Amsterdam Russ

Informative, impressive, compelling and inspired! A marvellous job for which I take my hat off to you!

Likewise, no axe to grind here. I don't even have an axe as I didn't go to the Casino. I agree with the point wholeheartedly. If you asked, let's call them Bob, Fred and Sally - all of whom went to the Casino at the same time, but did not know one another - to describe what went on and what they saw, you'd get three completely different versions of events. It's the same with anything in life where witnesses are called to give their perspective on events. One person's experiences and interpretations will be different to another's: there is no 'definitive' version of events and people should not look for one. From what I've read from his own pen, Tim Brown is a competent writer. So, as long as he has a good editor to call upon, the book should be a stirling read. Will look forward to it.

Spot on. I've a number of books about ancient Egypt, yet not one of them has been written by an ancient Egyptian!

I recall seeing Boy George's brother there a few times. Had no idea who he was. People would just point him out and say "That's Boy George's brother"! Must have been quite upsetting for him! The point is though that bars are opening up all the time, so why not one with Northern Soul as a major influence. Sod catering for the Northern Soul crowd though, you couldn't expect to make a living out of them because they'd just be griping all the time about the price of beer, the toilets, the music policy, or whatever. On top of that you'd have factions; some who'd sit on the left of the bar, and others who'd only sit on the right. Market it to tourists domestically and internationally - to the Japanese, for example - and maybe you could do quite well. Play all the endless Wigan video clips morning, noon and night, have some Northern SDoul dance classes (much in the same way as 50s clubs have been teaching people to Lindy hop, etc, for years), have a rack of CD's, reissue vinyl and books on the subject (sponsored by Ace or Kent, obviously). Don't forget the Wigan T-shirts or T-shirts with any sort of Northern Soul-associated logo on it, and away you go! Beyond that, have live soul nights, with new and up-and-coming talent, which would allow you to become a showcase for the best young, modern soul acts today. That in itself would allow you to create a revenue stream not dependant on the 'Northern Soul' brand name. Instead you would be creating a 'Soul' venue and, with persistence, would have a reputation as such, which would bring in even more people even further removed from anything so old-fashioned as 'Northern'. Easy...

Yes, there was. I mentioned it earlier. A popular haunt with the tourists and the many casual visitors to the market. It became something of a hang out for the local Portobello Road drug dealers as I recall. Jim Demetriou dj'd there on a good number of occasions - had a regular weekly slot for a while. I spun a few with him, but only once or twice. One night the bar manager, who obviously didn't have a clue about soul music, but had been instructed to ensure the DJ's stayed in line, started getting shirty about my choice of 45s - you can't play that sort of music in here, he said. Think it was something non-Motowny like Bobby Bland! Had my tattoos done just a few doors up at Marc Saint's. In fact, after my first one that's where we went for a drink afterwards. Don't remember much about the rest of the day. God, that must have been 93-94!>

Don't know about you, but I would not be looking to sink too much of my own money into such a venture - that's exactly what investors are for, to spread the risk & free up capital! Most independent ventures of this sort exist through financial partnerships of one sort or another. I still say it has a lot of potential...

Not so much of a bad idea. Blues bars, rock bars, jazz bars, why not a soul bar? West End is possibly a bit hopeful unless you have deep pockets, of course. And who is to say that norwichbloke does not have such pockets? There used to be a soul bar on London's Portobello Road about 15 years ago, so the precedent has already been set. Northern Soul is mainstream. For goodness sake, there's even a film about it! Good luck with the venture, that's what I say.

If you haven't come across them already, look on eBay for seller: vintagenewsstand They recently found the mother-lode of soul & r&b pics and have been steadily filtering them through eBay. Well worth a look!

Agreed. Am wondering now if maybe I should give it a spin at the next Haarlem soul night!

A couple of scans.

I've always really liked Bill Moss 'Number one', and Roosevelt Grier's 'C'mon Cupid' (always listed as 'C'mon Stupid' for some reason) is a 45 that hasn't yet had its day (IMvHO)...

Thanks, Jock. Any time you're able to have a look... I did post in here ages ago asking for a copy of the G-Clefs - I can't stand it/Whirlwind - which is a real tough one to find. I got a PM from someone here who told me that they had a copy. That was it. They never replied to my follow up PM asking for details of condition & price. Guess they just wanted to let me know that they had a copy!! If Steve isn't interested in the copy you have, I will be.

Sorry, no spares of either of their Loma releases.

I saw you list that one Flynny, but thought you had it priced too high! That's not a criticism, just my own tight-fisted view.

Thanks, Jocko. I'd sort of set my sights on an issue of Alton Joseph just because it seems that little bit harder to find. Still, a demo would be just as good in terms of helping me complete the set. It's not a hard record to find, but, like bus syndrome, you don't see any for ages then three or four come along at the same time. So, yes please. I'll happily take the demo from you. Let me know details by PM... It's pretty much the same with Lucky Carmichael. I've seen numerous copies in the time I've been collecting the label, typically under £20, and so whilst chasing harder Loma 45s I stupidly fell into that complacent attitude of "I'll pick it up next time". Ironically it's become one of the two I need to finish the set. I have a feeling that it might have become popular on a R&B/jump blues scene as I've come across a number of references to it online in the last years or so. That might explain why copies appear to have dried up over that time! As a point of trivia - there is (to the best of my limited knowledge) no demo copy of this 45. The yellow label of 'Hey Girl' has a star - the only Loma issue with such a mark - indicating the plug/play side!

Yup, not after the Carmichael release on Pam - need it and Alton Joseph to complete my set of the Loma label.

Had this recently with a seller in Germany. Opened up the package to see a 45 pic sleeve of some Dutch produced rap/pop nonsense from the 80s. After the initial wave of disappointment I realised that the seller had sandwiched my 45 in between two of these terrible discs. Reckon he was getting his own back by re-exporting them to the country they originated from!

Wanted - Loma 2006 - Lucky Carmichael - Hey Girl / Blues with a feeling Both sides preferably EX - inc'l labels. PM's please... Oh, also after a nice clean copy of Loma 2038 - Alton Joseph & The Jokers (Issue) - EX both sides inc labels. (Sorted, thanks, but still looking for Lucky Carmichael)

Just went through eBay's dispute process yesterday over a guy who overcharged me on postage and who wouldn't answer any of my requests for a partial refund. The dispute was resolved by eBay - in my favour - in a matter of hours. In fact, it took about three hours to sort out! If it's one thing eBay is especially good at it's protecting buyers. As Pete says, you can actually dispute the transaction based on the item being a counterfeit. When you go through the process you'll see that they have a check box specifically for fake items. You'll get your money back no problem at all.

Oh my God! That's my arse! I can prove it too as I just showed it (the flyer) to my girlfriend and she immediately recognised it (my arse). In the background is Ion the Greek and his unmistakable lean-back dance style! Always went to Drummonds back then and I remember that flyer - probably still have it somewhere! Arse is bigger nowadays unfortunately! LOL!

One of the songs listed on the sleeve - Lara's Theme by Roger Williams - was written specially for the film Doctor Zhivago. That came out in 1965. Online, I found a reference to an LP - Loving you is sweeter than ever - by a South African group called The Square Set (GALP 1573). Apparently that was released in 1968 on the Gallotone label, one of many that came out of Gallo Records, the licensed distributor of London Records in South Africa. The GALP release numbers on the sleeve must relate to the same Gallotone label. So, fairly obviously, if GALP 1573 came out in 1968, then the ones listed on the sleeve, GALP 1442, 1459, 1465 and 1467 were released earlier - but not before Lara's Theme was written in 1965. Further evidence then that the year on the disc is accurate.

As far as I can make out the sleeve is 60s. I've just been trawling though Google looking up the LP releases mentioned and seemingly they tie in perfectly with the year shown on the record label - 1967.

Still after a copy of this French EP and can now confirm that it is Barry 'Barefoot' Beefus himself who would like a copy. Now aged 76, he had no idea that this EP was ever released. Warner Bros didn't tell him of its release and rather typically he has never received any royalties for it. What makes this EP particularly interesting for him is that it contains two tracks that didn't get released on the original Loma imprint in 1966. He had always presumed that they had just sat on the shelf gathering dust and thus never saw the light of day. So, I would very much like to find a copy of this EP and send it to the artist. All help in doing so is greatly appreciated. Thanks...

Monsieur Petard is not just a collector of note, but was also president and founder of Motown in France! He's also had his own record labels, has been responsible for numerous compilations and is an ardent collector of original press photos of soul acts. If you dig through your CD collection, you just might find several with photos of obscure acts and which state "Photos courtesy of the Gilles Petard Collection". Here's a TV interview with him that serves as a useful introduction to the man... https://www.france24.com/en/20090708-the-interview-gilles-petard

Wikipedia: Gene McDaniels