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Twisted Wheel Memories by the Original In Crowd

The Club was a coffee bar no Booze but lots of blues

By Mike in Articles
Updated on 26 Aug 2023 · Published 09 Oct 1997

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Twisted Wheel - loads of articles here, format is a bit haphazard after transfering it from old site, but still interesting reading.......

 

THE TWISTED WHEEL BY DAVE PHILLIPS

 

The Left Wing Club in Brazenose Street in Manchester changed to become the Twisted Wheel.

Twisted Wheel membership card circa 1965

 

Slowly moving from it's roots in, folk and jazz, to blues and RnB, it was to become the originator of Northern Soul. Mainly due to the two brothers who managed the club and its first, now legendary D-J, Roger Eagle. It was Roger who introduced a whole generation to Jimmy Smith,, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker and many more. (The first UK RnB boom.)

 

The Club was a coffee bar, no Booze but lots of blues! And after a Saturday night with Alexis Korner, Georgie Fame, John Mayall or Eric Burdon , who can forget the Sunday morning hikes in the peak district after the All Nighter!

 

In 63 and 64 the influence of Soul became dominant with the rise of Motown and StaxThe mod scene was here, fashion changing weekly, pop music influenced by blues and early Motown and Stax, where very rare records, everything connected with blues and soul was rare in those days, the radio did not play Soul and hardly any record shops had heard of the artists. Green Onions - you want the green grocers mate! In any case to like black musicians was seen as not quite the thing. But that sort of attitude simply encouraged us.

 

The mainstream soul standard classics of today, where at their time of release very rare and difficult to find. This eventually led to the situation at the end of the 1960's when collectors sought anything rare, just for the sake of it, recordings without real merit being hyped up as Northern Soul would not have been played at the Wheel.

 

Here is the beginnings of my memorial Twisted Wheel play list, starting at the 'old wheel' in Brazenose Street Manchester and moving more and more into total soul sounds at the 'new' Wheel in Whitworth Street.

 

A play list from 1963 to 1968

 

Aging mods, blues and soul fans should remember some of these :-

 

 

TWISTED WHEEL BRAZENOSE STREET MANCHESTER

The 'old wheel' PLAY LIST and discography

Please add your memories to this list.

Blues years to RnB

 

A Walk on the Wild side - Jimmy Smith (A favourite for the Last Record of the night)

The Cat

I'm a lover not a fighter - Lazy Lester Stateside 1958

Need your love so bad - Little Willie John Charly RnB USA

Oh My Angel - Bertha Tillman

Tell Him (Go to Him Run To Him) Exiters

Fever - Little Willie John

It Hurts Me Too - Elmore James

Dust My Broom - Elmore James

Help Me - Sunny Boy Williamson PYE (Yellow RnB label)

Soulfull Dress - Sugar Pie Desanto

Boogie Woogy - John Lee Hooker

Crawlin Kingsnake

Dimples

Down home girl -Alvin Robinson

Um um um um um -Major Lance

I'm so Lost

Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles

 

10th and VineI'll Put a Spell On You

Somethings Got A Hold On Me - Etta James

I hear Voices Screaming Jay Hawkins

I'll Put a Spell on You Nina Simone

Down in the Basement Sugar Pie Desanto

Something's got a hold on me

Trouble in Mind Dinah Washington

Willow Weep for Me

You Shook Me Muddy Waters

Mannish Boy

Rolling Stone

Hoochie Coochie Man

Got My Mojo Working

40 Days 40 Nights

Got To Get You Off My Mind

Solomon Burke

Cry To Me

A Rose in Spanish Harlem - Ben E King (Black ATLANTIC label)

I Who Have Nothing

If You Need Me

Everybody Needs Somebody To Love

Down in the Valley

In The Midnight Hour

6345789

Your So Fine

Mercy Mercy-Wilson Picket

STAX

Green Unions - Booker T and the MG's

Behave yourself (A favourite for the Last Record of the night)

Outrage

Chinese Checkers

Hole in the Wall ( Booker T)

Last Night The MarKeys

I'll Come Running Back to You Sam Cooke

Twistin the Night Away - Sam Cooke

The Whole Worlds Shakin

Shake

Working on the Chain Gang

The Sound of My Man (Working on the chain gang) - Theola Kilgore

Night Train - James Brown

Dead End Street - Lou Rawls

The Duck Jackie Lee

Goin out of my Head - Little Anthony and the Imperials

Gonna Fix You Good

Something's got a hold on me

Long After Tonight is all Over - Jimmy Radcliffe

A Time to Love A Time to Cry - Lou Johnson

Hey Girl -Freddie Scott

Getting Mighty Crowded - Betty Everett

Alvin Cash and the Registers/Crawlers

 

 

THERE IS MUCH MORE, ALONG WITH OTHER MEMORIES OF THE BLUE NOTE CLUB IN MANCHESTER, BLACKPOOL MECCA, ALL BEFORE THINGS STARTED AT WIGAN CASINO............

 

MANCHESTER AND THE TWISTED WHEEL WAS INDEED THE BEGINNING OF NORTHERN SOUL.

 

I AM PUTTING THIS TOGETHER FOR OUR OWN WEB SERVER (WITH OTHER STUFF FOR PAYING THE MORTGAGE) WHEN WE GET IT ALL TOGETHER WE COULD HAVE RECIPROCAL HYPERLINKS.

 

David Phillips

 

More memories this time from a exiled wheel regular.

 

found your story of the wheel interesting as a bunch of us kids??? were regulars 67 /68 time especially after the Mojo closed.i remember my very last memory of an allnighter being in the parking lot down from the wheel listening to " wear it on our face" being played by Tom Slight on his Disc-a-Tron.i moved to Canada in the 70's and met a guy called martin kopple who you have no doubt heard of,and he told me all about this northern soul stuff. in fact, i provided him with the membership card and flyers featured on "the twisted wheel story" c.d [i think i recall about 6 tracks on that c.d!] we have some lengthy discussions regarding the music of the 60,s v the 70,s [i have heard the odd track that i like, but generally speaking, my interest in r & b ended at the close of 1968.]i do recall that even back then, the wheel played records that i can't remember hearing anywhere else

 

G A TAYLOR

 

 

Thanks to Bob Cummings for this

 

First visited the old wheel on my 16th birthday - 17th October, 1964. It was an R&B club with a bit of west coast surfer stuff and British group scene thrown in for good measure. First group I saw was Moody Blues, fronted by Denny Laine JUST after Go Now had been released (friend of mine has the original, Bessie Banks R&B cut - brilliant!).

 

The best group at the time was Spencer Davis Group, (covering the Soul Sisters 'I Can't Stand It - an all time great soul track) fronted by Stevie Winwood, also Brian Auger Trinity with Reg Dwight! Long John Baldry - soul singer extraordinaire! (until he went commercial). Exciting acts included The Pretty Things, John Mayall and Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated.

 

There were many blues tours at the time and soul firmly has its roots in the blues + R&B. All the British groups at this time were doing copies -Stones, Beatles, etc. But soul was beginning to emerge with Isley Bros,Little Stevie Wonder and many girl groups like the Shirelles, Shirley Ellis, Marvelettes. Saw the Shirelles - at the Odeon, Oxford Road with ...wait for this Duane Eddy and (I think on the same bill) Gene Vincent.

 

Admission to the Wheel was 2/6 on a Monday to see Alexis Korner and a bit more expensive for top line acts on a Saturday. Acts that I remember at the time as being really good included Sonny Boy Williamson, Steam Packet (with...... you'll NEVER believe this...) - Rod Stewart! I know this is not northern soul news, but just a bit of background.

 

Just to let you know who performed well at the new Wheel - for me in the top 5 MUST be Edwin Starr! What a guy and still going as is Geno Washington- and the Ram Jam Band - remember Dexy's Midnight Runners tribute?

 

I could go on and on - and probably will with some encouragement.

 

Dont know if this is still current

(old email removed see comments)

 

The Blackpool Wheel

 

I have mentioned briefly the Old Twisted Wheel (Brazennose St) and the New Wheel (Whitworth Street) but what about the Blackpool Twisted Wheel?

I joke not. The Manchester Wheel was run by Jack and Ivor Abadi. Their dad ran the Blackpool Wheel. Every now and again we would have a coach trip from the New Wheel to Blackpool (just near the Tower).

 

Downstairs the Blackpool Wheel was just like a typical cafe and used to fill up with (apart from us Mods) mums and dads after a cup of tea! Nothing strange would they see but they may have been occasionally puzzled by the jukebox music (I remember there were a lot of Impressions tracks and I seem to remember Marchin' off to War - Darryl Banks.

 

Upstairs was a dance floor and a dj - playing soul all night long. The first track I heard when going up the stairs? Why 'Hey hey hey I'll be sendin ... out an SOS!'

 

Once some scooter boys followed the coach and parked outside the Blackpool Wheel. The craze that week was school caps - they all had school caps with parkas - cool or what? Also Levi 501s were becoming the thing to wear - preferably with a white Levi jean jacket.

 

So, all you Wigan northern soul boys, know that your roots came from mods!

Where did they go? I'll tell you.

 

I went to my friend's flat one day and left with a deep sense of depression - he was playing Sargeant Pepper! Some became hippies when the Wheel lost it's edge - others mourned the fact that their short hair cuts and levis were adopted by the crazy loony skinhead on the terraces. The rest? Up the East Lancs Road to Wigan!

 

Bob

 

Here's a list of the first 10 vinyls from my attic - here goes!

 

First out:

 

1 Born under a bad sign Albert King

2 Recovery Fontella Bass

3 Uptight Ramsey Lewis

4 Whole lot of shakin' in my heart The Miracles

5 Rockin' pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu Huey 'Piano' Smith

6 My Real name Fats Domino

7 The horse Cliff Nobles and Co (WoW!!!!!)

8 Ain't nothin but a house party The show stoppers

9 I hear voices Screamin' Jay Hawkins (bought from Roger Eagle - 2/6)

10 Cleo's mood Junior Walker and the all stars

 

 

 

Guest Comments:

 

Left Wing Coffee House

Oh... memories...

 

I used to blow there (trumpet) on occasion. There was Jules Hasford... Lita Rosa would pop in... There was a big guy (with a big heart) called Ian - would be mesmerised by "beatniks" (yet he was the most 'beat' of them all).

 

Oh my... You got me thinking, now.... Club 43, The Two I's (?) (Later the Oasis?)...

 

 

kb-r

 

first up in aug 1997 as separate articles in the separate wheel section



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Roburt

Roburt 2,692

Posted

Mike, can you recall where you found the message from G A Taylor (above). He's talking about being at the Wheel with the guy I went to the Wheel with  -- Donny's Tom Sleight (now back on the scene and attending the Brid NS Weekenders). ANYWAY, if it's the lad I remember, G A Taylor was from Hull (us Donny lads would go to Hull lots of weekends as they had a get social scene there). If he is the guy I believe he is, he was from Hull and emigrated to Canada around 1968. After a while there, he started to work for / with Martin Koppel. It makes sense that the two would get together as I think they were from the same area (Goole / Hull).

Anyway, around 1970/ 71, I used to write to Koppel to get US 45's off him. With one order I got a little note from the ex-Hull guy who remembered me from the Hull / Mojo / Wheel days. It had to be G A Taylor (even though he doesn't state in his bit above that he was from Hull).   

Mike

Mike 9,488

Posted

On 26/11/2023 at 08:52, Roburt said:

Mike, can you recall where you found the message from G A Taylor (above). He's talking about being at the Wheel with the guy I went to the Wheel with  -- Donny's Tom Sleight (now back on the scene and attending the Brid NS Weekenders). ANYWAY, if it's the lad I remember, G A Taylor was from Hull (us Donny lads would go to Hull lots of weekends as they had a get social scene there). If he is the guy I believe he is, he was from Hull and emigrated to Canada around 1968. After a while there, he started to work for / with Martin Koppel. It makes sense that the two would get together as I think they were from the same area (Goole / Hull).

Anyway, around 1970/ 71, I used to write to Koppel to get US 45's off him. With one order I got a little note from the ex-Hull guy who remembered me from the Hull / Mojo / Wheel days. It had to be G A Taylor (even though he doesn't state in his bit above that he was from Hull).   

John

I'd say the message woud have been sent in to me by email, as that was the main means of comms with the site back then round 97, but a long time ago so can't be 100%

Will have a dig at the archives in the week to see if any more info

cheers

mike

 

Mark S

Mark S 2,514

Posted

Thank Mike really enjoyed that 👍

Kathryn Magson

Kathryn Magson 824

Posted

Thanks for that - my misspent teenage years at The Wheel!😉

Mike

Mike 9,488

Posted

On 27/11/2023 at 11:02, Kathryn Magson said:

Thanks for that - my misspent teenage years at The Wheel!😉

most of the articles including this one have been up on site since publication, this one was first up in 97

can try the below for more articles (700+ articles) from 1997 onwards

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articles/soul-articles/



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