Ian Dewhirst

Hi All, Anyone know the year for "This Won't Change" - Lester Tipton on La Beat? Many thanks, Ian D

I've done nothing but downsize over the last 3 years especially. Space is becoming a major issue, especially in overcrowded cities like London. If I hadn't have moved a couple of years ago I'd be being stung for bedroom tax for a roomful of vinyl! Ian D

That's why I eventually gave up accumulating loads of records. I've probably still got 5000+ which is 35,000 less than I had 30 years ago. With CDs and Music Files I now have more music than I've ever had in my life. But who am I kidding? In order to listen to everything I have now I'd need at least 10 years of continuous listening, which obviously isn't feasible. I think I came from the big collection generation! Even tonight I'm still bloody listing, adding all the stuff that wasn't even on Discogs when I started listing there in 2007........ it's a never-ending chore......... Ian D

I wouldn't say that Gareth. There were several major national hits in the early 70s - The Tams (No.1), R. Dean Taylor (No.3), The Trammps (No.5), Wigan's Chosen Few (No.9), Rodger Collins (No.22), Dean Parrish (No.38) so plenty of chart exposure and there were numerous local Northern nights everywhere by '75. Ian D

Uh oh. Didn't consider that lol..... Ian D

It was the perfect song for him in all honesty. The lyrics were perfect. It nicely rounded off Ed Cobb's songwriting legacy after "Dirty Water" in the 60s. He'd have had a very comfortable retirement too. Note: just as I wrote that, an ITV trailer came on using a female version of "Tainted Love" for bloody Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm. What's the world coming to ay...? https://www.tvadmusic.co.uk/2014/07/itv-summer-of-soaps/ Ian D

Indeed. I'd be surprised if they didn't do something. In fact, talking of music documentaries, this reminded me of a similar situation with the 80s London clubbing fraternity disagreeing with each other following a program called "How Clubbing Changed The World" which aired in 2012. Greg Wilson did a piece on it in his blog and the parallels are quite similar with "Living For The Weekend" - the moral being 'you can never please all of the people all of the time'...... https://www.gregwilson.co.uk/2012/09/how-clubbing-changed-the-world/ Ian D

Audience I guess Mark. The Culture Show episode with Paul Mason got the highest figures of the series I'm told. It wouldn't surprise me if the figures for "Living For The Weekend" are similarly good. There does seem to be a good climate for Northern Soul right now what with the film coming out so I guess that's why there's more interest then normal....... Ian D

Interesting that the BBC have at least done 2 recent shows on Northern Soul but what about I.T.V., Channel 4 or any of the regional stations? You'd have thought that this would be right up Yorkshire-Tyne Tees or Granada's street what with them being right on the patch and all....? Ian D

Exactly the same philosophy as me. When I can get my collection down to 2 x 500 count play-out boxes for 7" and 12" records then I'll finally be getting there! Ian D

It's a really interesting phenomena and I've thought long and hard about since I auctioned my first serious Northern Collection off in 1975 to fund my first visit to the U.S. So, I've had 40 years to examine this. The first time, in a way was easiest because the decision was made for me and I had a romantic notion that I'd manage to replace everything I'd auctioned within 10 minutes of landing in New York. So any potential pain at losing some extremely rare records in the UK was somewhat nullified by the fact that I would be sifting through tens of thousands of records for 10 cents each in the US, so my addiction would be satisfied. And boy, was it satisfied. Whilst I didn't manage to replace everything, I effectively built the foundation of a great 2nd collection with a huge amount of unknowns and 70s killers which eventually became big over the next 30 years at different points. However, by 1977 I was heading in a different direction what with Shalamar, the Jazz-Funk scene and working in the music business. But I was still collecting but a much much wider area than just Northern and so I was into 12"'s, albums and anything else that looked interesting. So, by 1978 I had 40,000 records in total. It gave me security being surrounded by tons of vinyl for some reason and that was when I sort of realised that I was very much defining myself by my record collection. However, maintaining and cataloging that amount of records was taking up a LOT of time and space. Ridiculous really but I didn't want to get rid of anything. So I spent the next 30 years lugging around this huge amount of records to various different homes. From the mid 80s onwards I realised that I never had time to play them and that it was becoming a day or two's work every month to keep them in order as I was always pulling different stuff out for different deejaying gigs so there'd always be piles of records waiting to be re-filed. Organised chaos. Plus, once I examined things objectively, I realised that I was only actually using perhaps 5% of my collection at most. The other 95% on my shelves were gathering dust literally, desperately looking for some love and to be played even. I think the penny eventually dropped in 2008, when I realised that I was hardly playing any records at that point, apart from deejaying. All of my home listening was now via CDs and sound-files which were quicker and more convenient. My CD collection (which was now taking over the whole lounge) was also doubling up all the stuff I'd already got on vinyl which was in a dedicated room upstairs, all the space under the stairs and the overflow in either a garage or storage unit. Ridiculous. So for my own sanity, I realised that I need to seriously thin-down my vinyl. So since 2008 they've been going steadily hopefully to better homes who will give them more love and affection then I've been able to for the last 40 years. I still have several thousand to go yet, so it's been a systematic wind-down operation for the last 7 years and will be ongoing for another 3 years at least I reckon. Plus I still can't resist buying stuff but these days I make sure that more stuff is going out rather than coming in. It's a compulsive obsessive disorder in my opinion, not a gazillion miles different from that program "Hoarders". Except record collectors are much much neater and better organised! Ian D

Then someone needs to address that era and make a programme about it. As I said, there hundreds of independent production companies out there who all work with the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 who could take it on. Mind you, they won't have "Breaking Bad" budgets and probably won't have 100+ plus hours to play with. Ian D

Good point. Ian D

It was. It was shown again at 12.30am today. I got to watch it twice within 4 hours! Ian D

Precisely. They're always going to concentrate on the most popular stuff unless they want to lose viewers. Ian D

I talked about Cleethorpes and in particular the fact that as you drove into Cleethorpes @ 3.00am you could hear the stomping from the Pier over a mile away. They probably chopped that as Colin said much the same thing about the Torch. You'd need a 3-4 hour show to cover everything. As someone said earlier, a dedicated series would probably be the way to go....... Ian D

Whenever these things come up, the production team generally have a pretty good idea of how they're going to structure the show within the limits of a one hour show, so the interviewees simply answer the questions that are put to them. The production team are also generally coy about who else they're interviewing and they have generally already decided who they will approach, so there is little input on the direction of the show from anyone who is being interviewed. My input in the 80s and 90s was pretty sporadic as I working in London by then for EMI, Island, Serious, Mastercuts and Warner Brothers, so my ventures up North were limited. However I was travelling to the U.S. throughout that period and regularly coming back with crates of records which would be plundered by the likes of Sam and a legion of collectors and DJs. Needless to say, there's dozens of records which broke throughout the 80s, 90s and 00s which once graced my shelves. I never particularly lost contact with the scene but most of the 80s was spent between London and New York and the 90s was spent building brand names and working for corporates. If I was lucky I might get to a handful of Northern events a year through that period (mostly the 100 Club). It's still the same these days - work is so all-consuming that my time is limited and Saturday nighters don't help Monday morning marketing meetings! Let's not forget that there's tons of production companies out there and if they want to make a programme about the the scene in the 80s and 90s, then they can. No one is stopping them. I don't blame 'em for concentrating on the 70s as that was the most popular period of Northern Soul and the period which the majority of people would perceive as being a key time in the evolution of the music. It would need a different sensibility to cover the 80s and 90s, but as I've said above, there are plenty of very able spokespeople from that period too and I would decline to talk about that period as I wasn't there first-hand. But I was there first-hand in the 70s so if they want to talk about that era, then fine, bring it on. If any production companies are reading this thread, then please please please do a show about the 80s and 90s so us oldies can have a break! Ian D

I've had this discussion with all the key players and collectors from that era many times about Levine's Miami hit. We all basically agree that he was in a very privileged position at the time. Most of us would argue, that, given the same advantage, i.e. rich parents, multiple free USA holidays and unlimited money, then wouldn't we have been able to find the same records en masse? Obviously the ego within us all would argue that, yes, of course we'd have found the same records, but I'm really not so sure. Levine on a mission is always a terrifying prospect. That's what you get with compulsive obsessives. Sure, he had some major advantages to be able to get there in the first place, but he really didn't f*ck around once there. He has very very good ears. No one else in the world would have given "Hung Up On Your Love" or "It Really Hurts Me Girl" a spin back then. He found 'em, played 'em first and persevered with 'em, which is why, despite his multiple personality flaws, I can't help but to continue to respect him. He's always put me onto great records including my favorite record of all-time, so he's down with me. Also, I should point out that Levine ALWAYS gives credit to the people who put him onto records first. He's very honorable like that in my view. And don't worry. The 80s will be coming up for review when the demographics for that decade kick-in, which will be shortly. The Richard's, Russ's, Curtis's, Levine's and Dewhirst's will be replaced very adequately by the Ady's, Keb's, Guy's, Dave's, Pat's etc, etc. This is an enduring scene and we'll always have great spokespeople whatever the era. You don't get to do this without a high degree of passion and that always translates beautifully whatever the medium. Ian D

Now there is a realist.......... Ian D

Yep. Marc bolted up from the cloakroom to the DJ booth from the second I played Gloria Jones at a Q-Tips gig (featuring Paul Young by the way). If my boss at the time - Mike Wiand R.I.P., hadn't suggested that I bring some Northern Soul tunes down specifically for that night then history may have been very different. Did you note that I gave Richard credit for breaking "Tainted Love" by the way? Ian D

You'll be seeing the 80s retrospectives in a few years I'm sure. We have equally good spokespeople there too. This was the right time to do this show I think. You can only cover so much in an hour. Ian D

Seriously, Dave Withers, out of everyone, seems the voice of reason overall. I loved his piece in the Culture Show. Very dry. Ian D

Marilyn Manson did it to that game-plan 20 years later and made it a hit all over again. Well, neither of us managed to make any dosh out of it, so it just wasn't meant to be lol... Ian D

He's toned himself down a tad since he was a cloakroom boy at Leeds Warehouse in 1982. The early 80's Marc would have been too much for the 2014 audience. Unbelievably people used to accuse him of being camp..... Ian D

Finally, definitive proof that there is a God out there. Ian D