Ian Dewhirst

Typical L.A. event and a little overblown and pompous for me I have to say. When they performed "We Are The World" at the end the two females in my house were shedding tears galore, whilst I was trying hard not to spontaneously projectile vomit over my laptop...... This is 21st Century Death for ya beamed around the world into a billion living rooms. What's even spookier is the fact that the tour may well go ahead with Michael Jackson resurrected via state-of-the-art 3D technology doing all the moves he's famous for. Anyone remember Captain Zeo @ Disney World in Florida? Jacko was on the vanguard of 3D technology a long time ago and with Joe Jackson talking about a new record company integrating Blue Ray technology I reckon anything's possible. This is what America does. If they have an iconic image - think James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and now M.J. they simply carry on re-inforcing the image and exploiting it to the ultimate degree. We haven't seen anything yet believe me............. Ian D

I love these holier than thou posts from people who can't even spell occasionally properly! Ian D

Yep, I think you're right. If anything, the new discoveries of the last 20 years or so would be more up his street than the stuff from the 70's and more towards his original comfort zone I reckon............ Ian D

And as we say in leafy Surrey, jolly spiffing old bean, well done! Mind you, since I'm from Mirfield I'll keep with 'bout f*ckin' time cock'! Ian D

All orders from yesterday have been posted out today folks. Still copies left if anyone's late....... Ian D

He sure deserves it but that millionth post will need impeccable timing. It'll probably go to some new guy who wants to sell some old pressings LOL....... Ian D

I think I'd concurr with that as well. All the stories which I've heard from a couple of people who interviewed him pretty much point to exactly the above, namely he was a Black Music Pioneer for sure. Actually as part of the generation that came up directly after Roger's reign, I 100% absolutely wanted the fast stuff - who wouldn't when they're 15 and full of fire? Also, I found it interesting that he then went on to found Eric's in Liverpool which was about the most none-Soul gig you could get. I think he only pulled out his Soul collection to specific friends and acquaintances in the mid to late 70's, Mick Hucknall being a prime pupil if I what I've read is true. Also, here's a direct quote from Bill Brewster's interview with Roger shortly before his death in May 1999: "I started Northern Soul, but I actually find the music very limiting because in the early days I'd play a Charlie Mingus record, then I'd play a Bluebeat disc followed by a Booker T tune, then a Muddy Waters or Bo Diddley record. Gradually, there was this blanding out to one sort of sound. When I started DJing I could play what I wanted. But after three years I had to keep to the same tempo, which is what Northern Soul is". So a 'lil too eclectic methinks for the hoards of snotty-nosed kids like me that were demanding MILLION-MILE-PER-HOUR STOMPERS LOL..... Also, he was from a totally different generation - the same school as the Stones, John Mayall, Alexis Korner etc, etc, where Blues was their touchstone in the late 50's/early 60's, so naturally the next generation along rebelled and demanded faster records. It was merely natural evolution. It sounds as if the Northern Soul thing was almost an accident which was dictated by the dancefloors @ the Wheel which of course would have been full of 16-20 year olds off their heads and wanting to dance.......... Res ipsa loquitur - it speaks for itself.......... Ian D

Yep, a recession busting deal on the 3 recent Soul Tribe releases: "Shake Off That Dream"/"Shake Off That Dream" (Alt Mix) - Eddie Billups Soul Tribe 003 "I've Got This Feeling"/"I've Got This Feeling" (Edit) - King Moses Soul Tribe 004 "Sweet Love"/"How Can We Say Goodbye" - The Sweet Inspirations Soul Tribe 005 All 3 above For £20.00 inc P&P! Plus I've a few copies left of..... "That's Why I'm Crying"/Good Thing" - Rhonda McDaniel Soul Tribe 001 "Give In"/"Feel The Warm" - Norris Vines & The Luvlines Soul Tribe 002 £10.00 each inc P&P. Or all 5 of the above for £30.00 inc P&P! How's that for value? Plus, I have a few copies of the "Rare Collectable And Modern" CD on Base Camp Records - I don't think there'll be any more of these anytime soon as I don't think they're re-pressing it so grab 'em whilst they're here......... Track Listing: 1) The Hamilton Movement - She's Gone 2) Mixed Feelings - Sha La La 3) Rokk - Patience 4) The Differences - Five Minutes 5) Ogletree Bros - Gonna Keep A Check On You 6) Aged In Harmony - You're A Melody 7) Tearra - Just Loving You 8) Tolbert - I've Got It 9) J.O.B. Orchestra - Don't Want That Illusion 10) Trace Of Smoke - Treasure Mind 11) Tony Aiken & Future 2000 - Good Things 12) Luther Davis Group - You Can Be A Star 13) Marshall Donovan & Broomfield - Since I Found My Baby 14) Executive Force - Midnight Lovin' 15) Rhythm Machine - Put A Smile On Time 16) Anna Raye - Will You Love My Child 17) Wee - Try Me 18) Al James & The New Rhythm Band - Give Me Up Turn Me Loose 19) Frankie Zhivago Young - Somebody Stole My Love 20) Alvin Green & Green Fire - The Sun Shines (Every Time You Say You're Mine) 21) The Coasters (featuring Bobby Sheen) - Love Is A Funny Thing £11.00 each inc P&P! Please PM with your postal address and for payment details via Paypal. All worth having believe me....... Ian D

I honestly wouldn't go through all that Carl - it'll drive you nuts and simply won't be economically feasible mate. It'll be hard enough to find a pressing plant in Detroit that will be interested in a small run of 7"ers, leave alone then shipping 'em back to the U.K. They'll end up costing a fortune and the logistics will be nightmare-ish believe me........ PM or buzz me and I'll talk you through it........ Ian D

I played all three of the Detroit tracks on the show yesterday in case anyone wants to hear 'em in a radio context........ Click download link after playlist to hear the show. Carl's sessions are just over half-way through..... Hour 1 Bob Sinclar feat Michael Robinson & Ron Carroll - Tribute The Dreamgirls Cast Family Blaze Remix The Collective Vs Peyton Promised Land Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes Be For Real Remix Gee Bello Summer Girl Melba Moore with Lillo Thomas When You Love Me Like This Armed Gang - You Heatwave Find It In Your Heart Chaka Khan Eye To Eye Hour 2 Dennis Lee & The Notables Sunday Afternoon Spyder Turner Tell Me (Crying Over You) Bandtraxx Detroit (City By The River) Pree Suddenly There's You George Kirby What Can I Do Natural Impulse She Went Away Duane Williams Yes My Love Is Real Blue Mink Stay With Me Tomi Jenkins - Time Teddy Pendergrass My People T.L.C. & Michael Jackson We're Almost There/No Scrubs Aaron Neville My Brother, My Brother https://www.sixmillio...5-Starpoint.mp3 Could you send me the Philly session Carl? I alluded to it in the piece but I'd like to hear it properly...... Best, Ian D

Well, I boogied 'til the early hours, had a few hours sleep, woke up feeling like death, wolfed down a breakfast, scoured some of the Buckinghamshire countryside, hauled ass back into town, picked up Champy and then headed over to Starpoint Towers for another Sunday afternoon session..... So one of the old type ORIGINAL MASTERCUTS shows this week folks with the usual cock-ups and stupefying conversations with the good Alan Champ who, if anything, has taken an even wider deviation from normality LOL..... But above all, plenty of quality music this week with the results of Carl Dixon's Detroit sessions, a quick look at the excellent Soul Junction label and another very timely exclusive Neil Thompson mash up of Michael Jackson with TLC along with the usual trawl through 40 years of brilliant music......... Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst on Sunday 5th July 2009 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Hour 1 Bob Sinclar feat Michael Robinson & Ron Carroll - Tribute The Dreamgirls Cast Family Blaze Remix The Collective Vs Peyton Promised Land Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes Be For Real Remix Gee Bello Summer Girl Melba Moore with Lillo Thomas When You Love Me Like This Armed Gang - You Heatwave Find It In Your Heart Chaka Khan Eye To Eye Hour 2 Dennis Lee & The Notables Sunday Afternoon Spyder Turner Tell Me (Crying Over You) Bandtraxx Detroit (City By The River) Pree Suddenly There's You George Kirby What Can I Do Natural Impulse She Went Away Duane Williams Yes My Love Is Real Blue Mink Stay With Me Tomi Jenkins - Time Teddy Pendergrass My People T.L.C. & Michael Jackson We're Almost There/No Scrubs Aaron Neville My Brother, My Brother https://www.sixmillio...5-Starpoint.mp3 Next Saturday I'll be @ The Soul Purpose All-Dayer in Hinckley and then back to London on Sunday for another LIVE session from 2.00pm so catch ya same time next week. Ian D

Well after last week's Michael Jackson tribute I guess we're finally getting back to some sense of normality (until the funeral on Tuesday that is), so the show is back on more familiar ground for this week's show..... However, I will be fragile following the Independence Day Boogie All-Dayer (4th July), so to keep me on my toes I'm featuring a couple of shouts between 3.00-3.30pm for Carl Dixon and his recent excursion to Detroit featuring some of the first fruits of the tracks he recorded plus a look at the Soul Junction label with some of the excellent tracks they've recently put out..... Plus there'll be the usual couple of exclusives here and there and the full 2 hours of Soulful gems across the different eras, so please feel free to join me this Sunday afternoon..... Featuring the usual array of superlative talent......... Bob Sinclar feat Michael Robinson & Ron Carroll * The Dreamgirls Cast * The Collective Vs Peyton * Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes * Gee Bello * Melba Moore * Armed Gang * Heatwave * Chaka Khan * Gigolo * Dennis Lee & The Notables * Spyder Turner * Bandtraxx * Pree * George Kirby * Natural Impulse * Audio * Duane Williams * Norman Connors * Blue Mink * Tomi Jenkins * Teddy Pendergrass * T.L.C. & Michael Jackson * Aaron Neville Fun-packed and LIVE from 2.00pm Sunday afternoon - see ya later! Ian D

I'll be there! I think I have to do an interview with some guy called Mark Randle............ Ian D

Incredible stuff Jerry. Maybe that's why I love it and why it brought a tear to Imberboy's eye. It was obviously one of the key songs of my early musical awareness - I obviously heard it on the pirates of the time when I was 'secretly' listening to my Mitshubishi transistor radio with an earplug in bed and obviously prior to me discovering other things LOL.... So "Soul Coaxing" was a key record from a pre-adolescent era when things were musically fascinating and oh so simple then etc, etc, so the tune instantly zaps me back to a pretty good phase in life, hence the nostalgia angle...... How's that for a theory Simon........? Ian D

Blimey, so much controversy over a string led instrumental LOL.... Lest people forget the Northern scene was built on string-laden instrumentals whether they be the San Remo Strings, Wingate Love-In Strings, Milton Wright & The Terra-Shirma Strings, Kaddo Strings etc, etc. String instrumentals have always been part of the scene. I find it amazing that the scene preferred to play the Peggy March crap vocal version rather than the superior Raymond Lefevre instrumental but there's no accounting for taste LOL.... Great record. Ian D

I bet John could get £500 for Ray Merrell. The power of his mailing list must be huge. I see Lee Fields has halved in price! Ian D

Another version here by our own John Schroeder.............. https://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Soul%20Coaxing:%20The%20Many%20Moods%20Of%20John%20Schroeder:1922106309 Haven't heard this one but boy that cover's groovy LOL.....looks like it could be worth a punt........ And yes, Jerry, I think was played extensively on Caroline now come to think about it. Can anyone confirm? Ian D

It's a brilliant record Simon. I first heard it when a Radio One DJ used to use it as background music (can't remember who it was now). It came out on Major Minor over here and on a label called 4 Corners Of The World (a division of Kapp) in the U.S. It's pure Northern IMO and one of the best string-sections ever committed to vinyl and it's probably the French sensibility of composer Michel Polnareff which touches the heartstrings 'cos he's an unbelievable arranger........ Ian D

"Leader Of The Pack" I think. "Condition Red" was later I believe - '66 or '67 thereabouts? Got mine off Bradford Market for 10p in '74 thinking it was a vocal to the Baltimore & Ohio Marching Band LOL......... Ian D

Why dontcha put it on the bay for a £1000K minimum and see what happens? That way the market will soon tell you if it's rare or not as you'll get a stack of enquiries if it's a genuine hot item. I'm doing a similar thing with a batch of 20 x 7" Promos. I'll put 'em on @ a £300 minimum and see what happens. My feeling is that there are hardly any Jacko rarities. He's the most consistant popular artist of the last 30 years so there's little chance that they'd bother pressing less than a few hundred of anything otherwise it wouldn't be worth priniting the labels up for promo use! Most of the decent promos will be in collections or with people who worked for Epic and/or Jacko in some capacity I reckon. The rest will have gone to Radio Stations and promo reps to give out at the time. But get it on now. No time like the present to sell a Jacko rarity, which is almost a contradiction in terms if you think about it. None of his stuff is rare really is it? So I'd grab a grand for it if someone offered...... Best of luck, Ian D

It's been 38 years since I had it but I'm pretty sure it was vinyl. Also a very badly printed label from memory - it looked like a boot back then........ Ian D

Blimey. There used to be loads of that green label Steeltown release back in't day. I wonder where they are now.......? Ian D

Surprisingly I have circa 20 mint U.S. and U.K. promos on MJ and The Jacksons which I'm about to stick up as a collection, so wouldn't mind a pointer towards some MJ experts myself...... Also, even better I stumbled into a 31 album collection of rare Hendrix t'other week - all his 60's albums (on London, Track & Polydor) plus some rare imports, German box-set, the "Rainbow Bridge" soundtrack and an acetate for which I can't find any info but it's of a live set which doesn't appear to be available anywhere, even on Bootleg so do you know any Hendrix experts Pete........? Cheers! Ian D

Do you wanna come into the studio and have a chat/interview about the whole project? We could select an appropriate Sunday to suit you. The studio's in Crystal Palace....... Ian D

Well what a strange surreal weekend it's been. The events of the last 72 hours have really been the age of round-the-clock coverage of one of the biggest stars of the last 40 years, the brilliant Michael Jackson following his passing away on Thursday evening. At the time of writing MJ is No.1 on the UK album chart again, but we thought we'd rather concentrate on the GREAT records he made, rather than the Pop successes which everyone else will play. So here it is folks our 'lil tribute to the best of MJ from the last 40 years. Hope you enjoy it...... Many thanks to JJ, Dave and the Six Million Steps crew for the fantastic work they've already put in on preserving some precious archive material and also Neil Thomson for services beyond the call of duty in helping put together this tribute show. Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst on Sunday 28th June 2009 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Hour 1 Michael Jackson Never Can Say Goodbye 6MS Acappella/Original Version The Jackson 5 I Wanna Be Where You Are Original Version Michael Jackson You Are Not Alone Frankie Knuckles Mix Tortured Soul Home To You Duke feat Roland Clark So In Love With You Atomix Re-Mix The Jacksons Heartbreak Hotel Album Version The Sylvers Come Back Lover Jermaine Jackson feat Michael Jackson Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming The Jacksons Baby Be Mine 6MS Version The Trammps Shine A Light Hour 2 The Jackson 5 Skywriter The Jackson 5 Looking Through The Windows Luther Vandross Follow My Love Aquarian Dream Treat Me Like The One You Live Corey Glover Little Girl Marvin Gaye Abraham, Martin & John Michael Jackson I Just Can't Stop Loving You Michael Jackson I Can't Help It SWV/Michael Jackson Right Here/Human Nature Demolition Mix The Jacksons Show You The Way To Go 6MS Album Version Michael Jackson We're Almost There 6MS DJ Spinna Remix https://www.sixmillio...8-Starpoint.mp3 Normal service will be resumed next week. Hopefully I'll be seeing some of you @ The Independence Day Boogie All-Dayer on Saturday. Otherwise I'll be back @ 2.00pm next Sunday. And happy birthday Paul Schofield! "Skywriter" was for you mate! R.I.P. Michael. Ian D