Pot Black

Steve Davis was at the record fair a few days ago. He of snooker fame.

This is the fourth time I’ve come across him at my local record fair. On all four occasions I have come away with a very satisfying haul of soul 45s.

Steve was a big fan of soul music back in the 80s and 90s at least. He also partnered with a well known DJ and dealer on the Northern scene back then - Rod Dearlove. They imported tens of thousands of records, and Steve also helped with funding for Rod's magazine Voices From The Shadows that ran for about 25 issues.

At previous fairs he had boxes and boxes of 45s for £1 each. I was like a pig in sh*t! He had a lot more albums this time but my focus as usual was 45s. Inflation has kicked in though. Sadly the £1 boxes are no more. This time there were about 6 boxes of priced soul, blues, and R&B and 5 or 6 rows of £2.50 45s on the floor. And a small box of expensive ones in the inner sanctum. In fairness nearly all the priced stuff was of higher quality/rarer than previously present in his £1 boxes, but I reckon a lot of the £2.50 stuff was £1 last year.

The prices evidently didn’t put me off though as I bought another 25 45s off him! I did get a bit carried away though as seeing so many records that float my boat in the flesh in one place is a rarity in the UK. In reality there are only a few of these that I really wanted, and maybe part of my brain was still operating as if they were only £1 each. The provenance had something to do with it as well I think – imagining they had been imported by Steve and Rod as deadstock decades ago and have since been sat around in storage somewhere is something that, strangely, piques my interest. The records are generally in great condition too.

At the fair I didn’t have time to check if I had any in this latest stack already. When I got home it turned out I did have one – The Soul Ambassadors - which cost me £4. I discovered I had bought, an albeit more beat up, copy on my first plundering of Steve’s £1 boxes back in 2023!

I have found that a fair few of these 45s are featured on Sir Shambling’s great (and now sadly no longer updated?) site. So perhaps some of these records were from Steve’s own personal collection as, like me, I believe he has/had a penchant for deep and/or Southern soul.

Here are two deepies from my stack with a similar feel -  melancholic, simple production, nice guitar and horns, and a good vocal to the fore.  

Nat Hall hailed from the Washington DC area and had several singles released in a roughly 10 year period starting in 1966. He doesn't feature on Sir Shambling, but this track would be a worthy entry. I love the way this one just sort of stops at the end.    

Nat Hall with The Mellow 3 – A Broken Hearted Clown 1970

Ricky Lewis has four documented releases, this, from 1968, being his final release. Ricky does have his page at Sir Shambling, but it seems little is known of him beyond the fact his recording career started in New Jersey.     

Ricky Lewis and the Afro Band –Welcome Home 1968