macca

Words can't describe how much I loathed and loath these records, all huge in their day. I'd have to narrow it down to six (yes, I know it was 3)... Paul Anka - When We Get There Peggy March - If You Loved Me Don Ray - Born A Loser Cobblestone - Trick Me Treat Me Ben Zine - Village Of Tears Lou Roberts - Ten To One

If you take a glance at any phoenix soul club all-nighter (the wirrina peterborough) poster from 1975 you'll see the home team calling themselves spena (gary spencer), smudge (andy smith) and jonah (steve jones), pk& biffo (pete & dave mindem the promoters) and paul donnelly, who bravely went as himself. that's quite an array of aliases, ain't it?

Went once. Think I heard Something New To Do for the first time there.

We're all 'opinioning' here Benji. I wouldn't be as conceited as to present mine as incontestable so you can question them as much as you like, in fact I welcome it, mate. My opinion on Butch is entirely subjective. I like his style, I like his boundary pushing across the different genres, not just Northern Soul, something that all DJs should aspire to, again in my opinion. However, I am aware that one man's meat is another man's poison and that opinions are like colours in that there are a lot of them. ;-)

Ian Levine has described on many occasions the scene in the Blackpool flat upon returning from Miami with the famous 1973 charity store haul. He, Les Cokell and Colin Curtis more or less divided the records into three piles - hits, misses and maybes. I can't imagine Ian Levine continually deferring to Colin and Les in this matter. He believed in the music as much as they did and evidently fought his corner as only he does on specific records. He was also introducing stuff like Rose Batiste to Rob Bellars at the Wheel in its final year, was he not? I can't imagine him getting some kind of sage's wise nod off Colin before doing so. Regards the topic, Butch is the numero uno without question.

The Del Reys - Destination Unknown is quite trippy too...

Wakefield Sun - Trypt On Love (Man)..

well mixed up! maybe I'm confusing the neville brothers with the meters. good lord. dementia sets in. thanks godzilla!

Indeed, Parlo is a corking NOLA label. A lot the Meters stuff is on it too.

Bloody brilliant thread guys. Keep it going. The King Mojo's passing sounds as if it was just as traumatic as Wigan's was to a later generation. RESPECT to you all. Mac p.s. Krissi, I think, mentioned Plebians Halifax earlier on in the thread. There's some fantastic footage of the place on Youtube, with dancers grooving in a decidedly non NS fashion at a Root & Jenny Jackon show. Just search The Impressions 'Can't Satisfy'.

Cool then and now and bugger the naysayers. The video collage ain't bad either. ;-) https://youtu.be/_yHLzDwEfTY

Davis & Tyler. Cool, very cool Northern Soul back then. Great NOLA label too. Who cares if people turn their noses up? :-)

There ain't one there I don't like. Don't understand today's pooh-poohing of intsrumentals. They remind of the way we were.

barnaby bye - can't live this way. massive floorpacker everywhere around 1975-6. I readily admit to dancing to it. I looked for it on youtube recently and struth. must have been the gear talkin' again, and again, and again... ;-)

I'll wager a signed copy and a review in spanish and gallego that 'PYRAMID' is in the first 100.

Flynny is bang on. I think I might have first heard stuff like Garnett Mimms - It Was Easier To Hurt Her, at West Hampstead or 100 Club. A week later the same record at The Fleet Peterborough was quite underwhelming. Club Soul in smoky (not now), pokey places, dripping ceilings etc. Big Northern stompers a la Bob Relf, Velvet Satins in a big ballroom. It could be the way our minds have been conditioned, too. :-)

I don't think so. The Showstoppers intro and song structure is completely different to my ears...

I bought one off Mick Smith for 25 sovs (the normal one) in 1989 when I started my second collection which I've long since sold. :-(

Ahhh.. now I understand. Thanks very much for that. Blue Max, Pep and The Cats. What would the scene have been without 'em, eh?

Now then chaps. My first inkling that Northern Soul existed was sometime in 1973 when a geezer from Peterborough had Saxie Russell is our friend written on his school satchel. This guy went on to DJ at St.Ives very briefly around 1975 and his name was Bruno, of Italian extraction. Anyway, I posted the record on Facebook as a tribute to our elder Hose Street brethren, Max Rees, Dave Taylor, Dave Ferguson and Paul Donnelly. However, and much to my surprise, I was told it was never actually played there. Was this a post Torch, transitional record, played at somewhere like Sale Mecca, before going big at Wigan/Blackpool then?

It's a curse. Last saturday I had a 25 year Latin Soul-Jazz DJ come running behind the decks to photograph Leon Hayward 'It's Got To Be Mellow'. He was raving about it, hadn't heard it till then. I smiled to myself as years ago I'd have given the same record short shrift on the grounds of its commonness and midtemponess. To get hung up such considerations is shallow, very shallow. I like to think I've mellowed (forgive the pun) with age and now accept virtually anything with open ears... within reason...

Sorted now chaps. Many thanks for the input. M

In Spain, the ones I've been to, were small to medium size venues (S.O.U.L. Luanco, Euroyeye Gijón, Magic Soul Madrid, Movin' On Barcelona), usually 70s vintage discotheques with lots of mirrors and parquet floors. I've never been to Soul4Real Bilbao, but I've stayed in the hotel where they hold the event, and it's your typical pokey 70s discotheque type venue. I think Dani & Albert's Big Thing event in Valencia is along the same lines. I think there's much to be said for a hotel based venue for weekender events, though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, especially those who like the drill halls and community centres we grew up with in the UK. Not sure which 'big European events' are being referred to here.

Yes, yes.. I know the musical pedigree is irreproachable, obviously. Just never been really keen on their vocals. You'll have to explain that party line thing to me, and In plain English, as you know I went troppo yonks ago, hahaha...

Can't wait for Gordon, Peggy, Tezzás response to this.