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A bit late with this, but I've only just had an unfortunate toe curling read of July's Manifesto over breakfast this morning.
Not only are we treated to The Right Honorable Ian Levine claiming to be the only operation in the "whole wide world" making new northern soul records (I almost spat my shredded wheat out), but he also claims to be doing something right because he has received 6 million hits on his Youtube videos, even though he has not sold enough copies of any of his CDs or records to cover the cost of pressing them.
How can the editorial team allow such delusional nonsense to be printed in their magazine under the title "a personal plea" with Levine begging and bullying readers to send him their £15?
Quite clearly he is not the only operation in the "whole wide world" producing new sounds that are accepted on the northern soul scene (BTW, a scene to which he has been nothing more than an annoying irreverence since the 1970s), Daptone, Kings Go Forth, Timmion are just three off the top of my head. But surely if he has received 6 million hits on his Youtube then those 6 million people must have rejected his work and not purchased the CDs or 45s?
6 million people can't be wrong, and "Running in Another Direction" is a very fitting title for his body of work because it's exactly what 6 million people have done after listening to it!!!!
Do I need to point out that he writes that if anyone even cares a fraction for his work then they must go and buy his CDs from Amazon (because no shops will stock them) then surely he must realise that no one does care, not one little bit? Everyone knows about his work and no one buys it. The only worrying thing is that Manifesto gives this abomination of an irrelevance column inches instead of focusing on the real and progressive soul scene in this country, Europe and the rest of the world.
As I moved onto my toast and glass of orange juice I wasn't expecting to have to digest yet more Levine hyper promo, page after page of it courtesy of Simon White.
How Manifesto allows this man to print words deriding the scene is beyond me. Mr White sings about how his buddy's CDs lift the listener outside of the "intolerant world of soul fundamentalists" before going on to to sing about how Levine paid homage to Northern Soul with his invention of High Energy gay disco music and how this shows Levine's true understanding of Northern Soul. I had to read that back three times to double check that I have not misread his words. High Energy is homage to Northern Soul and shows Levines understanding of the music.
I understand that his new recordings on his CDs have the same production techniques as he used in his High Energy work, but surely his new Northern Soul 2009 recordings pay homage to High Energy, not the other way around?
Has there ever been a more one sided, bullying review of a CD written? It tells the reader that if you truely care for real soul music then you must love this CD, and if you do not love the CD then you must be part of a narrow minded backward looking scene containing nothing more than "a bunch of old men dancing in their zimmer frames to forty five year old records that never change".
What a disgusting breakfast it's been.
Edited by James Trouble