Ian Dewhirst

Says the guy whose entire vocabulary consists of the word 'Soul' and 'Bowl'........ When's the next Lifeline then.....? And everyone's 100% right. I need to get my arse up there don't I? Ian D

Well gimme a lift up there for the next one then. I fancy some amusement on the journey........... Ian D

Yeah but a lot of those are revived oldies Marc. Which Ethics is it by the way (I'm beginning to wince already since you couldn't give Ethics records away at one time LOL)? Ian D

So what are the biggest tunes of the moment then folks? Ian D

No I'm not Beeks. The vast majority of my favorite tunes are probably £10-£30 items, but if I've got 'em right here I'm hardly going to spend 6 hours in a car and £80 in petrol to hear 'em 200 miles away am I? Ian D

I agree with a lot you say Adam, but the reality is that the vast majority of £10 records aren't really going to excite me in quite the same way as some of the harder to find stuff. I actually applaud anyone who can turn a £10 record into a popular tune but there aren't really that many of 'em that we haven't heard already that have the potential to become huge after 40 years are there? Someone did do a list earlier in the thread and I looked at it and whilst the records were OK, I don't know that I'd want to travel 200 miles to hear 'em again. I agree that a mix with rare/cheapies/classics/lesser knowns is the way to go though. It's got to be a lot more difficult to 'break' something on a national level these days though isn't it? In fact, what are the top 10 O.V. monsters in the UK at the moment? Does anyone know or is there such a thing anymore? Does it boil down to Butch, Andy and Sam's boxes or is there a general criteria which dictates what is big these days? Ian D

Like a record baby...... That's 'cos there's really no easy answers. Or maybe there are come to think of it. The well-equiped DJ's of the future should do the following:- 1) Invest £200K in buying O.V. Northern originals and a number of one-off's. 2) Invest another £5K on every legitimate CD release. 3) Invest another £2K on every legitimate Download release. Then you're covered for all angles! Now all you need is good taste which can't be bought at any price! Ian D

And what about the Jose Burgos feat Kenny Bobien "For Your Love" - arguably one of the biggest tracks of the moment but only available on download. Should the audience be deprived of hearing this? It's easily the most requested track on the show from an equal contingent of Northern and Modern fans? Ian D

I know mate. Everyone had an acetate or two in their boxes back then. Another weird quirk was that if a pressing came out too early, like if a sound was still building in popularity but there weren't enough originals around, then it was kind of OK to play it for a couple of weeks before the wallies jumped on it. I remember virtually everyone caning "Afternoon Of The Rhino" on Soulbeat 'cos it was on a 45 for the first time and the fidelity on the O.V. LP wasn't that good...... Youngblood Smith "You Can Split" was a great example of a pressing coming out before the record had even broken. Same as Lou Courtney "Me And You Doing The Boogaloo" (why?), the Sunlovers "You'll Never Make The Grade" and even Rubin "You've Been Away".......... The bootleggers were quicker then the bloody DJ's back then......... Ian D

Give 'em another year or two and that's what they'll be doing anyway Steve! C'mon someone - fund me on setting up a Northern Soul retirement village quick! Oldies only mind........ Ian D

Yep, I'm ashamed to admit that I bought a Duke Browner "Crying Over You"/Kaddoo Strings "Nothing But Love" acetate for £3.00 off Mopsy from Sheffield at the start of my deejaying days. I was young and foolish back then........... Ian D

DJ Credibility Rating In Relation To Playing Eddie Parker's "Love You Baby" Format DJ Rating Original Ashford W/L Promo 10/10 Original Ashford Normal 9/10 French Googa Mooga 8/10 UK Grapevine 7/10 Original Torch era D/S acetate 6/10 CD Reissue 5/10 Ist US Pressing (large ARCHER Stamp) 4/10 2nd US Pressing (small ARCHER stamp) 3/10 3rd US Pressing (no ARCHER stamp) 2/10 MP3 1/10 Can we please now start applying this formula to every single DJ out there on every one of his or her records, build a national Northern database and then grade 'em in the Northern DJ Credibility Top 100? Ian D

Yep, of course. It was a legitimate issue. Anyone who thinks it wouldn't be aceptable would have to disqualify every original U.K. pressing of every U.S. Northern Soul release on the same basis surely? Ian D

That's 'cos there weren't any oldies DJ's in the early 70's - I think Dave Evison was pretty much the first and then Mr M's established the Oldies thing. So there was really no Oldies/Nostalgia scene for the majority. The people who played pressings back then were like local DJ's who were holding a Northern night in a pub on a Tuesday night. Everyone else was trying to break new records or playing established ones that hadn't yet been bootlegged. So you're right Dave. Everyone absolutely knew who the real DJ's were because the 'real' DJ's didn't tend to play oldies. Difficult these days. It's like the old Northern/Modern split except this time it's Oldies/Top 500/Crowd Pleaser/Nostalgia versus Rare/Northern/RnB/Doo-Wop/Crossover etc. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the incredible popularity of the bootlegs to the core audience sales-wise. The Northern Soul scene have always bought them in droves - that's why they're still here some 40 years later since the original Soul Sounds pressings in the late 60's. So whatever preaching there is about O.V.O. it doesn't seem to ever stop people bootlegging 'em or, perhaps worse, the same audience buying 'em. The message has been missed somewhere along the line by the looks of it. If it's O.V.O. all the way, then shouldn't bootlegs be banned everywhere? Venues, dealers, magazines, shops etc, etc. And would people actually stop buying 'em? Ian D

Jerry Cook's "I Hurt On The Other Side". I bumped into Sydney Barnes (the writer) a few years ago in the South of France, bowed, then fell to my knees on the croisette and said "I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy......." Ian D

Ian D

Hard to believe this was the same guy who released "Lord If You're A Woman" after reading the testimony from some of his lady friends...... Ian D

Well, I've been a collector for over 40 years and sometimes I just don't have the budget for super rare originals. If I had a spare £50K I may well put a bid in for Frank Wilson but until I get enough dosh I'll just have to make do with the reissue. I'd prefer not to deprive myself of the aesthetic value of listening to the music if possible. Plus Frank will actually receive royalties as well..... Same with Warhol's artwork which I also love. Unfortunately it goes without saying that Charles Saatchi is likely to outbid me on any Warhol originals which are still knocking around but the fact that I can't have a £15,000,000 original on my wall in no way deprives me of appreciating his art. We can't all own an original Mona Lisa Davie......... Ian D

An actor's life is not for me, but I play the part so well, though my heart is broken down inside, no one can ever tell, they look at me, but they don't see this sad but lonely clown (now baby), if they took a closer look, they'd see the smile was upside down, if they could turn me over, their gonna see, there's really two sides of me, and I hurt all on the other side......... Sheer poetry! Ian D

Someone on this very forum explained to me the other week why the O.V.O. thing is such a contentious issue. He reckoned that O.V.O. underpins the whole eco-system of the scene - especially from the record dealers persepective which I guess makes sense. But I still don't think it's as back and white as some people make out. Not playing a newly discovered track which has never been on vinyl before off a CD is just plain daft - some of the best tunes I've heard in the last couple of years have never been released on vinyl, so what's the deal with playing them out? But I still think that you have to be pretty well-off to play a decent O.V.O. set that will satisfy a full dancefloor at most gigs. You'd need at least £150K to get with the big boys and have a popular hotbox surely? The £5-£10 sounds do not a full dancefloor make - with the greatest of respect the majority of those records are not necessarily the ones I wanna travel 200 miles to hear...... It is pretty contentious though. In the early hours of this morning @ Crossfire Keb Darge announced he was putting a CD on and we almost got stampeded by the exodus from the dancefloor........it turns out he was just getting the decks moved so he could actually see the audience and vice versa and had to get the P.A. guys to put a CD on whilst the decks were moved. Needless to say normal O.V.O. service was resumed pretty quickly....... Ian D

Yep, here's the Easter Sunday special which covered a whole realm of eras over the last 45 years and boy, did we cover some ground.......there's almost everything but the kitchen sink in this week's show! A Burt Bacharach and Hal David section featuring Dionne Warwick, Lou Johnson and Marva Whitney which are all Soulful gems plus a 'Sunday' themed section for you regulars featuring Bettye Swann, Jerry Butler and Chaka Khan. Add to that a few exclusives from First Choice, Jr Walker and Conrad Jackson plus the usual burst of great ORIGINAL MASTERCUTS type tunes from all era and styles and that should make for an Easter special! Anyway, for those of you who missed the show live - enjoy the download and the rest of the bank holiday weekend and I'll see y'all next week! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst on Sunday 12th April 2009 on www.starpointradio.com. To download the show simply hit the link below! Or for this and all archived shows please pay a visit to www.sixmillionsteps.com where you can download the last 4 weeks worth of all Six Million Steps produced shows. That's 16 hours of free music over the last 4 weeks plus loads of new fully downloadable KILLER mixes in a variety of styles! So let's go with this week's show:- 1st Hour Jamie Liddell - Another Day Terry Hunter feat Terisa Griffin - Wonderful Marc Evans - Reach Out For Love 4-Love - Hold Your Head Up High Luther Vandross - Follow My Love First Choice - Love Having You Around - Tony Coote Re-Edit Kleeer - I've Had Enough (Can' Take Anymore) Change - Heaven Of My Life Hi Gloss - I'm Totally Yours Jimmy & Vella Cameron - Be Fair To Me 2nd Hour The 3rd Degree - Mercy Dionne Warwick with Celia Cruz & The Pete Escovedo Orchestra - Do You Know The Way To San Jose Lou Johnson - Always Something There To Remind Me Marva Whitney - This Girl's In Love With You L.T. Davies - Love Recipe Harold Melvin & The Blue-Notes - Baby I'm Back Bettye Swann - I Want Sunday Back Again Jerry Butler - What Do You Do On A Sunday Afternoon? Chaka Khan - Any Old Sunday Jr Walker & The All-Stars - Way Back Home - Inst & Voc Full Length Mix Cut Glass - Rising Cost Of Love Conrad Jackson - Come Back With Me Lisa Shaw - Honey Mark Cappani - I Believe In Miracles https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2009-04-12-Starpoint.mp3 Right! That's enough work for the weekend. I'm off to Northern All-Nighter in the heart of London now to watch Ady Croasdel, Keb Darge, Ginger Taylor, Roger Stewart and Ian Levine work their nuts off! See y'all next week! Best, Ian D

That's two of us then LOL. I've always used cans 'cos I like the dynamics between one record ending and the other beginning. I personally don't like too many gaps or crackling before a record starts....... But cue burn on styrene pressings ruined some very good records - anyone remember the early copies of Mel Britt which were hammered so much that you could hardly hear Mel's voice......? Ian D

I've actually got an unreleased double CD of Daryl Hall's early solo Philly recordings which I got sent last year and which I'll similarly pull-out now........will report back if there's anything phenomenal on there......... Ian D

Wow, the last few weeks have been like a blur with a plethora of guest appearances from Gary Lee, Alan Champ and Simon M and some fantastic music being aired...... ........but this bank holiday's been a blessing 'cos it's given me the chance to find some blinders and boy we have 'em in spades this week. A couple of nice 'first-time on radio exclusives' on a couple of brilliant re-edits and the phenomenal Conrad Jackson track which if you haven't heard it yet is worth the price of the show alone LOL..... .........also couple of mini-sections this week with the emphasis on just great songs, so we have a wee Burt Bacharach/Hal David burst in the Northern/Modern/Crossover section featuring Dionne Warwick, Lou Johnson and Marva Whitney and a special 'Sunday' themed section going on for the regulars featuring Betty Swann, Jerry Butler and Chaka Khan. Plus did I mention the Jr Walker slice of beauty with the full version Of "Way Back Home" featuring the vocal and instrumental for the first time on radio........? ..........so it'll be an Easter Sunday special this week folks. The idea is that I'll get nicely trashed LIVE on air spinning some great tunes and then wander down to the Northern do @ the I.S.H. later on......... ...........it'll be a messy bank holiday and it starts tomorrow @ 2.00pm featuring tunes from.... Jamie Liddell, Terry Hunter feat Terisa Griffin, Marc Evans, 4-Love, Luther Vandross, First Choice, Kleeer, Change, Hi Gloss, Jimmy & Vella Cameron, The 3rd Degree, Dionne Warwick with Celia Cruz & The Pete Escovedo Orchestra, Lou Johnson, Marva Whitney, L.T. Davies, Harold Melvin & The Blue-Notes, Bettye Swann, Jerry Butler, Chaka Khan, Jr Walker & The All-Stars, Cut Glass, Conrad Jackson, Lisa Shaw & Mark Cappani Join the madness! See ya tomorrow...... Ian D