So how many of you bought 2/3 copies waiting for them to dry up

Dave, thanks for the background info on the "Rotations"

Here`s a scan of one of the 45s Manny C let Dave H have,as you can see the

"When he slowly moves away from you"AKA "Whatcha gonna do" side was miss pressed with "Don`t ever hurt me" on instead of "WHSMAFY", with the flip being "We want freedom" AKA "Soul freedom".

Dave f..........

Has to be one of the all time Fcuk up's. But am confident that we have more luck next time

Has to be one of the all time Fcuk up's. But am confident that we have more luck next time

It is indeed nigh impossible Dave! Everytime we've done the Rowing Club do's in Bournemouth this year, somebody has got pissed off about it and this is in the Deepest South! Thing is, you put on your do, you try and make sure you don't lose money and then it's just up to the punters where they go is'nt it? I'd never begrudge anybody their personal choice and the sour resentments exhibited in certain corners this year are quite baffling to me.

Nobody has a monopoly on people's loyalties or hard earnt cash and punters should never be made to feel they owe people their attendance at the expense of freedom of choice. I know that sounded like a sentence out of the Dave Godin book of Soul journalism, (actually what's wrong with that?) but it is something I feel strongly about - it was bad enough in the old days with the jealousies and bitterness between the big venues, never mind people trying to replicate all that childish bollocks today. At the the end of the day, it's about great records and a good laugh. Too many people have always forgotten that and the trend seems to be continuing.

Several of us in Southampton wanted to attend the recent Yate reunion you organised but we could not, simply again because there were so many alternatives that night. The only people willing or able to drive in our crowd were not going to Bisley or your Yate do, but to London instead....Result? a bunch of us sitting at home and emailing each other in massive frustation at 8.30 pm on a saturday night! Anyway, spoke to Greety and he said it was great, so even more gutted!

At the end of the day, if people are going to get precious and resentful about others doing exactly what they are doing themselves, then they should not bother in the first place!

I'm sorry you couldn't make it. We put this on at a low door tax with 2 rooms and a bunch dj's so peeps could have a get together. Was the only date we could find before Xmas, that clashed with the leased venues within reasonable traveling. End result, it went well, but I have to say more often than not, you do get nervous before you open the doors nowdays.

There is no answer to the crowded calender, you open your doors believing you have an event that will stand on it's own two feet. You promote to your best ability, provide great sound systems, choose a quality venue, then it is up to people to decide where they want to go. But you do need to have deep pockets, so you can cover losses if you get them. I understand that, and never complain if I do fork out, I'll never give up promoting cuz I Love Soul Music and love seeing happy faces.

Just Outside Of Memphis

Somewhere across the eastern side of the U.S. is an invisible line, which marks notionally what is called the deep south. In 1800's the point that slaves fleeing the south felt safe was the Ohio river, but today it's more flexible. Infact the deep south is more something of an attitude than a defined place. In many of the mid west cities you can meet people and without them saying so you can guess that life started for them somewhere else. It's that laid back, happy view of life; things will work out if you give them time and that time itself is it's own master, so why rush it. Two people that Malayka & I met last time we were over there; choose many years ago to make the journey, in different directions to find new oppertunities. Producer Manny Campbell, who travelled south and Wilson Meadows opting for the north.

Manny Campbell-The Musically JourneymanManny and I have known each other for a while, but this was the first time I had time to sit down with him and discuss his creative past. In the UK his production work with artists such as The Nu-Rons, Rotations, Lazzistics, Tearra and Ebony Evans to name only a few, is well known.

But his journey started back in the 60's; firstly working for a newspaper in the Philadelphia suberbs. Not long after starting at the paper he got called up and joined the army (he was stationed in Bamberg, Germany). The time he had in the forces made him reconsider his path and on his return to Philly he started down the track of a musical career.

At first Manny focused his skills on vibes, playing with east coast jazz organist John D Francis. But like many talented people in the cityhe also worked round the various studio's, like Sigma, Mercury and Soulville. His first attempt at production was in 1964 for Carol Porter on her track 'You are the reason that my heart beats'. Following this he got contracted to United Artists for 2 years.

"But corporate life wasn't for me" Manny says with a big smile on his face. We are sitting in the office of Coastal Records in Atlanta. A hive of activity with recording and record promotion people spread over a number of offices. Manny sits behind his desk with tapes stacked high to one side, looking across the office to a wall with pictures and discs of his current bunch of proteges. "I spent too much time scouting for the label or auditioning groups and not enough time in the studio. The only work I really enjoyed away from the studio for them was working with Murray and Dorsey, the publishing and marketing arm."

So when his contract was up he headed out on his own as an independant producer, working with Thom Bell, Norman Harris and Earl Young. By the late 60's he was building a reputation as a hit producer. "Yeah, about this time I was given The Rotations to work with. They had, had some local sucess with Frantic amd Mala records and were looking for their next hit. "So we started working with them on some sessions. We produced four tracks, 'Don't ever hurt me/I could be like columbus/ Whatcha gonna do', and 'We want freedom'. The first two came out on Lawton, but after contractual problems the second two were never released. I did release one of them many years later in partnership with Dave Halsall from the UK, but 'Whatcha gonna do' was never put out." He plays the two tracks to us, whilst these are playing Malayka wisphers "we've got to get these they're stunning" After some discussion we argree with Manny a deal that will lets us release them in the U.K.

Not long after working with The Rotations he met up with a bunch of guys from New Jersey, called The Nu-Rons.

Manny was in a club and heard the guys playing. "I thought I can do something with these guys" In 1973 he got them in the studio and recorded 'All of my life' and 'I'm a loser', along with two more tracks 'I can see the love' and 'You are my heaven' again the second two never saw the light of day. "The trouble was they were all married, had kids and couldn't commit the time, so things never really went anywhere, although we did put out two more disco tracks a couple of years later."

By the mid 70's he had become disillusioned with Philly; "drugs had taken hold of the streets and you could see the start of the gang thing. I thought this wasn't a good place to bring up my kids." In 1977 Manny packed his bags and moved down to Atlanta and set up Coastal Records. He had no doubts about getting involved in the music industry again. This was the start of one of his most productive periods. As well as his own productions he worked with GRC and August Moon. "I worked on some pretty aweful records like Ripple, but they paid good money". Throughout the late 70's, 80's and 90's Coastal had a string of releases with Tearra, Lazzistics, Thea-Luise and Vari. "Vari did really well in Europe, while they were on tour one year we rented a house on the Isle Of Wight, that was fun".

Athough everything was going well for him down in the south he didn't lose touch with his old buddies back in New Jersey and even went out on tour with The Sugarhill Gang through his booking agency.

Not everything he worked on, went well though, "we had this great tune with Tony Troutman, it was getting plays everywhere, I thought I have a big hit on my hands. Next thing I know is I'm getting calls from distributors telling me that Tony has pressed the record on his own label and is trying to sell it behind my back. Sadly we had to go to court to sort that one out and of course no one really won."

Coastal today is still a vibrant place and a sucessful record label. "You have to stay in touch with changing musical tastes and recording technics. The trouble with many older artists down here is that they still try to do business like it was in the old days and then they wonder why they don't have hits. Also the money is not in pure black music, but in tunes which cross over."

Coastal demonstrates that, with their current artist roster which includes Hip Hop, Gospel, Jazz, Blues and R&B. The artist who captures currently everything about Manny's aproach to the business is Ebony Evans and her hot soulful CD 'Luv's fire'. "The buzz on this is great, it's selling well over here and in Europe, she's been doing radio interviews over there every few weeks, it's great."

Manny is a real journeyman who left the north to find sucess in the south. But his real skill has been the ability to write and produce music that has - in my opinion a timeless quality, while he keeps himself abreast of an ever changing music industry.

Wilson Meadows-Long way home

We have come to meet Wilson at his house in Chattanooga, when we knocked at the door a tall handsome, lean looking man opens the door, Wilson physic belies his 63 of age. With good old southern hospitality we are welcomed into his home and soon sat down and chatting about people from the business we have meet on our trip. He smiles when we mention some of them; "I haven't seen 'em in years. Do you know Brad Shapiro ?- we did some great stuff with him back in the 70's" I tell him that I've never met him, he kindly lets me have his phone number that I can contact him later. Again the conversation goes back to the early days in the business.

Like so many young kids back then his idols were Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and groups like The Drifters and Isley Brothers.

"We used to see Fred Cash and his group performing locally", back then they were called '4 Roosters and A Chick', in the early 60's they headed off to Chicago and changed their name to The Impressions. Not long after that my brothers and I headed north too and signed for King records in Cincinnati." Wilson's first group is well known to collectors of 60's soul, The Zircons. The line up included brothers Wallace and Eugene along with Emanual Thompson and Robert Eppinger. Wilson tells us that the name for the group came from the owner of King records who gave it to them when they arrived. It has caused some confusion over the years as it seems that the name had been used in the late 50's early 60's on several other groups recording for Winston, Dot and a number of other small labels. But the name was soon to become firmly theirs when their first release 'No twisting on sunday/Mama wants to drive' came out on the King subsidiary Federal; the group started to create a stir.

After one more release for the label the group headed further north to New York. Here over the next five years they learned their craft the hard way, working one and two clubs a night, while trying to cut the odd disc here and there. Wilson muses how the industry was very much rooted in the streets, many guys in the business had other less legal activities. "We had a manager with connections all over town. One night he came into our dressing room when after we finished our show. He congratulated us on a good performance and he told us that he has got another booking for us that night on the other side of town. We told him we were all in, but he made it very clear that there was no option. He had promised that we would appear because he owed some guy and that we were not going to let him down."

Whilst in New York the group cut three singles for the Heigh-Ho label, one of which has the much sought after soul dancers 'Go on and cry, cry/Was it meant to be this way'. In the early 70's they also cut one release with Capitol records 'Finders Keepers', but as success was little for the group they decided to head home again. "We had had a great time in the north. When we started out you needed to travel up there if you wanted sucess, but by the 70's lots was happening down south"

On returning home the group changed their name to The Meadows Brothers and cut one release on Hip Spin, the very catchy uptempo dancer 'Get on down like soul folks do'. Soon after this they hooked up with Brad Shapiro and cut two singles and later a great album, which saw a lot of club plays in Europe in the 80's. Throughout this time the group toured, but by the end of the 80's they sort of burned out.

In the 90's Wilson released his solo album 'Memories' on Bob Grady records. "I had been going into a studio owned by Mike Headrick to cut some demos. He liked what he heard and said lets cut some tracks. So we recorded three, which Mike gave Bob to listen to. Bob then played these to some guys in England and they just flipped. Thats how the album got done, it was at first a european release only and did real good over there." Wilson's wife Jeanette, a talented singer in her own right came in and did backing vocals on this album.

We have been sitting around at Wilson's house for about three hours chewing the fat, when Jeanette comes home and joins us. She couldn't believe that in all that time we were sitting there Wilson hadn't offered us anything to drink, we explained to her that the conversation was so much fun that we just got lost in time. They both told us that they feel blessed with how things have turned out over the years. Wilson makes a point of telling us how important he feels the european fans were for him throughout his career. He also talked about his work and progress on the new cd, which by the time this article appears should be out, 'Go on and cry' on Shout Records. At that, it's time for us to make my goodbyes and as I often feel on these occassions, it's be a privilage to meet and talk to a real soul man.

CD Reviews

Whilst on my travels, we came across a few new albums worth telling you about, first up is one that has been getting a fair bit of airplay over here.

Butch Williams-Introducing Butch Williams-Stargazer Records

Butch was leadsinger of 70's Louisville soul group The Heartbreakers, which did the northern soul favourite 'I've got to face it' on Derby City. He is a passionate advocate of Louisville music and this album has been a labour of love, using many local musicians on each track. The album is a nice mixture of Soul, Blues and jazz styles. The track that has generated a great buzz is the Memphis styled mid tempo soul number 'Keep on lovin' me the way you do'. I say Memphis styled as it has great horns, that remind you of 70's Willie Mitchell productions supported by the southern style guitar of local man Michael Wells. I also love the Besonesq ballad 'Forever more' and the 60's jazzy style dancer 'Mary Ann', a tribute to the late local singer Mary Ann Fisher. The album is a must buy that nis now availble from www.cdbaby.com

Also from Louisville comes the re-issue on cd of what has been one of the hardest boogie LPs to find on the planet. Snap, not the 80's dance group. But a soulful outfit that had just one release on a local Louisville label in 87. Re-issued by Louisville musician and impresario Ron 'Mr Wonderful' Lewis.

S.N.A.P.-Snap-Dynamic Imperial Records

Last but not least - a new release from Atlanta based Haywood Tucker. It is his first album in over 10 years. Haywood is well known for his outings on his own Heywood records and the 12"/.45 'I'm yours', that appeared on the short lived Budwiser talent search series of releases. Haywood has been working on this for over 15 years. "I just wanted to get it right" he told us

Haywood-Fancy blue-Analog Records

He delivers smooth sweet vocals over well produced instrumentation, led on many tracks by piano. He layers his vocals as lead and backing oh so well. This set delivers a well rounded collections of dancers and ballads that show that Atlanta soul is alive and well. Stand out track for me is possibly the first ever soul dance side about tennis!!!-'Let's play tennis', is a great midtempo dancefloor winner with a real feel good groove. It has been getting a fair bit of club and airplay of late. Put this album on your shopping list, again available on CD Baby.

They have all have record guides,and as soon as they hear the English accent they see $$$$$.

Kev

Good job he's Austrian then, might get a bargin

...Wilson Pickett was almost as good as Otis. Lots of other great singers were almost as good as Otis. I could easily fill a small book with the names of people who were almost as good as Otis....

...But nobody - and I really DO mean nobody - was 'better'. Not James Carr, not OV Wright, not Bobby Womack, not Pickett, not anybody. Anyone who says differently needs to listen again, and listen properly this time...

OK Tony, got my tin hat on, sitting under the desk as I write this and have all the curtains closed. Just never got Otis, now Marvin maybe

DAVE TRY Richie Andrews think he has one

best steve T

Thanks Mate

Been told same backing as Gentlemen Four...... You Cant Keep a Good Man Down

Yes

Off topic but anyone got one of these for sale ? Gentlemen Four that is

Used to be a great place for record hunting in 70's/80's, but been told it's hard work now days. But Dave Moore on here is your man to ask

It's impossible to run a nite nowdays without there being something near. Hope you keep on with the event. Did put up a thing in events asking peeps to put up 2008 dates, so we all could try to avoid each other. Was suprised how few took the chance to post their dates for next year. It's still there if you want to join in

Great record , his "Its over now" is a nice midtempo number , well worth getting

Hi Simon

Also have a nice LP by him somewhere

Johnny Scott-Let me be a winner-Portra

Came out twice, originally with long spoken intro, second issue which went straight into the beat. Anyone remeber the story behind this.

Dave

There were a few wern`t there KING ERRISON-ZOLA, Dare i say MICKEY MOUSE CONCERTO IN B FLAT, feel a bit ashamed to have remembered that one

I suspect, that as this thread moves along the greater number will be instrumentals. No vocals to make a judgement on, but they did have that beat.

Was it early '80 maybe?

Prob 200 outside, obviously not enough to warrant the opening (and staffing) of the whole venue.

Just M's open - nobody ever seems to mention this period.

Bang on - absolutely BANG ON!!

Why is there a need to say 'take Searling out of the equation and it wouldn't have been what it was' - and what Wigan did to a generation (whatever time you spent in the lovely old bugger of a building) - Searling WAS there - and teamed with the other fantastic bastards that made my life worth living ever since, made Wigan summat to shout about.

At what point do people that purport to love this scene begin to have a go at old romantics and their memories, like myself, to say that it wasn't all that?

If you EVER see me have a go at another venue, at a time when the NS scene was inhabited by people who were spurred to travel the country to dance to an incredible form of music, and not just chutzpah about wether their time was better than mine, then ban me.

I've proper got the hump at the mo ( ), as I'm sure I haven't tried to push my opinions on this scene on anyone else, unlike others - just share my (happy) memories of my beautiful youth - wholly thanks to the N Soul scene.

I know that message boards, in some ways, serve as an egotistical vent within which we can all tell the world what we have done, where we have been, what records we have etc etc - but isn't that why these boards exist, for us to share - you've put in, so why not tell people, they're all the same, we are?

Balls to it! I love Northern, course I do - but f*ck you if you want to get all negative on my arse for telling people about my time.

Yours lovingly,

A low end hierachy Soul Boy, who will still be there when a lot aren't.

ps

I know I'm milking this but I'm not arsed.

You asked the opening question about a poorly attended time at the Casino, which it was. You asked, when did Wigan die ?. People responded, with their view. On a open forum their will be some that will have a different view to yours, which surely is healthy. But reading the comments none has said it wasn't a great and important club, just that they viewed it differently to you. Whats wrong with that.

Country Roads-High Voltage

The Whole Thing-8th Ave Band

Along Comes Mary-Baja Marimba Band

The World Is A Ghetto-George Benson

Good Thing Going-Phil Coulter

Hi, I just found a very dope 12":

Carver Area High School Seniors - Get Live Eighty-Three (class of '83 senior rap) (Challenger, 1982)

...based on the info provided on the back of the record, it appears that this record was recorded/pressed to raise funds for the Carver Area High School, somewhere near Chicago, IL. The vocals were performed by a handful of the graduating seniors, and the INCREDIBLE production and arrangement was done by John Harris. All I can say about this record is that it is remarkably HEAVY, much much more than expected. This is in my top 5 boogie/hip hop 12"s for sure at the moment.

If anyone is interested, I am selling one of my copies. It was sealed until about 2 weeks ago and is in mint condition, only played once. If interested, email me at thisisgb@gmail.com

They did about three releases on this label, all came out on 45 as well

Gawd someone paid over 25 for a vinylcarver and stuck on label

But do you think anyone really bid on it, as bidder ID is hidden?

But that applies to every club in history and still happens now. Stafford played the latter day Wigan sounds and the ones that didn't make it first time round as well as it's own tunes.

Oh Pete, I know exactly what Stafford was. Alot of tosh is written about the club, it was just the next phase in the northern soul story. But it did have, more like The Mecca a full line up of DJ's that went out of their way to play new tunes. But any good DJ would make sure the dancefloor worked and that meant playing some stuff that got that buzz going again. We were also lucky to have an audience that accepted a less than full floor so that new stuff could be played. If you read reviews of the club of the time many that came expecting another Wigan hated it.

I was just lucky to have some great DJ's, with collective passion at the right time, in a great club.

We all have our favorite clubs, and for different reasons. I loved every nite that I went to Wigan. Even to poorly attended saturdays in the last 2 years. But I always felt then and now with hindsight that if you had taken Richard away from Wigan, then the amount of truely new tunes played there over the years would be less by half. Many of the others played a mixture of new, old/re-activated.

Where as I can remember going to The Mecca, both when they were still played northern and later and only knowing 50% of what was played allnite.

Wigan was a monster club, in every respect and should be held in high reguard, but also viewed with an air of reality. The introduction of the Friday Oldies allnighters, caused a casum in the scene similar to The Mecca's move to Jazz Funk/Disco and still affects us today. The club owners took, took and never put much back. The club facilities were shocking, flooded toilets, sticky carpet, ceiling coming down in places. But you still had to love it.

Hello Richard, Great to see your alive and well, remember Docker raving on about Baby Reconsider when I was DJ at the Wheel I thought he told me Carl was playing it at the Chateau did he get a copy from FL Moore? At that time it was the only sound I had heard of and couldn't get for a while. Do you remember the lads from Bridgnorth who use to come to the Wheel in the summer they worked in Torquay?I can't remember if we did any record dealing happy days and exciting times them. cheers Brian Phillips

Was at Maxies one thursday night when Steve and Larry Grayliss used to do it and Larry found the clubs records. "Fcuk me Dave look a real Leon Haywood". Think the record left that night with Larry

Welcome Richard

Well it's no longer going to be just a memory, see you all tonight

And 50 other great pieces closing in the next 15 hours

https://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZdave_t_top_dog

Thanks for looking

Dave

Dave, the Bee Gee and 21st Century Ltd on RCA were NOT the Chicago group, they're not the same group as on golden tone and the other RCA... I know it's confusing that there were 2 21st century's on RCA. There also was that gruop on gospel truth. The Chicago group did because the 21st creation on motown though.

Confused, me, never . I thought the Bee Gee group had Chicago credits, have to see if I can pull it out later. I suppose it must have sounded such a cool name back in the 60's/70's and as they were all relatively small groups, each didn't know of the others existance.

Kieran, why did you want a soundfile if you have the record

Aint you got a turntable?

Good luck with the sale

Be interested in what yours makes

Lemme Know

M.

Wondered the same myself, good sales hype though

I've made trips to Detroit throughout most of my adult life, got to know the people in the industry there very well and think I have a good knowledge of what was released in the city. But on every trip I find or someone shows me a record I've never seen before and thats just one city. Just love it and the internet keeps showing up even bigger gaps in my knowledge, just love it.

Which inturn answers the question some ask 'are there any unknown records still to be discovered'