shelly

Last saw him on the train from Derby to the Torch, never heard or seen him since Shelly

Different level, lower/lower ground floor

Just a quick point, the Wheel is Iconic because it lasted longer than any other all-niter, 7 years if you include Brasenose Street and had a policy of showcasing unkown black artists, all other top clubs lasted bearly a year or more at the niter level, Wigan: before you jump in, was a modern club;it was also pretty straight to the roots in promoting Soul music with a dose of Ska. When the Mojo in Sheffield had Bobby Freeman on doing the Swim, everyone walking round with joss sticks in their mouths didn't seem to go together, i.e. like lots of other clubs, it moved with changing fashion and tastes, the Wheel stayed true. Why is it so interesting at present is that it is the original place is virtually unchanged:Cats, Torch and Blackpool Mecca plus loads of others have been demolished, hence it is not only oldies,people as well as records, but the original environment-hence the attraction, you can put your youth into some kind of perspective, When it's gone you can't move it, it's the place that's key.. There are hundreds of venues today offering "northern soul" ,but when the Wheel was going that term hadn't been coined, and most where hole in the wall venues which added to the excitement, as it was then a word of mouth scene, the Wheel was the pinacle, if your mates ( older) asked you to go, you'd done it! Unfortunately it will go, it can't be compared to the Cavern as the Beatles and Mersysound originated from there, all that came from the Wheel (with respect)was a load of pillheads having a great time. Shelly

A real Biffo, (loads at the Torch) best to him and Judy Shelly

In that case look at my previous post re Pye/Pye International Shelly

Don't forget Pye/Pye International, the stuff that came out over here on those labels is awesome if somewhat overlooked now because it was early days stuff. Shelly

In the early days upto 1970, then 80% where actually new releases, obviously this decreased as musical tastes developed in the states, so labels like London, Stateside Columbia(Okeh) who had the rights came into prominence. But as the thread is about the most important labels - MIRWOOD has got to be there and don't forget the guys at Jayboy who released most of it over here - years later of course. Shelly

Rose Batiste Hit & Run was played during a crickedt match on either Heartbeat or that other Sunday night programme set in a 60's hospital in Yorks, no idea what it's called

Have a look here, there's well over 100 listed

Bearsy, Understand where you're coming from, but the scene back then and today are two completely different worlds, linked by the term "Northern Soul". Please don't forget that at the Wheel and up to the Torch, new releases where played regularly, obvious when you look at the years the Wheel was going, but maybe not so with the Torch, popularity and rarity blurred, just as long as a/ it was soul and b/ danceable;Wigan post '74 changed that. But the difference in my humble opinion, is that then - upto '74, it was largely an exciting underground scene,word of mouth, fuelled by sounds, gear and the best looking birds around; today, it is competing with a myriad of other music forms including US modern soul and the internet which by and large take all that away and maybe it isn't the cutting edge it once was in terms of excitement, rare soul fills a niche but I don't think it can be called a youth sub-culture-in the social historians terms, that the Northern days upto '74 where. Two different worlds linked by the term "Soul" not Northern and each having it's own place. Shelly But at the end of the day it's all relative, for me Alice Clerk, some of SK&F's finest

Because it's rare, it doesn't automatically make it good, if it was good it could have sold more and therefore not be rare- just an observation here as there are financial implications to take into account. However, you're forgetting that both mid tempo and ska was played at the Wheel back in the days and nobody complained, so it always been fairly mixed, except that Wigan from '74 onwards was a different kettle of fish with a load of crap played as long as it was 100mph.But the scene started in the mid sixties so please bear this in mind before trying to shoehorn everything into two specific eras, over 45 years you'd expect any culture to progress, retract, have ups and downs etc. etc. and people to pick the bits they like, that's life mates. Shelly

Hi Swish, Have you tried Willan Publishing, they did Andrew Wilsons book a few years back. Shelly

Played twice at the Wheel on Sunday, absolute f**kin shite, was , is and always will be Shelly

He claimed that his top 3 sounds were Jerry Williams , Lou Johnson and Dobie Gray, also played Morris Chesnut this afternoon on radio 5 live Shelly

All, The reason I put played before '73 was that after that, there was a tremendous amount of pop crap being played because of the beat, vocals didn't matter that much(wigan late 74-77) though there where some great sounds as well during that period, but, prior to '73, most of the sounds by white artists listed here you would have thought were black; in fact, there's a few mentioned that I still thought were black till I read on this thread. In a nut shell, they were soul records in general whilst a lot of the enormous amount of post '73 white plays where dubious to say the least. My opinion. Shelly

You can argue over this and as it's an instrumental, but Al Kent-You Gotta Pay the Price was actually Dennis Coffey on lead guitar! Shelly

Damita Jo-Save the last dance, Moses Smitth- Girl Across the Street,massively underplayed and Lorraine Chandler -I can't hold on, first heard there; but am sure that some stuff only got played once because a lot of it got pressed within a week of being played. Strange that. Shelly

What about BATA's, being a Sheff thread, we used to come up from Derby to buy BATA shoes, be around 71, remember, a bit like loafers with laces. Shelly

Hi Swish, It must be well over a year that your book has been mentioned, now I understand that is being illustrated, do you have permission from MIMS? Anyway, for a laugh I thought it might be good to suggest some titles as a comp, you haven't mentioned the title yet! My suggestion:- "Police Warning: it is an offence to swallow this book" Cheers Shelly Sorry for the grammatical error in the title, but not allowed to edit that, a few pints mate.

Why do all good potos have shit beer pubs behind them/

I thought it was normal behaviour then, as you say, now everyone's called a villain!

Sounds like it could have been Monty, big geezer long blond hair, as he was still alive and kicking then-literally, though the modus-operandi sounds like Fiak. Remember stopping at Woolley Edge services one Sunday morning in '73 after a Central allnighter, the idiot manager came up to us, must have been about 50 of us there and told us to leave as we were trouble makers and he new of us from Hilton Park services,net result, said manager is pinned against a wall with a blade at his throat by .... whilst everyone helped themselves. Shelly

Mike Thanks for that, Double Diamond was a crime and a half, but strangely, alcohol and pubs didn't seem to be at the top of the priority list in those days! Shelly

Can anyone put the names on the picture, taken in 1974 outside the Abbet pub Torquay, I know there's Matchy, Noddy, Dave Urmston, Buzzer, Dezzie from Newark, Gray and myself from Derby, that leaves another 5. Can anybody help. Sorry it's only as an attachment, I can't get it to upload properly. Shelly 1974.bmp

Any body put the names to this lot, taken outside the Abbey pub in 1974, Double Diamond- there's a crime if ever there was one. There's Matchy, Noddy, Dave Urmston, Dezzie from Newark, Buzzer , Gray and myself from Derby, that leaves 5. Names please Shelly 1974.bmp