Ian Dewhirst

Good stuff Peter! I honestly think this is the best value brand on the market. It's staggering to think youi can legally buy this quality of music for less than a fiver a pop...... Ian D

Did you send 'em? I probably missed 'em 'cos I'm always chasing deadlines. Can you scan 'em? Also, send me your address again and I'll whack this lot over as I think they'll appeal to your crowd! Ian D

At a guess, '74. It never took off though. It was a feature in Richard's box for ages. Ian D

Dire to you, but not to the 800 people in the Modern room. Nobody likes every record that's ever played do they? If I hear a popular record that I don't like, I'll switch rooms, go the bar or have a cig. I'd have left the scene in the 60's when they were playing dirges like "The Fife Piper" or "Scratchy" if I had your attitude. Ian D

My big, big mistake. Can't win 'em all. The minute John told me it was on Sussex I just wasn't interested 'cos I figured it would turn up in quantity. How wrong I was ay. At the time everywhere I went seemed have 1000's of Sussex cut-out 45's - Soul Searchers, Bill Withers, Dennis Coffey etc, etc, so I just figured there'd be a least a couple of thousand of ANY record on Sussex knocking around. Since then, only 6 copies I think......? Ian D

So did everyone in there, most of whom were on the dance-floor. Fantastic vibe and dropped at the point where it totally lifted the atmosphere! It's weird how this record polarizes opinion isn't it? Like it's not cool to actually love a big commercial record which the punters love. I try and keep an open mind on these things. It probably sounded so fresh 'cos no one else plays it which kinda suggests that there's a bit of a gulf between what some DJ's think people will want and what the people actually want...... Anyway, no big deal. This was one room out of four and 6 minutes out of a weekend full of music. It certainly stuck out as one of the most uplifting tracks from the crowd's point of view that's for sure. And of course, there's always the possibility that everyone in the room and on the dance-floor succumbed to some sort of collective music madness that one time and they'll all be horrified to be told that their taste is crap in the cold light of the following day..... Ian D

Ian Levine and Richard Searling snagged copies from John for £3 apiece. I turned one down at the same price to my everlasting regret! Ian D

Maybe. If it was booted or re-issued it's likely to have been remastered and would probably be a better pressing as well....... Ian D

I used to get miffed hearing "The Flasher" in the 70's Kev. There's always been records which pack the floor but which DJ's hate. I was never that partial to Tim Tam & The Turn Ons either. Ian D

I don't see Bob Sinclar as that much different to hundreds of records that have been played over the last 40 years which have been popular with the dance-floor. Was it Wally party dancing in the 60's when kids danced to "Scratchy" or the 70's when they danced to "The Flasher" or "Panic"? What's the difference? Ian D

As I said to Wiggyflat, this was played in the Modern Room with 800 people in and the majority of 'em loving it. Anyone wanting to hear Northern or Rarities had 3 other rooms to choose from. The Modern Room is generally "up" and tunes like Ron Hall and Bob Sinclar are arguably the biggest House oldies in the North West. These are not records that you hear much South of Manchester..... Ian D

This was in the Modern room Kev which has a completely different ambiance from the Northern room, so no 60's records would have been played anyway. The vibe in the Modern Room @ Prestatyn has always been Housey - there are 3 other rooms for Northern so plenty of choice. Ian D

It's interesting 'cos I'm doing stuff at so many price points these days and this series is so cheap that we don't make much money on it, but they sell fantastically well and have a great audience, so it's always lovely to give people a genuine bargain. Personally I don't think you can beat this series for repertoire of this quality at this price. You can pay a bus fare, buy 10 cigs or a pint of lager which may last half an hour or you can buy a Backbeats album for a fiver and listen to it for the rest of your life. Do the maths...... These next 6 Backbeats releases have registered the highest interest ever, so hopefully we're still hitting the mark! Ian D

A totally professional reply Jerry, as one would expect. If anyone can imagine the terrible standards of most sound equipment in the early to mid 1970's and then listen to the mix on the original 45, then you'll know exactly what we're talking about here. There was not only bass distortion, a ridiculously low sound level and a loud surface hiss throughout, but the record was also badly pressed into the bargain. The sound systems back then were also hideously bad, so a badly pressed and badly mixed record on a bad sound system, sounded like a welcome to audio hell. The Malibus, great record though it is, got seriously hampered by the inferiority of the pressing. I had to programme it following maybe a low-fi album track or a similarly bad pressing or even a record with severe styrene burn. Against something like that you might have half a chance that "Gee Baby" would actually sound good! I've just got home and I'm preoccupied with other stuff, but sometime over the weekend I'll find the best release of this hopefully. I'm presuming that I have the crystal clear You Tube version somewhere in my library. In fact, when I was checking the You Tube versions earlier, I couldn't help noticing a difference in the label scans that were used in the clips. The clips show two different labels, that both appear to be originals to my eyes. Maybe one of 'em was a bang on re-issue with extra info on the label, but, if so, that'd be news to me. I'll try and dig 'em out and post 'em. Maybe two different original pressings? One of which was the one that we found originally and the other, the properly mastered and eq'd pressing which came out too late for anyone to notice? Who knows? I'm not aware of any Sure Shot boots but maybe there were......? Ian D Dammit, why am I giving myself more work.........?

Damn right it did and everyone, hipsters, modern soulies and old soulers included stampeded to the floor. I was there watching it happen @ Prestatyn 'cos I was curious how the DJ's would get that floor going. When "Tribute" came on I was there tapping my foot and smiling with a general sense of goodwill to all mankind, as was everyone else. It's an infectious, commercial, catchy and happy slab of dance music. It has exactly the same appeal as the Brother's "Are You Ready For This" in being infectious and appealing to a wide audience. A good vibe record which packs the floor and gets a nice equilibrium going with most crowds, whether they know the record or not. "Tribute" was the perfect record for that crowd on a Friday night (along with "The Way You Love Me" - Ron Hall & The Mother Funkas). I honestly don't know how people can slate this record. This track gets the worst press of all time - "too cheesy", "a disgrace", "what The f*ck does that French b*stard know about real soul" etc, etc. But records like this, which people actually want to dance to, are the lifeblood of this scene. If you have 800 people in a packed room on a Friday night, believe me, they're not going to be into the aesthetics of analysing the merits or rarity of a tune. No sirree. Leave that to a Sunday lunchtime or Tuesday evening session with a bunch of old blokes comparing dead wax scribes. On a Friday night of a major weekender, they wanna dance. I actually applaud the DJ who played this last Friday, since most DJ's wouldn't have touched this with a barge pole due to credibility issues (on the basis that there's no point in being uncool by playing a piece of cheese by a French house producer when you can play something 'credible' for the chin-strokers). He made the right decision - the vibe of the whole place was electric and this was the record that lifted everybody. I was kinda surprised that he had the guts to play it and equally surprised with the brilliant reaction. People love this record. Dismiss it at your peril. Ian D

I found it by accident on You Tube and couldn't believe the clarity. I was sending some links to a friend who does a radio show in Texas, so I sent the Malibus and a couple of other things. I'll go through my CD's tonight and see if I can locate the remastered version..... Ian D

The originals are uniformly awful. One of the worst mastered records I've ever heard. It's a miracle it made any impact at the time and it made me very careful how I programmed it back in the day. However, I recently heard a properly mastered 'clean' version and boy what a difference that makes. Now it's a proper record. If we've have had the 'clean' version back then it would've been one of the biggest records ever without a doubt. If any record should be reissued with proper mastering, then it's this one! Ian D

No chance. Boot. Ian D

They were designed for skint weeks or something for the car. Staggering that we can actually do 'em at that price to be honest. However, the titles just keep selling and selling and end up doing 3 times what a normal release will sell, so that's what makes the economics viable! Gotta thank the compilers who all do these albums at a similarly realistic price. It's pretty much win-win all round I think..... Ian D

Smart move Daryl! This is a good bunch! Ian D

Deffo not Torch Pete as I can remember Kegsy (who discovered it) begging me @ the Central, Richard @ Va-Va's, Levine @ the Mecca and Russ @ Wigan to play it. First person to play it @ a big venue was actually Russ believe it or not. I'm sure Kegsy will confirm...... Ian D

Graham Warr and Simon Soussan went pretty early on...... Ian D

All of these 6 new Backbeats are flying up the Amazon rankings. BACKB031 “Dance Floor Revolution — 70’s Modern Soul Stunners” Compiled by Ian Dewhirst Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 815 in Music (See Top 100 in Music) #8 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul #39 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B BACKB033 “Metropolis Stomp Time — Northern Soul From The Big City” Compiled By Kev Roberts Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,393 in Music (See Top 100 in Music) #50 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul BACKB035 “Lay Back & Chill — More Superior Sensuous Soul” Compiled by Ralph Tee Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,441 in Music (See Top 100 in Music) #28 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul BACKB036 “Unexploited & Under-Rated - Contemporary Soul Gems” Compiled by Simon White Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,610 in Music (See Top 100 in Music) #23 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul #76 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B BACKB039 “Crossover To Soul - More Crossover Soul From The 60’s & 70’s” Compiled By Sean Hampsey Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 940 in Music (See Top 100 in Music) #11 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul #44 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B BACKB041 “Detroit Gold — 70’s Soul Grooves From The Motor City” Compiled by Jaffa Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,818 in Music (See Top 100 in Music) #87 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B Looking good with just under 2 weeks to release...... Ian D

Finished copies arrived in the office yesterday and all I can say is, Wow! A beautiful thing to own. Word of warning. We have now pre-sold 750 of the 1000 units we manufactured and because of the expense of pressing so much vinyl on anything less than a 1000 units, it's unlikely that we'll re-press unless we can guarantee another 1000 units at some point. So just 250 units left for anyone who hasn't pre-ordered already. Just saying like...... Now a phenomenal £57.86 inc delivery. This is a heavy package! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philadelphia-International-Moulton-Remixes-Special/dp/B00B9RP0D0/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1363086841&sr=1-1 Ian D

Pete, the BBC archive licensing dept is on the same floor as me. I'll check with them and see if they have the above..... Ian D