Whilst I love my mid tempo, 2 Steppers, Beat Ballads & Down Tempo Soul as much as the next Northern Soul fan ( ), seriously tho' I do.....................could you put up with enjoy an entire night of it in one lump, in a, presumeably club/pub type setting ???............Sunny Sunday afternoons chillin' out on the terrace of a wine bar or winter Sunday afternoons in the pub with a roaring fire or summat, or as at Essence (& the Uptown Down South Nighters as used to be) as a seperate room to a dance venue maybe or even on the radio, but one room of it all night........

Your thoughts ................

Russ

Edited February 2, 201114 yr by Russ Vickers

I would love to think so Russ. A chilled evening of great deep soul/ballads would appeal to quite a few I dare say. Been mentioned a couple of times on SS. Plenty of folk out there who appreciate the slower side of soul. Me included!

I would love to think so Russ. A chilled evening of great deep soul/ballads would appeal to quite a few I dare say. Been mentioned a couple of times on SS. Plenty of folk out there who appreciate the slower side of soul. Me included!

You could count me in for something like that Rich, like you say, theres plenty of other like minded soul fans who go on here who would love summat like that, Jim Wray lounge at Essence on a Saturday afternoon is as close as you will get to the format. Great idea though.

Kev

We have recently started playing some chilled out soul once a month on Sundays in sunny Fleet, Hants - will let you know how it goes -

Filthy Soul at Filthy McNastys used to be like this, a mix of slow and medium tempo without an emphasis on the dance floor, there wasn't a dance floor anyway. I like slow records, but accept it's a minority taste out in a club. Do beat ballads qualify as slow as you can dance to them? A bar or similar might be best for slow tunes, with chairs and tables.

Just started up such a night in New York City this past weekend, "Slow Soul." (We describe it as "sweet soul, deep soul, ballads with balls.") We'll be doing it the first Sunday of every month starting in March.

Living in the parallel universe known as Japan, as I do, the chat sites here ask the question as to whether a night of all uptempo stompers would work...and what about a dancefloor...would it be used if there was one!?

(Only kidding...although our main collectors night doesn't have a dancefloor!)

I like the idea of a social event with great soul music in the background. So many great records don't get played due to dance floor appeal.

I do not see a problem with this, so long as people knew what they were going to get.

When's your first event Russ?

Edited February 2, 201114 yr by Val (Chunky)

I like the idea of a social event withgreat soul music in the background. So many great records don't get played dueto dance floor appeal.

I do not see a problem with this, so long as people knew what they were going to get.

When's your first event Russ?

Agree Val.Right place,right people ,why not? Partial to a bit of sweet soul / ballads.Wasn't this the initial idea of Chill out sessions?

Agree with you Val, I wish someone would start one up in Cheshire , Derek Watmore used to run one in Little Lever,a few years ago it was great, cheers Jim.

So many great records don't get played due to dance floor appeal.

Agreed. And could be a real collectors event - personal sales boxes, dealers wanting rid of 'that slow stuff' that quite a few often state....

I think coupled with events mentioned like Just Soul / Jim Wray room etc there's plenty of appeal and room in the calendar - Slow Soul event isn't exactly going to clash with your out and out northern events is it?

Oh and Baz Atkinson to do a 8 Hour Spot and release that built up deep ballad tension!

If memory serves me well, this is something that was raised in Black Echoes donkey's years ago, possibly through Pat Brady's column. The point of discussion was whether the scene (at that time) was changing from a heavily dance-led culture to more of a listening one.

I guess that with many people being of a certain age, and having little or no control over whether they let their backbone slip or not, the subject is nowadays much more relevant!

Have always liked the idea of a ballad/deep soul event. However the venue has to be right and without a dancefloor or possibly just a very small one. A nice country pub/hotel lounge type place with loads of cosy seating to enjoy some soulful listening and chat with the like minded. No DJ egos, no playing shit because its rare etc etc, just great SOUL music to be really enjoyed without it having to cater to a dancefloor.

Let's face it most of us into the slower and deeper side only hear tracks at home or in the car. Have often wondered what a lot of those great soul ballads would sound like out in a room in the company of others who enjoy them as much as myself.

Edited February 2, 201114 yr by Dave Turner

all right in a lift

in SF there is a a night called "Black Gold" at KoKo's. all ballads/deep.

A night of deep ballads would be popular as long as it includes some beat ballads and things with slow but strong rhythm patterns (or bass lines at least) so it wouldn't be too "still" if you know what I mean.

And there are thousands of great soul tracks to choose from.

lets hope a night like this does get going.

paul has the idea about crack ojn coulnd't be drop dead slow deep all night would need a few variants in the style to keep it fresh.

some polished 70s ballads and a few mid tempo bits thrown in.

Whilst I love my mid tempo, 2 Steppers, Beat Ballads & Down Tempo Soul as much as the next Northern Soul fan ( ), seriously tho' I do.....................could you put up with enjoy an entire night of it in one lump, in a, presumeably club/pub type setting ???............Sunny Sunday afternoons chillin' out on the terrace of a wine bar or winter Sunday afternoons in the pub with a roaring fire or summat, or as at Essence (& the Uptown Down South Nighters as used to be) as a seperate room to a dance venue maybe or even on the radio, but one room of it all night........

Your thoughts ................

Russ

Hi Russ

Well we have already bitten the bullet and arranged an all night Mid Tempo night at Grantham Squash Club on April 30th (see events) we thought we would try a night like this to see how things would work out, playing northern, modern, crossover & even a bit of R & B, but at mid tempo and including Beat Ballads.

Since we posted on SS there seems quite a bit of interest.

And of course there is also the wonderful "Just Soul" in March.

Ok not entirely Beat Ballads but some included.

I guest time will tell, we'll let you know how things go.

Barry

Edited February 2, 201114 yr by Guest

Soulfull Sessions at Worcester has been doing just this kind of thing for the past 2 years, varying degrees of success with attendance but some great music being played, we try to get down DJ,s who can mix the styles and not be governed by dance floor, not to everyones taste admittedly but we have got a hard core of regulars who all travel long ways to get to our night, we do up the tempo as the nights progress and it seems to work for us, our next night unfortunatly clashes with Just Soul but we run them bi monthly and are thinking of doing an alldayer in the summer to take advantage of the clubs surroundings, on the banks of the river severn. For further info and previous playlists to get a flavour of what we do, go to soulstuff.co.uk

Cheers Rob h.

Going up or down?

all right in a lift

Going up or down?