Spirit Of The Orwell Haydock Park Golf Club

My third visit to the Haydock Park Golf Club for the Spirit Of The Orwell, and each time it gets better and better. Absolutely superb music from all the DJs, but Butch was really in a class of his own, a true masterclass as his records were really quite different.

Unfortunately Flanny couldn't attend so his place was ably taken by his son Liam, he did two good sets, plenty of tunes I didn't know.

The other “Orwell” guys did their usual excellent sets, including some current releases, which are often underplayed and can pass under my radar. By the time I normally hear them they have been snapped up and the price has shot up.

Butch took his place behind the decks at 10pm and started off with the Four Dynamics' Things A Lady Ain't Supposed To Do, following it with Martha Starr's Sweet Temptation. I thought I was in the 100 Club, two regular tunes there. And he did include some of his nighter tracks, e.g. Sha La La, It's All Over (Baby) and Kiss Me Girl but I would say the majority of his set were more on the lesser played Modern Soul side of our music. Not all though, he included a Charmaines' track featuring Sandi Sheldon called Standing In The Need Of Love and a medium tempo girl vocal called You're A Lucky Guy, the latter sounded very much in the girl group style of the 60s.

He slowed down the tempo at the end with records like Love Dreams and I've Been Untrue, and I think his last play was his Little Caesar cover up, but I may be wrong.

I'd like to thank him for playing my request for Infinity's Queen Of My Universe, my favourite Modern Soul record, sadly out of my price range now.

Nice to see so many friends there, some of them unexpected, Soul Sam was there simply to listen to the music. It was dark in there so if I missed saying hello please accept my apologies.

Lately, while I have enjoyed the soul nights I've attended I wasn't getting quite the buzz I normally get. My recent trip to Boomerang in Thorne did perk me up and The Spirit Of The Orwell completed my rejuvenation, all systems go now. Thank you to Steve and co for an excellent night.