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My apologies. I remember Mick B having a couple of brothers, Syd and Julian. Small world I guess. The Mecca JW concert I saw was in the winter of 68/69, so probably a different gig to the one you attended. BTW, I knew Kenny C from college (I was at Art School, he was at the Tech round the corner - so 66/67), and through him I met Rob L. Rob hung round Wakefield in 69/70 - he came to the Metro when that opened. Met Mick Eastwood just this year! Lovely guy! I left the scene alone after the Metro closed (I was living in Kent - coming up every weekend to DJ the all-niter) - so I know little of the 70's Leeds scene. Used to go over to the Bee Gee and the King Charles in the mid 60's, though! Getting VERY off topic. Apologies again

Could well have been. The circle thing started (for me) at Earlsheaton Youth Club in Dewsbury in '65-66 - and they did it at the Mojo, too. When the Place Club, down Radcliffe Yard opened (late '66), we did it there, too. BTW, are you Mick B's younger brother? If you are, ask him about Earlsheaton. He went a few times. If you aren't, my apologies!

For you, that's cool. But any decade when you were aged 16-21 is THE best. For you it was the 70's (NS), for me it was the 60's (Mod scene), for a good (older) mate of mine, the 50's (he was a Teddy Boy!). It is about growing up, I guess

In Wakefield in the 60's, you either hung out with the in crowd, or went to the Mecca. Mutually exclusive. So I rarely went to the Mecca - I think the Junior Walker gig was one of the few times. Re ties - yes we wore them (Mods did in the 60's - regimental ones usually) - I remember one time the DS raided the Place Club (early 67) and they went round asking all the guys to loosen their ties - they thought we were hiding pills in the knots! Talk about ill-informed....

Hi Larry. How are you doing, mate? To me, the thread seems to have moved on from who coined the phrase, to how soon the phrase was used. Dave Godin, bless him, was a relentless self promoter, so I can quite understand how he would stake his claim to the invention of the name, just like he claimed to have put two of Berry Gordy's label names together, and come up with "Tamla Motown". On the other hand, I don't believe half of what I read in books by "experts" on what did and did not happen all those years ago. I guess we will never know. But the poster in my previous post supports what I believe - i.e: the phrase was not used as a descriptive term for our music in its first heyday, 1965-69. But again, all these years later, we will never know

When the Mojo closed, Pete Stringfellow set up as a mobile DJ. I had the pleasure of DJing with him when he did a night at the Place in Wakefield (late 67). He did some great all-niters at the Tin Chicken in Castleford (early 68). The first one featured "The Isley Brothers" - three skinny blokes who looked nothing like the Isleys (got chatting to them, and it turned out they were Sam. Erv and Tom). So, rather than "move on" and play UK pop, Stringy continued playing 100% Soul. Interestingly , and cogent to this thread, he didn't call it "northern soul". Look at the bottom of the poster:

I remember that last summer at the Mojo in 67. All hanging out in the sunshine waiting for the "all-dayers" to start. Used to hang out in that little park across the road, too. I went once wearing my full length red leather, but Dinky Dawson trumped me - he had a yellow one! Beatles "All You Need Is Love" got a few Mojo plays.......

Yeah, I saw the Jeff Beck/Mojo thing. The soul clubs up north* certainly played their part in the growing rock scene in the 60's, what with Cream playing their first gig at the Wheel. I remember those weekends at the Mojo, too. Happy days!(and nights) *note: I could've said "northern soul clubs", but that was not what I meant

A very simple reason why your best Mohair was not worn at all-niters. Down the Wheel, there were lots of folks spinning around. And a fair number of them would do it with a fag in their hand. In a club that rammed, a swipe across your back with a burning ciggie was a common occurrence. Denim had a good chance of withstanding that. Mohair stood much less chance. And denim was cheaper to replace. My Burtons Tailors weekly account could only stand so much!

That is the very point I was making. "Northern Soul" can mean any of those sub-genres you mention. So, if you know the scene, and therefore know what to look for and what to ask, you are cool. And if you really know your stuff, you just look at the DJ name, and you'll know what stuff he's gonna play. But what if you are a newcomer to the scene? What if all those names mean nothing to you? What if you've never heard of the DJ's name on the poster? You would be completely lost. THAT is my point. Going to a new "northern" night, or going to an established night as a newcomer, it is a gamble. Is it gonna be classic, is it gonna be modern, is it gonna by any of the categories you mention? Lap of the gods, mate, - and confusion reigns.

,The main issue I have with the "Northern Soul" tag is simply that it is too wide, too all encompassing. If I go to a "70's Disco Night" or a "Prog Rock Night" at my local DJ/pub night (not that I would) - I would know what I was gonna get. "Northern Soul Night" would offer me no such guarantee. A few years ago, I was happily spinning discs at just such a "Northern" night. I remember, the last two records I had played were "There's Nothing Else To Say"/Incredibles" and "That's What I Want To Know"/James Carr - and a sweet girl came up to the desk and said "I thought you were playing Northern Soul tonight?" As the Incredibles had just reminded me, there was nothing else to say...... She was in her 20's - I'm in my 60's - reliving my days at the Wheel. Whatever she had heard, I don't know - but the stuff I was playing meant nothing to her. But I'm sure all my faves, and all hers, have all been tagged "Northern". Sadly, we are stuck with it now. In fact, IMHO, it is getting worse. Many DJs, nowadays, seem just to want to impress other DJs, rather than get the crowd dancing. So what we hear are the rarest of the rare - "look guys, see what I've got!". And it's a demo!" - and tagged on the poster as "Northern Soul". Very sad, and very confusing.

Just made 500 plays! Well chuffed. Big thanks to all

Hi Frankie I'll say again. No-one knows categorically which sounds did/didn't get played (maybe even just the once) down the Wheel. As I said, I took 45s over there, and they were played. Were they ever played when I wasn't there? I haven't got the faintest. I don't know of anybody who attended every Wheel allnighter, so "due diligence to historical accuracy" is impossible. Especially as most of us were out of our skulls - watching out for the DS was the most important thing to remember on some nights. Regarding the tempo of the track - yes, by 1969, it would have been regarded as slow - but it came out in 1966, when dancing had not yet accelerated to 100mph, and backdrops were a thing of the future. "Wheel sounds were of a distinct character" - really? I heard "Judy In Disguise" down there, and even Elvis Presley got airtime. There are a lot of Wheel sounds that definitely WON'T be on any of my comps...