How Bad Was Wigan, Really

[Carty]

thats the one yes, i will get it up , cheers.

[Diddy Morgan]

Eddie Daye and the 4 Bars

Mr Soul

Little Ann

Paris

Combinations

Imaginations

Frankie Beverly

Moses Dillard

Betty Boo

Court Davis

Nomads

Eddie Holman (Not Wanted/Hurt)

John and the Weirdest

Yvonne Vernee

Don Gardner

Cecil Washington

Exportations

King Tutt

Pages

Daybreak

Charles Johnson

Cheryl Berdell

Arthur Adams

Phylis Hyman

Bobby Womack (So Many Sides)

Eddie Jacobs Exchange

Construction

Players 1V

Howard Guyton

Alex Taylor

Skip Mahoney

Keni Burke

Tommy Tate

William Powell

That was Wigan …....

and most of them after 78 when people didnt go cos they said the music was crap, when in reality they started to play soul music :wicked:

[Len]

As a young em back then. I still view it and cringe at the fact, that all the Dee Jays were old men at Wgan.  One going hairless, one a bully, one pot bellied and one with a built up shoe, who all owned a seriously shocking fashion sense.  But were responsible for the music.

 

 

Crumbs.....Can you imagine if everyone carried on for years and years, and the whole Scene ended up like that? - It doesn't bare thinking about....  

 

All the best,

 

Len

[Guest gordon russell]

 

Well my time was late 77 to early 80 and enjoyed it all,ive always collected pop records as well as soul so for me theirs never been an issue.

well ya gotta laugh at that......first honest reply ref music lol lol

[Ric-tic]

and most of them after 78 when people didnt go cos they said the music was crap, when in reality they started to play soul music :wicked:

 

but for me it and i suspect many others it  would have been a long and uncomfortable wait to get to that point i couldnt have done it and with the passing of time im pleased i never, there were better places to go

[Guest Soultown andy]

 well ya gotta laugh at that......first honest reply ref music lol lol

 

It is an honest reply i collect pop records as well as soul,and i would describe myself as a northern collector  as opposed to a soul only collector.Some venues i attend /dj at

are northern venues some are soul venues,there is a difference.For me wigan was a northern club,i enjoyed it.

[Guest]

seriously though if you took out what had gone before wigan and blackpool mecca discoveries you wouldnt be left with much would you?

[above list]

Blackpool Mecca was a soul night and not an allnighter like Wigan Casino.  They should not be compared because they were two different things!

Edited March 11, 2013 by Guest

[Guest Garry Huxley]

some (Lots of stunning records) you didnt hear anywhere else

 

mixed with crap pop stuff

 

all depended which djs you liked

 

RICHARD /ALAN RHODES / PAT BRADY / ETC ---- TOP IN MY VEIW THEN

 

couple i wont say due to legal reasons - played utter shite

 

THEN THERE WAS THE LEGEND THAT WAS MARTYN ELLIS

 

few others were great oldies djs and linked the Torch what had shut - to Wigan

so you got a brief overlap of some records

 

THE PLACE THOUGH JUST TOOK YOUR BREATH AWAY

JUST ELECTRIC THE MOMENT YOU GOT THROUGH THE DOOR -------- STOP PUSHING AT THE BACK

 

 

Hello Mr Searcher,

 

"THEN THERE WAS THE LEDGEND THAT WAS MARTYN ELLIS"

 

I remember the firstime i met martyn, (he had been away for a while!) Tony petherbridge introduced him to me and asked if he could borrow some records to do a small spot. i said help yourself.

This was Whitchurch around 74 / 75 ish.

 

Garry

[SHEFFSOUL]

I love it when people say "I went for the first year but then it got crap so I stopped going" - so how did you know it was crap after that if you stopped going?

 

in actual fact..quite a few 'stopped going' after a remarkably short time..my first visits in early 74 i remember as being fantastic..with many Torch and a few Wheel boys..they were the first to desert..prob around/just after the first anniversary..whether it was age,or the soussan inst's, pop sounds..but they'd had enough..the scene was suddenly flooded with cheap mass produced badges (mostly ISC)..disco demand , soul galore..and when Tony Blackburn completely fluffed the northern soul intro on TOTP..the soul collection cringed!..personally i went most weeks up until 77 then missed a few..when i returned it seemed like a youth club..many of the old faces had disappeared..the records seemed to be more disco driven..and i thought all this for a 400 mile round trip?..f**k it!..i'm certain i had the best years of it..and packed it in before i had chance to resent it..as many have said..'you had to be there'..a completely different experience from todays scene..

[Guest Dave Turner]

Blackpool Mecca was a soul night and not an allnighter like Wigan Casino.  They should not be compared because they were two different things!

 

Can't see a lot of difference myself apart from a 6 hour forward shift

 

8 till 2

2 till 8  (earlier days that is)

[Guest Dave Turner]

Hello Mr Searcher,

 

"THEN THERE WAS THE LEDGEND THAT WAS MARTYN ELLIS"

 

I remember the firstime i met martyn, (he had been away for a while!) Tony petherbridge introduced him to me and asked if he could borrow some records to do a small spot. i said help yourself.

This was Whitchurch around 74 / 75 ish.

 

Garry

 

I know it's not Wigan but a few months before at Top Rank Hanley so appologies as it's a bit off the thread ... just a memory jerker  

 

 

[Pete S]

I know it's not Wigan but a few months before at Top Rank Hanley so appologies as it's a bit off the thread ... just a memory jerker  

 

Superb Dave, thanks for posting

[Guest Garry Huxley]

I know it's not Wigan but a few months before at Top Rank Hanley so appologies as it's a bit off the thread ... just a memory jerker  

 

 

 

 

Top post mate nice to hear he had a sense of humour about his vacation, and his anticipated return to dj ing.

 

Garry

[SHEFFSOUL]

I know it's not Wigan but a few months before at Top Rank Hanley so appologies as it's a bit off the thread ... just a memory jerker  

 

 

 

..great memories..off thread or not...

[SHEFFSOUL]

Top post mate nice to hear he had a sense of humour about his vacation, and his anticipated return to dj ing.

 

Garry

 

gotta be 73... 73 i'd say..jackie Moore was a great sound..selecta had loads for sale..

Edited March 11, 2013 by SHEFFSOUL

[Ric-tic]

I know it's not Wigan but a few months before at Top Rank Hanley so appologies as it's a bit off the thread ... just a memory jerker  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dave i think must be the j j barnes all dayer jackie moore was played a lot that day that would have been 3/4 weeks before wigan that was a great day  

Edited March 11, 2013 by ric-tic

[Back Street Blue]

I think the big mistake was  labeling the Scene 'Northern SOUL'  - it's the 'Soul' part of that name that seems to be what eveyone has latched onto these days, mainly because they see it as more elitist, and cooler!

It was never a purely 'Soul' scene, and it still isn't.

Missed this thread 'cos I was at Prestatyn.

 

I never liked the term "Northern Soul" when it came out, to the point were I'd tell people "its soul not northern soul" and I was being elitist as I wanted to dissassociate myself from what the media had portrayed of the scene.

 

I totally agree and, like you I'm not "name calling", but the same is true of people on the current scene.

 

In answer to the original post, just see the "thinking man's oldies" pod casts by Pete Smith on here and take your pick of the old Wigan Stuff on there.

 

Also, RS did a two hour special on "Radio Prestatyn" last night on the casino classics, have a butchers at that playlist.

 

Wigan was a "be there or be square" deal.....end of.

 

I saw the Vibrations on Saturday night, blinding live performance in a packed arena with a great atmosphere...........but "cause your mine" could not and never will sound better than when it was banging out on vinyl at Wigan.

[Guest manusf3a]

Elitist and cooler, what playground wall did you see that on. You can't just be a soul fan daring to stick up for the music you love, you can't have your own taste within the 40 years of the history of the very differing music played on the scene, you can't like debating on the differences , obviously not unless it fits yours obviously??

 

fu*k right off, what is it with all the name calling whenever anyone dares to disagree with a couple of you on here. Why can't you accept it and debate it like a fuc**g normal human being rather than pathetic 5 year old name calling twat. F**k me, some of the shit on here gets more like the worst acid trip going.

 

Oi Dave, yes son, you know how you coined that sh*t we used to sell to Northern people as Northern, no son it was Northern Soul because my shop only sold Soul, oh right, just there's a debate doing on down there saying it was never soul, yes son that was the dickheads that came a few years later and like writing history to suit there own ends, oh right Dave so nothing for us to worry about then, no son get back to filing those soul 45's in order. 

 

F**k me. Very few people say there should be no pop records played, lots of people don't like the shit pop records, which some of us like having a healthy debate on, our opinions because guess what we feel as strongly as you do on your opinion, get fuc**g over it but don't rewrite f****g history. 

run out of likes,very good point stop the airbrushing out ,denials and the changed accounts,

[Guest gordon russell]

 

Missed this thread 'cos I was at Prestatyn.

 

I never liked the term "Northern Soul" when it came out, to the point were I'd tell people "its soul not northern soul" and I was being elitist as I wanted to dissassociate myself from what the media had portrayed of the scene.

 

I totally agree and, like you I'm not "name calling", but the same is true of people on the current scene.

 

In answer to the original post, just see the "thinking man's oldies" pod casts by Pete Smith on here and take your pick of the old Wigan Stuff on there.

 

Also, RS did a two hour special on "Radio Prestatyn" last night on the casino classics, have a butchers at that playlist.

 

Wigan was a "be there or be square" deal.....end of.

 

I saw the Vibrations on Saturday night, blinding live performance in a packed arena with a great atmosphere...........but "cause your mine" could not and never will sound better than when it was banging out on vinyl at Wigan.

Agree with some of your points....as far as RS doing a casino classics spot....it,s easy with heinsight to leave out the pop although l don,t think serling was responsable in the main for it! atb

[Len]

"THEN THERE WAS THE LEDGEND THAT WAS MARTYN ELLIS"

 

 

Garry

 

MONEY SAVING EXPERT!

 

Len

[Ian Parker]

thats Martin Lewis

[Len]

thats Martin Lewis

 

Oh yeh.....

 

Len

Edited March 12, 2013 by LEN

[Orotava]

I think a lot depends upon your definition of `pop` - might sound like it to one person and not to another (It`s the music not the artist).

 

(Just put my hard hat on).....

[MrsWoodsrules]

At the end of the day, you have to put things into perspective & The Casino went stratospheric, although, yeah still a sub-culture, it was virtually mainstream, in a way like no other soul venue has ever been or ever will be in future, nothing today could get anywhere near touching it for popularity and interest, a couple of thousand people EVERY single Saturday night and a Friday night once a month too.

So, inevitably this brought a whole new way of thinking & things changed rapidly, records would be broke, be popular, get pressed, and fade away within months, the turnover of new tunes was immense and new people were coming onto the scene on a weekly basis too.

Also, you had bandits like Simon S, sponsoring some of the dj's for their own promotional ends thens it's no wonder some of pop broke though.

I'm might get slated for saying this this is my opinion, but, you did actually have what you might coin 'lads' tunes & 'girls's tunes, and in my opinion some of the more poppy 'girls' were responsible for a lot of the pop, not saying all, but just a higher percentage at that time & there was a massive influx a 'girls' jumping on the bandwagon & onto the scene at that time that were obviously being catered for, or targeted. (I'm thinking Muriel Grey & Lorraine Silver).

But that was the way it was, and the choice of sounds was so varied, there was something for everyone & it was just a case of 'well I hate that' but something good was always two minutes away.

All that said, the venue sported most of the best quality sounds ever introduced to the scene too & shouldn't be lampooned solely for that pop period exclusively.

 

Aid.

[Len]

I don't think anyone would deny that Wigan Casino was a place of legendary status, it must have been magnificent to those that attended......The 100 Club was my 'Wigan Casino' (Still going strong).......

 

Point being, the 30 years that followed Wigan also counts for something, which I know most of you guyz on here wouldn't deny either, but loads do (actions, not words) and that frustrates the hell out of me.

 

All the best,

 

Len  

[Citizen P]

As interesting, or predictable, as this has become.

 

Thank you to the less than 5% that answered the bloody question posed.   

[Guest MrC]

As interesting, or predictable, as this has become.

 

Thank you to the less than 5% that answered the bloody question posed.   

 

 

In case you missed my answer - "It Wasn't"!

[Citizen P]

 

In case you missed my answer - "It Wasn't"!

 

Agreed, but THAT wasn't the question.

[Len]

As interesting, or predictable, as this has become.

 

Thank you to the less than 5% that answered the bloody question posed.   

 

     "Get used to it girlfriend!" - Have you ever seen a thread that stays 'on course'?

 

This thread had everything, the 'no where near the point' the 'arguments', the 'quips' etc, etc, so all in all I think it was a success

 

All the best,

 

Len  

 

P.s - What was the question again?  

Edited March 12, 2013 by LEN

[Citizen P]

     "Get used to it girlfriend!" - Have you ever seen a thread that stays 'on course'?

 

This thread had everything, the 'no where near the point' the 'arguments', the 'quips' etc, etc, so all in all I think it was a success

 

All the best,

 

Len  

 

P.s - What was the question again?  

 

F*kkit, Who Cares ??

[Guest MrC]

Agreed, but THAT wasn't the question.

 

Correct! It was the answer to the title!

Bloody hell, I've just realised Jocko was right about me not reading stuff properly sometimes!

 

[Len]

Correct! It was the answer to the title!

Bloody hell, I've just realised Jocko was right about me not reading stuff properly sometimes!

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but there is a difference between -

 

'How bad was Wigan, really?'.....and

 

'Was Wigan bad?'

 

Sorry 'MrC'....but I think Jocko's right.....

 

Great fun though

 

All the best,

 

Len

Edited March 12, 2013 by LEN

[Citizen P]

To everybody that I may of unwittingly confused.

 

 

The title is not the question, nor is the answer 42.

[Len]

F*ck me, I'm confused now  

 

Len  

[Guest MrC]

F*ck me, I'm confused now  

 

Len  

 

I think the question was about listing some of the records that were played at the Casino, good or bad, depending on your point of view Len.

 

 

I think.....

 

Maybe....

[Len]

"So, how how about a defintive list of the GREAT stuff played at the old Place ??"

 

Gotcha now.....Sorry, can't help you there.......I didn't go......    

 

All the best,

 

Len  

Edited March 12, 2013 by LEN

[Guest MrC]

"So, how how about a defintive list of the GREAT stuff played at the old Place ??"

 

Gotcha now.....Can't help you there.......I didn't go......

 

All the best,

 

Len  

 

 

[Tezza]

I saw the Vibrations on Saturday night, blinding live performance in a packed arena with a great atmosphere...........but "cause your mine" could not and never will sound better than when it was banging out on vinyl at Wigan.

They were fabulous, and a history lesson to boot.  Fascinating to find out how much they were involved in and who they wrote for.  'Cause You're Mine was the one song they did that didn't do it for me Saturday Night but as you said, booming out, back in the day - amazing.

Back to the question ( or at least a tenuous link back ) The Casino was good, The Casino was bad !! It was mostly down to the mood you were in yourself and also the DJ's, if they wanted to be. Never my No. 1 venue but did it because it was the law back then, I had the Car and had to Drive !!

If we all liked the same shit it would be a sad sad world !! Now where's my Justin Bieber CD ??

[jocko]

As the eternal spoiler of these due to my normal low tolerance levels of misquotes and rewrites, I will try and enter spirit.

As I often say I was only regular for last 18 months so maybe not best to judge, and as a result I would probably say most records were good, I certainly did not know enough to judge a good soul record or not ,and probably not even a soul record (park the sarcy comments please). However with power of hindsight, which is obviously a massive temptation to allow to taylor your recollections, there was mostly good music in that time, and dare I say it mostly good soul music.

Winstanley probably most inconsistent but main things I remember are his vocal-less dubs, Sweet Talking Guy being the one I most remember, his Candi Staton c/u Mary Wilson, which I loved and bought at the time but is just a bland poppy record on relistening, Gene Latter Groove Me which again I loved and bought but leaves me cold now, his Gene Latter Funny Face Girl which I actually still love , and Roger K which was first record I bought, and cracked the same night, a fate I suspect would have happened at some point later in my buying career but struggling to remember much more any good which I suspect is a bit unfair. I recognised the Seeds as rock pish the first time I heard it and eventually it was the record that started my war cry, that’s not Soul, once I had gained a little confidence and found it difficult to stay quiet holding court in the nooks and crannies of the balcony.

After that all Dj's were pretty great I am sure, obviously all had boo boos but I have eliminated them from memory.

Working back from Dave Evison - the currently popular Mighty Marvellos, sure he used to dance to that himself, Nolan Porter Oh Baby, Tower of Power This Time Its Real, Millie Jackson House For Sale, leading me not to really think of 70's v 60's, it was all Northern for my young easily influenced ears, I also hold him dear for first time I heard Love You Baby played out at full on nighter and it made the hair on my baws stand straight up. I even loved George Benson On Broadway as he played it, for a joke I believe, and still do, but maybe not as a Northern record, and the ones that I have best memories of was the Superlatives, as even in the sparsely attended days it seemed to lift the atmosphere, certainly did the hairs. I appreciate to the majority that much of his set were old and maybe too well known, but obviously not to me, and more importantly many have stood the test of time as music I would still listen to at home. And he took time to talk to an ever enthusiastic youth with a desperation to learn about the music.

Brian Rae, for every Fats Domino, there was a Bobby Bland Shoes and Barbara McNair and Ray Pollard, proper soul boy in my books and a massive inspiration at that point. As old as my Dad then I thought but cooler and he'd been there.

Keith Minshull - Seems to take a lot of stick for pop stuff but in these days he was awesome some big rarities soon to become monsters, well known to those bug eyed big boys from Gloucester etc I suspect, but to a kid here it was an education, as well as just some great unplayed, Frank Polk Love Is Dangerous, being the one I remember most. A twat to the young guys but an inspirational DJ at that time.

Gary Rushbrooke, probably my stalker candidate as I bothered him mercilessly every time, where do you start Magnetics I Have A Girl, Lovers, Ascots, Arcades (think Minshull might have played this instead/also) etc etc and lots of these Carolina type blue eyed (as if I had even heard that never mind knew what it meant at that point) records he used to favour (Embers/Twilights) that maybe wouldn't get me all dancing now, but some would, just outstanding DJ and probably my biggest inspiration as a DJ, it was all about the records, and he had an ear. Have to admit I was one of those who signed the petition to get Sam out, although for me it was more about getting Gary on, I signed it 4 times, but then his missus was pressganging us, and Julie was scary.

I can't remember Sam much, I don't remember him playing Casanova, although did it hear him play it at Mecca when they had done a reopening night, early 81?, when most of our bus didn't get in because of dress code and they whiled away the time with a stripper and snake before we headed to Wigan, I thought Sam was finished by then. I do remember him playing She Devil, and it was definitely a soul record, a goddamm awful one. But other than he was the Devil to Gary R's saint!

And Pat Brady, Rueben Howell/Sandy Linzer, did he play Timmy Williams then, I think so and my memory is claiming it, Catalinas, PB aloof and scary, till getting to know him in later days as a good guy, but sometimes his place in all of the is forgotten, I am certainly guilty of that.

And Tricky Dicky Searling, what can you say, not much more than has been said, as good a set of records as you could ever get as pure Northern, and then the rest, new LP tracks that we just swallowed like a luke warm pint from the pub up the road (Bee something?) burping back our acknowledgement of a great night. Not much point listing anything, did he play a bad record in those 18 months, I doubt it, (actually lets not mention JC Mesina) were 99% of them life changing/scene changers, they were for me.

And special kudos for Eloise Laws, Peabo Bryson and Alphonse Mouson, all new releases, all sounded great, all earned me pelters on the bus home for liking "newies", what the f**k did I know, but the ultimate for me will always be Ivy Jo Hunter c/u, Tommy Tate and his almost High Energy belter that had me almost in tears as Wigan drew to a close thinking this is it, nothing will beat it, the criminally underplayed Dee Dee Gartrell Over and Over (Ernestine Eady) almost orgasmic in its pushy rhythm and Larry Clinton, still the ultimate Northern record in its short spurt of pure energy, it starts with the climax and goes on. Nothing has beat it since in feeling. And probably nothing can. Youth, aural stimulation and the coolness of the life we lived at 17/18. These were the best days of my life undoubtedly, but musically it was only the beginning……..

And things like Yvonne Vernee, probably Gary, possibly Richard, Eric Mercury, which I had always thought was Gary but now looks like Chris Plant, Toni Basil Richard or Pat, Kenny Gamble Jokes On You, ?? a marmite record but I will have double toast with it please, Yvonne and The Violets, Frankie Howard, Judy Hughes etc etc etc etc…...

I suspect some of my memories are now blurred, for some mysterious reason, and possibly some of these aren't Wigan or right person. My mind however says, Say Isn't So - maybe that was the ultimate after all……...

[jocko]

And bloody hell, I forgot the Twans, maybe the most emotional record to lots of Scots guys for a period. It melted me.

So was it good, not half!

[Pete S]

Toni Basil - simultaneous spin for Soul Sam and Alan Rhodes, 1977, covered as Break These Chains by Lada Edmund Jr

[jocko]

 

Toni Basil - simultaneous spin for Soul Sam and Alan Rhodes, 1977, covered as Break These Chains by Lada Edmund Jr

 

Interesting. That might have been a guy I was at school with playing it at Clouds then, although sure it was played on a Saturday night then. But I was also sure I could dance in those days, and as some glass filled tables proved, I couldn't!

[Pete S]

  

Interesting. That might have been a guy I was at school with playing it at Clouds then, although sure it was played on a Saturday night then. But I was also sure I could dance in those days, and as some glass filled tables proved, I couldn't!

 

Never booted at the time though so probably still on a few playlists.

[Back Street Blue]

As the eternal spoiler of these due to my normal low tolerance levels of misquotes and rewrites, I will try and enter spirit.

As I often say I was only regular for last 18 months so maybe not best to judge, and as a result I would probably say most records were good, I certainly did not know enough to judge a good soul record or not ,and probably not even a soul record (park the sarcy comments please). However with power of hindsight, which is obviously a massive temptation to allow to taylor your recollections, there was mostly good music in that time, and dare I say it mostly good soul music.

Winstanley probably most inconsistent but main things I remember are his vocal-less dubs, Sweet Talking Guy being the one I most remember, his Candi Staton c/u Mary Wilson, which I loved and bought at the time but is just a bland poppy record on relistening, Gene Latter Groove Me which again I loved and bought but leaves me cold now, his Gene Latter Funny Face Girl which I actually still love , and Roger K which was first record I bought, and cracked the same night, a fate I suspect would have happened at some point later in my buying career but struggling to remember much more any good which I suspect is a bit unfair. I recognised the Seeds as rock pish the first time I heard it and eventually it was the record that started my war cry, that’s not Soul, once I had gained a little confidence and found it difficult to stay quiet holding court in the nooks and crannies of the balcony.

After that all Dj's were pretty great I am sure, obviously all had boo boos but I have eliminated them from memory.

Working back from Dave Evison - the currently popular Mighty Marvellos, sure he used to dance to that himself, Nolan Porter Oh Baby, Tower of Power This Time Its Real, Millie Jackson House For Sale, leading me not to really think of 70's v 60's, it was all Northern for my young easily influenced ears, I also hold him dear for first time I heard Love You Baby played out at full on nighter and it made the hair on my baws stand straight up. I even loved George Benson On Broadway as he played it, for a joke I believe, and still do, but maybe not as a Northern record, and the ones that I have best memories of was the Superlatives, as even in the sparsely attended days it seemed to lift the atmosphere, certainly did the hairs. I appreciate to the majority that much of his set were old and maybe too well known, but obviously not to me, and more importantly many have stood the test of time as music I would still listen to at home. And he took time to talk to an ever enthusiastic youth with a desperation to learn about the music.

Brian Rae, for every Fats Domino, there was a Bobby Bland Shoes and Barbara McNair and Ray Pollard, proper soul boy in my books and a massive inspiration at that point. As old as my Dad then I thought but cooler and he'd been there.

Keith Minshull - Seems to take a lot of stick for pop stuff but in these days he was awesome some big rarities soon to become monsters, well known to those bug eyed big boys from Gloucester etc I suspect, but to a kid here it was an education, as well as just some great unplayed, Frank Polk Love Is Dangerous, being the one I remember most. A twat to the young guys but an inspirational DJ at that time.

Gary Rushbrooke, probably my stalker candidate as I bothered him mercilessly every time, where do you start Magnetics I Have A Girl, Lovers, Ascots, Arcades (think Minshull might have played this instead/also) etc etc and lots of these Carolina type blue eyed (as if I had even heard that never mind knew what it meant at that point) records he used to favour (Embers/Twilights) that maybe wouldn't get me all dancing now, but some would, just outstanding DJ and probably my biggest inspiration as a DJ, it was all about the records, and he had an ear. Have to admit I was one of those who signed the petition to get Sam out, although for me it was more about getting Gary on, I signed it 4 times, but then his missus was pressganging us, and Julie was scary.

I can't remember Sam much, I don't remember him playing Casanova, although did it hear him play it at Mecca when they had done a reopening night, early 81?, when most of our bus didn't get in because of dress code and they whiled away the time with a stripper and snake before we headed to Wigan, I thought Sam was finished by then. I do remember him playing She Devil, and it was definitely a soul record, a goddamm awful one. But other than he was the Devil to Gary R's saint!

And Pat Brady, Rueben Howell/Sandy Linzer, did he play Timmy Williams then, I think so and my memory is claiming it, Catalinas, PB aloof and scary, till getting to know him in later days as a good guy, but sometimes his place in all of the is forgotten, I am certainly guilty of that.

And Tricky Dicky Searling, what can you say, not much more than has been said, as good a set of records as you could ever get as pure Northern, and then the rest, new LP tracks that we just swallowed like a luke warm pint from the pub up the road (Bee something?) burping back our acknowledgement of a great night. Not much point listing anything, did he play a bad record in those 18 months, I doubt it, (actually lets not mention JC Mesina) were 99% of them life changing/scene changers, they were for me.

And special kudos for Eloise Laws, Peabo Bryson and Alphonse Mouson, all new releases, all sounded great, all earned me pelters on the bus home for liking "newies", what the f**k did I know, but the ultimate for me will always be Ivy Jo Hunter c/u, Tommy Tate and his almost High Energy belter that had me almost in tears as Wigan drew to a close thinking this is it, nothing will beat it, the criminally underplayed Dee Dee Gartrell Over and Over (Ernestine Eady) almost orgasmic in its pushy rhythm and Larry Clinton, still the ultimate Northern record in its short spurt of pure energy, it starts with the climax and goes on. Nothing has beat it since in feeling. And probably nothing can. Youth, aural stimulation and the coolness of the life we lived at 17/18. These were the best days of my life undoubtedly, but musically it was only the beginning……..

And things like Yvonne Vernee, probably Gary, possibly Richard, Eric Mercury, which I had always thought was Gary but now looks like Chris Plant, Toni Basil Richard or Pat, Kenny Gamble Jokes On You, ?? a marmite record but I will have double toast with it please, Yvonne and The Violets, Frankie Howard, Judy Hughes etc etc etc etc…...

I suspect some of my memories are now blurred, for some mysterious reason, and possibly some of these aren't Wigan or right person. My mind however says, Say Isn't So - maybe that was the ultimate after all……...

That is singularly the best and one of the most perceptive appraisals of the boys behind the decks that I've read.

 

Totally relate to Dave Evison being approachable and friendly to the new and young members, he was like that with us in 75.

 

One of our lot stalked RS relentlessly for the whole of the first three /four years, namely "Scally" / Mike Atherton from Oldham and was the man in the know throughout that period as a result. Sadly, his intense interest burned out too soon and he packed up and I lost touch with him but expect he never got back on the bus. 

 

Hat's off to you and the other guys on here with your depth of knowledge for sharing this stuff.

[Back Street Blue]

They were fabulous, and a history lesson to boot.  Fascinating to find out how much they were involved in and who they wrote for.  'Cause You're Mine was the one song they did that didn't do it for me Saturday Night but as you said, booming out, back in the day - amazing.

Back to the question ( or at least a tenuous link back ) The Casino was good, The Casino was bad !! It was mostly down to the mood you were in yourself and also the DJ's, if they wanted to be. Never my No. 1 venue but did it because it was the law back then, I had the Car and had to Drive !!

If we all liked the same shit it would be a sad sad world !! Now where's my Justin Bieber CD ??

 out of likes

[maslar]

As the eternal spoiler of these due to my normal low tolerance levels of misquotes and rewrites, I will try and enter spirit.

As I often say I was only regular for last 18 months so maybe not best to judge, and as a result I would probably say most records were good, I certainly did not know enough to judge a good soul record or not ,and probably not even a soul record (park the sarcy comments please). However with power of hindsight, which is obviously a massive temptation to allow to taylor your recollections, there was mostly good music in that time, and dare I say it mostly good soul music.

Winstanley probably most inconsistent but main things I remember are his vocal-less dubs, Sweet Talking Guy being the one I most remember, his Candi Staton c/u Mary Wilson, which I loved and bought at the time but is just a bland poppy record on relistening, Gene Latter Groove Me which again I loved and bought but leaves me cold now, his Gene Latter Funny Face Girl which I actually still love , and Roger K which was first record I bought, and cracked the same night, a fate I suspect would have happened at some point later in my buying career but struggling to remember much more any good which I suspect is a bit unfair. I recognised the Seeds as rock pish the first time I heard it and eventually it was the record that started my war cry, that’s not Soul, once I had gained a little confidence and found it difficult to stay quiet holding court in the nooks and crannies of the balcony.

After that all Dj's were pretty great I am sure, obviously all had boo boos but I have eliminated them from memory.

Working back from Dave Evison - the currently popular Mighty Marvellos, sure he used to dance to that himself, Nolan Porter Oh Baby, Tower of Power This Time Its Real, Millie Jackson House For Sale, leading me not to really think of 70's v 60's, it was all Northern for my young easily influenced ears, I also hold him dear for first time I heard Love You Baby played out at full on nighter and it made the hair on my baws stand straight up. I even loved George Benson On Broadway as he played it, for a joke I believe, and still do, but maybe not as a Northern record, and the ones that I have best memories of was the Superlatives, as even in the sparsely attended days it seemed to lift the atmosphere, certainly did the hairs. I appreciate to the majority that much of his set were old and maybe too well known, but obviously not to me, and more importantly many have stood the test of time as music I would still listen to at home. And he took time to talk to an ever enthusiastic youth with a desperation to learn about the music.

Brian Rae, for every Fats Domino, there was a Bobby Bland Shoes and Barbara McNair and Ray Pollard, proper soul boy in my books and a massive inspiration at that point. As old as my Dad then I thought but cooler and he'd been there.

Keith Minshull - Seems to take a lot of stick for pop stuff but in these days he was awesome some big rarities soon to become monsters, well known to those bug eyed big boys from Gloucester etc I suspect, but to a kid here it was an education, as well as just some great unplayed, Frank Polk Love Is Dangerous, being the one I remember most. A twat to the young guys but an inspirational DJ at that time.

Gary Rushbrooke, probably my stalker candidate as I bothered him mercilessly every time, where do you start Magnetics I Have A Girl, Lovers, Ascots, Arcades (think Minshull might have played this instead/also) etc etc and lots of these Carolina type blue eyed (as if I had even heard that never mind knew what it meant at that point) records he used to favour (Embers/Twilights) that maybe wouldn't get me all dancing now, but some would, just outstanding DJ and probably my biggest inspiration as a DJ, it was all about the records, and he had an ear. Have to admit I was one of those who signed the petition to get Sam out, although for me it was more about getting Gary on, I signed it 4 times, but then his missus was pressganging us, and Julie was scary.

I can't remember Sam much, I don't remember him playing Casanova, although did it hear him play it at Mecca when they had done a reopening night, early 81?, when most of our bus didn't get in because of dress code and they whiled away the time with a stripper and snake before we headed to Wigan, I thought Sam was finished by then. I do remember him playing She Devil, and it was definitely a soul record, a goddamm awful one. But other than he was the Devil to Gary R's saint!

And Pat Brady, Rueben Howell/Sandy Linzer, did he play Timmy Williams then, I think so and my memory is claiming it, Catalinas, PB aloof and scary, till getting to know him in later days as a good guy, but sometimes his place in all of the is forgotten, I am certainly guilty of that.

And Tricky Dicky Searling, what can you say, not much more than has been said, as good a set of records as you could ever get as pure Northern, and then the rest, new LP tracks that we just swallowed like a luke warm pint from the pub up the road (Bee something?) burping back our acknowledgement of a great night. Not much point listing anything, did he play a bad record in those 18 months, I doubt it, (actually lets not mention JC Mesina) were 99% of them life changing/scene changers, they were for me.

And special kudos for Eloise Laws, Peabo Bryson and Alphonse Mouson, all new releases, all sounded great, all earned me pelters on the bus home for liking "newies", what the f**k did I know, but the ultimate for me will always be Ivy Jo Hunter c/u, Tommy Tate and his almost High Energy belter that had me almost in tears as Wigan drew to a close thinking this is it, nothing will beat it, the criminally underplayed Dee Dee Gartrell Over and Over (Ernestine Eady) almost orgasmic in its pushy rhythm and Larry Clinton, still the ultimate Northern record in its short spurt of pure energy, it starts with the climax and goes on. Nothing has beat it since in feeling. And probably nothing can. Youth, aural stimulation and the coolness of the life we lived at 17/18. These were the best days of my life undoubtedly, but musically it was only the beginning……..

And things like Yvonne Vernee, probably Gary, possibly Richard, Eric Mercury, which I had always thought was Gary but now looks like Chris Plant, Toni Basil Richard or Pat, Kenny Gamble Jokes On You, ?? a marmite record but I will have double toast with it please, Yvonne and The Violets, Frankie Howard, Judy Hughes etc etc etc etc…...

I suspect some of my memories are now blurred, for some mysterious reason, and possibly some of these aren't Wigan or right person. My mind however says, Say Isn't So - maybe that was the ultimate after all……...

 

Casanova was definitely played (I thought it was RS but probably SS) as was McFadden and Whitehead "I Heard It In A Love Song" (RS I think),

 

The record I always associate with Pat Brady at that time is Pat Lewis No One To Love. I can't be 100% certain but I think it  was also him that successfully reactivated a record I hadn't heard before but which I really liked: Mickey Lanay "I'm Gonna Walk".

 

[Petebangor]

Casanova was definitely played (I thought it was RS but probably SS) as was McFadden and Whitehead "I Heard It In A Love Song" (RS I think),

The record I always associate with Pat Brady at that time is Pat Lewis No One To Love. I can't be 100% certain but I think it was also him that successfully reactivated a record I hadn't heard before but which I really liked: Mickey Lanay "I'm Gonna Walk".

Casanova was definitely Sam

Edited March 12, 2013 by petebangor

[Guest Polyvelts]

RE Jockos post

 

I always rated Dave Evison mainly because he was a dancer and a friendly guy as much as the records he played !

[Andyj]

I have been on this forum for only a few months now and it seems that it's cool to slag Wigan off as a dump (yes it was) a place that played 'pop' music and the uber cool would'nt be seen dead in the place, however like a number of responses to this topic I feel that you had to be there to 'get it' Yes there was some dodgy sounds played but come on the place was open for eight years and in that time more soul than 'pop' was played. I only ever attended the oldies nighters due to that fact that at 16/17 we were dependent on some older guys running the bus from County Durham and they liked the oldies. I remember when my mate attended for the first time and instead of going straight into the ballroom at dance floor level we took him up onto the balcony and his first 'sight of the grand old lady' was looking down onto an already full floor grooving to Williams & Watson - To Late the look of wonder on his face was fanastic, and whenever I hear that tune I always remember that moment!

So in answer to the topic Citizen P;Other great sounds that I remember from Wigan;Just Brothers - Sliced Tomatoes (a torch sound but played at the oldies all nighters so I'm claiming it for Wigan!), Little Anthony - Better Use your Head, The Demures - Raining Teardrops, Willie Mitchell - The Champion, Joe Hicks - Don't it make you feel funky, Mike Post - Afternoon of the Rhino, The Jades - I where it's at and Dooley Silverspoon - Game players.