“I’ve been waiting so long”

After a week away from the ‘Coal Face’ getting some well deserved down time, it’s back to business. On my return I’ve some sad news for you. The ever-excellent Jazz Syndicate Radio Station is no more, having sadly folded, taking with it Tony C’s great show ‘The Melting Pot’. This is a massive shame, as it was an excellent resource for great soul and funk music. Hopefully Tony’s show and the station will manage to reincarnate itself in another form soon so watch this space. The guest mix I had put together as part of last weeks exchange unfortunately never aired on the station but Tony has sent me the tapes of his last show with it included, so once I get his track listings, I’ll be able to post it up for you.

We’re also flying towards our next monthly night at The Brown Sugar Bar, check the tabs above for all the details of the ensuing mayhem and make sure you don’t miss out!



Some of you may be familiar with Spanky Wilson and her recent collaborations with the great Will Holland and his Quantic Soul Orchestra. Of late some of her cuts including ‘You’, ‘Don’t Joke With A Hungry Man’ and ‘I’m Thankful’ have all been getting decent plays around London, especially at our monthly night.

Today’s choice is Spanky Wilson’s ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ and it's a 45 I had been hankering after for a considerable length of time. Both myself and Hoppin’ John had been desperate to find copies of this on 45. Originally released on her ‘Doin’ It’ Album back in 1968, it was given a new lease of life, pressed on a 45 by BGP and given a run of about 500 back in 2003. It was apparently only distributed to BGP employees to coincide with an album launch. Eventually I had exhausted every avenue of getting a copy, even going as far as contacting the label, only to be told just how rare it really was. With the few collectors that had managed to score a copy refusing to let it go I knew this was going to be a toughie to get and decided to put it on the back burner for the time being.


So, a while ago I get a text message from Hoppin’ John with a picture of him holding a minty copy in his grubby hands! I was stumped as to how he’d got it (and slightly annoyed he’d got it first!) Further interrogation revealed that he’d scored a tip off about a Canadian dealer who had recently bought out a record shop that had gone bust. In the haul was a huge box of unplayed BGP singles, and going on a whim he contacted the dealer and made some enquiries and secured his copy.

He went on to tell me this guy had another unplayed copy and that it was going on Ebay within the next few days with a bunch of other stuff. With a nice heads up I waited for it to go up and waded in with a top-heavy bid to ensure this one didn’t get away. I certainly didn’t want to give Hoppin’ John exclusive bragging rights on this one as anyone that’s seen his collection knows there are more than enough ‘Big” 45’s in there already!! So now I can happily say it’s filed safely in my collection.

“What’s all the fuss over a re-issue 45????” I hear you say. Being a singles only collector this is the only way to own a legit copy on a 45 – very very anal I know!! But I’m pretty sure once you get an ear load of this (dare I say it, superior) cover of the Cream original, you’ll see what all the fuss is about!!


I’ll let the music do the rest of the talking and you can make up your own mind, Enjoy!