After the recent verbal tussles over whether Ivy Jo's "Feel the pain" could/should be played blah blah blah I started to think of records which have had plays in the past but seldom get aired nowadays. I'm not talking seventies dancers here which have had their time and would sound so ridiculously dated in 2005. I'm talking straight forward northern tunes like:

International GTOs "I love my baby" (Rojac);

Bessie Banks "I cant make it anymore" (Verve);

The Ambers "I love you baby" (Verve).

When did you last hear (or play if you're a DJ) any of the above out in a club?

Has their time passed and they just don't sound right for today? You tell me.

derek

Confession: I've got all 3 records and havent played them out in years, have carried them in the box and always meant to play them but never did. You see I'm just as bad as everyone else hehehe

After the recent verbal tussles over whether Ivy Jo's "Feel the pain" could/should be played blah blah blah I started to think of records which have had plays in the past but seldom get aired nowadays. I'm not talking seventies dancers here which have had their time and would sound so ridiculously dated in 2005. I'm talking straight forward northern tunes like:

International GTOs "I love my baby" (Rojac);

Bessie Banks "I cant make it anymore" (Verve);

The Ambers "I love you baby" (Verve).

When did you last hear (or play if you're a DJ) any of the above out in a club?

Has their time passed and they just don't sound right for today? You tell me.

derek

Confession: I've got all 3 records and havent played them out in years, have carried them in the box and always meant to play them but never did. You see I'm just as bad as everyone else hehehe

link

I think some might find this confusing Derek since the 'verbal tussels' were on another forum. Anyway, I have heard the Intl. GTOs out a number of times, Andy Dyson has been playing it. Great traditional northern IMO. I don't recall hearing the Ambers (maybe once or twice though, not sure) out but I have seen it on playlists from recent years.

Edited September 8, 200519 yr by Guest

All the records you mention are 100% classic northern soul records, with the crucial ingredient: Soul. I haven't heard the Verve 45s in a club environment for years, but both would sound great now. as Christian says, the International GTOs has recently been flirted with because it's always been a reasonably big collectors' record.

There are literally tens of thousands of classic oldies (which haven't necessarily been over-exposed in the past) that could be played, but aren't; mainly because a lot of dejays have little knowlege and even less taste.

Seems like it takes a re-activation from Butch to make an oldie "massive" (ie on everyone's wants list) again these days: look at the monetary values of records like Johnny Howard, Carol & Gerri, Roy Robert on Tina, Billy Hambric on Drum and so on, in the last couple of years.

The fact is that in looking for different types of sound to play in the post-Stafford era, the thinking about what constitutes a great Northern Soul record has been lost somewhere. Hence we get treated to interminable sets of Trotover, Tumbleweed, Popcorn etc. from deejays who have probably never heard The Ambers' clarion call to the dancefloor.

Brilliant and relatively cheap records are staring people in the face on many sales lists on virtually a daily basis in the current climate. My advice to collectors would be to take a chance on something that isn't on what increasingly seems to be a "National Wants List" and give us all a break from the non-soul crap like Bruce Cloud and Kenny Lonas.

Bessie Banks would be a good place to start.

Edited September 8, 200519 yr by garethx

There are literally tens of thousands of classic oldies (which haven't necessarily been over-exposed in the past) that could be played, but aren't; mainly because a lot of dejays have little knowlege and even less taste.

link

So true

soulmac.

I'm not keen on the other two but The Ambers is a truly great record and deserves to be played out

Matt