How the hell is this not massive??

[Richard]

Thought would be good to do a little thread for records that have all the right ingredients to go massive but just never have.

My first offering is a UK only release on 45 that didn't sell massively, plenty of great "feel good" vibe, danceable, right tempo, builds well, fantastic, singer and musicians. Not a an expensive rarity appreciated but personally think it's worthy of dance floor action.

May be that album sales stunted it??

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by richard

[Richard]

By the way, choices do not need to be mega rarities only that you think they should be dance floor hits.

 

[Mickey Finn]

Or possibly that there was enough Philly-type soul around at the time. By 1979 disco was in full flight and the Philly sound was beginning to sound dated, or maybe too polished for people more excited by funkier or rawer material. I think McFadden and Whitehead had the biggest Philly hit that year, after which the sales began to dry up.

It's a great record and deserved better - good suggestion. Would be good to hear it played out more today.

[Geordiejohnson]

has been played out and about over the years i played it when we did the friendship nights about 10 years ago, was classed more as a pop record many moons ago, i have a copy myself and i put an old mate onto it recently and hes playing it regularly at his venue in the north east at the moment

 

great tune which could have its day

 

geeeeooooordie

[Richard]

Next up

 

[Richard]

Would be nice if some joined in with their suggestions 

[Algsoul]

think its time for this one to get some plays again     james wells 

 

 

[Algsoul]

one more that  should be getting plays again     milt matthews

[Patto]

Here is a great uptempo Northern dancer that i have been  banging on about for years.Never hear of it getting any plays out and cant see how it wasnt a big tune in the past.

 

[Patto]

Another one that had a brief moment in the 80s but cant understand why the Northern oldies guys dont spin it more often.Thats 2 from me both in my box so ill keep playing them from time to time given the chance.

T

[Mickey Finn]

Kenny Mac and Steve Guarnori have championed this in recent years, but it still deserves a push - Merv Murphy:

 

[Moutton Noir]

All of the above posts sound really good. It's one of life's great mysteries- what makes a hit a hit? Talent of course should be the most important element- unfortunately we know that is often not the case.  Often times the record just taps into the zeitgeist- right place right time. Truth is DJs/playlists, record companies/pluggers, PR departments are the magic formula. I thought I knew most soul/disco/R&B artists- that is until the arrival of the internet- youtube & amazon in particular- not forgetting several other sites including e-bay. My 40+ years of musical education became supercharged from the early 2000's. It really hit me hard how much we the record buying public and soul fanatics had been at the mercy of that handful of people who held all the power- those hellish Smashy & Nicey DJs spinning the latest sounds that made it to the whiter than white playlists- remember back in the day even major  soul superstars like Marvin, Stevie, Aretha, Diana & Michael often struggled to have their music heard on Radio 1. Jeez what chance did anyone else have? The record companies who decided whether to release great American records in the UK. The buyers who ordered the product for the big record stores. The game was stacked against the little guys- Even trying to find out about what was happening was a challenge- it was down to Blues & Soul, Black Echoes, James Hamilton's column in Record Mirror (available again on-line) and our own personal underground networks. Traveling to America was financially out of reach for the vast majority.  We often never knew what the artist looked like and were shocked to discover years later that is some cases THAT voice belonged to a white guy! In my opinion there has never been a better time as far as accessing, discovering and collecting music is concerned. Time and fading memories can edit out the worst bits and create that longing nostalgia for a golden period that really does only ever exist in our minds- but it's great to cherish them- however accurate they might be. Listening to the music (and of course dancing to it) brings so much joy and pleasure and for just a few minutes we are all 18 again and the arthritis is gone!

Edited December 7, 2017 by Moutton Noir
spelling

[Bazm]

4 hours ago, Patto said:

Here is a great uptempo Northern dancer that i have been  banging on about for years.Never hear of it getting any plays out and cant see how it wasnt a big tune in the past.

 

One for Lowton and Coming Right Back nights...good call Patto

[Patto]

Just now, BazM said:

One for Lowton and Coming Right Back nights...good call Patto

Cheers Baz yeah Lowton always was a venue where you could hear underplayed stormers glad to hear it still is in the new place

[Shsdave]

4 hours ago, Patto said:

Here is a great uptempo Northern dancer that i have been  banging on about for years.Never hear of it getting any plays out and cant see how it wasnt a big tune in the past.

 

Yes good sound, used to play this at Solid Hit 

[Ian Stacey]

Heres one that should be played out i for one cant understand why it don't get the plays it should not even expensive 

[Petesi]

Okay just to put the cat among the pidgeons....Basically WE are getting OLD and most of the "back in the day guys and girls" turn up at events ( Me included") to dance to what we danced to in the 70s so unknown tracks no matter how good just don`t appeal.

For me personally I love to dance to Pay your dues (Drifters) Philly Dog around the world (Jimmy Raye) How can I forget ( Joey Dee) Double life ( Jerry Fuller) etc but apart from Philly dog how many of these get played nowa days? VERY FEW so its just the way of the scene. Politics and whatever drives promoters to employ DJs they think will provide the floor with the right sounds prevail when actualy CLASSICS mixed with quality is what the floor wants but some promoters think they know best .

I have been to loads of events where a guy with a good collection thinks he is a DJ. ...WRONG! Many a guy or girl who dances would make a far better job, as they have a good feel for the pace and type of music needed .  RANT Over.

Edited December 7, 2017 by PeteSi

[Mike]

40 minutes ago, PeteSi said:

Okay just to put the cat among the pidgeons....Basically WE are getting OLD and most of the "back in the day guys and girls" turn up at events ( Me included") to dance to what we danced to in the 70s so unknown tracks no matter how good just don`t appeal.

For me personally I love to dance to Pay your dues (Drifters) Philly Dog around the world (Jimmy Raye) How can I forget ( Joey Dee) Double life ( Jerry Fuller) etc but apart from Philly dog how many of these get played nowa days? VERY FEW so its just the way of the scene. Politics and whatever drives promoters to employ DJs they think will provide the floor with the right sounds prevail when actualy CLASSICS mixed with quality is what the floor wants but some promoters think they know best .

I have been to loads of events where a guy with a good collection thinks he is a DJ. ...WRONG! Many a guy or girl who dances would make a far better job, as they have a good feel for the pace and type of music needed .  RANT Over.

the topic is about

Quote

Thought would be good to do a little thread for records that have all the right ingredients to go massive but just never have.

how about starting a new topic if you really feel the need to post a 'rant' 

[Bazm]

Been pushing this one at Lowton over the past 12 months, getting good reaction from those who like some thing a little different but as the thread subject suggests don't really this hasn't gone massive before now...

 

[Bazm]

Ditto...

 

[Patto]

Two crackin tunes there Baz.This one from James Spencer is a real stormer.Does anyone play it out 

 

[Chalky]

2 hours ago, IAN STACEY said:

Heres one that should be played out i for one cant understand why it don't get the plays it should not even expensive 

Got a lot of plays at one time

[Benji]

On 5.12.2017 at 09:51, richard said:

Thought would be good to do a little thread for records that have all the right ingredients to go massive but just never have.

My first offering is a UK only release on 45 that didn't sell massively, plenty of great "feel good" vibe, danceable, right tempo, builds well,

 

In my opinion pretty obvious why it isn't massive. There's no unique feature in it. Over the years many, many rather common records went massive almost over night. Why? Because they had a unique feature in it that made them stand out. Be it in the rhythm or the melody or the vocals.

That Lou Rawls song is nice, infact very nice. But to make it pictorial, it's a fish among many other fishes in a sea of good tunes. It doesn't stand out.

[cementman]

Don't know if this should be massive, but certainly one for the dance floor. Old school Otis Redding tune. released 1988.

2-3 quid on discogs

 

[Richard]

12 hours ago, PeteSi said:

Okay just to put the cat among the pidgeons....Basically WE are getting OLD and most of the "back in the day guys and girls" turn up at events ( Me included") to dance to what we danced to in the 70s so unknown tracks no matter how good just don`t appeal.

 

Appreciate that Pete, but they only get known if someone plays them 

 

[Richard]

7 hours ago, Benji said:

In my opinion pretty obvious why it isn't massive. There's no unique feature in it. Over the years many, many rather common records went massive almost over night. Why? Because they had a unique feature in it that made them stand out. Be it in the rhythm or the melody or the vocals.

That Lou Rawls song is nice, infact very nice. But to make it pictorial, it's a fish among many other fishes in a sea of good tunes. It doesn't stand out.

Benji, yes exactly what the thread is about - what tracks do you think stand out that are not massive? Seems to have the right ingredients, catchy, great vocal, great musicians, great melody, harmony, hook, right pace etc. and yes a lot of fish in the sea so should be loads of suggestions.

Only the poster may think so or maybe everyone will agree - it's all about opinion and maybe, just maybe, one of the tracks that get a mention makes someone think bloody hell that is a cracking track how comes I never picked that up before. 

Everyone on here must have at least one track that they think should be massive that isn't or they would stop collecting after they got their "trophy" pieces.

Maybe some are afraid they will get shot down with their suggestions or else this thread should be going massive under the tide of good suggestions 

Edited December 8, 2017 by richard

[Richard]

Thanks by the way to all that have contributed to the thread so far  

[Ulrich Leitl]

20 hours ago, guest said:

Pretty much unknown 70's dancer - possibly UK only .

 

 

 

Class 2£ record, bought this last week. 

[Richard]

11 minutes ago, Ulrich Leitl said:

Class 2£ record, bought this last week. 

and a happy customer, glad you picked up something out of this 

[Theothertosspot]

23 hours ago, Patto said:

Here is a great uptempo Northern dancer that i have been  banging on about for years.Never hear of it getting any plays out and cant see how it wasnt a big tune in the past.

 

Heard this at Wigan in late 70's, got my copy around the same time. Used to play it at Rudzys soul nights at the Holy Cross in Leicester on the few occasions I spun any there. Great/underplayed record imo 😊

[Swifty]

This does it for me at the moment, never heard it out though ?

 

[Swifty]

Oh , and this is my favourite version and sounds great out imho 

 

[Peter99]

On 12/7/2017 at 10:54, Mickey Finn said:

Kenny Mac and Steve Guarnori have championed this in recent years, but it still deserves a push - Merv Murphy:

 

Wow! That's a super record. New to me. Thanks for sharing.

Pete

[Girdwoodinc]

1 hour ago, SWIFTY said:

Oh , and this is my favourite version and sounds great out imho 

 

Loads of nice stuff on the Ariola label 

[Petesi]

17 hours ago, mike said:

the topic is about

how about starting a new topic if you really feel the need to post a 'rant' 

The RANT bit was a tongue in cheek comment LoL

[Bbrich]

i've played this out a couple of times and i think it is a great dancer...   Devons 'groovin with my thing' .  would be interested if it has or is getting plays .

 

[Girdwoodinc]

39 minutes ago, bbrich said:

i've played this out a couple of times and i think it is a great dancer...   Devons 'groovin with my thing' .  would be interested if it has or is getting plays .

 

Yeah I play this, great record - going to pack it for tomorrow night 

[Peter99]

3 hours ago, SWIFTY said:

This does it for me at the moment, never heard it out though ?

 

That's not bad Swifty. How are you Sir?

Pete

[Swifty]

1 hour ago, Peter99 said:

That's not bad Swifty. How are you Sir?

Pete

I'm well Pedro thanks, trust you are my mate? nice track this imho getting big plays at Swift Towers lol !

 

[Peter99]

59 minutes ago, SWIFTY said:

I'm well Pedro thanks, trust you are my mate? nice track this imho getting big plays at Swift Towers lol !

 

All good mate. Just got to get Christmas out of the way!

 

[Shinehead]

Why records go massive and other records just bubble under or worse is a mystery , 2 records that come straight to mind of the massive type are Womacks ' So Many Sides Of You'' and David Ruffins '' Everything's Coming Up Love''

The Womack track I would never have thought of any more than a great album track and the Ruffin track has the most banal lyric he must have ever sung.

Do not know if Little Milton version of '' Let Me Back In '' did anything but to me it has all the ingredients to go massive , apart from rarity.

[Richard]

Ah, you see opinions - I love both lol

[Richard]

To be totally honest a lot of records that go massive make me wonder how rare they really are, there are loads that the rarity has only come from popularity so not actually rare just hard to come by because everyone's after them. Am I gonna get done by the rarity police 

[Len]

7 hours ago, bbrich said:

i've played this out a couple of times and i think it is a great dancer...   Devons 'groovin with my thing' .  would be interested if it has or is getting plays .

 

Great tune! I'll be playing it at The Bury All-nighter on Boxing Day (In The Main Room this time) Have also played it in The Kenwood Suite at Bury, and it went down just fine 

Len 

 

[Dave Fleming]

Nice flip side...

[Richard]

Found this she was taking about Someone To Treat Me

My name is Jimmie Boone Amos.I was the lead singer of The DeVons. At the time this particular song was recorded at was only fifteen years old. The group which consisted of myself and my two best friends Debra and D.J. recorded two other songs "Wise Up Girl" and "Groovin' with my thing". I thank you for bringing back so many wonderful memories for me. Again thanks for the memories!!!!

It also had her email address which I've deleted

[Soul-slider]

On 12/7/2017 at 08:39, Patto said:

Another one that had a brief moment in the 80s but cant understand why the Northern oldies guys dont spin it more often.Thats 2 from me both in my box so ill keep playing them from time to time given the chance.

T

This is massive!  In my house anyway 

Good call.

I'll nominate this one...

Edited December 9, 2017 by Soul-Slider

[Mike Lofthouse]

On 07/12/2017 at 00:14, algsoul said:

think its time for this one to get some plays again     james wells 

 

 

Don't think that will happen...it will mean giving a certain person some credit.......seems he is air brushed out of the TSWONS these days...

[Peter99]

1 hour ago, Mike Lofthouse said:

Don't think that will happen...it will mean giving a certain person some credit.......seems he is air brushed out of the TSWONS these days...

It’s a pretty awful record though. That’s probably the main reason.

[Mike Lofthouse]

2 minutes ago, Peter99 said:

It’s a pretty awful record though. That’s probably the main reason.

I have no opinion on the record itself.