May 20, 2012

Lonely You’ll Be – How Many Versions?

Received a record the other day that I knew the title of but hadn’t seen this version before: Johnnie Mae Matthews – Lonely You’ll Be – Jam 103.
Johnnie Mae Matthews - Lonely You'll Be - Jam 103
Turns out it’s quite a rare one (books at £150) but mine is not exactly mint (the seller described it as a filler copy!) but it only cost me just short of £25 quid (thanks again )

Click here to listen.

Now, Johnnie Mae released this at least 2 more times; first on Art 002 and then on a national release on Atco 6528. The Jam and Art labels are both local Detroit labels so they may well be different versions, if so it begs the question which version got the national release on Atco? (If you know please add a comment below.)

Calvin Williams also released the tune twice. First up on the Northern Del-La Record Co label (501) and then on a national release on Atco 6399. Calvin Williams - Lonely You'll Be - Northern Del-La Record Co 501Calvin Williams - Lonely You'll Be - Atco 6399

I have both these versions (in fact 2 copies of the Del-La version so one is on my sales list) and to my ears they are different versions.

Click here to listen to Calvin on Del-La.

Click here to listen to Calvin on Atco.

This is born out by the credits on the label; the writer is obviously the same (Melvin Davis) but the producer credits are different. The Del-La copy credits it as a “Matthews and Marshall production” but on the Atco label this changes to “Produced by J. Hunter Marshall – Matthews”. I’m assuming J Hunter is an extra person and it looks like Mr Marshall has been demoted.

The Detroit music scene at the time was a pretty incestuous place and this looks like a tune that got bounced around a number of artists. Calvin Williams worked as a writer on some of Johnnie Mae Matthews labels so that’s probably how he got to record this tune after her.

On a lighter note (anorak off), All the versions I know are all excellent and I’m really please to get a copy of the Jam one as they don’t come up very often. If anyone knows of any other versions or can comment on the others by JMM please let me know.

“Lonely You’ll Be” on eBay:

jim dawson lp you’ll never be lonely with me

US $5.19
End Date: Sunday May-20-2012 12:39:40 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $5.19
Buy it now | Add to watch list

LISTEN – POPCORN SOUL – CALVIN WILLIAMS – LONELY YOU’LL BE – IT WON’T MATTER
US $49.99
End Date: Friday May-25-2012 5:12:51 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $49.99
Buy it now | Add to watch list

ASHLEY, Leon; & Margie Singleton (You’ll Never Be Lonely Again)
US $4.40
End Date: Saturday May-26-2012 17:30:14 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $4.40
Buy it now | Add to watch list

Scraping the eBay Barrel!

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!

Record Cleaning – From VG to VG++

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:

3 pc Record Cleaner Kit : Cleaning Fluid & 2 Brushes

US $12.40
End Date: Sunday May-20-2012 9:08:37 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $12.40
Buy it now | Add to watch list

VINYL RECORD CLEANER – Cleaning Fluid and Velvet Brush
US $9.99
End Date: Monday May-21-2012 19:23:41 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $9.99
Buy it now | Add to watch list

Euphonium 238 Non-Radioactive Record Cleaner Isotope by Analogy Audio
US $125.00
End Date: Tuesday May-22-2012 12:03:42 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $125.00
Buy it now | Add to watch list

4 pc Record Cleaner Kit: Cleaning Fluid 2 Brushes Cloth
US $19.40
End Date: Tuesday May-22-2012 17:01:12 PDT
Buy It Now for only: US $19.40
Buy it now | Add to watch list

This weeks ebay bargains …..

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.

Finally! The Postie Brings Some Records!

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

New Featured 45

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

Cheers
Paul

Some eBay Bargains

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!

Changed the blog.

After writing nothing on the site for about a year, I thought I’d start blogging again. Something to do with a New Year resolution to love my records again!

So I’ve shifted the blog and put it into a WordPress theme. It’s very much a “work in progress” but at least it gets it going again.

My intention is to change the Paul’s Records website from a site that sells records and has a blog in it to a blog that has a section for selling records.

Over time I’ll move all the site into this wordpress blog but you can get to my record sales at www.paulsrecords.com or by clicking on the “My Record Sales” link in the left sidebar.

I hope to have a new podcast up on the blog tomorrow so please check back.

Cheers
Paul

Moving the website!

10/01/10 – Please Ignore This! This Blog is now part of the main web site

I’m moving the website so if you see this post you’ve come to the wrong site!

The correct site is at:

Paul’s Records

The First Post

Here we are as a blog virgin, first post and somewhat embarrased.

I hope to ramble on at some length about my penchant for collecting, buying selling and playing soul records (rare soul, northern soul – whatever they are labelled). I like most genres of soul music and also stray into 50′s and 60′s R&B as well as Belgian popcorn, I’m getting a liking for ska too!

I’ve spent some of this week playing soul and other music at The National Railway Museum in York (England) for their exhibition “68 and all that” as a guest of YKsoul (http://www.freewebs.com/yksoul). Soul music and steam trains – an uneasy alliance!

Anyway, that’s all for now, hopefully this will become more sophisticated as I explore the possibilities.