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Northern Soul Floor Fillers No 1 Podcast

January 31, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

After my last podcast where I dusted off a few LPs and selected tracks only on LP, I thought perhaps something less obscure would fit the bill for this week’s podcast.

So I dusted off my playbox, and reached for the back left where I keep those records that always do the job when you need them to. I doubt there is anything new to anybody’s ears in this bunch but if you enjoy listening to it as much as I enjoyed putting it together it was worth the time spent.

Now the reords in my play box are not always in the best of nick as I’m not a collector that insists on perfect condition – I’m happy if they play OK (and this usually makes them cheaper too!). So I’m not going to apologise for the odd pop and click, just think of it as adding that authentic vinyl only atmosphere.

Click [here] to download.

Track List

  • Herb Ward – Strange Change – Argo 5510
  • Jimmey Soul Clark – Sweet Darlin’ – Soulhawk 001
  • The Satisfactions – Take It Or Leave It – Smash 2098
  • The Dynamics – I Need Your Love – RCA 9084 WLP
  • The Steinways – You’ve Been Leadin’ Me On – Oliver 2002 WLP
  • Chubby Checker – No Lo Sabes (You Just Don’t Know) – London 1788 WLP (Spanish Pic Sleeve)
  • Bobby Treetop – Wait Till I Get To Know You – Tuff 6036
  • The Ambers – Another Love – Smash 2111
  • Yvonne Baker – You Didn’t Say A Word – Cameo Parkway 140 WLP
  • Ruby Andrews – Just Loving You – Zodiac 1010

Feel free to leave comments, I hope you enjoyed it.

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Willie Small – How High Can You Fly – Jessica 401

January 27, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Something a little bit different for today’s featured 45; this is Willie Small – How High Can You Fly – Jessica 401, evidently this was a Stafford spin in the 80′s for Keb Darge. The Stafford connection is probably why I like it; although I never went, nearly all the tunes I hear that are known Stafford sounds seem to be really good.

Willie Small - How High Can You Fly - Jessica 401

It’s hard to find out much about the label or the artist, but the track is written by Eddie Silvers; presumably the well known Chicago R&B personality who was involved in One-Der-Ful records. The label says it was distributed by Dot Record Dist of St Louis, Missouri. I wondered if Willie Small is a pseudonym of Little Willie John but maybe I’m reading too much into the name!

Anyway, its a really good uptempo dancer that has been a mod favourite as well as a Stafford play. Thin on lyrics but with an urgent drum beat and a great horn break I reckon it would suit both an R&B room or a main room playing other than oldies.

Click here to listen

Price wise it books at £25 but it has been seen recently between £30 and £50. It isn’t an uncommon record but with a few plays it could be popular again.

Willie Small on eBay:

Filed Under: Featured 45's Tagged With: ,

Scraping the eBay Barrel!

January 25, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Yesterday I had my usual trawl through ebay to see what I could turn up and it seems the weekend just gone has been the one where everybody has unloaded their mountains of trash records!

Normally it’s failry easy to find a few badly listed bargains or sleepers that are worth leaving a snipe on but not this weekend. Pages and pages of wading through stacks of bootlegs, James Brown records, Supremes records, bad doo-wop listed as Northern soul, I even found a copy of Spyder Turner – I Can’t Take It Anymore” listed as “his rarest record and priced at about $200 (a great record but £5 – £10 all day long).

I had another look this morning but it isn’t much better so here are the things I thought I’d point out before they disappear into the swelling ranks of dross that is ebay.

First up is a proper bargain; a good bit of R&B that isn’t too easy to turn up, books at £300 and has gone for over $600 according to popsike. Tiny Topsy – Just A Little Bit – Federal 12357. Now the listing doesn’t actually grade the record and the description is a bit vague but at a $3 start it is still a fair price.

Next is a superb piece of detroit with 2 good sides; The Fabulous Peps – My Love Looks Good On You – D-Town. Not the rarest of the rare but hard to prise away from people and quite sought after, booking at £100 for the rarer 219 mix (which this is). This one is graded Ex+ from a known German dealer and starts at $0.99. As I said, it isn’t massively rare, in fact I found a second copy, not in as good condition, starting at $5.99. Sound files are available on both of these listings.

Next is another bit of R&B, this is again quite a hard record but it isn’t in good condition. Fay Simmons – Please Tell Me I’m Yours – Senca. It books at £100 and isn’t really my cup of tea but at $3 for a VG copy it is worth looking at.

Last is another not too rare but very nice tune that is right up my street; male voice, mid-tempo with kettle drums! Roy Hamilton – The Panic Is On – MGM. The nice thing about this one is that it is a demo, there are loads of issues about but not too many demos so at $9.99 start this looks worth a punt.

From last weeks tips; I won the Dust My Broom demo for a piddling sum – it will go on my sales list when it arrives, The Caroline Franklyn went for an unbelievably low $10.49 – I’m kicking myself for not bidding! Zu Zu Man rocketed up to around $550 which is barking considering there have been three copies on ebay in a week. The bobby Paris went for around $350 which is about right.

As always, make you’re own mind up before bidding, I’m just having a blog!

Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: ,

Motown LP Only Tracks Podcast

January 23, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Inspired by my good friend Jo Wallace’s brilliant series of Soul Satisfaction Motown compilation CD’s and spurred on by her exhortations for me to love my records more this year, I decided to fish out My motown LPs and put a podcast together.

Rather than go for a run of well known hits, I’ve decided to include LP only tracks; i.e. those that didn’t see a 45 release but maybe should have done. Quite how “What More Can A Boy Ask For” remained unissued is a mystery to me.

A good few of these have been played out at soul nights so will be familiar to some of you but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Click [here] to download.

Track List:

  • The Temptations – Hey Girl – Cloud Nine LP
  • Gladys Knight & The Pips – He’s My Kind Of Fellow – Everybody Needs Love LP
  • Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – My Baby Changes Like the Weather – Going To A Go-Go LP
  • Chuck Jackson – Ain’t No Sun – Arrives LP
  • The Monitors – Share A Little Love With Me – Greetings LP
  • Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Soulful Shack – Make It Happen LP
  • The Isley Brothers – My Love Is Your Love – Tamla Motown Presents MFP LP
  • The Spinners – What More Could A Boy Ask For – From The Vaults LP
  • Stevie Wonder – Love A Go Go – Up-Tight LP
  • Four Tops – Tea House In China Town – Four Tops LP

I hope I’m right on all these! I’m pretty sure they are LP only but if not please add a comment as nobody is infallible.

Let me know if you liked it!

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Record Cleaning – From VG to VG++

January 21, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

So someone asked on one of the Soul-Source forums recently if skimming records was a good thing to do. This is the practice of taking a very thin layer of vinyl off a record in an attempt to reduce surface noise by removing scratches. It does do this but it can also introduce more noise because it reduces the depth of the grooves.

A couple of people (including me) shared our methods of cleaning records as an alternative to making them thinner! One way was to purchase a machine for £2K, mine is a bit cheaper. I’m going to demonstrate by using a sound clip from a record I cleaned recently

I bought a copy of “Gerri Taylor – Empty Arms And Bitter Tears – Constellation 154″ off ebay and when it turned up it looked disgusting. I checked the listing and the seller had graded it VG which was fair enough, but it had some rough looking scratches and was covered in some sort of grimy film

Gerri Taylor - Empty Arms And Bitter Tears - Constellation 154

So here is what I do:

  • Put a small amount of washing up liquid in fairly warm (but not hot) water.
  • Immerse the vinyl (not the label) and watch the sh*te float off.
  • Hold record in water and slowly turn. (Mind that label!)
  • Wet a record cleaning cloth (a proper one!) in the soapy water and wipe the record in a circular motion to get the soapy water into the grooves.
  • Immerse the vinyl (not the label!) in clean warm water and slowly turn to get most of the soapy water off.
  • Rinse the soapy cloth in clean warm water and wipe the recod again.
  • Dry with a different (dry) record cleaning cloth.
  • Repeat if necessary

The immersion takes any gritty muck off and loosens the grime, getting the soapy water into the grooves helps get the grime out and wiping with a wet cloth gets the water into the grooves clearing the soap. Drying with a record cleaning cloth gets the last of the grime and the water off.

Cleaning obviously doesn’t remove scratches but it does seem to remove a lot of the static and noise. If the scratches are not deep they generally can’t be heard over the music anyway.

To hear a sound file of the cleaned record click here, I don’t have a before because I wouldn’t risk my stylus on the record before cleaning it.

As always, you do this at your own risk. Don’t boil your records!

Record Cleaning Products on eBay:

AVS Record Cleaner Vinyl Cleaning Fluid – 2-Step Kit

US $65.00
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 13:29:10 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $65.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list
Groovmaster Label Saver 45 & LP Vinyl Record Cleaner
US $47.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 9:48:10 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $59.00
Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list
VINYL RECORD CLEANER – Cleaning Fluid LINT FREE Cloth
US $8.99
End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 3:11:06 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $8.99
Buy it now | Add to watch list
VELVET ANTISTATIC CLEANER & STYLUS BRUSH FOR RECORD S
US $7.88
End Date: Wednesday Feb-08-2012 6:22:00 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $7.88
Buy it now | Add to watch list
Filed Under: How To ..., Ramblings Tagged With: ,

This weeks ebay bargains …..

January 17, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

As normal on a Sunday, I added a few records to my sales section, packaged up the ones to post out tomorrow and then spent some time rummaging round eBay.

I still haven’t worked out if people start records low because they don’t know that they are normally expensive or because they believe that they will eventually reach their true price.

Anyway, here are some things that are starting cheap and may get lost in the thousands of rubbish records en ebay:

Zu Zu Blues Band – Zu Zu Man – A&M 790 Probably one of the biggest R&B records of 2009, I’ve normally seen this on demo but this is an issue. The seller states it is VG+ to NM- (US sellers don’t have an Ex) and has started it at $9.95, which isn’t bad for a record that books at £250 and I’ve seen go for more than £300. There’s a demo on ebay already over $300 with a couple of days or so to go and this is only a 5 day auction so don’t hang about!

Next is one of the best Motown records ever; Carolyn Crawford – My Smile Is Just A Frown – Motown. This is rated VG but looks really clean, I have a trashed copy that plays perfectly ($2 well spent!) so it should be OK. Anyway $9.99 start for a record that books at £125 and is hard to turn up must be worth a punt?

An all time classic next; Bobby Paris – I Walked Away – Capitol 5929 Demo Booking at £200 and sometimes going for more, this one sits at a start price of $29.99.

Last up, not too rare but always nice to see on a demo; Ike & Tina Turner – Dust My Broom – TRC 1019 a quality classic Northern Soul/R&B tune that is a steal at just $0.99!

As always, these are not my listings so please make up your own mind before diving in.

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Finally! The Postie Brings Some Records!

January 14, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Just when I was starting to get that “Oh no, my records are lost in the post!” feeling, the postie arrived today with two brown parcels; one from the states and one from the UK.

It’s my own fault for buying records over the Christmas/New Year break when the country is covered in six inches of snow and temporary posties are slinging parcels in the bin.

I don’t know why I always think they have gone astray, I have only ever lost 2 packets in the post (both from the states). Unfortunately, one of these was Troy Dodds – Try My Love – El Camino DEMO! And it had only cost about two thirds of the price I would have to have paid in the UK for it. The guy definitely sent it but it was on one of those wierd insured systems where it is tracked out of the country of origin and then vanishes until the postie brings it and you sign for it. Never understood the point of this service and I’m sure someone nicked my record in this country once they saw the value of the insurance.

Anyway, enough moaning, back to what arrived today!

First is a record I’ve been trying to find for years: Young Jessie – Big Chief (King Of Love) – Mercury 71985 WLP. A wilder bit of R&B you will not hear, probably not to everyone’s taste. This is a really hard record to find in any condition and is expensive if you want someone to let go of it (£200 – £250 at least). Mine is VG and cost me about a third of that, it crackles and pops but I don’t care! Click [here] to listen.

Next is a record that I first heard on one of the regular CD swaps back in November 2008. I’ve already got a copy but it is getting some plays and I’ve already sold two others this year so this is one for the sales list. It is Carolyn Cooke – I Don’t Mind – RCA 8553 and it is absolutely pristine. I’ll put up a sound file when I list it on the site but there is a snippet [here] from a previous copy.

I’ve got some more on the way too so the postie will be grumbling about me more than usual this week.

Cheers

Paul

Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: ,

New Featured 45

January 12, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Just added a new featured 45 “Betty Everett – Nothing I Wouldn’t Do – ABC 10829″

Cheers
Paul

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Betty Everett – Nothing I Wouldn’t Do

January 12, 2010 By paulsrecords 2 Comments

Todays offering is a lesser known cut from soul diva Betty Everett. I first heard this played by Dale, early doors at The Riley Smith Hall, Tadcaster. Jo Wallace and I had spun some tunes at the earlier warm up and were sitting on the balcony having a listen when this one made us sit up and applaud. Dale told us later what it was and despite Jo telling him we’d both got it – Oh no we hadn’t!

Betty Everett - Nothing I Wouldn't Do - ABC 10829

Betty’s backing singers tell us “She can work a miracle, she can do the impossible” and then Betty tells us in no uncertain terms that she cares so much there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for her man.

Click here to listen

Lyrically, this is really good; the first break comes with “I’ll work 8 days a week, work 99 years and still be yours; draw my old age pension at 21!” – she certainly is serious! Later the lyrics highlight the obsession of the time with the space race; “I’ll make the sun shine every night, fill your days with moonlight, we can take a ride to the stars, spend our vacation on Jupiter and Mars!“

A nice mid tempo dancer with tinge of R&B this one is definitely worth seeking out. To me it sounds like a late 50′s to early 60′s sound when R&B merged with Doo-Wop before going to Soul but it was actually released in 1966. Perhaps it was recorded earlier as it is the b-side to the more commercial and typical of the mid-sixties “In Your Arms”.

If your looking for it “In Your Arms” is the side to search for as that is what it gets listed under in the States. Pricewise; JM books it at £75; that seems a tad high though unfortunately US dealers who have bought his guide believe it. I paid $45 for my Ex demo (in company sleeve for those that appreciate them) and they come up regularly on eBay.

Hope you like it and best of luck finding one.

Betty Everett on eBay:

Betty Everett 7 Happy I Long to Be /Your Loving Arms

US $6.49
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 10:44:29 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $6.49
Buy it now | Add to watch list
BETTY EVERETT: In Your Arms (vinyl 45) dj
US $125.00
End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 9:43:40 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $125.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list
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Some eBay Bargains

January 11, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Its getting harder and harder to find records at good prices on ebay these days as more and more people splash their money about like there’s not tomorrow ….. err …there is .. isn’t there?

Anyway, I used to post up eBay bargains on the old site so I thought I’d start doing it again. Please bear in mind that they are bargains when they start but might not always end up that way!

First up: Bernard Smith – Never Gonna Let You Go – Spectrum 111 – Really nice crossover that books at £400 – this guy is starting it at $1. His youtube link doesn’t work but if you head over to YT and search for Bernard you’ll hear something really nice.

Next is a record that books at £200; 5 Royales – Catch That Teardrop – ABC – this starts at $2.99 but before you rush in it does have a crack, but the guy says it plays “a strong VG”. Worth a fiver to find out?

Not the most expensive or hardest to find but a near mint issue of Bobby Sheen – Something New To Do – Warner Brothers for a start price of $9.99 can’t be bad can it?

Finally a record I know very little about, don’t know what it sounds like but it books at £250; JM has one on his site for £200 and CM had one for $400; Sophelia Carlisle – How Come – Jarda – got to be worth a punt for a $5 start?

Have a look your self you might find other bargains, there was a really nice bit of R&B that I’d not heard before but I’m keeping that to myself!

Please make up your own mind about these records, they are not my listings so I’m not responsible for the description or grading. Always take care when sending money to people for things bought on ebay – not everyone is honest!

Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: ,
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