Culcheth Two Room Soul Night

Genuine excitement mounting for Saturday as CULCHETH returns to the first Saturday of the month. Looking forward to meeting up with everyone, chewing the fat and hearing some exceptional music in the process. Rare and underplayed 60’s and 70’s in the main room, with a smattering of classics and favourites thrown in for good measure from Kev, Simon, Baz and special guests Phil and Alex.

For those who like the modern groove, you can’t go wrong with Steve, Bill, Nick, Pete and Charlie supplying quality Modern Soul selections from the 70’s right through to today’s latest releases.

All this in the brilliant surroundings of CULCHETH VILLAGE CLUB, which suits the soul crowd down to the ground.

Starts at 8:00pm thru till 1:00am, see you there    

SATURDAY MAY 4th MAIN ROOM REVIEW

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to choose CULCHETH for their Saturday soul fix this weekend. Featuring rare, not-so-rare and just plain, good soul music from the 60’s, 70’s 80’s with a sprinkling of the best current (latest) releases in two rooms, hopefully it did what it says on the tin.

The main room featuring mainly 60’s and 70’s started in top style with KEV MURPHY taking the first set and as Kev always does, spinning a selection of quality Northern featuring great tunes from The Ambers, Two Plus Two, Celebrities, Billy Hambrick, Groovettes, Hyperions, Natural Four and Silky Hargreaves, to name a few. Next up was another of the CULCHETH resident’s team, SIMON INGHAM. Simon is an unsung DJ who’s knowledge, collection and passion for rare and underplayed soul is coming to the fore, with imaginative sets showcasing great music including platters from, OV Wright, Flash McKinley, The Trends, Tommy Tuner, Louis Paul, Ernie Washington, The Dynells, Bad Weather Inc and Edwin Starr.

Simon was followed by our illustrious guests, PHIL WAINWRIGHT and ALEX JONES; now Phil and Alex have been on the scene for many years and are best known to those who enjoy the rarer side of 60’s soul, with both collecting the right sounds at the right time (lots will know what I mean by that), That really came into its own on Saturday with folks treated to a masterclass of rare soul sounds… The promised (for me) Freddie Butler, Little Johnny Hamilton (x2) El Carols, Eptones, John Harris, Damon Fox, The Moments, Sandy Hadley, Wendell Watts, Sequins (x2) Tiaras, Servicemen, Informers, William Powell and many more! It was a pleasure and privilege to hear so many great records, one after the other. All was left for me to do was take care of the last hour, knowing that the job had been well and truly done! So, that took the form of Moses Dillard, Versatones, Gino Washington, Dramatics, Lou Bond, Sir Henry Ivy, The Sound Masters, Emanuel Laskey, Willie and the Mighty Magnificents, Ernest Fitzgerald, Jesse Slaughter, Don Gardner and finishing with Marvin Gaye, My Love for You and naturally, thanking all who had been part of a great night at CULCHETH.    

SATURDAY MAY 4th 2024 - MODERN ROOM REVIEW

Aside from the Main Room, we also had our 'Do Within A Do' room running across the corridor - The CULCHETH MODERN ROOM playing Soul Music of all flavours from the 1970's thru to the latest 2024 releases and everything in-between.

This month a really healthy crowd was in attendance and about 90% of the crowd had come just for this room, with most tables taken early, leaving space in the bar area for various visitors throughout the evening from the Main Room.

The night kicked off in the usual way with PETE RATCLIFFE spinning all the latest (& forthcoming) releases from all the main indie Soul labels. This first hour has become an institution and many future Modern Room spins get their first airing in this first hour. This month forthcoming releases from Izipho, Soul Direction & North Broad Street shared air time with current releases from Soul4Real, Jai Alai, LRK & Kent etc and set the tone for the night.

Early spots from STEVE PLUMB, NICK McKINNON & BILL WILDMAN got the dance floor ticking over nicely, then came CHARLIE SMITH with his 'Uber' box of 70.s monsters and rarities, featuring tunes which these day's would be equally at home in the main room.

Musically, we had a wide range of styles with Nick & Steve catering for 80's boogie tunes, new releases and a few rarities thrown in for good measure. Nick going with Circle City Band - Magic, Dino Terrell - You Can Do It, Al Kent - Understanding is The Answer & Nimbiss - Paradise etc, whilst Steve gave us Cania - Visions, Thee Sacred Souls - Running Away (Plumbob Edit), Ellis Hall Group - Those Passing Words (a Culcheth first hour tune from last year and now a floor filler) and Crack of Dawn - Mind Wrecker etc. Bill gave us Jazz Funk classics and Modern Soul monster steppers in the shape of MFSB - Mysteries of The World, Willie Hutch - Easy Does It and Love Unlimited - High Steppin' Hip Dressin' Fella etc. Charlie's ‘angels’ didn't need any hyping as they are already holy grail items just about everywhere, as Hamilton Movement and Lil Major Williams will agree, although Bernard Drake joining the party at the end of his spot was a nice way to finish, Quality! After Charlie, we had the return of Steve, Nick and Bill who continued to keep the dance floor full with their second spots with left Bill to finish the night off in style. So as the strains of Starvue took us to the end of a great night, we agreed to do it all again next month. The first Saturday of every month, the CULCHETH TWO ROOM extravaganza - see you in June!