Icarus

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Everything posted by Icarus

  1. Around 1969/1970 I ran a second hand book & record shop on Arkwright Street called "Moonshine". It was so phenomenonally successful that no-one on the planet apart from myself now remembers it. When Brian Selby (Selectadisc) got involved in the business of bootlegging American soul records and putting them out on his various labels (Green Light, etc) my friend, the late and very much lamented Nottingham DJ Derek Allen, wrote a letter to a soul music magazine denouncing him for it. Wisely, he hid behind the pseudonym "Angry Soul Brother D". Unfortunately, "D" also happens to be my own initi
  2. I remember Liquafruta very well. It was administered for just about everything. I think it was one of the last of the Victorian quack cure-alls.
  3. In the interest of accuracy, if nothing else, we should note that Jack Mills died seven years after the robbery, of leukemia.
  4. Hi, Craig - Apologies for taking so long to reply. The Nick & The Jaguars single on Motown 5501 is a real oddity. They were an instrumental group from Pontiac, Michigan, and were supposedly introduced to Berry Gordy by Gus Ferro, father of the band's drummer, Nick Ferro. For some reason Berry Gordy decided to issue it in a separate numbering system (hence 5501). The band issued another single under the name of The Biscaynes on a label called Ridge. Interestingly, the issue number was Ridge 6601, which has led some to believe that Ridge was also owned by Gordy, though beyond the numbering
  5. The first white act to have a Motown release were Nick & The Jaguars with "Ich-I-Bon No 1/Cool and crazy" (Tamla 5501 - August 1959). The first white female singer to be signed was Debbie Dean, whose first release was on Motown 1007 in February 1961, an answer record to The Miracles' "Shop Around" called "Don't Let Him Shop Around". The B side was "A New Girl". The first white male singer to have a Motown release was Mickey Woods with the dire "Poor Sam Jones/They Rode Through The Valley" on Tamla 54039 in March 1961.
  6. The Packers - original UK release on Pye International, but later reissued on Dave Godin's Soul City label. There was also another excellent version by George Stone that was released in the UK on Stateside.
  7. Yes, it was, but it was originally issued in the UK on Columbia, but withdrawn very shortly afterwards. Columbia copies are now very hard to find.
  8. I started at Bentinck Road School in 1951, and I'm sure the name of my first teacher was Miss Hall.
  9. I lived at No 14 Edinburgh Street in Radford from around 1949 until they pulled it down in the 1960s. At the top of the street was the Royal Oak pub, and the toughest bunch of kids around were the Brassy street gang, led by the fearsome Teddy Towle (is he still around?). There was a church hall on Independent Street where we used to go for Sunday School. They also ran a cub/scout group from there, and the best part was always going down to the basement after meetings to have a farewell cup of cocoa before we went home. On the corner of Edinburgh Street there was a newsagent's run by Bill &
  10. I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Brian Selby's pioneering career in the 60s & 70s as one of the UKs earliest bootleggers of obscure American soul 45s. I think the first one he did was probably The Tams' "Hey Girl, Don't Bother Me", but he went on to put out loads on labels such as Black Magic & Green Light that he sold in the old Arkwright Street shop.
  11. I remember the old Central Market very well. Does anybody remember Arthur's record stall? I don't know whether I ever knew Arthur's surname, but he used to stand behind the stall in his overcoat, smoking his pipe, and it was the best place in town to buy old rock 'n' roll records at bargain prices. Many times I'd find something in his racks marked at 1/6d or 2/- and tell him that it was worth at least a pound. He'd take a puff on his pipe, shrug his shoulders and reply, "Well, I only paid a shilling for it, so..." Hidden away behind the stall were pile after pile of cardboard boxes full of go
  12. Okay, thanks. I suppose that after almost forty years it was a bit of a longshot.
  13. I'm new around here, but I have a couple of questions for PEMBERTON. First name Mick? Demon biker? Proud owner of a copy of the Big Bopper's rare "Chantilly Lace" album?
  14. I remember Brian Selby's first shop on Arkwright Street well enough, but does anyone remember another shop close by on the other side of the road that sold second hand books and records. It was run by a young guy with a beard and was called Moonshine.