Amsterdam Russ

There's a typo in the actual url. It should be www.raresoulvinyl.co.uk Can't actually find the book on the site though. Have checked the "books" link at the bottom of the left-hand nav column, but it's not listed there. Is there an actual page for it?

I wouldn't worry about labels - they can be so terribly artificial. After all, when Sam Fletcher went into the recording studio he didn't go there with the intention of creating a Northern Soul or a Popcorn tune! While my three selections fit firmly into what might be classed as Northern Soul, Popcorn embraces just about anything that can be played - whether sped up or slowed down - with the desired tempo. That includes jazz grooves, exotica, and just about anything else you can think of. And if you can dance to it in the Popcorn style, then it's Popcorn! It's as simple as that.

The speed of the track is down to the DJ, but the point of Popcorn is to have tracks at roughly the same slowish/mid-tempo so that couples can dance to them in their relaxed "jive" style. There is a separate Northern Soul scene in Belgium, which seems to range from classics to modern soul. Leuven has a great night, but sadly that's just twice a year. @tlscapital might be willing to throw some more light on the subject of the soul scene in Belgium...

We had a Belgium meets Amsterdam night at our club last year. Cover-ups are still very much part of the Popcorn scene, just as it is with Northern...

Three popcorn faves from me...

Just for additional info, and in case you want to go searching for one - on the acetate of this, instead of "Baby sitter pt2", there's an absolutely cracking track from Turner that was never released.

The reissue is coming out on Colemine and has their name across the top of the label. There won't be any confusion about which release is first or second.

Hearing oldies is good for you On this big scene what shall we do? Back then you looked for tunes to claim Now you want the same again While in the past those sure were fun The search for new just ain't been done Oldies are great, I must agree But moving forward works for me Fifty years, we still are strong, But looking back is sometimes wrong You feel the soul and so do I And that is why it will not die.

Last CD I bought was this one and that was probably at least a year ago now. Bought a new iMac before Christmas last year. Apple, in their wisdom, chose to do away with the inbuilt CD/DVD drive. That means unless I buy a separate drive, I have nothing to play CDs on and nor can I upload them to iTunes, which is what I always did. Seems Apple would prefer their customers to download music via their own iTunes offering rather than allow us to have the option of playing something physical. As a result I can't see me buying any more CDs for the foreseeable future - not that I was a great buyer of them anyway.

Yup. I read what you said, and if I'd said it too you can be sure I would have pointed it out.

I'm pretty sure that's what I said five years ago in my post on the first page of this thread.

Some excellent spinning going on in 1943 Tibet...

Northern Soul dancing is so much more than the gymnastics: it has a style and form of its own. People have been performing acrobatic tricks for as long as mankind has been able to dance, so I wouldn't describe backdrops, splits, etc, as being unique to the scene. Here's a great bit of archive footage of 1959 Nigeria, which uncannily foreshadows breakdancing by a number of decades.

The proto Northern Soul scene.

Really? When and where?

Mine is absolutely fine. Sounds like there was a pressing fault on some, but what percentage of all of them? Anything unique on label or run-out grooves to distinguish those that play Ok and those that don't, and which might indicate corrective or faulty runs at the pressing plant (or plants)?

I think one of the big factors driving up prices has been the explosion over the last few years of local soul events. Once upon a time promoters would be competing at a national level. Nowadays you can have any number of events taking place on the same weekend in the same town - and they're all fighting for the same punters in the main. The huge rise in the number of local events means there are more DJs than at any time in the history of the scene. The pressure to have the latest tune, the revived oldie or whatever, has to be immense. If DJ Tom, Dick and Harry are playing the latest "in tunes" at their local nights and you don't have them, then you might be inclined to make sure you've got a copy in your box at any price if you don't want to lose face and you think having such tunes will improve your credibility and status as a DJ. Competition ain't nothing? I don't think so. Instead I think competition is definitely a major factor in prices soaring into the higher echelons of stupidity. <Was typing this at the same time Soulboyrecords was posting the above>

Not a soulful neighbour as such, but I presently live about 100 meters away from Dutch singer Bonnie St Claire.

Pow City organise monthly nights in Dublin. They don't have a website (to the best of my knowledge), but do have a Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/POW-CITY-234751676694445/ There's also the D8 Soul Club, which organises the "Last Friday Soul Club" nights. They're also on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/D8SoulClub/

Offered for sale at 300 quid on Facebook yesterday or today, so price appears to be drifting down nicely. It could be yours very soon.