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The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time-Capsule - Box Set

most exhaustive history of the Northern Soul scene ever...

By Ian Dewhirst in Soul Music News
Updated on 14 Sep 2015 · Published 10 Feb 2015

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‘The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time Capsule’ is the single most comprehensive overview yet of a truly unique UK musical culture which has now lasted over 45 years and had spread across the world. The current popularity of the film “Northern Soul” and it’s soundtrack plus the attendant publicity within the mainstream media - a UK Top 10 film smash, a UK Top 10 album smash and No.1 DVD smash have well and truly put Northern Soul at the forefront of people’s interest again. This is a very, very exciting musical culture which now seems to be appealing to a younger generation of new fans in their teens who love the energy that Northern Soul provides and have the energy to burn off.

 

But how did it start? What made young teenagers in the north of England in the late 1960s and 1970s switch from the mainstream musical scenes and plunge underground into the darkest recesses of black American Soul music? What made them travel hundreds of miles every weekend to see particular DJs and acts? What made them pay 4 weeks of hard-earned wages for a 7” vinyl single from 1967 that hardly anyone had ever heard of?

 

Welcome to Northern Soul. One of the most enigmatic musical cultures ever to exist is now available to explore in depth.

 

Curated by well-known professional compiler, head of Harmess Records and 1970s Northern Soul DJ, Ian Dewhirst, ‘The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time Capsule’ is very much a labour of love. The contributors to the project read like a who’s who of Northern Soul’s golden era. Ian Dewhirst and Anglo American’s Tim Brown co-compiled the music and deliberated at length over the myriad of licensing issues. Mike Ritson, publisher of Manifesto magazine, kindly allowed us to use large swathes of his definitive book about Northern Soul, ‘The In Crowd’ to document the history of the scene. Karl White kindly provided us with a summing-up of the post Wigan Casino years, Simon White, journalist and broadcaster, interviewed, supervised and directed the collection of numerous interviews with most of the scene’s best-known characters. Richard Searling interviews the world’s longest-standing and most enigmatic record dealer, John Anderson, as well as squeezing in an interview with Philadelphia International’s Kenny Gamble, who looks through Richard’s collection of his own releases from the 1960’s and sees many of these UK releases for the first time ever! Northern Soul history! Not one, but 2 DVDs. The 160 page book layout was designed by Glen Gunton and the overall package design by Jaffa — both long-serving Northern Soul stalwarts.

 

The music follows the evolvement of Northern Soul, from its early beginnings at Manchester’s Twisted Wheel club in 1968, through to The Golden Torch, Blackpool Mecca, Wigan Casino and Cleethorpes Pier in the 1970s, Stafford Top Of The World and The 100 Club in the 1980s and the huge dearth of Soul weekenders and the 100 Club again from the 1990’s to the present day. Featuring a mind-numbing 230 tracks and over 10 hours of legendary music, all licensed from legitimate sources and all of which have been painstakingly re-mastered and documented within the sleeve-notes. The most comprehensive Northern Soul track-listing ever.

 

‘The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time-Capsule’ truly does what it says on the tin. This is the most exhaustive history of the Northern Soul scene ever released. Due to be unearthed 02/03/2015.

 

Track Listing

 

CD 1 The Twisted Wheel

 

1. Open The Door To Your Heart - Darrell Banks

2. Walking Up A One Way Street - Willie Tee

3. I Dig Your Act - The O'Jays

4. I Feel So Bad - Jackie Edwards

5. 60 Minutes Of Your Love - Homer Banks

6. I Spy (for the FBI) - Jamo Thomas And His Party Brothers Orchestra

7. Barefootin' - Robert Parker

8. She Blew A Good Thing - The Poets

9. First I Look At The Purse - The Contours

10. I’m Gonna Run Away From You - Tami Lynn

11. (At The) Discotheque - Chubby Checker

12. I’ll Always Love You - The Spinners

13. Looking For You - Garnet Mimms

14. The Boogaloo Party - The Flamingos

15. I’m Gonna Miss You - The Artistics

16. There’s Nothing Else To Say - The Incredibles

17. Baby Do The Philly Dog - The Olympics

18. That Beatin’ Rhythm - Richard Temple

19. Love Love Love - Bobby Hebb

20. You’ve Been Cheatin' - The Impressions

21. Investigate - Major Lance

22. Just Walk In My Shoes - Gladys Knight & The Pips

23. Ain’t No Soul (In These Old Shoes) - Major Lance

24. A ‘Lil Lovin’ Sometimes - Alexander Patton

25. The Right Track - Billy Butler

26. Baby Reconsider - Leon Haywood

27. Cigarette Ashes - Jimmy Conwell

28. Wear It On Our Face - The Dells

29. Seven Days Too Long - Chuck Wood

30. These Chains Of Love (Are Breaking Me Down) - Chuck Jackson

31. Long After Tonight Is All Over - Jimmy Radcliffe

 

CD 2 The Twisted Wheel To The Golden Torch

 

1. Here I Go Again - Archie Bell & The Drells

2. You’re Gonna Make Me Love You - Sandi Sheldon

3. The Same Old Thing - The Olympics

4. Hit & Run - Rose Batiste

5. Quick Change Artist - The Soul Twins

6. You Just Don’t Know - Chubby Checker

7. You Get Your Kicks - Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels

8. Sliced Tomatoes - The Just Brothers

9. Keep On Keeping On — N.F. Porter

10. Exus Trek - The Luther Ingram Orchestra

11. Psychedelic Soul Pt 1 - Saxie Russell

12. ‘Cause You’re Mine - The Vibrations

13. Honest To Goodness - Herb Ward

14. My Dear Heart - Shawn Robinson

15. Festival Time - The San Remo Golden Strings

16. Groovin' At The Go-Go - The Four Larks

17. Cracking Up Over You - Roy Hamilton

18. Love On A Mountain Top - Robert Knight

19. I’m Satisfied With You - The Furys

20. I Can't Get Away - Bobby Garrett

21. Head and Shoulders (Above The Rest) - Patti Young

22. Somebody (Somewhere) Needs You - Darrell Banks

23. You Don’t Want Me No More - Major Lance

24. What Would I Do - The Tymes

25. Shing-A-Ling - The Cooperettes

26. This Beautiful Day - Levi Jackson

27. Everything’s Gonna Be Alright - P.P. Arnold

28. Baby Boy - Fred Hughes

29. Purple Haze - Johnny Jones & The King Casuals

30. Thumb A Ride - Earl Wright & His Orchestra

 

CD 3 The Golden Torch To Blackpool Mecca

 

1. If You Ask Me (Because I Love You) - Jerry Williams

2. Skiing In The Snow - The Invitations

3. The Girl Across The Street - Moses Smith

4. Blowing My Mind To Pieces - Bob Relf

5. Our Love Is In The Pocket - J.J. Barnes

6. I Got To Find Me Somebody - The Vel-Vets

7. I Hurt On The Other Side - Jerry Cook

8. I'm Gonna Love You - Edward Hamilton

9. Let Her Go - Otis Smith

10. She's Puttin' You On - United Four

11. Psychedelic Soul Pt 2 - Saxie Russell

12. Breakaway Pt 2 - The Steve Karmen Big Band

13. Get It Baby - Stanley Mitchell

14. Please Operator - Tony & Tyrone

15. I Really Love You - The Tomangoes

16. Crazy Baby - The Coasters

17. Stick By Me Baby - The Salvadors

18. You Hit Me (Right Where It Hurt Me) - Alice Clark

19. Baby Don’t You Weep - Edward Hamilton & The Arabians

20. I Can’t Hold On - Lorraine Chandler

21. Satisfied - Ben Aitken

22. There’s A Ghost In My House - R. Dean Taylor

23. They’ll Never Know Why - Freddie Chavez

24. I Just Can’t Live My Life (Without You Babe) - Linda Jones

25. Can’t Help Loving That Man Of Mine - Ila Vann

26. Seven Day Lover - James Fountain

27. She'll Come Running Back - Mel Britt

28. It Really Hurts Me Girl - The Carstairs

29. California Montage - Young Holt Unlimited

 

CD 4 Blackpool Mecca To Wigan Casino

 

1. Breakaway Pt 1 - The Steve Karmen Big Band ft Jimmy Radcliffe

2. You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies - Dana Valery

3. Night Owl - Bobby Paris

4. Help Me - Al Wilson

5. Afternoon Of The Rhino - The Mike Post Coalition

6. Tainted Love - Gloria Jones

7. I’ll Always Need You - Dean Courtney

8. Serving A Sentence Of Life - Carl Douglas

9. Dance Dance Dance - The Casualeers

10. The Night - Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons

11. You've Got Your Mind On Other Things - Beverly Ann

12. Interplay - Derek & Ray

13. Born A Loser - Don Ray

14. When We Get There - Paul Anka

15. As Long As You Love Me (I’ll Stay) - Ronnie & Robin

16. Bari Track - Doni Burdick

17. (It’s Against) The Laws Of Love - The Volcanoes

18. Heartaches Away My Boy - Christine Cooper

19. Don’t Take It Out On This World - Adam’s Apples

20. All Of My Life - Detroit Soul

21. You Didn’t Say A Word - Yvonne Baker

22. Baby Hit And Run - The Contours

23. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) - Frank Wilson

24. Double Cookin’ - The Checkerboard Squares

25. Country Girl - Vickie Baines

26. Girl, Don’t Make Me Wait - Bunny Sigler

27. You Don't Love Me Anymore - Johnny Caswell

28. I’m On My Way - Dean Parrish

 

CD 5 More Wigan Casino

 

1. Turning My Heartbeat Up - The MVP's

2. You Don't Love Me - Epitome Of Sound

3. Burning Sensation - Robby Lawson

4. Baby Without You - Danny Monday

5. I Was Born To Love You - Herbert Hunter

6. I Lost A True Love -Danny Wagner & The Kindred Soul

7. I Wanna Know - John E Paul

8. Tear Stained Face - Don Varner

9. She's Wanted (In Three States) - Larry Clinton

10. Where I'm Not Wanted - Eddie Holman

11. This Gets To Me - Pookie Hudson

12. I Don't Like To Lose - The Group featuring Cecil Washington

13. It's Better To Cry - The Appreciations

14. Please Stay - The Ivorys

15. Happiness Is Here - Tobi Lark

16. Love Slipped Through My Fingers - Sam Williams

17. Cool Off - Detroit Executives

18. Love Factory - Eloise Laws

19. Sad Girl -Carol Anderson

20. Strange Change - Herb Ward

21. I Am Nothing - Al Williams

22. The Jokes On You - Kenny Gamble

23. I Really Love You - Jimmy Burns

24. That's No Way To Treat A Girl - Marie Knight

25. A Changed Man - The Rotations

26. This Won't Change - Lester Tipton

27. Gone With The Wind Is My Love - Rita & The Tiaras

 

CD 6 Wigan Casino To Cleethorpes Pier

 

1. Elijah Rockin' With Soul - Hank Jacobs

2. I Can’t Change - Lorraine Chandler

3. They're Talking About Me - Johnny Bragg

4. My Heart Cries For You - Porgy & The Monarchs

5. You're Never Too Young (To Fall In Love) - The Modern Redcaps

6. Send Him Back - The Pointer Sisters

7. Do The Pearl Girl Pt 2 - The Matta Baby

8. All The Way Home - Dee Edwards

9. Look At Me Now - Terry Callier

10. So is The Sun - World Column

11. The Gig - Raw Soul

12. Wrong Crowd - Prince George

13. Hung Up On Your Love - The Montclairs

14. Ton Of Dynamite - Frankie ‘Loveman’ Crocker

15. Lady Lady Lady (Are You Crazy For Me) - Boogie Man Orchestra

16. I Don't Know What Foot To Dance On - Kim Tolliver

17. I Wanna Be (Your Everything) - The Pretenders

18. Cuz It's You Girl - James Walsh Gypsy Band

19. You Sexy Sugar Plum (But I Like It) - Rodger Collins

20. Cut Your Motor Off - Black Nasty feat Herbie Thompson

21. I Got The Vibes - Joshie Jo Armstead

22. Have Love Will Travel - Rosey Jones

23. Do What You Feel Pt 1 - The Rimshots

24. Wash And Wear Love - Lynn Varnado

25. Elusive - Babe Ruth

26. Are You Ready For This - The Brothers

27. I've Got The Need - The Moments

 

CD 7 The 100 Club And Top Of The World, Stafford Eras

 

1. Please Don't Go - Willie Tee

2. Since I Found My Baby -The Metros

3. I Need My Baby - Jackey Beavers

4. I Still Love You - The Seven Souls

5. Suspicion - The Originals

6. Let’s Talk It Over — Spencer Wiggins

7. I'll Never Stop Loving You - Carla Thomas

8. Talkin' Woman - Lowell Fulson

9. You Just Cheat And Lie - Z Z Hill

10. Oh How I Love You - Little Johnny Hamilton & The Creators

11. Too Much For You - Bobby Angelle

12. Naughty Boy - Jackie Day

13. Losing Control - Mary Saxton

14. You Really Made It Good To Me - Ty Karim

15. Girl I Love You - The Temptones

16. Wrapped Tied & Tangled - Lavern Baker

17. Try Me For Your New Love - Junior McCants

18. The Magic Touch - Melba Moore

19. Dearly Beloved - Jack Montgomery

20. Packing Up - Damon Fox

21. Because Of My Heart - Frankie Beverly

22. You Shook Me Up - Roy Hamilton

23. My Love Gets Stronger - Tommy Ridgley

24. I'm Steppin' Out Of The Picture - Johnny Maestro & The Crests

25. Rat Race - Gino Washington

26. I Don't Do This (To Every Girl I Meet) - Sidney Joe Qualls

27. I'm Having So Much Fun - Willie Tee

28. Deep Dark Secret - Dee Dee Sharp

29. What Should I Do - Little Ann

30. Such Misery - The Precisions

 

CD 8 The Weekenders Era

 

1. If I Could Only Be Sure - Nolan Porter

2. Home Is Where The Heart Is - Bobby Womack

3. Something New To Do - Bobby Sheen

4. Too Late - Mandrill

5. The Game Is Over (What's The Matter With You) - Brown Sugar

6. Because Of You - Jackie Wilson

7. Pour Your Little Heart Out - The Drifters

8. Think It Over (And Be Sure) - Liz Verdi

9. What's That On Your Finger - Kenny Carter

10. Baby-A-Go-Go - Barbara McNair

11. I Can't Break The News To Myself - Ben E King

12. The Stars - Barbara Lewis

13. Something's Wrong - Chris Clark

14. Don't Pity Me - Joanie Sommers

15. Here Are The Pieces Of My Broken Heart - Gladys Knight & The Pips

16. In Love - Tony Galla

17. Tune Up - Jnr Walker & The All-Stars

18. Beggin' - Timebox

19. Stolen Hours - Patrice Holloway

20. Call On Me - The Dynells

21. How - The Masqueraders

22. Talkin' 'Bout My Baby - Dottie & Millie

23. (Just A Little) Faith And Understanding - The Magicians

24. Dynamite Exploded - Honey & The Bees

25. I’m Slowly Moulding - Cody Black

26. What's With This Loneliness - Chuck Jackson

27. If This Is Love (I’d Rather Be Lonely) - The Precisions

28. It'll Never Be Over For Me - Timi Yuro

 

Compiled by Ian Dewhirst with assistance from Tim Brown and Ady Croasdel



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Ernie Andrews

Problem is Ian Lots of of those tracks are free downloads or are on other compilations. It looks good but that's about it to me. Price is a bit much as well! I was thinking more around the £49.99 mark and was a bit shocked when I saw it! Anyhow whoever buys it wont be spoiled for choice in the car on along journey!

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Ian Dewhirst

Problem is Ian Lots of of those tracks are free downloads or are on other compilations. It looks good but that's about it to me. Price is a bit much as well! I was thinking more around the £49.99 mark and was a bit shocked when I saw it! Anyhow whoever buys it wont be spoiled for choice in the car on along journey!

 

Well free downloads are illegal of course and no serious collector would dream of ripping of the copyright owners, writers and artists I presume? Every track on here has been legally licensed for decent royalties and advances.

 

For 8 x CDs, 230 properly mastered tracks, 2 DVDs of brand new content and a 160 page book I think the £49.99 Dealer Price is a bargain. When Amazon drop their price (as they inevitably will) their price will drop to something even better.

 

Also this is not particularly aimed at people who already have the stuff. The Northern Soul soundtrack shows that there is a huge audience out there who want to learn, so this is as good a start as any. 

 

Ian D  :D

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Ian Dewhirst

ordered

 

Smart move Jim. The costs of producing and warehousing these box sets is huge these days, so the early pressing runs are the only ones that are guaranteed since it's so expensive to do re-runs that they won't bother unless it's for 1K+. The early bird gets the worm mate!

 

Ian D  :D

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Ady Croasdell

Hi Ian, it's a super project but I don't think you should have listed me as assisting in the compiling. All I did was put you right on a couple of licensors. You and Timmy should get the glory.

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Ian Dewhirst

Hi Ian, it's a super project but I don't think you should have listed me as assisting in the compiling. All I did was put you right on a couple of licensors. You and Timmy should get the glory.

 

So many people involved I thought I'd better list 'em all.  :thumbsup:

 

I should point out that Ady helped out with some of our last minute license kerfuffles!  :lol:

 

Ian D  :D

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Ian Dewhirst

The moment finally arrived! Praise be to the lord. A project which has been almost 3 years in gestation and which almost killed me due to the complexity and sheer scale of the beast, was finally delivered in it's finished form.

 

Little did I know when I was 15 years old in 1970 and purchasing my first record collection from a Huddersfield DJ called Jim (£25 for 400 records - a bargain), that 45 years later I'd be responsible for overseeing a project which originally stemmed from that suitcase full of records which I bought from Jim. The first record that I pulled out was a battered Stateside copy of Darrell Banks "Open The Door To Your Heart" and now it's also the first record of 230 within this collection 45 years later.  

 

Fate goes full circle ay? It truly has been a lifelong odyssey for me personally, so can you imagine how I felt when I finally got to open the b*stard?

 

So here's the unveiling folks...

 

 

Ian D  :D

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Guest Ivor Jones

Guest Ivor Jones

Posted

Thats some compilation Ian !  Well done to you !…..I hope it sells by the bucketload for you,it certainly deserves to…..

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Ian Dewhirst

Thats some compilation Ian !  Well done to you !…..I hope it sells by the bucketload for you,it certainly deserves to…..

 

Cheers Ivor. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into it so hopefully it'll work!

 

Ian D :)

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Ian Dewhirst

The Unveiling of 'The Odyssey: A Northern Soul Time-Capsule Part 2'.

Yep, we were watching it and someone said how come there's no music, so voila! Thanks Lidia!

Order order order! Going fast! Out this coming Monday!

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,553 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

#12 in Music > R&B and Soul > Motown

#28 in Music > R&B and Soul > Soul

#37 in Music > Pop > Pop R&B

 

https://youtu.be/ibM4wVmHmUE

 

Ian D  :D

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Ian Dewhirst

Amazon have just dispatched my copy.  Hurrah.

 

Yep, just saw on Facebook that someone has had theirs delivered already. So they're out there at last! 

 

Ian D  :D

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Ian Dewhirst

well its 10am monday morning and its arrived via amazon.very impressive box,so thats my monday sorted,listening to this excellent collection and reading the very informative book.

well done ian,great job done .

 

dave o'neill

 

Killer Dave! I'm very happy with the way it came out! Happy listening.

 

Ian D :)

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Steve S 60

Royal Mail called at 1230.  Very nice looking box set, top marks for presentation.  Look forward to listening to the tracks, watching the DVDs and reading the book.  Good to see all the track listings are already on iTunes.  Well done all at Harmless.

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Ian Dewhirst

Spoke too soon.  Disc 4 track listings not on Gracenote yet.  Might upload them myself if they haven't appeared by the time I rip the other discs.

 

You might be the first to be ripping it Steve.....

 

Glad you like it mate!

 

Ian :)

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Steve S 60

You might be the first to be ripping it Steve.....

 

Glad you like it mate!

 

Ian :)

 

Certainly do Ian.  It's great to have the tracks in chronological order by venue.

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Bourne Fox

:) Just got mine, impressed with it all, format , cd labels, track listing, book.

Looking forward to watching the DVDs later. 

Well done to everyone involved. 

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Jim G

Well Done Ian!

 

Mine arrived today and I am halfway through the first DVD. The packaging and book all look great!

 

Hope it sells well for you.

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Guest Russell H

Guest Russell H

Posted

The two discs I've listened to so far are incredible, not just in the sound quality but also in the running order. You could probably have a decent nighter just playing these discs through (though you'd upset the OVO crowd).

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Ian Dewhirst

The two discs I've listened to so far are incredible, not just in the sound quality but also in the running order. You could probably have a decent nighter just playing these discs through (though you'd upset the OVO crowd).

I spend a lot of time on sequencing. My colleagues can't understand it but I do treat each CD as a DJ set really which generally seems to work out OK.

Ian D :)

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Ian Dewhirst

well that them all downloaded just in case i loose any and yes cd 4 is not listed on gracenote,so ive done it myself no problem.so ian,how are you going to top this then ? you have set your benchmark very high now mate !!! :g: first track,my all time favourite,what a start .luv it.

I'm not gonna be able to top it unfortunately. The days of the lavish box sets are numbered I believe, so I always look at each project as if it could be the last. Thus almost was lol. Almost killed me....

Ian D :)

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Steve S 60

Listened to all the CDs all the way through.  Agree with previous posts, do like the running order and the quality is spot on.  Now need to find time to watch the DVDs and read the book.

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soulster22

Well free downloads are illegal of course and no serious collector would dream of ripping of the copyright owners, writers and artists I presume? Every track on here has been legally licensed for decent royalties and advances.

 

For 8 x CDs, 230 properly mastered tracks, 2 DVDs of brand new content and a 160 page book I think the £49.99 Dealer Price is a bargain. When Amazon drop their price (as they inevitably will) their price will drop to something even better.

 

Also this is not particularly aimed at people who already have the stuff. The Northern Soul soundtrack shows that there is a huge audience out there who want to learn, so this is as good a start as any. 

 

Ian D  :D

bit confused here,

 

is it £49.99 or £76.99 as showing on Amazon at the moment. can I buy it for the dealer price although I'm not a dealer?

 

regards H

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Steve S 60

bit confused here,

 

is it £49.99 or £76.99 as showing on Amazon at the moment. can I buy it for the dealer price although I'm not a dealer?

 

regards H

 

As long as you buy a minimum of 20 box sets.

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Ian Dewhirst

bit confused here,

 

is it £49.99 or £76.99 as showing on Amazon at the moment. can I buy it for the dealer price although I'm not a dealer?

 

regards H

 

Hi H,

 

The £49.99 is the Dealer Price, i.e. the price we charge the Dealers who stock it, so no, unfortunately you're stuck with whatever the Dealers charge, so the Amazon price is a good 'un...

 

Ian D  :D

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phatspinner

Quick Question (from prospective purchaser)

 As I've got just about every book/ video about the northern Soul Scene, how much original material is in the book, DVDs?

I ask because I've noticed somewherethat some (all?) of the book is transposed from a previous book.

Also, how many of the tracks are new to CD?

Apologies if this info is already out there!

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Chalky

The book consists of text from the In Crowd up to the closure of Wigan.  Post Wigan is what I wrote, about 6000 words from Clifton Hall up to today.  Obviously I haven't mentioned every venue as there have been 100's since 1981.  Nor have I mentioned soul nights except for a few that for me had an influence on the scene.  Again some will disagree and think such and such a venue should have been included but I simply didn't have the space nor the time as I was on a tight deadline.

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Ian Dewhirst

You know what Chalky? You could have a 500 page book on the scene and it wouldn't be enough. 

 

I've just spent the last hour FINALLY going through the finished article and it doesn't get any better in terms of a Northern Soul box set in my opinion. I'm obviously biased, but in terms of the wider market, this is the definitive release in my view. Thanks to all involved. The real deal.

 

Ian D  :D

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Chalky

You know what Chalky? You could have a 500 page book on the scene and it wouldn't be enough. 

 

I've just spent the last hour FINALLY going through the finished article and it doesn't get any better in terms of a Northern Soul box set in my opinion. I'm obviously biased, but in terms of the wider market, this is the definitive release in my view. Thanks to all involved. The real deal.

 

Ian D  :D

 

Trouble is there was and still is so many promoters and all probably believe they deserve a mention and in an ideal world do deserve a mention but as you say no book would be big enough.  I can remember plenty of all-nighters that were very good but there was only the one.  

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Benji

Eventually it arrived yesterday. Great package. starting playing through all CDs last night. I noticed some tracks are different mixes/takes. That's nice. But why is there at least one Ian Levine re-recording? Barbara Lewis - The stars with a synth backing? not good :no:

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Ian Dewhirst

Eventually it arrived yesterday. Great package. starting playing through all CDs last night. I noticed some tracks are different mixes/takes. That's nice. But why is there at least one Ian Levine re-recording? Barbara Lewis - The stars with a synth backing? not good :no:

 

Whaaaaat? We didn't license anything from Mr Levine. I'll need to check that master again but I'm pretty sure that was a kosher master from the copyright owners - Concord, the owners of Fantasy/Stax in this case. We went to insane lengths to get the correct masters on this and, up to now, everyone has complimented us on the quality of the mastering. This is just plain weird. I'll check it tomorrow. I have to say that a handful of the masters supplied by the owners were slightly different mixes to the known recordings and, in most cases, superior.

 

The weirdest master we received was the first track on the box set - Darrell Banks "Open The Door To Your Heart" which turned out to be a previously unknown instrumental version (which is spectacular in it's simplicity and impact). So there are bonuses too!

 

Will come back to the Barbara Lewis master tomorrow when I sober up OK?

 

Ian D   :D

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Benji

I just played it again to make sure my ears aren't deceiving. It's definitely a re-recording. Maybe not an IL one. But definitely 80s or later. Even her voice sounds much more mature than on the original Stax LP.

BTW, yes, mastering in general is great. So is the whole capsule.

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Ian Dewhirst

I just played it again to make sure my ears aren't deceiving. It's definitely a re-recording. Maybe not an IL one. But definitely 80s or later. Even her voice sounds much more mature than on the original Stax LP.

BTW, yes, mastering in general is great. So is the whole capsule.

 

How bizarre. That was the master supplied by Concord (owners of Stax). I haven't had time to check it yet but it'll be on full-blast tomorrow. Bit of a mystery though, Why on earth would it be a re-record? It was an album track and not even popular till 40 years after it was recorded. Still nothing like  a mystery ay? Glad you approve of the rest of it!  :thumbsup:

 

Ian D  :D

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Steve S 60

Now THAT is a bargain! This has never stopped selling since it was issued 7 weeks ago. Looks like it's in for the long haul! Good spot Steve!

 

Ian D :D  

 

Trouble is I paid full whack on a pre-order, Ian.  Never mind, it's only money.

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Steve S 60

Stop moaning. You got it 7 weeks ahead didntcha...?  :lol:

 

Ian D  :D

 

Yeah, but I still haven't found the time to watch the DVDs or read the book, and I know all the tracks.

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