News: BBC 2 - Northern Soul at the Proms - Tv Broadcast Saturday Night

[Owd Codger]

23 minutes ago, Steve G said:

Ha!  "Hold Back The Night" - it just so happens I finished my set Sunday evening with this. Floor rammed more so than any other northern classics and oldies. Make of that what you will.  

Could be an age thing.

At the few  NS events I attend, the tunes from the 70s always seem more popular.

60s classics followers are fast disappearing.

[Roburt]

Tavares were very definitely a great soul group.

You only have to listen to the Sam Dees songs on 'Madame Butterfly' to instantly get that fact.

 

[Sutty]

3 hours ago, Mgm 1251 said:

I think it was Andy Davies,Johnathon Ross’ sidekick on Radio 2,whom Stuart had on his Northern Soul show,also on Radio 2...

Yes it was you’re right 

[Sutty]

1 hour ago, Eddie Hubbard said:

Exactly ,albums like Hard Core Poetry and Madame Butterfly are great examples of 70’s Soul at its best .

Indeed! We saw them last year I think it was and they were still amazing. Never had a love like this before, Wonderful, Bad times, Positive Forces, all the Sam Dees tunes, anyone who thinks Tavares are just a ‘pop group’ needs to have a word with themselves!

[6T's Mojoman]

On 27/08/2023 at 13:36, ulyssees said:

Enjoyed the prom,  my only gripe …..no instrumentals, imagine Festival Time, Bari Track or Double Cooking played by that orchestra.

With that orchestra was also waiting for Rat Race, The Champion or even that Drivin Beat, they did mention another on 9th Sept. I live in hope  

[STEFAN BURLAK]

I thought all the singers did a fantastic show, I don't know their singing history but they all displayed great feeling and enthusiasm to all the songs. Remember, I don't think they would have ever known or heard of the songs before.  They had to get to get to know the tunes and learn all the words, I thought they did an amazing job , together with a first class orchestra. It would have been even better if there could have been a Black Male voice in the mix.

[Stateside]

What a funny lot we are. If only Tavares had stayed as Chubby and the Turnpikes when they released Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel and it hadn't been a hit.

[Chalky]

7 hours ago, Eddie Hubbard said:

Exactly ,albums like Hard Core Poetry and Madame Butterfly are great examples of 70’s Soul at its best .

"Too Late" as good as anything

[Chalky]

5 hours ago, Sutty said:

Indeed! We saw them last year I think it was and they were still amazing. Never had a love like this before, Wonderful, Bad times, Positive Forces, all the Sam Dees tunes, anyone who thinks Tavares are just a ‘pop group’ needs to have a word with themselves!

They only had look at some of the songs performed in the proms to find some pop

Edited August 29, 2023 by Chalky

[Vadnochka]

The Kettle Drums could have summed it all up - As the era projected was mainly a narrow period of the early 70's and those kettle drums could of heralded the most hyped / wanted sound of them all back then - Lost after the untimely deaths of Cats dj's only to spring back into life courtesy of Minsh. at Hanley Top Rank and the Mecca and the Invitations Ski-ing in the snow was a call to arms at that time. Thought we were going to get it as the overhead shot of the drums came on screen - Good try but it certainly showed how great some of our hero's were in reality as singers / performing artists and what magical thought processes came together to create music that was beyond compare from basically half a century ago.

 

[Frankie Crocker]

19 minutes ago, Vadnochka said:

The Kettle Drums could have summed it all up - As the era projected was mainly a narrow period of the early 70's and those kettle drums could of heralded the most hyped / wanted sound of them all back then - Lost after the untimely deaths of Cats dj's only to spring back into life courtesy of Minsh. at Hanley Top Rank and the Mecca and the Invitations Ski-ing in the snow was a call to arms at that time. Thought we were going to get it as the overhead shot of the drums came on screen - Good try but it certainly showed how great some of our hero's were in reality as singers / performing artists and what magical thought processes came together to create music that was beyond compare from basically half a century ago.

 

Good call. Skiing In The Snow would have been well received due to its anthemic status but The Trammps lowest common denomination pop hit satisfied the hand-baggers in the audience due to the commercial appeal and chart success.

[Frankie Crocker]

6 hours ago, Sutty said:

Indeed! We saw them last year I think it was and they were still amazing. Never had a love like this before, Wonderful, Bad times, Positive Forces, all the Sam Dees tunes, anyone who thinks Tavares are just a ‘pop group’ needs to have a word with themselves!

I’ve had a word with myself and fondly remembered seeing the Tavares at The Ritz in Manchester...and jolly good they were. The late 70’s were a fine time for disco soul - Candi Staton, Real Thing, James Brown etc, not Northern then or now and zero Prom potential. One 70’s tune in the Prom went down extremely well notably The Night so it was a shame the Carstairs was cut - somebody evidently thought a dance lesson from Levanna was more important.

[Chalky]

59 minutes ago, Frankie Crocker said:

I’ve had a word with myself and fondly remembered seeing the Tavares at The Ritz in Manchester...and jolly good they were. The late 70’s were a fine time for disco soul - Candi Staton, Real Thing, James Brown etc, not Northern then or now and zero Prom potential. One 70’s tune in the Prom went down extremely well notably The Night so it was a shame the Carstairs was cut - somebody evidently thought a dance lesson from Levanna was more important.

Not Northern?  So the Cartsairs etc isn't Northern either then?

[Vadnochka]

Always a touchy subject - Frankie Valli /Four seasons - The Night - In my world back then - The Night was considered a new release and certainly carried no ' Northern' kudos at all in my neck of the woods - too many brilliant but expensive £5 monsters to be bothering with it.

Anybody who had any knowledge of the scene in this period would have highlighted that P.P Arnold - sitting there at the Albert Hall giggling was the artist that produced that epic 1967 Immediate release which went on to carry legendary status and still commands a pretty penny. Alan Day playing it covered up at the Torch - below and to my right - offered it up to the sleeve and exposed the grey Immediate label to my eagle eyes - twigged who the singer was and by the next Tuesday had acquired a demo copy from a lad in Leicester - The rest for me was history.

[Frankie Crocker]

58 minutes ago, Chalky said:

Not Northern?  So the Cartsairs etc isn't Northern either then?

The Carstairs is so Northern it was a shame it wasn’t included. It would have been nice for viewers to see how well the orchestra tackled this tricky number, but it was axed from the TV programme.

[Neil Austin]

2 hours ago, Vadnochka said:

Always a touchy subject - Frankie Valli /Four seasons - The Night - In my world back then - The Night was considered a new release and certainly carried no ' Northern' kudos at all in my neck of the woods - too many brilliant but expensive £5 monsters to be bothering with it.

Anybody who had any knowledge of the scene in this period would have highlighted that P.P Arnold - sitting there at the Albert Hall giggling was the artist that produced that epic 1967 Immediate release which went on to carry legendary status and still commands a pretty penny. Alan Day playing it covered up at the Torch - below and to my right - offered it up to the sleeve and exposed the grey Immediate label to my eagle eyes - twigged who the singer was and by the next Tuesday had acquired a demo copy from a lad in Leicester - The rest for me was history.

PP Arnold, in Mr Ms was a real treat for me ️

[Mush]

Chalky, come on mush, yes they cut some bits out, they do out of every programme, there were people watching who have no idea what we dance like or anything about our scene, Levanna is a young refreshing lady, i'm 60 so grew up with this music and Motown, here is a young lady that has embraced our music, from a long time before she was even a thought in her dads head and long after i'm gone, will still be doing what we do now, yes something got cut, but hey ho, Levanna and people like her will keep our scene going, she is a breathe of fresh air.

Go on You Tube and watch her Covid All Nighter, brilliant, clever, this is one smart young lady!!!

[Torch56]

I watched it in its entirety and enjoyed it for what it was: interpretations of examples of the genre fifty years on. The vocalists and orchestra did their best to recreate the sound but inevitably fell short of the excellence the original artists provided. However, the performance wasn't intended primarily for the likes of us but for an audience of newcomers to the music, or people who have had only a fleeting experience of northern soul. By this criterion, I would imagine the event will be judged a success.

I was far more interested in the instrumentation than the singers. Accomplished technically as they were, they were never going to match the vocal impact of those classics that we heard all those years ago. I wanted far more shots of the orchestra with focus on the strings, percussion, and wind instruments when they were the main focus of sections of tracks. Indeed, I would have been happy with a playlist entirely of instrumentals. To have that orchestra, with its ability to present a wall of sound would have been such a powerful visual image to augment sounds with which most of us  have been familiar for half a century.

[Ian Parker]

20 hours ago, STEFAN BURLAK said:

I thought all the singers did a fantastic show, I don't know their singing history but they all displayed great feeling and enthusiasm to all the songs. Remember, I don't think they would have ever known or heard of the songs before.  They had to get to get to know the tunes and learn all the words, I thought they did an amazing job , together with a first class orchestra. It would have been even better if there could have been a Black Male voice in the mix.

or even Kendra Spotswood (Sandi Sheldon) ,  PP Arnold too?

[Paul-s]

On 27/08/2023 at 09:30, Kenb said:

Sing-along-a-Northern.

Maybe you had to be there. Glad i wasn't.

It all seems to have become so bourgeois:

"lovely glass of wine in front of the telly", no need to go out the door and dig deep for records (just bid on ebay), dance for the Iphone in their kitchen or bang on about whats proper and whats not: when many of them left in 1981 and only came back decades later with a need to re-imagine what it actually was in order to compensate for missing decades of incredible music and a truly underground scene: kept alive and driven by a small group of truly dedicated people.

Drag them into Sheridan's (or other brilliant venue) lock the door for 3 days, play brilliant tunes they have never heard, and probably never will! They missed the true apprenticeship. They seem scared to let go and truly listen instead of re-enacting (and signalling to each other) their limited knowledge on the dance floor week in and week out: by singing all the lyrics and demonstrably dancing them (based on the TOP 500, maybe even less).

bourgeois

boo͝r-zhwä′, boo͝r′zhwä″

noun

> A person belonging to the middle class.

> A person whose attitudes and behaviour are marked by conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class.

As usual it's my soul that reacts to this stuff. It's not, to me, anything to do with Northern Soul.

It's corporate run BBC armchair viewing figures, fronted by celebrities who barely went anyway and are now supposed to represent us via there own narcissism and limited knowledge and experience of the scene and the music.
All supported and hailed as "brilliant" by a plethora of sing-along-a Northern Soul returnees who seem to be happy that the historical re-enactment scene is being acknowledged,  because in doing so it validates their 'Northern Soulfullness'.

People will re-act (or re-enact) in different ways to what i'm saying. BUT, the scene needs some re-active energy, not just this neatly packaged, feeble, bourgeois BBC ratings driven Prom soul.

 

[Chalky]

The orchestra was excellent but I expected nothing less, they are world class musicians after all.  But the drive, energy and passion was missing, soulless if you like.  The singers were very average at best, the one who did MVPs (Turning My Heartbeat Up), Dobie Gray & Landslide, he was worse than average, thought he was pretty poor.

Some of you are easily pleased.

[Chalky]

11 hours ago, Mush said:

Chalky, come on mush, yes they cut some bits out, they do out of every programme, there were people watching who have no idea what we dance like or anything about our scene, Levanna is a young refreshing lady, i'm 60 so grew up with this music and Motown, here is a young lady that has embraced our music, from a long time before she was even a thought in her dads head and long after i'm gone, will still be doing what we do now, yes something got cut, but hey ho, Levanna and people like her will keep our scene going, she is a breathe of fresh air.

Go on You Tube and watch her Covid All Nighter, brilliant, clever, this is one smart young lady!!!

Behave what has she got to do with the proms? I have no interest in watching her look at me videos.  If you are 60 and has been around you would have seen some great dancers in the past......

[Paul-s]

14 hours ago, Mush said:

Chalky, come on mush, yes they cut some bits out, they do out of every programme, there were people watching who have no idea what we dance like or anything about our scene, Levanna is a young refreshing lady, i'm 60 so grew up with this music and Motown, here is a young lady that has embraced our music, from a long time before she was even a thought in her dads head and long after i'm gone, will still be doing what we do now, yes something got cut, but hey ho, Levanna and people like her will keep our scene going, she is a breathe of fresh air.

Go on You Tube and watch her Covid All Nighter, brilliant, clever, this is one smart young lady!!!

Below average dancer(s) (compared to what I've been lucky enough to see over the decades: I didn't stop when Wigan closed). They (a fair few of them now) are totally focussed on narcissistic self-promotion (spreading the homogenised dancing) rather than being "in the music" and discovering their soul. They spend most of their time promoting themselves to camera, rather than enjoying dancing: eyes closed without onlookers.

They are always dancing for the camera rather than the music, with inane smiles, or mouthing the words of a top 500 tune, supported by empty clutching heart gestures, or  rolling their arms towards the heavenly soul gods with an agonised look on their faces (Wigan motifs). Movements  that have been copied rather than discovered.
No groove or natural 'get down', uniqueness or cool. If thats you idea of refreshing we must have attended different venues over the decades.

The entire Instagram/Youtube soulies self-promotion of their mediocre dancing to Northern Soul is nothing to do with Northern Soul. It's to do with an innate psychological need they have to self-promote.

Of course, if you loved the Proms facade you will love the Instagram/youtube dancers (one of whom claims to be The World Champion Northern Soul Dancer because of a competition held in Blackpool with a majority UK crowd) .

The two things go together like August and Deneen....

[Modernsoulsucks]

29 minutes ago, Paul-s said:

Below average dancer(s) (compared to what I've been lucky enough to see over the decades: I didn't stop when Wigan closed). They (a fair few of them now) are totally focussed on narcissistic self-promotion (spreading the homogenised dancing) rather than being "in the music" and discovering their soul. They spend most of their time promoting themselves to camera, rather than enjoying dancing: eyes closed without onlookers.

They are always dancing for the camera rather than the music, with inane smiles, or mouthing the words of a top 500 tune, supported by empty clutching heart gestures, or  rolling their arms towards the heavenly soul gods with an agonised look on their faces (Wigan motifs). Movements  that have been copied rather than discovered.
No groove or natural 'get down', uniqueness or cool. If thats you idea of refreshing we must have attended different venues over the decades.

The entire Instagram/Youtube soulies self-promotion of their mediocre dancing to Northern Soul is nothing to do with Northern Soul. It's to do with an innate psychological need they have to self-promote.

Of course, if you loved the Proms facade you will love the Instagram/youtube dancers (one of whom claims to be The World Champion Northern Soul Dancer because of a competition held in Blackpool with a majority UK crowd) .

The two things go together like August and Deneen....

According to Clare I'm a lovely mover myself but then she would say that. 

I'm not interested in watching the videos you mention but just to stick up for Levanna I did catch her on YT being interviewed by some reggae guy where she chose a few soul and reggae tracks. She came across well and it put me on to an Italian reggae release that I wasn't aware of. If she makes a few bob from her videos good luck to her.

I agree with you that the Proms is an odd setting for Northern. Very middle class but then I didn't go to the theatre to see your play because I thought going to the theatre was a middle class pursuit and no place for Northern.

More Rosencrantz and Guildenstern than Tony & Tyrone.

[Quinvy]

15 minutes ago, Modernsoulsucks said:

According to Clare I'm a lovely mover myself but then she would say that. 

I'm not interested in watching the videos you mention but just to stick up for Levanna I did catch her on YT being interviewed by some reggae guy where she chose a few soul and reggae tracks. She came across well and it put me on to an Italian reggae release that I wasn't aware of. If she makes a few bob from her videos good luck to her.

I agree with you that the Proms is an odd setting for Northern. Very middle class but then I didn't go to the theatre to see your play because I thought going to the theatre was a middle class pursuit and no place for Northern.

More Rosencrantz and Guildenstern than Tony & Tyrone.

Very good Rod.

[Modernsoulsucks]

4 minutes ago, Quinvy said:

Very good Rod.

My claim to fame on the dance floor is being with Dave Raistrick in a club in S.Carolina back in '81.

We'd found a copy of "I'll pay the price" at the Wax Museum. I got the dj to play it and hit the floor. The odd spin and backdrop and nonchalantly glided back to my table. 

Then these girls started to come up complementing me on my footwork. To Dave's amusement they seemed to think I was a fantastic shagger. 

Once he'd stopped sniggering he noticed that some of the guys were not that happy with the attention I was getting and he thought it best we leave.

Which we did rather hurriedly to avoid any unpleasantness. 

[Neilb]

Re some of the posts above;

Well I really enjoyed it - the orchestra were superb (class musicians) and most of singers were great, the guy with the hat a little weak on landslide and out on the floor. But to see these songs performed live in this venue/ full orchestra on the telly 50 years after they were released-if I'd written them I'd be over the moon. And I watched it with a glass of wine or two in front of the telly and bidding on ebay with my i-phone.  

Wasn't Levanna on to show NS is still going and enjoyed by people under 50? she's always seems to be smiling and enjoying herself, she may not be Keb Darge in the dancing stakes, but not many people are.  What's wrong with using social media/you tube and yourself etc to promote venues ? times have moved on since adverts in the back of Echoes.

Has a new sub-genre been discovered? We've had oldies, 60's newies, modern, crossover, garage soul, funky gospel, tunes by forward thinking dj's (what?). 

 Bourgeois Northern Soul - it has a certain ring to it and sounds slightly elitist. 

Got to go now ; got a dinner party to arrange and put in some practice for the world championship. p.s. does anyone know where you can buy one of those t-shirts that some of the prom crowd were wearing?

 

[Mrmick]

Absolutely loved it.  The orchestra put their hearts and soul into the music.. the singing was amazing.  The input from the people who where with Stuart gave awesome remarks.  But the best by far for me was the most energetic dancing by all the younger generations in their white t shirts waving their hands around like it was a rave.. why did we not dance like that in the 70s and 80s, they put so much effort and enjoyment in their dancing it was magnificent 

[Mush]

8 hours ago, Chalky said:

Behave what has she got to do with the proms? I have no interest in watching her look at me videos.  If you are 60 and has been around you would have seen some great dancers in the past......

Hang on mush, did I say she was a great dancer? No!

Obviously the BBC asked her to perform a dance, which she did, here's some news for you, one of my mates have never been to a Northern Soul do, never seen anyone dance, yes he live's in soulless Oxfordshire, he loved it, he might be in his 70's but really enjoyed it, surely that's the whole point.

For your information I have seen a lot of great dancers over the years, lots of people I saw maybe once, in my opinion the best I saw was a mush from Sunderland called Will. That's just my personal opinion.

[Wiganer1]

8 hours ago, Chalky said:

The orchestra was excellent but I expected nothing less, they are world class musicians after all.  But the drive, energy and passion was missing, soulless if you like.  The singers were very average at best, the one who did MVPs (Turning My Heartbeat Up), Dobie Gray & Landslide, he was worse than average, thought he was pretty poor.

Some of you are easily pleased.it 

Biggest Northern soul karaoke ever bad enough listening to it

 

[Woodbutcher]

I imagine it must have been like sitting on your sofas getting all excited by faded beer-blunted memories of a gig they attended forty years ago , by watching a cheap DVD of a lame modern 'tribute' act having a go at covering songs by a band they are too young to have ever seen live themselves. 

In other words excrutiatingly sad ... needless to say I neither listened to or watched either debacle.

[Shinehead]

3 minutes ago, Woodbutcher said:

I imagine it must have been like sitting on your sofas getting all excited by faded beer-blunted memories of a gig they attended forty years ago , by watching a cheap DVD of a lame modern 'tribute' act having a go at covering songs by a band they are too young to have ever seen live themselves. 

In other words excrutiatingly sad ... needless to say I neither listened to or watched either debacle.

If you did not watch or listened how can you form an opinion ? 

[Mush]

And your point is mush???

Maybe it was just about putting it out there to people who have never seen or heard about Northern Soul, did that cross your mind while you were practising your moves in your bedroom for Saturday night?

3 minutes ago, Shinehead said:

If you did not watch or listened how can you form an opinion ? 

Totally agree mush

[Woodbutcher]

38 minutes ago, Shinehead said:

If you did not watch or listened how can you form an opinion ? 

Hard not to form an opinion having read the endless drivel posted here on SS about the subject ... 

[Kenb]

the very funny Rose Matafeo appeared on The One Show tonight wearing a big logo Wigan Casino t-shirt?

It's a BBC epidemic and it is spreading a pseudo Northern Soul virus.

[Shinehead]

13 minutes ago, Woodbutcher said:

Hard not to form an opinion having read the endless drivel posted here on SS about the subject ... 

Mostly positive, so I would admire your opinion more if you had even seen the broadcast in either audio or video.

 

[Carty]

14 minutes ago, Kenb said:

the very funny Rose Matafeo appeared on The One Show tonight wearing a big logo Wigan Casino t-shirt?

It's a BBC epidemic and it is spreading a pseudo Northern Soul virus.

Thanks for pointing that out , just seen the clip , very strange to say the least .

[Mush]

Good job I live darn sarth then and very rearly watch tv, yes in the kitchen diner with music on.

[Roburt]

Two radio shows to listen to ... 

[Neil Austin]

7 hours ago, Roburt said:

Two radio shows to listen to ... 

Thank you roburt, appreciated ️

[Leicester Boy]

A lot of people easily pleased in my opinion. I've witnessed people upset on here regarding talc, overplayed, dance styles, too much drink etc etc but are happy with ns being sanitised to a level of cringe off the scale. Glad you enjoyed it I'll settle for something different. Cheers 

[Paul-s]

18 hours ago, Modernsoulsucks said:

According to Clare I'm a lovely mover myself but then she would say that. 

I'm not interested in watching the videos you mention but just to stick up for Levanna I did catch her on YT being interviewed by some reggae guy where she chose a few soul and reggae tracks. She came across well and it put me on to an Italian reggae release that I wasn't aware of. If she makes a few bob from her videos good luck to her.

I agree with you that the Proms is an odd setting for Northern. Very middle class but then I didn't go to the theatre to see your play because I thought going to the theatre was a middle class pursuit and no place for Northern.

More Rosencrantz and Guildenstern than Tony & Tyrone.

I guess your severe myopic view and lack of knowledge of theatre history, and its use throughout the world  amongst working class social groups, and in different settings,  as a political tool to challenge the dominance of middle class theatre is at play here Mr Sucks: Augustus Boal, Jerzy Grotowski, Joan Littlewood etc. I'm afraid, I can't help you with your dogmatic perception of theatre: based on never going.

The things i comment on here are things i have seen/heard and formed an opinion about. Whereas you seem to form an opinion with no experience of what you comment on. Its called conjecture based on bias.

Though,  you say you haven't seen the videos i mention but stick up for them? It goes exactly with your bizarre critique of a play you never saw. Some pretty deep thinking going on there. How was the wine you never tasted, perhaps you can give us your wise opinion on that? It would be as interesting and banal as this.

Having not seen it, i guess you are in no position to comment on the social demographic that made up the audience, or the political content of the play. And, having also not seen the online dancers videos I discuss you are in no position to comment on them either: (I never mentioned Levanna, did presume/project it was her?). 

So Mr SoulSucks, as you reveal in your ignorant unsubstantiated commentary (based on a rigorous concept of "non-seeing"). You didn't say a word that isn't biased and based on a total non-experience of the thing in question.
Maybe you need just a little more time to catch up and change your ways, so that you can form an informed opinion: not a dogmatic one based on an empty place. Think it over a bit more and looky looky at whats going on before commenting on it. 

I'm sure this is just a little misunderstanding but you definitely need a better script writer.

 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Paul-s

[Steve G]

28 minutes ago, Paul-s said:

 You didn't say a word that isn't biased and based on a total non-experience of the thing in question.
Maybe you need just a little more time to catch up and change your ways, so that you can form an informed opinion: not a dogmatic one based on an empty place. Think it over a bit more and looky looky at whats going on before commenting on it. 

I'm sure this is just a little misunderstanding but you definitely need a better script writer.

 

Reply includes whole / parts of some eight song titles. 

Edited August 31, 2023 by Steve G

[Modernsoulsucks]

You missed one.

"A political tool to challenge the dominance of middle class theatre"

Sure that was the title of Richard's Obsessives c/u

Edited August 31, 2023 by Modernsoulsucks

[Leeky]

It's never gonna be to everyone's taste, myself and my thought's were it's been well put together and altho i think Stuart Maconie made a couple of mistakes he done himself proud. A couple of songs i thought were given to the wrong singer but on the whole a great night's entertainment. I have to say i was surprised at the missing "Snake" maybe they were too scared to put that one on lol

[Paul-s]

On 31/08/2023 at 12:21, Modernsoulsucks said:

You missed one.

"A political tool to challenge the dominance of middle class theatre"

Sure that was the title of Richard's Obsessives c/u

[Stephen Houghton]

On 30/08/2023 at 20:19, Wiganer1 said:

Biggest Northern soul karaoke ever bad enough listening to it

 

Then don't watch it doh

[Lukpete]

I quite enjoyed it, but maybe some photographs of the real artists may have been a nice touch. Did'nt miss The Snake though.

[Frankie Crocker]

On 31/08/2023 at 07:49, Leicester Boy said:

A lot of people easily pleased in my opinion...

On the contrary, a select number of people who know their onions, actually appreciated the performance of a world-class orchestra and some unknown artists who had rehearsed to the point of perfection. Most of us into Northern Soul are unashamedly elitist, secure in the knowledge that our music trumps all other genres, so to hear it reproduced note-perfect was a real treat. It’s also worth pointing out that many of the original records have slightly flawed vocals that add to the listening experience so it’s daft to expect singers to sound like Ray Pollard or Timi Yuro et al. I like a variety of music and am extremely hard to please - The BBC Prom did a great job of entertaining those in the Albert Hall but evidently the TV programme disappointed many of those on the sofas at home. If you don’t recognise musical quality when you hear it, then sure you’ll be easily disappointed...

[Chalky]

9 minutes ago, Frankie Crocker said:

On the contrary, a select number of people who know their onions, actually appreciated the performance of a world-class orchestra and some unknown artists who had rehearsed to the point of perfection. Most of us into Northern Soul are unashamedly elitist, secure in the knowledge that our music trumps all other genres, so to hear it reproduced note-perfect was a real treat. It’s also worth pointing out that many of the original records have slightly flawed vocals that add to the listening experience so it’s daft to expect singers to sound like Ray Pollard or Timi Yuro et al. I like a variety of music and am extremely hard to please - The BBC Prom did a great job of entertaining those in the Albert Hall but evidently the TV programme disappointed many of those on the sofas at home. If you don’t recognise musical quality when you hear it, then sure you’ll be easily disappointed...

We almost all recognise musical quality.  The orchestra was excellent as you would expect, they are world class musicians after all.  But the performance was cold and lacking everything we expect from the original.  As for flawed vocals you only had to listen to those on the proms.  They were distinctly average at best but I didn’t expect anything less.