OK...so today at my occasional DJ gig at the Beachland, I got another 'odd' request...evidently, people aren't quite listening to what I'm spinning, because a guy asked me if I had any Robert Gordon or Link Wray. I told him that while I do like rockabilly, those artists don't fit in with what I'm playing. This brings about a question...have there been any rockabilly tracks that have been spun at Mod events? I know Gordon's music is a little too 'recent', but there probably is a track by Wray or some other '50's guy that may work? I want to accommodate folks who come to me with 'weird' requests such as this, but I also want to stay within the 'Northern/Mod' framework that I'm comfortable in. Thanks in advance.

Best,

Mark

 

I can dig "fusion" food, but if I go to the indian restaurant, I would expect to eat indian food and not "fusion". I'm a tad trad maybe, some call it "old school" yet I am curious minded and open hearted but no fool. So I have my principles and stick to them. If I go to a northern do, I want my northern best... no ska, R'n'B and so on and so on.

Especially the so called "new breed" thingy... If I go to an R'n'B night, I'm fine with the R'n'B sound (as long as it's not the "new breed" cover-up made-up name for commercial big band R'n'B/pop-corn thingies that I never liked) and the same with modern or deep soul nights. Some crossovers are always welcome IMO. From the root stuffs to the evolution changes of a genre.

It was already enough of an issue for me to hear the "Jamaican" ska/reggae sound at soul nights. Music that even though I love and collected just before switching totally into soul music. So to expect to hear stuffs like "Rockabilly" or whatever at a soul do, my vote is unarguably NOT in favor ! No way. I don't even want to know the who, where and why some of the stuffs played first on the rockabilly scene got onto the mod front and found their way on the northern soul scene if ever...

And I went to rockabilly do's few times since I had friends into those things. Didn't complain about the music played there since it was what was expected... It's really not my go, but I'm tolerant. All the same if I go to a northern soul night and hear a tune I don't really like, I won't put it down because I can understand that others like it and it's all coherent. If it's a plain and simple crap record then my vote is down. As it would be with a non soul record, no matter how good.

What I loved about the soul scene I discovered at the '100 Club' was long nights of dedicated DJ's and crowd for a singular genre of music and records crate digging. As I did found prior on the 'reggae revive' stage of the late 8T's & 9T's. Now I've heard the argument of some folks saying "boring" monochrome music against "fun" variations of music genreS. That don't mean a damn thing to me. Well I still don't find it boring and actually I find it can be rather interesting. Even if by now I tend to prefer a mix of soulS from the classic, to the "rare" 6T's, 7T's, 8T's uptempo, mid-tempos and deep souls blended...

On the side of your question, and I really don't want to sound offensive, but 'mod' is not a music genre. It's is/was a style, sub-culture and/or a way of believing/living. The first mods use to listen to contemporary american jazz, then blues and rythm'n'blues and later soul and ska. Before the pop-mod-rock commercialism thing to into it. I was relieved not to find a "dress code" on those first soul nights I attended. I find that it was a good change from the mod, skinhead, rockabilly or what you wanna call them scenes. Dedicated to music for young as well as old punters, collectors, dancers and deejays alike.

I went to a rockabilly party years ago, the dj played   have love-richard berry and chills and fever so I guess we do have things in commom

Have heard Clyde McPhatter - Lover Please played out at a soul do. Not strictly rockabilly but definitely a nod to rock n roll and might appeal to some punters wanting to hear something different to straight ahead soul at your do ( Beachland is a brunch place right Cleavesoulie?). Maybe The Coasters - Three Cool Cats / Hog For You Baby and The Trends - If You Don't Dig The Blues could work along the same lines i.e. soulful but with a Rock n Roll feel.

Rockabilly is more 'western swing' ...   50's Rockin and Rock n Roll scenes are more akin to playing the RnB side of things. 

There's a notable difference , even to the untrained ear 

43 minutes ago, IanP said:

Rockabilly is more 'western swing' ...   50's Rockin and Rock n Roll scenes are more akin to playing the RnB side of things. 

There's a notable difference , even to the untrained ear 

True, but just like for "soul" music and other genres there are many variations of/for "rock and roll" like "western swing"... The American artists were just doing their music not thinking about the scenes in Europe who anyway got some records in common no matter what Brighton 1964 and so forth. This compilation on Island dishing into the Sue back catalogue is a testimony of that;

 

I wouldn't label Link Wray as rockabilly, just straight up (very good) garage punk to my ears... and mod dos play psych, garage, soul, funk, Latin, r'n'b. Would fit in perfectly as far as I'm concerned, then again i'm not a mod... 

20 hours ago, clevesoulie said:

OK...so today at my occasional DJ gig at the Beachland, I got another 'odd' request...evidently, people aren't quite listening to what I'm spinning, because a guy asked me if I had any Robert Gordon or Link Wray. I told him that while I do like rockabilly, those artists don't fit in with what I'm playing. This brings about a question...have there been any rockabilly tracks that have been spun at Mod events? I know Gordon's music is a little too 'recent', but there probably is a track by Wray or some other '50's guy that may work? I want to accommodate folks who come to me with 'weird' requests such as this, but I also want to stay within the 'Northern/Mod' framework that I'm comfortable in. Thanks in advance.

Best,

Mark

 

I've got one track for you that will answer all the mail. I love the tittyshaker saxophone. I used to spin this at rockabilly events in the early 90s and people LOVED it...

Googie Rene - Bigfoot 

 

in the UK both Mod & Rockin scenes have completely crossed over with mostly RnB type tunes. I first heard that Black Coffee tune way back in late 80's at a rocking do..

13 hours ago, tlscapital said:

True, but just like for "soul" music and other genres there are many variations of/for "rock and roll" like "western swing"... The American artists were just doing their music not thinking about the scenes in Europe who anyway got some records in common no matter what Brighton 1964 and so forth. This compilation on Island dishing into the Sue back catalogue is a testimony of that;

 

So right, tlscapital!

 

1 hour ago, airfixkid said:

in the UK both Mod & Rockin scenes have completely crossed over with mostly RnB type tunes. I first heard that Black Coffee tune way back in late 80's at a rocking do..

Indeed. By the mid 8T's in Europe (meaning not only in the UK) both the mods and rockers were leaning more and more towards digging the roots of Rythm'n'Blues. In blood lines as in music; roots cross to meet at certain depth.

A few artists have made great records that get played on both scenes , by that i mean different records ie, Charlie Rich, Narvel Felts, Mickey Lee Lane, to name a few but agree when you go out for the night it should do what it says on the tin, Funny enough getting back to the original post Link Wray and Robert Gordon made a fantastic album together,

On 7/3/2017 at 12:40, autumnstoned said:

Have heard Clyde McPhatter - Lover Please played out at a soul do. Not strictly rockabilly but definitely a nod to rock n roll and might appeal to some punters wanting to hear something different to straight ahead soul at your do ( Beachland is a brunch place right Cleavesoulie?). Maybe The Coasters - Three Cool Cats / Hog For You Baby and The Trends - If You Don't Dig The Blues could work along the same lines i.e. soulful but with a Rock n Roll feel.

While I DJ their Sunday brunch (one of many different DJ's they've had there...as I told one of the customers, if you come back next week, someone else will be there with different music), it's not so much a brunch place as it is a concert hall. It's been voted as the best concert club in the city by Scene Magazine here in Cleveland (BTW, Scene did an excellent cover story on the Way Out label around the time the Way Out CD was released)...they usually have two concerts going at once, one in the tavern (where the brunch is held) and one in the larger ballroom. I've seen Bettye LaVette twice there, Little Charles Walker with his current act, Lee Fields, the Hesitations, Eli 'Paperboy' Reed, Clarence 'Blowfly' Reid (when I got his autograph afterward, I mentioned I was after a copy of I'm Your Yes Man...he took my phone number, but I have no idea whether he ever called me, as I changed carriers shortly thereafter and was obliged to change the number), and many other acts that aren't soul.

Best,

Mark

Play them Link Wray's take on "Batman"....

Nothing wrong with a bit of Link....I think Pete Townsend owed much of his early styling to him....

Nothing wrong with Robert Gordon either........

regards

2 hours ago, steve ss said:

Play them Link Wray's take on "Batman"....

Nothing wrong with a bit of Link....I think Pete Townsend owed much of his early styling to him....

Nothing wrong with Robert Gordon either........

regards

This MIGHT be northern bbb... But S.O.U.L. ?

not soul...

not northern...

just a good platter of noise

 

 

On 04/07/2017 at 18:50, clevesoulie said:

While I DJ their Sunday brunch (one of many different DJ's they've had there...as I told one of the customers, if you come back next week, someone else will be there with different music), it's not so much a brunch place as it is a concert hall. It's been voted as the best concert club in the city by Scene Magazine here in Cleveland (BTW, Scene did an excellent cover story on the Way Out label around the time the Way Out CD was released)...they usually have two concerts going at once, one in the tavern (where the brunch is held) and one in the larger ballroom. I've seen Bettye LaVette twice there, Little Charles Walker with his current act, Lee Fields, the Hesitations, Eli 'Paperboy' Reed, Clarence 'Blowfly' Reid (when I got his autograph afterward, I mentioned I was after a copy of I'm Your Yes Man...he took my phone number, but I have no idea whether he ever called me, as I changed carriers shortly thereafter and was obliged to change the number), and many other acts that aren't soul.

Best,

Mark

I've enjoyed reading your playlists of the Sunday brunch sessions you do there. Sounds like a great venue to be involved at.

Best

Mike

On 03/07/2017 at 10:43, tlscapital said:

I can dig "fusion" food, but if I go to the indian restaurant, I would expect to eat indian food and not "fusion". I'm a tad trad maybe, some call it "old school" yet I am curious minded and open hearted but no fool. So I have my principles and stick to them. If I go to a northern do, I want my northern best... no ska, R'n'B and so on and so on.

Especially the so called "new breed" thingy... If I go to an R'n'B night, I'm fine with the R'n'B sound (as long as it's not the "new breed" cover-up made-up name for commercial big band R'n'B/pop-corn thingies that I never liked) and the same with modern or deep soul nights. Some crossovers are always welcome IMO. From the root stuffs to the evolution changes of a genre.

It was already enough of an issue for me to hear the "Jamaican" ska/reggae sound at soul nights. Music that even though I love and collected just before switching totally into soul music. So to expect to hear stuffs like "Rockabilly" or whatever at a soul do, my vote is unarguably NOT in favor ! No way. I don't even want to know the who, where and why some of the stuffs played first on the rockabilly scene got onto the mod front and found their way on the northern soul scene if ever...

And I went to rockabilly do's few times since I had friends into those things. Didn't complain about the music played there since it was what was expected... It's really not my go, but I'm tolerant. All the same if I go to a northern soul night and hear a tune I don't really like, I won't put it down because I can understand that others like it and it's all coherent. If it's a plain and simple crap record then my vote is down. As it would be with a non soul record, no matter how good.

What I loved about the soul scene I discovered at the '100 Club' was long nights of dedicated DJ's and crowd for a singular genre of music and records crate digging. As I did found prior on the 'reggae revive' stage of the late 8T's & 9T's. Now I've heard the argument of some folks saying "boring" monochrome music against "fun" variations of music genreS. That don't mean a damn thing to me. Well I still don't find it boring and actually I find it can be rather interesting. Even if by now I tend to prefer a mix of soulS from the classic, to the "rare" 6T's, 7T's, 8T's uptempo, mid-tempos and deep souls blended...

On the side of your question, and I really don't want to sound offensive, but 'mod' is not a music genre. It's is/was a style, sub-culture and/or a way of believing/living. The first mods use to listen to contemporary american jazz, then blues and rythm'n'blues and later soul and ska. Before the pop-mod-rock commercialism thing to into it. I was relieved not to find a "dress code" on those first soul nights I attended. I find that it was a good change from the mod, skinhead, rockabilly or what you wanna call them scenes. Dedicated to music for young as well as old punters, collectors, dancers and deejays alike.

Good point. What the hell is a"Mod" night anyway. Do they listen to Johns Children or what?

On 7/5/2017 at 17:05, autumnstoned said:

I've enjoyed reading your playlists of the Sunday brunch sessions you do there. Sounds like a great venue to be involved at.

Best

Mike

Still have to type up the one from this past Sunday, but I will get around to it and have it posted!

Best,

Mark

10 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Good point. What the hell is a"Mod" night anyway. Do they listen to Johns Children or what?

A "Mod" night is a night sky with the customized 'Lambretta & Vespa' stellar constellation full on headlights, also the 'BaCKman & Robin' Zodiac who gave their name to the oddest male hair cut the "Back-Comb", a profusion of 'purple pills' shooting stars and a 'Live act' the 'Combat 84'... I meant the 'Brighton 64' LOL !

An obvious one that used to work at both for me was Gene Vincent "I'm Going Home"

Charles Sheffield, Mike Pedicin and plenty more came over from the Rockin scene. I love how Northern DJ's were quick to claim these records. And inflate their prices. 

7 minutes ago, mattbolton said:

Charles Sheffield, Mike Pedicin and plenty more came over from the Rockin scene. I love how Northern DJ's were quick to claim these records. And inflate their prices. 

Or pitched down on the Belgium Pop-Corn scene in the 8T's...