Roburt

The Wheel was quite special coz after 1967, lots of clubs (even up north) moved with the times ... as some old fave live acts changed their musical style -- Small Faces, Alan Bown Set, Zoot Money (joined Dantalians Chariot), Jimmy Cliff (went reggae), Chris Farlowe (joined Colosseum, Atomic Rooster) -- followed along with the new sounds and started to leave soul behind ... the Wheel never did that. The Mojo was gone by September 67 but in it's last few months it was booking acts that had been doing soul covers but were now beginning to go more rocky, poppy ... Jimmy Hendrix, Amen Corner, Procol Harum ... the 'summer of love' was even being reflected in some tracks being played ... Dion's "My Girl (the Month of May)" for instance. So I guess (& it would have devastated me), if the Mojo had carried on, it would have moved with the times and played less soul.

That's a pic taken by the official photographer at the Apollo. they always did them like this, sometimes just featuring the one act, sometimes 3 / 4 on the same bill. I always assumed these were taken on the first night (Friday) of a week long booking at the theatre & then sold to attendees every other night the act/s were on. ... Another from her ...

I went to the book launch in Miami & posted a thread about it a good while back ... OLD THREAD >> Florida Soul Book -- Public Presentation

I do like lots of NS tracks just not a lot of the stuff that was played under the banner @ the Casino ... I have 100's of NS records (Platters, J&B Purify, Jackie Wilson, Garnet Mimms, Linda Lyndell, Carla Thomas, Precisions, Artistics, Solomon Burke, Showstoppers, Vernon Garrett, Maxine Brown, Chuck Jackson, +++) and have attended numerous Northern Soul events (niters, weekenders, live shows, local events & more) ... but as I don't like lots of the stuff that gets spun in the NS room, I go in the modern room to hear the classy stuff that's spun there. If less soulless rubbish was played in the Northern room, I'd perhaps spend more time in there.

As I keep saying ... dance to it if you must ... call it NORTHERN if you have to ... BUT please don't attach the term SOUL to this awful pop pap.

PRAY TELL ME ... how is saying PG is not soul trying to rewrite the history of this scene ?? That's a silly statement. I never have been a NS fan ... my main niter eras were the 60's & 80's ... in the 60's, soul clubs played a much different mix of sounds to in the 70's .. from the 80's (& ever since) my main love has been Modern Soul, so I never really bought into Wigan era sounds (they hold zero old memories for me). BUT, I love soul; dance tempo, beat ballad, deep & slow, bluesy, gospelly, the lot ... music that exudes feeling & emotion ... so I have always sought / bought all such music ... I avoided listening to / buying many Casino era sounds as (in general) they're not for me. Doesn't mean I think they shouldn't mean sumat to YOU though. BTW, while I'm on my soap-box, I'll put in a request ... I've got everything on this 63 R&B chart on original vinyl but I'm missing #20 ... please get in touch if you've got a spare copy ...

As I already said, you can call Peggy March NORTHERN if you want to (for me it's pure pop pap) but it can never be soul music. Soul music is made by soul singers (& the odd soul instrumental group). You don't have to be black to be a soul singer; Johnny Daye, Eddie Hinton, Wayne Cochran, Eli Paperboy, etc made/ make soul. Equally not everything a ceratin singer did was soul ... Tina Turner cut many rock tracks that had no soul, Jimi Hendrix (as a solo artist) didn't make soul music. Charlie Rich was a country singer, but a couple of his tracks are pure soul (mind you, most of the rest is appalling). You know a soul track when you hear it, it's the feeling in the music that makes it soul (an emotional experience) ... dance to anything you want to, but don't try to tag everything played at Wigan as soul.

A relevant photo ... Lou Ragland & Chuck Brown ...

The arrogance of youth ... back in summer 67, the Mojo stopped it's nighters in an attempt to be granted a night club licence (just being introduced) ... to keep the crowd happy (& also to afford the same calibre of live act), Pete Stringfellow introduced all-dayers. Only trouble with dayers was ... it meant 14 / 15 year olds could turn up & try to get in. Some made it and for us 'old-timers (I was just about 18 at the time) it spoiled the atmosphere of the sessions. We could be heard going around moaning about the influx of young-uns and saying these 'mini-mods' were ruining the club.

If you have to, you can say Peggy March is NORTHERN but please don't add SOUL to that statement .... soul music is something she could never make ...

After the Mojo niters were stopped, we defaulted to the Nite Owl in Leicester. But by mid October 67, we were attending the Wheel. In the early months, we'd wear our suits when we went to the nters there. But soon it became Levi's & Shermans for the niters. Don't remember guys spinning with fags in mouths / hands though (biggest risk there was getting rolled before you got into the place).

At the Mojo in Sheffield (65/66/67), we got a live US act almost every Saturday niter, Sunday night was for UK based soul / R&B / mod acts. Geno Washington & RJB were elevated to being a Saturday niter act as they put on such a dynamic show. Even though Sheffield wasn't the centre of the universe for most UK based groups / singers (most operating out of the London area), quite a few acts who were touring would do a northern gig and then some members would head for the Mojo niter to unwind / come down. In fact this weekend BBC4 has been screening a documentary about Jeff Beck. Ronnie Woods (now a Stone but then in the Birds), told a story about being at the Mojo and chatting about starting a new band with Jeff Beck. Beck soon started a US tour with the Yardbirds (on a package that also included Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Bobby Hebb & more). He immediately got so fed up, that he quit the tour / group after just 2 shows and returned to the UK. One quiet night he was in the Crowmwellian & Rod Stewart was sat in the corner. They got talking & realised both were out of work, Rod told Beck that Ronnie Woods was also out of work. Days later, the Jeff Beck Group was formed and they were soon cutting their TRUTH LP (cut in 67, released early in 68).

Back in the 60's it was still 100% mod clothes ... both for the girls & lads. For us it was always mohair (or hopsack) suits, ben sherman shirts, brogues and leather / suede coats (left in the cloak room of course). The way you looked & knowing the latest dance moves was by far the most important thing -- otherwise you weren't considered to be one of the in-crowd. I collected records back then but most didn't (why would you when every mod club had a full set of new UK soul 45's). Having a great collection only came into play at private parties, not on club nights. ANOTHER MAIN DIFFERENCE ... we only travelled miles to a niter if a good live act was on (mainly US artists with a select few UK acts also registering).

Got to agree with Chalky, Debbie Taylor @ the Wilton and William Bell @ Cleggy were both great ... PLUS ... you couldn't wish to meet a nicer guy than William Bell, a real pleasure to spend time with (when he could be dragged away from Jakki that is).

This series (4 x 1hr shows) was made in the US by PBS ... it has it's own Facebook page but there seems little of interest up on there at present ... https://www.facebook.com/LatinoMusicPBS The Fania All Stars & the work of Fania Records got a decent amount of coverage on last nights show on BBC4 (episode 2 of the series) ... the owner of Fania started out hawking LP's around in his old Mercedes car, trying to sell them to grocery store owners up in the Harlem area.

Yes Episode 2 was on last night ... all about the 60's (then 70's), with Boogaloo then salsa, lots about Fania & their artists (+ business practices) ... some poor bits (IMO) but lots of great bits too (+ some great music) ... it illustrated how the 60's / 70's Latin music was all inspired by that from the 40's & 50's ... fascinating .. PLUS ... buried in all the footage, a short clip of Pete Terrace & his band performing live on stage ...

Not ones to go on my top live performances list BUT still great nights due to what happened after the artists left the stage ... Sammy Ward at the Morecambe Weekender (around 1988) ... he liked his beer & drank quite a bit (mainly after the show) and was enjoying himself so much, he got on the dance floor & stayed there .. 2nd artist ... another who enjoyed the atmosphere on the night so much that he stayed in the room with the fans after being on stage (& ventured onto the dance floor too) ... Sidney Joe Qualls @ Windsor (the Trout was it ?). FOR OVERALL BEST FAN REACTION ... it has to be Morecambe Weekender and Sam Dees ... after he finished his act ... with Rob Wigley leading all the room in a football style chant of Sammy Dees, Ohhh, Sammy Dees that went on for ages ... the guy just stood on stage and cried. BACK TO SAM WARD ....

WOW, my memory must really be going as I didn't list the Dells @ Trentham Gardens in my top live show list ... a magic night when you just couldn't believe what you were seeing. A great performance by a brilliant soul group.

It seems that Lamont has been penning some new songs over recent months, this time in conjunction with his son. The pair have been involved with 2 musical plays, the latest one being based on a top selling US kid's book (LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET). The new songs are however described as a mix of R&B with hip-hop, so initially they don't sound to be our kind of thing. I'm unaware of the content of the book as it's decades since our kids were young enough to read such a book and it also seems to have bypassed the grandkids. A youtube vid of the book's content ... Anyone heard any of these songs yet (from either of the 2 plays) ?? https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/ct-ott-last-stop-on-market-street-0427-story.html

Just as a small illustration of how the music played changed from the 60's to the 70's ... a photo taken in the Mojo Club Sheffield in the mid 60's ... only one record can be seen BUT I BET you wouldn't have caught it in a pic taken at the Casino ... the ratio of girls to boys also seems quite different ..

Not the greatest song or lead singer .... BUT still a bit historic due to the backing singers ...

Did Lou Ragland have some input with regard to this Numero release ?? He has in the past with Numero's other Cleveland soul releases. PLUS Saru had two entirely separate phases, the O'Jays ran one of these but Lou himself was the main man at the label for the other period (the Out Of Sights stuff). As with other Cleveland soul labels, they cut lots more than ever escaped on vinyl, I'll have to check if that's the case here.

Anthony quit music to try acting around 1970 ... The other Imperials hired Bobby Wade as their new lead singer. With Bobby up front they had their UK pop hits in 77/78 (on Power Exchange). The group stayed together for many years and got an extended engagement at Caesars Palace in Vegas (13+ years). When Anthony returned to music, he bought the group name back and Bobby & the boys took on the name of the room at Caesars where they were a fixture (becoming Bobby Wade's Emperors). I got to know him in the 90's when I would visit Vegas every year and was spending lots of time with Lou Ragland. . . . ANYWAY ... myself & Bernie O'Brien (with US input from Nancy Yahiro) ran a Vegas Soul Trip in 1998. One of the group's we went to see was Bobby's Emperors / Imperials. I'd let him know we were coming in advance & they put on a special show for us that was quite unreal ... certainly a stand out memory for me. Bobby had a big bust up with the big casino owners in Vegas & quit the biz about 10 years back ... the other guys returned to work with Anthony & it was they (I believe) that came to play in the UK with Anthony in the recent past.

Another soul singer who was hugely influential in the 60's (the Stones took much from him, as did other UK acts) and who had numerous biggies in 60's UK soul clubs was Don Covay. Don't think his stuff was ever played on the NS scene in the 70's. Other UK outfits he influenced & who did his stuff included Spencer Davis Group, Geno Washington, Georgie Fame, Alan Price Set and these guys ...

Bet Roscoe Bowie Jr & his boys were the backing band ... the song's writer (John Franklin King) has 10 songs registered with BMI but strangely this ain't one of them (but the songs on both sides of JJ & G's TEC 45 are on there) .... PLUS OF COURSE Freddie Perren worked on the session.