100 Club 6ts

A really busy night at the 100 Club, a big turnout and some superb soul music. Only a month since the first one of 2019 but even more folk seemed to attend this one, well done to Matt Bolton for putting on a selection of DJs that covered most areas of our music.

After meeting my friends in the Blue Post we all went round to Oxford Street where there was a queue waiting to get into the club, only 10 minutes earlier there'd been no one when I passed it. I paid the £12 required for entrance and walked down the stairs into the club itself, walked over to the table I share with my friends, deposited my coat and bag and got ready for a good time. The first person I spoke to was Alison Nightingale, an old friend, and my first editor. I hadn't seen Ali Djing for several years and was looking forward to her sets.

Keith Money was spinning records and included the Enchanters' There's A Look About You, such a catchy song, been on my brain since.

Jordan Wilson, a young guy was the first of the guest on the stage. I didn't know his first few records but liked them a lot. He did keep the pace up though, but eased slightly for Hearts Beating Stronger, the Stafford classic. He upped the tempo again for Showstopper by the Cashmeres and ended this set with Good News by the Hytones, an anniversary record from a few years back and a particular favourite in the club.

Alison Nightingale followed Jordan and the tempo was just slightly slower but still very danceable. When she played Gotta Strange Feeling I got up and danced and found the floor was like an ice rink, so unlike what it normally becomes later in the night, I had to be careful to avoid slipping over. She followed that with Brenda Jones' Big Mistake.

Time then for Butch's first set, and he opened with the storming Beside Yourself by Pee Wee, Shucks & Huey, one of my favourites. He included some of his well known records like the Fascinators' In Other Word, J Hammond's Kiss Me Girl, Ivy Joe Hunter's Where Are You and ended with Arthur Willis's The Hurting Is Over which sold for a phenomenal amount on Ebay recently. But he also included quite a few that I didn't know, or at least not the title or singer.

Arthur Fenn followed Butch, he always does a great set and skilfully mixes 60s and 70s.

For his second and final set Keith included quite a few of his most popular records, e.g. Teardrops, So Much Love, A 1000 Wonders and ending with Tell Me Baby by Karmello Brooks.

Jordan took over from Arthur and again kept the pace up with tunes like I've Only Got Myself To Blame but did include the medium tempo Like My Love For You by the Four Tracks.

Jordan's set would definitely described as being described as classic sounding Northern Soul so Butch continued this, starting of with Darrell Banks version of Our Love Is In The Pocket, a record I'd play to someone who asked what NS was like. Following this was Johnnie On The Spot by Dennis Edwards and the Profs' Look At You. Later came Just Can't Leave You by the Perfections followed by Joe Burrell's There Was A Time (Our Love Is Dying) and then a move into Modern Soul including Double O’s Demingoes' Color One Tear Black, which a friend described a bordering on Jazz Funk. Not sure about that but a nice contrast to the uptempo 60s tunes.

The Modern Soul vibe continued with Alison but the dance floor continued to be busy, there weren't many breaks all night.

For the finale Arthur took over, again mixing the tempo and genres. Tunes like Jerry Williams Wigan classic If You Ask Me and Sam Williams' Love Slipped Through My Fingers contrasted nicely with Bernard Drake's I've Been Untrue and my request for Norma Jenkins' Here I Am, thanks for playing that Arthur.

Because the clocks moved forward an hour the time seemed to fly by and before we knew it was time for the last couple of records, they were Archie Hodge's I Really Want To See You Girl and Seville's Modern Soul anthem Show Me The Way.

The consensus seemed to be that the music had been of an extremely high standard, I concur and would like to thank the DJs for entertaining us and introducing me to records I'd not heard before.

As usual it was nice to see so many of my friends, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

It still feels a bit strange not to have Ady present but I think Matt is putting on some excellent nights, and this was no exception.

The bouncers urged us out into Oxford Street so I made my way to the underground at Oxford Circus. I was fortunate that I got all my connections very easily and got indoors just gone 7 am, that is quick. Now getting over the night, perhaps not so easy. But a good feeling.

Thanks to everyone concerned for an excellent night.