Ian Dewhirst

George 'Porky' Peckham did all my Mastercuts albums. I LOVE him! If you check all the Mastercuts albums Porky's trademark etching is on all the masters 'cos he was the king in my opinion. But I never knew his history prior to the mid 70's. He used to talk about Elvis Costello and Stiff all the time. I never knew he did Motown! NOW I get it totally. That guy had the magic touch. Blast, I wish I'd known that in the mid 90's! Quality is quality....... And c'mon Tone.....we've known each other a long time........so that EMI stash.........? Ian D

LOL! Brilliant Steve. That's EXACTLY the kind of story we want on here! John 'Kojak' Harvey. Now there was a character. Dunno where the hell he came from, but, HEY! He looked very similar to renowned U.S. TV detective Kojak as played with the requisite zeal by one Telly Savalas. But John 'Kojak' Harvey booked me for an all-dayer @ The Cat's Whiskers in Meanwood, Leeds with Jnr Walker & The All-Stars, so the guy can do wrong in my eyes. I wrote-off my car off on the way back from Cleethorpes but still made the gig. How's that for dedication? But, then again, who wouldn't? And Mick Flello was a top Geezer too! Is he still around? Smooth bugger......could always persuade you to flog him a record LOL...... More like this please gentlemen! Sometimes the small victories can be the sweetest. Ian D

Wow. That really surprises me. I've often thought that the sound really leapt from some of those early TMG 500's. I still find the UK mastering on, for example, "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On" to be some of the best I've ever heard. I wonder who mastered them - someone in-house @ Abbey Road maybe? And if they're dubs, then gimme a dub anytime LOL..... And what became of the EMI library? I never saw it but I understood there was one at the pressing plant in the early 80's. Also, theoretically, that could mean that 2 x Frank Wilson's came over here in the 60's, unlkely though it seems........ Was anyone's Grandad an EMI rep in the 60's LOL? Ian D

Special Guest This Week: Jeff Young - One Of The Original Soul Radio Icons! Yep, a magnificent 2 hours of wonderful music interspersed with Jeff Young's many reminiscences of his last 35 years of being at the forefront of the music world. If there's a much better way of spending a Sunday afternoon we've yet to find it! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst & Alan Champ - Sunday 6th April 2008 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 get the last 4 weeks worth of all Six Million Steps produced shows. That's 16 hours of free music over the last 4 weeks alone! Plus, loads of new fully downloadable KILLER mixes in a variety of styles. 1st Hour Opening Mix: Don Ray - Standing In The Rain Wilbert Longmire - Black Is The Colour - Close Mix Herbie Hancock - Saturday Night Donald Byrd - Lovin' You Pockets - Come Go With Me Five Special - The More I Get To Know You Arthur Adams - You Got The Floor Alicia Myers - I Want To Thank You Harold Melvin & The Blue-Notes - Bad Luck Power Of Attorney - Love For You 2nd Hour Softouch - After You Give Your All Darrow Fletcher - What Good Am I Without You The Whispers - Remember Me The Impalas - Whip It On Me Three Degrees - Contact Marlena Shaw - Let's Wade In The Water Jodi Mathis - Don't You Care Anymore Eddie Foster - I Never Knew Starvue - Put The B/S Aside Stevie Wonder - Creeping Natural High - I Think I'm Falling In Love With You David Ruffin - Walk Away From Love Jeffrey Osbourne - Don't You Get So Mad Marvin Gaye & Martin Luther King - Now Is The Time/What's Going On https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2008-04-06-Starpoint.mp3 Best, Ian D

That was Simon's early name for the group which would become Shalamar. In fact, I still have a 10" acetate which says "Uptown Festival" - Sam & Kitty right here. Sam & Kitty was a holdover from when Simon originally wanted to do a Northern Soul medley, until I pointed out that Sam & Kitty would have prior rights to the name and it wasn't such a good idea to have a duo name for a trio group! I should be thanked really otherwise there could have been a whole ramp of hit records in the 70's by Sam & Kitty, which I don't think has the same ring as Shalamar! Ian D

Blimey. Sean Hampsey is closet Soussan fan shock horror! Do you have a Soussan Shrine in the cellar perchance.....? And careful mate. That "Love & Desire"'s a boot - the original was on Polydor...... Ian D

Nope, no such luck. Pretty sure it's album-only in both the UK and US. Great tune though (see attached). The reason why it became a House anthem is because it was huge on Chicago black radio back in the 70's and all the House kids heard it growing up! I talked at length about this with Marshall Jefferson and he told me that "I Can't Turn Around" was a Chicago radio 'staple' in the 70's and that's why House music appropriated the rhythm arrangement and most of the song. Ian D

Damn. Dunno what happened there but I lost a whole mail! I was replying to Dave's post about the book. Fascinating - Simon wouldn't have dared mess with Motown so he'd have been stuck with a whole pile of unsellable books and large printing bill no doubt. Bet the printer's still waiting LOL...... One thing we haven't touched on in this thread, was Simon's habit of appropriating and 're-writing' Northern Soul tunes for his Disco productions in the late 70's. Here's a couple of examples: "After Dark" - Patti Brooks (see attached) Anyone notice a passing resemblence to Shawn Robinson's "My Dear Heart" perchance? He did it again with Arpeggio's "Love & Desire" - a blatant remake of the Flirtations "Stronger Than Her Love". In both the above cases the lyrics were completely re-written but the underlying tune, melody and basic rhythm arrangement are exactly the same. I haven't checked the song credits but I'm sure one S. Soussan will be pretty prominent! I'll write about my horrific first night in L.A. with Soussan when I pluck up the moral courage to re-visit the embarassment of that particular occasion. Next coupla days probably. .....it'll be painful but I may as well get it out of the way! Ian D

Does anyone play any of these? Only Love Can Save Me Now - Al Jones Keep On - Sterling McGee I Gotta Find Me Somebody - The Velvets Let's Have A Love-In - Wingate Love-In Strings The Gallop - Milton Wright It Ain't Easy - Charles Russell Trying To Find My Woman - Lou Courtney Marble & Iron - Carl Douglas Gotta Tell Somebody - Tony Talent Being Without You - Maurice Williams I Need Your Love So Deperately - Peaches & Herb Temptation's Calling My Name - Lee David Standing In The Darkness - The Ethics California Montage - Young Holt Unlimited Is It All Gone - The Magicians Do It To It - The Funky Sisters One thing I've noticed is that tempos have massively decreased. No one seems to like the real stompers any more. Is it that as the crowds have got older, then the tempo has decreased in order to accomodate the crowd (and aging legs)? Could anyone play The Velvets these days I wonder................? Ian D

I'm a sucker for great artwork and I loved some of the artwork in that book. They never really spent anything on Black acts back in the day until Isaac Hayes came along with "Black Moses" and almost bankrupted Stax before it went down anyway LOL..... Best Northern Soul album sleeve? The Skull Snaps with the full gatefold and that unbelievable inner sleeve! Ian D

LOL! Great minds think alike. I've got one as well. It's bloody awkward to file because of it's shape but I can't bring myself to get rid of it..... You've probably got all the others I'd imagine...... Ian D

Oh yeah. Forgot about that. However, I think I'm right in saying that Abbey Road would only have the original copy masters which were originally ordered by the UK licensees of the time (EMI I think) and they wouldn't contain a tape of a record which never got properly released in the UK IMO. I think the situation changed when Universal bought Motown because then all the original tapes would be transferred to Universal. However, there are tens of thousands of tapes and it would take years to go through them properly. Gordon Fruin originally had the job of going through the tapes for Universal around 10 years ago and I suspect that this is where some of the more interesting new discoveries came from. Does Mr King come on here? I think he'd know best, so can someone give him a nudge? Ian D

Wow. I've never actually seen that. It'd be interesting to see how it compares to Johnny and Tim's guides........ Incidentally, a good book to get for the Uni project might be the Album Cover Album. It's got all the good 60's & 70's Hipgnosis/Roger Dean sleeves etc. Here's one going cheap - https://cgi.ebay.ca/Album-Cover-Album-Hipgn...1742.m153.l1262 Ian D

Well, how many copies are there? I think there's just 2 isn't there? The one from the Motown library and Martin Koppel's old one. Apart from those two, are there any more? I don't think Chris ever found one to my knowledge did he? Plus I don't think he had access to the Motown record library - most of Chris's Motown acetate finds were via pressing plants I believe...... That's not to say someone else may wouldn't have found it over time, but just 2 copies in 30 years of people searching surely reduces the odds doesn't it? Soussan's a despicable guy for sure without a doubt, but he could dig up great records and that's presumably why we're discussing him here. And what he did to me on the first night I spent in L.A. is a good example which I'll bang down shortly.......... Ian D

Cheers Mel, Where was that local supermarket by the way? And I guess we're talking somewhere between '68-'70 if Tony & Tandy had just been reissued........? Also, let's not forget that it was a 'Woolies' in the U.S. where that third copy of "Skiing In The Snow" was found for 10 cents! We're still waiting for that story by the way LOL.......... Very appropriate song for right now. I could bloody ski to the radio show 'cos it's been snowing for the last 3 hours round here........ Ian D

Isn't it the guy from Gnarls Barclay? Ian D

Okey Dokey. I TOLD ya I smelt vinyl LOL! Two fantastic hits today both within 10 minutes of my house. The first one is unbelievable considering this thread. I UK Tamla Motown promo of Frank Wilson "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)" in the local Heart Foundation shop!!!! The ONLY decent record in there amongst tons of crap. Just unbelievable. Sitting there by itself, minding it's own business, mingled in with Cliff Richard, Bananarama, Level 42, Marti Webb and some oddball EMI, CBS and Epic promos. Truly unbelievable. I'm still buzzing! How weird is that? Dunno what it's worth these days. Black Tamla Motown promo - anyone any idea? And then I had 2 bust-outs at the next two places. I then nipped into the next suburban village and struck out in the first two places and rushed into the Cancer Charity shop in a real hurry 'cos I had to get some bets on for the Grand National. I struck out and was about to leave the shop when I noticed another crate near the books with some Classical Box sets. I went quickly past the Classical Boxes and then waded through a load of the usual CRAP Richard Clayderman, James Last and Maz Bygraves albums and right at the back was.... The House Sound Of Chicago 12 x Vinyl Box Set. Mint with the orginal booklet - all the 12" mixes. Not one for S.S. but highly collectible elsewhere. £10. Probably worth £150. https://www.discogs.com/release/57624 So not bad for a quick dig in the local gaffs ay? The bad news is that I crashed badly on the Grand National. I felt lucky so I backed all the horses with Northern related titles - Backbeat (as in the label), Vodka Bleu (Nikki Blu/Blue Sharks) and Idle Talk (Idle Few) but they crashed and burned. C'est la vie..... But can't complain. I dug for 20 minutes and found these two beauts so a good day overall! Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Ian D

J.P. Rogers Jr "All My Loving" on Inculcation promo 45 today for £20! Result! Nipping out now to see if there's any goodies junking around locally.......... Ian D

Oh cool Tabs. Tell 'im Frank says hello. And better still, tell 'im to get his arse on here and spit out a story or two! Ian D

That's another tale Tats. I think we should be told...... Don't get me into a Massage Parlour spin on this thread otherwise I'll be dead meat.........! It got me wondering whether when houses get cleared can records sometimes get dumped in rubbish tips? There must be some tales of records being found in a tip maybe? The nearest I came to something like that is when a guy turned up at the Hollywood record fair (which used to be held in the car park of the Capital Records building in L.A.) with a truckfull of 45's he was giving away back in '76. I'd have gladly taken 'em but I didn't have a truck godammit! Or anywhere to store 'em. 20,000 mint promo 45's and the guy wouldn't let me take any unless I took the lot. Now where's the local tip......? Ian D

Me neither, mcleanmuir, me neither! And I think you're right about Grover. I'll need to check names again with my fellow vinyl hound Steve Rumney (collector of 'Slow Groove' obscurities). There were a few fairly untapped places in Brooklyn and the Bronx. One was almost a basement which you could enter down the steps from the street which was jammed with stuff but we could never find the guy. Of course, everytime we went there, it was always "oh, you've just missed him dog" or "he's around. He was here 5 minutes ago....". Cue a three hour wait and several chats with the local gangsters. The last time I was there I had to get friendly with the dope dealer on that side of the street and bought $10 worth just to keep him sweet LOL..... Ian D

Now, that's a hit by any standards Eddie! I've never found a Lee Andrews ever and it's one of my faves of all time. And the Steinways is RARE and maybe the best double-sider of all time! I always remember Snowy from Doncaster having one in his box years before it got played..... Great stuff mate. Is Tim Ashibende still around? I remember him well from Wigan and he always had decent records on him...... Ian D

Oh my God. How weird. I just opened the window to get a bit a fresh air in the room and I swear I can smell vinyl! Now, lemme think..... If I have a flutter on the Grand National, then I'll hit the bookies about about 2.00pm ish, get my bets on, drop some stuff off @ the recycling bins and get a bit of shopping and I can also hit around 6 charity shops en route..... And today I'm smelling vinyl and feeling lucky... Last time I did this I got a Light Of The World "No.1 Girl" pic sleeve UK 7" for 50p - a nice little rare-groove rarity. And it's about time I found another Alexander Patton Capital '66 UK promo. So full report later all. Football, racing and vinyl-hunting are competing for my time LOL...... Ian D

You see that's the difference between you and me Tats! I'd have burnt rubber to get over to that incinerator double-quick to maybe catch the vinyl before it went up in smoke. Plus you never know do ya? One of the incinerator guys may have thought they were worth holding onto or worth trying to flog to someone...... Mind you, it doesn't make much of a holiday, hanging around incinerators does it? Try explaining that to the missus LOL.... Ian D