BrianB

Hi Dave, Sorry I couldn't meet up at Rolls Royce. Did my back and couldn't move! No problem at all with Chuck's material, most of it top class. Its the voice I'm not over keen on at times. I'm a bit the same way with Roy Hamilton (thats me dead!), in that he seems too professional and "stagey" at times on some of his material. Hope you enjoyed it back in Blighty!

Always loved Sufferin City by JC. First heard it around 71 at Blackpool Mecca just before I set off on three laps around the tower, hotly pursued by 4 lads in Fairisles and Doc Martins. Burnley and Blackpool lads never got on! It sems to be a record that never really took off? What do you think?

Bunny Sigler for me. Far and away the best version in my humble opinion of course. Apart from Chains of Love and Hand It Over I've never really taken to Chucks voice. Whats With This Loneliness is Ok but his voice is too raspy and aggressive for me.

I love "You'd Better Let Him Go". One of his best, and big in Burnley around 10 years ago when Karl W used to come over on Fridays at Dickie Pinks.

Its the B side or Lonliness Made Me Realise (Its You that I Need), which is getting some plays at some venues up t'north. Expect to pay around £30.

Probably "Oh My Darling" by Jackie Lee. Paid around £3 for it in 72 ish. Been a favourite of mine ever since. Always sounds fantastic, even now, but the price has never reflected its quality. Bought Girl Across The Street in the same deal for a fiver. Happy days indeed!

I was in the Scarisbrick Hotel in Southport this weekend, and they were selling a beer called Landslide by Tony Clarke. The pump front had a photo of Tony, and images of a guy dancing and some 45s. Couldn't get any info of the Polish barman. Got a photo on my phone, but don't know how to put it up on here. Then went to TK Maxx after around 6 pints of Landslide, and the first record I heard was Girl Across the Street! Any one shed any light on the ale?

Bought Tangeers Oheh issue of Whats the Use of Me Trying at the Casino in 74. Flipped it to find Let my Heart and Soul Be Free. Didn't know that this went big, and sold it to a "friend" for a fiver just before my return to the scene.

There was an obituary in the Times on Monday for the lead singer of the Olympics. Forgot his name, but their acceptance on the "fledgling Northern Soul scene" was aknowledged.

Thanks for the reply. I feel it is relatively easy to see this now, but it was difficult at the time when we only wanted to hear Northern. It boils down to the differing tastes we all have on here. I am a 60ts fan, with the odd 70s being just acceptable. I don't feel this way deliberately, its just the way I am, so I find it hard to find anything remotely appealing about the stuff Levine and Curtis played from 75 onwards, no matter what label we place on it. ATB Brian B

The truth is the Mecca lost it. From being trailblazers on the Northern scene, they went to being a NYC disco, granted a few miles from NYC, but I never went th the Mecca when they went down this route. Having said that, there was the spell where Levine left and it went back to Northern, but mainly oldies. Must have been around 75/76? I have a tape in my drawer here at work from 73 from the Mecca. some of the tracks are: Sue Barrett Devonnes Glories Bobby Randolph Tomangoes Larry Atkins Mel Williams Patti Austin TATPS Top Shelf Tony Clarke Detroit Sound Debbie Dean Invitations SINS Terrible Tom R Dean Taylor Eddie Foster Joe Hicks Janie Grant Vel-Vets The Petals CCTWTYH J Jackson experience Lets Shingaling United 4 Cissie Houston Salvadors and loads more......

...when you think that guy looking at you in the pub in a funny way is either admiring your style of dancing/your clothes/where he saw you last/the way you know every word to every record he doesn't know......., but he is really looking to cause you GBH! Has this actually happened to anyone?

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Hi Dan, That answer is one of the debating points I wanted to raise! Is that from a purist point of view, from a collectors point of view, or from a bog standard Northern Soul loving fans viewpoint? Cheers, Brian

Some excellent debate here. Thanks. However, please don't lose sight of the thread. Its not a Mello Souls/Frank Wilson competition. Its about our approach to rare/overplayed/cheap/popular records, and how we as a soul community view them. Simon, sorry if it came over wrong mate, but I couldn't find Roccia's comments and your response, so I had to go off a memory that was a bit hazy after heavy weekend. ATB Brian

Picture this. We are at Wigan Casino on the last ever night. The biggest record on the scene in the late 70s early 80s is We Can Make It by the Mello Souls on Soul, a very popular Motown label. It is unissued in the States, only 2 known copies exist, and it has been re-released in the UK. It is played all the time, and someone pays £15k for an original US copy. At the end of the last night at Wigan, the record is played again and again. Let's now come back to the present, and we have someone on Soul Source requesting a mint copy of Do I Love You by Frank Wilson. Now whether this is a tad na¯ve or not, surprise, surprise, the request has been met by the usual comments of "I wouldn't have a copy given" (Only costs £15 grand. That's what I call a purist!!!), and the record receives a lot of disparaging comments. But what if he had been asking for the Mello Souls record as described in the Wigan Casino example above? The Mello Souls is a brilliant record, rare as well. If this had been played to death at Wigan, been sold for £15k, had a legend built up around it, and then used in a TV advert, would some of the people on here who rave about it, and hold it up as a shining example of us still finding records to equal the discoveries of the 70s, be saying, "I wouldn't have a copy given". I think they would. Why wouldn't they want a copy given? Simply because it is popular. Also the comments, (that seem to have been lost from the Brighouse Events thread), following Roccia's spot at Brighouse are ridiculous. He played a brilliant, if familiar spot, but some of the comments such as "if anyone else had have done this spot it would have been boring" but in an effort to wind up or condescend to anyone else who might have the temerity to play these, the comment carries on to say that only because it is Roccia, it wasn't boring! (Apologies as I have had to paraphrase, as the actual comments seem to have been lost). The point I am trying to make is that tremendous records are criticised on here by the so-called purists, just because they are popular. I, and others on here have said this so many times before, quality lasts for ever. Like it or not, we no longer discover the Frank Wilson's, Dobie Gray's etc, in the same vast quantities and with the same regularity. Some of the new discoveries eulogized over now would not have been played at The Torch, Wheel, Mecca or Stafford, and probably not the Casino in its worst hour. We want them to be good, we even want them to be great, but in a lot of cases they aren't. Roccia's spot was brilliant. It contained records that were expensive, but in most cases can be bought by most people with a few bob. So it was constructively criticised on SS because it was apparently judged to be not rare enough. The scene has always been like this. People not liking or dancing to records any more simply because they have been overplayed, re-released or booted. Why can't we appreciate records for what they are, not for how much they cost, how many times they have been played, or what label they are on? What do you think? Its what's in the grooves that counts!

68 - 70 Burnley Mecca and Youth Clubs again in Burnley. First heard SOS, Headline News, all the early Motown, and stuff like A Quitter Never Wins, Breakout, You Gotta Pay the Price, Its So Hard Being a Loser and so on. 71 - 74. Blackpool Mecca, Burnley Rose Room, Ukranian Club in Tod with Ginger and Eddie. Really big time sounds now. New massive discoveries every week. 74 - 77. Casino, Samantha's, Rose Room, etc. Went through the great times at the Casino, and the crap times at the Mecca as Levine went loopy. 77 - 90. The family break, but still collecting vinyl, tapes and visiting the odd venue. 90 - to now. Everywhere we can. Take great pleasure in seeing my lad Paul B starting to collect. Love the music more than ever, but never managed to get into any record recorded after 74ish. What a scene! Talking to Mr and Mrs Keep the Boy Happy on Saturday, and discussed how lucky we have been to be on this scene all that time. ATB, Brian B

What a brilliant write up. So well researched. The 20 Grand Club article is tremendous.

Thanks

I have the Gladys Knight version on tape from the Pendelum. So it is the one with longevity. Never heard the Temps. Where can I hear it?

Bloody hell, you've done it again!!!

Replies like this are the very thing that turns people off Soul Source. If every one knew everything then there wouldn't be a Soul Source at all. Thanks for deflecting us away from the real issue. That one of the top guys has died. Not many of us met him, nor many of the others who have died over the years, but we feel a loss. Thats what the thread is about. We feel for them. We don't need belittling for not having the same knowledge as what seems to be a priviledged few.

One of my favourite sounds is How Can I Ever Find A Way by Carole and Gerri. This lead me to think of other female duo recordings and I struggled a bit. Does this prove that the rarest groupings of all are a female duo? We can all name loads of male duos, but lets see how many of the femmes we can come up with? Thanks, Brian

So many fantastic tracks. How can you ever beat the intro to Heatwave? I'll Never Be Alone does it for me. Absolutely beautiful.

I have some CDs of studio stuff and stuff that has since appeared on CFOS 2, as far as I can see 80% of the 7 cds are unissued. I'll post some up, but I don't know how. Can someone send me an idiots guide?