macca

Gijón is about 4 hours drive from me, so hardly worth the trek, I would have thought. Here's a rough translation of the above. Joe is a 17 year old lad bored with his grey existence. No prospects at work, no fun and no girls... following the lovely Jane around, he discovers what will become the reason for his existence: Northern Soul and Wigan Casino. It's 1974 while Tom Jones was taking the country by storm, a bunch of youngsters were getting their kicks dancing to Soul music., they had their own way of dressing and their own lifestyle codes: they were soulboys. In order to enter this select group, Joe spared no effort: he gets the right clothes, practises his dance moves, listens to the rarest records. But everything gets complicated when he has to choose between Jane and her best friend, and when he doesn't know what to do about his lifelong buddy who's not interested in Northern Soul, and when the hardboys/bullies at Wigan put a price on his head. What is this film saying to us? The transition to maturity, the search for one's own identity, the sense of belonging to a group, the importance of friendship. Northern Soul music and problems with drugs.

I'll eat my words. Looks like the film is getting some international projection, folks. It's being featured at the 48th edition of the Gijón International Film Festival in Spain.

I'm evidently not going to get to see this over here, so I'll buy the dvd in January. From what I can make out from previous threads, the main criticisms aimed at it before release were a weak plot/script. I don't know enough about script writing to offer an opinion, so I suppose it'll be down to the old feel good/bad factor after having seen it.

NYE in NYC with Marva & Billy sounds soooooooooo enticing, but I'll be in Auld Reekie, which is wonderful anyway...

Fascinating thread and the kind we saw a lot of on here a few years back. So has Mr.D's passing been confirmed one way or another? If so, I think a memorial website would be a great idea and a fitting and lasting tribute to the guy's importance in the music we all love. Sad that some people (earlier in the thread) should have thought it necessary to bring up his sexuality, but there's always one or two...

How do the Phila of Soul copies sound? I've had Landa copies over the years and they've all sounded rather lo-fi.

100% agree. I couldn't stand spencers or polyveldts, thought they looked decidedly naff. I had 26" parallel cords with tunnel loops, worn with a gingham shirt with those pearl studded breast pockets, late 76 maybe. Early 76 saw a lot of waistcoats and ties in my area. Skinners look clown-like today, but I worshipped the older guys that wore them around 1972.

Cheers for that. Certainly played a part in our childhood and adolescence, eh?

Apart from Guralnick's tome, check out Nick Tosches two excellent books: 'Country' and 'Where Dead Voices Gather', the former takes an in-depth look at the origins of Country Music via Old Time, Gospel, Jugbands and Rockabilly through to the slick Nashville Sound of the 50s & 60s. The latter charts the rise and fall of Minstrelsy and how that influenced both black and white artists. Blacks were definitely influenced by Scottish and Irish rythmns, playing tent show reviews with white artists like Frank Hutchinson, Jimmie Rodgers etc. A lot of the Old Time and String Bands specialised in fiddle and drum driven stomping dance music. Uncle Dave Macon, whose voice was very black, is a good example of the genre. This couldn't have happened without some sort musical bed-hopping taking place.

Just found out that Wirrina means 'place to go' in Aboriginal. A Charlie Swift idea? Fair dinkum if it was... PK & Biffo not on poster. Had their deejaying services been dispensed with by then?

Well that's JV trashed then.

RIP King Sol. I too saw him play in the town square during the summer fiestas a few years back, 2005/6 I think. Though he was sat on his 'throne' throughout the gig, he was a great communicator and had everybody up dancing fom the word go.

If this is a legit UK release, the label designer wants a bollocking, even it is a 'white demo'. Looks exceedingly naff... https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=160488340002

The nights in the ballroom were fantastic. I remember black guys from USAF Alconbury dancing there in kaftans to the funkier stuff from people like Poke. When it moved into the sports hall due to the crowds, it lost a lot of its appeal, though I wouldn't say it was rubbish. I mean the crowd and the jocks were supposed to make the evening and neither were in short supply.

the tuesday nights suinoz refers to were the carousel disco nights, which were funk vs northern vs pop/handbag tunes. smudge was more of a shuffler, if I remember well. bill bingham and johnny carroll used to spin and gary spencer was the acrobat, his then girlfriend girlfriend shirl also used to shuffle, paul donnelly did the twirling leg routine, and rest looked on in awe. a perfect introduction...

Lovely tale Martyn. That W logo above the entrance would be cool. This photo is of the side door, right? The original all-nighter was held in the ballroom on the other side of the building. The carpeted foyer crammed with people selling records, dancers piling in and out of the ballroom, stamping feet in unison to esther phillips and the the world column. Fond memories of ranting away in the queue with Sharon and Smasher from Cambridge, and the rest of the Boro' crowd of course. Happy memories indeed Paul.

Jeez, I'm just listening to this through headphones and it's stunning. Nice one Pete.

And you very kindly did one for me too Martyn. Loads of other great stuff on it too. I've just had a listen to the HH cd version. Nate Adams has the edge in my opinion with that anguished 'lonely, lonely man I am' bit at the intro...

When it's a hatch! I suppose bootlegs are pressed up purely for financial gain whereas an emidisc/carver of material that never saw an official release on vinyl. i.e. lifted from CDs for use at a venue and not intended to be sold on are kosher, especially if one is loathed to use a CD. Or am I wrong?

am I right in thinking this was an unreleased track and only exists on a studio acetate owned or formerly owned by richard searling?

Post off topic.

Tragic if it happens. Power, greed and corruptible seed seem to be all there is, sadly...

Malc's the holy blood and the holy grand piano-quest has been the most valuable contribution to this thread by far. This place is like a chicken coop at times. Sometimes it's amusing,

That's lovely Bicks, the thread starter wanted the human side, and what could be more human than this. :-)

On one of the threads that Sean posted, people spoke of the song being perfect for Chris Clark because of its supposed 'whiteness' in terms of delivery and lyrics. I thought that Chris Clark was another Dusty, in that most of her appeal was down to her sounding convincingly black. As regards the song, it was definitely among the sounds that drew me towards this music and reaction to it at club discos was always interesting. The Funk crowd, unsurprisingly, detested it. 2:34 of dated nonsense and then back to 'Fire 'and 'Me & Baby Brother'. :-) M p.s. Why is the lyric 'unblack'? 'Sitting in my easy chair, I feel your fingers running through my hair, looking down in my coffee cup, I can see you face looking up'. Wouldn't Curtis Mayfield or Smokey Robinson write a lyric like that? Fuzz guitar was also used in 'Why When The Love Is Gone' and nobody has said it sounds 'white'. I think RDT's voice in fine, in the Len Barry sense of being fine. He's no Otis Redding, admittedly.