This revamped edition of Ian Levine's SWONS package dropped on the doormat today and after waiting almost 3 months for an opportunity to view the finished project in it's entirety, I quickly checked the packaging whilst sliding Disc One of Five into the DVD player and awaited the boiling kettle so I could settle down and enjoy what has been described (by Ian himself it has to be said), as, "A set to last a lifetime, the MUST HAVE gift of the Century!". Well I can think of a few things that the previous 100 years have produced that would probably take precedence over a set of DVDs but that's Ian's style and we should expect no less at this stage of the game.
On with the performances...
The set consists of five DVDs and although there is little new content from what I could see in relation to the artists on the previous original set there is one omission that makes the whole thing worth reissuing again. The glitchy effects that, for many at least, spoiled the original are not there this time round. Therefore the artists are now front and centre and not part of the background as happened to some in the original. The improvement in the presentation of the performances is such that in some cases it looks like a new video recording and all involved should receive a pat on the back for recognizing that the weakness of the first issue was definitely the effects and this has now been put right.
There's plenty to criticize in respect of the music not being original and having been re-recorded, (it was, financially at least, completely unachievable to re-record the tracks with full orchestration), but to do that would seem churlish and not understand the whole point of the exercise which was to record for posterity the performances of some of the greatest songs sung by some of the greatest soul singers from the Golden age of Northern Soul.
So..does the set do that? In my opinion it's a resounding yes. I thought the original did too but with the distraction of the effects now gone and the improved soundtracks that have been reconstructed using better technology available since the original, for people who love seeing the artists they revere performing and aren't blinded by the UK soul scene's vinyl record snobbery it's certainly worth upgrading to this set.
Many of the artists on the set are now no longer with us and even with many artists having made the visit to UK shores without this set we would have no visual record of legends the likes of Bob Relf, Lou Johnson, The Vocanos, Lee Andrews, Jimmy Conwell, Johnny Moore and a host of others. One of the most poignant artists on the set is Bobby Paris who performs all three of his Allnighter classics.
Highlights for me were:
Watching Earl Van Dyke smiling up from the Hammond B3. The one artist I really regret having never met.
Watching Edwin Starr singing "I Have Faith In You". The backing track simply fades into obscurity as his voice takes centre stage as it always did.
Herbie Hunter performing "I Was Born To Love You". Man...his tache is bigger than mine!!
Seeing heroes like Alexander Patton, Bobby Hutton, Dean Courtney etc dressed to the nines in 'best bib and tucker' giving the audience the 'old school', full monty of a performance just like back in the day.
Watching James Fountain and Billy Harner. Two records from slightly different eras that both shaped my love of the music all this years ago.
Downside? Well it's Ian so there's gonna be a twist as usual but I would have preferred less of his recent productions and more of the vintage stuff. It was after all described as the 200 GREATEST floor-fillers but I can't remember Tahira Jumah, Noel McKoy, or many of the Vanecia Wilson tracks filling any floors and with the omission of the likes of Mel Britt from the set it wouldn't seem a fair swap, no matter how tight the space available.
In summary...any self respecting lover of soul artists would appreciate the set I feel. The performances are presented so much better than previously that an upgrade would be worth it in my eyes. As the years pass there's no doubt that the whole SWONS project will gain in status and it's true value as a history of the artists and the music they made will be recognized. A MUST HAVE gift of the century? Well to be fair, maybe not but a set to last a lifetime? I reckon. I'll be pulling it off the shelf every now and then, enjoying the company of my heroes/heroines for sure and for a price tag of 30UKP that's a fair price to pay for that pleasure in my eyes. Many will continue to complain about the drum and bass tracks employed and that they'd rather remember their heroes as a sound coming through a speaker in some dark dancehall of 30 years ago. Well, that is of course their prerogative but for someone like me who loves seeing the people perform these classics no matter what the surroundings, I'll take the only thing that's financially viable and if that's the artists' singing in their kitchens as one or two do than I'm more than happy with that.
Pete S 3 posts
Citizen P 1 post
Ian Dewhirst 1 post
Northern Soul's Greatest Floorfillers
This revamped edition of Ian Levine's SWONS package dropped on the doormat today and after waiting almost 3 months for an opportunity to view the finished project in it's entirety, I quickly checked the packaging whilst sliding Disc One of Five into the DVD player and awaited the boiling kettle so I could settle down and enjoy what has been described (by Ian himself it has to be said), as, "A set to last a lifetime, the MUST HAVE gift of the Century!". Well I can think of a few things that the previous 100 years have produced that would probably take precedence over a set of DVDs but that's Ian's style and we should expect no less at this stage of the game.
On with the performances...
The set consists of five DVDs and although there is little new content from what I could see in relation to the artists on the previous original set there is one omission that makes the whole thing worth reissuing again. The glitchy effects that, for many at least, spoiled the original are not there this time round. Therefore the artists are now front and centre and not part of the background as happened to some in the original. The improvement in the presentation of the performances is such that in some cases it looks like a new video recording and all involved should receive a pat on the back for recognizing that the weakness of the first issue was definitely the effects and this has now been put right.
There's plenty to criticize in respect of the music not being original and having been re-recorded, (it was, financially at least, completely unachievable to re-record the tracks with full orchestration), but to do that would seem churlish and not understand the whole point of the exercise which was to record for posterity the performances of some of the greatest songs sung by some of the greatest soul singers from the Golden age of Northern Soul.
So..does the set do that? In my opinion it's a resounding yes. I thought the original did too but with the distraction of the effects now gone and the improved soundtracks that have been reconstructed using better technology available since the original, for people who love seeing the artists they revere performing and aren't blinded by the UK soul scene's vinyl record snobbery it's certainly worth upgrading to this set.
Many of the artists on the set are now no longer with us and even with many artists having made the visit to UK shores without this set we would have no visual record of legends the likes of Bob Relf, Lou Johnson, The Vocanos, Lee Andrews, Jimmy Conwell, Johnny Moore and a host of others. One of the most poignant artists on the set is Bobby Paris who performs all three of his Allnighter classics.
Highlights for me were:
Watching Earl Van Dyke smiling up from the Hammond B3. The one artist I really regret having never met.
Watching Edwin Starr singing "I Have Faith In You". The backing track simply fades into obscurity as his voice takes centre stage as it always did.
Herbie Hunter performing "I Was Born To Love You". Man...his tache is bigger than mine!!
Seeing heroes like Alexander Patton, Bobby Hutton, Dean Courtney etc dressed to the nines in 'best bib and tucker' giving the audience the 'old school', full monty of a performance just like back in the day.
Watching James Fountain and Billy Harner. Two records from slightly different eras that both shaped my love of the music all this years ago.
Downside? Well it's Ian so there's gonna be a twist as usual but I would have preferred less of his recent productions and more of the vintage stuff. It was after all described as the 200 GREATEST floor-fillers but I can't remember Tahira Jumah, Noel McKoy, or many of the Vanecia Wilson tracks filling any floors and with the omission of the likes of Mel Britt from the set it wouldn't seem a fair swap, no matter how tight the space available.
In summary...any self respecting lover of soul artists would appreciate the set I feel. The performances are presented so much better than previously that an upgrade would be worth it in my eyes. As the years pass there's no doubt that the whole SWONS project will gain in status and it's true value as a history of the artists and the music they made will be recognized. A MUST HAVE gift of the century? Well to be fair, maybe not but a set to last a lifetime? I reckon. I'll be pulling it off the shelf every now and then, enjoying the company of my heroes/heroines for sure and for a price tag of 30UKP that's a fair price to pay for that pleasure in my eyes. Many will continue to complain about the drum and bass tracks employed and that they'd rather remember their heroes as a sound coming through a speaker in some dark dancehall of 30 years ago. Well, that is of course their prerogative but for someone like me who loves seeing the people perform these classics no matter what the surroundings, I'll take the only thing that's financially viable and if that's the artists' singing in their kitchens as one or two do than I'm more than happy with that.
Dave M
Edited by Dave Moore