Northern Soul Values

[Guest Beeks]

is it not normal beeks to exist within the early morning darkness??? OVO for me too ...lol xxx

Ha yeah Dawn...suppose I need to be around to notice he's up at this time

[sister dawn]

Ha yeah Dawn...suppose I need to be around to notice he's up at this time

your up late for you or is it early either way welcome to the insomniacs society.. xx

[Guest Beeks]

your up late for you or is it early either way welcome to the insomniacs society.. xx

I'm pulling a couple of days sickie Dawny so why not

[Guest]

[quote name='Barry'

At what point is it bad for someone to show their knowledge whilst playing a set, if their set includes a non original piece of vinyl?

[Guest]

I'm pulling

/quote]

Nothing like a good pull

[Guest]

Mossy are you a fookin Vampire? Only ever see you on here after 1am

03:07 hrs now

Where have you gone ?

Have you got a propper Job ?

Wiith a clocking in card ?

[Guest]

Mossy are you a fookin Vampire? Only ever see you on here after 1am

Thats early for me ! Just logging on about that time

I like it on here in the middle of the night !

All the wankers are asleep ! I can listen to refosoul in peace !

All the tossers from the Soulful House thread are asleep !

Leaving the really strange buggers like me to do what we want to all night !

mossy

[Guest]

I'm pulling a couple of days sickie Dawny so why not

As long as us taxpayers are not footing the bill for your lazy bone idol arse !

[Spacehopper]

and your boss isnt up all night on soul forums !!

[Barry]

Thats early for me ! Just logging on about that time

I like it on here in the middle of the night !

All the wankers are asleep ! I can listen to refosoul in peace !

All the tossers from the Soulful House thread are asleep !

Leaving the really strange buggers like me to do what we want to all night !

mossy

I can't picture the moment I would try to curry favour with my selected group by saying owt like that.

Could I paltrify (Get me) myself at any point by saying 'All the tossers from the Oldies thread are asleep!'?

Nah..

While I'm at it Mossy, you shouldn't take it to heart as much as it seems you do - it's just people's views mate, nowt else - and when you bite, no matter how you wish to cover it, you lose.

[Guest]

Now this is a complicated query and I'll try not to make an arse out of myself in my positioning of it.

Just to get it out of the way at the beginning, I am a lad that has always looked up to the people that have sacrificed to buy original vinyl, I have been led by them, my values are borne of those exceptional individuals and I am, thanks to this upbringing, very anal when it comes to original vinyl - but!

Is Northern Soul and it's furtherance today, hindered by these values?

There are individuals that are in better positions to acquire original vinyl than others, maybe they are single, maybe they earn more, whatever it may be.

On the flip there are stone cold dancefloor punters, that spend a large portion of their weekly income making all-nighters what they are and have been, attending, learning and filling dance-floors.

Foot Soldiers it could be argued.

I would add myself to this group and I'm happy with where I am musically so I hope that you don't see this as a pop at people that sit above me in what people would see as the general scale of things.

I was out at a wedding do in Cleethorpes a couple of weeks ago, a do for Soulies and I'll admit that it's a while since I have been in the surroundings of 50 somethings talking about NS.

It was about 5.30am the following morning me and a belting fella called Terry, who is around 8-10 years my senior, were waxing lyrical about the state of the scene and I just listened to the level of his NS intellect - no doubt the intellect of many people that have fed this scene over the years have.

Terry puts do's on for nowt but the love, I hope I'm not making this up as I am trying to recall a messy conversation that we had late on, and I loved him for that.

Anyway, back to the point.

Is the NS scene about spreading this beautiful music or about looking up to relevant others that through chance are in a position to fulfill certain criteria.

I see so many posts about how horrific it is that someone played a boot, or something off cd - the point that causes the horror is that they played anything but the original.

Here comes the rub.

Surely we all have grown up on this scene, spent our youth and a great deal of our money - harder for some than others - learning our trade.

At what point is it bad for someone to show their knowledge whilst playing a set, if their set includes a non original piece of vinyl?

Could there be an amount of wanking certain better positioned people off to further your own lowly, in your mind maybe, position?

NORTHERN SOUL - it's all about the music.

Mmmmmm!?

Edited December 5, 2008 by mikecook

[Guest]

I can't picture the moment I would try to curry favour with my selected group by saying owt like that.

Could I paltrify (Get me) myself at any point by saying 'All the tossers from the Oldies thread are asleep!'?

Nah..

While I'm at it Mossy, you shouldn't take it to heart as much as it seems you do - it's just people's views mate, nowt else - and when you bite, no matter how you wish to cover it, you lose.

Hey .............. I was just having a joke !

Thats it ................ just a fecking bit of tom fooling about !!!

I love House and Northern Oldies and everything in between ! .............. the post that was meant to be a tounge in cheek reply to Beeks thats all !

I have been to as many House nights as Soul nights

I dont take anything to heart, problem is I dont take anything seriously either !

Peace !

[Guest Dave Mortimore]

NORTHERN SOUL - it's all about the music.

Mmmmmm!?

Edited December 5, 2008 by Dave Mortimore

[Maark]

Fair point and IMO it would be fair to say that 99% of punters don't GAF about the format/label either. I can't remember the last time I saw anyone running to the DJ to check the decks before hitting the floor!!!!

The saying "Ignorance is bliss" must have been invented for the N.S scene. Too much knowledge of bollatics can be detrimental to one's night out.

Music..life is for enjoying.

[Barry]

We all know what true 'Soul Heaven' is, what we wish we were, don't we?

It is obvious that all our yester-years were spent listening to an elite group of focused men, seeking out a sound that, at any given time, was craved for by an ever-hungry dancefloor - we are at present, no matter who you are and what form of earlier black music you get off on, living the learning curve that we trusted these pioneers to give us.

We all wish we were in a position to be a Searling or a Sam or a Butch - but we're not, life isn't like that.

At what point though did it become de rigeur for a supposed Soulie to knock a bloke for playing a quality NS track that he hasn't discovered?

Playing soul music that someone has opened your ears to is real love mate - real love - respect....and understanding for a singularly unique music, it's blacksmiths, and for a scene that they begat.

This scene was in it's infancy I believe even when it was at it's height (Searling @ Wigan) - simply obvious for the fact that quality soul/r&b productions have took 'til now to get the attention they deserve.

It should have been easier bitd, more tracks to break etc - in reality it wasn't - there's always the floor to please and that is the bottom line - Soulies were responsible for every supposedly poor record that got played on this scene.....jocks at the time competed for new biggies yes - but the buck stops with the dancers/us/me/you - the Soulie set the bar - so don't knock the jock, he was only ever trying to give you something new/keep you happy on the back of the signals you, the dancefloor, gave him.

Big job really.

Respect them and don't give your inadequacies away by thinking that only names and name dj's have made this scene what it is, us nobodies formed it with nowt but our feet.

Back to my original point, all I'm saying is, not everyone is positioned to be a player, a pioneer, a legend but thousands of us have kept this alive, more out of positive thought than negative.

Easy.

Not taking away from the NS pioneers in any way, we are here because of them - period.

[Barry]

We all know what true 'Soul Heaven' is, what we wish we were, don't we?

It is obvious that all our yester-years were spent listening to an elite group of focused men, seeking out a sound that, at any given time, was craved for by an ever-hungry dancefloor - we are at present, no matter who you are and what form of earlier black music you get off on, living the learning curve that we trusted these pioneers to give us.

We all wish we were in a position to be a Searling or a Sam or a Butch - but we're not, life isn't like that.

At what point though did it become de rigeur for a supposed Soulie to knock a bloke for playing a quality NS track that he hasn't discovered?

Playing soul music that someone has opened your ears to is real love mate - real love - respect....and understanding for a singularly unique music, it's blacksmiths, and for a scene that they begat.

This scene was in it's infancy I believe even when it was at it's height (Searling @ Wigan) - simply obvious for the fact that quality soul/r&b productions have took 'til now to get the attention they deserve.

It should have been easier bitd, more tracks to break etc - in reality it wasn't - there's always the floor to please and that is the bottom line - Soulies were responsible for every supposedly poor record that got played on this scene.....jocks at the time competed for new biggies yes - but the buck stops with the dancers/us/me/you - the Soulie set the bar - so don't knock the jock, he was only ever trying to give you something new/keep you happy on the back of the signals you, the dancefloor, gave him.

Big job really.

Respect them and don't give your inadequacies away by thinking that only names and name dj's have made this scene what it is, us nobodies formed it with nowt but our feet.

Back to my original point, all I'm saying is, not everyone is positioned to be a player, a pioneer, a legend but thousands of us have kept this alive, more out of positive thought than negative.

Easy.

Not taking away from the NS pioneers in any way, we are here because of them - period.

I think the short answer is - "Don't shoot the messenger".

[Jez Jones]

NORTHERN SOUL - it's all about the music.

Mmmmmm!?

.

. The following two entries are from the Events Looback from The Opera House on Sept 6th.

. The second entry is my response to the first. After some criticism from others.

.

. Thought this was for feedback on the Opera House? All credit to Shaun on putting his money where his mouth is and putting on a damn good and successful set of do's, personally, I couldn't care less how the music is played, MP3, CD, Vinyl, Cassette or Two Tramps singing it on a street corner, Northern Soul is there to be danced to, I'd rather go to a do and be able to dance to a quality rare track and a good variety than hear the same old same old, we've been to many vinyl only do's and asked for a track only to be told they haven't got that one, its too expensive! So, is a good DJ judged by the size of his bank account? Collect vinyl by all means but who wants to worry about a £600 record when you can use a copy or a CD for a public event. In my eyes the price of a song shouldnt come into it, I'm not that much of a Soul Snob...Keep up the good work Shaun, looking forward to November 1st. PS, I'm not some newbie on the scene, I've been dancing to Soul up and down the country since 1981 and I aint giving up now..

.

.

. My time goes back further, to the days of the Top Rank in Hanley, Up The Junction in Crewe and The Golden Torch in Tunstal. Back in those days I used to go to Bews in Burslem, where a young Dave Evison worked on a Saturday, to buy vinyl. The vast majority of which were bootlegs. My mates and I would play this stuff on our rickety old stereo systems (my goodness, we were poor in those days and couldn't afford the finely tuned systems that were generally owned by the wealthier, more educated types of the hairier persuasion.) and were blissfully unaware of the quality standards of the music.

. We used to travel to soul nights from anywhere between North Lanceshire and Coalville, near Leicester. It wasn't always about the soul music, hunting down the furry magnet sometimes determined where we travelled. Which led me to meeting my first wife from Wolverhampton. Just prior to our wedding day back in 1976, we mentioned to a friend Colin Curtis (yes, I am name dropping, because I had friends such as this who have become so revered by original vinyl collectors) that we weren't going to take a honeymoon (again, lack of money). He kindly picked us up in his battered old mini after the ceremony and took us up to Blackpool (as he was going to D.J. at The Mecca). In the front seat was Colin's ginger-haired side-kick, Ged. Migh, was he a swordsman. I'd always made a point of not introducing any of my girlfriends to him. Anyway, it was then during a conversation between Colin, Ged and I, that I first learned of the validity of original vinyl. They weren't pretensious and look down on me for my naivety, like I was a philistine. Yet not knowing what is or what isn't an original label, which I am most certainly guilty of, can be frowned upon these days.

. I was talking to someone, not so long back and mentioned to him that I had Alexander Patton - Just a little lovin' sometimes and No more dreams on the B side. He then asked me what label it was on and I didn't have a clue. I just remembered that the colour being orange & yellow, such is my interest in such matters. It turned out to be an original label on Capitol and he offered me a good price for it. So it was sold onto someone who could appreciate it far more than I and somehow, I can understand why others collect original vinyl like an art form. So I do appreciate why ' The beauty is in the eye of the beholder.'

. Anyway, one of the reasons why I had to leave the soul scene in the late 70's after meeting my current wife, Jan, was to work overseas as a studio design engineer in the car industry. It took me all over the world to places like Japan, Australia, European cities like Turin and to Detroit (below 8 mile) of all places. If I had any idea then what original vinyl would be worth today, boy would I have collected it whilst I was there!

. Anyway, during my time in studio's working with stylists, I found myself gravitating to the less pretentious types. The artisans who didn't always wear black, like a camoflage, for fear of being judged. They didn't live and breathe work (their art) and were far more interesting to hang out with. It's much the same now. People who live and breathe original vinyl like an art form are so boring. Others like Simon Preston who talk of originals picked up for less than £50 and purely to service an audience, are more to my liking.

. Realistically though, I'm ever thankful for the collectors and enthusiasts who have kept the soul scene going for the likes of me to return to. But I do get tired of the straight-jacket that the high price of vinyl has brought to the scene and in that it restricts what can be played. It leads me to state that I'd rather listen to those old bootlegs, from my youth, in a dancehall down south, than to never hear them in such an environment ever again. Because most of these originals are understandably way out of the reach of most D.J.'s pocket.

.

...........Dave Mortimore

Hey up Dave hows it going Thank God that wasn't me hey mate Bootlegs at Bew's . we tended to call them imports

Anyway you coming 'home' for any kings hall nighters in 2009

[Guest Dave Mortimore]

Hey up Dave hows it going Thank God that wasn't me hey mate Bootlegs at Bew's . we tended to call them imports

Anyway you coming 'home' for any kings hall nighters in 2009

.

. Hi there Jez,

. . . . . . .Yes. although I wrongly thought that you might have been Ged who hung out with Colin Curtis in the mid-seventies, on meeting you, you're actually not that dissimilar to him, that is in the looks department ( I don't know you well enough to vouch for your Swordsmanship? ). The red hair tends to help!

. You said you knew Melvin Franklin (one of the Franklin brothers from Abbey Hulton), who I knew from school. He was a couple of years older than me, so I suspect you're probably the same age, about 56 and looking well for your years. I was talking to Paul Wareham on his 54th birthday last Saturday. He lives in Southampton, but was raised on your side of town in Audley, west of The Potteries and like yourself, with a couple of exceptions, whenever he mentions names from the Newcastle side of town, I'm none the wiser.

. One of those exceptions being the late Cody Hughes from Chesterton, who I knew well from following Stoke. I remember him sitting quietly with a girlfriend at The Torch, when he became surrounded by a group of well-known yobs from Cobridge. Cody being Cody, tore into them and laid a couple of them out before order was restored (Glen Foxx watched on with folded arms, not wishing to get involved with his Cobridge counterparts). Although the Northern Soul scene was generally friendly with a shared cammeraderie, there was some local territorialism in those days. Hence, coming from Hanley, getting to know the 'Castle Family' wasn't a priority at the time.

. Anyway, it was good to meet you at the Kings Hall and to be in keeping with this thread, I hope you enjoyed my comments on those naive days when we bought imported records without a second thought to their authenticity and took the music for what it was.

.

. I'll let you know the next time the wife and I are back in Stoke for an All-Nighter. Take Care . Dave Mortimore

.

Edited December 17, 2008 by Dave Mortimore

[Jez Jones]

.

. Hi there Jez,

. . . . . . .Yes. although I wrongly thought that you might have been Ged who hung out with Colin Curtis in the mid-seventies, on meeting you, you're actually not that dissimilar to him, that is in the looks department ( I don't know you well enough to vouch for your Swordsmanship? ). The red hair tends to help!

. You said you knew Melvin Franklin (one of the Franklin brothers from Abbey Hulton), who I knew from school. He was a couple of years older than me, so I suspect you're probably the same age, about 56 and looking well for your years. I was talking to Paul Wareham on his 54th birthday last Saturday. He lives in Southampton, but was raised on your side of town in Audley, west of The Potteries and like yourself, with a couple of exceptions, whenever he mentions names from the Newcastle side of town, I'm none the wiser.

. One of those exceptions being the late Cody Hughes from Chesterton, who I knew well from following Stoke. I remember him sitting quietly with a girlfriend at The Torch, when he became surrounded by a group of well-known yobs from Cobridge. Cody being Cody, tore into them and laid a couple of them out before order was restored (Glen Foxx watched on with folded arms, not wishing to get involved with his Cobridge counterparts). Although the Northern Soul scene was generally friendly with a shared cammeraderie, there was some local territorialism in those days. Hence, coming from Hanley, getting to know the 'Castle Family' wasn't a priority at the time.

. Anyway, it was good to meet you at the Kings Hall and to be in keeping with this thread, I hope you enjoyed my comments on those naive days when we bought imported records without a second thought to their authenticity and took the music for what it was.

.

. I'll let you know the next time the wife and I are back in Stoke for an All-Nighter. Take Care . Dave Mortimore

.

HI Dave,

Hope you're keeping well. You've captured some valid points there mate. As you say there was some territorialism in those early days ,and it wasn't just locally, I think that was in evidence wherever you went .

I remember going to do's outside the area eg manchester and one was often viewed with a certain 'suspicion'. This can probably be attributed to 'headstrong youth' growing up and of course the terrace culture from football. There seemed to be a strong correalation between football and the soul scene in late 60's early 70's.

Secondly that naivety you mention underpinned the scene in those days. This fed the excitement and adrenaline rush that was experienced at the well known venues of the time.

Northern Soul was 'yoof' culture same as skinheads,hippies. greasers et al imo, Someone on a another thread mentioned the absence of cynicism in those days-----thats probably a result of being young (yer glass was always half full and Never half empty ) if yer know what I mean.

As the scene has evolved we have all got older and with age comes cynicism. I know another by product of the scenes evolution is knowledge and it wouldn't be half as healthy nowadays without that knowledge, but that tends to make one more averse to risk taking.

It was that risk taking, coupled with the ethos of 'yer don't know what yer don't know' that attracted us all to the scene back then imo.

Would be interesting to know what attracts newbies to the scene nowadays.

If I may be so bold as to put forward the views of, ChrisL from another thread when he emerged from the Torch and thought what the f*ck has just gone on in the last twelve hours

Anyway enough philosophising from me Dave. Keep well , hope you and yours have a great xmas and new year and prob see you in 2009!

Jez

Oh and I think my 'swords' fookin blunt nowadays mate

[Guest posstot]

Certain posts don't half bring out the celebrity-seekers don't they, ay??