Ian Dewhirst

Hey, a personal James Trouble personal bashing excercise is fine by me LOL. It's just another one of the downsides to the Internet, Social Networking Sites and The Northern Soul Scene revolution mate. Character Assassination at the click of a mouse can be a potential hazard and cause a lot of stress if you're not careful. I suffered a similar situation last year so I know what I'm talking about..........I believe I was called a 'chancer' by certain parties............ Ian D

Absolutely James. The social network site that first alerted me to the beauty of Northern Soul was a hub in a place called Cleckheaton in West Yorkshire in the early 70's which had a Soul Night every Wednesday night. However, in those days, they called Social Networking sites pubs......... Ian D

Haha. Genius mate. Sheer poetry and a perfect demonstration of the power of the Internet thus confirming the whole point that James was trying to make in the first place......... Wow. Whatta thread........... Ian D

Haha LOL. Those Yanks just don't have a clue do they? Congratulations James. You've just created a new internet phenomenon called Anti-Social Networking and, boy, are you the guy to head it up! Ian D

Well, hey, things haven't always been hunky dory between myself and Boba (which was fairly well documented at the time) but I tend to agree with him on the above points. Ian D

He's James Trouble Drew. That's T-R-O-U-B-L-E to all the ignoramuses out there who may be too thick to get it whilst living their boring humdrum lives..... Interesting thread this. I was watching from afar and not going to comment on anything due to past history between us but, hey presto, I've been sucked in.... ....and that my friends, is what's known as 'Social Networking'. Good topic James. It's inspired me to start interacting even more 'cos this thread is fascinating.......... Ian D

I got spoiled by the first gig I ever went to - Sam & Dave @ Sheffield Fiesta in early 70's. Absolutely unbelievable performance when they both came out into the audience at both sides of the venue and just blew the place apart. I thought all gigs were gonna be like that! Seen most acts over the years but I've never seen a performance as good as that first one! Ian D

Good points. It never fails to surprise how many artists fail to have copies of their own recordings. And not just unknown artists either - I gave George Clinton my copies of Roy Handy, Shirley J. Scott and Tamala Lewis 'cos he didn't have 'em...... Ian D

That'll be local ordering. There's no vinyl at all in the Oxford St branch (which is the biggest store in the UK) and probably 98% of the other stores unfortunately. Since HMV are the only national chain that's a real shame but it does help the indie shops which are the lifeblood of vinyl anyway...... Ian D

Yeah but they measured those figures against the previous year which was disasterous. Believe me, I was using exactly the same spin 10 years ago in 1998 when vinyl sales were probably 1000% more! I wouldn't give that vinyl plant much hope of surviving unfortunately. Does anyone still collect 78's? It's a little like Canute trying to order the sea to retreat to be honest. Order up on those spare styli now I say! A shame.......... Ian D

Good call Mickey! One of the best Chicago records ever for me......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4pYXBbylAU Ian D

Fight! Fight! Ian D

Tell me about it Brett! I have a 16 year old who plays drum and bass on her shitty mobile constantly and brings her friends around who are constantly amazed when they see the record room and can't believe why someone would fill a room with plastic when they have more music on their bloody computers! Ian D

Bloody awful. Designed for Laptop or Mobile Phone tinny speakers. They have no idea about quality and don't seem that bothered frankly. I call it audio wallpaper for the blank generation....... Ian D

Ethnic cleansing of vinyl perchance.......? Ian D

Convenience is definitely king for those guys. I caught Carl Cox and John Digweed in Ibiza five years ago and it was all CD's and Laptops. No vinyl anywhere. Did the 10,000 kids in Space give a toss? No, of course not. Also, lugging vinyl around the world is a costly excercise these days! They can either have 80,000 tunes on a laptop or pay a fortune to transport a couple of hundred 12"ers! Also, hardly any of the dance companies bother pressing vinyl anymore. They may get 500 sales if they're lucky and that's not enough to break even leave alone run a company......... Ian D

Sorry Matt, it's not more popular then when CD's came out mate. I was Head Of A&R for the world's largest vinyl reissue company in the late 90's and I reissued some 400 albums and 150 12"'s between 1998-2002 and it was a law of diminishing returns unfortunately. These days it's really a cottage industry with a small but fanatical audience. Couple of other points which tend to confirm Brett's feelings:- 1) There is now pretty much only one decent vinyl pressing plant in the UK - most of the others have closed down (including Chris King's Independent Pressing which was superb whilst it lasted) and the art of pressing 7" singles is becoming like as difficult as finding dry-stone walling experts who know what they're doing. In other words, it's a dying art. Phil Dick and myself found this out the hard way when we did some Soul Intention releases 18 months ago. 2) There is only one major music chain left in the UK - HMV and they no longer stock vinyl in any of their stores. What remains is a tiny network of small independent shops which, more often then not, stock very few new vinyl releases whilst fighting to keep trading. Soul Source and a handful of other forums are probably the last bastions of true vinyl fanatics so we generally get a very subjective viewpoint on this subject. In the wider world vinyl is a quaint reminder of a bygone era. The same conversations about formats no doubt happened 100 years ago when people bemoaned the passing of the cylinder, then 50 years ago with the passing of the 78, then 30 years ago when the 8 track cartridge hit the dust, then 20 years ago when the cassette imploded etc, etc, etc. That's why I keep saying that it will be important to set up an archive or museum of the Northern Soul era otherwise future generations will not be aware of the sheer magic of a wonderful scene. Brett should be the curator! Ian D

C'mon let's paaaarty........ Ian D

So happy happy happy.......... Ian D

And keep smiling........ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjzSIGt74T0 Ian D

Talking of making people smile and continuing a run of UK Soul hits, this one made No.1 in the UK and did jack-shit anywhere else! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1lMcPrJysI Ian D

And 60's Funfairs bounced along to this........ Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjcZulxe8okhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjcZulxe8ok Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzX9Dgu9dRc Ian D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNLkE1onSrE Ian D