Thinksmart

Wonderful to celebrate Ace.Records 50th with their music. I am searching through and finding all the old Rhythm & Blues CDs from their catalogue having bought all the Soul, R&B, Mod Jazz, Jazz etc related releases and much more to date from the 80s to now. It is amazing how many pure Blues, black Swing, Doo Wop and so on that I didn't buy first time around. Their podcasts linked at the website are always interesting, I was listening to Keb this week and see he is DJing at the events (60s Garage now). Thanks to all at Ace Records.

Excellent reading, yes keep it coming. I was listening to Norman Jay talking recently and he was talking similarly about local Soul selections such as Archie Bell and the Drells 'Don't Let Love Get You Down' with its mid-tempo Philly Groove that were break-out plays for him separate to Reggae. Interesting about the CCR song too - that's a wonderful, deep song. The Ted Hawkins version is a particular favourite of mine: https://youtu.be/v8UsXFrfq7I?si=R8_XujQUsHHp0LHe

Welcome. Did your audience have any particular Soul style or selections?

By 1965 the Stones and Hollies were playing theatres, pier halls and cinemas as pop acts rather than club nights and 'rave ups', so likely 1964 latest. Their concert schedules of 1964 onwards are available online. One unofficial early nighter venue for trad jazz in 50s was Chislehurst Caves, in Kent. There were also reputedly allnight Jazz sessions alongside Festival of Britain in 1951. But it feels to me that Americana Club in 1955 was the first official nighter playing black Jazz and R&B we might enjoy.

Roburt seems busy so they look to be 1963-64.

The Americana club at The Mapleton was holding all nighters from 1955 prior to the same people doing so at the Flamingo. A lot more at https://flashbak.com/club-americana-on-coventry-street-in-1955-43350/ There is also this related vinyl below. I recommend the book mentioned in the article to explore London's other side and it's follow up. Northern Soul DirectClub Americana - All Night Dancing At The Mapleton - Vari...However, it is a little known fact that there was a second club, cloistered in the basement of the Mapleton, the ‘Americana’. The club was..

Fantasy Northern Soul.... pick your venue and DJs to receive points for new plays, reactivated oldies, attendance numbers etc....

The early CD era was great for me, I devoured them all and still do. Then that combined with legal downloads. By the early 1990s the Motown Northern Soul discoveries were starting to leak out on CD illegally and then legally. That coincided with lots more venues and nighters again. It's slowing down now in compilations but lots of new Soul music to enjoy as mentioned in the relevant thread here. Bandcamp is good now too I find.

I laid my hands on every cheap Soul complilation I could in the early 1980s... All the various Motown ones, Casino Classics, Out On The Floor by Inferno Records, the two Keepin' The Faith on PRT (https://www.discogs.com/release/2926498-Various-Keepin-The-Faith), the early GoldSoul, Rare Soul Uncovered and first Kent LPs. Some would even turn up in my local Woolworths which had rotating stock every week (a brilliant double LP of Veejay blues and soul I've never seen since and not listed anywhere). As soon as I got access, I'd raid Rob's Records in Nottingham every week, especially once I was a Saturday lad on the Victoria fish market about 1983 and had earnings. I'd also go downstairs into Pendulum Records and buy everything new that week, usually 2-3 Kent compilations and equivalent a week. Then once I caught up, it was onto collecting singles. Ah happy days!

Nice enough but Jessie's vocal is too high in the mix, at least in the online play. Is it a demo? What's the Yvonne Baker on it? I'd buy it on legal download (as I do a lot) but it seems to be vinyl only.

I've only heard this one once on Solar Radio and nowhere else or again there. It's from end of last year. Definitely not one for NS purists, it's kind of an update to 1970s Modern Soul style with nice Soul claps and definitely danceable. It has quite a distinct sound and a deliberately odd ending.... it intrigued me enough to buy it download and it often appears in my head, so embedded itself there. I like that it evokes but doesn't copy any particular style.

On Gina Sedman's new album 1972, the song 'Like A Whisper' stands out, a gentle mid-tempo song that doesn't try too hard and is all the more powerful for it.

The new 7:45s album 'Spinning' out a couple of weeks ago has three songs that are very Northern Soul in style that I'll embed below. I'm always in two minds about this, I'm generally more comfortable when an artist is not trying to deliberately create the NS sound but I'm also grateful for new releases carrying on this aspect of Soul Music. The first track here evokes it well, but is it 'too on the nose'? I could see it being played out at some venues but the Youtube channel is definitely trying to make a direct association. We know that for some it causes some discomfort when music is specifically targetted towards and promoted inwards to the scene. Also 'We Will Be Friends' is brass-led midtempo 80s-style modern. 'The Music's Always There For You' is Disco Soul

Enjoying this one over the weekend, can we have volume 2 next week?

A standout from the new Durand Jones and the Indications album 'Flowers'. This has an early 1970s uptempo Soul sound similar to Major Harris, The Artistocrats, The Originals etc. Sounds more full and powerful on the album than Youtube will represent. Darn it, just saw that Mike posted the same track earlier. Feel free to remove this duplicate post, I cannot see a delete option.