Twoshoes

I hope this is relevant to your questions, no answers but my opinion.I had a discussion with a local Dj last Saturday night that touches on one of the questions you ask.We were talking about how certain tunes get broken, not the obscure but but what would have been considered just Soul records back in the day, I think this has been touched on on another thread but please bear with me, we were talking about sounds like Marvin Gaye Come Get to This, Hold Back the Night which seems to be getting some plays, I noticed Len I think it was on here saying he had played something by Chic.My mate the Dj said he had played a certain tune six months previous with dance floor clearing properties only for a guesting bigger named Dj to play the very same tune two months later and it filled the floor, same venue, basically same reguilar crowd, why the difference? I'm not a Dj ,never have been never will be but I am aware it must take a fair amount of knowledge and skill to read a room and put a set list together, I have recently seen a relativley quiet room lifted by the Dj playing the right tune at the right time.I think the scene is the sum of its constituent parts, we all have a part to play, I can have a great night without dancing as long as the music is good, many times in the past I have spoked to Dj's after their set to apologise for not dancing but to stress I thought they played a good un', I've always thought a little appreciation goes a long way . Got lost in my thoughts now and the funny farm beckons, a walk in the dark and pissing rain should clear my head until the berer kicks in tonight, hope this had a semblance of relevance.

That brought back a few happy memories, cheers for posting, never did try the Benedictine

Ok three of you have put me right though I was referring to my experience over the last eight years or so,perhaps I've been wearing rose tinted specs but I'm always open to being proved wrong which it seems I was.

Good point and one that often gets overlooked is the honesty of the scene that firstimers don't understand, your bag,coat whatever is safe left unattended,I have personally only seen one thing go missing at a Northern night, a coat with the car keys in the pocket,a full scale search entailed with everyone getting wound up at such a thing happening.The coats were hung in a communal area, turned out my mate, not a regular at the venue had left early , had the same coat at home and thinking he had worn it on the night just put it on and walked home,all was resolved next morning to everyones satisfaction ,honest mistake albiet a stupid one.

I once heard on a radio show that this was the first commercially avaliable 12", can anyone here confirm this?

I think the interest is still there but as has been said with free downloading on You tube etc , cd copying it is inevitable that actual sales will continue to fall ,as someone said kids always seem to have headphones glued to their heads so they must be listening to something , I more often than not have my mp3 close to hand when out and about (non driver always walking). My son buys shit loads of records often from America and oddly France , his tastes range from Ska to American Punk, never yet heard him listening to the radio so I guess that too goes to what's avaliable on the net regarding current releases ,info on bands etc. All in all to answer the question I think yes the interest is still there it has just moved along with the technology avaliable like most things in life these days

Gladys Knight early seventies Odeon Manchester, you could cut the atmosphere with the proverbial and she did not dissapoint,Marvin Gaye Apollo Manchester, pure magic.Lenny Williams supporting Denice Williams Free Trade Hall again Manchester ,singing So Very Hard To Go to the deaf dinner party crowd had the nerve ends tingling.

Striking up conversation with first timers on many occasions they generally say I'd like to get up and dance but can't dance like that, my usual reply is if you feel you want to then get on the dancefloor ,try not to invade anyones space and dance,nobody cares.After reading this thread I'm obviously wrong ,maybe it's just me but I love to see people new to the music discovering what I did some forty odd years ago and feeling rather jealous of their voyage of discovery , sure for most it may well be short lived but for the scene to survive and prosper new blood should be encouraged not scorned because of some imaginary handbag, they'll get there in the end as we all do. Remember, coming soon to a venue near you , The Zimmer Room for those who can only tap their feet.

If it's going into room 101 I hope it takes "Northern Soul it's a Way Of Life " with it.

You've put some time in on this thread Andy, some nice tunes most of which I did'nt know, Cheers

I tend with most things in life to take them at face value, not having a vast knowledge of sounds outside the 500 and having taken time out from the whole soul scene with family commitments through the 80's and 90's unless it is glaringly obvious I would not know either way whether a tune had been pitched or not , I would have spotted the Jerry Williams by virtue of knowing his voice. Whether it's right or wrong I have no strong opinion though the examples posted here all sound better in their original form to me.That said I have to hold my hand up and admit I was taken in by the supposed Harold Melvin version of Pressure ,no I did not think it was Teddy's vocal ,I may be stupid but I'm not that stupid. i guess what I'm saying is if I don't already know the tune and on first hearing it's pitched up or down and I like it then I like it, whether that opinion would change on hearing it in it's original form I don't know but going off the examples here it probably would.

Just wondering if everyone who has replied to this thread replied again in a couple of weeks time without looking at their previous choices would come they up with the same ones, just a thought

In no particular order Eddie Kendricks Roy Hamilton Philip Wynne Carolyn Crawford Irma Thomas Doris Duke

Having loved black music (can I say that) in all its forms ,Ska ,Reggae Blues, African but mainly soul again in all its genres since the age of about fourteen I quite like some of the remixes and don't think there is any danger of them killing soul music. As long as they bring something different to the original, I have long searched on you tube for a Motown remix I heard at a soul night with no success, what I did find however was track after track of monotonous bass , drum machine shenanigans, Marvin seems to be a prime target for bedroom mixers. I guess many here will be spitting feathers at the recent Willie Mitchell /Adele mash up but again I think it works, I would not like to be the brave soul who chances playing it but you have to applaud the imagination of whoever put the two together. Let's face it the scene loves debate, argument call it what you will which is a good thing as it shows above all that we all care about the music and if it needs stuff like this to make new blood aware of the scene it can't be a bad thing IMO. My memory aint that good anymore but I have an old tape of a Robbie Vincent show where he played a nine minute remix of the Temps Papa Was A Rolling Stone after which he speculated what Norman Whitfield would think of it, nothing new under the sun I guess

Oh the painful memory, I had a signed poster from Wilson Pickets gig in Liverpool somewhere around the late 70' also signed by Phillip Mitchell.The only place my wife at the time would it and a few others displayed was on the wall going down the cellar sreps. Needles to say when we sold the cottage they were forgotten about until in bed the first night in our new house I jumped up shouting "mi fffing posters.Back to the cottage next day and you guessed it, torn down and burnt, bugger!