Agentsmith

Here was a group that persevered, at a time when they had been the main benefactors of the supremely talented songwriting team, HDH. When they left Motown, The Tops were left in Limbo...fortunately, as fate would decree, they had material already recorded that would serve the purpose of giving them a brace of hit singles to reignite the spark of their previous success...so it proved in December of 67 and ironically at the forefront and the catalyst of the revival, was Tamla Motown, here in the UK, who summoned up an lp cut from 2 years previous. By January 8th, 1968, one month after its first genuine issue on a single, " Walk Away Renee " reached a position of # 3 on the UK charts, giving the group what would turn out to be, their second biggest selling single of all time. Gordy, in turn surprised by its success and the enterprise of TMUK, released it in the states...it charted # 14 on Billboard...for the rest of the 60's and early 70's they would continuously chart both here, and in the States. All the time, the band's format remained constant. Without doubt, in my mind, they were Motown's greatest vocal group, surpassing the elegant Temps and Spinners, and in Levi Stubbs, they had one of the greatest, most distinctive vocalists...of all time..The Duke, along with Obie and Lawrence, made the group the completists quortet. They were all stylists of the highest calibre. God bless them all, now reunited, the circle complete..Tops made in heaven.

Honestly can't remember this particular ad...but there you have it, attended the friday night event, sadly not the Saturday.

Well....that's really impressive...ffs Used to be the wulfrun hall/civic...its even been held in Birmingham!, like wtf has that anything to do with Wolverhampton??...total joke.

Example of the tradition for it being remembered. Pep and Neil Rushton, always at odds with each other, never buried the personal hatchet...even the rights to the Cats trademark as subject of resentment...unfortunately the biggest insult of all, looms large....how can a 50th anniversary go totally unmarked?, its a bloody disgrace..ffs, The Casino has been getting global attention for the last two years, fully deserved for sure but how can it possibly be that one of the pioneering clubs, can't receive equal recognition?

Spot on!, Max laid the club's demise at the hands of Wigan, that's a fact whether it was considered sour grapes at the time, or even now...it probably spelt a premature end for a few more soul nights besides as folk flocked there.....

Quite honestly, it dosn't look like this venue is going to receive any recognition at all on Saturday 13th July....which is the exact date to the day that it shut its doors for the last time...an absolute travesty and it looks very much like no one is bothered, either way. I'm no promoter otherwise i'd have taken it on but, the main protagonists regards promotions are busy doing owt else and the other djs who are still alive probably aren't djing anymore either so....any chance of a special celebration is dead in the water...best just remember it for what it was eh?

Certainly is Mike, i'm sure many members will grasp the uniqueness of the man...probably a bit of a pause just now as it appears its not been noticed but i'm sure the tributes, comments and many memories will encompass this thread over the coming few days. Think to a man/woman, on here a total shock at the time, Andy....but 10 years already??, unbelieveable!

In memories today: 10 years since a major contributor to these pages and a music authoritarian passed...Bob Abrahamian

Agreed on all points, i suppose you could say, if anything at all, this haul was the catalyst for the explosion of Northern Soul, proper...practically all of what we class as anthems were maybe found then, and 74, including some that turned out to be supreme rarities, thought it wasn't known at the time....JA on the other hand, did more than anyone else to contribute overall, scouring the States at all points of the compass and importing masses of tune and incredible discoveries....Graham's initial find though, has to be ranked as one of the greatest and most important, ever.