Articles: Eddie Foster Dreams of Wigan - Black Music 1970s

[Mike]

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[Mike Lofthouse]

Tony Cummings was my favourite writer at the time - his in-depth pieces in BM were always something to look forward to. I thought the three articles he wrote about Northern Soul whilst provocative, were very well written and accurate.

Mike

[Pete S]

Tony Cummings was my favourite writer at the time - his in-depth pieces in BM were always something to look forward to. I thought the three articles he wrote about Northern Soul whilst provocative, were very well written and accurate.

Mike

They were a load of biased rubbish read a decade later

[Mike Lofthouse]

They were a load of biased rubbish read a decade later

I didn't think so and it is hard to judge anything with the benefit of 10-20-30-40 years hindsight. They were well written and gave an accurate picture of what was going on to the wider BM readership.

[Pete S]

I didn't think so and it is hard to judge anything with the benefit of 10-20-30-40 years hindsight. They were well written and gave an accurate picture of what was going on to the wider BM readership.

Well I defy anyone reading that article to not come to the conclusion that there is a pro-Mecca anti_Wigan bias throughout. "Dull brained, black bombing" I think the Wigan punters were described as, and that's without looking at the article, it kind of stuck...

[Pete S]

From the article I wrote in 88

Finally in BM's article on the Northern scene, we have another Wigan slag-off as our roving reporter visits Blackpool Mecca and describes the punters as "the connoisseurs of the Northern scene" nd of their counterparts says "the black bombing, bootleg playing, dull brained brothers from Wigan". It's strange how Tony Cummings keeps contradicting himself in this piece. On one hand he's praising the Mecca for it's policy of "no white stompers allowed" but then slags off almost every record he hears: Chris Jackson-Since There's No Doubt "Pleasant but just like a thousand others" Lydia Marcelle-Its Not Like You "A Supremes rip-off" And to end the piece, one last dig at the Wigan Casino: "My brother heard them play the pressing of Eddie Foster at Wigan, bloody pressers ripping off the artists". Question is, how did he know they were playing the pressing???

[Mike Lofthouse]

Well I would say that the Blackpool Mecca punters were the connoisseurs of the northern soul' including the many that went on to the Casino nighter. It was never Mecca OR Wigan until the Mecca switched exclusively to new release Soul or disco.

As for slagging off, I would hardly say Pleasant but just like a thousand others" and "A Supremes rip-off" is slagging off ? and the quote about Eddie Foster is from a punters brother not Tony Cumming's brother, perhaps the person in question was in the know, maybe he stood on stage and saw it played like many did? Mike

[Pete S]

Well I would say that the Blackpool Mecca punters were the connoisseurs of the northern soul' including the many that went on to the Casino nighter. It was never Mecca OR Wigan until the Mecca switched exclusively to new release Soul or disco. As for slagging off, I would hardly say Pleasant but just like a thousand others" and "A Supremes rip-off" is slagging off ? and the quote about Eddie Foster is from a punters brother not Tony Cumming's brother, perhaps the person in question was in the know, maybe he stood on stage and saw it played like many did? Mike

Sometimes you can have an Eddie Foster "original" in your hand and not be certain - those dark blue ones are very difficult to tell.