Thinksmart

Curtis is an artist I had to have everything he did and keep it close to me. I bought his biography and couldn't bring myself to read it in case it put me off. I try to get all the back catalogue of an artist and keep buying their new releases, but Curtis was even more vital with Stevie and a few others.

I've got a few Amp Fiddler albums and mixes, that's sad news. Who knew he was on those songs too.

Donny Hathaway's This Christmas was in mind earlier.

Well well! The Dancing Slipper....less than a mile from my house and our son lives around the corner. It's now a language training school but was my Mod haunt in the 1980s, great for dancing and underage drinks... ahem...... if you went then, we know each other. Lots of tales. It was definitely open as a venue in the 1980s and 1990s. I even went for a carvery dinner there to see Edison Lighthouse (who was never a real band so...????) as a big group about ten years ago. I don't really know why we were there. It was on its last legs as a venue by then. It was also the venue for a key Tubby Hayes live album too as shown above. There is still a small but thriving West Bridgford jazz scene that continues through from 1950s-60s. I have not seen any other Dancing Slipper R&B related releases which I would get. One thing I have to correct living here, it's West Bridgford (ah that's better, just let me have that one). Yes the Brit / Boat are half a mile up the road at Trent embankment and in other direction is wonderful architecture of The Test Match pub. Dancing Slipper, King John, the underground Beerkeller now gone (saw a line up of Dr Feelgood there and I was dancing on the table), Hand and Heart, Hearty Goodfellow, Thurland Arms - loads of ace venues and Soul/Mod places. There used to be crowds hanging around Thurland Arms on a Sunday Night every week - we'd go just to be around everyone with Rob playing music even in winter. Fun times. Anything needed on Dancing Slipper etc - just let me know. My old blog here might be of interest around the intersection of British jazz, Soul, R&B, Mod, Ivy League clothes, design, architecture, Nottingham, London etc: https://squareendknittedtie.tumblr.com/ - I haven't updated in ages but it still seems to be up, including the pictures. It looks like the categories I tagged the posts with still work too. PS Cecil Gee has the profile, but it was Austin's on Shaftsberry Avenue where the musician crowd also started to go (Not to be confused with Austin Reed on Regent St back then, Austin's was an independent who imported from USA.) It was where Charlie Watts went, then where Clapton and Townshend first met. John Michael was even better but expensive and away at King's Road, he opened Sportique on Old Compton Street. I can write about men's fashion of that time for ages - Sam Arkus, Vince, Blades, Que, the original Ivy Shop in Richmond etc. It's all at the blog linked above. I reached out and got to know a load of the people involved in the clothes trade from that time and asked them their reccollections. Paul Smith was an old Nottingham Mod mate of a boss from the 90s who was still sharp and became a friend. They used to go to the Poly ballroom orginally before Dungeon etc got popular. You may see me on a Christmas ale 'All Dayer' at Central Avenue here in WB next week, it's a wonderful place to drink. Any other of us 'local?' Feel free to contact directly.

If they are sold they are indisputedly illegal and to me the DJ should be called out. It is totally unacceptable and they know what they are doing.

I find it fairly mediocre, am I alone? The intro is easy to do on a guitar.

Great music,also see The Sextones too for a similar feel

Wonderful reading.

Expansion is issuing the albums mentioned in the title on CD as 2-for-1s. Most notable is the first album which has been hard to get and not reissued until now - mine is a Japanese CD that while good sounding seems off vinyl and is legally dubious at best. SimplySoul has them to preorder for 8th December.

Will the concept of user names being shown still exist even if the login is via email? Thanks

On the digital version available at Qobuz this is in 24bit quality and sounds wonderful. Their artist compilations of those on the above release are also excellent. Being a now rare, legal download service you can also pick the songs of your choosing from the single artist compilations. Ed Crook also has the wonderful Northern Soul dancer on the b-side to That's Alright available too. It's really worth digging into Numero at Qobuz.

To ease into venues - it may be worth listening back to Richard Searling's shows on Mixcloud. He often does ones related to specific venues. Back in his BBC local radio days, he would mix the songs with interviews from DJs and people who went, which I always found nice. Colin Curtis and Ian Levine have Mixcloud shows for Blackpool Mecca of course too (but some of that will be at the Modern/funky end of Northern Soul you may be less interested in). There's a lot there to be found at Mixcloud. I heartily recommend Chalky's that he mentioned before.

It maybe worth searching discogs and looking at track listing on venue themed CDs and LP compilations. Also there are a load of Northern Soul history books, now very cheap online that provide such lists

With a more casualised Northern Soul experience emerging where some people just want to hear the songs, there may be growth of this in parallel with the existing scene (perhaps to the ire of those longer into the music). I don't think they look to the established scene at all, just play some music while socialising. How does it work on the Southern based parallel soul scene with their boat cruises etc - is that off source format or digital? It's hard to think forward a decade or two and envisage who the younger DJs are that will be able to afford the vinyl that will be sold at high prices. With two sons in their twenties, they have so many demands on their finances and education debts that I cannot see how the vinyl will transition into the hands of a next generation (at commercial rates).

We could argue The Joker, even Frankie Crocker aren't stellar musical productions - but they are all in the weird and wonderful history now. I don't want to edit Northern Soul, it genuinely covers the sublime to the ridiculous.

Listening to the Undisputed Truth version now - quite nice production, a touch slow to get going.

Same of course as Heard It Through The Grapevine too on Gladys Knight and the Pips too (although I never took to that version much)

Linking back to Motown and its labels, Rare Earth also did a version too, that's more southern rock in style.

Good Love is nice mellow Soul.

Once underground, Subculture is now becoming the newly accepted mainstream culture whether Northern Soul or orchestral House music. It has more cultural relevance for most than ballet or opera by now.

The books are now collected, thank you.

Hi all, I have a load of Soul music related books I'm giving away and rather than pass to a charity shop, they are free to the first person here at the forum who can pick them up from me in West Bridgford, Nottingham. I have had my enjoyment of them and this is the last batch of Soul music related books to be passed on to someone so they can enjoy them. Over time in batches, I've passed along many dozens more books on Soul music of various USA cities, labels, specific artists and the like. I've read them many times and they are now just taking space here alongside other books, so all I want is to pass them along. My only stipulation is the person takes the lot and hopefully enjoys them, rather than sells them - at least initially. The books are: Eddie & Brian Holland - Come & Get These Memories (hardback) Okeh Records 1918-1970 (softcover) Northern Soul - An Illustrated History (the tie in with the film) (hardback) Mike Ritson & Stuart Russell - The In Crowd (large, orange cover paperback) the three Stuart Cosgrove books (Memphis & Harlem ones is in Hardback) + Young Soul Rebels (Paperback) John Capoyya - Florida Soul (hardback) Kingsley Abbott - A Motown Reader (paperback) Bill Brewster & Frank Broughton - The Record Players Dave Shaw - Casino (paperback) Rob Bowman - Soulsville USA (story of Stax Records) Robert Gordon - Respect Yourself, Stax Records and Soul Russ Winstanley & David Nowell - Soul Survivors (30th anniversary edition, paperback) Dave Nowell - The Story of Northern Soul (paperback) Dave Nowell - Too Darn Soulful (paperback) Let me know at email: mark (dot) coyle @ btinternet (dot) com - I'll be in most nights, including tonight for the person to pick them up. Thanks Mark (Moderators, I was not sure where to put this at the forum as the books are not for sale - feel free to move if helpful).

It's wonderful to have that feeling and appreciation for the hard work there. Nice of you to put it out there. Sunday is Soul music day for me, from getting up to end of day - it's on all day across shows and my library. When life permits we'll be out and about, especially on a Sunday - but Soul on Sunday is most definitely our thing.

Over the years, I've tried to separate the music from the 'scene' (whatever that now means) - we overlay a lot of emotional intensity around how we've enjoyed the music that wasn't intended in the songs. They stand in their own right and were/are enjoyed in many contexts - mostly I guess fleetingly on radio, then on vinyl for most. As I get older, it's just the songs that matter - the complexities and perspectives people have around the scene are 'theirs' but shouldn't detract from the music itself in my own enjoyment. Over time some Soul songs are becoming the new standards, in part driven by the enthusiasm of soul fans and scenes as here. I absolutely get that the underground, alternate way of life that Northern Soul offers is integral to the enjoyment of the music - for me that lasted until I was about 40, for some it carries on through life. Appreciation and dancing to this music has lasted six decades, it's bound to fragment. We shouldn't try to find one unifying story through Northern Soul anymore, we're different communities drawn together by our appreciation of some songs and situations in which we enjoyed them. Beyond them, it's like trying to find one orthodoxy through blues, country, jazz or any other enduring music that evolves in form and appreciation. It's okay for everyone to have differing perspectives around the BBC prom, to engage or not - we just need to each spend our time on that aspect of the music we enjoy. Anything else is waste of time as the clock ticks down inevitably.