Dayo

I think it's worth remembereing that the so-called Northern soul scene started life as a dance scene. There was no rule about vocals, instrumentals, soul, non soul. If the groove was right and it got the dance floor jammin', then it got played and popular.

Thanks for that Pete. Another soul classic tainted forever!

Scuse ignorance, but is it Gino Washington from the Ram Jam Band? Thanks Col

Smashing read. For myself, I missed the latter days at Wigan. Sounded quite sad. I can't imagine it not being rammed. Col

I would think that any DJ who wants to develop a strong bond with the people who pay his wages would be happy to play requests, so long as it fits with the style of the set. It's been a while since I've DJ'd but I always tried to be friendly to folks who had taken the bother to ask for a song. Haven't always been treated with the same courtesy when the boot was on the other foot though.

You struggle to find a green and white demo of Edwin Starr Oh How Happy (original issue. Rare as rare.

Stretching the point a bit, but given that Band of Angels Invitation is surely one of the seminal mod classics, then you'd have to include Mike D'Abo. Last I heard he lived in Gloucestershire. And what a groooooovey record!!!!!!!

Isn't there a version on the rhinoceros label or by a band called rhinoceros? A British thing. Could be my memory playing tricks....

One of the things that amazes me about the house/dance scene is how DJ's who would never dream of using the mic, still somehow manage to stamp their personality on the crowd. It can be done but it takes a great deal of talent. It just sounds kind of old hat to hear a DJ waffling these days, so I'd be against it, apart from the odd bit of housekeeping here and there; thanks, requests etc. And only then if it's strictly necessary. My pet hate though is the DJ who talks over a slamming intro, or the DJ who gently fades up a great intro. That smacks of poor technique. We love our intro's don't we - let's hear them - bloody loud!

Top tune! Used to be big at the same time as the Tomagoes and Morris Chestnut. I'm sure I heard all three back to back one night at Wigan. I was in orbit!

I should love to have gone to The Wheel. I can only imagine the atmosphere when Boy From New York City hit the decks, followed by Working On Your Case and Dr. Love. I don't suppose any tapes exist do they? The cassette was only just available when it closed wasn't it? Col

Interesting thread this. . There's dancing, and there's gymnastics. I guess the perfect dancer would mix the two with grace and style. It's rarely seen, is it? Anyone else remember the days when Booper was the king of the floor? He was an average dancer (IMHO), but had his spins and backdrops down to a Tee. No disrespect to the guy (never knew him, but he looked hard!!!!) Personally I'd rather applaude someone who "feels" the beat. Lastly, guys are better than girls Col

One of the toughest boots to detect at first glance, but the matrix is the clue. If it's an original the 150 would be robbery!

One song I could never resist from '73 to today; Superlatives, I still Love You. It's that opening bar, a clarion call to the dance floor if ever there was one. There's a hundred others, but that one never fails.

Can't remember where it was - somewhere in the Midlands around 74 - somebody handed Levine the first copy of Rita Da Costa to surface. He played it blind then begged the guy to flog it. He was wetting himself with pleasure and in his excitement called it the finest Northern Soul record ever made! From that moment, I did begin to question his taste... Great dance track though - especially at the time of Towanda Barnes etc.

ALONE AGAIN OR= ONE OF THE GREATEST POP RECORDS EVER MADE (if not THE greatest!) Thanks for the news Ady, I'd missed that.

We've seen so many negative posts lately, let's try and lighten the mood... Anyone on the scene knows how generous soul music lovers can be. Back in 1970, I showed a vague interest in soul music. My brother in law was a local DJ and he fanned my flame by giving me a box of maybe 150 singles. Free. Lots of Tamla, Stax and Atlantic. Sure, some of them were knackered, some were crap, but his warm generosity kicked off a lifelong love affair with the music of Black America. Yes, there are some shady characters and more than a selfish few on the scene, but I reckon everyone on here has got a tale to tell regarding the kindness of Soulies.

I've never seen a Regal Zonophone demo of any description! Nice one!

DelTee asked what compression was. I'll try and make it simple. Many people think of compression when they convert a wav file to an mp3, you compress it to a smaller more manageable sized file. When sound engineers talk about compresion they mean something else entirely. A compressor or limiter in the studio refers to a box of tricks (or software these days) that acts as an automatic volume leveller. There is only so much volume you can record onto any medium before you run out of headroom and get distortion - a ceiling if you like. What a compressor does is looks at the peaks or spikes in volume and squashes them down lower. After that's done, you can turn the whole thing up and it sounds louder. In other words, there is now less difference in volume between the loudest parts and the softest parts. Individual instruments like a bass guitar, or vocal, can be compressed, and so can complete mixes. The result is a louder, punchier performance under the same ceiling. This is one reason why your favourite records never sound quite the same on the radio as they do at home. Radio stations all employ massive compression in the signal path to reduce the dynamic range of their output and make them sound loud on the dial. I'll try and show you what I mean. I'm posting two soundfiles. It's the same track by the Fascinations. It's come from the master tape and I'd bet a pound to a penny this version (take8) was never mastered or compressed. It's great but sounds kinda loose. I've taken the same track and compressed it, admitedly in a rather crude way, but trying to emulate analogue compressors of 60's. The compressed one sounds louder - right? And tighter, and perhaps more punchy? Have I just turned up the volume? No. It's the compressor that's squashed the louder bits, allowing me to turn the gain on the whole thing up. A touch of plate reverb and it'd be ready to cut to disc. Hope that all makes sense! Fascinations_NOT_compressed.mp3 Fascinations_with_compression.mp3

I'll try a little experiment with compression and post a couple of soundfiles - maybe later today if I get time.

Fab!

Great idea. Probably somewhere in between, but yes, that's how it was done. Sounds more like a real human at any rate! Thanks for that

My two cents; I wonder what Dave Godin would have made of all this...

I first saw him in 72 or 73 at a Top Rank Hanley all-dayer. Duke Browner, Bob Relf, Clara Ward etc. It's his longevity that sets him apart isn't it?

Class from the first note to the last. My fave JW song too! Col