Mike

LIVONIA -- In the pine-paneled rumpus room of a nondescript brick house in a sleepy suburb, the worlds greatest basement band is kicking some serious butt.You know these musicians, even if you never knew their names: the Funk Brothers, as they called themselves, were the uncredited studio band that laid down the intricate, funky grooves for Diana, Smokey, Marvin, Tammi, Martha and the rest of Berry Gordys stable. Weve heard it for years -- Pistol Allens infectious shuffle on "Baby Love," Ivy Hunters funky keyboard intro on "Pride and Joy," drummer Uriel Jones urgent beat on "Aint No Mountain High Enough." For 15 years, a slightly changing cast of Funk Brothers plied their trade in tiny Studio A in the back of 2648 W. Grand Blvd., coming up with the goods over and over for producers ike Smokey Robinson, Norman Whitfield, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Ashford and Simpson, and the boss, Gordy. Their reign ended abruptly in 1972. Now, thanks to the persistence and heart of a 48-year-old, self-described "bar mitzvah" musician from New Jersey, the Funk Brothers will swing again, in a documentary being filmed in locations around Detroit next month .

Northern Souls Classiest Rarities CDKEND192 Adey admits in his introduction that there isnt one outstanding label or theme to this compilation, other than it simply being a bunch of NS tunes that Ace/Kent have had kicking around for ages but had yet to Utilise...nothing wrong with that! Every NS fan will find plenty theyd like within the 24 tracks for sure, as it covers many a soul-genre which all go to make up the wide and varied Rare Soul scene in the year 2001. Most folk will be pleased to see a couple of ex Casino Searling spins, Mr.Souls "What happened to yesterday", and The Imaginations "Strange neighbourhood", or "Maurice McAllister" and "Ray Pollard & The Wanderers" as they were first spun as! Plenty of dancefloor favourites from the 80s and 90s scenes as well, with Eddie Whiteheads "Just your fool", the jazz tipped Karmello Brooks "Tell me baby", Jimmy Seals "Yesterday of our love" (or "The Moving Parts as Keb once named it!) and the striding New York City soul sound of The Diplomats "Cards on the table". One of todays surprising big spins has to be the C&W flavoured "Ill be all alone" from Barbara Redd. which has proved to be very popular for Alan Handscombe at The Dome in London over the last year or so, and gave birth to a new soul-genre, "Tumbleweed Soul!" From 72 is the beautifully polished "Yes Im in love" by the Unique Blend which has been an on off spin since the 70s, and if you like that youll probably already in love with the cross-over sound of The Joytones "This love", also included. Kent also treat us to a few previously unissued tracks, the way they do, with The Delfonics, "Youll get enough", Bettye Swanns belting uptempo version of "I think Im falling in love", and finally Audrey Matthews (daughter of Johnnie Mae) version of "I have no choice" ..brilliant discoveries, and what we all love Kent for! For lovers of the earlier 60s sounds, The Rockmasters "Raining teardrops" (sharing the same backing track as The Sapphires "Who do you love", and championed by Scotlands Keith Money) and Joe Simons skippy and light "I see your face" should satisfy, as should Charlie Richs big beat ballad, "Dont tear me down" and Johnny Wyatts Popcorn favourite, "I wouldnt change a thing about you". Other tracks include, The Millionaires "And the rains came" (beautiful), Charles Lamonts "Ive got to keep movin" (never really lives up to its strong intro), Claude Hueys "Why would you blow it" (superb), Pat Powdrills "Do it" (too fast, still!), Denita James "I have feelings too" (inferior to its 45 flip, "Wild side"), Lil Bobs version of Billy Blands "My heart is on fire" (highly recommended ex Keb spin), and a couple from the Elf label, Clifford Currys "Aint no danger" (flip to "I cant get a hold of myself") and Dan Folgers "The way of the crowd" (popular cross-over from the last few years), and thats it.......another fine NS CD compilation from Kent that belongs on most soul fans shelves! David Flynn CSC http://www.capitolsoulclub.homestead.com/

Friday 17th August at Notre Dame Hall, DJs Andy Rix, Chris Dale, Dawn Brown and Nick Driveller Brown with special guest TONY 5 Leicester Place, London WC2, 9.00-2.00, £6,members, £7 non-members. DJs Andy Rix, Chris Dale, Dawn Brown and Nick Driveller Brown with special guest TONY SMITH. 100% Real Deal Rare 60s and Northern Soul in Londons most stylish ballroom. Licensed bar at around pub prices, gorgeous sprung maplewood dancefloor, fantastic atmospheric venue 50 Heres a reminder of a few sounds to watch out for on the night: CINDY SCOTT: In One Ear And Out The Other (Virtue) KENNY LEWIS: Shes Not The Marrying Kind (Audio) JIMMY RADCLIFFE: The Thrill Of Loving You (Jaysina) AL WILLIAMS: I Am Nothing (La Beat) ARTHUR WILLIS: The Hurting Is Over (Mars La Tour) LARRY WRIGHT: Its OK With Me (A Go Go) CLEVELAND ROBINSON: Love Is A Trap (Nosnibor) GENE TOONES: What More Do You Want (Simco) TOMMY RIDGLEY: My Love Gets Stronger (International City) SPARKELS: Try Love (One More Time) (Old Town) TIMI YURO: Itll Never Be Over For Me (Liberty) PIC AND BILL: What Does It Take (Charay) DOC & THE INTERNS: The Love That You Give (Edgewood) SHIRLEY EDWARDS: Dream My Heart (Shrine)

Here you go the last one, the playlist from the guest DJ for the nite, top man Ian Cunliffe. Thats the whole nite covered now! As always thanks to all the djs taking time and effort in passing on their playlists, to me stuff like this always appreciated as gives such a insight to the nite to both those who attended and those that are just interested in the current scene. And as such has gotta be a good thing! Nothing to unusual or obscure just 100% rare northern soul to keep the dancers dancing and listeners happy ,several requests in that lot.......Regards Ian C.. BLUE JAYS--POINT OF VIEW JAY BROOKS BROS--LOOKIN FOR A WOMAN--TAY VONDELLS--HEY GIRL YOU,VE CHANGED---AIRTOWN LOVERS--WITHOUT A DOUBT--FRANTIC FREDDIE BUTLER--SAVE YOUR LOVE FOR ME--WHEELSVILLE RINGLEADERS--ALL OF MY LIFE--ACETATE SOUL SET---WILL YOU EVER LEARN--BI-ME LONNIE RUSS--SAY GIRL--KERWOOD APPRECIATIONS---IT,S BETTER TO CRY--SPORT KNIGHTS--I,VE GOT THE FEELING--USA SHERRI TAYLOR---HE,S THE ONE THAT RINGS MY BELL--GLORECO JOYCE TAYLOR--MEAN MIS-TREATER--WAL-LY DUSTY WILSON--CAN,T DO WITHOUT YOU--BRONSE NOLAN CHANCE---JUST LIKE THE WEATHER--CONSTELLATION CASHMERES---DONT LET THE DOOR HIT YOUR BACK--HEM LARRY LASTER--GO FOR YOURSELF---LOMA IVORYS--PLEASE STAY--DESPENZA DONI BURDICK--I HAVE FAITH IN YOU--SOUND IMPRESSION LITTLE JOHNNY HAMILTON--OH HOW I LOVE YOU---DORE BONNIE HERMAN--HUSH DONT CRY---COLUMBIA RICHARD ANTHONY--KEEP ON LIVIN ON--VIRTUE TOMMY TURNER --LAZY--EL-BAM WILLIE&THE MIGHTY MAGNIFICENTS--CHECK IT BABY--ALL PLATINUM ANTHONY & THE DELSONICS--EVERYTIME--EMERGE JOHNNY MAE MATHEWS--I HAVE NO CHOICE--BIG HIT

Soul Satisfaction 02 - The Motown Connection Cd Review At first glance the design and presentation of the CD earns full marks with a breezy design and the front cover also doubles up as a 8 sided informative pullout. Each track being allocated, first a brief description by Jo Wallace, using her own unique style of description, which anyone who has had the pleasure of hearing her Dj will be familiar with . Who else would use the term "Moist Motown" ! And then following these lyrical descriptions, a potted factual history for each track for the info freaks, as in release date, details, numbers and origins. Always can tell how good a insert is by the amount of times you find yourself reading it and so far this one is well on its way to being well thumbed. On to the tracks themselves, well the listing was previewed earlier on Soul Source but just to refresh you its repeated below, as you may spot not strictly a Motown one but sweeps up and includes a few tracks from labels that later came under Motown. The track order follows a loose time structured format apart from just a few skips back and forth. The opening tracks finds us in the time of 1963 and the end ones has us finishing in 1973 and the styles follow suit, with early Detroit first, leading us into the labels golden age and then finishing just before (to me when the label lost it self) the mid 70s. Trackwise, well as said Jo Wallace comments and the info facts do each track justice, but as you cant read them without buying the Cd have just added my scribbles on a few of the tracks. Junior Walker - Good Rockin First track always a important one on a cd as its the one that sets out the stall, and this one takes us back to the Harvey Label in 63 with a well raucous opener, Mr Walker certainly gets you up and taking notice with this one. Will just say this had the whole household up and rocking this morning, all brushing our teeth in time to this one. Marvelettes - Goddess of love Carolyn Crawford - Forget about me Still in 1963 and well just say ... perfection Earl Van Dyke - How Sweet it is A track that works so well down at "These Old Shoes" and seems to be made for that style of venue Billy Eckstine - I wonder why nobody loves me Another floor filling track thats been in demand for a fair while now and its good to see it on CD. Tammi Terrell - I cant believe you love me Smokey Robinson and Miracles - Can you love a poor boy Martha Reeves - My baby loves me One track which seems to have always been overlooked due to its commercial success, always been a constant dig out and play through the years for myself. Fantastic Four - Just the lonely Fantastic Four - Cant stop looking for my babyBoth sides of this Ric Tic outing are on here and deservedly so, always good to hear those classic opening lines of "another two dollar room thats never seen a broom....." Monitors - Say you Temps - Hey Girl Jimmy Ruffin - Everybody needs love Current the last play at these old shoes nites and surprisingly I read its the flip of " I passed this way before", which sadly is one that must have lived in my shoe box for years unappreciated. Gladys Knight & Pips - Hes my kind of fellow A LP track which is another one that has been in demand recently and yet another one thats worth the cd price alone. Four Tops - Im Grateful Edwin Starr - Dont tell me Im crazy Spinners - Shes gonna love me at sundown Edwin Starr - Running back and forth Flip of his popular Time and another one which makes you wonder why stuff of this calibre was ignored on initial release and why you didnt pay more attention to those flips. Martha Reeves - Love, guess whoA first hear for me from 1970 and one that will definetly be played again. Edwin Starr - There you go Stevie Wonder - Light my fire Gladys Knight - Who is she Original of the Creative Source outing and a stop off on this trip to those funky psychedelic early 70s Eddie Kendricks - Date with the rainFrom 1972 comes one which found fame later in 80s on the rare groove side, and still works well in 2001 Marvin Gaye - Come get to this The one that earned the title "Moist Motown" and a great way to finish with the master and a track combining the magic of his 60s stuff with the feel of his classic 70s epics. Proves the top tip "Always finish on a high!" correct. Well there you go, as said just a few notes on some of the tracks, looking back at the Cd overall, it was a great journey, from those long far away days of 63 where both throbbing uptempo and girl soul sounds started us off, right up to the smooth hazy days of those early 70s, with stops off at a wide range of different Motown stops, ranging from the well known in demand tracks to little heard overlooked potential classics. To me thats the one thing that makes the cd stand out from the crowd, its not just a collection of thrown together tracks, but you can feel the thought and effort that has gone in to planning this journey, its a collection that you can listen to from the start to end with no need to keep hitting that jump track button that some comps suffer from, which proves the attention paid to the track choices. The final word, A top selection of tracks, a great mix of in demand items, little heard potential classics and just some cracking soul music. Its a good one and well recommended. In the shops date as soon as get it Universal - 013215-2 being the number