Davenpete

Wigan pop sh*te. I can't see how any of the nasty ones slot legitimiately into a 'Top 10' - gives quite a skewed impression of Northern.

He's tending to stay in at the mo. Dx

Rick (and Sue) is one of the very best of the best - with a simply fabulous collection too. Dx

There's always payback from all those years getting on one - you can't escape the flashbacks Algis my friend - you can't escape the flashbacks Algis my friend - you can't escape the flashbacks Algis my friend. Dx

Seem cheap on the whole to what things seem to be going for nowadays - everyone must be spent up going to Benidorm. Dx

Given what some absolute sh*te sells for, a tune like this is a snip at £31k. Dx

F****g awful version - absolutely criminal. Dx

That's simple - as it makes clear in the introduction it's the 500 most POPULAR records NOT the best. Dx

Real shame - he and the Vancouvers did some wonderful stuff - 'Does Your Mama Know About Me' being our favourite. Dx

My view is that the intrusion of mass media coverage of youth culture is what kills it (mods, rockers, northern soul kids, ravers - it's happened time and again). The MASS influx that results from exciting/edgy coverage in the press inevitably blurs the boundaries and waters down the most hardcore features of a youth cult as 'eager amateurs' join in without any feel for the the more deeply held 'secret truths' that underlie and define a particular group. Whilst that sounds elitist it isn't as much as it sounds - when someone comes to the northern scene (or certainly when I was able to go out more often than I have birthdays) who is recognised as 'right' they'll get grabbed and DRAGGED into the core RAPIDLY (have seen it a good number of times), no matter how young or inexperienced they are. Modern media also tends to homogenise scenes - so you'll see people picking and mixing different elements from very different youth groups; so you'll see people who look like rockabillies at allnighters, kids looking pretty moddy who are into house and so-on. This was always the case to some degree, but in the past these people were rare exotics. Nowadays there seems to be a big chunk of kids who are just into 'stuff' without the mad, obsessive allegiance to a single music form and street style that is essential to develop the essential hardcore that drives the wider group as a whole. All-in-all I think sadly the days of the old youth cults are now gone because music has lost its hard genre boundaries and kids absorb too many different influences to become militant followers of this or that style and to a large extent many of them simply look like younger versions of their mums/dads again... When I was younger I always used to say that I respected headbangers and bikers FAR more than the local chart disco kids - even though in my home town us scooterboys were often at war with them - because at least they were REALLY into what they liked. I always used to say I thought that northern had many of the features of a religion - the whole 'keep the faith' thing was never completely tongue in cheek. Dx

Once had one land on my rod when out salmon fishing. Dx

We have about a dozen little Egrets and a few Great Egrets year-round up here on the Solway coast (Campfield Marsh). Dx

Cobblers! Back in the days I was going to the 100 Club every time it was on I don't think there was a night it wasn't played. Dx

What about the good old days of 'Should go massive'? Dx

When I bought a boot of the Sherrys my and was plying it in my bedroom whilst coming in to land my mum bounced in saying 'ooh I remeber this from tye war'... Another one was Goodnight Irene. Hate the record, but as biggies go how about Can't Help Loving Dat Man? It's from Porgy & Bess - Gershwin 1935. Dx

Love this - the last reasonably priced record I attempted (unsuccessfully) to buy. Dx

It's probably the wonderful unissued 'Flashback'.

Dave Reed's Dedicated Soul Club that took over the Fleet in 82 (he went away as part of Cross Bow), later (86ish) Bucky took on the Fleet (with Danny Everard initially I think). Dx

And green logo Action from memory. Dx

Hasn't this gone on since the absolute dawn of Northern Soul with Clifford Curry be flogged for serious cash covered up coz you could it was still available on general release on Pama? Certainly in years gone by I've bought things like Larry Wedgeworth for what at the time was pretty serious money with the details scratched off because it was still available on general release in the States. At the end of the day as has often been said - a record is only worth its original sales value - all the extra is paying someone else to have the nowse to track it down (or indeed buy it when it was still easy to get) so you don't have to. Dx

My understanding was that it was some kind of Block project - at least my old copy (bought from Gene Robertson and flogged to Mark Sargeant) came with a sheet with information on everyone involved. What killed it for me was that horrible slow break at the end - that drover me to sell it in the end. Dx

Aren't we into the realms of appalling pop-sh*te that we should be ashamed was ever played rather than 'blue eyed soul' here?

Most/almost all of the issues are duff go for a demo. Dx

Rufus Lumley!