Turning Point - Nick Gilbert

 

nick gilbert takes us on a trip through the last decade right up to the present day with a look at the last ten years of the scene

the turning point

before I was relocated to green belt suburbia, Herts. I had been attending the 100 Club since Ady had first started there with a Friday night evening do. Anyway Sean came along with me expecting a good night. I was embarrassed, there was probably less than 100 people in that night, and it was a disaster, there was nothing wrong with the music, it was the lack of people, a main ingredient for a good atmosphere and therefore a good night. As I sat at home later on that weekend I realised the northern scene had reached it's nadir, it was either sink or swim from here.

the turn around

I carried on attending the 100 club and soon noticed more younger faces attending, I heard about successful all-nighters at Keele and the Ritz; although it was really noticeable at these two venues it was more of the old crowd. Come 1992 and Ady , via his Kent records label released his first rehash CD of his successful LP formula, something was stirring, attendance's were still on the up, more and more youngsters; pissed off with what was on offer at other types of dance venues, were attending the 100 club, and with that, not carrying excess baggage of old, so more receptive to fresh new sounds, none of this oldies v newies etc. Ady held his first weekender on the wettest October weekend on record (in my opinion !!) It was only attended by about 250 hardy souls but everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, a couple of points that stand out in my mind about that weekend; Willie Tee pulled out at the last moment; Ady personally gave everyone a fiver back in cash as compensation, now ask yourself why people attend his dances. I came across my first overseas northern soul fans, I believe it was Spanish & German in attendance that weekend.

So what was the catalyst that caused this upsurge in interest ??? I don't think there is one simple answer, was it the advent of the compilation CD ? It has certainly made the job of listening to your favourite sounds at home a lot easier, I personally know a lot of people, particularly females, who don't have the confidence/knowledge to go trawling through records boxes looking for there favourite tunes, buying a ten quid CD and getting 24 tracks is a whole lot easier. I don't think the mod scene, especially in London, ever died, I think it went on the back burner just waiting to be turned up. Then there was the media, we went through a phase when you couldn't pick up any "style" magazine without a picture of a lad or lass giving it all on the dance floor and an article about northern soul, this obviously awoke more interest. Even the fashion companies joined in, Levis introduced the "Northern Soul" range at a lavish party in West London (free beer all night !! God there was some sore heads the following day !!!) A lot of old faces began to re-appear at venues, kids had grown up, few quid in their pockets, good night out. One medium I believe has caused a lot of people to become more involved in the scene has been the advent of the internet, people buying new PC's, putting the term "Northern Soul" in to a search engine and hey presto.. no end to read and hear about. I personally have been on line for about 3 years now and I have certainly noticed the increase in web sites & message boards dedicated to our favourite type of music.

Added to all this there is regular fanzines/magazines dedicated to the scene, a twelve hour film extravaganza (some people loved it, some hated it) 3 to 4 books all tracing the history of the northern soul scene, all including some excellent anecdotes and brilliant photos. And last but not least, dozens of CD releases making our favourite type of music easily accessible to all.

the present

At this stage I could say the scene has gone from strength to strength, which it has, but I will give an overview of my favourite clubs today.

As far as I am concerned the 100 club always ploughed a furrow as far as introducing new sounds, with it's younger, more receptive audience it was probably easier, but another venue with an upfront music policy was the Wilton Ballroom in Normanton West Yorkshire, and along with the 100 club came to be one of my most visited venues, along with odd visit here and there to the Ritz and maybe Keele. Due to a change of job and relocation back to Peterborough I hadn't attended a Wilton since last November so I really looked forward to attending last month, to my horror it was one of the worst nights I had had in ages, apart from Roger Banks (who actually played a couple of duds as well) the music was dire, one couple played what was supposedly R&B for an hour, well I'm sorry, to my ears that was nothing more than rock'n'roll/doo-wop for an hour, I went away very disappointed. I hope that was a minor blip, the Wilton has been running for around 7 years and has always adopted an up front music policy and I would hate to see it's high standards slip. Back in the south, the Capitol Soul Club, based at The Dome in Tufnell Park North London regularly attracts crowds of 350/400, playing a cross section of class oldies and the odd new discovery thrown in, and is a brilliant night out, any event run by the Uptown Down South Soul Club on the south coast can be more or less guaranteed to be a favourable night out. The Cleethorpes weekender is always sold out now well in advance of it's June date, with a 1000+ people immersed in northern soul for the weekend (the only problem with that is, you need a week off to recover afterwards !!) with some top drawer live acts.

conclusion

I love northern soul, and the northern soul scene it has been a major part of my life, and I still believe there is a lot of legs left in the Northern Soul scene, my only concern is the scene ends up like the rock 'n' roll scene, where it is the same 500 or so records played so effectively becoming a retro northern soul scene, I have heard stories from friends who have attended the bigger venues and come away complaining about "same old records as usual". I believe this would be the death of the scene.

The scene has got to become more adventurous in it's music policy, I'm sure there are a lot of unplayed 70's 80's & 90's and to some extent 60's tracks sitting there waiting to be played, in my opinion, that is the only way forward. We must also try to attract more younger faces to the scene, how I don't know, over to you people !!!

thanks go out to nick for taking the time in sharing his outlook on the scene, as always stuff like this appreciated, always good to get points of views up here from soul fans, lots of good points in there, especially with some of the current talking points, oldies, R+B, 70-90s spins, the way forward, young blood etc etc

what do you think ? agree ? disagree ? well don't just sit there pass your thoughts on and let people