teddy Pendergrass has always been a staple of this show 'cos Al and I grew up with him and he's been the soundtrack to our lives throughout the whole of the 70's and beyond. So naturally we'll be doing a Teddy tribute throughout the show covering as many great tracks as we can squeeze in. Plus the rest - the usual trawl through the last 5 decades of glorious Soul music so hope you can join us! A sad time for sure but boy did he leave us with an incredible legacy. RIP Teddy. This show's for you........... Coming up tomorrow LIVE from 2.00-4.00pm on www.starpointradio.com featuring....... Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes * Teddy Pendergrass * Tortured Soul * Cool Million feat Meli'sa Morgan * Switch * The Spinners * Stephanie Mills feat Teddy Pendergrass * Al Green * Teddy Pendergrass * Martha Reeves * Jerry Butler * Quiet Elegance * Bill Brandon * James Brown * The Supremes * S.O.U.L. feat Larry Hancock * Lou Wilson & Today's People * Teddy Pendergrass * The Staple Singers * Average White Band feat Ben E. King * Friends Of Distinction * Gene & Bobby * Teddy Pendergrass Hope ya can join me.....I can feel another Levi Stubbs moment coming on...... Roll on 2.00pm...... Ian D

A Teddy Pendergrass tribute on the Original Mastercuts show tomorrow 2.00-4.00pm LIVE on www.starpointradio.com. RIP Teddy..... Ian D

So definitely Teddy then by the sound of it. One or two people were a bit sceptical about the authenticy 'cos there's not much documentation about Teddy's early career........ Cheers Dave! Ian D