Review Of Terrys Chocolate Soul Nite -Dave D

Review of Terrys Chocolate Soul Nite

Always good to get stuff from the man on the street and heres a good one a review of last Fridays - Terrys Chocolate Soul in London town - by Dave Dixon sounds like a good one -read on......................

I arrived at 9.30pm, walked up the stairs of the Catch bar where Chocolate Soul is held. I paid the an at the top of the stairs and I was in. My first thoughts were that its much smaller than I imagined it would be. The room is L shaped, with a bar to the left and the DJ stand and dancefloor at the back. There was also, for the first time, a record/CD dealer positioned at the front. Very reasonable his prices were too. There were not many people in at this time but this was probably due to the football still being on. I knew it was going to be a packer as it was Terry Joness birthday, Gavin Paiges wet the babys head night and also several other regular punters birthdays. In fact, there were a variety of cards at the front door for signing. The music at the beginning was great modern soul i.e. new stuff from the last couple of years. TJ came on afterwards and it was suddenly very busy and played his usual very high quality set that included brand new sounds (Janita) and old classics (George Benson - "Love Ballad"). Mike Stephens was the nights guest DJ and played a set that most people would normally expect from - mainly brand new stuff, most of it not very well known although he did slip in a few very popular tunes. I did hear some people say they felt that the tempo of the stuff he played was a bit slow and verging on RnB (Im talking Jaheim here, not Charles Sheffield). Having said that, the dancefloor was still bust throughout his set.

He also got more than the customary hour that guest DJs seem to get. I reckon it was 90 minutes which I thought was good because theyre are usually the most interesting sets of the night. TJ finished off the last hour with a storming set of northern and modern classics including The Constellations, Voices of East Harlem, Ace Spectrum, Tavasco, B.G.L., Drizabone, Barbara Acklin, Jackie Wilson, Bobby Reed, Beloyd and 4 Below Zero. The place was absolutely rocking with hardly any room to dance anywhere. There were people there from different soul backgrounds but all appreciated the same fantastic music and really enjoying themselves in a very friendly atmosphere. .

I had a great time. It was my first visit but it wont be my last. .

Dave Dixon . .

Event details . Terrys Chocolate Soul. Last Friday every month. . 9.00pm-2.00am. £5 + usual concessions. . Terry Jones, Sourmash and monthly special guests .