Agentsmith

unfortunately, simon soussan was THERE when the states were an aladdin's cave, the kid in the proverbial sweet shop who struck on the idea of making even more sweets quite illigitimately!, however he was responsible for bringing many great tunes to the wider attention of the public...and yes the quality of some of the boots were very good ( that includes the chunky vinyl he used...NEVER STYRENE and the sound quality) afterall, he had the pick of the recording studios. with reference to liberty bell, it must have been a natural choice as the label really exists and the butlers recorded " she tried to kiss me" on the label....an absolute torch stormer! rob.h

thepicture you see is how it stands at the moment. it is completely boarded up but if the pikeys have anything to do with it, it wont be for long. the green and gold billboard is still intact facing shifnal, whereas in the opposite direction, one half of it is missing. the carparks are visibly, falling into disrepair and the adjoining lodge which provided extra rooms when the manor was busy, is a sitting target for abuse as its windows are not boarded. "rode by the place" last saturday whilst visiting pete smith and it brings back the memories....just to cheer you up and remember how it was, check out soulfulkindamusic and the last all-nighter playlist.....its brill! rob.h

dont know this record personally, but the rare breed were a white group, along the same lines as the turtles and many other west coast groups. i had a record by them on dot, a uk issue and, for the life of me, i cant remember that title either!,but it was released around 67....of course i could be entirely mistaken and this group on mgm may have been black. rob.h

fer fer fer ferlamin' eck be careful you dddddont ssssssspend to much....will yer?......ggggggranville! rob.h

youve got more chance of catching a fish... sorry, as expressed in "all-nighter issues" i wont put my neck on the chopping block by promoting, BEEN THERE, SEEN IT DONE IT, and again i learnt then who you could count on. ill not put my hard earned money in the pockets of people i know who also know me, know that i want a dj spot but dont have the decency to ask me because the overriding obstacle is "the old pals act". ive done this for nearly 4 decades going to soul nights for the love of the music, paying like anyone else but along the way i started collecting records like everyone else and decided i wanted to dj. so on and off thats been the case, in this day and age you would think with so many gigs it would be like picking fruit off the tree....but there are self appointed gaurdians of the tree and theyve put up selfish fences to stop you getting a bite of the action. dont tell me to come to shrewsbury and ask me to give you my money, dont shake my hand or introduce yourself then bugger off back to your pals and ask them all to do spots but ignore me or tell me theres a waiting list as long as your arm.....IN SHREWSBURY.....is this the centre of the universe then?. sorry, st george's c.c........WHAT?....NO DECKS - NO VINYL?......CDS.....ARE YOU HAVING A LAUGH??...i buy cds and play them at home, i buy vinyl because it is THE TRADITIONAL AND ONLY WAY TO EXPERIENCE NORTHERN SOUL IN AN ATMOSPHERIC ARENA. well, in telford i guess there's me, len cooke and paul cross who would play vinyl whilst the other jokers plsy at being djs and lovers of northern soul. as in "all-nighter issues" these people circulate in their own little bubble never venturing into the frontiers, not getting a grasp of whats new, whats hot and whats not. and as for the closet dwellers who sit in front of the box until the next motown karaoke night is on at "the place" ( not a fish by the way!!) they think northern soul is a word from the khazakstan dictionary. its a pity kev roberts didnt bring the big soul night out ship into telford's moorings, he would have shook the bloody town by its daisy roots....understand kev's a good friend so its highly likely he scared the crap out of the "chummy" owners/promotors/djs, all sucking up to each other, frieghtened he'd blow them out of the water. there were, doubtless, big sighs of relief when it didnt happen....me personally?, gutted....same old bloody karoake singers. the only upshot was that the last time THE PLACE advertised MOTOWN STARS in front of these "singers" i gave them a stern warning that they were infringing copywright and id have motown down on them like a ton of bricks...they ran off with their tails between their legs. the only real motwn star this venue has EVER seen is JIMMY RUFFIN in 98....chester riggon?......SORRY, WHAT TMG NUMBER WAS HE ON?? so there you have it....im a west midlander who lives in no mans land, who travels to all points to hear the beautiful noise but when i come back here its like the billboard poster for "alien"....IN SPACE, NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM.....and the deafening silence goes on........ rob.h

i can as well chalks,......BRIGHOUSE RITZ, STILL QUEUEING.....12 YEARS NOT OUT AND IT ALWAYS FINISHES AT 1, WE STAY OVERNIGHT AND ITS A 212 MILE ROUND TRIP. ROB.H

yet another quote that every soulie on the planet MUST agree with........THE ONLY REAL "NORTHERN THING" IS........THE RECORD.....EVERYTHING ELSE WAS CREATED AFTER IT! ROB.H

SATURATION AND SELFISHNESS....TWO KEY WORDS REVERBERATING THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE DISCUSSION ROB.H

paul, i agree with you on this, and its apparent the real brains are coming to the table here to point out EXACTLY whats aggravating the scene, love chalky and toads comments as well BECAUSE they are resonating. the scene's eating away at it self from within, because the selfishness of a minority caused other to take up the guantlet and then throw it down in their faces. as more people have got into the scene, they have collected records at a frantic pace and the outcome?, is to dj. they cant get on to the top tier ( and frankly to that end i wouldnt try especially when you cant compete with the type of records the big djs have at their command....and i prefer to listen and dance to these guys because they still drive me and have done for many years). so the next level is the one that began with the cosmopolitan music policy, instigated by stafford e.g. so the next group of wannabe djs found that the records they had been collecting where, all of a sudden, right for that new era....and with them came the new and varied venues...and more of their mates tagged on to it. fast forward and into the new millenium and STILL even more people want to dj but THEY find they cant get on, even with the revolutionary 2nd tier....so they have to resort to starting their own gigs....vicious circle...YES? selfish ambition is a driving force....if reality prevailed THERE WOULD BE NO OLD PALS ROTAS like i said, there would be no need for so many venues if every promotor gave evry dj a chance and no one was left out. this thread REALLY IS TWO TIERED because the selfishness ties both together....punters will become even thinner, no one will make any money, gigs WILL fold , the punter who just wants the music will be the biggest loser. there's absolutely nothing wrong with having countless djs at all, these people have or are building great and varied collections and a good proportion have the personalities to go with it, but its probably within this that the selfishness starts ebcause the second tier pally promotors target these to add to their "rota" thus creating a "clique",.....so the others who get ignored become the new rivals and you cant really blame them. does this also permeate into the all-nighter issue?....yes and no the big weekender and all-nighters use the big djs with the awesome collections and people who frequent all-nighters will in all possibility, attend these 9 times out of 10, because they are going to hear what they want to hear. with the second string all nighters, and there are many....the many djs think this is where they will get their chance.....but no the cliqueiness is working its way in here as well...as opposed to the BIG TICKETS, these promotions use a rota, albeit a limited one and, as for the music policy, it may be vastly broader but it dosnt necessarily follow suit that it will be quality....it may be in some cases rare but it aint never gonna be as brilliant as what our piers are communicating to us at the top venues. i will CONTINUE to support the major events in my diary and not quibble about getting a spot because i go there to dance and enjoy...what i wont do...and this is a personal opinion, is support venues where i realistically think i could hold my own djing but dont so much as get a nod....what drives that mentality?...years of putting hard earned cash into other people's pockets for no recompence whilst others have "got on" old pals act-wise...it takes a lifetime, ON THE SCENE, to find out who your friends REALLY ARE, the very people you have been supporting for so long and all the time they just want your money. in closing, ill reiterate that i have no ambition to promote and dont have the collateral anyway and if i did id just be adding even more fuel to the fire/discussion. THE SCENE HAS TO CONFORM, MORE GIGS OR LESS, AND MORE PEOPLE WANT TO DJ....SO LET THEM AND STOP SHUTTING THEM OUT....TAKE OFF THE BLINKERS, BANISH THE NARROW MINDEDNESS THEN JUST MAYBE, WE CAN PULL BACK FROM THE BRINK OR THESE PEOPLE IN ALL INNOCENSE, WILL DRIVE EVERYONE OUT OF BUSINESS....THEY DONT WANT MONEY...THEY JUST WANT THE PRIVALAGE OF DJING....GIVE THEM THAT AND THEY WILL STOP PUTTING ON GIGS AND CLUTTERING UP THE CALENDER. BLOODY WELL GET A GRIP ON REALITY! ROB.H

hope you all dont mind me chipping in at this juncture, but THIS QUOTE has a lot to do with it as well....more and more gigs because more people want to dj and what really angers me is, that degenerates into an absurd number of "resident jocks....so the vicious circle continues....you cant get a spot for love nor money because the one's who were there first are sucking up to each other so you say "ill show you lot" and you start a night yourself.....so you CAN dj. of course, there are also promotors who ARE fair and give lots of people a chance and BECAUSE of this the quality of the playlists are GREATER and MORE VARIABLE....( when i say "greater", i mean bigger...it dosnt necessarily follow that the tunes are great). it seems to me at the moment that a lot of these "residencies" are at oldies nights and perhaps, a common excuse for that is that they djs/promotors have tried adventurous playlists and were recieved somewhat lukewarmly, MAYBE THEY SIMPLY DIDNT TRY HARD ENOUGH but a proportion of soulies will simply not except advancement, citing that the quality of those hammered oldies still ring truer than even whats being played by sam, butch, mick.h,adey,arthur fenn etc. of course i cant agree with that and i would be in the majority who believe we have to keep moving forward....we might not be garnering the numbers of young recipients of our culture as quickly as we did, say, 20 years ago but in the meantime, europe has woken up to this scene and added a whole new dimension to this now global phenomenon. the calender is massive and there is so much choice, more dayers, nighters, weekenders, soul holidays, scootere rallies even. there are more promotors and more people who want to dj...weve never been so spoilt, yet there is also a lot of selfishness akin to the cameraderie...everybody wants a piece of the pie and a lot are prepared to forego proffit just to say "they have a soul night". so inevitably there are clashes and the punters are being spread even thinner, confused by whats going on. there has to come a point where there is some parity. for a start, some promotors and djs should stop closing ranks, adopting like a white collar attitude...if your face dont fit or we dont like you, youll not dj here, oh yes we'll take your money off you but you'll not get a gig....i firmly believe thats ONE of the reasons that the scene is snowed under with gigs...if the policy persued at prestwich by terry davies had been used as a benchmark by others some 10 years ago then we could all be scratching each others backs quite amicably and there wouldnt be a need for having so many gigs, everyone would get a chance to dj and we would all be doing it regularly weather for pay or just for the privalage...afterall, there are so many people spending hard earned money on records in the hope someone will give them a chance...as it stands at present for a lot of them its forelorn hence,.....vicious circle. funnily enough, ive vented my frustration elsewhere here that my county has a total lack of enterprise, perhaps, some of you frustrated promotors and djs should take a look here to see what you can put on...at least it wont clash and if you struggle for punters you can always round up a herd of sheep...shropshire is a BIG county. rob,h

so much for not going on a saturday night then buoyo, DONT KNOW RUBEN HOWELL?...youve exposed your limitations eh?....hey! thats a good song title innit?

this'll be controversial...then again it might not. this county has had its fair share of venues over the years but now its like a ghost town ( or should that be county?). i lambasted the local theatre for touting pubsingers as "motown stars" YES, they had the audacity to claim these karaoke clowns were worth the admission fee as the "resident dj with his feet firmly cemented under the table" quite simply couldnt cut it, doing a whole five hours.....PROBABLY BECAUSE HE DIDNT POSSESS ENOUGH CDS!!. THAT, MY FRIENDS, is telford for you....dont get me wrong, there are plenty of soulies....its just that here, they are so long in the tooth watching the box that a night out is a timewarp to 1970, handbags in the middle of the floor and full-on commercial motown...that is the sad extent to which this town has sunk and become deprived of a real soul night. im not a promotor, the financial responsibility is beyond my capacity...i would rather invest in records and dj, but it grates with me that people will settle for being fobbed off with third rate, accoustically ill-equipped singers on the make and exploiting a soul night at that....and the djs and promotors are all in each others pockets...... ....actually thats not too dissimilar to whats going on, on the scene anyway...especially in the west-mids. so...the people who remember soul from way back when haven't got a clue how the scene has moved on in the last 35-40 years. i moved here with my job and to live with my other half, idont regret that at all, its just the lack of whats going on and the sad fact, this town and a large proportion of this county has lost its identity. ALL ROADS NORTH, SOUTH, EAST AND WEST LEAD OUT OF HERE.... anyone disagree, step up to the lectern or forever hold your peace. rob.h

spoke to pete smith this afternoon and he mentioned this thread, and thanks to max as well. as youre probably aware ,ive added comments to the pics which, inthe light of so many years passing, are quite amazing.....max and a young, wet behind the ears, greenhorn bazil(paul) from mr.tees neck of the woods. never forget him...he took me to the royal hospital(now demolished) on THAT infamous wednesday night when i had an arguement with the support beam by the stage, whilst backdropping to psychedelic soul!!. YES,...im still here...its probably old news but our friend, steve powell, is compiling a book about soul in the west mids and i would imagine its near to completion,....waiting to see if he posts regards this. the long acres was where i first started and although i never met jerry stack or saw him, he was reputed to be a fantastic dancer who went to the torch and frequented the acres as well. st.giles was a great experience....djs of note: blue max - swoz - pep - brian s. - bazil - niel rushton - dave evison - kieth minshull - barry smith( who discovered muriel day.......SO NOW YOU KNOW WHO TO BLAME!!!) and colin curtis, especially for the first anniversary tune after tune of blinding brilliance, all super rare and THE TWANS.....at the time (76) the only copy in the country....it cleared the floor....shame on you all!. sammies all-nighters lasted less than two years as the guy who ran the club, suffered a haemorrage and never returned, needless to say, the other members of the committee didnt have the stomach to get involved and as a result it finished....we did have THOSE BADGES though with the SAINT on.....bet you dont see too many of them around now, although swoz may have liberated a box at some point, they would be highly collectable now!. the catacombs was unique,...and they certainly dont build clubs like that now( of course you'll realise it wasnt purpose-built). the closest thing to nostalgia now is brighouse ritz, proper art-deco, before that, the nautical william, which just so happened to be an art-deco creation as well. photo's at the cats are, as they say, like hen's teeth. amazing isnt it, that bearly a year later wigan provided a deluge of pictorial evidence,...guess we just weren't streetsmart in those days, to bolster our history, even written testimonies are in short supply...the fact is we were all young and only interested in the music and so it should be. i hope steve's edict to our area is fitting and meets with the approval of our close knit community, it is a missing piece to the nationwide puzzle, afterall, the northwest has somewhat, left us trailing in its wake,...its where all the big venues are, what all the talk is about...its scant consolation that the big breaking tunes are provided by the big hitters, mick.h and butch who are based in the midlands. there are lots of great djs with painstakingly-put-together collections right here who are doing their level best to keep the scene ticking over but venues that really stamp their authority, are literally non-existant...(in my opinion, you'll understand), certainly in the west-mids and,IMO, bog standard oldies are not going to impress anyone, other than converts to the scene. as a postscript to this thread, again today i drove past the now defunct, lea manor hotel in albrighton and what a sad enditement it is, boarded up and vandalised....only a few years ago it was still pumping out the tunes...in its heyday with lynne and tait at the helm, it was a beacon for the unwashed, to cleanse their souls and believe in REAL music again. i pride myself that dear friend, dave rimmer, still has the entire LAST NIGHT PLAYLIST compiled by me, over 10 hours, on his site. so...onward and forwards, to the KINGS HALL and THE TOWER, where you will find me opening proceedings on the friday night. anyone wanting to converse with me, only too glad to respond....you know now where to find me...IM AGENTSMITH......AND THIS IS THE MATRIX...

are you sure about veejay?....thought it was keymen records? rob.h

not sure myself as the cherry people did get an issue on heritage and uk mgm, seen both issue and demo of uk father's angels as most people have....unusually, saw an american mgm issue at lea manor many years ago and a lot of people thought that didnt exist....perhaps someone else will explain that conundrum, maybe jerry ross thought it should have a major plug as the catholic priest who touted the band, was a friend. rob.h

ady, think youve got boat loads of constructive comments and cast iron ideas that a large majority are echoing, with this ammunition it shouldnt take you much time to coordinate any subtle changes, especially those that are greeted with immediate approval....BUT PERHAPS YOU NEED TO COME OUT OF YOUR BOLTHOLE AS WELL, UP COUNTRY LIKE YOU USED TO DO. rob.h

ADY, this might be an old chesnut but perhaps somebody should step forward and do a film about the world's longest running all-nighter, whilst its still running to put its popularity into even sharper focus...maybe even paul.s at the head of this page would consider this a good challenge. rob.h

adey, im dismayed that it has come to asking peoples verdict on the outcome of the 100 club's future. i haven't been for many years either, but from a distance it has always stood out as the catalyst for the breaking of new sounds which, eventually end up-country and without that a substantial part of playlists in the north would consist merely of known rareities and bog standard oldies. i remember a time when the 100 club literally went "on the road" without it being called a tour as such eg: rarest of the rare at the ritz manchester. youre right, we're all 30+ years older than when it started but its not us who've gone stale, there's nothing wrong with the punters who attend venues other than they feel the aches more, perhaps some have finally called it a day but they are few and far between. the fact is more people want to jump on the bandwagon promoting, particularly since the new millenium and 10 years later, the calender is heaving under the weight of expectation....thats whats spreading the punters so thin...its not necessarily the quality of music thats suffering, so long as there are places like the 100 club, who push the boundaries. moey, of course, is another factor...in most cases its hard earned and subsequently, choices become harder based on where you are in the country...the cost of everything has rocketed. so do you go bi-monthly and bring back admission? the travellers might be a small proportion of the gate but it dosnt alter their financial circumstances. either way in this uncertain climate its about your determination to ride the immediate downturn and be positive about the future, the 100 club still has so much to offer...i thought 10 years was exceptional for prestwich but that pales in comparison to the legend you have created, whatever you do, dont knock it on the head, you fought hard to get it back once before, it would be a travesty to cast it adrift now. rob.h

note: popcorn wylie must have been interested in this track as he had an acetate in his posession until tim brown got it off him. rob.h

every chance the label name is an abreviation much in the same way as jobete so, if its possible to find out whose label it was, that might lead to the artist....of course it might just be a made-up name but this is not usually the case with northern soul records as there is always a story lurking in the background. the moral of the story appears to be: if its gonna be anywhere, its "down in the dumps"ter....get it? rob.h

absolutely right played at blackpool mecca, covered up as eddie foster i think and i also think it came out on the obscure evolution record label which also issued the fashions "i o u" and a track by otis redding but cant remember the title of that one....and i'll be entirely honest,....i cant recall ever hearing the record but always remember the B & S adverts carrying this track. wouldnt know its value and certainly as its not been played for literally 20 years or more in any djs set. rob.h

iconic id say ed.....now tell me,...has someone dismantled this as well and hid it in their back garden?! rob.h

went once with little scotty and his crew in a traveller!. couldnt believe this place, just a doorway and up some stairs and ........the blackburn over 60's ladies and gents teadance were still up and running as we sidled into the adjoining light refreshments area...wow!, that was an eye opener....i dont think they hung around to see 40 inchers gliding round the dancefloor!!. what a crummy rundown venue, no doubt it had seen better days but atmospheric places are few and far between now and id say tony's is missed.......WONDER WHO HAD THE SIGN FROM OUTSIDE?. rob.h