Amsterdam Russ

Amsterdam is saturated with record shops - as the link Kees posted shows. Record Mania has a lot of soul stock ranging from cheapies to the more expensive. For the pricier stuff, ask for the boxes that are kept behind the counter. Beware - JM's price guide is gospel! Waxwell and City Records are always worth a visit. The best tip I can offer is to recommend you hire a bike and cycle your way from record shop to record shop.

Check out these incredible photos from NASA. All I can say is WOW! https://news.sky.com/story/stunning-nasa-pictures-reveal-how-supersonic-jets-create-shockwaves-11657415

Decided to bring the “most-liked photo of the month” to a close at the end of the year. While I’m sure “winners” very much approved, there’s never been much engagement from members when the “most liked” pics have been announced. That tells me members are more interested in just seeing and enjoying the pics people post rather than who's pics are “best” over any specified period of time.

Wasn’t successful in getting an above & below shot with the GoPro when I used it on hols in 2017. I’d only just got it, and not had the chance to use it since. I did take plenty of short, underwater video clips, which I strung together here...

Incredibly special photos, Steve. I thought the one of the whales and dolphins together, and the pic of the diving cormorant, to have big "wow" factors. I'll be on hols armed with a GoPro and snorkel in a few months, but I don't think I can expect anything to come close photographically!

Well worth checking out are the winning images in the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019 competition. Stunning! https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-47371328

It's a truly wonderful place - so much so that we've been there about nine times and will be back again in a few months. Can't wait!

Sunset over Molyvos harbour on the lovely Greek island of Lesvos.

I'm surprised to learn that they are so endangered in the UK. They used to be extremely abundant when I was a lad. No shortage of them over here, that's for sure.

In the UK, “Move on up” entered the NME Top 30 singles chart on 14th August 1971. It stayed in the chart for seven weeks with positions as follows: 22 / 18 / 14 / 11 / 12 / 20 / 28 And to confirm sunnysoul's statement about it not charting in the US at all, it doesn't appear in the Billboard Top 100, Billboard R&B, Cashbox or Record World charts at all.

My view is that what we have today - in terms of the limited number of pressings of new releases - is exactly as it was in the 50s and 60s when independent record labels sprang up everywhere. The main difference now, courtesy of the wonderful thing called the internet, is that instead of (let's say) an Ohio group only being able to distribute locally - typically off the back of gigs they've performed in colleges, local hops and night clubs, etc, - they can still be local but distribute globally. For sure, that global reach is also akin to the local reach a group might have had way back then in that they still needed to "break out" (to use the old music industry term) some how - invariably through local radio station air-play (which in turn gets the songs noticed in national US music-industry magazines like Billboard, Music World, Cashbox, and others). Good distributers are also needed, as is marketing ability and word-of-mouth (exactly as happens in places like Soul Source, or in Facebook groups, where like-minded people gather). Where limited edition releases are concerned today, social media has - in the main - taken the place of the aforementioned industry mags. So many times in the Facebook age I've seen a frenzy of greed for new releases from the "Northern Soul" scene, which results in people buying up as many copies of a 45 as they can, just in the same way ticket touts buy in bulk to resell at extortionate profits to a needy "must-be-there" public. Back in the 50s and 60s, such demand was welcomed, simply because it meant you needed to press up more copies of your limited, locally pressed 45 to cater for the growing demand (hurray, more sales, and more success for our group). Today though, as we've even witnessed on here, some speculators loudly object when the records they're touting for profit are made more readily available to an eager public; something that, obviously, benefits the group, the songwriters and musicians, the producers, and the small record label. I absolutely welcome the superbly healthy situation we're in today, where music can be made local but sold global. If not for the easy accessibility of many of today's new releases, I guess I might have had to go to some imaginary venue somewhere to hear the latest "exclusive" or more likely the latest "cover-up" tune, played by demi-God DJs, and then try to find a ridiculously priced copy - or a freshly minted bootleg - of it (which of course, and very sadly, often happens anyway). New releases - bring them on. Never was there a time when the musical output of so many local, independent record labels was available to so many appreciative people. Happy days!

Really looking forward to holidaying in Molyvos on the island of Lesvos once again this year.

Does he have to draw you pictures? Does he have to spell it out? Face it girl, it’s over.

Danny ‘Boy’ Thomas ain’t gonna love no more...

Promos are tax deductible (marketing and promotions expenses). Some record companies would take full advantage of that fact and press up as many promo copies as they could knowing that the tax benefits of doing so would offset the loss incurred by a 45 if it didn’t break out and become a success. And if a 45 looked as if it wasn’t going to break out, then - and as mentioned by others above - there was no need for the record company to press up excessive stock.

Watched this on Netflix last night. Interesting, enjoyable, intriguing, but too many talking heads who weren't *there* or who weren't even born when Cooke died offering modern-day perspectives, opinion and much speculation. Regardless, plenty of factual detail, unique footage and (for me) unheard commentaries from Cooke himself to make this well worth watching.

Plenty of newcomers at events and a wide range of ages - that'a not just at events I've been to, but it's also very evident in the countless pics and video clips I've seen on the social media pages of the clubs themselves.

Well worth checking out, especially if you enjoy nature and landscape photography, is this striking selection of winning images from the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition... https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-47118130

In many cities events are quite well established or are making a name for themselves. Like anywhere, you live and die by the number of punters you get through the door. That’s why a lot of recurring events are held just a few times a year rather than, say, monthly. A good number are just once a year. Holding events less regularly suggests promoters want to make them more special. That in turn indicates a lack of local support, thus attracting visitors from across borders is important to survival. And there is a solid crowd of people who are travelling all over Europe to attend events. Weekenders continue to be a growing phenomenon with a good number being fixed diary dates for many people. Just as people travelled up and down the UK (and still do), so people are flying to events in different countries in a borderless and easily accessible Europe.

I have the Argentine single and always thought this was the only country in which it got a release, so it's absolutely fascinating to learn it also came out in Brazil. Stuff just keeps turning up!

After the recent thread discussing the number of soul events in the UK, I thought members might be interested in getting a picture of how many events take place across mainland Europe (including Eire) and in which countries and towns/cities they're happening. The figures are drawn from the number of events listed in the Facebook group, The European Soul Club Network (ESCN), which I started up at the end of 2014 with the idea of finding out what was happening where and when. The information below - the ESCN Soul Index - shows the most "soulful" countries and cities/towns based simply on the number of events listed in the European Soul Club Network during the past year. Additionally, alongside those figures are rankings and numbers of events for previous years. For example, in the case of Germany, the figures show that it's #1 in the ESCN Soul Index with 119 recorded events. The figures in brackets show that Germany ranked #1 in 2017 with 85 events, and ranked #1 in 2016 with 65 events. ESCN Soul Index 2018 Most soulful countries 2018 (2017+2016) #1 Germany = 119 (#1/85 + #1/65) #2 Italy = 32 (#2/33 + #3/23) #3 The Netherlands = 28 (#3/27 + #2/32) #4 Sweden = 27 (#5/22 + #4/19) #5 France = 25 (#7/14 + #6/10) #5 Spain = 25 (#4/23 + #5/16) #6 Denmark = 15 (#8/11 + #7/8) #6 Ireland = 15 (#7/14) #7 Belgium = 10 (#10/8 + #8/7) #8 Greece = 9 (#11/7 + #11/3) #9 Czech Republic = 6 (#10/8 + #9/5) #10 Norway = 4 (-/-) #10 Portugal = 4 (#13/5 + #12/2) #10 Switzerland = 4 (#12/6 + #10/5) #11 Austria = 2 (#14/2 + #13/1) Total = 325 events (266/195) Most soulful cities 2018 (2017/2016) #1 Berlin (DE) = 25 (18/13) #2 Amsterdam (NL) = 22 (25/27) #3 Hamburg (DE) = 21 (20/20) #4 Copenhagen (DK) = 15 (11/8) #5 Dublin (IE) = 14 (13/-) #6 Stockholm (SE) = 12 (13/11) #7 Rome (IT) = 10 (4/-) #8 Cologne (DE) = 9 (2/1) #9 Athens (GR) = 8 (7/-) #9 Gothenburg (SE) = 8 (7/6) #9 Milan (IT) = 8 (7/4) #10 Tübingen (DE) = 7 (5/4) #11 Barcelona (ES) = 6 (7/7) #11 Brussels (BE) = 6 (3/3) #11 Nice (FR) = 6 (4/1) #11 Prague (CZ) = 6 (5/5) #12 Bilbao (ES) = 5 (4/-) #12 Darmstadt (DE) = 5 (1/-) #12 Lyon (FR) = 5 (-/-) #12 Nuremberg (DE) = 5 (4/5) #12 Örebro (SE) = 5 (-/-) #12 Paris (FR) = 5 (6/7) #13 Düsseldorf (DE) = 4 (2/-) #13 Oslo (NO) = 4 (-/-) #13 Stuttgart (DE) = 4 (5/4) #13 Utrecht (NL) = 4 (1/-) #13 Villingen-Schwenningen (DE) = 4 (4/-) #14 Bremen (DE) = 3 (6/-) #14 Dresden (DE) = 3 (3/-) #14 Frankfurt (DE) = 3 (1/-) #14 Madrid (ES) = 3 (2/-) #14 Monchengladback (DE) = 3 (2/-) #14 Paderborn (DE) = 3 (-/-) #14 Pordenone (IT) = 3 (1/-) #14 Saint Gallen (CH) = 3 (3/-) #15 Albufeira (PT) = 2 (2/-) #15 Antwerp (BE) = 2 (1/-) #15 Bamberg (BE) = 2 (1/-) #15 Bologna (IT) = 2 (-/-) #15 Bordeaux (FR) = 2 (-/-) #15 Eindhoven (NL) = 2 (-/-) #15 Hagen (DE) = 2 (-/-) #15 Munich (DE) = 2 (2/-) #15 Oldenburg (DE) = 2 (2/-) #15 Porto (PT) = 2 (2/-) #15 Vienna (AT) = 2 (2/-) Locations with one recorded event: Aachen (DE) = I Aix-en-Provence (FR) = I Amiens (FR) = I Avilés (ES) = I Bayonne (FR) = I Beckenried (CH) - I Benidorm (ES) = I Berchem (BE) = I Bielefeld (DE) = I Calvisson (FR) = I Carpi (IT) = I Collecchio (IT) = I Corfu (GR) = I Essen (DE) = I Falun (SE) = I Ferrera (IT) = I Freiburg (DE) = I Genova (IT) = I Ibiza (ES) - I Kassel (DE) = I La Rochelle (FR) = I Leuven (BE) = I Linz (DE) = I Limerick (IE) = I Lubeck (DE) = I Lucerne (CH) = I Lucca (IT) = I Malmo (SE) = I Marbella (ES) = I Marseille (FR) = I Murcia (ES) = I Pavia (IT) = I Perpignan (FR) = I Rimini (IT) = I Rottweil (DE) = I San Sebastien (ES) = I Scorze (IT) = I Tarragona (ES) = I Töging am Inn (DE) = I Tomelloso (ES) = I Torremolinos (ES) = I Turin (IT) = I Valencia (ES) = I Valladolid (ES) = I What the ESCN Soul Index shows most clearly is that the number of recorded events across Europe is increasing year on year: Total events 2016 = 195 Total events 2017 = 266 Total events 2018 = 325 The ESCN Soul Index also shows that Germany continues to be the clear frontrunner for the number of soul events held in a country, which works out at almost 10 events per month, with Berlin offering 25 events a year. Source: Russell Gilbert & The European Soul Club Network https://www.facebook.com/groups/europeansoulclubnetwork/

I don't *HATE* any song. Whatever it is that annoys you, it's only a song. And while Al Wilson's version of the The Snake might have been played endlessly once upon a time (and still now?), it still stands out as a rather brilliant tune. Fantastic, but like kebabs, I wouldn't want to eat one every day!

Yes, you do. As a universally acknowledged and appreciated art form, prints are highly collectable. Galleries all over the world show them off, as do museums. Indeed, given @Joey's interest in Miro, he might well be interested in this exhibition of the artist's prints, which currently taking place in Paris.