Highlights

PAUL RISER - MBA (Motown’s Brilliant Arranger)

The importance of the arranger in the musical process, whatever the genre, cannot be overstated …or underestimated. The arranger translates the basic structure of a song, or piece of music, into a format that musicians can play, while improvising and embellishing the original concept into a completed creation. The American Federation of Musicians

Ready Or Not - Thom Bell's Philly Soul Arrangements & Productions 1965-1978 CDTOP 488

A recent album release from Kent Records that since it's July release has been picking up great reviews.

and yet even more sad artist news

RIP Sammy Campbell

Mel Britt - Northern Soul Icon

The Day We Met Mel Britt

With the passing of Mr Mel Britt I thought it timely to remind ourselves of a very special day in his company. In a strange quirk of fate I almost missed this day as I’d visited Motown a few times in previous years and had enjoyed a tour of the building prior to its refurbishment as a museum with Mrs Esther Gordy-Edwards and contemplated keeping that memory fresh rather than see it “all polished up” so to speak and it was only due to Sam Robert’s insistence that I don’t miss the trip and my wife Bev’s adamant “We’re going…end of story” that I found myself in amongst a busload of great friends with a butty box and that heavy eyelid, early morning feeling that comes with having a great night followed by an early call! Here’s what occurred that day…

On a cold windy morning on Tuesday 10 March 2009, a bus full of UK/US SoulTrip USA soul fans stopped off at an Interstate service area at Battle Creek Michigan, just off the I-94. We were en route to Detroit to visit the Hitsville Motown Museum and have lunch with a number of soul stars who had provided the musical backdrop to most of our lives. Our host Kev Roberts left the bus and made a phone call. He came back on the bus and relayed that we’d be here about 15 minutes as we were awaiting the arrival of a special guest. Now I’ve met a few of Kev’s special guests over the years and have enjoyed the company of a number of my musical heroes due to Kev’s SoulTrip events and so I knew this was gonna be something special. The buzz went round the bus as people started guessing who it could be, Lamont Dozier, Jack Ashford, Dennis Coffee, were just some of the names mentioned. NOTHING could have prepared us for the arrival of a man who, for many of us, would rank in the top 3 people we would wish to meet.

Hi. Today on my radio show I did an interesting interview with legendary Chicago soul singer Jan Bradley. Bradley grew up in the Robins, IL, a South Suburb of Chicago. In high school she began singing lead with a local group called the Passions (a male group who later recorded as the Swinging Hearts). While performing at a talent show, Chicago promoter and owner of the Formal record label Don Talty discovered the group. Don decided to keep Bradley as a solo singer so Bradley left the group to pursue her solo

New Diggin' Deep 45 - Bobby Burn I’m A Lonely Man /  I'm a dreamer

NEW RELEASE FROM DIGGIN’ DEEP!

THE NEWEST ‘DIGGIN’ DEEP’ LIMITED EDITION 45

Guessing a fair few members have and use apple ids

So this new add (just one of the recent improvements) on here may be a useful thing for some

 

Apple ID - Sign in/up to Soul Source

A recent Soul Source featureaddition now allow all our members to sign in to Soul Source using their Apple ID with the benefits that brings such as FaceID/Touch ID and Two factor authentication.

 

Members method

All you need to do when logged in is just follow the link below and once there,  hit the 'sign in with apple' button and then follow the instructions

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/settings/login/?service=10

After connecting your account with Apple, you will then be able to sync your profile information and use it to sign in in the future.

 

This time around going for a version battle inspired by a comment on the most sought after article, four versions, voice your choice...

Jimmy Burns - I Really Love You

Bobby James - I Really Love You

The Mystics - I Really Love You

The Brand New Faces - Brand New Faces

Jimmy's 45 'bump's' all the way to the top this month.

After upgrades and such just got some time for our regular Soul Source eBay catch up.

The top eBay soul related auctions from the last month August 2020 went something like this...

Girth gave me a nudge ,this years soulsource  league please click on the link

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/2bk2f1

All welcome just for fun and humiliation if its me.

Soulsations ... and then some
Soul Exotics, Emporers, Twila and the Twighlights, The Soulsations, and (no The) Soulsations.

Preview/Intro

DAVE GODIN a NORTHERN SOUL a biography by Stephen Stevlor

The fascinating and colourful life story of one of the most respected and important figures in black American music and the British Soul scene.

New Soul 45 - Danny Toeman - If What You Say Is What You Mean / Everybody Says I'm Wrong

After the success of ‘She’s Got Something About Her’ on vinyl, LRK Records are proud to announce the upcoming release of ‘If What You Say Is What You Mean’, the latest single from North London Soul man, Danny Toeman.

Two more releases available from the MD gang on the MD - Kicking off with this one!!

SOUL SENSATIONS - BABY I LOVE YOU/PART TWO

I've read that we've lost a proper legend .    anyone confirm this ? 

  very sad, if true !

A return run of our version battle - this time around the focus is just on 2 versions of a much-covered song (20+ covers) that was written back in the 'summer of love' to warn about the dangers of lsd

The Scotsman ran a lengthy feature on Stuart Cosgrove's upcoming book over the weekend.

Stuart Cosgrove on why soul music was pivotal in the life story of Muhammad Ali  By Aidan Smith

Off The Ball presenter chats about his fascinating biography, Cassius X: A Legend in the Making, and explains why he focused on 1963

Soul Odyssey 1968   - Jonas Bernholm - York University

Jonas Bernholm has been in touch and shared details of a book of his which is available to read freely online in full under Creative Comments License via York University

'It's a diary from my Soul Trip in  USA in 1968. and meetings with numerous artists and persons in the soul music business'

Mainstream and local papers currently reporting last week's purchase of Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Lee Jeffries 

The mainstream take goes like this...

Latest releases for August 2020 from Ace Records

Our regular Soul Source catch up of the month's new releases from Ace records...

6 Whitworth Street - The Birthplace of Northern Soul
Introduction

This book is about the Northern Soul years of the Twisted Wheel Club, at its Whitworth Street location.  It is about how one little basement club, in Manchester, created a worldwide music phenomenon.  It attempts to follow the evolution of Black music at the club from Blues through to R&B, Mod, Soul to Northern Soul.  Although the club went through different phases of Black music the lines were blurred and they were never completely segregated, R&B overlapped with Mod, Mod overlapped with Soul, etc resulting in different genres that were mixed by DJs in the same session.........................

Charles Hatcher (Edwin Starr) was born in Nashville in January, 1942 but his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio while he was still young. Here Edwin was educated at the city’s East Technical High School. Whilst a student at this school his interest in singing developed. This isn’t surprising as the school seems to have been a spawning ground for male vocal groups at the time. The likes of the LaSalles & Carousels, who were both to go on to secure recording contracts, started up while the members were attending the school. Edwin also...

The return of our irregular Soul Source competition feature.

Yep after a bit of a break the competitions are back with a chance for all members to get their ears and hands on a fine recent and decent quality cd release, from Kent Records.

The highly rated 'Soul Voices - 60s Big Ballads' being the fine album on offer.

Hit and Run - New 45s from Syl Johnson & Bill Brandon

ANNOUNCING - 2 New Hit and Run 45s - 1st August 2020.

Orders being taken NOW - Same day mailing

Press Release:   Elbowed-Out   “All Men Don’t Love The Same/Believe It”   SJ542

Release Date:   Monday August 17th 2020