Hello everyone!

As somewhat of a soul newbie I'm strill struggling a bit with soul subgenre classification, but apparenly I love what's referred to as two step soul or "steppers". I'm not really a dancer but I guess it's that smooth, laidback and funky sound I'm looking for.

Anyways, feel free to share one or a couple of your favorite tracks/45s or if there are any specifik artists I really should dig into.

A couple of examples that I really dig are Jeffree - Loves gonna last, Paris - I choose you, Keni Burke - Risin to the top.

Any tips will be much appreciated!

My three two stepper tempo tracks for the day as also mentioned in my Living Room DJ posting. The Positive Choice release is Black Ivory under a different name by the looks of things, a Buddah 12". The June Pointer LP also contains a track called Always which is actually the same song as that which appears in the Yates Brothers & Sister upload, both released in 1982 I prefer the YBS version.

 

22 minutes ago, Martin S said:

My three two stepper tempo tracks for the day as also mentioned in my Living Room DJ posting. The Positive Choice release is Black Ivory under a different name by the looks of things, a Buddah 12". The June Pointer LP also contains a track called Always which is actually the same song as that which appears in the Yates Brothers & Sister upload, both released in 1982 I prefer the YBS version.

 

Really like that YBS tune and one I play regularly at home as well!! Talking of which, if I can also pick 3 for today, 2 from the later 80s and the last almost a new release. Hope they add something positive to your Saturdays!!

 

 

 

One for Saturday tea time. Got that essential bubbly sound 

On 27/12/2018 at 18:23, KesalocaSoul said:

Although this thread may be drawing to its natural end, here are some views from the beginning of 1991, when Steve Hobbs discussed the 2-step scene on his Soul Bowl show on Jazz FM (London), with Bill Shannon, fellow DJ, record shop owner and sometime producer.

The conclusion was – as mentioned in this thread – that it began as an offshoot of the reggae scene in the mid-1980s, with a small number of Sound Systems (Manhattan, Latest Edition (Addition?), Just Good Friends and Mystery) playing soul records with a similar tempo and with a funky, bass-y beat, mainly at house-parties in Shepherds Bush, Harlesden and East London.  The music was also being played by pirate stations that proliferated in London at that time.

 

There were no clubs specialising in the music and just a few record shops: Time Warp; Lee Sound and Lighting; Time Is Right; PPM and Footprints (all ??).  The scene evolved in parallel to the similar “Dusty Steppers” or 2-step scene in Chicago.  Records being played on either side of the Atlantic were not necessarily rare and included new releases, with the right beat/tempo.   There were no compilation albums at that time focussing exclusively on 2-step.  Apart from the Backbeats compilation – 2 Steps To Soul Heaven, have there been any since?

 

The records Steve and Bill played that evening were:

 

Chuck Jackson – Through All Times

 

Real Thing – Love Takes Tears

 

Everlife – I Love You Girl (slower tempo than most)

 

Heaven and Earth – I Can’t Seem To Forget You

 

Darlene Love (not the erstwhile Phil Spector associate) – What’s Inside Your Heart (produced by one Bill Shannon on DT Records of Detroit)

 

Spain – You Are

 

Ken Williams – Sweet Music, Soft Lights and You

 

All are worth a listen.

Other records mentioned that had been popular on the scene in earlier years were: Eighties Ladies – Turned On To You; Archie Bell and the Drells – Don’t Let Love Get You Down; Foster Sylvers – Misdemeanour; Jones Girls – This Feeling’s Killing Me; Jeffree – Love’s Gonna Last; Benny Johnson – Visions of Paradise; and Arnold Blair – Trying To Get Next To You, so plenty of overlap with modern soul. 

 

Then as now (according to some of the records included in this thread), pop records had also been played, such as Barbara Streisand – Guilty; Yvonne Elliman – Love Me; and Rupert Holmes – Pina Colada (ugh!) 

Much respect to Barbara but this matches it

 

On 27/12/2018 at 12:23, KesalocaSoul said:

 

 

Then as now (according to some of the records included in this thread), pop records had also been played, such as Barbara Streisand – Guilty; Yvonne Elliman – Love Me; and Rupert Holmes – Pina Colada (ugh!) 

      I guess every scene has it's share of records that don't quite fit the mold. This is a Classic Chicago Steppers track - 

                   

 

Edited December 29, 20186 yr by the yank

 

 

 

 

 

5 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Much respect to Barbara but this matches it

 

 

5 hours ago, Blackpoolsoul said:

Much respect to Barbara but this matches it

 

Barbara for me....

 

Just two from me today:

 

This seems like an ideal candidate to me, no idea if it's ever had 2 step plays … from way back in 64 (listen to this and then Lou Ragland's MAKIN LOVE) …

 

Edited January 2, 20196 yr by Roburt

On 29/12/2018 at 19:12, Blackpoolsoul said:

Much respect to Barbara but this matches it

 

Great band. Their album is one of the best of the eighties. There's not a weak tune in it

temp closed awaiting moderation

Great thread, can I ask that we all read the thread below before posting YT vids please, re-opening now.

 

On 20/12/2018 at 14:07, Martin S said:

Okay, I've checked the rest of todays uploads. When I look at each contributors consistency, guest can hold his head up high. I didn't know that Boz Scaggs track so thanks for uploading that. For everyone else still in doubt, that Boz Scaggs track is precisely the definition of two step. Immediately the track starts the driving bass line groove is there, BPM loosely timed is 76.6. As for Tyrone's Love Triangle, the mix in the video is a messy too long intro mix, the regular mix though suggests this is yet another two step track and the BPM is 70.6. 

Sadly the two uploaded by Concrete are not two steppers. Emotions Flowers is approx 108 BPM and an obvious dance track, and Eighties Ladies despite being within BPM range of approx 92 BPM, is a dance track. Both of these were classic floor fillers.

At this point I should just say something I didn't mention in my earlier postings. I was a well known trader [Safe Sounds] throughout the 90's at the London Black Music Record Fairs, and promoter of my own occasional fairs in Croydon and Kingston early 90's. I was therefore in direct face to face contact with many serious collectors of two step in the London area, and therefore feel I'm in a good position to make judgement on precisely what qualifies.

I disagree Martin re Flowers- Emotions, it was played on connoisseurs/ 2 step shows back in the 80`s/90`s on pirate and Choice f.m.  I`m also from London and went to the Black Music fairs but you already know that lol. Sent ya a pm. 

Edited January 15, 20196 yr by Hammersoul

On 25/12/2018 at 05:08, modernsoulsucks said:

We used to sell a lot of two-step [and rare groove] albums from our stall in Manchester back in late 80's and the 90's. A London guy called Victor [and his mate Stanley] used to come up to Manchester and kinda told us what to look for style-wise.

In the USA at the time these albums were easily available and so a trip to US looking for Northern was financially cushioned if you knew what to look for in those other styles. I remember the first warehouse I went into in Atlanta in '88 I must have come out with 1000+ albums at $1 each.

Did the London fairs regularly. They'd sell like hot cakes. One time the table went over there was such a crush to buy. Reminded me of Wigan record bar at times.

This track was a popular cheapie [nice little riff at the beginning and repeated toward the end]

 

 

 

Victor and Stan(Stan being no 1) were 2 of the top collectors in London on the 2 step/London scene.They also were into the sweet /Deep/xover as well. They had a good ear.  There`s another guy called Junior who also has a good ear and top collection. Great guys. 

A two step number by one of my all time favorite jazz-soul vocalist (from his Total Experience 1984 "Lately" album):

 

On 25/12/2018 at 05:08, modernsoulsucks said:

We used to sell a lot of two-step [and rare groove] albums from our stall in Manchester back in late 80's and the 90's. A London guy called Victor [and his mate Stanley] used to come up to Manchester and kinda told us what to look for style-wise.

In the USA at the time these albums were easily available and so a trip to US looking for Northern was financially cushioned if you knew what to look for in those other styles. I remember the first warehouse I went into in Atlanta in '88 I must have come out with 1000+ albums at $1 each.

Did the London fairs regularly. They'd sell like hot cakes. One time the table went over there was such a crush to buy. Reminded me of Wigan record bar at times.

This track was a popular cheapie [nice little riff at the beginning and repeated toward the end]

 

 

 

Victor and Stan(Stan being no 1) were 2 of the top collectors in London on the 2 step/London scene.They also were into the sweet /Deep/xover as well. They had a good ear.  There`s another guy called Junior who also has a good ear and top collection. Great guys. 

Not really 2 step but still a good Modern/Southern Stepper produced by Willie Tee. 

 

 

Another more for the connoisseurs /Sweet Soul Modern Stepper with Strings and Things.

 

 

Greetings all, just joined up and found this great thread. I was a small time dealer and DJ in the 2-step scene from around 1988 to 1993 and have read this thread with great excitement. Stan and Victor took the scene in a different direction, moving away from major label to more independent soul.

They along with Junior are legends to this day because a lot of the tracks that I heard them play first in the scene, have gone on to be huge... “Body Fusion”, “Make it last “ etc. Around ‘89 you could hear these tracks on Tony P’s daily breakfast show. 

Influential in what I call the “first wave” of 2-step were Manhattan, Company Soul Sound and Funkadelic, it was around this time (1986ish) that 2-step broke away from the core Rare Groove scene as a sub-genre starting in Hackney and other parts of East London, spreading South of the river with Touch of Class.

Some of the tapes of these sessions (mostly house parties) are online and there is quite a big market in these tapes. If you type in the following search in Google you will find links to probably one of the most famous sessions of all: “https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=touch+of+class+funkadelic&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari”

This was 1987 dance with Touch of Class, Incognito and Funkadelic and some of the following were played:

”summer breeze” - reflections

”lover to lover” - Bobbi humphrey

”midnight love affair” - George benson

“I can’t play” - side effect

”soft and tender” - people’s choice

”stepping into tomorrow” - Donald byrd

”nomalizo” letta mbulu

”i’m Always dancing to the music” - benny golson

“Easy money” - Dee Dee sharp

”pusherman” - Curtis mayfield

 

as I mentioned above, many of these tunes were also played on the core Rare Groove scene but the genesis of a specialist 2-step soon is obvious from here.

By around ‘89 you started hearing tracks like 7 Miles High, Vibrations, Arnold Blair and Dee Edwards; definitely rarer indepdent tracks that were harder to find. Very few DJs could get original 45s of these tracks and hence they become a “badge of honour” that separated the sound systems into a Premier League vs Othersthat still exists to this day - for this reason bootlegging was rife. Some of the tracks that really enhanced your “rep” were: “My mind is at ease” by West Coast Revival, “Shake it up” by the Vibrations (original 45) and “Do you care” by Hard Cover. and many more. Some of these were not true 2-step tracks but the DJs and punters were a lot more open minded than people give them credit. At the beginning and ending of dances you would hear real collectors tunes, tracks that weren’t really popular with the punters, like “Gotta Get To You” by 4th Kingdom, “Impossible” by Velvet Hammer or “House of fun and love” by Sweet Mixture

i have many memories and playlists, and will share these in later posts. For a number of years I have been cataloging all the tracks that I remember being played in the dances and on the radio shows that specialist in 2-step

The scene still lives, though on a smaller scale, with many of the same DJs. You can check out one of the scene’s legends, DJ Legs, most Sunday’s on Lightningradio.net from 8 till 11pm

 

peace

 

 

A rich vein indeed . Thanks to those of you thatr have put up some favourite cuts as there are many I don't know or don't know well. Here's my tuppence worth.

 

This one illustrates how close two step soul is to lovers' rock.