Gene-r

I've seen the US copy of this on a couple of lists recently (one soul list), both going for about £15 - £18. It's an uptempo pop-type dancer and, personally, I think it's a million times better than Paper Tiger, and certainly one I've been playing a lot of at home of late. Is it, or has it been played anywhere? If so, does anyone know where? Not that I'll ever part with my UK Hickory demo, but seeing it on a soul list for that much has made me curious.

Two sad tales: I had a YDJ of "You Fooled Me"Â by Lou Roberts which had a 2"Â hairline crack from the edge. Laid it on a table with the B-side facing upwards, and attempted to seal the crack on the B-side with the flame from my cigarette lighter. Misjudged, and burnt a big hole through the record. Not a soul record, but I had bought "Stack-O-Lee"Â by Archibald on an Imperial 78 from Times Square Records for $30. Played it on the day I got it, and loved it. The next day, I had just woken up from an afternoon nap and, in my tired state, attempted to play it again. Pulled it out of the sleeve, and it fell from my fingers straight on to the platter of my Goldring GL75 turntable, smashing it in two pieces. Gutted.......

That's right. EMI were late-starters with demo 45s, in comparison.

Bet they looked nice!

The Decca group of labels (London, Vogue, etc) also issued single-sided 78 demos until about 1954 - 1955, but I don't know of any collectable 78 demos issued on these labels - probably because they pre-dated RnR. All the ones I've seen are by Mantovani, Vera Lynn etc. The earliest single-sided 45 demos from the Decca Group that I've seen date back to 1956.

Yes. EMI issued single-sided 78 demos until about mid-1957, after which they changed to white double-sided 45 demos. The 78 demos do look nice, I have to admit. It's been assumed that single-sided demos were intended for Radio DJs who wanted to play one side immediately after the other.

Talking about single-sided London demos, how's this for a misprint! This is the B-side of "Let The Little Girl Dance" by BILLY Bland! I do remember seeing the A-side demo of this with the same misprint many years ago.

Collectors of rock n'roll and doo-wop have always preferred the stock copy over the demo, for some reason. Probably an aesthetic thing, and maybe also that pre-1961 Decca-type demos were all single-sided.

Tommy Tucker was a white label London demo from what I can remember - like the 'Spector' productions from 1964. And a UK only issue, wasn't it?

Personally, I think the Shop Around EP on London has got to be the rarest of the London soul items from this era (1961 - 1962). Didn't you have one of those, Pete? I remember you did have the orange London demo of "Shop Around / Who's Lovin' You" - very nice!

Yes - remember that issue well and that Chris Savory's CBS soul discography was very far from complete.

That would sound about right for 20 years ago, Pete.

It looks like the price greatly escalated within a very short period of time. An old friend, Karl Simmonds, paid £18 for a demo of You Can't Mean It in 1984, and £20 for a demo of One In A Million both at the same time! I think it started to gain more exposure from here, and that's probably what caused the rapid hike in price.

I'd rather have this at a mere fraction of the price: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HOT-BUTTER-POPCORN-vinyl-single-MUSICOR-RECORDS-MUS-1959-/251148043779?pt=UK_Records&hash=item3a79970603#ht_500wt_1414

You're right Pete - she did have some lovely bits on her list. Pleased that she's settled down and happy.

Wondered what she's doing now. Lovely person to chat to as well. I'd reserved some records from her email list about 12 years ago, but was struck down by chicken pox a week later, and couldn't get out of the house because I was paranoid about my pizza face. So I phoned her to apologise for the delay in sending the money. 45 minutes later, and we're still chatting! One expensive apology that was! From what I can remember, it was Nancy who introduced me to Jo Wallace (aka Vinyl Vixen), who was in the early years of running These Old Shoes at the time. That was the start of my return to the soul scene after a 5-year hiatus. You can just imagine the headlines now; "Herpes: the cause of my return to the soul scene"!

Just one of many reasons that I'm glad I'm not part of it anymore.

Quite sought after by collectors of Beach music, Pete!

But that was the right price for it about 28 years ago.

Thanks Dave. I would imagine the Tiny issue must be dog-rare - never knew of it.

"You Gotta Be An Angel" is the side that really does it for me. Was it on another label other than Rouser, then?

HELEN SHAPIRO: Take Me For A While / You've Guessed (UK Pye 45) Could this lady ever record a duff track? I think not! Late '60s pop stomper on a lovely blue issue. CONDITION: EX+ (small dymo sticker on B-side label) £30 plus P&P P&P: £2 in UK. £6 registered to Europe. £8 registered to rest of the world. Please PM me if interested. PayPal only please - I no longer reserve items, so first come, first served. Thanks, Gene

Loved this since I first heard Keb play it out nearly 30 years ago when he first started playing 60s newies (yes, and before the pedants start throwing their dummies at me, I know it's a 1970 release). If there's one thing that can be said, the intro sounds like it's from the score of a 1960s Bollywood movie! "Sits back and awaits hate posts as a result of the last comment....."

Good point Denbo - though what I meant was from the point of view of selling, and the record buying public's perception. Then again, just a guess. But thinking about it, Warner Bros and Rampart did reissue the Majestics "I Love Her So Much It Hurts Me" as David and Ruben, so maybe that throws that theory out of the window.

Is it possible Chess would have withdrawn it from sale after deciding that the artist's name sounded a bit too Jewish, and that it wouldn't sell?