Ian Dewhirst

Well it's a Monday night so I'll probably keep things pretty low key, so I guess it'll be 2 x grams of coke, a bag of hydroponic skunk, a couple of Kesey endorsed acid tabs, a handful of uppers, downers, snoozers and screamers, £20 quids worth of MDMA, a half-pint of liquid mescalin and a few beers. That should get me in the mood....... Ian D

Toy........? Are you sure that this is a valid derogatory term Dave? Ian D

Agree with the last sentence for sure Steve. But again, if someone actually went to the trouble of making up "Levine Must Go" tee shirts as well as a banner in the mid 70's (when such things weren't as easy as today), that strikes me as being a bit of a concerted personal campaign by someone who went to great lengths to attack IL dontcha think? That kind of sounds like a vendetta to me........ If it were me, I might have have voiced my discontent and even had a discreet word with the management or better still just gone to Wigan. But printing up tee-shirts.....? Ian D

Dammit! We're running out of people to argue debate with! Have a good weekend Simon. Ian D

Yep, there is. The name currently escapes me, but on the odd occasion when I had to master from vinyl for the Mastercuts series I used a real time filter called.......I think it begins with an 'F' or 'S'...........? It's quite well-known and I'll probaly remember it tomorrow LOL........ Ian D

C'mon Prophonics 2029, do you know how daft your statements sound? I've been collecting soul music for 40 odd years now and like to pride myself on knowing a thing or two about great Soul music when I hear it. I've also released over 1000 commercially successful releases over the years which means my taste appeals to a lot of people, hence anything which I like is pretty valid for a lot of people out there otherwise they wouldn't buy my releases. I learnt that lesson from Northern Soul - to date the best measure of audience response I've ever experienced. It's served me very well indeed ever since. Just like you I had a tendency to write off the majority of Levine's productions as being mostly pedestrian in concept. In fact I could be quite snitty about it at times if the truth be known and whenever he enthused about a particular production I had a tendency to filter most of his inherent passion out of the equation, ignore any hype and make my own conclusions as to the merits of the recording. However, I also loved a number of his productions, notably, "Reaching For The Best" - The Exciters, "Baby I'm Still The Same Man" - James Wells and "24 Hours A Day" - Barbara Pennington from the mid 1970's. After that, I had my hands full with other things and kind of ignored the majority of his stuff. It all sounded the same clunky type of SAW productions which I traditionally hate anyway. So not for me. But I've recently had reason to re-evaluate Levine's catalogue for both commercial and aesthetic reasons. As a result, I've actually LISTENED to tons of his stuff with different ears. And I'm finding hidden gems everywhere because there's loads of stuff. Too much in my opinion LOL. But I'm constantly amazed at the quality of certain tunes. I'd defy anyone to argue that these aren't GREAT soul records and I don't think any of 'em sound the same................ James Wells "Baby I'm Still The Same Man" https://www.zshare.net/audio/507285707f8b84c1/ Barbara Pennington "24 Hours A Day" https://www.zshare.net/audio/50728617fee6c6d4/ Brenda Holloway "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" https://www.zshare.net/audio/1988564700753962/ Vermeytta Royster "The Comfort Of Your Arms" https://www.zshare.net/audio/5006842273dfc312/ Gary The Master Blaster "Cafe Regio's" https://www.zshare.net/audio/183698315b8bc59d/ C.P. Spencer "This Man Needs You" https://www.zshare.net/audio/50729140aa4672a9/ The proof is in the pudding. Under-rate him at your peril. This stuff is great to my ears. What's NOT to like????? Ian D

Correctomundo again Family Tree! Couldn't have put it better myself. Ian D

Correctomundo Family Tree! Couldn't have put it better myself. Ian D

Yeah but he was baited almost incessantly Epic. This particular project has consumed him for the last 2 years, he sees it as a valid piece of work and I think a lot of the criticism towards him has been very personal. I seem to recall him quite reasonably asking various parties to ignore the thread if they weren't into what he was doing which seems eminently fair to me. The thread states quite clearly what it's about and Levine's deliberately kept out of any other threads to avoid getting dragged into any more controversy. I think most people would probably be pretty pissed-off if their work was trashed in the same way wouldn't they? He's just an easy target for some people. However, I think over 130,000 views over both parts of the thread tell their own story. I asked him to try and rise above it all, keep his dignity and come back on here. The Mel Britt ommission's put him on a pretty big downer though so I guess it's not been a good week for him all round........ Ian D

And boy, that "Lace" track is something else! Brilliant stuff - only just got hold of it and it's the last label I would have checked for a song like this. Ian D

Blimey, you're right Pete! I dunno what's happened but Mel isn't on the box set. Mind you, by all accounts it was such a logistical nightmare to put together that nothing surprises me anymore. It's a real pisser because this was done especially for the box set, 4 days of work was spent on it and Levine's almost in tears and getting to the bottom of why it's not there! For the benefit of anyone who hasn't seen the updated Mel Britt video here it is in it's full stupendous glory....... Mel Britt "She'll Come Running Back" Just awesome. Ian D

Well I can guarantee that James won't be burnt on a stake and I'll even buy him a drink. Are you coming Mark? We didn't have a chance to natter at the Ealing do....... Ian D

Well that was never my intention Ady which is why I qualified my statement by saying "I think it's fair to say that Ian Levine was never a natural fit" which he wasn't. Let's not forget we're talking about a time when 'paki-bashing' was in fashion, the NF were running rampant, the black clubs were almost always segregated and confined to their own areas and most gay clubs were tucked away in discreet parts of town. There simply wasn't the same degree of integration that there is today. If anything the Northern scene helped to break down many of these barriers (as anyone who went to 'Taurus' in Huddersfield @ The Reggae Club in 1973 will no doubt testify). As I said before, the Northern scene was much more tolerant than most which is why we have such a unique blend of people on the scene these days. No offence was meant - I was merely trying to point out that Levine didn't have an easy ride back then and still doesn't here and now by the looks of it. No doubt that's down to a number of different factors! Ian D

I said 'almost cursed' James. I deliberately didn't go the full hog because such a thing would clearly be ridiculous. Ian D

I think I'd agree with that Mikey. IL doesn't do himself any favours at times - I've had countless fall-outs with him over the years but I do see a lot of criticism from people who don't even know him and haven't achieved 1/100th of what he's done for the scene at various times. But, hey, healthy debate is what a forum is for isn't it? Ian D

LOL, no chance of that! Ian D

I never once alluded to the "Northern Soul scene being a hostile environment" - those were Rod's words, not mine, as were terms like "neo Nazi skinheads". I wasn't sensationalist at all, just saying it like it was and I quote verbatim:- "However it wasn't always an easy ride. Levine has always attracted a large degree of controversy throughout his life. He was almost cursed for being the offspring of rich parents, being Jewish and, eventually, being gay - all three things being the diametric opposite of what was essentially a working class scene in the North of the UK. I think it's fair to say that Ian Levine was never a natural fit. Add to the above, the fact that he often came across as arrogant, stubborn, outspoken, selfish and totally committed to his own views and you have a perfect recipe for an easy target and an object of derision over the years. However it's these very attributes that are actually his strength. He's had to develop a thick skin throughout his whole life, so any criticism or bigotry has always tended to roll off his back over time. It's his own defence mechanism because, frankly, most people in his shoes would have given up a long time ago". As recently as a few weeks ago, I had a well-known figure on the scene state to me that anyone could have found the records that Levine found had they had rich parents! Plus I've lost count of the amount of times Levine has been slurred for his beliefs, his sexual orientation and his physique - you only have to read this very thread for some examples - the worst ones have quite rightly been removed by the mods. The 70's were a vastly different landscape to today James. I got death threats from the NF for playing playing black music in the 70's plus I saw first hand the upset that bigotry and racism caused some of my friends of mine at the time and there are people on here who will concurr with that. Having said that, the Northern scene was much better than most in these aspects, but don't make the mistake of thinking that everything was squeaky clean and politically correct back then because it wasn't. For a guy who's just spent the best part of a couple of years putting such a huge project together I think Levine's come in for a lot of unwarranted personal abuse as this thread clearly shows. As I stated at the beginning of the review, I was merely trying to put some historical context in there for the benefit of younger readers who can't understand the amount of bile which pours forth whenever Ian Levine's name gets mentioned. Are you coming to the launch on Monday? Ian D

Mmmmm. Maybe it's time to start flogging some of those records back to where they came from! I've got a few thousand £5 records which I'll flog back to the USA @ anytime LOL..... In fact, any U.S. buyers can contact me right now for a £3.00 list which makes a lot of sense at current exchange rates.......... Ian D

Funny you should say that as I was pretty disappointed with the Sly Stone version of "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" off one of Sly's early albums........ Ian D

I think so. I remember him telling me about notorious New York gay clubs like The Anvil circa '75/'76, so I think the penny dropped for me around then......... Ian D

LOL, try "War & Peace" by Leo Tolstoy........... Ian D

You could be right Steve, but on the other hand I don't remember too many banners @ other venues demanding that certain DJ's should go when they were playing really bad pop music......... For someone to take the time to make up a banner demanding that someone should go from a venue indicates to me that it may have been a bit more personal......... Ian D

Well I was there too and I can only report on numerous things which I both witnessed and heard with my own ears. Do you not remember the "Levine Must Go" campaign complete with banner or was that just a product of my over-active imagination too? How many people do you know who have solicited such a reaction? "Neo-Nazi skinheads" and "hostile environment being portrayed by Ian D"? C'mon please Rod, that's really over-egging things a tad isn't it? You only have to read both parts of this very thread from beginning to end to see plenty of evidence of the hostility towards Levine right here, prior to some of the more obnoxious posts being removed so they don't cause even more offence........... Ian D

This was to put a bit of background context behind the project for the benefit of people who may be new to the scene. Plus it's true. I was there and witnessed a lot of bigotry and tittle-tattle against Levine first hand so I thought it was relevent to the story behind the release as I can't think of anyone else who has assembled a project like this against such a welter of sustained criticism. There could potentially be some people who could get influenced by some of the unfair criticism which gets levelled at Levine and who may avoid the project for ridiculous reasons, so I thought it was only fair to put some context in there. I'll do likewise for the next guy who comes along with a 5 x DVD set of 200 performances, OK? Been going to Soho for the last 36 years mate - it's where I used to buy many of my records back in the 70's! Ian D

Damn. Just got back from Fuerto Ventura (the next island to Lanzarote and 20 minutes by ferry) so a classic case of bad-timing! Was pretty sunny most of the time and winds are pretty strong in that neck of the woods so take a cardi LOL.... Also I switched on the radio in the car the other day and heard "If It's All The Same To You Babe" - Luther Ingram pumping out which was a nice surprise plus caught a Northern Soul show which is on one of the local stations every Tuesday night (6.30-8.30pm every Tuesday night I think) by a guy called Dave Cummings which put me in the mood. Also worth looking around for a Spanish copy of "Get On Your Knees" by Los Canarios. If you can't find one in Lanzarote then forget it LOL.... Have fun all! Ian D