Ian Dewhirst

Actually I love it Martin. It's a perfect insomnia cure. I put it on every night when I'm ready to turn in and I'm guaranteed to be asleep before the end of the track............... Ian D

And here's the Northern version of "Laso Square"...... "Continental Square Dance" - Joe Bataan Ian D

Those magical lists were the main reason I used to risk life and limb driving over snake pass usually on a pissing down Thursday night every few weeks! Hope yer well Bri! Ian D

And Don Haywoode from the Velours/Fantastics used to live in Leeds. I used to go out with his daughter Emma and his other daughter was Syd Haywoode who had in the UK with the song "Roses"......... Ian D

Apologies to all for my no-show last week and many thanks to Al for filling in at short notice! I had a king hell zinger of a night up in Leeds a week last Friday with Paul Schofield @ Heritage @ Distrikt (next one on the 9th March) and woke up the next day with a king hell cold! So I was wiped out last week! Anyway, I'm looking forward to the show this week. Naturally we have a mini tribute to Ms Houston (RIP) but otherwise it's back to the usual Sunday afternoon mix of old favourites, newies, killer re-edits, classic Northern and just great music, so hope you can join me and if you're up for some banter then join me in the Starpoint chatroom on the Starpoint homepage with the regular crew. Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 19th February 2012 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... Whitney Houston * Diana Ross * The Defloristics feat Gary Poole * Slick * Alexander O'Neal * Sister Sledge * Ashford & Simpson * R. Kelly * The Temptations * Jackie Lee * Bobby Freeman * The Olympics * Vicki Nelson * George Blackwell * Dave Love * Curtis Mayfield * Al Hudson & the Soul Partners * The Jones Girls * Anthony Hamilton * Arnie's Love * Barry White See you @ 2.00-4.00pm! Ian D

Yeah but this was my all-time greatest 'must-have' record so I was pretty close to it. We know it originally only got issued on the demo right, so this wasn't exactly a standard run-of-the-mill new release. It took Levine a while to track down the first copy which we know and it took me a further few months to track down the second copy, both demos. During this time Red Coach switched distribution from Chess over to Red-Lite which is why the Carstairs never made it to issue when it originally came out. Let's then assume that the minimum press at the time would need to be circa 2K just to make it worthwhile exporting. So if there were initially only the two copies for a long time it would've taken a good year to break big enough to warrant importing 2K of 'em. Don't forget that Universal Mind "Something Fishy Going On" pink copies came over BEFORE The Carstairs re-presses and Universal Mind was 1974. I think I got my Carstairs in early-mid 1974 and I'm pretty sure the pink reissue wasn't until late '75. Don't forget that virtually every gig I did throughout late '74 and most of '75 I had a queue of people waiting to look at the record or hold it etc. I don't think they'd have been that enthusiastic if they'd had a copy at home. We need someone with a bunch of old Blues & Soul's to see what date the ads for the reissue started popping up. Ian D

Good. At least this will confirm that Kegsy is actually insane if nowt else........ Ian D

That sounds 100% correct. I knew he'd heard it in Miami but I didn't know where he sourced his copy.......... Ian D

Nope, there was only the one copy which Levine had. It was the most sought-after record on the scene at the time believe me. Ian D

It was at least a year and more likely 18 months Kegsy and DH! I was after the record for a good few months after Levine started spinning it and then finally got the second copy off Dave Burton @ the Heavy Steam Machine in Hanley as he was on his way back to London. Like I said, I had a good year with it at least. I should know as having that record was where most of my bookings were coming from and it was by far the most requested record of 1974 or thereabouts. If the pink copies had come in so fast then the record would have died a death quickly. I think it was around 2 years from Levine first playing it to when the pink copies arrived. Just to get it straight though, maybe DH can find the ad 'cos it'll have a date on it. Cheers, Ian D

LOL, I wonder why that was? Ian D

Free up the one's which you KNOW are brilliant and potential future monsters and pass 'em onto the young turks who can use 'em. It's better then 'em gathering dust on your shelves mate. I decided long ago that it's better to pass forward great records than to sit on 'em and let 'em stagnate. I can virtually guarantee you that at least 100 key records over the last 20 years came from my shelves originally. Many of 'em went for relatively little money at the time but the important thing is that everything I sold went to the right people who were key in helping the records to take off. That way you don't feel so bad about moving 'em on. Good karma Dave. Ian D

Yep! EXACTLY the way to go! Ian D

C'mon Mark, you would would never have let 'em go for pennies LOL..... Northern Soulers are essentially defined by their record collections so when we have thin down for whatever reason it's painful. Did I ever want to lose my Alexander Patton, Garnett Mimms and Lou Johnson mint UK promos? No, of course not. However, when I worked out how many times I actually used to pull out the originals and play 'em I realised that other people needed 'em more. They were essentially 'trophy' records which I didn't really need anymore. However I wish I'd had 'em back in '72 LOL.... Ian D

I think it's also a good idea to keep a sense of perspective about the whole thing. Life is a roller-coaster and circumstances change over the years for many people and a lot of things really depend on the ebb and flow of people's lives. I started collecting records in 1967 when I was 12 years old. I then collected furiously for the next 8 years and amassed a brilliant wide-ranging collection including a top notch Northern collection with numerous high-end items. By the end of 1975 I became disillusioned with the Northern scene at the time and sold up my then Northern collection to finance a move to the USA. Just 12 months later, at the end of 1976, I had virtually most of the stuff I'd sold back plus thousands more great records, all bought for a fraction of what I sold the first collection for with many of those new records I found being the fuel for the scene for the following 35 years. So, a good move and one which I've never ever regretted. Records come and go, but incredible life changing experiences don't happen that often believe you me. Since then, I've gone through another half dozen Northern collections and some unbelievably rare records have graced my shelves. And sometimes life simply dictates what happens. People get married and have kids, start businesses which either prosper or fail, are healthy or get ill, have domestic situations which require immediate remedies, need cash quickly for one reason or another or simply decide that the £50K which is sat on their shelves could be better deployed on bigger priorities in life. Many people define themselves by their record collections which is absolutely 100% fine. I've done that for a lot of my life. But I've also freed up several collections over the years via many of the avenues suggested above. I sold a couple of relatively decent collections to both Pat Brady and Tim Brown at different times with no regrets whatsoever. I needed the money and they both got me out of severe holes at the time. Have I ever missed the records? Nah, not really. I've got 'em all in different forms anyway so I can listen to every record I've ever had in my entire life with no problem whatsoever. If I suddenly get rich again quickly (which has happened a few times over the last 30 years) I may well embark on buying 'em all back again. Essentially it boils down to whether you can afford the luxury of keeping rare records on your shelves, i.e., is there anything better that you can do with the money? I'm such a random type of person with so many many different areas of interests that it would be almost obscene for me to simply hoard great records which I'll probably only play a couple of times every few years anyway. So I like to pass 'em on to people who can really use 'em more than me and get better value from 'em then they'll get gathering dust on my shelves. So, if you're not really using 'em and you don't really need the money quickly, then feed 'em out slowly on e-bay 'cos that's probably going to be the best way to get anywhere near the price you paid for 'em. Or if you want to get rid of all of 'em in one fell swoop, then figure out what you really want to do with the money and then flog 'em to TIm, John or Pat. Either way, best of luck! Ian D

That's why you're the well-rounded totally balanced person that you are Bob. Ian D

Yep. My mistake. 'Twas "Walk On Guilded Splinters" on TOTP in 1969. I knew I was at school at the time so now it makes sense:- https://cosmic-dancer1970s.piczo.com/?g=53755533&cr=6 Ian D

That Donnie Ray that's No.2 in their chart was one of the best releases from last year and a real hark back to a good ole Southern Soul floorpacker. Next time I'm down thataway I'm gonna check out a shag party........ Ian D

Yep, you're right. I took the '69 date from the clip but that's wrong by the looks of it. It was more likely in the early 70's. It was pretty outrageous for British TV at the time. It wasn't often that the underside of a pair of breasts got beamed into the living room @ 7.30pm in those days. Mary Whitehouse is probably turning in her grave LOL.... Ian D

That clip is TOTP from 1969 mate. I saw it when I was at school. It was quite a talking point the next day. Here's another clip of it..... https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd858d_marsha-hunt-at-top-of-the-pop-1969_music Ian D

He didn't even need to use the stick - Marsha would've happily shown him her ass I'm sure. Does anyone remember her incredible performance of "Oh No Not The Beast Day" on Top Of The Pops when her boobs were falling out......? Ian D

Actually it was a lot later Kegsy. I had the 2nd known copy and got a good 9 months play out of it before the pink represses came in. Ian D

Sorry, very pedestrian to these ears..... Ian D

Still rockin' in the 80's too...... Ian D

Old Mecca play from '75...... Ian D