Following on from the Graham Warr thread, I figured that this is the time to start collating some of those UNBELIEVABLE U.S. Northern finds. Or unbelievable disappointments too.
From experience, it's quite often the unexpected ones which turn out to be killers!
So here's an example from me, just to kick things off....
In 1988 I was stuck in a pretty boring job in between my more exciting jobs when I got a phone call from my ex boss who used to own the Warehouse in Leeds. He'd rece
Hi all,
Well, its that time of year again
Exactly 12 months since we did the last 'Top Tips' thread... so, as it's now a Soul Source tradition, here we go again!
Here's your opportunity to tip the tunes in your box for future greatness, during the forthcoming year... or simply list any number of records that you'd like to recommend to other Soul Sourcers.
You might be a DJ with that tasty unplayed, unknown, hardly played or semi-known 45 stuck
1. DUNELM HOUSE, DURHAM.
My first all-dayer was in 75 and I tend to think of them amongst the best days of my life. Most of the records I hear as I go round Northern Soul Nights still, I heard for the first time that first day. People came from all over the country and all the top jocks played. Searling did an afternoon set due to commitments elsewhere on the evening; with Levine and Curtis moving increasingly into disco, Funk and Jazz Funk, he was head and shoulders above the rest p
THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER RARE NORTHERN
This list contains what I consider the most sought after and rare original release Northern soul 45s at this point in time. It contains some seriously rare 45s and includes many that have been deemed to be ‘the hot collectable to have’. Records that have eluded collectors over the many years of searching for them and the ones that keep you awake at night, brooding if you’ll ever own them. The records are not listed in any particular order, just as they
For quite some time now as a Modern DJ I have been quietly expressing concern to a few people about the amount of re edits/re workings/remixes/mash ups being played on the Modern Soul scene. I am not referring to House music, I'll leave that for another day, but songs like the George Benson Love X Love track that seems to have become the 'banker' for many DJ's. It always fills the dance floor, never fails, and always gets requested but my question to the knowledgable soul music fans on here is t
The Post Wigan Years By Karl ‘Chalky’ White
Much has been written about the Northern Soul scene up to the demise of The Wigan Casino, but very little has actually been written about what followed. For many, the scene died when Wigan Casino closed its doors for the final time. These same people would perversely discover that the scene was far from dead and that a hard-core crowd had continued to keep the flame burning and in the process, had taken the scene back underground with an aggress
For those avid collectors of rare soul vinyl, the mail order list of SoulBowl (proprietor, John Anderson) should have a special place in their heart, because for the last 50 years it has been at the forefront of vinyl digging for those rare soul imports that we hold so deep in our hearts.
Soul Bowl is to present a connoisseurs room at this forthcoming Prestatyn weekender and has lined up some of it's previous primary customers, including Colin Curtis, Richard Searling, Soul Sam etc. to play
Being very much out of the loop scene wise so from an outsider looking in as it were it would seem to be a common theme that some of shall we say the more upfront rare soul venues are finding it difficult to get decent numbers through the doors, lost count how many times I read the music was brilliant but numbers were down, seems a little odd to me that when you look at the playlists many of the DJ's are playing top end records which command the big ticket prices on auctions etc. yet fail to dra
Background information on the passing of a well-known and much loved personality from the West Midlands' Soul Scene followed by funeral and wake dance details (PLEASE LOOK AT FUNERAL INFORMATION, AS THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE TO THE EVENING SOUL DANCE ARRANGEMENTS). My beloved wife and soulmate of 40 years, Helen who died recently of cancer, aged only 58, after a rollercoaster struggle with the scourge for 18 months. Helen Pereira - "Queen Of The Go-Go" Being born in Dudley and living in th
Who are the Great Soul Deejays?
No doubt been done a zillion times before but it's probably worth doing periodically as people come and go and perspectives change.
When I did my defence of Colin Curtis, I had him among the top 5 Northern Soul C NS ) DJs of all times. I thought I should elaborate and then go beyond just NS. I originally intended to say he was in the top 3 but thought I should acknowledge Soul Sam, who has always had a devoted following and a massive impact albeit, in my
I've finally managed to find this….enjoy
LETTERS TO THE EDITQR
write to the Mag address with your soul letters
Dear Blackbeat
I Have just got to have a say in the 60s newie versus modern soul/played out oldies argument, as I have been on the scene since 1972, having started at the Torch through Blackpool Highland Room, Mecca, Va Vas, Wigan Casino, Yate, Catacombs. All the good clubs, with the exception of St Ives and Samanthas. l experienced the first split in 1976-60s v New
After having listened to this series that many times I thought i'd have a go at ranking them from 1-100. This is obviously just my favourites and not any attempt at an objective ranking or anything. Subject to change with time too, of course.
Top 10
Jean Stanback - I Still Love You
Timmy Willis - Easy As Saying 1-2-3
Barbara & The Browns - I Don't Want To Have To Wait
Eddie Holman - Im Not Gonna Give Up
The Knight Brothers - Tried So Hard To Please Her
Dori
Here is a very old review of Wigan Casino I did. We'd stopped going in 1978, and having heard one of Sam's spot's at Bedford, I decided to venture north once more recording the visit in Blackbeat. Usual health warning - please remember I was very young when I wrote this, but I wonder how many cover up's can be uncovered from this article.
From Blackbeat Issue 4
Wigan Casino May 1980 Review
My first visit to Wigan for over a year (it costs over 25 on the train for us). First
The Dells Biography
The Dells were an American R&B vocal group. Formed in high school in 1952 by founding members Marvin Junior, Verne Allison, Johnny Funches, Chuck Barksdale, and Mickey and Lucius McGill, under the name the El-Rays. They released their first recording in 1954 and two years later had their first R&B hit with "Oh What a Night". After disbanding due to a near-fatal car crash in 1958, the band reformed in 1960 with Funches being replaced by Johnny Carter. This lineup
Artist of the Week takes another look at the music of The Dramatics
The Dramatics Discography (Soulful Kinda Music Link)
>>> THE DRAMATICS <<<
The Dramatics
The Dramatics (formerly The Dynamics) are an American soul music vocal group, formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1964. They are best known for their 1970s hit songs "In the Rain" and "Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get", both of which were Top 10 Pop hits, as well as their later 1993 collaboration "Doggy Dogg World"
Anyone who grew up listening to pop or R&B radio in Philadelphia (as I did) in the late 1960’s is familiar with The Show Stoppers’ raucous hit, “Ain’t Nothin’ But a House Party”. Frequenters of the Soul Source website may be familiar with the song from its release on Beacon in 1968 (more on that below).
In 2017, the song was featured as the lead cut on Kent Soul’s excellent compilation, Nothing But a House Party – The Birth of the Philly Sound 1967-1971, a Compilation of the Year pick b
Last month Soul Source had a look at the mainstream media coverage of the upcoming film titled "Northern Soul".
As you may remember, in amongst the words we gave you a look forward to an exclusive interview with the award winning director Elaine Constantine.
Well come October and ! am happy to pass on to you that not only do we have the interview below, but we also have an exclusive first look at a video teaser of this film, that should give you a idea of just what the film is all abou
Over the years whilst looking over Soul Source you may have noticed long time member boba regularly posting up the latest details of his weekly radio shows titled "Sitting In The Park". As the list of interviews with soul artists seems to be ever increasing we thought it may be a interesting thing if we ask Bob A for some background on both himself and the shows. Chalky got pm-ing Bob and they put together the below...
The story of Bob Abrahamian and his radio show Sitting In The Park.
By any reckoning, CC is one of the 5 most important Northern Soul djs ever and, taking Black Music more broadly, is on his own among them. He requires no defence from me but I'll attempt to do so anyway.
In fact this is deja vu for me. In the early days of the weekenders, as word got round I was responsible for the dj schedules, some of the more junior djs would ask me how come he got all the best spots when he always played the same records. Not so, I would protest, sometimes he opens with
Margaret Little was born in Detroit on August 7th 1945. She was the oldest of 3 children. Her parents divorced when she was very young and her father, a member of the Four Kings who recorded for Fortune Records, was absent for most of her formative years.
Her early years were no different to her peers; she attended Central High School in Detroit. Her first son was born in 1961; Margaret was only 16 years old and had to drop out of school for a year. She graduated, aged 19, in 1964.
She
A LESSON IN PERFCTION - CREATING A MUSICAL MASTERPIECE
By Dave Moore
At last year’s New Century Soul 10th Anniversary Allnighter we had the pleasure of the company of 2 Philadelphia Legends, Bunny Sigler and Ronnie Walker. I was lucky enough to spend the week with them and Martha, Bunny’s wife, as we chaperoned them from airport to rehearsals to gig etc resulting in finally seeing Bunny sing a whole Northern set.
Well folks...it’s that time of year again! When Chris Waterman gave
Junior Walker Biography Preview (Wikipedia)
Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. (June 14, 1931 – November 23, 1995), known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American saxophonist and vocalist who recorded for Motown during the 1960s.
His career started when he developed his own band in the mid-1950s as the Jumping Jacks. His longtime friend and drummer Billy Nicks (1935–2017) formed his own group, the Rhythm Rockers. Periodically, Nicks would sit in on Jumping Jack's shows, and Walker would sit
While following Paul Masons (BBC Newsnight) twitter feed, I noticed amongst all the "current affairs" type tweets one or two comments/connections that could be taken as northern soul related, which at the time made me look twice, but didnt really give it that much thought. After seeing last week that he had tweeted a youtube link of the Carstairs, this again stirred my interest and led to me replying to his tweet asking if he was up for passing on a quick word or two on his northern background (
If anybody is interested in 'The Delgonives' updated version of 'Loving you always came easy', here it is. It has a Detroit type groove with a Beach/Blue Eyed feel. I guess I am pigeon holing the song, but I favour more retro sounding material from the 1960/70’s as many know. The issues for me creating this style of song, is to sound authentic in the writing, plus of course back in the day it was real instruments and a studio set up for the recording. I do not have the financial resources to pay
Jackie Wilson - Artist Of The Week
Jackie Wilson Biography
Jack Leroy Wilson Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American soul singer and performer. A tenor with a four-octave range, Wilson was a prominent figure in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. Wilson was considered a master showman and one of the most dynamic singers and performers in pop, R&B, and rock & roll history, earning the nickname "Mr. Excitement".
Wilson gained initial fame as a member
Yesterday 30.12.12 we said goodbye to one of the most iconic clubs of the 60's , the Twisted Wheel at Whitworth street.The day was so memorable in that it proved you are never too old to dance and have a good time.
They came out in their droves all those King Bee's from the Brazenose street and many that frequently attended Whitworth street. I felt so privileged to listen to their stories and gasp with excitement at listening to them talk of times past.
I had MIllie on my left tel
DEBBIE TAYLOR
LOST AND FOUND
DEBBIE TAYLOR is a highly acclaimed but relatively obscure soul singer who released nine singles and an album during an eight-year period from 1967 to 1975, during the ‘golden days’ of soul music. Three of her 45s reached the R&B charts but, despite her obvious talent, she failed to make a significant impact in commercial terms and her name was soon forgotten by most.
THE MARKET WAS CROWDED in the golden days and dozens of new r
This week we celebrate the amazing vocals of Linda Jones.
Such an amazing voice lost to the world at only 27 years old.
We can only dream of what could have followed.
Linda Jones Biography (Wikipedia)
Linda Jones (December 14, 1944 – March 14, 1972) was an American soul singer with a strong gospel-influenced style.
Jones was born in Newark, New Jersey. She started singing in her family's gospel group, the Jones Singers at the age of six. Her first recording w
A highlight of our Soul Source - Artist Of The Week feature
Every week we will be setting up a place where members are invited to talk, post and share info, stories, memories, highlights and more all regarding the artist who made this fine music. We will be using the past 'Artist Of The Week' topics as the base for this due to the large amount of enjoyable and worthwhile previous comments/posts
Getting this revived series under way this week is Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder Biogra
This weeks Artist of the Week Celebrates the music of William Bell.
William Bell Biography (Wikipedia)
William Bell (born William Yarbrough; July 16, 1939) is an American soul singer and songwriter. As a performer, he is probably best known for his debut single, 1961's "You Don't Miss Your Water"; 1968's top 10 hit in the UK "Private Number", a duet with Judy Clay; and his only US top 40 hit, 1976's "Tryin' to Love Two", which also hit No. 1 on the R&B chart. Upon the death of O
Artist of the Week - Smokey Robinson along with The Miracles who were there at the beginning of Motown
The work of Smokey Robinson as singer, songwriter & record producer.
Smokey Robinson Biography (Wikipedia)
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson was the founder and frontman of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. Robinso
THE 100 CLUB….. 40 YEARS ON
The 100 club allnighter celebrates its 40th anniversary in September, which makes it, by some distance, the longest running allnighter. In the greater scheme of things Northern, this is a unique milestone and for many of the northern soul fraternity, the allnighter has a legendary & iconic status, for some, go further, and see it as a national treasure! For those that have not ever visited, it’s situated in London’s famous Oxford street and is a compac
Keeping a Faith : A personal look at contemporary gospel and spiritual soul music.
Given how much influence christianity and gospel music has had on the music we all love , its surprising how little attention in gets in discussions. I sense that very “English” rule at play here , never talking about religion and politics, especially when we’ve got white labels ,demo’s and re issues available to discuss. At the risk of scaring people off I think it deserves at least some acknowled
Thanks go to Andy Rix for making this article available to all. Originally written and published to accompany the fairly recent auction (2009) of the 45 via John Manship and for inclusion in a special catalogue that was distributed to those who subscribed, given the recent sad news regarding the passing on of Frank Wilson yesterday Andy had passed on what could be called the 'definite' story ...
‘Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)’ — The Story
“Music has always been part of my life. In 1960,
Artist of the Week - The Genius of Van McCoy
The man behind so many of our much loved records.
Van McCoy Biography (Wikipedia)
Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known best for his 1975 internationally successful song "The Hustle". He has approximately 700 song copyrights to his credit, and is also noted for producing songs for such recording artists as Glad
In the week that a commemorative stamp was issued in America on what would have been his 80th birthday we would like to celebrate the music of Marvin Gaye.
Marvin Gaye Biography (Wikipedia)
Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including "Ain't That Peculiar", "Ho
Ady Croasdell was asked to list his Top 5 Detroit recordings, by Keith Rylatt, for the Groovesville USA website. For some of us it came as no surprise to see the inclusion of a Sharon Scott recording given how he has championed her work since discovering a batch of her songs in the infamous RCA Vaults find. Anyone visiting the site will see this review "SHARON SCOTT I'm Not Afraid (unissued RCA/Pied Piper master tape and acetate) Kent CD From the fabulous trawl of Pied Piper masters from the RCA
“Miss Motown” Raynoma Gordy & Jack Gibson By Graham Jarvis
"Miss Motown"
The "Miss Motown" record (is one of two 45's) that completely surprised, excited and confused any and all "Motown" collectors or "Motown" interest, when one of the two 45's suddenly appeared on "Ebay" in 2015. The 45 record on a Motown Label was a gift to an unknown "Miss Motown" in 1964. This summary is how we finally resolved the "Miss Motown" mystery, following numerous searches, records
Artist of the Week revisits the career of Mary Wells
Mary Wells Biography (Wikipedia)
Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, and the Four Tops, Wells was said to have been part of the charge in black music onto radio stations and record shelves of mainstream America, "bridging the color lines in music at the time."
With a strin
There's a plethora of books readily available on the subject of "Northern Soul". I've ploughed through a good number of them....they're mainly (not all) personal memoirs of the Scene back in the 70's and most of them are poorly written, turgid affairs which rely on photographs to carry them. Most of them are fixated with Wigan Casino. There are exceptions, of course, but not many.
'The Truth About Northern Soul' is Stephen Riley's analysis of the Scene, warts and all, from it's early days and
THE LARRY BANKS & THE SERVICEMEN STORY
The Servicemen, four members of the US Airforce and one from the US Army, were a highly talented vocal group. However with just a few releases to their name and two or three other songs in the can they didn’t find the fame their talent deserved….at least not in the USA.
However, several thousands of miles away in the United Kingdom, in clubs up and down the country DJs and dancers sought out worshiped The Servicemen and their records b
This week we turn our attention to the wonderful Temptations as our Artist of the Week. The incredible recording career of the members of this group has witnessed various line up changes over the years - so difficult to choose a favourite!
The Temptations Discography (Soulful Kinda Music Link)
>>> THE TEMPTATIONS <<<
The Group, The Various Lead Vocals & Solo Performance, etc.
The Epitome of Sound
In the 1960's, the Megatons were a Motown/Soul style group from New Jersey, USA who were made up of 4 musicians (all White Men), and 1 lead singer (a Black Man).
The instrumentation included; bass, drums, guitar, and organ. The group performed in various nite-clubs throughout Jersey and had a large following of fans. In 1967, three of the group members (Bob Ligatino, bass, Eddie Dill, aka Eddie Charles, guitar, and Eugene Thomas, lead singer, decided to make some p
This Soul Map of Scotland is a tribute to Shotts Northern Soul All-niters held at Allanton Miners Welfare Hall Lanarkshire from 1987-1991. Founded by Jim O’Hara, Brian Welsh (RIP) and John Nielson.
The Road/Journey is integral to Northern Soul. I thought a map could convey that pilgrimage. We used to join the Aberdeen crew when their bus came down from up North on route to Shotts, the bus was packed and smoky with Northern blaring through coach speaker’s with the
I frequently have a tendency to delve into researching a particular subject, only to find myself veering off course after about a month or so, leaving some interesting facts sat on my computer’s desktop. Some might attribute this behaviour to ADHD, but who knows?
Navigating the soul and R&B scene can be a labyrinthine journey, unbelievably it’s a small world where boundaries can blur effortlessly. Delving into research often leads to a mass of discovery, and you can easily lose track of
Artist of the Week revisits the career of Carla Thomas.
Carla Thomas Discography (Soulful Kinda Music Link)
>>> Carla Thomas <<<
Carla Venita Thomas was born 21 December 21 1942. She is one of three daughters of soul artist Rufus Thomas and her first hit single was a duet with her father.
Over time she gained the nickname the 'Queen of Memphis Soul'...
Latest addition to our Artist of the Week feature - Bobby Bland
Bobby “Blue” Bland Biography
Robert Calvin Bland (né Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer.
Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, d
Philadelphian Legend En Route to Manchester Allnighter 30th Nov 2013 In a few weeks, on the 30th November to be precise, New Century Soul will celebrate its 10th Anniversary Allnighter at Radcliffe Civic Suite in Manchester, UK. As part of the celebration, soulfans Chris, Marcelle, the founders of the New Century Soul events alongside fellow promoter, respected DJ Andy Dyson, decided that the occasion required marking in a fitting manner and, as I’m sure you’ll agree, the result of that decisi
No Tulips from Amsterdam, but a whole lot of soul. When I asked on Soul Source for the dates of European Soul nights, Jos from the Amsterdam Soul Club was the only person who replied. As I'd never been to Amsterdam before I soon arranged a date with Jos, and that date was the 19th November. So here's the lookback: In the intervening weeks I had offered my services as a DJ for the night and Jos had offered to provide me with overnight accommodation, so I was all set for a weekend in Amsterdam.
GEORGE McGREGOR - Detroit's busiest drummer.
There can't be many people who have seen active military service as a teenager in Korea, played music for some of the most famous doyens and despots in the world, yet enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a musician and record producer in one of the most creative eras of popular music ever. George McGregor has. Over five decades, beginning in the mid 1950s, he played drums on everything from marching bands to Motown with a technical p
