There's a big feature article on the BBCs Arts & Culture section of it's website today if anyone's interested....

 

Northern Soul: 40 years of the sound of Wigan Casino

 

Britain's Northern Soul music scene exploded with the first "all-nighter" at the Wigan Casino nightclub in September 1973. The Culture Show's Paul Mason, once a regular on the dancefloor, recalls the sound that defined his youth:

Looking back on Northern Soul, 40 years on from the first all-nighter at Wigan Casino, one thing stands out.

It may have blazed a trail to the all-night dance club scene we have today, but it was also the first youth subculture focused on the past.

Though the scene was biggest in the mid to late 70s, it was driven by obscure tracks from the heyday of American soul between 1965 and 1971.

Compared to funk and disco it was already "old" even then..........................................

Rest of article here....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/0/24164508

 

Edited September 23, 201311 yr by MrC

Wigan Casino ... never heard of it  

Link to a spotify playlist at the end of the article....  top 500 stuff, but a couple of bloody good tunes in there nonetheless... and no mention of 'the Snake' anywhere! 

Did Wigan Casino explode into action from the first all nighter? I went early on and it was half empty and just an average nighter in a great big hall

  On 23/09/2013 at 09:04, ady croasdell said:

Did Wigan Casino explode into action from the first all nighter? I went early on and it was half empty and just an average nighter in a great big hall

 

Interesting to hear that Ady. You won't find that account in the "official" story.... 

I know Pete arrived about 4.00am and he's member 0270 - so it was hardly packed.

Dx

  On 23/09/2013 at 10:15, Steve G said:

Interesting to hear that Ady. You won't find that account in the "official" story.... 

 

In the handful of books I got about WC or that mention WC none says it was packed from the beginning. They all say it took a few niters to get the ball rolling.

did wigan ever have a shit night?

  On 23/09/2013 at 11:49, Andy Kempster said:

did wigan ever have a shit night?

 

Depended on the gear 

  On 23/09/2013 at 09:04, ady croasdell said:

Did Wigan Casino explode into action from the first all nighter? I went early on and it was half empty and just an average nighter in a great big hall

But when The Casino nighters started how many Nighters where there to compare it with!!

 

  On 23/09/2013 at 11:49, Andy Kempster said:

did wigan ever have a shit night?

People tend to forget about the nighters when hardly anyone was there

In answer to the post.......I found it interesting thanks.

 

Any potted history of NS, written in 1000 words and presumably with a prescribed emphasis on one particular club, and then compounded by the broadcaster's copy writers, is bound to have limitations in the amount of detail it can deliver.....and to be worded so as to rekindle memories of reports that Joe Public will recall from the past. 

 

Reading it in that context and as a pre-curser for the forthcoming telly program, seems honest enough to me as a generic account.

 

 

  On 23/09/2013 at 11:49, Andy Kempster said:

did wigan ever have a shit night?

Andy

Yes it had bad music night's,yes it was empty some night's etc.

But the worst night at Wigan (or any northern "do" back then & now) was still better than been stood in a pub listening to shite pop tunes on the jukebox waiting for the Saturday night fight to kick off.Don't forget Wigan (& any other nighter back in the day) was all consuming because you spent all week putting things together to make it happen,the nighter was just the end product of all the fun

Cheers

Martyn

I think for me the error in Paul's article on the BBC site is that the scene is referred to as the first youth sub-culture that was focused on the past.

Yes I know Wigan ran oldies nighters (used to enjoy them and learn from them as a newbie at the time), but there was, and still is, an insatiable taste for new discoveries. The fact that virtually all of them are from the past isn't the issue, it's about the music, the feel, the soul, and the discovery.

Paul Mason, who wrote the BBC article, has had threads about him before on Soul Source. At least he went to All-Nighters, and isn't just copying stuff from Wikipedia....

 

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/soul-articles/bbc-newsnights-paul-mason-talks-northern-r2331

  On 23/09/2013 at 18:55, seano said:

I think for me the error in Paul's article on the BBC site is that the scene is referred to as the first youth sub-culture that was focused on the past.

Yes I know Wigan ran oldies nighters (used to enjoy them and learn from them as a newbie at the time), but there was, and still is, an insatiable taste for new discoveries. The fact that virtually all of them are from the past isn't the issue, it's about the music, the feel, the soul, and the discovery.

I would imagine he means focusing on records that aren't new releases when he refers to the past, that is how I read it. Those records were of course in many instances new discoveries to those there at the time but still from the past. Other music scenes were concerned with records of the day.

  On 23/09/2013 at 18:55, seano said:

I think for me the error in Paul's article on the BBC site is that the scene is referred to as the first youth sub-culture that was focused on the past.

Yes I know Wigan ran oldies nighters (used to enjoy them and learn from them as a newbie at the time), but there was, and still is, an insatiable taste for new discoveries. The fact that virtually all of them are from the past isn't the issue, it's about the music, the feel, the soul, and the discovery.

the rock and roll/ teddy boy scene preceeded NS on being obsessed with older records surely. maybe enevn the blues scene too, they werent interested in the electic stuff in the early 6ts

  On 24/09/2013 at 10:30, geeselad said:

the rock and roll/ teddy boy scene preceeded NS on being obsessed with older records surely. maybe enevn the blues scene too, they werent interested in the electic stuff in the early 6ts

The rock and roll scene was all about new releases initially (my dad was a teddy boy and he was buying new releases), as was the rare soul scene to begin with to a certain extent and to some extent throughout it's history. The rock and roll scene that focused on the 50's and 60's soon became what the northern scene has largely become now, retro and more a social scene with little emphasis on the music. By the time Wigan arrived the scene was focused on records 10 years old.

Edited September 24, 201311 yr by chalky

  On 24/09/2013 at 08:54, chalky said:

I would imagine he means focusing on records that aren't new releases when he refers to the past, that is how I read it. Those records were of course in many instances new discoveries to those there at the time but still from the past. Other music scenes were concerned with records of the day.

 

Bang on the money there Chalky!!

Loved hearing  the Searling interview.A very articulate man who came accross very well.

There's a plethora of stuff on BBC at the moment. Heard Searling and Elaine Constantine on this morning's Today programme on Radio 4 (at about 08.45), strange to hear John Humphries musing on northern soul. There was also a (little bit) interesting programme on last saturday morning on Radio 4 - Shine Like Tokyo, Northern Soul Goes East, Ady's on it so not sure if he's mentioned it on here, it's Annie Nightingale looking at the scene in Japan.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bd23y

  On 24/09/2013 at 08:54, chalky said:

I would imagine he means focusing on records that aren't new releases when he refers to the past, that is how I read it. Those records were of course in many instances new discoveries to those there at the time but still from the past.

 

 

As opposed to new discoveries from the future ?

 

i'll get me coat

Kegsy

  On 24/09/2013 at 16:51, Patto said:

Loved hearing  the Searling interview.A very articulate man who came accross very well.

 

 

He wasn't too shy about plugging the Blackpool (tower) weekender either.

You've got to love him !

 

Kegsy

  On 23/09/2013 at 12:02, dedji1955 said:

But when The Casino nighters started how many Nighters where there to compare it with!!

 

People tend to forget about the nighters when hardly anyone was there

The obvious one would be the Torch but there were others around the north and Northants too. I loved Wigan, I was just saying it wasn't busy from the first night as that article stated.

Va Va's in bolton was on the friday night
 
the first wigan nighter had about 500 in. it didnt start untill 3pm. As the ballroom was used for mainstream audiances and licensed till 2. We had to wait around untill the staff had cleaned the place up and kicked out the previous crowd. that went on for a while. Musically it was poor, even for the day. A member of the notts crew, denny hendy i think, was elected to inform russ that they need new blood on the d.j line up as the brit in notts had a far better grasp on the early scene playlists and policy of new and unknown sounds, with Kev R, Steve Elliot, Swifty etc. This was to prove fruitful and kev was added to the addition of Richard S. The main reason why these D.J's pleased was the backing they had from their local following-everybody within the circle of the brit expected new and unheard records consistently being aired, and people like Jack Bollington from derby did wonders in sourcing records from 45 philips and others including me, that fit the bill, Selecta disc in those days was like a club and there wasnt a day that went by without some future name/d.j/dealer didnt drop through the doors to see what the fuss was about, i almost lived there (along with the brit ,which in those days played soul music every Fri-Sat-Sun) I saw the desire to find new records first hand, and proved to be  the basis for the whole scene. Wigan those first few times took time to adopt this policy but slowly and surely developed from playing known soul 'CLUB' sounds to out and out unknowns. In effect wigan did start as a mainly oldies venue and over the first few months developed a progressive musical policy that had never been scene in the history of music, with 70 to 80% of plays a so called 'newie'. Ian levine and Colin Curtis were also a major influence on that policy of new records even though they were no part of the wigan scene, their progression was the way with which we strove forward as a young group of lovers of rare soul music

  On 26/09/2013 at 14:52, enchantedrythm said:

Va Va's in bolton was on the friday night

 

the first wigan nighter had about 500 in. it didnt start untill 3pm. As the ballroom was used for mainstream audiances and licensed till 2. We had to wait around untill the staff had cleaned the place up and kicked out the previous crowd. that went on for a while. Musically it was poor, even for the day. A member of the notts crew, denny hendy i think, was elected to inform russ that they need new blood on the d.j line up as the brit in notts had a far better grasp on the early scene playlists and policy of new and unknown sounds, with Kev R, Steve Elliot, Swifty etc. This was to prove fruitful and kev was added to the addition of Richard S. The main reason why these D.J's pleased was the backing they had from their local following-everybody within the circle of the brit expected new and unheard records consistently being aired, and people like Jack Bollington from derby did wonders in sourcing records from 45 philips and others including me, that fit the bill, Selecta disc in those days was like a club and there wasnt a day that went by without some future name/d.j/dealer didnt drop through the doors to see what the fuss was about, i almost lived there (along with the brit ,which in those days played soul music every Fri-Sat-Sun) I saw the desire to find new records first hand, and proved to be  the basis for the whole scene. Wigan those first few times took time to adopt this policy but slowly and surely developed from playing known soul 'CLUB' sounds to out and out unknowns. In effect wigan did start as a mainly oldies venue and over the first few months developed a progressive musical policy that had never been scene in the history of music, with 70 to 80% of plays a so called 'newie'. Ian levine and Colin Curtis were also a major influence on that policy of new records even though they were no part of the wigan scene, their progression was the way with which we strove forward as a young group of lovers of rare soul music

Nice to see Jack and Steve Elliot getting some recognition.

  On 26/09/2013 at 14:52, enchantedrythm said:

Va Va's in bolton was on the friday night

the first wigan nighter had about 500 in. it didnt start untill 3pm. As the ballroom was used for mainstream audiances and licensed till 2. We had to wait around untill the staff had cleaned the place up and kicked out the previous crowd. that went on for a while. Musically it was poor, even for the day. A member of the notts crew, denny hendy i think, was elected to inform russ that they need new blood on the d.j line up as the brit in notts had a far better grasp on the early scene playlists and policy of new and unknown sounds, with Kev R, Steve Elliot, Swifty etc. This was to prove fruitful and kev was added to the addition of Richard S. The main reason why these D.J's pleased was the backing they had from their local following-everybody within the circle of the brit expected new and unheard records consistently being aired, and people like Jack Bollington from derby did wonders in sourcing records from 45 philips and others including me, that fit the bill, Selecta disc in those days was like a club and there wasnt a day that went by without some future name/d.j/dealer didnt drop through the doors to see what the fuss was about, i almost lived there (along with the brit ,which in those days played soul music every Fri-Sat-Sun) I saw the desire to find new records first hand, and proved to be the basis for the whole scene. Wigan those first few times took time to adopt this policy but slowly and surely developed from playing known soul 'CLUB' sounds to out and out unknowns. In effect wigan did start as a mainly oldies venue and over the first few months developed a progressive musical policy that had never been scene in the history of music, with 70 to 80% of plays a so called 'newie'. Ian levine and Colin Curtis were also a major influence on that policy of new records even though they were no part of the wigan scene, their progression was the way with which we strove forward as a young group of lovers of rare soul music

Just wanted to say what a well presented bit of history. Why doesn't someone interview this guy/girl on TV?

Edited September 26, 201311 yr by Dean

  On 26/09/2013 at 18:43, Dean said:

Just wanted to say what a well presented bit of history. Why doesn't someone interview this guy/girl on TV?

 

I agree mate, I wish I could read more stuff like that!