northern soul

Gay Jamison – Stay Another Day – Turntable 714

August 20, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Surfing round some Belgian popcorn sites listening to tracks, my jaw hit the ground when I heard this one. An absolutely awesome, haunting mid-tempo tune.

Gay Jamison - Stay Another Day - Turntable 714

Obviously I’d never heard it before and in my ignorance knew nothing about it. Knowing my unfailing ability to go for expensive records I reluctantly reached foe JM’s guide to see what the damage would be. Oh dear! He books it at £200 and also has it in his “Rarest of the Rare” section of his web site. I had a quick search on eBay with no results and without much expectation I saved the search.

Less than a week later one came up, I set up a snipe on it, crossed my fingers and waited. A week later it was mine! and for the princely sum of only $49! I would grade it about VG+ as although very shiny it does have a couple of marks that cause clicks every so often, the label is a bit marked too. But at $49 – who cares? I think my snipe was about 3 times that.

Anyway you are probably wanting to hear this stunning piece of music so here it is:

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From the very little information I could find it is possible that Gay Jamison is actually the Gladys that recorded on the O-Gee Records Label. The writing credits for that tune (Love) have the same name as one of those on this tune – O. D. Jamison – so there may be some truth in this.

It seems a really tough one to pick up and if you want a mint one I reckon its going to cost you £150 to £200. They don’t seem to come up too often though and if the big dealers get their hands on one they also slap a hefty price on it. So if you see one in a sales box- don’t hesitate!

Gay Jamison on eBay:

GAY JAMISON: Stay Another Day (rare soul vinyl 45)

US $275.00
End Date: Tuesday Feb-07-2012 8:03:55 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $275.00
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Gay Jamison Balmy Breezes / Friendly Hand 45 Spark 901 vg+ 196? Popcorn

US $9.99
End Date: Friday Mar-02-2012 11:15:40 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $9.99
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Filed Under: Featured 45's, Ramblings Tagged With: 45, northern soul, popcorn

The Attic, Mansfield – Play list

May 3, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

A rare outing with my DJ box to The Attic in Mansfield on Saturday Evening. Accompanying the Lovely Jo Wallace, we double decked from 10:15 until about midnight.

The Attic is a great little venue with the refreshing music policy of allowing the DJ’s to play what they want. The residents also steer away from the normal oldies so you’re guaranteed an interesting night of music for listening and dancing to. We both came away with a short list of wants (2 of which I got today!).

Thanks to Kev, Dean, Garry and the absent Steve for inviting us and this is what we played:

1. Sonny Daye – Long Long to Happiness
2. Danny Woods – You had me fooled
3. George Wydell – Funny feeling
4. Doug Gibson – Run for your life
5. Charles Lamont – Gotta keep movin’
6. Sweet William – Maybe Baby
7. Rosco Gordon – You got my bait
8. Judy Clay – Do you think it’s right
9. Esther Philips – Wild Child
10.Little Joe Hinton – Let’s start a romance
11.Steelers – Just beginning to love you
12.Dynamics – Yes I love you
13.Natural 4 – I thought you were mine
14.Choice of Colour – Your love
15. Houston Outlaws – Ain’t no telling
16. Arcades – There’s got to be a loser
17.Arabians – Please take a chance on me
18.Barbara Long – We called it love
19.Rose St John – Fool Don’t Laugh
20.Dottie & Millie – Nothing in this world
21.Gay Jamison – Stay another day
22.Troy Dodds – Try my love
23.Dynamic Superiors – You’re what I need
24.Innervision – Honey Baby be mine
25.Basic Black and Pearl – There’ll come a time
26.Brewster Crew – I’m the one who knows
27.Edwin Starr – Running back and forth
28.Minnie Jones – Shadow of a memory
29.Sugar and the Spices – I have faith in you
30.Pat & Blenders – Just Because
31.Fabulous Apollos – One Alone
32.Sammy Ambrose – Welcome to Dreamsville
33.Paul Sinbad – I was a fool
34.Paris – Sleepless nights
35.Falcons – Love look in her eyes
36.Superlatives – Lonely in a crowd
37.Johnny Bartel – If this isn’t love
38.Big Don’s Rebellion – It was true
39.Pic and Bill – Talk about love
40.Jerry Jackson – It’s rough out there
41.O C Smith – on Easy Street

Cheers
Paul

Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: northern soul, Play Lists

The Diplomats – Honest To Goodness – Minit 32006

March 16, 2010 By paulsrecords 1 Comment

An in-demand record at the moment, this is a proper uptempo piece of Northern Soul, it has a suggestion of latin with just a hint of R&B. In fact it sounds almost garage-like!

The Diplomats - Honest To Goodness - Minit 32006

The diplomats were a group from Washington DC who had a number of label changes and group line-ups. This is essentially the same group that put out “Cards On The Table” on the Arock label. Eventually they became the Skull Snaps.

I was fortunate enough to meet them when Ady Croasdell brought them down to “These Old Shoes” when they were across for a visit. Unfortunately I couldn’t play any of their records that night as I didn’t have this at the time and I’d sold my copy if “Cards On The Table” the week before – doh! They didn’t seem too bothered, in fact they were more interested in talking dirty to Jo.

Anyway, have a listen to it and see what you think:

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If you want to get hold of a copy, the book price is £85 and VG+ copies go on ebay for £40 – £50. However, Butch is now including it in his sets so I’m sure the price will only rise.

The Diplomats on eBay:

DIPLOMATS-LOVE AIN’T WHAT IT USED TO BE Rare Soul HEAR

US $9.99 (0 Bid)
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 12:16:18 PST
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The Diplomats Diplomatic Immunity 2

US $31.58
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 14:39:33 PST
Buy It Now for only: US $31.58
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( NORTHERN SOUL ) THE DIPLOMATS / HERE’S A HEART

US $3.00 (0 Bid)
End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 17:10:55 PST
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Here’s the details of the group at the time they recorded this, they are taken from the knowledgeable Dave Rimmer’s excellent Soulfulkindamusic website:

The Diplomats (members Sam Culley, Ervin Waters, Bill Collier and Thomas Price)

Arock – I Really Love You
Arock – Forever
Arock – Don’t Ever Go
Arock – Walk With Me
(Above four tracks unissued until they appeared in the U. K. on a 2004 Kent CD “The Diplomats Greatest Recordings” CDKEND 232.)
Wand 174 – There’s Still A Tomorrow / So Far Away – 1965
Wand 195 – Love Ain’t What It Used To Be / I’ve Got A Feeling – 1965
Minit 32006 – Honest To Goodness / Don’t Bug Me – 1966

He has The Diplomats whole history on his site [here]. And as he mentions, those stalwarts at Kent records put out a CD called The Diplomats Greatest Recordings which is available on Amazon.

Filed Under: Featured 45's, Ramblings Tagged With: 45, northern soul, R&B, These Old Shoes

These Old Shoes

March 13, 2010 By paulsrecords 1 Comment

This week I renewed the domain for These Old Shoes and it made me all nostalgic! Awww! So I thought I’d do a little retrospective on the club if only for my own enjoyment.

These Old Shoes - The First Flyer

A bit of background: I helped set up the club and DJ’d there until moving back up to Yorkshire in mid 2003. On the right is the first ever flyer which featured Jimmy Ruffin from the cover of his “Ruff N Ready” LP (everyone thought it was Muhammed Ali!). £1 in and £2 after 10pm – bargain! The flyers were intentionally minimalistic so they didn’t take long to knock up and could be printed at work (oh dear!).

It all started pretty innocently, there wasn’t much on in London at the time other than the 100 Club and some occasional (but excellent) nights run by “London’s Chosen Mass”. So Jo Wallace, Martin Thomson and I met up, discussed it, I bought some decks and stuff and away we went! Matt Jahans also got involved and DJ’d at the first event bringing a busload from Reading which pretty much ensured we were successful by filling the venue.

We ran These Old Shoes in the basement of The River Bar which is just on the South Side of Tower Bridge, London. It was a pretty sleazy place with a sloping lino dance floor and smelly drains but it sort of worked.

These Old Shoes - Happy Days

The River Bar has refurbished the basement now so for those that don’t (or can’t) remember what it was like, here it is in all its skankiness. The chap on the right looks like he’s been caught out by the sloping dance floor – anyone showing off always ended up in that corner!

We tended to be a bit laid back about the whole thing initially but we soon got caught up in it all. Jo Wallace generally booked the DJ’s and looking back the list looks like a whos who of Northern Soul. DJ’s were chosen for their choice of records rather than just to get a name on the flyer but these things do tend to go together.

Our music policy was pretty wide open really; some 6T’s soul, Northern Soul, R&B, 70′s soul and plenty of Motown. With each of us having different tastes and vying to find records that we could wow the others with it made for an eclectic night of soul music.

Although we didn’t plan it out we evolved to a formula of new and interesting for the first hour and a half, warm the floor up for the guest for the next half hour, guest for an hour and then a final hour or so of uptempo, well known floor pleasers finishing with The Dells – Make Sure and if people wouldn’t leave; Harold Melvin – Get Out!

These Old Shoes - 2nd Anniversary CD Cover

We also gave away a bootleg CD at each of the first 4 anniversaries, these were made up by asking all the guest DJ’s from the year to put forward 2 tunes and of course this became a competition too. Looking at the track lists; it is amazing what went on those CD’s between 1999 and 2003 – they included some classic but also some quite new tunes at the time – many of these are now classics.

Anyway, I’ve managed to ramble on for ages and I still haven’t mentioned us taking the club to the 100 club or getting a showcase at Prestatyn, or being guests on Richard Searling’s Jazz FM show (I still have the recording somewhere).

So to end this nostalgic wallow I’ve put together a podcast of 10 tunes that always make me think of These Old Shoes when I hear them. Sniff!

Download it [here]

Track List:

Kim Weston – A Thrill A Moment – Gordy
Valerie & Nick – I’ll Find You – Glover
The Spinners – (She’s Gonna Love Me) At Sundown – VIP
Jr Walker & The All Stars – Tune Up – Soul
Major Lance – Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes) – Okeh
The Poets – She Blew A Good Thing Symbol – Symbol
Porgy & The Monarchs – That’s My Girl – Sylves
Martha & The Vandellas – My Baby Loves Me – Gordy
The Dells – Make Sure – Cadet
Baby Washington – It’ll Never Be Over For Me – Sue

Hope you enjoy it. I’ll probably have Jo on the phone now telling me off for missing tracks out!

Filed Under: Podcasts, Ramblings Tagged With: Motown, northern soul, These Old Shoes

Tony Clarke – The Entertainer

March 5, 2010 By paulsrecords 4 Comments

Rummaging around youtube, like you do, I came across this brilliant bit of footage of Tony Clarke.

Talk about putting your heart and soul into a performance!

Really good to still find these early clips as so many got removed when google bought youtube and it suddenly became worth sueing.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Filed Under: Featured Videos Tagged With: northern soul, video

Frank Howard – Judy – Excello 2291

March 5, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

A record that is right up my street; mid-tempo, male voice, great vocal, great backing and so, sooo soulful.

Frank Howard - Judy - Excello 2291

Yet another Stafford play (Oh for a time machine!) that just oozes soul. Frank didn’t think a dream could happen, then one came along – Judy – He loves her and he’s going to keep her. His life is just one sweet song …..

Pass the bucket Frank!

Click [here] to hear the tune.

Frank and the Commanders were a house band at The Stealaway club in Nashville according to an article on the Brown Eyed Handsome Man blog. This is a good article that gives a great background on Frank and what he is doing now, but unfortunately the video and sound links no longer work.

Update 13 Apr 2010: found the video on youtube and put it up on the blog [here]

So what would this cost you? It books at £100 but if you get a mint copy for that you are doing well, I would say about £100 to £150 at the moment though there are a lot of VG+ copies about (like mine) which would come in at about £50 to £75. It doesn’t turn up that often but mid-tempo seems to be out of favour at the moment so you might be lucky.

Alternatively, it is included on Kent’s fantastic CD; Uptown, Down South
which showcases tunes from the Ecello, A-bet, Mankind and Nasco labels.

Filed Under: Featured 45's, Ramblings Tagged With: 45, northern soul, stafford

Yellow Label Podcast

February 28, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

Yellow Label Podcast

Inspired by a thread on Soul Source, I had a look in a 200 box for records with yellow labels. I came up with over 25!

Its not the first time I’ve heard of this fixation with yellow labels, there seems to be a few people afflicted with it. Why not blue? or red?

Anyway, here it is:

Download: [here]

Track List

Sam Fletcher – I’d think It Over – Tollie 9012
David Coleman – Drown My Heart – Barry 1013
The Invitations – Watch Out Little Girl – MGM 13666 Demo
Charles Farren – You’ve Changed My Whole Life Around – Hawk 200
Sonny Til – Hey! Little Woman – CP Parker 219 Promo
The Steelers – Just Beginning To Love You – Crash 430
Pic & Bill – Talk About Love – Charay 99
The Soul Blenders – Love Built On A Strong Foundation – Vanessa 103
Jay Holman – Love Is A Sweet Thing – Falew! 106
Claude “Baby” Huey – Drifting – M.I.O.B. 1283
Cody Black – Mr Blue – D-Town 1057

Filed Under: Podcasts, Ramblings Tagged With: northern soul, Podcasts

Sonny Daye – Long Long Road To Happiness – Power 008

February 20, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

A piece of Detroit magic that hails from Hollywood, LA. At least that’s my take on Sonny Daye’s beautiful tune “Long Long Road To Happiness” on Power 008.

Sonny Daye - Long Long Road To Happiness - Power 008

Just listen to that introduction; it sounds just like Mike terry on saxaphone and the whole record has a Detroit “feel” to it.

Click here to listen

The probable reason for this is that Sonny Daye is really none other than Frank Wilson of “Dee-Da-Doo” fame. Frank had teamed up with Sherlie Matthews and they wrote some songs together. This one they released on the Power Records label with Frank also credited as the producer. Presumably he recorded under a pseudoynm so as not to harm his reputation as a writer and producer. Frank went to work at Motown, introducing Sherlie who later moved to Mirwood to write and also perform with her group The Belles.

I heard this on the Goldmine CD On Top Of The World – The Stafford Story (which is quite hard to find now) and it was instantly a must have tune, although it wasn’t easy to get instantly!

Eventually one came along on ebay and I shelled out for it, a lot of moola but much less than the book price of £250. This is one of those records that isn’t mega-rare but is really hard to turn up as people don’t let go of them when they find one. Mine’s safely in my play box!

Filed Under: Featured 45's, Ramblings Tagged With: 45, detroit, Motown, northern soul

Little Anthony – Hurts So Bad – DCP 1128

February 16, 2010 By paulsrecords Leave a Comment

The gorgeous Voice of Little Anthony to gether with the Imperials. This obviously isn’t one of his run-to-the-dancefloor-and-backdrop tunes and it can’t really be called rare as it reached #10 in the charts but it is sooooo good!

I am a sucker for mid-tempo and ballads to be honest and this is one of a host of similar tunes put out by this group in the 60′s, Many of them on the DCP label and in conjunction with Teddy Randazzo (as this one is.

Little Anthony and The Imperials - Hurt So Bad (Picture sleeve)

The best copy to get is of course the picture sleeve which you can see on the right, for no better reason than picture sleeves are cool!

A bonus on this record is the equally beautiful b-side “Reputation” which is a guilty story told in song. You can hear this [here] from my extremely crackly copy – I must get a new one as they are plentiful and (without picture sleeve) only cost about $5.