Mark Randle's Modern Soul Musings 2012

Thanks to Mark Randle for his summer choice of Modern Soul and special thanks to Howard Earnshaw and Soul Up North for allowing us to use Mark's article. This will hopefully be a regular piece with marks recommendations of recent Modern Soul releases.

Soul Up North Is just about to Issue it's 75th Issue...more details to follow as soon as I get them.

Modern Musings………news and grooves from the Modern Side with Mark Randle

I love sport, but had not really given any thought to the Olympics, and of course you would have to be accompanying the NASA rover Curiosity on it’s trip to Mars to be unaware that it was being held in London this time around. I enjoy football, racquet sports etc, etc but have never really considered myself a fan of watching track and field, swimming, cycling and the like. But I’ve got to say that having watched the opening ceremony and being engaged by that, I spent the two weeks that followed glued to the TV when work and such like didn’t get in the way. Maybe it was the added interest of it being on home soil, but I was absolutely riveted to it all and have to say a massive well done to Team GB on third place in the medal table; bring on Rio 2016!! On a more general note, I think 2012 has been a great year for GB, what with the games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. I’m sure some of the more cynical or Republican amongst you might disagree, but I reckon it’s been a year in which to be very proud to be British, and 2012 has done us a lot of favours through the eyes of the rest of the world.

It was nice to see the weather hold out for the games too, aside from that first weekend. I don’t know what the record books say, but 2012 must be some sort of record for rainfall during the summer months. After all I’ve said about being proud to be British, in this particular respect I could easily leave the country!! I don’t know about you, but I feel that winter is a long and miserable time in many ways, and when we don’t get much of a summer to compensate it’s not good for the old endorphins. We really do need those rays for a few months. Anyway, my first track for review is from Noah & The Ark’s…………….….only kidding!

Down to business, and after much will they, won’t they, the biggest news I have for you this ish is that the Prestatyn Weekender returns in 2013 over at Pontins Holiday Centre in Prestatyn on the North Wales coast. Once again being promoted by Pontins themselves, of course now owned by Britannia Hotels Group, and featuring a blend of Northern, Rare 60’s and Modern soul, the event is to be held over the weekend of 8-10 March 2013. All things Northern Soul remain in the control of John Poole, but there are changes on the Modern side, with Richard Searling responsible for organising the more contemporary aspects of the event. DJ’s confirmed for the main modern room are Bigger, Colin Curtis, Andy Davies, Mick Farrer, Fish, Fitzroy, Jim Hargreaves, Steve Hobbs, Terry Jones, John Kane, Neil Rushton, Neil Self, Mike Stephens and myself. Taking care of business on the 70’s/crossover front are Kev Briscoe, Andy Davies, Sean Hampsey, Ivor Jones, Terry Jones, Steve Plumb, Ady Pountain , Soul Sam, Cliff Steele, Andy “Tats” Taylor and Glynn Thornhill. A quick mention that Northern fans can salivate at the prospect of The Vibrations live in concert, but for you good folks reading these pages I can tell you that Vince “Audio” Broomfield from the Sunshine State is making his way to these shores for live duties too. Many of you will be aware that Vince is one of our real indie soul heroes from both his solo work and that with his extended family as La Voyage. The former of course has seen him recently releasing quality unreleased music from the vaults, along with new material, for Dave Welding/John Anderson’s Soul Junction Records here in the UK. If you’re not familiar with Vince, then please check out my one-off Starpoint Radio special for July 2012 at http://starpointsoulboy.podomatic.com/ (see play list below) to hear some of his fine catalogue from across the years, and to prepare you for his live show next March. Tickets for the weekend, which are selling very nicely thank you, can be obtained on 0844 576 5949, 01745 881800 or at www.pontins.com, with a variety of packages to suit all purses. Don’t sleep though, as certain types of accommodation are all but sold out!!

After a successful inaugural event last November, The Scottish Soulful Weekender returns for SSW2 on 2-4 November 2012. The venue once again is the Cairndale Hotel in English Street, Dumfries, DG1 2DF and following a few tweaks as a result of lessons learned at the first event it looks set to be another blinder. Featuring DJ’s such as Tony Humphries, DJ Spen, Gilles Peterson (TBC), Greg Wilson, Al Kent, Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson, Ian Levine, Ian Wright, Snowboy and with Darrow Fletcher appearing live, the weekender looks to confirm itself as a major player on the dance/soul scene. The line-ups, organisation and effort put in from day one at this event says it all and the promoters are worthy of your support.

Following our mega Summer All Dayer, Soul Purpose returns for a more modest, but non-the-less essential regular session on Friday 7 September. Guest DJ making his Soul Purpose debut is Bournemouth Weekender head honcho Bob Masters. I’m sure you know the score by now, but if you’re a virgin (no, not like that!) then the place to be is Sketchley Grange Hotel, Hinckley, Leics. LE10 3HU. We run 8pm through 1am with door tax just six of your English pounds. Master Masters will be supported of course by residents Sam Evans, Mark Goddard and myself. See you there for lots of what follow below:

Joey Negro And The Sunburst Band Most cuts (UK Z Records LP/CD “The Secret Life Of Us”)

The new set from Joey Negro’s Sunburst band has the look and feel of summer, so it’s ironic that it’s probably the wettest one on record for 100 years!! Oh well, based on the old adage that the cup is half full, rather than half empty, we should view this feel good set as the perfect antidote and just the ticket to lift our spirits and at least make it seem a little like summer! As one would expect it is full of up tempo soul, soulful house and jazz-funk and kicks off in fine style with a cover of a real Randle favourite from back in the day, in the shape of Brenda Russell’s “In The Thick of It”, here featuring the vocals of the great Angela Johnson. A nice jazzy feel to an impressive version. Following US vocalist Angela, comes the UK’s Pete Simpson on the slightly more straight-up soulful house groove of “Why Wait For Tomorrow.” Diane Charlemagne impresses on the low slung, mid-tempo groover “My Way” before the instrumental “Jazz The DMX,” actually sounding more funk like than jazz, though the piano on top does provide a jazzy icing to this particular cake. The semi-vocal “Easy Come, Easy Go” has an 80’s electro feel and in truth is over before it starts, which is a shame because it’s a right groove. Darien takes us back to the full vocals, featuring on the great “Where The Lights Meet The Music”, with the hook sounding uncannily like the Jones Girls classic “Nights Over Egypt.” Quality dance floor material encouraging you to “spend your nights where the lights meet the music.” One of the albums highlights is the bouncing, bass-driven Incognito like title cut with Donna Gardier and Diane Charlemagne sharing vocal duties. I have to say that Pete Simpson’s “Caught In The Moment” doesn’t really do it for me, opening like a piece of American MOR pop/rock, but maybe it’s just me? “Opus De Soul” is another Incognito like instrumental groove; nice enough to provide an interlude between the killers. Vivienne McKone’s “Trust Me” is actually a funked-up version of an old Viv cut from the Y2K’s. Nice, but if you don’t know the smoother original then check that out first! The last five cuts on the album are a further mix of vocal/semi-vocal and instrumental cuts with an 80’s feel, but you’ve already had the highlights of this great set over the first two-thirds of it. Another quality offering from one of the UK’s finest purveyors of good time dance floor friendly grooves.

R. Kelly Various cuts (US RCA CD “Write Me Back: Deluxe Edition”)

Having delivered lots of quality cuts over the years popular on the UK soul scene, and often bridging the gap between the modern and rare soul scenes, Robert Kelly returns with his strongest album for some time. The set opens with the up tempo “Love Is”, which has the feel of David Ruffin’s “Walk Away From Love” despite the difference in tempo and it not being credited…….yep, it’s there alright! “Feelin’ Single” takes the tempo down a touch and has a nice Rod Temperton feel (think Tamia “You Put A Move On My Heart”), but with no involvement evident from Rod. The cut credits the use of Bill Wither’s “Lovely Day”, though I’d say it’s less obvious than the “Walk Away…..” influence on the opening cut. Strange but true. “Lady Sunday” is an obvious radio pick from the set and is quite fabulous. “When A Man Lies” and “Clipped Wings” take the tempo right down and provide the man the opportunity to prove that he can sing a bit. “Believe That It’s So” is one of the albums highlights, a string laden mid-tempo gem with an anthem feel a la “Happy People.” “Fool For You” trips along with an old school feel, as does “All Rounds On Me” with a vocal intro followed by a very Ray Charles influenced electric piano run. It turns into a swing your pants electric guitar laced number which isn’t really for me. “Believe In Me” and “Green Light” are fairly typical Kelly ballads. “Party Jumpin’” is instantly forgettable from our viewpoint, with the only thing going for it being that it sits alongside the albums big dance floor cut and one which will need no introduction. “Share My Love” has been doing the rounds on the UK modern scene for months thanks to the “dodgy download” that is such a big part of our music in the 21st century. Anyway, it’s here now available to all, but vinyl junkies need to decide what’s more important, the music or the format, because this is only available on CD album and looks set to stay that way. It’s a typical Kelly dance floor groove with more of that hands in the air anthem feel, as he declares that he wants to share his love with his girl for the rest of his life, though it’s clear what his short-term goal is!! There are four bonus cuts on this deluxe edition with “One Step Closer” being the pick, but you can probably live without these if its dance floor grooves you’re after.

Big Brooklyn Red Various cuts (US Trusoul Records CD “Answer The Call”)

One of the most sought after mid-tempo dance floor gems of the past couple of years, “Taking It Too Far” finally gets to see the light of day, with quantity of this US release now in the UK. This is one of those stories of myth and legend, which I believe goes a little something like this. The CD was originally released in 2008, pressed in the US, but only ever distributed in Japan. Confused yet? The result was an excruciatingly hard to come by CD containing a much sought after track. Of course these days the impact of such shenanigans is mitigated by the availability to all via MP3 and CDR, but for the collectors amongst us, we need the real thing and our need is now satisfied. To complete the story, and add to the allure, it is the track of choice, “Taking It Too…” which caused it’s limited distribution, as the cut uses Lowrell’s “Mellow, Mellow Right On” as it’s foundation, and it was lack of clearance for the use of this which lead to it being pulled from release. Presumably this has now been resolved. Anyway, it’s here in all its glory but what you need me to tell you is that this is far from a one trick pony, and for those that aren’t aware of Big Brooklyn Red you really need to check him out. Visually not your typical big voiced American soul singer, the old adage never judge a book by its cover comes into play here. “Home To You” and “Believe In Yourself” get the set underway nicely, the former with some great brass weaving around Red’s resonant vocals. The aforementioned big cut comes in at track three, and you don’t need me to tell you much more than I already have about this, except that there is further use of brass to fine effect as this plods along with Red’s quality vocal telling the story of a break up, and an effort to remain friends, but with the lady being intrusive on his new life he proclaims that she is “taking it too far, to ever get me back baby…..” Though you wouldn’t guess from the intro, and could therefore easily bypass it, “So Inspired” is another of the albums highlights, similar in style to “Taking It Too…” with that brass in there again. Though nice enough, with the exception of the duet with (Lady) Alma Horton “Sunrays”, nothing really reaches the heights of the four opening cuts until the album comes to a close, where the title track shines. This is precluded by an up tempo version of Marvin’s “Sexual Healing”, which you’ll either love or hate. The album closes with “Truth”, another up tempo mover with more great vocals from the man, accompanied by that brass again, plus nice piano and strings. Overall a decent album then this, and worthy of your hard-earned. And a tip for you, check out the 2002 12” release for Distant Music Patrick Green feat. Big Brooklyn Red “Shine Your Light On Me”, which was where I first heard of Red, it being a gospel house dancer of the highest order. I don’t half look after you lot!

Various Most cuts (UK Harmless LP/CD “PIR Classics: The Tom Moulton Remixes”)

Ian Dewhirst is known to most of us, either to the Northern Soul faithful as DJ “Frank” (Wigan Casino etc), or maybe from further down the line as compiler of the great Mastercuts compilations. Truth be told, Ian has earned his living from the music business for more years than he cares to remember, and now finds himself involved with the likes of heavyweight remixer Tom Moulton in pulling together Philly/disco compilations such as this one. Whatever your preference, this is a great package, either as a four CD box set with 31 tracks and accompanying booklet, or as 3 double LP’s featuring a dozen or so of the choice cuts from the CD. Of course, you could be a complete mug and buy the lot, but who would do a thing like that? (Er, you Randle? — Ed). Lot’s of great tracks then, from the more obvious (“Back Stabbers, “The Love I Lost”, “I Don’t Love You Anymore”, “You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine”) to the perhaps not so obvious (to us) such as “When Will I See You Again” by the Three Degrees. The only downside to all this of course, is that many readers of this particular magazine like the short, sharp get in, get out of the 3 or 4 minute tune, rather than an extended remix of what were already longish cuts in their original form. But if anybody’s going to remix and extend them, then I guess Tom Moulton’s your man, and many of these tracks are musically non-the-worse for Tom’s touch, which of course also lifts this from being just another straight-ahead PIR compilation. Lovers of soul music across the genres need this in their collection, the only question is……….vinyl or CD? Vinyl is the collector’s choice, but can you live without the other tracks? Over to you………

The Music Box with Mark Randle on Starpoint Radio playlist for July 2012:

The Sunburst Band ft. Angela Johnson- In The Thick Of It (UK Z Rec’s CD) Jarrard Anthony — I Love You (US JAPMEG CD)

Cool Million feat. Natasha Watts — Show Me (EU SedSoul CD) Perri — It’s Been You (US MCA LP)

R. Kelly — Lady Sunday (US RCA CD) Jennifer Holliday — It’s In There (US Arista CD)

Ron Carroll & Byron Stingily — I Owe My Love To You (EU Peppermint Jam CD) Teena Marie feat. Lenny Kravitz — Main Squeeze (US Sarai CD)

Rodney Mannsfield — Wanna Make Luv 2 U (US A&M CD) Richard Earnshaw feat. Natasha Watts — Won’t Let Go (Vocal Mix) (UK Duffnote MP3)

Johnny Gill — Wrap My Body Tight (UK Motown LP) Ralf GUM/Monique Bingham — Little W. 12th St. (J Montana Mix) (UK Solid Ground MP3)

Robbie Mychals — One Mile From Paradise (US Alpha International LP) Audio — Romantic (UK Rare Groove Records LP)

Ziggy Funk/Taliwa — What You Afraid Of (Ian Friday Mix) (US Quantize MP3) The Keepers feat. Audio — Can You Picture This (US Sterling Gold Records 12”)

Steven Stone & Wendy Lewis — New Lady (Original) (EU Soul Deluxe MP3) Audio feat. Vince Broomfield — Won’t Somebody (UK Soul Junction Records 7”)

GU feat. Cei Bei — Fall’en Raine (Original Vox Mix) (US NLC 12”) Howard Johnson — Several Exceptions (US Raven Mad Records CD)

Gregory Porter — On My Way To Harlem (US Motema Music CD) Big Brooklyn Red — So Inspired (US Trusoul Records CD)

Chidi — Someone (UK Selah Records CD) Princess Freesia — Stellar Sight (UK Digi Soul CD)

SIMPLY SOUL MAIL ORDER Top 10 (August 2012)

1. Various - Ferry Ultra and the Homeless Funkers (EU Peppermint Jam CD)

2. Sunburst Band — The Secret Life Of Us (UK Z Records LP/CD)

3. Cool Million — 111 (EU Sedsoul CD)

4. DJ Kemit — Everlasting (US NIA CD)

5. Various — PIR Classics: Tom Moulton Remixes (UK Harmless LP’s/CD box set)

6. R. Kelly — Write Me Back (Deluxe Version) (US RCA CD)

7. Various - Crossover To Modern Soul (UK Outta Sight CD)

8. Yambee — Blacker (UK Midnight Riot 12”)

9. Rhythm Machine — Rhythm Machine (w/ unreleased tracks) (US Now Again LP/CD)

10. Kon & The Gang — Get It Together (EU Basic Fingers 12”)

Tel - 0116 237 5461

Email - sales@firstexperiencerecords.com

Web - www.firstexperiencerecords.com

Soon be Christmas!

Mark