Ian Dewhirst

Still haven't had time to transfer the track-listings (will do a.s.a.p.) but they're now available to pre-order so here's a preview........ https://hmv.com/hmvweb/simpleMultiSearch.do?isRefinementSearch=true&refinement=2087&refinement=1284&refinement=2014&refinement=4294952642&refinement=2045&Find.x=28&Find.y=5 Ian D

Well, you would wouldn't you? One hell of a set of lungs for sure.......... I think it was around the time of "Touch Me Baby" too, so no wonder he hauled ass over to Atlanta. Ian D

Yep! Great on all counts mate! What's with the 'Grey Matter' thing by the way LOL.....? Ian D

Yep, that rings a bell Sean. Can anyone confirm? It makes sense 'cos Dave would have been on every U.S. mailing list going in the 60's, so he probably came up with a few more besides. Also I know John Abbey from Blues & Soul must have had James Fountain before it was discovered up North 'cos he ended up selling the second copy but it's got me thinking what else he may have had in his personal collection (this was the one that ended up in a record shop in Southend wasn't it)............ Ian D

Bugger! I know you had a major hit there. Did I ever mention that I went to a rodeo show in Cheyenne, Wyoming and found an Al Wilson in the middle of a zillion Merle Haggard records..............? And yep, Prestatyn's in the diary for sure. Can't wait. I know it'll be a howling monsoon as usual but who needs Miami when you have Wales LOL..... See ya there. Ian D

Yeah, it was either Keith or Martyn Ellis I think....? More to the point, what did you find that I left at that unbelievable place in Denver in '89? Don't worry, I can take the pain Dave. I only had enough time to scoop up most of the known originals - I was on a plane the next day so I know I left a shitload plus in '89 I was waaaaay out of the loop for the unknowns and Stafford/post 80's stuff so I know you cleaned up! C'mon mate.....put me out of my misery......... Ian D

Yep. No doubt about it. Trivia question: Who out of the three of 'em is the odd one out? Answer: John Anderson. The only one who didn't have an obsession with the title "Reaching For The Best"! Ian D

Unlike Pete to miss such a beauty but there again with Pete anything was possible LOL.......he must have been coming down or something....... Ian D

Well that was one of a handful I think. I didn't get it for at least another couple of years and that was off Anderson when he found a few of 'em circa '74/'75 ish. Who played it at the Torch then Ian? Ian D

'Fraid so. Ouch...... I did get one of the first Yvonne Baker's out of John from that same trip so it wasn't a complete cock-up....... Ian D

Yep, I was at the Top Rank when Sam played Rubin. I thought it was too fast LOL (I was right actually - it didn't catch on for a while).... I bought my Tomangoes off you (a very painful deal to conclude I seem to remember) but that's a good point. Who found the Tomangoes first? Sandi Sheldon was played at the Wheel by all accounts (but by who?). The Shalimars was surely a Bradford Market special? R. Dean Taylor was 100% he who shall not be named on here - he played it 6 times the first night back from the states. I think Pep had the Yum Yums 'cos I remember hearing for the first time at that same Top Rank gig I think. It took me the best part of 2 years to eventually find one. I dunno on the other ones........ Ian D

OK....... There must have been 10,000 copies of Billy Woods "I Don't Want To Lose Your Love" on Verve @ Bradford Market which you couldn't give away at the time..... .......and gazillions of EVERY record on Sussex everywhere - TONS of Bill Withers, Soul Searchers, Creative Source, Zulemas, Dennis Coffeys etc - you had to fight your way through tons of Sussex crap to get to anything rare back then......... .......so a Billy Woods record on Sussex for £3 didn't seem like such a bargain at the time LOL...... It's still completely unfathomable as to why the record is so rare. It just doesn't make sense. Even Clarence Avant who owned Sussex had never heard of it and the record wasn't included in Universal's Master tapes when they bought Sussex so it remains a bit of a mystery to this day. I wouldn't mind but Anderson kept telling me I'd regret it but I just couldn't see a rare Sussex record. Hindsight is a wonderful thing my bearded friend. Very painful. Thanks for reminding me mate! Ian D

Even nuttier is that when I met George again in the early 90's he didn't even have a copy himself (I'd already met him when Parliament were recording "Flashlight" in L.A. in the mid 70's before Tamala Lewis was discovered). I ended up giving him my copy along with white promos of Shirley J. Scott and Roy Handy when he came over to the UK in the early 90's......an all-round great guy and a huge influence so it somehow felt right that the records went full circle............. Ian D

That was a KILLER discovery by Dave! 100% Northern Soul in every way - one of the greatest IMO plus a great C/U title - "My Heart's Wide Open" - Freddie Jones. When you consider that the Coasters were essentially a novelty act it makes the discovery even better. I remember the shock when it was finally uncovered as the Coasters - I must have spent the following 3 weeks wading through crap Coasters records looking for it (but didn't find a real original for years). Exactly the same thing with Paul Anka "I Can't Help Loving You" (covered as Johnny Caswell I think). How many gazillions of bloody Paul Anka U.S. RCA copies did I wade through looking for one of them and NEVER finding one! Really weird. Both ex chart acts and big-name known acts with major record companies but both originals are rare to this day. How come? You would have thought there'd have been plenty out there.......... Ian D

Who found "Skiing In The Snow" - The Invitations? It was always incredibly rare - only around 2 (or maybe 3 copies) when it was huge and it never really turned up, so whoever found that first copy really found a beauty. I also heard a story about someone finding the 3rd copy which got destroyed in a car crash on the way to the Torch. Does anyone know this story? Ian D

Yep, same song, different words, different song-writing credits(!). Similarly Arpeggio's "Love And Desire" otherwise known as "Stronger Than Her Love"........... Ian D

Hi All, Apologies for posting up so late but we had a 'lil bit of surgery to do on the first 15 minutes. Anyway all good now - another 2 hours of superior Soul Music from the last 4 decades. Have fun........download link after playlist..... 1st Hour Frankie Knuckles feat Intense & Jazmina - Let The Rain Come Down - Bootleg 12" Mix Sensory Productions Amsterdam - House Luck First Choice - This Is The House (Where Love Died) - Tom Moulton Remix Jean Carn - If You Wanna Go Back - Larry Sanders Re-Edit L.T.D. - You Must Have Known I Needed Love Rufus & Chaka Khan - Secret Friends Charles Veal - New Found Love Alfie Silas - You Put The 'L' In Love" Luther Vandross - Give Me The Reason Janette Renee - What's On Your Mind N'Cole - I'm Gonna Need This Love 2nd Hour The Spinners - It's A Shame Don Downing - Lonely Days, Lonely Nights Lee Garrett - You're My Everything Thelma Houston - No One's Gonna Be A Fool Forever The Three Pieces - I Need You Girl Prophecy - Rain In My Life Wendell Watts - The Grooviest Thing This Side Of Heaven Sharon Ridley - When Did You Learn To Make Love Soulpersona feat Marvin Gaye - Ain't That Peculiar Aretha Franklin - One Step Ahead - Featurecast Re-Edit Jermaine Jackson - You Like Me Don't You Brief Encounter - Human Robert Upchurch - The Devil Made Me Do It Dee Dee Sharp Gamble - Just As Long As I Know You're Mine Lou Rawls - You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine https://www.sixmillio...6-Starpoint.m3u Al will be hosting this Sunday, I'll be back on the 20th and then the two of us on a blow-out special on the 27th! Happy Christmas All! Ian D

Until now! Ian D

Correctomundo. I'd kinda dropped off the Northern scene at that point but I was promoting the Saturday Northern night @ the Central in Leeds and Pat Brady and Swish were the deejays at that point. For some reason I had to go to Sheffield one day and Pat came along with me for the ride and he spent the entire journey moaning that 'the Northern scene wasn't like it used to be' and 'you couldn't just find records easily anymore' etc, etc. I was in an optimistic mood and saying to Pat that records were everywhere and he just had to be a bit more optimistic and do some frigging digging! We were heading out of Sheffield back to the M1 and I remember saying to him that there were Northern records right under his nose and, as a joke, I said:- 'Hang on. Can you smell that"? He said. "Smell what"? I said. "Vinyl mate. I can smell vinyl!" and at that exact point I spotted a junk shop and pulled up and parked saying, "C'mon let's have a look. Records are everywhere" etc, etc. We went and there were racks and racks of records and the first one I pulled out was Wilbur Walton Jr "24 Hours Of Loneliness" on 123, went to the counter, paid the guy 25p for it and gave it to Pat and said "There ya go. There's records everywhere". He said, "How do you know it's Northern"? I said, "Look at the title. How can it not be"? We didn't even play it till we got back to Leeds. Pat was astounded. 100% good timing and the luck of the devil LOL..... Ian D

Too many bloody Ricks for my liking! You are of course correct in this instance. Now I'm beginning to question whether I was in fact John Vincent......? Ian D

Well the Rob Thomas bit's right but how the hell could you confuse me with John Vincent? He had a 'tache! Ian D

From Kev..... More importantly who discovered these....... Esperanto- Grand Piano Company/ Theme from the Fantastic Plastic Machine- Harry Betts/ Stop- Bobby Diamond/ Keeps on Burning- Burning Bush/ Name It You Got It- Mickey Moonshine/ Nine Times Out of Ten- Muriel Day Seeing as Ian D exposed me as 'The Flasher' please own up if you discovered the above! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nope not guilty Kev, but that doesn't mean I didn't come up with some clunkers myself. "Danse A La Music" - The French Fries springs to mind.... Ian D

Yep but I think he may have bought his copy off Rick Scott in Lincolnshire? We all got it pretty sharpish - instant classic....... Ian D

No, I'm claiming that. Bought from Bob from Louth on a Thursday evening gig in Lincolnshire before anyone else found it (I think Bob got it from John Anderson anyway). Heard it over the cans first, knew it was a monster, then played it over the system and realised it was utterly irresistible so did a deal with him there and then (£8 rings a bell). I think I covered it up because I thought the title was ridiculous, so I over-stickered the first copy with "I'm Coming Home" as opposed to "I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un" which was a bit of a mouthful and frankly daft pronounciation (I think I knocked £2.50 off the price because of the title).......... Incidentally, that was the gig where I was driving back in the early hours of the morning over the fields of Lincolnshire with a guy called Kelly from Huddersfield and I came off the road straight into a wet muddy field and couldn't get the car out the field 'cos the wheels wouldn't grip the mud. So the two of us were stuck there covered in mud @ 2.00am in the middle of nowhere when some guy appeared out of the blue and between the three of us we got the car back on the road. I often wondered what the guy was doing in the middle of nowhere @ 2.00am on a Friday morning 'cos there were no towns, houses or pubs anywhere within a 10 mile radius. Just cows and mud. We ended up dropping him off 10 miles down the road but it was mud city all the way home......we were covered! Worth it for Lou Pride though. A monster! Ian D

I wish. The arguement for the Servicemen probably boils down to Pep/Colin/Sam or some combination thereof LOL.... Sorry about the stickers by the way! I can't even remember having the Servicemen but I LOVE that yellow Patheway design....... Ian D