purist
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From memory White demo's and is it Blue Issues ? Chased it for years after Stafford. Got fed up of not seeing one for sale when I had the money in close to twenty years, and finally paid either 100 or 150 pounds for a nice super clean copy. To balance this out my mate Ken Onions paid either four quid or two quid for his copy - but that was possibly before it got played at Stafford ? I think it's a really tough find, probably falls into that category of "plenty about, but rarely comes out of folks collections unless the price goes high enough to tempt" Like many stafford tunes if it became better known you wouldn't be surprised to see folk paying a lot of money to get somebody to sell it them, but for now it's 'a great tune you rarely hear played out' (on the odd occasion I've heard it loud in a venue recently it still works as a floorfilling stomper, it hasn't dated as some sounds do) and so the knowledge tends to stay with the devotees of the TOTW sound, and those who bother to listen to refosoul, etc. Just out of interest I've seen this listed in write up's as both Les Chansonettes c/u & also as The Chantels c/u, .... hmm typing error? or a case of dj forgetting what he'd covered it up as when the mic is switched on, or even when more than one dj is playing it they tend to use different names ? Mind you I can't talk about dj's saying the wrong things, I always have a mental block and introduce Sam Williams as Al Williams and vice versa! and that's just the tip of that particular iceberg ! -
" Had umpteen copies over the years with either both sides bad, or just the "End Of Time" side bad and t'other side okay. Then went through a small bundle at a dealers the one time and played them all, and luckily came up with just one that plays brilliantly on "End" side, so yes they do exist. Think I saw someone else comment on either this forum or another similar one, that they too had found a perfect copy from the same dealer I found mine at. I think I checked every single copy and there wasn't another perfect player or I would have bought it. I suspect there's a few good copies about in people's collections that they have just forgotten about as it's been a long time since these tunes had much turntable action, at least I've not really heard it with any frequency since the mid 80's. Perhaps it's worth trying a wants post? Two great sides tho'.
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Oooo you could get me in right trouble with this thread !!! First thing - can't believe Bishop's Wood hasn't had a mention. Granted I've not been to every one, but when I have, the music has been somewhere between vg+ and excellent, in terms of "interesting & quality" playlists ( i.e. leaving out the played to death oldies & handbag fodder) Second thing - If you take out the last few years there has been an almost unbroken line of succession of strong clubs within 20 miles of Wolves, playing a mix of current breaking tunes, unknown & lesser knowns, plus underplayed/interesting music, stretching back to the dawn of the scene. Tell me, were the playlists at venues like The Cats, Cavendish, Stafford, Wheatsheaf, Bilston Town Hall, Lea Manor (behind closed doors), to name but a few, full of played to death/wedding Motown & Handbag tunes? no, they blooming weren't ! Most clubs featured dj's from the very top drawer of the scene, either as regulars or guests, so local people who didn't do a great deal of travelling still got to hear all the big cover up's and regional sounds. So this idea of the West Midlands being an "Always and Only Oldies area" is a false memory, perpetrated by people who have a reason to do so, and largely weren't there for best part of twenty odd years in the middle while the rest of us were out enjoying hearing new exciting tunes and wearing thin the soles of our favourite dancing shoes, keeping the scene going locally and nationally. Third thing - Personally I think we got it really close to perfect in the area when we had a parallel system, with every friday nite giving the punters a choice of one 'Interesting' Rare Soul nite, and one Oldies nite ( I said Oldies, not handbag) This left the saturday nites free for a choice between going out of the area to a major Niter, or the odd few local Niters and soul nites of both types. The beauty of this system was that people travelled into the area and supported these clubs because it was worth it, as both types of nite were worthwhile, musically and atmosphere/crowd wise. The extra bodies meant promoters weren't always out of pocket, and meant the nites could be run on a more professional level. One problem now is that people are not political enough, and want their clubs to be all things to all men, with a foot in both camps, playing handbag and rarities/newies at the same club. It's my belief that this just makes largely unhappy punters, which is why so many clubs eventually fail. For every vocal complainer there's often another twenty, thirty or forty sitting around the tables looking glum, deciding "I'll give it one more try, then I'm not coming back here". Across The Board never meant 'let's play five hours of cheap handbag tunes and played out 'classics' and throw in two newies/rarities to justify the adverts", it was a term to describe the mixing of all styles of rare soul/northern soul/ modern soul, excluding anything hugely popular on the scene from 1979 or before. Instead, people should be shouting from the rooftops "Our club only plays proper Oldies" "Our club only plays Handbag" or "Our Club plays Interesting Quality Rare Soul & won't play Handbag", whatever. That way folk can rally to support the clubs playing their favourite style of music. I know I'm making generalisations here, but usually handbag fans get very irate when dj's play something from outside of their musical orbit and give the promoters & dj's grief. The only difference between those fans and the fans of Interesting/Connoiseurs/ATB Rare soul is that these rare people tend to complain less, they just quietly leave and don't come back. Either way, people want what they want, and are now too long in the tooth to put up with spending time not enjoying themselves. Fourth Thing - There is a way to have a healthy (non Oldies or Handbag) club scene in the area. There is room for four regular friday clubs and one special only every 3 months friday nite club, which truthfully need to be run by different people. It requires selfless people to organise it. The nites need to be run by people who understand the need to involve all the local collectors & dj's, and each weeks club needs to have its own flavour ( let's say one is a bit more late 60's crossover, one a bit more early 60's/r'n'b /popcorn, one a bit more 60's super rarities, one a bit more 70's for example) but with enough common ground so it feels like part of a whole. I think it was Des Parker who summed it up one time, he said if you get 25-30 local dj's and tell them if they support the club each month, they will get a chance to get up on the decks & share their tunes 1,2,3 or 4 times a year, depending on their status/records/ability etc, Lea Manor was a bit like this. If each of these 25-30 bring along 1 or 2 people you've got the basis of strong healthy clubs, that other non dj's. and people from further afield would want to attend. I'm not saying it's impossible to run local clubs with resident dj's, just that it gets more difficult each time a new venue starts. If you're a rare soul enthusiast who likes to get up on the decks and share some tunes (i.e. a potential dj) and you know one club has 72 spots open to the likes of you a year, as opposed to a club that only has one spot open for guests each month, because the other spots are full of residents, then assuming the quality of the music and all other factors are similar surely you're more likely to support the 72 one? Maybe you need one or two residents to ensure continuity? or 3 if it's a Niter? either way to make this idea work you need at least five, preferably six open spots, at least 45 mins long (better if it's an hour) so nites which run 8 til12 are never gonna offer enough. Is it really that hard to get a 1.30 or 2 o'clock club? Last Thing - Most of us want a good local club to support (maybe every week is too much for some people?) trouble is convincing the reluctant like dthedrug that what your club has to offer is worth the effort. Word of mouth is always the best convincer, but if I bump into him this saturday morning up Bilston Market which clubs would I tell Dave he really must come to every time they are on? Which clubs would you tell him he really shouldn't miss ? and finally. If we went back to that golden period of just one good oldies and one good non-oldies club every friday I know I'd want to breakout every so often & attend the good oldies club maybe four times a year, because although I believe in keeping moving forward, sticking to the original blueprint of northern soul, I still enjoy Classic Oldies, just not all the time and a 48 to 4 split in favour of interesting, underplayed, new, groundbreaking, different and just downright forgotten never was's seems about fair. oh and by the way, just because you weren't around when it was written is no excuse for not knowing that a Classic Oldie that's rare by quantity doesn't qualify as Rare Soul in the Black Country Northern Soul Definitions Bible, as kept by the Black Country Soul Moles, circa 1981. see I told you you were gonna get me in trouble ..... purist
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also check Lee Jennings - Just Keep On Loving Me - Star Track another version is Bobby Bland's on Duke 464, same song, different but interesting think there's more versions ??? purist
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simple answer to disputes over which is the best vocal - play the instrumental, which was the first version of this song I heard in a venue, and is bang on the money traditional northern soul. I miss that era, where maybe a third of the playlists were inst's. not exactly been flooded with new discovery inst's in the last two decades, have we ?
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70 years ? kinda doubtful dontcha think, unless you've got a stock of spare parts or machines are any manufacturing companies still making cd players ? I thought that the cd format had gone the way of betamax ?
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Get it on the Motown magic album, then you can cut it down to fit in a 7 inch size box, as its the last track on the side (you might find one of those cut down 7" knocking about, as we used to do it quite a lot years ago, especially this track, which plays better at plus a few revs imho)
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I remember that night at the Cleveland like it was yesterday Jack, you & Susan had only just moved down hadn't you ? Was it your first week of living down here ? happy days! The Wheatsheaf ( and all the other assorted clubs from that era) there's a story or two to tell, or not ! I wonder how many promoters of soul nites have ever had to burglarise second storey flats to get the disco gear out so their nite could go ahead - allegedly
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Thanks again to John for giving us the ok to pass on one of his reviews, which was originally pushed out on the soul talk email list. Going Green - A review plus by John Pugh Over time newly discovered tunes, or their nearly cousins, those inspired revivals of some forgotten oldie or former three spin wonder appear, and are taken to the hearts (and dancing feet) of our scene. They are at the most basic level, the very lifeblood of our scene. These tunes have two basic routes to Niter glory. Either they come through by virtue of being in the hands of the right DJ, or they build slowly from the soul nite scene, sometimes taking a couple of spins, other times taking maybe five years of repeated playing. Of course there are always exceptions to this but they are few and far between. I can't speak with any real authority on other regions but in our part of the world we have an overlapping track record going back to the early years, of clubs who are either totally dedicated to the cause of finding and breaking, or those who did so less aggressively, but still made a valuable contribution (We also have developed in the last twenty odd years an equally obsessive nostalgia circuit, but let's not go there !) Every soul fan knows that wonderful, almost religious, experience of being grabbed by a new tune. The particular shade of soul is irrelevant. The fact is that when it hits you, it hits you in a way like nothing else does, and is something a bunch of us have talked about for so long we all know our parts of the conversation better than a West End actor knows their lines. We're told it's the same as the high religious fanatics get, an adjustment to brain chemistry, but felt somewhere approximately three feet lower. I don't know who first coined the phrase " a ' bit of skin' tune", but what they were referring to was how, for some strange reason, some men feel this pleasurable feeling in the region of their perineum, the tissue that occupies the space between ' front and rear outlets ' for want of a better expression I've no idea if women get this, those female soul addicts I've asked have always given me a blank look, or worse. The feeling isn't reserved for purely new tunes, just great ones, but it's definitely at it's strongest with the first few hearings or when you haven't heard it for ages. It's only enemy seems to be familiarity, and probably explains why some of us get really angry when a former 'tingler gets revitalised and then played to death. One of my old tinglers was the Young Brothers. In it's hey day for me it was equivalent to applying a nine volt shock to the sensitive region, but a few months back the luck of the draw meant we heard it every time we went out for months on the trot. Now it's like getting up in the morning and finding your cars battery is flat. The sparks have all gone, but don't despair people because like some batteries, if left alone for a while they seem to find a small charge again. It's never like it was, but it's enough to notice. Sorry, wandered off the point of the posting, again. Friday nite saw our latest incarnation of the chase. Currently held at The Green in Darlaston, it follows in the long line of local legendary clubs like The Wheatsheaf in Walsall and The Wagon & Horses in Wolves etc, and in terms of profile takes up where the Cross Keys in Hednesford left off. Sometimes you come across a tune you think fits the bill. Your best efforts lead you to believe that it's a virtual unknown. Now comes the hard part. You're obviously impressed enough with it, but is it instant enough to drop into a set at a major venue ? There's no real way of knowing until you hear it through a big system for the first time. At home I've tried many a time muting the speakers and lamping up the volume through the headphones, which seems to be the nearest type of sound that replicates a venue, but even that is a poor excuse. We all have things which we love at home that just don't sound right in a club, and vice versa. So what do you do ? In most cases you either bite the bullet and play it at the first opportunity, or carry it around for months in your box waiting for the right nite, the right crowd, etc. This is where venues like The Green really come into their own. They are if you like " the third way ". Sometimes referred to as collectors clubs, or more slanderously as chin strokers societies, they offer you a chance to try out these sounds to an audience not chomping at the bit for handbag Oldies and youth club sub disco fodder. The promoters of The Green actively pursue the policy of " Play the tunes here that you don't play elsewhere ", which can mean digging out that rare gem that you always mean to play that gets lost amongst all the requests for today's popular sounds that fill the floor. Equally it can mean it's a near perfect platform for that B side you've always thought deserved some attention, or an album track that gets cruelly ignored because of our love of the 7" single. As you're reading this last couple of sentences I'm guessing that for some folk certain tunes are jumping to the forefront of your brain, potential choices you'd like to try on the deck. If they are, the good news is that unlike the more formal " gotta get 'em dancing " clubs, the route to dj'ing at The Green is quite open. They even put it on the flyers, saying if you think you've got something worth sharing with the rest of us just come down and have a word with Woody & Lou. If they agree you'll find pretty soon after you'll be given a chance. Considering how many folk pointlessly pester the promoters of the major venues for spots, I'm staggered at how few folk can see that they'd be much better spending their time building a reputation through clubs like The Green. After all most good promoters are much more impressed with word of mouth recommendations from folk they trust based on actual recent sets, or maybe I'm wrong ? Two things I feel I ought to mention. Clubs like this are always on the borderline of financial viability. They need the support of collectors and fans alike, so don't make a prat of yourself by going up to Woody at some other venue and asking for a set. Paying your measly few pounds admission is not only the first step to getting the chance to play some tunes there, it's a key factor in keeping clubs like this alive. Remember that the other lads and lasses that get up to play their tunes want some feedback, and they are the same folk who will listen to you when it's your turn. The second thing is if you're worried about somebody jumping on your new sounds and you missing out, I for one will make it known that you were the person who first spun them, and I can be quite loud about such things. If it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen where ever you play them, and the folk who go to the Green ain't those sort of folk. There's no recording equipment hooked up to the decks, no portable tape decks positioned by the speakers. We all know how hard it is to find the things, so we treat others how we want to be treated ourselves. On Friday Max and I did our stint (a miracle in itself after Kev Spittle had crush fractured nineteen bones in my hand half hour earlier - made all the funnier by Ken Onions saying with a totally straight face " Er, don't think he knows you've got brittle bones, that's how he shakes hands with everyone" alongside Woody and Col Kidson who provide the back bone of the club. I guess that the bravery building effect worked. We played four or five tunes the following nite at The New Century Niter that otherwise we would have had in the category of " shall we risk them or not". We can't know for sure, but having heard them loud, and seen the reaction from fellow devotees, it certainly bolstered our confidence in these tunes. I'm gonna write something about Saturday later, so I'll let you know then how they went over with the Niter dancers. For those who like this sort of thing, here's our plays, or at least the ones I can remember, a mixture of acetates, cover up's, forgotten oldies, album tracks and tunes we don't often get a chance to play, plus a few Staffordy dusties at the end, for them wot like that kinda thing and fancied a bit of a boogie before Zebedee said time for bed ! the ones that are unlikely to be known too well I'll add a little description so you can get the idea of the broad reach of this magic little club D. B. Productions - Messing With My Mind (vocal) - unissued. DXM Studio powerhouse traditional NS styled dancer. the inst. flip is phenomenal like the detroit insts that GH played at TOTW, like Michigan move etc, and is the one we more often play. "Laura Lee " - Never Gonna Be The Same - unissued similar to the detroit classic 'way you been acting lately' unknown female - Clock On The Wall - unissued Bell Sound acetate sorta '100 club meets stafford' type thing, 60's builder, from known detroit writers. J. B. Willingham - Don't Wanna Be Hurt No More - unissued Associated acetate sort of big cityish bb builder, this has a lovely quality to it, a haunting catchy melody with superb vocals, when I first heard this I thought I'd heard it before, maybe there's another version to it ? John Lucien - We Got Love - Columbia Music acetate (poss. unissued) not to be confused with the other newie being spun with the same title, that's Teddy P, this sounds more like an Okeh Major, Billy Butler or Walter Jackson, deceptively somewhere between mid pace and uptempo. Johnny Henley & Weirdest - Ooh Baby - cover up one we've been playing for a while, known to some, so time to uncover soon, usually a dance first time you hear it tune, imagine a cross between cant get over these memories and that aussie version of I'll Be Around Teddy Randazzo - Young Girl - cover up the artist name says it all, similar to most of the stuff he produced on all the artists he worked with, nice bouncy midpacer. Bettye Swann - I Got The Love - cover up girlie vocal dancer, catchy as crabs, bears a resemblance to BS recent biggie, but it's better than that ! Fabulous Peps - Gypsy Woman - Premium Stuff s/s wdj known but great version of the classic Curtis Mayfield song, done in a detroit style, complete with quaint slightly off key moments Detroit Five - The Heart Of Town - cover up nicked an old TOTW cover up name, that's how much I rate this probably detroit gem. we think it's the bizz ! Gene Redd prod - Do You Really Think He Cares - Media Sound acetate alternative unissued version of Carstairs hurts me boy artist unknown - It Really Hurts Me Boy - white label almost ditto, 'cept this is a female answer to Corsairs Ted Taylor - Somebody's Always Trying - Okeh Jock Mitchell - I Got To Know - Impact wdj perfect r'n'bish detroit, deserves attention that it's not getting, at least we've not heard it anywhere, maybe you know different ? Jackie Beavers - You Can Have Her - SS7 wdj old catacombs spin, driving r'n'bish edge to it, worth reviving we think Cleo Randle - You Got Everything - Sta Set quite well known but not often enough heard imo, an always mean to play,typical 'better out loud than at home' sound, what e used to call a 'firestarter ' Lou Rawls - Dead End Street - Capitol had a U.K. '66 series without the spoken intro since I was a kid but always wanted the spoken intro one on 45, and thanks to mike hughes I recently got this one with the intro so thought we'd try it as we know there's some that like the wordy beginning tunes Keanya Collins - It Ain't No Secret - Blue Rock wdj another old Cats powerhouse stomper that got flipside plays later, cruelly ignored, so we've put it back in the playbox Patron of Arts - True Patron of The Arts - Page One former yate spin in the 70's, this is gonna go again, GH just got a copy, you have been warned, sounds like a powerhouse detroit inst. US copies have different credits, as the queen city band, so that's what it's known as,better at +4 Teddy & Fingerpoppers - Soul Groove ( part 2) - Arctic virtually forgotten, former floor packing stomping inst flipside to pants vocal. Ty Karim - Only A Fool - Roach better flip to I Aint Lying. where IAL sounds like an early years spin, OAF is musically much more suited to plays amongst the 80's sounds of totw etc. James Shorter - Ready For The Heartbreak - La Beat staffordy sounding detroit mover Lovelites - My Conscience - Lovelite Supremes - Stoned Love - Tamla Motown alternative 4 minute version, spoken intro, big brass middle break, dunno if anybody noticed it was different, except the dancers who had to dance longer Girls & Diana - Fall In Love With you Again - cover up an old albrighton cover up that we'd forgotten about, came to the fore on the back of the Diana & Her Girls one that broke out big (wonderful to me) Kay Mc Murray - Girl With A Broken Heart - cover up another old albrighton cover up, played for mr onions, instant 70's floor tune Four Tops - You Got To Forget Him Darling - Tamla Motown brilliant album track, had spins in Scotland a few years back, don't think anybody's ever persevered with it down here. although released in '72 sounds mid '60's Luther - Don't Wanna Be A Fool - Cottilion Wee Gee - Remember The Love - wdj two nice 70's oldies that got revived at albrighton, don't hear too often now Joyce Lawson - Love Uprising - Mutt & Jeff the ' party mix' version, happy bouncy version of the NS classic tune, spun for one punter who unbeknown to us hadn't come this nite (we thought he was in !) Eddie Parker & Lorraine Chandler - Love You Baby not a dodgy 'stuck together in a studio' mixture of their two versions but a genuine duet. when Lorraine's vocal comes in it's a real 12 volt tingler !!! Hoagy Lands - Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand - Atlantic classic tub thumping Cats 60's stomper, that roger banks sometimes spins at mod doo's, so he told me recently ( not that I go to any you understand ) Ron Baxter - This Is It - Ole the start of the 'send em home sweaty' crop of old faves and requests Isonics - Sugar - Kammy Bobby Valentin - Use It Before You Lose It - Fania both above played 'cause "somebody" doesn't get the latin totw stuff Stewart Ames - Angelina - J & W wdj Timmie Williams - Competition - Mala Little John - Just Wait & See - Go Gate Jades - Where It's At - Nitelife wdj Thornton Sisters - I Keep Forgettin' - Cuppy Matt Lucas - You Better Go - Go - Karen Vince Apollo - I Bear Witness - Pentagon "Steve 'God' Mancha" - Since You've Been Gone similar to his Groovesville slower sides, this is a gorgeous ender from THE man, though credited to the group - at plus 10 Deneice Williams - Cause You Love Me Baby - CBS one I used to end with years back, sounds better now than it ever did, could now be played mid set and might go if a few more tried it, big budget mid tempo, magic production with mega vocal talent to boot ! (just thought, had Carl Holmes Soul Dance No. 3 in my hand, dunno if it got played, not that it's important but this one lad asks me every time I see him, and I keep forgetting ) if you want to know more about The Green and future dates there get back to me or Max and I'll try to pass on info john@solemole.fsnet.co.uk cheers john