Ian Dewhirst

Found by me in Highland Records in Hollywood in 1976. I think we ordered 500 copies which cleared the whole stock out. One of the few occasions when I've found a record and the number on the label actually worked! Ian D

I embarked on a U.S. buying spree from Nov 15 to Feb 16. Buying from the U.S. only makes sense if the $ to £ exchange is $1.50 to £1.00 or over and only if you order a minimum of 3 records a time. By the time the records arrive in the UK you may make a small margin which just makes it slightly worthwhile. The fact that the $ to £ exchange rate has now dropped to $1.35 to £1.00 makes buying from the U.S. uneconomical. Plus postage costs are also uneconomical too. And, if you're unlucky enough to be also hit with customs and UK Royal Mail handling charges, then it's probably cheaper to source from the UK. So I think the market for buying from both the US and continental Europe at a feasible price has pretty much dried up. A real shame because I was buying a lot of records from the US, and using them to supply better copies for my collection and selling on my old copies. But the way the £ has dropped in value against the $ and Euro over the last few weeks has rendered that strategy void. I'm glad that I swooped in that window before it went to shit though! Ian D

PM'd ya Mark. Ian D

How could you not keep a James Fountain promo for yourself Rick! It's one of my most valued promos. I also have a James Fountain UK TP - one of 5 done for the Northern Soul film Record Store Day release. I think William Bell did pretty well out of "Seven Day Lover" didn't he? Ian D

Yes. I care 'cos I collect promos. The James Fountain stamped promos are rare believe me! Ian D

I had the misfortune of working some of my heroes most drecky records. Jimmy Ruffin's "There Will Never Be Another You" on EMI spings to mind as well.........:) Ian D

That's because it kind of IS a Gilbert O'Sullivan record. I actually promoted this when I worked at Decca in 1977. Hated it then and hate it now. Sounds waaaaay too poppy for the great man in my opinion. Ian D

For sure. They probably had a lathe right there on the premises. But how many Sigma Sound acetates do you see? Or any other equivalent studio in the U.S.? It may just be my over-fertile imagination, but I seem to have been seeing Virtue acetates pretty consistently over the last 40 odd years. Ian D

LOL, I hear ya Jo, It is subjective. That's 100% for sure. I'm in the business of locating the best possible masters of old recordings for reissues and, in terms of quality and clarity, there is no beating a perfectly mastered CD or WAV file. Access to the original analogue tapes, then transferring them to digital and then re-mastering them will undoubtedly result in a better master, but no one wants to pay the money to do that these days. Re-mastering from original clean vinyl using propriety software and cleansing techniques is OK but still very limited in terms of quality and sounds quite obviously dubbed from vinyl in 80% of cases. Hence the reason why I have to maintain and grow my comprehensive CD collection even though it pains me to do so because CDs and Digital files lack credibility in this domain. In order to counteract this, I have spent the last 5 months assembling another collection of the best 7" vinyl copies of all my favorite records of all-time plus all the other records I love which, thus far, are generally unknown. I'm buying more vinyl right now than I have for the last 30 years and I'd say that my current collection is the BEST one I've ever owned in 62 years. By a huge margin. But here's the rub: I am tending to focus on the 70s more than the 60s which is interesting. The 60s recording techniques and mixes I've loved and lived with for 45 years sound dated to me now. Plus I've probably heard them too many times, So, apart from some 60s stuff I'll never get tired of, my ears are more geared to the 70s stuff these days. And, just in case the owners can no longer locate the tapes, I do happen to have probably the best Mint Vinyl collection of 45s of this stuff in the world right now. But I still can't quite get to be succinct for some reason........:) Ian D

Is the implication here that there could be a possibility of bootleg acetates? It would be a lot easier than bootlegging original 45s that's for sure. One thing that would flag me slightly here is that there seems to be a huge amount of Virtue acetates compared to most labels of comparable size. There's probably more Virtue acetates than Bell ones. So how come so many acetates from a tiny Philadelphia label which never saw any significant commercial success on it's releases? Rolling off all those acetates would have been an almost full-time job over there going by the evidence. Why run off 3 acetates on a record which never came out? What would be the point? It just seems weird. However, what we do know is that Virtue/Harthon was very hooked-up with the Northern Soul scene in the early to mid 70s. That's when all the new orange Harthon pressings of Bernie Williams "Focused On You", The Volcanoes "(It's Gotta Be A) False Alarm", The Jades "Hotter Than Fire", Lee Garrett "I Can't Break The Habit", The Preludes "Deeper Than That", The Body Motions "Puttin' You On" etc etc emerged - the majority of which had never been heard before. They all appeared via Soul Bowl's lists probably circa 1974. I bought 'em at the time but none of 'em really gelled with me probably in part because they all arrived at once on Harthon basic pressings and any credibility disappeared right there. When later on I saw an ORIGINAL Harthon pressing of "(It's Gotta Be A) False Alarm" I was surprised 'cos I thought all those orange pressings were unreleased things that were specially done for the UK Northern Scene. I'm not criticizing anything that's happened here but merely highlighting the fact that some of the U.S. record guys have long been aware of the Northern Soul scene and some of these guys are serious operators and no slouches in making a buck from their investment. I know several of them really well, I love 'em dearly because they're proper record guys, but make no mistake, they are slick and know how to titillate the UK scene. Virtue are in the acetate business that's for sure. I'm stunned by the sheer volume of 'em. Ian D

I don't think you guys get enough credit for having to manage stuff like this. So take a bow S.S. Can't be easy dealing with stuff like this so credit where credit is due. Ian D

Errrr no actually. The CD is actually a much better medium and much more efficient at transmitting a studio recording than vinyl could ever be. Nowhere near as sexy for sure, but for those who study this stuff, the CD is the best carrier bar none. And I'm saying that having bought 300 records in the last 5 months! https://www.laweekly.com/music/why-cds-may-actually-sound-better-than-vinyl-5352162 Ian D

OK, I probably sold Colin the Sandra Phillips album then. I am now beginning to doubt myself which doesn't happen very often 'cos I can't think who else it would have gone to. After several quite grueling weeks I think I'm almost happy to accept that, yes, I could be mad and may well have lost my marbles. Thanks for the recent spout of records by the way Steve. My ultimate collection is beginning to get there now. Ian D

You beat me to it Stateside........:) Ian D

Does anyone know what these Chips stickers were all about? I have a lovely white promo of "What's Going On" on e-bay right now with a Chips sticker but a different name on it........... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/121885544807?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649 Ian D

Bidding wars I think. People want originals these days. Not bad for a £3.00 record from Global in the 70s............ Ian D

Is Bassline Records still there? They had some killer stock in 1990 lol........ Ian D

I take that back. Something dodgy happening there for sure. Ian D

And so the counterfeit paranoia begins............ Ian D

Nope, not a chance. It wasn't even this one either:- https://www.discogs.com/Sandra-Phillips-Too-Many-People-In-One-Bed/release/3791603 Ian D

I was just scanning some Pop/Rock stuff I'm putting on e-bay and I scrutinized a great record by a group called Celebration called "Almost Summer". It's essentially the Beach Boys but under a different name whilst they were in between contracts or something. It's a Wilson/Love/Jardine song and quite obviously the Beach Boys at their best. And it's a Motown production, presumably because Motown financed the film. It's the only white film they ever made, it flopped and the Motown soundtrack was issued on MCA. Interesting ay? I never though the Beach Boys and Motown would link up in a million years. Ian D

Looking for a nice copy of this if anyone can oblige? Cheers, Ian D

It happens all the time to me. It'll probably happen again with stuff I've ordered this weekend. It's particularly frustrating because I'm collecting very specific copies of lots of things and sometimes spend hours chasing down particular copies only to get a message saying that the record is out of stock or has been sold elsewhere and I was just unlucky that someone ordered it just before me. Very annoying. Ian D

Yep. Silly me! Ian D

OK, well that does confirm that they WERE using Monarch at that period then. I was in the Monarch store room a couple of years later, so a few more pieces are beginning to fit now.......... Ian D