Epic

Yea - 3 Disco Re-Edits & it's time for home.

Leo & Co - Hot Dog

Wasn't Keith Minshull involved at the Mecca around 71/72 & in 1979 Steve Naylor did some spinning with Bryan Wakelin.

A lot of the tunes listed were played were when the Mecca/Wigan feud was at its height - people accused the Highland Room of not playing soul music anymore - just "funky disco sh*te" - think the list says different !!

Here is a list of "last hour" tunes played by Colin Curtis - probably up to 1977. Thirty Two years on it is interesting to see how many of these records still feature on many peoples wants lists - so much quality within this list. Mamie Galore No Right To Cry Ramsey And Co Love Call Bobby Taylor There Are Roses Somewhere In This World Paulette Reeves Jazz Freak Dorothy Morrison I Cant Go On Without You James Bynum Time Passes By Lynn Vernado Wash And Wear Love Ann Peebles If This Is Heaven Diane Jenkins Tow a Way Zone Diane Jenkins I Need You The Nights Love Knocked You Down Little Beaver Listen To My HeartBeat Quadraphonics Betcha If You Check It Out Bessie Banks Dont You Worry Baby Stevens And Foster I Wanna Be Loved Pete Warner I just Wanna Spend My Life Herbert Hunter I Was Born To Love You Barbara Hall You Brought It On Yourself Arnold Jarvis Trying To Get Next To You The Notations Think Before You Stop Essex IV My Reaction To You Bill Brandon The Streets Got My Lady The Crow Your Autumn Of Tomorrow Debbie Fleming Long Gone Bobby Foster If You Ever Need A Friend Boogie Man Orchestra Lady Lady Lady Stanley Woodruff What Took You So Long Danny Reed What Makes Her A Woman Hosanna Hipit Eddie Horan The Ups And Downs Of A Love Affair Invitations Look On The Good Side Johhny Balker Shy Guy Soulvation Army Band Dancing On A Daydream Imperial Wonders You Only Live Once Jimmy Jones Aint Nothin Wrong Makin Love Dooley Silverspoon Game Players Crystal Motion Youre My Main Squeeze Dave Love Baby Hard Times Bobby Newton Shady Lady Donny Gerrard He's Always Somewhere Around Bo KirkLand Ruth Davis Youre Gonna Get Next To Me Entertains Love Will Turn Around Mark Putney Todays Man Mandrill Never Die InnerVision Honey Babe Vessie Simmons I Cant Make It On My Own John Bowie Youre Gonna Miss A Good Thing Baby Chuck Stephens Lets Get Nasty Universal Love Its You Girl Jackie Moore Heart Be Still Special Delivery This Kind Of Love Sandra Richardson Stay With Me Jean Carn If You Wanna Go Back Darrow Fletcher We Need An Understanding Margie Joseph Come On Back To Me Lover Josie Jo Armstead I Got The Vibes Newcomers The Whole World Is A Picture Show Aristocrats Lets Get Together now Spread Love Here I Go Jeanie Tracy Making New Friends Ultimate Girl Ive Been Trying To Tell You Ty Karim Lighten Up Lynn Varnado Wash And Wear Love George Benson Supership Celeste Hardy Youre Gone Mel Williams Sweet Girl Of Mine Joe Anderson You And I Norman Connors / Philip Mitchell Once Ive Been There Michael Henderson Oscar Perry He Sent Me You Oscar Perry I Got The Need Oscar Perry Main String Philly Devotions Just Cant Say GoodBye MayBerry Movement I Can See Him Makin Love Charen Cotton A Little Bit Of Love Ronnie Walker Magics In The Air Street People Never Get Enough Pat Lundy PartyMusic Jacky Beavers Trying To Get Back To You Girl Almeta Lattimore These Memories Notations Its All Right Casanova Two We Got To Keep On Hypnotics Beware Of A Stranger Deniece Chandler Mama I Wish I Stayed At Home Jimmy Holiday When Im Loving You Frankie Newsome We Are On Our Way Bill Harris Uptown Saturday Night Don Renaldo Fiddlin Around (Pete Haigh Redit) Lydia Marcelle Its Not Like You Ann Byers Im So Happy About You Minne Jones Shadow Of A Memory Donnie Burkes Youlll Never Know What You Got Windy City We Party Up In Yeah Wales Wallace Somebody I Know Wales Wallace Whatever You Want Lost Family Blow My Mind Prince George Wrong Crowd Andre Maurice Youre The Cream Of The Crop Jobell Orchestra Never Gonna Let You Go Donald Byrd Think Twice Johhny Hammond Los Consqistadors Chocolates Dynamics We Need Love Dee Dee Warwick Funny How We Change Places Leroy Hutson Ella Weez Total Eclipse You Took Took A Heart That Was Torn Lou Courtney Somebody New Is Loving You JB Bingham All Alone By The Telephone CheckMates All Alone By The Telephone Reason Why Step In My World Corey Blake How Can I Go On Without You Southside Movement Do It To Me Beloyd Get Into My Life Smoked Sugar 20th Century LP Larry Saunders On The Real Side Pleasure Let Me Be The One Vibrations Shake It Up TNJ'S Dont Forget About Me Natural Four The Devil Made Me Do It Don Downing Dreamworld Dee Dee Sharp Happy Bout The Whole Thing

Sometimes you would get some p*ss artists from downstairs wander into The Highland Room during the last hour. If they sat & watched they were OK - if they decided to try & take the p*ss they were asked to go downstairs by some of the "handier lads" who were listening to Colin's set - it always worked!!

The Bali Hai was a seperate bar room off the main ballroom downstairs. The main ballroom did not have a name. The Highland Room was having some work done on it around 77 - the ceiling had collapsed. I think & they put a temporary dancefloor in the Bali Hai & that was where the Highland Room regulars went - 2 or 3 times this happened if my memory is correct. People on this thread mentioned the escalators - to get to the Highland Room from the ground floor you took two escalators then one set of stairs - the second floor housed the bowling alley.

Teddy Pendergrass.

One of my mates has one of the decks that Messrs Levine & Curtis used in The Highland Room. They changed the decks circa 1977 & my brother smuggled one of the original ones out under his coat - they were just leaning against the DJ booth when the new ones had been fitted.

Ian if you put yourself in the "lion's mouth" every now & again you will get bitten. Accept the praise & take the criticism with the same attitude as they are both "false gods". Some people on here will never like or buy your music & that's a fact, but, if even a handful begin to like it/buy it then surely that goes someway of giving an "up yours" to your detractors. Anybody who joins/posts on here does so of their own free will - if at times you dislike the contents of this forum then you know what you have to do. Sometimes threads on here do get personal & not "in the spirit" - then is the time to distance yourself for at least a short while.

I happen to like Soulful Dance music - was it around in Sam Cooke's day then?

If we all thought alike we would end up with "The Northern Soul Top 500" a scene where the same tired old records get played over & over again!!!! What are the chances of that happening ?????????????

Somebody who tells me they don't like "70's disco" then you see them dancing to Eddie Holman, The Brothers, Brainstorm, Skip Mahoney, Alfie Davison etc. - THIS IS DISCO!! People who say to a DJ "you don't know what northern soul is" because the said DJ is playing a group of records that the person doesn't know & that person can't be bothered to listen because hes is waiting for "that Frankie Wilson" tune to come on. Over 50s still sporting the "uniform" of soul bags & badges - it was cringeworthy in 1977 & the "look" has not improved 30 years on.

I categorically wish to state that I never ever encouraged the playing of Dillinger - I am sure Messrs Haigh & Wakelin will bear witness that I could not stand the record. Their opinion is not for me to give comment on & to be fair Ian I think we also encouraged Colin to play the odd bit of quality now & then

Thanks for the heads up Ian on this - if that tune is going to heaven with Kenny - Sleeping with Satan is becoming more appealing by the day!! Unless St Peter says to Kenny at the Pearly Gates - "In you come Mr. Burrell - hang on a minute - that's not Frank 'Bloody' Wilson under your arm is it ?"

Listened to them & to be honest they, in my opinion, are just a reworking of Delrays Inc, Jerry Washington, Delegates Of Soul, Elipsis etc.- that funk based uptempo soul which has been popular on the modern/x-over scene for the last twenty years. The title of a tune by Virgil Henry springs to mind.

Blinding CD - "Freedom Song" is the track for me - absolutely brilliant.

He is - like his former sparring partner Ian Levine - a guy with a huge amount of knowledge & a wealth of interesting anecdotes. Whether he wants to join in here - or whether he is amongst us anyway - I do not know. Only Mr C could answer you that.

As most people know The Mecca is - as we speak - in the process of being demolished. Colin jokingly said if during this demolition work anybody came across a box of records he had lost there would be a £5 for its return. It was merely a way of listing some of the tunes he had broken/played at The Mecca. There is no box of lost records. There is no reward. There is just a list of wonderful tunes provided by Colin

Think you will find it is Colin's wee crack at humour !

Malc - think we have got our wires crossed here. I am actually totally in agreement with you. The remark you higlighted was a "tongue in cheek" statement as to how the stompers only Northern soul crew perceived us Highland Room regulars. The point I was making is that Blackpool Mecca was NOT all about funk & disco - people like me (& you !!) were buying Ujima, Bessie Banks & other "future monsters" as new releases back then. Believe me I & many other people had to defend Blackpool Mecca back then to the sixties mafia & tell them that is wasn't just about Disco & Funk. In my cack-handed way things may have become lost in translation - or perhaps you have just read it wrong!! "I come here to praise The Mecca - not bury it"

Think there was a discussion about OOTP bootlegs on here a couple of weeks ago - it's been going on since the Northern Soul year dot what why all the indignation & surprise? Let's be really honest here we have all bought pressings at one time or another & before the soulier than thou brigade start chipping in, this remark is aimed at people aged around 50 who could only afford pressings back in 1972/73. Surprise for me is that anyone would want these inferior looking CDs when your local supermarket can furnish you with any number of Northern Soul CDs at a bargain price.

Colin Curtis played them - he didn't need balls, just a group of people on his wavelength - we bought & danced to them & this was before the world & his wife decided to become DJs.

You have to remember that records like Ujima, Stevens & Foster, Al Hudson, Bessie Banks etc were all readily available as new releases & whilst the "stompers only" crew thought that the average Mecca punter was buying Dr Buzzard , Stanley Clarke , Brainstorm etc. a group of us were buying the "future monster" tunes as well. Don't forget that Wigan ruled the roost & Mecca played "disco funky shite" so nobody who attended The Highland Room late 75 to 1977 new what good soul music was. Colin's last hour set was the springboard for a lot of thes tunes which went on to be the staple diet of the events you list above.

Not wanting to dampen this thread - but the name of the DJ in the threads title could be changed to any other famous (or infamous!) DJ on the Northern Scene. They have all played a few "shockers" in their time - even the best of them. Also as bad as some of the tunes are - people other than the DJ being discussed have both danced to & bought the said tunes. Hope this thread is somewhat "tongue in cheek" as I think Sam has rightly earned a lot of respect on the soul scene & for every bad record he has played he has also played a helluva lot of gud uns.!!