Twoshoes

For what it's worth we had a Friday night middle of last year, no plans nothing on locally and on a whim decided to go to a night about twenty minutes away that we had always shied away from due to lack of info on Dj's and it being advertised as a Soul/Motown/Northern night. First impressions were not good the door was manned by a couple who you could not believe would be within a million miles of a Northern night, room was ok and nicely set up, sounds from the speakers was fine and it being early there was maybe half a dozen at most in there. Stood at the bar we were approached by a very friendly guy who introduced himself as the Dj, he explained what would be played during the night, said he loved Northern but he had to play general soul stuff, Barry White, Luther Johnny Bristol etc to keep the regulars happy but his true love was Northern and if we had any requests to just ask. He seemed in no rush to return to the stage and when the record ( I use the term loosely) changed I thought he had perfected remote cuing but no it was laptop, we found a table and had a discussion as to whether we should stay or go but as we were there we decided to give it a chance. To say it was not your normal Northern night laptop aside would be an understatement, disco lights, glitter ball and worst of all at one stage Lou went missing in action on the dancefloor as the smoke machine kicked in ,I half expected the words Tonight Matthew I'm going to be Mary Wells to come over the speakers. There wasn't many people in but those that were were having a great time, and there appeared to be several tunes that he played every month as everyone got up and danced. I found it very odd seeing a group of people who with the exception of one couple I had never seen at any other Northern night obviously loving the music, singing along to the records and began to wonder if you are enjoying it so much surely you would want to try another night somewhere else or did they think this was the norm listening to everything from a laptop. Next funny moment came as the room obviously suffered from lack of air conditioning there were two enormous fans on the stage that would not have looked out of place in a wind tunnel, an old couple and I still feel guilty about being amused by them they must have been in their late sixties and she was wearing a dress far too short for her years and he looked like a few beef dinners would work wonders were dancing close to the stage where lay a bottle of talc and yes she did, she proceeded to talc the floor in front of one of the fans which combined with the turning on of the smoke machine created a cloud of biblical proportions. So the night was jollying along, one of the regulars came and chatted to us and he apparently had a long history on the scene stretching back to Wigan and seemed to have no problem with the laptop arrangement, as the dj had told us he would play anything Lou asked for Gene Toones and oddly returning to the table she said he hadn't got it to which I replied technically he hasn't got anything but everything is within his reach and lo and behold from not having the Gene Toones he must have nipped out to Lidl and bought one as over the speakers it came. Low point of the night and just when I was thinking well fair play to the lad he obviously loves Northern and is doing what he thinks is right and he has a regular crowd who have a good night once a month he goes and plays Third Finger Left Hand, nothing wrong with that other than if you use Motown in your advertising literature why play a crap version by the Pearls . So my overall view on it all, it didn't sit well in a club listening to Northern from a laptop, different kettle of fish if you stumble across it in a pub somewhere or a bar abroad in my view , I did actually enjoy the night for all I've written, the people were friendly and clearly loving the music, it was nice to hear some of the general pop soul from my youth that you never hear which brought back some happy memories, we have not been back as I would hazard a guess and say that at least 80% of the tunes he played would be repeated. I never asked and should have done I suppose did he actually own any records, whether that would have changed my views I don't know. If the future in some form or another is going to incorporate the use of laptops be it for the younger generation or the playing of one off's unreleased stuff etc I don't see a change in the quality of nights offered, the music choice would still be down to the person playing the music, I have seen some of the so called big name dj's play what to me were quite ordinary predictable sets only to be blown away by Joe soap doing a mate a favour or a resident little known name doing a first spot, there's more to being a dj than a few big ticket records and 10'000 tunes on a laptop aint going to make a great dj if you have no imagination. If listening to Northern on laptops is the way young people get into the music and they grow to love it and keep it alive so be it, I think we maybe do them a disservice assuming they will not progress to wanting to own the actual records and for those holding large expensive collections surely it is in their interest to promote and encourage wherever possible that love for Northern.

Great live version of If I Could Only Be Sure, couple of other tracks there as well from the session

Great read and I would imagine a real labour of love, much enjoyed thank you for taking the time.

Thought this might be interest to a few on here. https://youtu.be/GC6LdIcmDQs?list=PLwHPz88lriWbiL7-uj6oQFzeQ-H5RngbY

Got to be Phil Upchurch You Can't Sit Down

As a rule myself and my partner will dance together once during a night not always to something slow, a kinda jive thing at which admittedly we aren't very good but we enjoy, I only know personally of maybe two other couples who dance together also just the once often near the end of a night and not in a smoochy last dance at a wedding way, we all have different ways of enjoying a night and my ONE dance with my partner is integral to mine. That said I would not like to see couples dancing together become the norm . As to the original question there have been some very valid opinions expressed so for me the Scene is what you want it to be, I don't care whether people dance ,chat, drink scratch their chins as long as they have respect for the music, their fellow Soul people and enjoy , the bottom line is we are all brought together by the music whether it be top 500 ,rare ,underplayed rnb whatever though sadly in too many cases what brings up together also too often divides us. I respect the fact you have a problem with couples dancing together , we all have aspects of the scene that annoy us, mine being Pork PIe hats where I happen to think the only place for a Pork Pie is on a plate with a decent relish. I'll continue with my one dance as is my right in the certain knowledge that you are not the only one who disapproves but as long as it makes me smile feel free to keep shaking your head it's your right

Came across this on YouTube thought it might interest a few on here https://youtu.be/auaz8x1Jepk

Purely as a punter no one method of promoting on its own would get me to a venue, flyers are good I guess from a promoters point of view for at least you know you are reaching people who actually get out and attend nights though by the amount of flyers I see left on tables not many seem to be taken home, word of mouth by someone you know and trust and who knows your taste in what kind of night you like to attend is the best as you can get the full picture of venue, quality of dancefloor, music policy even down to bar prices though that would not be my number one consideration. I think a little more thought by promoters starting up new nights when they know the catchment area , the numbers attending the nights already on should deter them from putting on something on the same night but it doesn't seem to. The events page on here is great for getting an overall picture of what is going on both locally and further afield though due to circumstances I rarely travel more than a 15 mile radius from where I live but still manage to find enough variety to fill my needs, the much maligned across the board policy works for me as long as it is truly across the board without an over emphasis on the top 500 kinda stuff. First hour is often where I find the most enjoyment and quite often its the lesser known Dj's that entertain me the most, Sad to say I have been disappointed many times by lazy big name Dj's who must have incredible tunes at their disposal playing the same old stuff time after time........sadly you can't argue with a full dancefloor

Doris Duke I'm A loser Doris Duke Legend in her Own Time Sam Dees Show Must go On Marvin Gaye What's Goin On Soul Children Friction Kool and the Gang Wild and Peaceful Issac Hayes Hot Buttered Soul Bobby Womack Understanding Bobby Womack Facts of Life O'Jays Ship Ahoy Millie Jackson Caught up / Still Caught Up Esther Phillips From a Whisper to a Scream Ohio Players Fire

We went to the Printworks, saw plenty of people we knew from the scene, was it a Northern event, my own personal view probably not a popular one is not in the conventional sense as there were as you would expect given the main venue a very large proportion of people not off the scene. Other than the All Stars none of the acts we saw sang any Northern songs just the popular Motown and stuff like the Drifters. Bonus of the day if you can call it that was a surprise guesting with the Casino Allstars of Wayne Fontana who can still belt out a tune. Plenty of people seemed to be having a great time so maybe we were in the minority ,we'd had enough by about eight o'clock. Most of the music we heard played was of the top 500 variety but I would guess other stuff was played elsewhere in the various venues within the Printworks. All for a good cause but if they were to make it an annual event I doubt I would be moved to go again. In this case it was billed as a Soul Festival and I guess it was that.

yes congratulations to Mike and the team, only been a couple of years but my knowledge of all things Northern has increased greatly due to the members on here it has also changed my opinion on several aspects of the scene ovo in particular.

Or the scriptwriters do,

Anyone know what's in store on Corrie this week, I've been given half a story about I'm guessing its Craig Charles's character selling his Northern records to raise some cash and one of them being worth a grand, anyone got the full story, and no I won't be watching just interested to know if its true

Thursday mornings won't be the same anymore guessing the end prices of JM's auctions, like many didn't know Joe personally but always appreciated the time he spent posting, RIP Joe , condolences to family and friends.

Cheers for the info Malik, with luck I'll get to the Soul Inn for a couple of hours.

Hi I'm in Brussels this weekend on my son's Stag do and hoping to find time out to hear a bit of Popcorn and possibly some Northern, anyone got any recommendations for bars or clubs I might be able to check out?

I watched this when it was shown last week, very interesting hearing the guitarist who played with Nina talk about her, for me the girl who is singing when the Gospel section starts sings Mvula under the table,

Part one and part two, and three if we have time, now I'd rather leave while I'm in Love while I still know the meaning of the word

I've not been collecting long but have some very nice ones, to answer the question of unexpected Northern ones I have a very nice Gloria Taylor You Gotta Pay the Price, a signed Percy Sledge When a Man Loves a Woman, quite a few Motown, a couple of Wilson Picketts,Eddie Floyds Knock on Wood. Searching on American Ebay can be quite time consuming but worthwhile, I've found that not all titles come up on searches and to find the real gems you have to trawl through pages and pages of sheet music. One other Northern related one I've seen a couple of times is Jackie Lee the Duck.Not being blessed with a large bank account when you put the postage on top it can be quite expensive though nothing compared to record prices but still cost prohibitive for me personally.

I used to have this as my ringtone on my mobile, brilliant

Cheers Pat,I remember you ,I used to come with John known as Mac and Karen McCarthy who are still out and about but on the modern scene,don't know if you remember them, my memory obviously isn't up to scratch but I do remember seeing someone at the Miners,I seem to recall it being a one off and being packed to the rafters, please don't tell me I dreamt that too.

Purely from a punters point of view my views have changed on ovo , there was a time when I could not have cared less whether the sounds played were boots as long as I enjoyed the night. Things changed for two reasons, one was joining this site and reading the recurring threads on the subject and reading the comments of Dj's and promoters who champion ovo. The other was from striking up a friendship with a DJ and hearing from the horse's mouth so to speak how it feels when you are just setting up your first tune which you have paid several hundred pounds for and you see the needle drop on a ten quid pressing from the previous dj of that very same tune. That said what the eye doesn't see kind of thing from the dancefloor I wouldn't know one way or the other what was being played so when out it never crosses my mind whether what being played is a boot or not, I just put faith in the dj that it is ovo. I would not go as far as to boycott non ovo events but my taste has changed over the past twelve months and given the choice at a two roomed venue I find myself generally in the smaller room listening to rare and underplayed, rnb or whatever is on offer rather than the main room playing more or less tried and tested classics ,much as I love them. As for too much choice ego's being what they are you are never going to stop someone thinking they can do a better job than the bloke up the road

I have a tape somewhere in the house Dave sent me as a wide eyed teenager falling in love with Deep Soul, no track listing though from memory side one contained mostly the tracks which later made up the bulk of Treasures Vol 1, side two had Irma Thomas's then latest album on Fungus. If I can find it I'll post up any tracks not already mentioned on this thread should there be any.

I know it's a bit late being the end of the holiday season but a heads up for anyone planning a visit next year.I was in Dubrovnik a month ago and came across The Soul Cafe at the end of one of the streets in the Old Town.Quite hard to find as it is only advertised with a small chalked blackboard which you can easily miss.No food just a great place to sit with a beer or coffee away from the crowds ,the owner was a nice guy ,music played ranged from bluesy big band to funk while I was there .Checked it out on Trip Advisor later and it's a matter of luck what's playing as other reviewer's heard a range of Classic soul.Probably no Northern but nice to find quality music where you'd least expect it.

R.I.P didn't know the guy but like others here feel a great sadness ,condolences to his family and friends.