What's the deal with this record? Promo only? Handful of known copies? I seem to remember some nonsense about the song being released after being found in a Motown tape vault by a Northern guy. Who knows the real deal?
Three known (non-promo) copies: 2 of them owned by Northern dudes, third copy is Berry Gordy's.
Production stopped immediately by Berry because he wanted Frank to remain a producer, and not an artist. All copies immediately destroyed at the plant, except Motown kept a couple for the archives. One is in Berry's private vault at home, some Northern dude named Simon stole a copy when he was at Motown offices, broke and bootlegged the record onto the Northern scene, and someone else bought the other known copy from a Motown employee or something like that. Those two copies in the Northern scene floated around a couple of guys for serious cash, and then the guy now selling his copy had bought his a while back for like 15,000 pouinds or something, make the record even more famous.
BTW some people say Frank himself has offered $50,000 to the Northern guys to have a copy for himself. So you know he is bidding on this one.
Berry Gordy's copy isn't confirmed that I know of, just rumored, the rumor is there were two copies of every motown record archived, one for Jobete & the other for the labels archive, Berry Gordy allegedly retains one of everything Jobete related, but sold the other complete? set when he sold Motown, the two sets did not directly correspond & Berry is still buying some of the pieces missing from his selection. One copy is warped & one now has Frank Wilson's autograph to the current owner on the label. This copy was bought from a former pressing plant employee so Motown has no recourse to try to legally get this copy back in it's archive. The other (warped) copy (not for sale) is the one that was lifted by (infamous Northern dealer) Simon Soussan from the Motown (not Jobete) library back in the 70s. I think limitations is 6 years or something & the 45 has been through so many different owners in 20+ years, there is no way Motown will get their copy back.
Frank Wilson is documented as offering $50k for the 45, how serious he was is anyones guess.
Good 45, expensive & most probably 1 of only 2 copies that will surface (there are always rumors flying about someone who knows someone who has a 3rd or 4th copy but doesn't want to let it known to the public blah blah blah). But really, when it goes for that sort of money & has been a known big ticket 45 for 30 odd years, the fact that not one other copy has surfaced in that time is pretty telling IMO.
for that price it better be hand delivered on a silk pillow by two nubile virgins.
After all the press attention this record is getting, I'm sure the disc will probably be handed over with some kind of press conference or photo shoot.
The current owner of the FW, Kenny Burrell, has been on UK TV a number of times in the past, explaining the rarity and collectability of this and other Northern Soul records.
you can't bid at the death unless you have bid prior to 6 days before the auction ends because bidding goes private & only previous bidders get access.
Now at ??17521. That's a rise of ??2500 in one day... Imagine if it went missingin the mail
Probably not the kindest thought, but for a split second I thought how funny it would be for someone to pay all that money just so they could break it.
Manship auctions continue until 3 minutes (I think) has elapsed between bids. In other words, some kind of last second snipe will just extend the auction for more minutes.
The Frank Wilson - Soul 35019 will be collected and handed over to the winner on cleared funds only. The winner will agree to meet all costs of a private courier to deliver to you in person by hand anywhere in world."
This auction will be in two parts.
Part 1
There is NO RESERVE. Once you have registered feel free to bid in confidence and 100% security.
Part 2
On Friday April 22nd. 6 days before auction closes on 18.00 pm Wednesday GMT 29/04/09 The bidders will be given access to the final stage of bidding. Only those bidders registered and have already bid prior to this date 18.00 pm GMT 22/04/09 will be able to continue to bid and win the Frank Wilson - Soul 35019 within a totally private area only accessible by genuine bidders.
Those bidders will be given a "unique to you" password to re-enter the auction, to view the live proceedings and continue to bid, if they wish.
All of those taking part in the final stage will be required to provide credit card details to cover a ??2,000 pre-authorization for the deposit required by the winner immediately after the hammer goes down. Nobody will have their credit card charged but will have their credit cards pre-authorized for validity against names & addresses. All bidders will need a ??2,000 credit available for this "test and hold" to validate and allow you access to the final stage, any bidder failing to meet this requirement will have their access blocked to any further bidding.
All copies immediately destroyed at the plant, except Motown kept a couple for the archives. One is in Berry's private vault at home, some Northern dude named Simon stole a copy when he was at Motown offices, broke and bootlegged the record onto the Northern scene, and someone else bought the other known copy from a Motown employee or something like that.
quote from Soul Source:
I actually have some phenomenal Soussan stories. They're just incredible really.
Here's a quicky.......
When I arrived at L.A.X., Simon came to meet me and this is what happened within the first 2 minutes of meeting him.....
I passed customs and walked through arrivals and immediately spotted Simon. I vaguely knew what he looked like - smooth, chiselled Middle-Eastern hustler and there he was right in front of me.
We greeted each other and sort of embraced. The last time I saw Simon @ Blackpool Mecca I got glassed and had my nose broken. No big deal and I kind of peaked the situation and gave Simon the chance to slip away. Which he did. Totally vanished LOL...
So he believed that I'd saved his life.
So we kind of embraced, weird though it was and he said "welcome to L.A. baby boy. We're gonna have fun"!
And with that he starting leading me through the airport telling me that America was 'the land of opportunity' and that there was 'pussy everywhere' and he was 'going to get me laid' etc, etc...
I mean I was jet-lagged, knackered and still getting adjusted to things and I have this silver fox like cartoon character speaking ten to the dozen and I'm just trying to keep up with the whirlwind.........
And, all of sudden, he smashes me in the ribs and says, "hey baby boy....look at THAT"!
And the greatest looking female I had ever seen in my entire life was approaching us...
And Simon said, "watch this baby boy........"
And he went up to her and said, "Hello madame. I couldn't help noticing you because you are beautiful and I notice beauty because I am a fashion designer. I run the company called "Our Love Is In The Pocket" - we're the ones who put the pocket in between the breasts to give the illusion of accessibility to the male species. The pockets themselves are designed by J.J. Barnes of the Revilot organisation - you'll have read about him in Vogue I'm sure, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in modelling our new Summer line which is coming up. We're going to call it "Sweet Sherry" and I think you'd be the perfect girl to front the campaign. Would it be possible to have your number so our business affairs people can contact you"?
By this point, both the greatest looking female of all time and me were absolutely mesmerised. A FANTASTIC spiel. Right up there with Mussolini and Hitler in my opinion......
So the greatest looking female of all time gave Simon her number, smiled seductively at him and said "make sure you call me. Quick!"
She walked off and I looked at Simon and said, "Wow. I'm dead impressed. When are ya gonna ring her"?
And Simon went very serious for a milli-second and then smiled, ripped the greatest looking female of all time's number into tiny shreds and threw the pieces of paper into the air.
Then he looked at me and said, "Baby boy, this is L.A. There are a million beautiful women here and you're gonna f*$k 'em all"!
THAT was within the first 2 minutes of being with Simon in L.A.
It was hard not to be impressed by the pure bullshit approach. He was the grandmaster of bullshit. On the other hand, if I was going to be honest, the thought of f&%king a million women at that point was pretty appealing.
So he suckered me into the bullshit.
Welcome to Hollywood.
This and more entertaining Simon Soussain Stories can be read here:
I had some dealings with Soussan. Not a pleasant experience.
He wrote a price guide. This is what it says about the FW 45:
The record that has eluded thousands of collectors for 25 years. One VG- copy, the author's, was sold to a British collector for $8,500. The other copy, in mint condition, was snapped for $12,500 in '93"
The price guide lists a number of records/test pressings/acetates that only the author owns.
He was a record producer also, may have produced Skyy or Shalamar, can't remember.
The Frank Wilson - Soul 35019 will be collected and handed over to the winner on cleared funds only. The winner will agree to meet all costs of a private courier to deliver to you in person by hand anywhere in world."
This auction will be in two parts.
Part 1
There is NO RESERVE. Once you have registered feel free to bid in confidence and 100% security.
Part 2
On Friday April 22nd. 6 days before auction closes on 18.00 pm Wednesday GMT 29/04/09 The bidders will be given access to the final stage of bidding. Only those bidders registered and have already bid prior to this date 18.00 pm GMT 22/04/09 will be able to continue to bid and win the Frank Wilson - Soul 35019 within a totally private area only accessible by genuine bidders.
Those bidders will be given a "unique to you" password to re-enter the auction, to view the live proceedings and continue to bid, if they wish.
All of those taking part in the final stage will be required to provide credit card details to cover a ??2,000 pre-authorization for the deposit required by the winner immediately after the hammer goes down. Nobody will have their credit card charged but will have their credit cards pre-authorized for validity against names & addresses. All bidders will need a ??2,000 credit available for this "test and hold" to validate and allow you access to the final stage, any bidder failing to meet this requirement will have their access blocked to any further bidding.
The Frank Wilson - Soul 35019 will be collected and handed over to the winner on cleared funds only. The winner will agree to meet all costs of a private courier to deliver to you in person by hand anywhere in world."
This auction will be in two parts.
Part 1
There is NO RESERVE. Once you have registered feel free to bid in confidence and 100% security.
Part 2
On Friday April 22nd. 6 days before auction closes on 18.00 pm Wednesday GMT 29/04/09 The bidders will be given access to the final stage of bidding. Only those bidders registered and have already bid prior to this date 18.00 pm GMT 22/04/09 will be able to continue to bid and win the Frank Wilson - Soul 35019 within a totally private area only accessible by genuine bidders.
Those bidders will be given a "unique to you" password to re-enter the auction, to view the live proceedings and continue to bid, if they wish.
All of those taking part in the final stage will be required to provide credit card details to cover a ??2,000 pre-authorization for the deposit required by the winner immediately after the hammer goes down. Nobody will have their credit card charged but will have their credit cards pre-authorized for validity against names & addresses. All bidders will need a ??2,000 credit available for this "test and hold" to validate and allow you access to the final stage, any bidder failing to meet this requirement will have their access blocked to any further bidding.
I'm just annoyed because also being auctioned one record up from FW is my #1 soul want. All this unneeded exposure is going to kill my chances of ever finding one for an OK price.
I'm just annoyed because also being auctioned one record up from FW is my #1 soul want. All this unneeded exposure is going to kill my chances of ever finding one for an OK price.
PAGING JOHN SHADE
After posting that I realized the order of the records is constantly being jumbled up. The one I was alluding to is Th* T*J's. You got one of those for me R*b*ert?
This and more entertaining Simon Soussain Stories can be read here:
Perhaps this story is entertaining if you're British but, for the rest of us, it's just boring.
Ok, Mr. "rest of us".
In all fairness, I found that story kind of dull too.
A douchebag acting douche-y in Los Angeles? Incredible!
Maybe it was dull then, taken out of context. I found this character very interesting while reading a buch of stories about him over there, and I'm not even British. A genuine street market hustler type, who just happened to be into northern soul. Stealing a copy of Frank Wilson (and most likely the one on auction at the moment) from the Motown record library connects him to this thread as well.
This and more entertaining Simon Soussain Stories can be read here:
Perhaps this story is entertaining if you're British but, for the rest of us, it's just boring.
Ok, Mr. "rest of us".
In all fairness, I found that story kind of dull too.
A douchebag acting douche-y in Los Angeles? Incredible!
Maybe it was dull then, taken out of context. I found this character very interesting while reading a buch of stories about him over there, and I'm not even British. A genuine street market hustler type, who just happened to be into northern soul. Stealing a copy of Frank Wilson (and most likely the one on auction at the moment) from the Motown record library connects him to this thread as well.
I found the anectdote extremly entertaining.(I'm not british either.) This led me to read the whole Simon-Thread at this Nothern Soul Forum. I'd like to see a movie about him. The parts I liked most were about his hatred against everything funky. When he found funk records while digging for Nothern he just broke them in two and put them back in the stack. And he stopped his car in the middle of the road to smash his radio when he switched channels three times and heard funk on any of them.
The parts I liked most were about his hatred against everything funky. When he found funk records while digging for Northern he just broke them in two and put them back in the stack. And he stopped his car in the middle of the road to smash his radio when he switched channels three times and heard funk on any of them.
When he found funk records while digging for Nothern he just broke them in two and put them back in the stack.
Not cool, even when I come across country and western and other stinkers I'm not that bad that I break the records. What is the point???
Everybody knows it's not cool but I can't help but being fascinated by someone acting that passionate and uncompromising.
Also his hatred of funk was legendary. If he hit a load of funk in a place, he'd start snapping copies of the records in half! I'd say 'oh c'mon Simon, you don't have to break the bloody records do ya"? And he just keep snapping 'em and say "it's repetetive garbage (pronounced REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE) baby boy, they just get in the way"!
One time he was in real snit - I think he'd had a bust up with Sabrina and he was really pissed-off. We were driving along Sunset Boulevard in his car and he switched the radio on and the Isley Brother's "Fight The Power" came on and he went "F*&king FUNK! I HATE "f*&king FUNK"! and he jabbed the car radio's pre-set buttons to another station and the Ohio Player's "Love Rollercoaster" came on - steam started coming out of his ears and he screamed " "F*&king FUNK! What ees wrong with zees people? F*&king FUNK Motherf*&kers! Why can't zey play some Northern instead of this motherf*&king FUNK all ze time"!!! He then furiously jabbed the pre-sets again only for the Brothers Johnson "Get The Funk Out Of My Face" to come blasting out of the speakers. He looked at me, "OK, that's it now"!
He then just jerked the car to a complete hault right in the middle of Sunset Strip and started smashing the car radio with his fists. When his hand started bleeding, he got out of the car, took off one of his shoes and continued smashing the radio until parts of the radio were all over the floor of the car. He then physically tore the radio out of the car and threw what was left of it onto the road and then started stamping on it with his other shoe-clad foot.
By this point there was a half-mile tailback on Sunset and the horns going off were almost deafening and the driver of the car behind us was just watching all this with her mouth wide open in shock......
I said "err, Simon, maybe we'd better go......"
He just got back in the car, slammed it into gear and said "well, at least we won't have to listen to that REPET-TAT-TIVE GAR-BAAAARRRRGE anymore!"
Comments
Berry Gordy's copy isn't confirmed that I know of, just rumored, the rumor is there were two copies of every motown record archived, one for Jobete & the other for the labels archive, Berry Gordy allegedly retains one of everything Jobete related, but sold the other complete? set when he sold Motown, the two sets did not directly correspond & Berry is still buying some of the pieces missing from his selection.
One copy is warped & one now has Frank Wilson's autograph to the current owner on the label. This copy was bought from a former pressing plant employee so Motown has no recourse to try to legally get this copy back in it's archive. The other (warped) copy (not for sale) is the one that was lifted by (infamous Northern dealer) Simon Soussan from the Motown (not Jobete) library back in the 70s. I think limitations is 6 years or something & the 45 has been through so many different owners in 20+ years, there is no way Motown will get their copy back.
Frank Wilson is documented as offering $50k for the 45, how serious he was is anyones guess.
Good 45, expensive & most probably 1 of only 2 copies that will surface (there are always rumors flying about someone who knows someone who has a 3rd or 4th copy but doesn't want to let it known to the public blah blah blah). But really, when it goes for that sort of money & has been a known big ticket 45 for 30 odd years, the fact that not one other copy has surfaced in that time is pretty telling IMO.
for that price it better be hand delivered on a silk pillow by two nubile virgins.
After all the press attention this record is getting, I'm sure the disc will probably be handed over with some kind of press conference or photo shoot.
The current owner of the FW, Kenny Burrell, has been on UK TV a number of times in the past, explaining the rarity and collectability of this and other Northern Soul records.
Probably not the kindest thought, but for a split second I thought how funny it would be for someone to pay all that money just so they could break it.
quote from Soul Source:
I actually have some phenomenal Soussan stories. They're just incredible really.
Here's a quicky.......
When I arrived at L.A.X., Simon came to meet me and this is what happened within the first 2 minutes of meeting him.....
I passed customs and walked through arrivals and immediately spotted Simon. I vaguely knew what he looked like - smooth, chiselled Middle-Eastern hustler and there he was right in front of me.
We greeted each other and sort of embraced. The last time I saw Simon @ Blackpool Mecca I got glassed and had my nose broken. No big deal and I kind of peaked the situation and gave Simon the chance to slip away. Which he did. Totally vanished LOL...
So he believed that I'd saved his life.
So we kind of embraced, weird though it was and he said "welcome to L.A. baby boy. We're gonna have fun"!
And with that he starting leading me through the airport telling me that America was 'the land of opportunity' and that there was 'pussy everywhere' and he was 'going to get me laid' etc, etc...
I mean I was jet-lagged, knackered and still getting adjusted to things and I have this silver fox like cartoon character speaking ten to the dozen and I'm just trying to keep up with the whirlwind.........
And, all of sudden, he smashes me in the ribs and says, "hey baby boy....look at THAT"!
And the greatest looking female I had ever seen in my entire life was approaching us...
And Simon said, "watch this baby boy........"
And he went up to her and said, "Hello madame. I couldn't help noticing you because you are beautiful and I notice beauty because I am a fashion designer. I run the company called "Our Love Is In The Pocket" - we're the ones who put the pocket in between the breasts to give the illusion of accessibility to the male species. The pockets themselves are designed by J.J. Barnes of the Revilot organisation - you'll have read about him in Vogue I'm sure, so I was wondering if you'd be interested in modelling our new Summer line which is coming up. We're going to call it "Sweet Sherry" and I think you'd be the perfect girl to front the campaign. Would it be possible to have your number so our business affairs people can contact you"?
By this point, both the greatest looking female of all time and me were absolutely mesmerised. A FANTASTIC spiel. Right up there with Mussolini and Hitler in my opinion......
So the greatest looking female of all time gave Simon her number, smiled seductively at him and said "make sure you call me. Quick!"
She walked off and I looked at Simon and said, "Wow. I'm dead impressed. When are ya gonna ring her"?
And Simon went very serious for a milli-second and then smiled, ripped the greatest looking female of all time's number into tiny shreds and threw the pieces of paper into the air.
Then he looked at me and said, "Baby boy, this is L.A. There are a million beautiful women here and you're gonna f*$k 'em all"!
THAT was within the first 2 minutes of being with Simon in L.A.
It was hard not to be impressed by the pure bullshit approach. He was the grandmaster of bullshit. On the other hand, if I was going to be honest, the thought of f&%king a million women at that point was pretty appealing.
So he suckered me into the bullshit.
Welcome to Hollywood.
This and more entertaining Simon Soussain Stories can be read here:
http://www.soul-source.co.uk/forum/Real-Simon-Soussan-Stand-Up-t69272.html&hl=simon+soussan
Not a pleasant experience.
He wrote a price guide.
This is what it says about the FW 45:
The price guide lists a number of records/test pressings/acetates that only the author owns.
He was a record producer also, may have produced Skyy or Shalamar, can't remember.
ebay should do this to shy away wack bidders
BUT, HOW WILL THE WAXIDERMISTS BUNGEE BID????
Perhaps this story is entertaining if you're British but, for the rest of us, it's just boring.
But his tips on how not to follow thru with hoodwinking a girl into some ass tappage were very instructive...
PAGING JOHN SHADE
Ok, Mr. "rest of us".
In all fairness, I found that story kind of dull too.
A douchebag acting douche-y in Los Angeles? Incredible!
After posting that I realized the order of the records is constantly being jumbled up. The one I was alluding to is Th* T*J's. You got one of those for me R*b*ert?
Maybe it was dull then, taken out of context. I found this character very interesting while reading a buch of stories about him over there, and I'm not even British. A genuine street market hustler type, who just happened to be into northern soul. Stealing a copy of Frank Wilson (and most likely the one on auction at the moment) from the Motown record library connects him to this thread as well.
I found the anectdote extremly entertaining.(I'm not british either.) This led me to read the whole Simon-Thread at this Nothern Soul Forum. I'd like to see a movie about him. The parts I liked most were about his hatred against everything funky. When he found funk records while digging for Nothern he just broke them in two and put them back in the stack. And he stopped his car in the middle of the road to smash his radio when he switched channels three times and heard funk on any of them.
Not cool, even when I come across country and western and other stinkers I'm not that bad that I break the records. What is the point???
Everybody knows it's not cool but I can't help but being fascinated by someone acting that passionate and uncompromising.