maslar

After Wigan a few of the guys went to Clifton Hall but I never made it. I had the usual distractions at that time. Looking back I wish I had at least gone a few times. I went to Stafford and Notts Palais but not on an regular basis. Mainly I went to soul nights northern and more contemporary. One of the most unusual soul nights around later was one that happened at Ashbourne with Guy H and Dave E and Guy was playing a lot of his top Stafford stuff. on a Thursday night for just a couple of quid entry. It started off brilliant and then after a while just nose-dived and turned into oldies only. That would be mid 80s.

I went for about the last 18 months fairlry regularly. My last night was the first official last Nighter in September when Tommy Hunt was on. It also left a bad taste in my mouth to be honest. I went up without aticket. For whatever reason I hadn't thought I'd be able to go. The nwith less than a week to go I found I could so I phoned them up and asked what was the best thing to do. I was told I'd get in without a ticket since hardly anyone without one would turn up. I went up with a load of lads from Uttoxter some had tickets and a few didn't.. To cut a long story short some people without tickets managed to get in, including a few of my mates but i was one of those who got stopped when the bouncers realised they could be in for a nice golden handshake. There must have been about thirty of us who were kept outside for what seemed like an eternity. When we asked why we were told the place was packed and it was health and safety. Yes H&S at Wigan. You couldn't make it up. I can still remember Harry Green coming to the door every so often every with a sick smile on his face as if to say are you idiots still here or maybe haven't you tried to bribe your way in yet. The whole thing was just so petty. It really bought home to me the real attitude of the people who ran that place toward the customers:- "Oh by the way did we tell you we think you're a mug". We did get in eventually. They had two more I think after that and some of my mates went to both but there was no way I was going after that. So to answer your question - when it closed for good after the shambles of the shutdown I wasn't that bothered.

I got my copy from Siren Records in the Strand Arcade, Derby. Not sure how they came by stocking it. IIRC it came out after Wigan closed - winter of 1981/2. The big omission was Don Gardner's Cheatin' Kind. Not sure why that wasn't included.

Darrell Banks' OLIITP is and always will be my all time top soul record. It's a record I never get tired of hearing. JJ Barnes a close second but the original is still the greatest.

This is a charity PR disaster. Completely avoidable and entirely of one person's making.

Yup, the thing I remember about it was there was always a copy of Judy In Disguise on Contempo for sale there. Funny how some things just stick in the mind

I was last on the record market in the summer and found quite a lot of soul. But it was nothing particularly exciting (from a vinyl collecting perspective) or priced in a way that would make me want to part with my cash..

Agreed but that goes for most of London i would say. I rarely go record hunting in London anymore. I like OTB and there's a stall in the Stables Market in Camden Town that's ok. Personally, I wouldn't recommend a visitor spending too much time record hunting. Much more interesting things they could be doing with their time.

On The Beat? Would be a shame if that closed. It was open last month. Didn't notice any For Sale signs outside. Edit - just googled. The owner's looking for a buyer to carry the shop on as it is. Seems that that's one of his requirements.

My view, being a fairly regular visitor to London, is that apart form the usual suspects: Soho, Camden Town, Notting Hill/Portobello Road the other fairly central destination would be Spitalfields Market (first and third Friday and second Saturday of the month). This has the feel of a record fair with quite a few dealers. Only a few minutes walk from Liverpool St station.

Only one now.

No Sooty. you ain't got it. I think I want YOU to give it away at Kings Hall on my behalf. For likely recipient see criteria above.

Sooty. Have you still got my free copy? Not flogged it yet?.... Good!X. I'd like to claim it... only not for me.... I'd like it to go to a worthy recipient. I got the idea picturing you at Kings Hall in your Santa outfit (even though Christmas is three weeks away) so I thought, well you might as well give away at least one thing free. Good idea or what? . So I'd like give my copy away as an anonymous pressie. All that I ask is that the receiver is female and roughly half my age - and looks reasonably classy. OK? I'll leave that with you Santa. PS make sure they know its from ME and not you. OK?

This is a nice cheap 70s sound (well I like it). I used to have a copy but it's gone awol. The flip of Lee Charles' "Sittin' On A Time Bomb", Get Your House In Order (1974)

If I already had an "instrumental top ten" this would nudge something out of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbLYRre-zvE

I've always like instrumentals, well some of them . This always reminds me of the mid-80s Along with Michigan Move and alternate Back Street.

Well yes .. unless you're one of the poor people who couldn't park their car or who got blocked in the large scale congestion your limos must have caused in the surrounding area.. Sorry this is way off-topic. Last one from me on this side frivolity

This is the momentous day when Sooty's former nationally banned nickname "Sooty" was successfully entered into the police computer. To cut a long story short Rupert Murdoch was crushed.

That's got to be some kind of record? It took me 22 minutes to read. Nice one Sooty

This clip is from an Omnibus shown in 1979 (or 78 without checking). The name of this short film was: "Disco Delights, Or What A Way To End It All" by David Richardson. The main film shown was "The People's Park" a documentary about Central Park, New York and this short was tacked on the end. it was fairly short and focused on "northern discos" and featured heavy rock, "Roxy" and Northern Soul, I watched it at the time and the music that was playing while the clip was on was definitely Afternoon Of The Rhino. Whether this was what they were dancing to in reality I can't say. I think Interplay was the intro music to the whole short film Edit - it was 1978

90% .The Diana Ross/Jackson 5 myth took me in.

I had the AWB cover - still thinks its one of the best versions.

it's been up on youtube for a while - only downside is its split into parts. it's a great film in the neo-realist .vein. Well worth watching. Hopefully the dvd will have some extras.

Don't know if anyone's seen this. It's new to me: Promo film for Baby Don't Stop Now filmed in London in 1970 mainly around the Kings Road, Chelsea Drugstore/ Royal Avenue area.

It's on Thursday 5.30 pm - 7.00 but will almost certainly be on again next week.