Ian Dewhirst

Dammit Geoff! My one regret is that I wasn't born 10 years earlier (in '45 rather than '55) otherwise I'd have been hanging around in the same circles hopefully. So glad to hear all this from someone who was there at the time. There's so much disinformation these days that you have to really consider the source (as Leon Haywood said). I could have really done with speaking to you when I put the sleeve notes for the Wheel album together - I got there in the end but it did get a bit painstaking at times because of different people's recollections of events etc. Just lately I've been talking to Greg Wilson who does quite a bit of University lecture work and he was saying that there's a real paucity of reliable information about the club scene and especially the Northern club scene from this era. He reckoned that the Wheel was every bit as influential as the London clubs but just never got covered as much because most of the key media is all Southern biased. Rob Moss echoed these statements just a couple of weeks ago. So when we do eventually meet up we should have a natter about 'correcting the balance! However, like you I've actually got to get some work done. It'd be lovely to organise a Uni tour and talk about this stuff wouldn't it? Ian D

Thanks Kev! Can I be the first to set up a Wombat appreciation society? I want pics of Wombat, I want unreleased material and I want a mint Gemni white copy for further research purposes! Ian D

Let me know when the next one is and I'll try and make it! Funnily enough, there was a Paul Anka visit earlier this year which co-incided with the release of the Northern Soul Story series I did for Sony-BMG - Paul Anka was the lead track on the Wigan Casino volume. So, at the time, I saw that Paul Anka was going to be on This Morning or a similar show, so I did send an e-mail to the show to see if they could ask him about his Northern Soul records, which I think would have made a nice chat subject. But no cigar. Just an auto e-mail response which is par for the course these days LOL. Ian D

Actually when I was re-researching the Wheel era for an album, I was surprised at the amount of live UK white acts the Wheel, the Bag O Nails, the Scene and other early to mid 60's clubs used to put on - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, the Spencer Davis Band, Long John Baldry, The Animals, Georgie Fame & The Blue-Flames, Them (with Van Morrison) etc, etc from memory. Also, as Rob Moss mentioned the other week, when you look at the Beatles first album it was chock full of covers by Smokey Robinson, the Marvelettes and the Isley Brothers, so the lines were a lot more blurred back then - there seemed to be a much greater fertilization between Pop, RnB and Soul as evidenced by things like Dusty Springfield hosting the Motown show..... By all accounts, Pop and Soul used to easy bedfellows at one time. My feeling is that towards the middle to end of the 60's when faster U.S. 'unknown' records started to get programmed more regularly, mainly at the Wheel, that's when many of the more Poppy records got dropped in favour of the more exotic cousins from across the Atlantic. And eventually a sort of inverse snobbery snuck-in (of which I used to be one of the worst) where Pop was considered second-choice to real soul. Maybe a couple of older readers could be a bit more definitive....? Ian D

From "Ummagumma" to "Oh Babe, What Would You Say" is quite a large step isn't it LOL? Ian D

Now Wombat. There's an interesting record. Almost worth runnng a seperate thread about. I've often spent many a night when I've been bored wondering whatever became of Wombat, so several questions whilst we're on pop thread:- 1) Who was Wombat? 2) Is there any reason why he was called Wombat? 3) What is a Wombat anyway? 4) I actually think "Getting On Life" is a great record in it's own way - thought provoking lyrics, bizarre arrangement and a frenetic production, so were there any other releases from Wombat? 5) A ZTSC collectors record but who was it originally aimed at? The Detroit C&W scene? Ah the rich tapestry of Northern Soul. Doncha just love it. And surely Paul Anka's "Can't Help Loving You" must be the greatest Northern Soul pop record mustn't it? Where did it all come from? I reckon from a golden era when real musicians, arrangers, orchestras and producers used to go in a studio and actually play their hearts out on, like, real instruments LOL! Ian D

Has anyone done any scientific studies into the effects of nicotine deprivation in terms of time-awareness LOL! Ian D X

There weren't that many Isonics knocking around when I had it, so who knows? But the gluing thing was never gonna be a goer was it LOL! Ian D

It's almost a golden rule with me - never lend records to your mates! And be careful who you leave with your records. When I was living in Leeds in the late 70's, I had a younger girlfriend living with me who lost her job so she was hanging around my flat all day whilst I was working. Because the flat was small I had thousands of records everywhere and it was tough to know where everything was (I ran a record list at the time called Vinyl Junky which literally listed 1000's of stuff). One day, on the way home from work, I stopped at a local back street record shop which was only a few streets away and started digging around and suddenly started finding all sorts of oddball goodies. The weird coincidence was that I had copies of everything myself. Until the penny dropped. These were MY frigging records!!! I asked the guy where he got them and he said, "Very weird. Some attractive young girl keeps coming in every couple of days or so and keeps selling me bunches of these american records"! Cue one ex-girlfriend. And yes I got all the records back including stuff that now routinely goes for £100's of pounds these days The Differences, The Chandeliers, Johnny Bartel, Si Hightower etc all spring to mind. Close call though. Good job none of the other record hounds went in there at the time! By the way does anyone know the definitive story about what happened to John Abbey's record collection when he ran off with Tamiko Jones and his wife sold his entire collection for 10p each? Now THAT is a horror story.......... Ian D

Maybe not quite as sophisticated methinks. Phil Spector was the king of cramming everything onto a record - hence the 'wall of sound' moniker. However, George Martin had a massive budget and all the technical advantages of working at Abbey Road with some of the best engineers and tape wizards at his disposal. I think Norman "Hurricane" Smith was instrumental in a lot of the St Pepper work if my memory serves me well..... Whereas I always got the impression that the 'Snake Pit" was very much a 'bash 'em out and get the next session in' kinda environment, so I reckon that Motown worked very much to a uniform template which got the end mixes down pat after a while - especially once the production-line really got rolling with major hits with the Supremes, Temptations and Four Tops. Also the same musicians, engineers and mastering no doubt contributed to the sound as well. But I really don't think the studio was that sophisticated in comparison to other set-ups. Also have to give a shout for brilliant mixing and mastering on the Brunswick records at the time - I can't believe the clarity on Jackie Wilson, Barbra Acklin and Artistic's records from the time considering there were full orchestras on the stuff. Absolutely stunning..... Ian D

Yep, yer right. Both great examples (bear in mind that I don't know some of the tracks mentioned in this thread). Robbie Lawson always sounded rough over a big system and most of the Creative Funk releases were like listening to horns on acid LOL....... Ian D

I Heard It Through The Grapevine - Marvin Gaye Who Is He And What Is He To You - Creative Source Footsteps Following Me - Francis Nero Beware Of The Stranger - The Hypnotics Superstition - Stevie Wonder Suspicious Minds - Candi Staton Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell Ian D

Blimey, 24 years is a long time to spend at a weekender! Ian D

Agreed! Can't believe I missed that one! I'm not sure if it's sampled or re-played but it's definitely the same horn riff. Dunno where Brian Higgins (the producer) got it but it sure wasn't me - I met him a couple of years back and played some 80's stuff but no Northern. Weird...... Ian D

Still some bloody awful mixes though. The Motown stuff stills sounds brilliant these days and they were mixed specifically to sound good coming out of small tinny transistor radio speakers - one of the reasons why the drums and tambourines are so loud in the mixes. However, if you listen to The Malibus for instance, the bass is so loud that it effectively distorts everything underneath it, so even the vocals are fighting to be heard. Another horrible mix (and record) is "We Got Togetherness" - The Jewells, where everything but the kitchen sink is just way up in the mix so it all ends up sounding like a horrible noise towards the end. Talking of MGM releases, the mix on The Embers "Watch Out Girl" is the diametric opposite - way too quiet! You'd have to really choose the right record to play it after otherwise you could lose the floor if you weren't careful....... Ian D

RARE! Never seen it. Most of the stuff available in one form or other but I'd be very interested to hear "Fever Heat" - Jimmy Peterson 'cos I don't now it and it sounds great from the description..... Ian D

A good nights sleep then Dave? Okey Dokey, anyone ready for a Black & White Minstrel Show thread yet LOL..... Ian D

Well it's not so much the financial compensation, it's more whether you'll able to replace some of them I guess. Were they all totalled or did you manage to rescue a load? More to the point (and without making you feel worse), were there any real heart-wrenchers that will be a bitch to replace? You obviously have my sympathy Sean - I wasn't imagining such a calamity when I started this thread. Best, Ian D

I'd have mine triple encrypted and sent to the government for safekeeping!

Wouldn't be caught dead with anyone elses MP3's mate. Mine would be RARE! Ian D

Yep, yer right. When we start discussing Johhny Dankworth records it's time to call it a day LOL... Night, night Ian D

Always a risk with basements - water has a tendency to go downwards! But I was wondering whether Sean had 'em insured for their true worth or just under a contents policy? It's notoriously difficult getting rarities insured - lotsa paperwork and lotas premiums etc..... Ian D

I wasn't too happy when my Joe Mathews snapped. I HATE styrene presses....... Ian D

And Emperor Rosko was good on Northern too. I saw him once @ Brighton Locarno when I was 17 on holiday and he played "I've Been Hurt" for me. I was dead impressed, mainly 'cos he turned up on his Harley Davidson with a blonde behind him, rode right through the venue, up a ramp to the stage, parked up, grabbed the mike and said "Brighton, Are You Ready To Rock!" Great gig and not a bloody laptop in sight LOL...... Ian D

Wasn't some kind of ultra fast horn instrumental where he used to intersperse a couple of 'woofs' from his dog Arnold LOL....... Ian D