Liamgp

80s Northern scence was certainly very obscure and underground to most normal punters. Always remember explaining to this bloke about it. 'You mean you go to this place in the middle of nowhere, take drugs, dance all night and don't drink alcohol?' He couldn't believe it. Thought it sounded ridiculous. A few years later I saw him at a rave, jumping around, out of his tits on E and said: 'Do you think it's ridiculous now?!'

Depends upon your personal perspective.... I got into it all via the mod revival which brought a lot of young, enthusiastic (as well as a bit clueless!) people to the existing Northern scene. Local events in Edinburgh and Fife, Stafford and the 100 Club were the big deal for me and my peers and they were absolutely fantastic events. In the 80s I met a few ex-Wigan era soulies who were rather surprised that there was still a soul scene going strong, not the mass numbers of the 70s, but enough to keep things turning over. Biggest complaint from a lot of the older soulies that was the shift away from 100mph stompers to the slower 'newies' material of Stafford, etc. A lot of them were going to Morecambe, which was maybe a bit more old style. It always seemed to me that mods were more accepting of R'n'B style sounds, so maybe the audience and playlists were more in sync at either 'oldies' or 'newies' nights in the 80s. Nowadays it seems that events are much more 'anything goes'. And speaking of which - I'm going...to lunch.

I am an unfeeling swine, I know, but if you've ever lived with anybody who played the same record over and over and over again, you might feel the same! (the B-side's good, though!)

"Indeed you should"? Has Paulo got a version of Frank Wilson no-one else has heard?

Lorraine Ellison's 'Stay With Me Baby' is fairly unbearable, but it must be the Commitments (again) who take first place. You're not soul artists, you prats, you're a bunch of shouty divs from Dublin who can't f***ing sing! Appear on stage with Wilson Pickett indeed!

I'm afraid not. My relatives get paid not to sing!

I'm better known to my friends as...Liam Paterson

Ah yeh, the Crown Hotel was a great joint! It was widely renknowed as one of the best nites in the UK and punters even came up from England rather than go to places like Stafford 'cos the Crown had a much superior atmosphere (particularly when guys like Gary Rushbrooke were playing). Still got my 'Stateside red and white demo' lookalike anniversary patch somewhere...

Can't imagine - although my niece's favourite track seems to be The Damned's 'Smash It Up'

I remember it 'cos it was on the Friday before the national scooter run to Dunbar. At some point the heroine kicks some bloke in the nuts before returning to the dance floor to boogie her troubles away! I don't recall anyone od'ing mind you. Where did they get black bombers from in '83?

Frankie and Johnny's 'I'll Hold You'! Oh, god the smell of it!

Certainly far too young to have attended either (unless it was with my mum pushing me around the dancefloor in me pram) but it seems by what people say and looking at the playlists that the Wheel was more like a 'Mod' club (R'n'B, blues as well as up-tempo soul tracks) wheras the Torch seems to have been more like what a 'Northern' night would pass for today. It might sound like wish-fulfillment but I kind of like the idea of there only being one or two top class venues in the whole country that are worth going to rather than a million and one places with no atmosphere scattered all over the place! Oooh, what a Luddite.

£400+ for Jackie Edwards 'I Feel so Bad'??? If anyone wants a bargain copy they can have my ex- condition one for £300!!! I'll even throw in free postage...

Irma Thomas's Take a Look LP. An utter classic with not one dud track and many classics, like It's Starting To Get to me Now - one of the best!

And...I Fooled You This Time, Rainbow (or the live Rainbow 65 with all the screaming ladies in the background), Gonna Be Good Times...so many top Chicago sounds

Naa...top lyric is Stanley Mitchell's Get it Baby "Come on and get it baby, whooo get it girl, whooo..." Repeat till fade!

I doubt if that's an uncommon problem although some of the artists I've seen have given sensational performances nevertheless. Lorraine Chandler at Stafford a definite favourite (despite having Keb Darge as one of her back-up singers!) A friend of mine goes to 'rocking' events at places like Hemsby and he says they're always having to remind elderly artists of their back catalogue!

https://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQgotopageZ1QQ...osortpropertyZ1 Somebody sure has been busy down at the ol' pressing plant...

Appalling punctuation and grammar, I notice...

Now this is a question that has haunted me for many a year.

Oh yeh, a great group and they really put 100% into their soul/motown covers. Mind you, the Marvelletes original is still the greatest!

And he also played for Hibs in the early 90s and even won the League Cup with them! (Hibs fans reading this will confirm we only win a trophy every 30 years or so...)

Hmmmm. I thought it had 'Tell Her' listed as the B side as well. Must be some sort of mass hallucination. Well apologies to the seller if I've got it all wrong.

Strolling through Ebay, I came across: https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW isn't this a bootleg? £75! No wonder he's not getting any bids...

Although best known as an 'indie' DJ, he played quite a few Northern and R'n'B tracks on his show. Sad loss...