Ian Dewhirst

I had it for years with the bloody Si Hightower Test Pressing! Can't play it to anyone ever again. What a bastard. This OVO thing's a real pisser........... Ian D

Wow! Sounds great Phil! When's the next do? Ian D

OK, thanks Yank. I was told it was the same Spinners as Tri-Phi/Motown but that's obviously wrong...... Ian D

Or this even: Punter: 'Excuse me Mister DJ, would you perhaps have (insert random tune name here) that you could play for me and my friends, it's one of our favourites and we'd love to hear it. I realise that there's only one known copy in the world and that's in Japan, but I was wondering if you could play it off the CD which is legitimate and supplies royalties to the artist and in fact, has earnt him far more in royalties than the one-off copy in Japan ever did. It would really add to the enjoyment of our night, for which we've paid seven pounds entrance fee'? DJ Warwick Hunt: "No, sorry mate, original vinyl only. If you wanna hear that you'll have to go to Japan'. Ian D

Here goes...... Pat Lewis "Moving On" https://www.zshare.net/audio/1917612845feee55/ Ian D

A friend from the U.S. has just posted a list of records he's had in storage from the 60's & 70's and one of 'em is:- THE SPINNERS "RICHARD PRY, PRIVATE EYE" b/w "BIRDWATCHIN" - 1 copy END - # 1045 (With End Paper sleeve) I can't locate it in any of the price guides. It's the same Spinners as the Tri-Phi/Motown group but I can't find any info about this release. Can anyone help? Cheers, Ian D

Sure does wise one! Sounded brilliant @ Essex t'other week and sounded brilliant on the radio this afternoon! One of her best ever vocal performances IMO - she sounds better than many of her Invictus recordings and was obviously right at the top of her game when she did this! Great stuff! Ian D

Yes folks, I'm back on a regular rhythm now and just getting used to flying solo again. Actually, it's OK as I don't have Alan nattering in my ear about bloody Chelsea Football Club any more LOL....... Anyway, please feel free to join me LIVE at 2.00pm today for another 2 hours of the most superlative sounds you could wish to hear spanning the last 4 decades of Soul Music. The show is packed to the seams with wonderful music from:- Five Special, Tongue In Cheek, La Trece, Guy Costley, The Partners, Sisters With Voices, James 'J.T.' Taylor, Henry Thomas, Gwendolyn Lassic, Larry Wu, Zingara, Gary The Master Blaster, Matta Baby, Buddy Miles, Dave Love, Melvin Moore, Little Johnny Blair, Nolan Porter, Sly & The Family Stone, Freda Payne, Bobby Caldwell, Mosely & Johnson, Matt Covington, Sergio Mendes, Chaka Khan, Carolyn Crawford & Dietrick Haddon The names speak for themselves! So 2.00-2.30 we have a bunch of Soulful uptempo gems from the 70's & 80's, between 2.30-3.00 some beautiful mid-tempo Soulful grooves from the 80's & 90's, between 3.00-3.30 a nice burst of Northern, Modern and just great uptempo tracks from the 60's, 70's and even 90's and then the final 30 minutes of killer slowies, sensual grooves and soulful anthems. Try and join me if ya can! It's so much better to have an audience....... 2.00pm today LIVE on www.starpointradio.com. You know it makes sense.......... Ian D

Let's give it a listen........... Freda Payne "Memories And Souvenirs" https://www.zshare.net/audio/19147069ac3e7081/ Ian D

515 Downloads in 10 days is pretty exceptional in my experience I think it's a natural. We'll soon see........... Ian D

I don't think they're worth that much unfortunately. I think Damian's genorosity only runs to a couple of grand for his workers. Not done bad for a lad from Leeds has he? Ian D

I know. Old habits die hard as this thread proves! My ideal gig would be OV and Laptop. Even though the quality from the laptop would be far superior to the quality of the vinyl, I guess you'd have to have vinyl for certain gigs wouldn't you? I bought 3 vinyl records this week too. I'm not a very good advert am I? Ian D

A couple of my mates work for him and they often nick the paint he uses because it's a special type apparently. Also he pays his staff bonuses with small pieces of his own artwork but woe betide anyone who tries to sell it whilst they're still working for him! Ian D

I realised the gig was up a few years ago, when I staggered into Madame Jo-Jo's with two crates of 12" vinyl. I finally managed to manouver my way to the stage, dumped my crates and stood there panting to get my breath back. The kid who was deejaying had no records. Just two I-Pods. He even had an I-Pod 'gunbelt' which held his I-Pods like a western gunslinger. I said to him somewhat snottily, "Don't You Have ANY records then"? He said, "What For"? I said, "To give you plenty of choice and variety in what you play!" He said, "How may tunes do you have there mate"? I said, "about 300" He said, "I've got 20,000 right here" he said patting his holsters. He then proceeded to click to the next track and watched the floor swell to 200 people dancing completely unaware of the format. To add salt to the wound, I lined up my first record to play and SOME PRICK bumped the deck knocking the stylus onto the mat, so all the 200 dancers heard was the noise of a stylus scraping the deck! He looked at me with a smirk and said, "You do it your way and I'll do it my way mate, OK"? Ian D

However, the scene has changed a lot hasn't it? It's actually much more diverse in tempo then before so you can get away with beat ballads, early 60's and even slowies etc, etc. And is better for it, IMVHO, judging from the RW Wigan playlists that pasted up so frequently on this site! 'A venue's only as good as it's deejays tastes' is a mantra worth remembering. I pretty much stopped going when I emigrated in '76 but in those early years it was pretty magical. Everyone played a part, but Richard Searling and Kev Roberts made the trips worthwhile for me primarily and both of 'em had phenomenally rare OV LOL. And let's not forget that it was Russ who championed "Put Your Arms Around Me" - The Sherry's on OV and had the 2nd copy of "Cool Off" amongst other things. I'm kinda glad that my last trip was in '75/'76 as I only remember the good times. I started losing interest when the Joey Dee's, "Hawaii Five 0"'s, Joe 90's and Gary Lewis & The Playboys started getting aired....... Ian D

Cheapies/revived items - around 10% Note, no oldies back then. Can somebody explain to me the difference between a "revived item" and an oldie? perhaps has something to do with the DJ playing it... Yep, a revived item would be something which maybe had been played at an earlier time but which had never taken off before. A certain deejay might then decide that maybe the timing is better 2nd time around and hence start hammering it again and give it a new lease of life. You could say that Lee Fields "Take Me Back" could be termed a 'revived item' in that it only received plays at select venues in the mid 70's and never became a classic first time around. 30 years later Butch starts playing it and lo and behold, finds a new appreciative audience 2nd time around. Some examples of 'revived items' in the mid 70's include "Looking For You" - Garnett Mimms, "Better Use Your Head" - Little Anthony & The Imperials, "Girl Don't Make Me Wait" - Bunny Sigler, "Keep On" - Sterling Magee etc, etc - all were 'known' and played in a couple of places here and there, but didn't really establish themselves until the whole scene adopted 'em. Whereas an oldie would be an established monster from first time around, if you see what I mean. Ian D

I would Sean. THAT sounds like a progressive venue with the correct philosophy for this day and age! Truth be told, I like a bit of everything as some of the best pieces of 'MUSIC' I've heard in the last 5 years have been via several different formats OV, LP, CD or MP3 - I'm not particularly aware of the format when I first hear something out. If what comes out of the speakers slays me then I'm not even that bothered about the format to be honest. It's the music bit I like mostly. And can you imagine never being allowed to hear this.... The Originals "Suspicion" https://www.zshare.net/audio/19098538a565d8f5/ or even this Freda Payne "Memories And Souvenirs" https://www.zshare.net/audio/19098713fea3cf8e/ Doesn't bear thinking about for me. How much great music could effectively be censored simply because it's never actually been on vinyl through no fault of it's own? Ian D

Yeah but it's very RARE Cheese presumably? Ian D

Ian D

Contentious issue mate and there's several different views on it depending on who you talk to! However, I can clearly recall being at Burnley Cricket Club one Tuesday night and Brad from Burnley telling me that Levine had played him a DYNAMITE Tony Middleton tune on Mala called "Paris Blues" produced by Claus Ogerman - an original old time mid-tempo pounder. Brad was brilliant on detail so I always took him seriously. So we all went over to the Mecca the following Saturday and heard it for the first time. I remember clearly 'cos after the Mecca on the way to Wigan there'd be spontaneous bursts of various people in the car screaming "Paris Blues, follow me each place I go" completely out-of-tune but you get the gist........ Maybe someone can put a date on it? It feels like it was '74 ish............? Ian D

Yep, I can remember having loads of great records which wouldn't have done jack back then on the basis that they were too slow - Johnny Bartel's "If This Isn't Love", Jimmy McFarland's "Lonely Lover" and George Soule's "Baby Please Me" are three that spring to mind...... Ian D

Yep, from a previous thread Seb. It would have been unusual if G. Clinton's name wasn't on the credits so I'd probably have played it out of curiosity and then discarded if it was no good back then. Ian D

Well I'd have checked the credits and if there was no G. Clinton on there I may well have passed on the basis that it could be a white group. Also it's dangerous to compare eras as I'm finding out daily LOL. I've lost count of the HUNDREDS of records I left in L.A. on the basis that they were too slow for back then. Also when I used to go digging with Soussan, he put me off tons of records which have since gone big with his constant put downs e.g. "that's repetitive GAR-BAGE baby boy", "you wouldn't play this at your funeral", "it's pop GAR-BAGE" or he'd just look at the record and snap in it half! So anyone who's ever found a broken copy of Kell Osbourne "Quicksand" and wondered why, there's your answer! Ian D

Well great in theory, but usually the first question asked is what records does someone have. Anyone answering with the reply, "well he's got 2000 great OVO but mostly cheapies and unknowns" will surely get the reply, "haven't we all". Plus it would take a very brave DJ to play to a large crowd with a stack of records they've never heard before I reckon. The balance used to be along the lines of:- Established monsters - around 50% New 'breakers' - around 30% New total unknowns - around 10% Cheapies/revived items - around 10% Note, no oldies back then. However, the scene has changed a lot hasn't it? It's actually much more diverse in tempo then before so you can get away with beat ballads, early 60's and even slowies etc, etc. But the real thermometer always used to be the dancefloor which you obviously couldn't afford to alienate back then - especially at the Casino or Cleethorpes or you wouldn't be invited back! Ian D

Never saw it when I was doing the rounds in California in the mid 70's and never saw on numerous trips all over the U.S. since then, so obviously it's very rare. However, the Parliaments are surely the sort of group which you would automatically check wouldn't you? What are you going to do if you see a Parliaments record on Cabell and then check the credits - leave it? Don't think so somehow......... Ian D