Frankie Crocker

Thanks for posting - it’s now on my Christmas List.

Was there a Volume 5 on CD? if so, I must have missed it...

Nicely put, but you missed the badges...lots and lots of them stuck on their tops to convey vast experience of dancing at Allnighters up and down the country...

Much ado about nothing... Saw a big Northern Soul CD in the background... A bit of Nashville line dancing mixed up with Run DMC breakers and some of the cast of Fame...sub-standard Junior School Christmas Concert fare... Over in about three minutes, a few bars of Frank and a feeble cover of Edwin Starr. Somebody at the BBC should get a bollocking for mis-naming this dross. I was all set to take the poster of Lev off my bedroom wall but it can stay there now. Anton, Craig and Bruno, I invite you to dance on the 100 Club rutted parquet whilst Jud films you... Darcy, you are given the night off to swan around on a lake someplace...

Trying hard to look on the bright side, I think it might be quite comical. Sure, it’ll be watching-through-one-eye cringing behind the sofa stuff, but the last laugh is ours. Here’s a trashy TV programme put on by a useless TV company, fronted by washed-up has beens (sorry Darcy) with inept paticipants floundering around to tuneless garbage. Since the demise of the popular music industry, the virtual disappearance of musical talent has been replaced by endless troops of dancers who can’t even mime, let alone sing. Mass dancing has now become the latest but lowest form of popular culture. Go to any school concert and there’ll be dozens of out-of-step show-offs desperate for attention in this me-me-me age: watch Strictly and witness the grown-ups’ version. As we all know, cream rises to the top, so the sad saps at Strictly Prancing, running low on ideas, have reached for the Northern manual to salvage the programme. The music is guaranteed to be laughable and the dance steps even worse. But, hey, who cares? None of us watch rubbish on Saturday night TV anyway...

Fewer biggies than usual. Supplies are evidently drying up. Professionals did. well jumping up from a solid £3,000 to over £4,000 in a year or so. Condition of some of the big ticket items is wavering also but punters are not deterred.

Mouth watering stuff. Good to see plenty of Northern still being turned up. You missed out Freddie Chavez on Look which would have been in sixth place. Thanks for collating and posting - I really like this feature.

Not sure this is the case. Old age changed the Northern Soul scene. As folk grew up, married, committed to family life, dropped out the scene etc, major Allnighter venues withered. The internet has allowed the Northern scene to flourish but in a different guise, with record collectors able to access vinyl without flying to the States. This has enabled younger record collectors, potential DJ's, venue attenders and dancers to join the old timers at a multitude of small venues. To be part of a scene where there is no age prejudice is a marvellous thing. The Northern scene is as progressive as ever catering to a wide range of music tastes and without any one 'figurehead' determining what is played/booted/compiled/marketed - now every individual can be part of the scene and in a way that suits them. Go where you want, wear what you want, listen to what you want - not a bad lifestyle and a scene that still remains more underground than mainstream.

Serve 'em right. If you can't read a map, that's what happens. I blame the chauffers who can't programme SatNavs but why take it out on a ballroom. I thought Apple was a record label - did something happen to change this?

Shame on the London Ritz. They deserve to lose any legal case as the word is in common usage and has been for decades. That said, the justice system in Britain is corrupt and biased in favour of the greedy rich who can afford it and the even greedier judges, barristers and solicitors who make sure they get stinking-rich on the proceeds. A simple solution would be to rename the ballroom the Triz, generate some anti-hotel publicity and see whether the legal clowns can handle a piss-take response.

Such a fantastic read. I too remember the list arriving, dashing to the pay-phone, reserving the latest big tunes at Wigan such as Lou Johnson- Unsatisfied, Detroit Executives- Cool Off and others. Wish I could turn the hands back now and buy a few more obscurities off the lists.

I liked Manship's seventh edition but had to buy a coffee table to put it on. Quite enjoyed Jethro's book and would recommend it. Mightily impressed by Dave Moore's Philadelphia volume, but so far, have just dipped into it. Got Stuart Cosgroves book for Christmas and am looking forward to reading it cover-to-cover. After listening to good soul records, the next best thing is reading about good soul records.

Just SOOO bad it's excruciating. The lead singer just flops around. Eric Bristow bangs the drums like Animal on the Muppets. One of the guitarists is miming to another song altogether. The dancers have stumbled in from the Bay City Rollers Fan Club wearing clothes that defy belief - one even has a soul patch sewn on his back. After this, the movie is Oscar winning stuff.

Sadly, none of these falling into my hands. Did bid on a few but mostly out of my league. Not too many mint copies in this list but plenty of hot competition for them nevertheless. Thanks for posting - always an interesting read.

Ellusions, Ruby Andrews, Otus Lee and Tranells in here also. Would need to have seen the records to know how many boots there were. Also plenty of records never actually booted in Lot 339. So many boots in the box, it's hard to accept there may have been good original vinyl also.

Nine points for me and maybe one other but need to check. Let a Mike Pedicin through my fingers at $400 a couple of years ago...slight oversight.

Thanks for posting Mike. Helps to keep us on our toes. Plenty here I bid on but didn't win any of them. Must try harder...

A hugely enjoyable read. Thanks for posting. Great photos by the way.

Looks to be a great book. One I'll definitely be buying. Will there be further books about other cities with a rich soul music heritage?

Hi Larry. Interesting to read that 10,000 copies of Sweet Magic/Connie were pressed up. Very few of these have survived judging from Popsike where about 10 copies have been auctioned in the last decade. For sure, more copies are tucked away in collections having been bought privately since the 1970's. I Need A Helping Hand evidently sold more on it's different releases but I wonder if it could have sold more had the Patheway release had the labels not been reversed? Was this release ever withdrawn due to the pressing flaw? Are You Angry, a storming track by any standards and an extreme rarity, is one of the best ever Northern Soul Records ever adopted by the Brits and latterday followers. The Servicemen produced at least four top tracks out of the very top drawer for us Northern Soulers and that puts you guys on a par with The Beatles, Stones, Four Tops, Temptations, royalty class in the music business.

Sweet Magic shades it for me but Connie is brilliant, compliments the other side without being too 'samey' and together, the two tracks add up to one of the very best double-spiders ever. Great to see you on here Larry. One of my favourite tracks in recent years is My Life Is No Better on the UK release - a really catchy dancer at The 100 Club in London ten years ago.

Hi Larry. Awesome tune. One of my favourites. Well pleased to have it in the collection.

I wouldn't read too much into this Northern segment. In a ten year period of huge popular music transition, Wigan was a mere footnote, surely deserving a brief acknowledgement but not wanting much more than that in a series of this sort. British popular music ruled the world in this period but Northern Soul was an adopted dance craze that has stuck around much longer than anyone expected it to. The BBC continue to make their cultural noddings but just don't geddit but that's the BBC for you, a bunch of overpaid, self-important twerps who have absolutely no idea whatsoever despite (many) having attended the most expensive public schools and famous universities in the land.

Great photos Dave. I'll be getting the book shortly.