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Yes the reissues side has been particularly strong this year and very enjoyable listening. I was not sure about Kylie Auldist so will check that out. I need to hear of the new Bob Baldwin. Got this far and none of us mentioned Gregory Porter yet.

I am waiting for the new Kindred to arrive from USA, not heard it beyond radio plays. I don't know Kejam Majek so will check it.

Hi everyone, it is the time of year with Soul Togetherness release due very soon where we feature Modern Soul in the year. There have been many releases in this year such as Soul on the Real Side #5, Soul Survivors compilation, British Collective, Sean Escoffrey, Incognito, Frank McComb, Anthony David, Ryle, Anthony Hamilton, Maxwell, Charles Bradley, Zo!, Natasha Watts, Greg Dean, Suffers, King, Babyface, Jaheim and many more I have forgotten. Disco Soul Gold has continued its excellent growth and a new, unexpected Spirit of Philadelphia volume 4 is released next month. Reel Music have Soul Love 2016 coming soon as is the album by The Excitements. Then it will be Soul Lounge and Luxury Soul soon. It has also been a great year for Modern Soul Radio with Solar leading, JazzFM back on DAB playing more soul, CrackersFM, CruseFM, HotFM and dozens more internet radio stations plus MixCloud of course. This feels like a gold era for Modern Soul that carries the sound onwards of Northern Soul. How is it shaping up for you this year?

I'll be happy to cover the site and books at https://squareendknittedtie.tumblr.com. Coverage of soul books is proving popular there.

Danny Williams - Whose Little Girl Are You The Falcons The Five Royales Eugene Pitt was mentioned so his band The Jive Five

Big Maybelle Roy Hamilton The Drifters Larry Williams introduces Johnny Watson of course.

Teddy Randazzo is known more for '50s pop recordings generally than his soulful songs and productions. The Velvets Johnny Otis Jimmy Scott

Johnny Maestro & The Crests Little Anthony & The Imperials The Platters Little Willie John Hank Ballard

Interesting topic. We need to untangle songs by pop artists with Northern Soul spins in the first flush of their career such as B.J. Thomas. Frankie Valli or Jerry Fuller with those you mention trying to keep relevant in their latter stages. Some initial thoughts, Wayne Fontana's 'Something Keeps Calling Me Back', Gary Lewis, Brian Hyland 'Joker went Wild'. However these were contemporary artists rather than 1950's ones carrying on. Doo-Wop artists from '50s will be relevant as they adapt to the 'new' soul sound. Off out now so will have a think.

I received the book for Father's Day yesterday which was nice so read it while listening to Stuart on Richard Searling's Radio Stoke show talking about it and selecting songs that are mentioned in the book. It was a good way to combine reading with appropriate listening. The Radio Stoke show is available for 30 days to listen to online or download at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03xfqt1 A full track listing is at the show page.

I agree. Going beyond tracks on compilations I have been buying her albums on CD which are highly varied and well made. I do adore songs combining sixties sound with more modern production, it makes for good music on headphones while travelling.

I remember the shock when early 60s, even late 50s R&B started to be played. It would clesr floors then over time a different set of of younger dancers would come on. I'm a bit hazy on precisely when it was precisely, feels late 90s-early 2000s. With the beat having a different emphasis and before faster R&B/doo-wop started to be played that feels more like NS, this music was troubling to the people returning to the scene in droves at the time expecting to hear the same music. I really enjoyed the fast hard R&B soul played a little before that from Jimmy Fraser, Fats Domino even Sammy Davis Jr's scorching Not For Me.

I had left the NS scene and was on the early house one in 86-88 dancing to and buying 12s of Ten City, Virgo, Marshall Jefferson, J. M. Silk, Mr. Fingers, Frankie Knuckles,late Salsoul and Prelude, Peech Boys, New York early Garage, Detroit Model 500, Frankie Bones, Arthur Baker, early Todd Terry productions. Same impulse as NS collecting vinyl. John at Arcade Records here in Nottingham had made the shift before us and confused everyone when he played at Rock City and locally with sets more like Greg Wilson than NS. I was one of those banging on about it in NS from about 89 when I was back and doing both in parallel. At that time popular NS was feeding into contemporary dance a tiny bit along with funk, rare groove etc but it was a while before it started to cross back.

Hi,a thought for a topic. A list of when styles of soul started to be played in the NS/MS scene(s) from sixties to now. Early R&B, Funky Soul, some Soulful House, Beat Ballads, midtempo Big City, 70's floaters etc. Some of this is obvious, but some less I envisage. This will also show what styles were introduced into NS after the original era (let's say early 80s approximately). For example I recall when the R&B sound came in during late 90s and how friends then returning to the scene could not hear it as NS. Before that I struggled with some of the subtle midtempo songs typified as Stafford TOTW but were part of a style shift and exploration at the time. Of course now it's all part of the diverse mix I enjoy. So let's see if this creates any interest.

Yes that is how it works so long as you have a connection to access the songs. You can also set it to Store some music locally by tagging it if you won't have any connectivity over phone or WiFi temporarily. With GooglePlay they are accessible in or out of the house, via WiFi or phone connection, on computer browser or mobile apps. It is free so you can have a no-risk go at it. Only paid aspect is if you want their channels which I found turned up obvious rather than much rare NS oriented Soul. Happy to help if you message me directly.

I use GooglePlay Music (free subscription) which I have all my CDs, vinyl and old CDrs from Pete Smith and others ripped into. I have it tagged by artist, album, soul style etc with covers and it looks great. I then stream to Chromecast audio devices over WiFi, no Bluetooth needed. It works brilliantly, no audio drop outs, supports high end audio and such as MP3. It is fantastic and I can p!ay off phone, laptop, tablet wherever I am via GooglePlay. I have 47000 songs in the library with only the best master of each song and variants. Every CD I get is immediately put into my library, uploaded to Google and put on a 200gb MicroSD card to play on an iBasso music player I carry around with two cards inserted (better than trying to stream on trains and planes). I tend to carry around Crossover / Modern Soul as better on headphones being stereo more often and stream earlier mono NS, funk, blues, jazz and of course all the MS, soulful disco etc again. Chromecast Audio is cheap and great and completely removes need for Bluetooth. Anyone using Bluetooth, this is worth checking out. We haven't looked back and all our family connect to three of the little devices around our home via phone and tablet devices as needed. For non collection listening I use MixCloud, Solar Radio, RS shows but try to get anything new I hear and then put into my own library. I don't like the idea of music disappearing as services change or are withdrawn so keep backup masters of everything across a load of hard drives!

I did mean that yes. I must have misremembered the title as I typed.

On his BBC radio show Richard Searling played Larry Williams - I Am The Man which both reminded me how great it is and that there are loads of ace b-sides from Okeh not compiled by Kent in thwir two volumes, the Sony one or derivatives. It would be great to make all the plays on Okeh available in a future volume if possible. Thanks Coyley

I disagree that Soul music has to be by a black artist. All scenes based on people going to dance or celebrate music being danced to is a dance scene first and foremost. If it was puely a Soul scene people would equally sit on the dancefloor listening to deep Soul.

This is now released and being promoted on lists.

I'm promotimg the release at Tumblr in my blog there. See the SquareEndKnittedTie blog. Anybody got good quality scans of covers from the original LP and other non Kent compilations of the 70s-80s? Thanks

As a youngster the original release was a formative experience along with many other LP compilations of the era before I started buying singles. It is evocative to see this new release with the same design all this time later. I recall Keeping The Faith in two LP volumes covered with Wigan Casino images alongside this, Casino Classics and the Kent LPs. In the era before the internet, LP images and design were important aspects of the enjoyment. Note the article at the top has a mention of zittgiest and a duplication in the phrase 'Soul soul'.

I'm looking forward to this greatly.

The SouLutions album is out on CD but seems quite expensive. The dancefloor oriented songs seem to be on compilations so I haven't bought it yet, though I will at some point. Not seen anything recently about a new 45. I must sort the Suffers album support, I enjoyed the EP earlier this year.