Timillustrator

On 02/02/2025 at 07:19, NSDancer said:

My mistake ...Thanks for pointing that out. I doubt very much they got a sprung dance like the Ritz? Anyone been there before? What's the dance floor like? Any info greatly appreciated=0)

New Century has an amazing sprung dance floor, one of the best anywhere.

I heard this a few weeks ago, thought it was AI, still not sure it isn't. If it was a real band then surely they'd be in the video rather than a cheaply assembled load of clips that would take about 20 minutes to do.

He was at Stafford on Saturday night

On 09/12/2024 at 15:36, Phil J said:

Know what you mean about certain tracks fill the floor even though they’re not technically ‘soul’ e.g. Bob Sinclair (a French DJ I believe) and Tribute. It’s more of a rave record really with that thumping beat but ppl seem to be mad for it when the mood is right? In terms of royalties, the original singers/composers (many of whom are deceased now) live in poverty, I know someone who located some in the States, Dena Barnes wasn’t aware there were thousands of British fans dancing to one of her old songs, it would be a real humane gesture - a kind of levelling up - if someone who’s ever made £00’s or £000’s from one of these records could donate a % to them? Just saying. 

Bob Sinclar baffles me, yes, white French DJ with a really below average House record but in certain venues goes down a storm. Curiously they seem to play absolutely no other House records whatsoever, then again random rock, pop, Rock n Roll and disco records seem to fill the floor too.

On 07/12/2024 at 15:07, souljoe said:

https://www.youtube.com/@HilariouslyRealMusic/videos

It's not bad is it, but something about the drums sounds off to me, the lyrics too. But yeah if you heard that playing out somewhere you wouldn't immediately guess it was AI would you.

2 hours ago, Phil J said:

Nope - no endorsement required/necessary! I was merely saying “look what these youngsters are up to - holding a candle up to what us guys used to get up to - great!” That’s all ….. btw I would say the minority of soul fans are into the rare scene and the majority into mainstream/ ‘the 500’ / bangers etc Mind you I’m judging it on empty/full dance floors and maybe you officianados/connoisseurs of soul are not into that side of soul and mainly listen? I don’t know but personally I feel higher % of ppl on soul source are into mainstream but I could be wrong and if I am ….. fair enough 

If you ask that sort of question in this forum that is the kind of answer you will get. TBH people have been recording cover versions of soul for at least 60 years in an attempt to make it into the mainstream so one more isn't going to elect an enthusiastic response. 

I find it interesting though that even when megastars like Kylie and Bruce Springsteen record cover versions it seems to have absolutely zero impact on the soul scene and this will inevitably be the same. Good for the original composers though, they or their families might at least get some decent royalties for once. 

The odd cover version does also get played at more mainstream soul events, thinking mainly of that awful Stock Aitken Waterman version of The Love I Lost, which people seem to like.

17 hours ago, Hooker1951 said:

And there were a few Dj,s well known who fell for it, no offence to them but I would not have been one bit fooled with that four vandals sound, I trust A1 has much improved from The Four Vandals  effort so some of them might possibly be fooled again LoL,

Have a great weekend

Mick

Yes, there was something about the Four Vandals - I think the harmonies, or part of the production which sounded absolutely not 1960's to me. But AI versions take no real effort so I think someone's going to try.

There's a few on Spotify already, mainly jokey stuff. It's vaguely interesting in it's way.

Interestingly I think that there's more of an eventual market for it in Northern Soul than many other places - if you could get something that sounds authentic you could do what Ian Levine tried to to with The Four Vandals and try and pass it off as a newly discovered tape or something. Now that would be quite interesting.

1 hour ago, George Hughes said:

Couple of empty floor situations . Went  to Twisted Wheel last year , due to the awful weather ,Snow etc , I was flying solo . Pete Roberts was on and played Barefootin' and I thought I haven't heard Let's Go Baby Where The Action Is for along time . He played it for me and it cleared the floor . he was very gracious about it .

Also a local event Tallulah's in New Brighton  . last friday of the month with Norman Killen and Jimmy Houghton is always busy . Yet when Jimmy plays Friday Night - Johnnie Taylor for me it clears the floor ?

Blimey, Friday Night is quite regularly played in the Midlands and always a floor filler. 

17 hours ago, Timbo58 said:

Personally I've always felt that if a DJ clears the floor that's perfectly OK initially, but to keep it clear record after record for an entire set is almost certainly the promotors fault in booking a completely unsuitable guest (or resident!).

I'm not a fan of 'the dancefloor dictates' or 'look at us -we've sold all the tickets!' type events as the vast majority are simply catering to the least fussy audience. That's perfectly fine if your idea of 'success' is measured in £££s of course.

As for advertising events truthfully & clearly -I'm absolutely in favour of that, but all too often the ones that promise they're 'keeping the faith' wouldn't know what 'the faith' was even if it came with a colouring in set & crayons.

 

A few years ago I went to a fairly well known all-nighter and the opposite occurred. Around 1am a DJ came on and played the most mainstream top 500 set ever - Julian Covey, House For Sale, Benny Troy, possibly even Billy Ocean and it totally cleared the floor, hilarious. Totally the case of booking the wrong DJ.

There are literally hundreds of mainstream social club events out there, with constantly busy dancefloors playing the top 500 plus a bit of disco, pop etc. good for them but not something of interest to the vast majority of people on here or generally people under 30. True, some of the specifically "underplayed" nights have little atmosphere either. 

Personally I like a mix of the two 50% mainstream, 50% I've never heard of, mix it up and keep everyone happy, sadly that rarely occurs.

There are a few events though with busy dancefloors, a total mix of ages and little in the way of the top 500. And they are a real treasure.

Just because it's not attempting to copy the original much

Brilliant film Hellzapoppin, not seen it for 40 years, my Dad remembered it from when it came out.

Seems to be a creeping thing in all walks of life, I've seen lots of people claiming to be licensed to paint or draw in recent years! There's seriously a Bob Ross school of painting which does all these courses at different levels, absolute madness. It's not like being a pilot is it? 

But if people will pay, then fair enough no one dies.

4 hours ago, Geeselad said:

It's a fair point, I'd not really seen it from that perspective, but given venues circumstances I'd have thought they weren't In a position to ask for such indulgences from promotors. 

All sorts of people who used to work on credit or 30 day payment terms are now asking for advance payments, I've seen a few examples personally. I could well see venues saying that in order to secure a date for next year they require a hefty deposit, otherwise they may not be in business next year. Or is it just promoters getting the money in and sitting on it?

11 hours ago, Jez Jones said:

I thought it was more about the music ...

Government grants ?  ... be interesting to know if Northern Soul events qualified for such ...does anyone know if it did ?

I meant venues getting either furlough money, ARG grants or discretionary Council grants, which many did get, up until October 2021. That money may have enabled them to keep going until they returned to profitability but I imagine much of it has gone now and if they are not yet back in the black they'll face closure unless they can think of other ways of getting some cash in - such as selling advance tickets. 

TBH in the post pandemic world it's fair enough really, they've probably lost two years of income in '20 and '21 and selling some advance tickets is one way of recouping some of the losses, any Government grants have long since ceased and no one wants the risk anymore of their event failing due to lack of interest or a sudden disaster.

Personally I ain't gonna book anything a year in advance and therefore possibly miss out but I can totally understand why they do it.

22 hours ago, Ratt said:

I would like to vent my feelings again, using the original post in an unintended way by saying that because we all agree that their are tens of thousands of upbeat tracks out there. And most of them would be great to hear on a night out, if only to break the endless cycle of tracks that DJ's regularly carry. Well for me, this scenario is the perfect time to say once more that I really don't care if what's played out is on vinyl. It would just be fantastic if you could actually request something and get it played......I wouldn't sniff at all if a digital version blasted out across the floor. Their are just so many titles that could radically change the feel of nights out. Get us out of the deep rut we find ourselves in these last years. I know this won't be a popular thought with most DJ's, but even I have a folder with nearly 7000 superb tracks, of which 90% will never get played at a venue. But it sure would be great to head up to the decks with a track in mind, knowing that you are going to hear it. Like I said, I think it would vastly improve our stale scene.

With you 100% there, there's a load of stuff on the Kent and associated re-issues that are uptempo and never heard. Personally couldn't care less wheat format it was on. On the other hand I guess it could just mean anyone could rock up with Spotify on their phone, select a Northern Soul playlist and plug it in! Although some nights just sound like that anyway.

On 08/06/2022 at 22:31, Benji said:

From what I remember he said his aim was to own every US soul 45 released in the 60s covering all tempos not just uptempo/northern. And that's how he came up with the 10k estimate.

Just a gut feeling but I'd say that "classic" 60s northern on US 45s are in the very low 4 digits. 3000 maybe? Include other 60s 45s from other genres that "crossovered" over the decades and you may add another 1.000?

Please note: I focused on the 60s 45s.

I see where you're coming from but I'd say look at it from the opposite perspective. Assuming a start date of '63 and up to '69, that's 7 years, assume the major centres Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Memphis, Philadelphia, Texas, New Orleans plus some other southern states that's about 49 city-years for production of utptempo soul.  Dave Rimmer's book for New York alone lists 64 record labels, some of the more recognisable ones of those I could pick half a dozen tracks. That's 3,136 city-label-years.

If that resulted in as few as 3,000 tracks it would be on average 1 song per label per year. OK so some labels were small and didn't last long and from '68 onwards there were probably more slow and funky tracks but since there were 10's or 100's of clubs with bands on every night particularly at weekends and a great many of these got a stab at making a record I'd say that an assumption of 10 uptempo per label is safe, thereby giving 31,360. 

Or am I just being a stats nerd 😉

I reckon 10,000 is easily true though although that may include uptempo 60's from other genres such as R&B and garage.

Done, keep it up!

14 hours ago, Hornet said:

Got A top of the range Grenson brogues 4 sale as arthritis has put A stop to the dancing ; barely broke in , size 10:5 but A roomy last so if you take A U.K. 11 you will be fine , want £100 ( paid £480 ) if you A similar age these could be the last pair you buy , 

Got a picture of the soles?

On 02/03/2022 at 09:34, Lord Emsworth said:

Thanks Twoshoes. I originally tried the search function before posting but nothing came up.

Thanks for highlighting those other threads below - off to investigate

Thanks for those three tips too

I'm more attracted to non leather being a Plant Based person but a second hand pair of leather soles feels okay in my inconsistent world view

Ha ha - good point

It really depends on how you dance, I cannot dance in trainers because I keep my feet on the ground or at least one of them when I'm moving and trainers of all sorts are just way too grippy. Some other people jump a lot more so trainers are good. If you shuffle unless you weigh about 7 stone I imagine it would be bleeding difficult!

I've got a couple of pairs of Loakes and a pair of Pavers brogues with leather soles. I have also got a pair of Ben Sherman brogues with plastic soles, which have worn down to almost smooth but are no where near as frictionless. Occasionally I've tried spraying them with silicone or wax polish but it quickly wears off.

Also right with you there, as a vegetarian of 42 years I'd rather not have leather but I can live with my conscience, I'll keep them until I die or they wear out - whichever comes first  

On 18/02/2022 at 18:54, Daved said:

And isn't one of those that have never appeared on a CD? Not to my knowledge anyway.

It's on the Top Dog Soul Club CD Volume 2. Listed on Discogs so presuming it's legit? https://www.discogs.com/release/17242414-Various-Top-Dog-Soul-Club-Stafford-Top-Of-The-World-Volume-2