Mike

No not a tale of Ned Kelly and his muckers it's the 1890s (groan) 2 old reviews sandwiched together Maria from Sydney letting you know how the latest Perth night went on with a well good account of her night.... .... Bear in mind that as I write this report I'm still yet-lagged and dreaming of sleep, so I hope I convey enough of the what I mean, cause I'm so tired that I'll start babbling or summat... LAST SATURDAY.... Entering the foyer of the Irish Club in Subiaco Perth, the pre-soul night familiar tingling feeling of anticipation inside me, was reaching boiling point right on cue. All I could think about was getting in there, as the wafting flavor of a favorite uptempo oldie devoured the last of my patience. Later and were in the main room... and its magic... Oh, THAT MUSIC! - that wonderful soulful driving filthy beat... nothing can outshine it. Time for a quick lookaround and lots of familiar faces sprang out. After all, Chrissie and I had been in Perth two whole days already and that was plenty of time for Soulies to meet for the first (and second) time and become old friends. I cant remember who was standing next to me at the time, but one of the first things I remember saying upon entering was "why isnt anyone dancing?" It didnt matter that it was quite early yet and people were still pouring through the door. If this was a taste of things to come, I didnt want to waste time. I just wanted to be out on that floor.... Turns out that dancers had already rubbed in the first of the talcum shower, as you could see the swirls theyd made, and they were starting to revisit their marked territories. Id located Gemma from Melbourne (virtually a neighbor at only 800km or 1hours plane ride away, in comparison to Perths 4.5 hr flight). She was eager to be introduced around and really gave me a laugh when I led her towards two legendary KTFers. When I said "come over and meet Lee", she suddenly froze and held back saying, "should I?". I just lost it for a second there, cracking up before dragging her over kicking and screaming (perhaps overdoing it a tad here). Funnily enough, she seemed pleased to meet Denny, and later Pete Fowler. ... Must apologise here, but great soul nights always end up a bit of a blurto me. Nothing to do with chemicals (I dont indulge) or alcohol (not enough time for even a half-baked effort). Its just that a few days later, all Im left with is the ability to say "it was such a bloody great night" and a smile remembering how wonderful it felt. I do remember the feet, faces and moves on that dancefloor. I especiallyremember those smiles and handclaps, and the way we all glowed when anothermagic track was spun, and looking at each other as if the whole crowd (someof whom were perfect strangers) knew what was deep inside each of us. Something so deep, it could only come from your soul; yet moved so fast at times, it was sheer madness. I cant even remember what was played when, but if you asked me whether a particular track was played, Im quite sure that Id get the answer right each time. Actually, theyd probably just be about 6 hours of your all-time favorite NS dancers. One thing I do remember saying a hell of a lot was "oh! I love this song". Yet, Ill never forget what the last two enders were, as theyre two of myspecial favorites: Ruby Winters "Better", followed by Timi Yuros "Itll Never Be Over for Me"... (- Damn you Andy!!... not during Timi... pleeeeeease!) Even Andys ozone-destroying effort (the bottom-burper himself) was notgetting me off the floor for my last chance to disturb the last remainingtalc on the timber floor that Id made love to all night.... AW SHUT UP... it was love I tell ya. Many thanks to Pete Fowler and all the guest DJs who kept me on the floorall night. (Chrissie and I had both agreed that it was well worth the airfare.While Im at it, Id also like to thank all the Perth Soulies who made Chrissie and I feel so welcome all weekend, especially our hosts Steve, Paula, Steven and James Parker. .... You aint seen me right! There you go , as said yeah a good account of Marias night out, she also asked me to pass on "that its the farthest that Id travelled for a Northern Soul night. In fact, 2 airfares to Perth could have scored me a return trip to the UK! .... but it was worth every cent." So thanks for Maria for that, sounds like Australia has a well thriving scene with soul all over the place, from Perth to Sydney, watch this site for hopefully a review of the next Sydney northern nite. Venue Report - Irish Club Perth, West Aussie, 6/2/99 - sent in by Pete Fowler not just a review but a way of life..... It gets better & better down here. Just back from the Irish Club where an awesome night was had. Lots of new faces, floor jacked out all night, brilliant guest set by UK collector & jock Eddy Edmondson, atmosphere & cameraderie in abundance. 7.30 kick-off which I used to play "first division" songs, ie those which I want to break into the premier league. The first hour is normally a bit quietish with people catching up with each other round the bar so you can get away with virtually anything. Some examples :- kenny gamble - aint it baby gene toones - what more do you want billy eckstine - i wonder why paris - sleepless nights Gene raised quite a few eyebrows so I reckon hes up for promotion next month .Question : does this ever get played in the UK because of its sheer rarity? (vinyl is the medium of choice here but obviously I played this track via Goldmine). Without wanting to trigger another CD vs vinyl thread, I reckon its legitimate to play mega-rare stuff like this from CD at UK soul nights. Allnighters no, but soul nights ok. I suppose my logic here is at the big allnighters youre paying seroius money to be entertained by the upper echelon professionals & a chimpanzee could stick a CD on. Anyway Im digressing - Paris will also take off no problem. Strangely, Billy was a bit of a flop which surprised me after seeing it fill the floor at Lowton a few times, have to keep plugging or maybe drop. Youve got to remember that, although theres a strong Wigan core, quite a few of the punters here have only graduated beyond having ghosts in their houses in the last 2 yeats 8.30 set belonged to my friend Kev - a bloke who couldnt spell Northern 3 years ago - but who is now hooked & has developed some good taste. Only problem is hes not yet got the confidence to use the mike. The upside of this of course is you fit more music in but Im a believer in DJs having passion. I decided to use this set for "top of the premier league" material in order to stop all the beer-swilling and get the dancefloor bouncing, ie songs which are well-established Irish Club floorpackers. More examples :- gladys knight - just walk in my shoes alfie davidson - love is a serious business laura lee - to win your heart al wilson - now i know what love is 9.15 and Im back on playing "middle of the premier league" songs, ie ones which have only just been freshly promoted from the first but have no chance of being relegated. I also take this opportunity of playing personal favourites (show me a DJ who doesnt). Examples :- chuck jackson - ive got to be strong bobby bland - shoes undisputed truth - you got the love i need brothers - are you ready for this All go down a storm, Bobby especially. Brothers will go bigtime in the next couple of months. 10.00 is the guest set, this month by Eddy Edmondson - organiser of the Tenerife "soul in the sun" holiday, owner of web site "www.soultime.demon.co.uk" and Ian Levines best mate. Not. Eddy spends most of his time in the UK modern rooms. Hes an experienced DJ though & obviously knew that an hour of modern wouldnt work here. Nevertheless we were treated to a great mix of oldies & what Ill loosely call newies. Some examples :- robert john - cant stop loving my baby drizabone - pressure ike & tina turner - dust my broom dells - run for cover Robert is evidently on the brink of going huge in the UK & I reckon its got good potential. (anyone know this?). Eddy described the drizabone number as the UKs current biggest floorfiller but I reckon its fucking handbag music mi-sen. Ike & tina / dells say no more - outstanding. 11.00 back to me - same strategy as earlier set, ie edward hamilton - baby dont you weep maxine brown - its torture wade flemons - jeanette kenny carlton - lost & found All fucking magic & at this stage nobodys leaving the floor. Skip forward to the last 3 :- ruby winters - better i still love you - 7 souls timi yuro - itll never be over for me Ruby is a monster ender & first time played thanks to the recent discussion on KTF. The other 2 are timeless & impossible to get pissed off with. A couple of Leeds lads heard the BBC2 radio show which gave Irish Club details (how did they know?) so they planned their Aussie holiday around it. Dont know what they expected but they were totally floored. There was also a "small world" sketch, one of our regulars knew them both from years ago so theyre all going on the piss / fishing trip Monday. 2nd anniversary in 4 weeks so this was the ideal build-up. Any expat venue reports would be appreciated - Im also interested in how Lowton went on Friday including a flavour of the sounds played. Any feedback on the playlist described in this rambling e-mail also appreciated. This message is too fucking long so Im cutting now Cheers.................Pete Very pleased with himself, aching legs & pouring beer down his neck at an alarming pace for half a chance at 2 hours kip. And just to round off a perfect day, just found out that United put 8 past Forest. You fucking beauty. PS Lee, see you at the 2nd anniversary mate

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

First out in 1997 Want to know the score on Soul Scene in Dublin, read on..........Thanks to Karl for this good info. The scene over here has been booming for the last 6 months. Myself and a mate DJ on a Monday night in the Chocolate Bar (trendy Dublin Pub), playing rare soul from 60s to 90s mostly mid-tempo. We also do a radio show on Jazz 89.8 FM every Saturday afternoon 12 till 3. Its a pirate station, no relation to Jazz FM in the UK. We get plenty of listeners and its brought a lot of younger people onto the scene which is great. There was Plenty of Soul nights on the weekends but thats kind of died down for the moment. The next couple of clubs will be on the 13th and 20th of December. A mate of mine is trying to organise a regular monthly allnighter which will be great if he can get this going. Theres plenty going on around the rest of the country with recent soul nights in Limerick, Waterford & Carlow although these tend to play a lot of the same over played oldies. Ive added a current top ten, a lot of it is stuff Im currently playing at clubs so it will probably change next week. Karls Current Top Ten (In no particular order) 10) Together - Chester Fields - A&M 09) Crying In The Night - The Monitors - unreleased Motown 08) I Volunteer - Little Gi Gi - Decca 07) Has It Happened To You Yet - Edwin Starr - Unreleased Groovsville 06) I Cant Get Along Without You - Maxine Brown - Commonwealth 05) Lonely Girl - Anabelle Fox - Satin 04) Sweeter - Major Lance - Brunswick 03) You know my key (Is always in the mailbox) - Vivian Copeland - Doro 02) Stormy - The Supremes - unreleased Motown 01) Im gonna love you - The Age of Bronze - Guava

.Stumbled on some old pages from the early days, posted as may be of interest to some long time members and also just in case lose them again... The Record Corner Page from the first year of Soul Source (opened in Aug 1997) Originally published in Sep/Oct 1997 THE RECORD CORNER 1997 This is the place for all things to do with Vinyl and CDs, news reviews etc Looking to end up with a large database of "Northern soul on CD" i.e. details of all tracks on all compilations, will start getting this together soon {CD Reviews} {Vinyl Reviews} {Record News} GROOVESVILLE REVIEW (GSCD 121) OUT ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT (GSCD 107) THE GOLDEN TORCH REVISITED (GSCD 92) THE MAGIC OF DETROIT VOL 1 (GSCD 93) Here's some goldmine cd reviews fresh from the pages of Beatin Rhythm (-issue 16 just about to be unleashed ), which is a soul fanzine published by Pete Smith , email him for details at Going by the reviews and the info here seems like well worth getting: GROOVESVILLE REVIEW (GSCD 121) The vaults of Detroits's finest are plundered yet again here, but this has to be the strongest Goldmine/Soul Supply set in a long time. There are many highlights on this CD, for most the big one would appear to be Edwin Starr's Has It Happened To You Yet which is a new song over the old Sweet Sherry backing track. It's fantastic, but what strikes you most about the track is that the backing is so powerful, much more so than on the original J.J. Barnes version, awesome, driving Detroit soul at it's very best, can't wait to hear the instrumental version. Puzzling how you can still hear J.J. wailing in the background during the intro though. Steve Mancha figures heavily once again, though I think we could have been spared his duet with Melvin Davis on I Need My Baby, as it adds nothing to the Jackey Beavers original. Mancha's Let's Party is a solid dancer, but offers little lyric-wise, and the tune sounds uncannily like Val Simpson's version of It's Just Love. Barbara Mercer performs a version of Happiness Is Here, but this is lack luster compared to the wonderful Tobi Lark original, compare the two versions on the "I hope and pray happiness is here" part towards the end - Tobi stretches one note to around 10 seconds, while Barbara is content to simply sing the word 'Here' , clocking in at, ooh, about 1 second I should think - she sounds as if she's really going through the motions. The Parliaments' Heart Trouble needs no introduction and appears on CD here for the first time. Next is the legendary Bari Track (under the title I Miss My Baby, which it is I suppose) but this version differs from the Sound Impression cut by reducing the baritone sax and bringing the piano to the forefront, and consequently stripping it of it's awesome power. There's yet another version of The Professionals' That's Why I Love You, great song but this is stretching it a bit now, I make this 6 versions out on CD now including the original 45 and an instrumental version. Edwin Starr's You're My Mellow has stayed rare and is superb, Melvin Davis performs an early version of Chains Of Love, best known via Jimmy Hughes on Stax, and there's the B side of Andrea Henry's I Need You Like A Baby, Time Fades Away, which is nice but not a patch on it's better known top side.Other notables include Spyder Turner (apparently) with a great track called trying To Forget You, Steve Mancha with A Good Understanding (who did this on vinyl?), an instrumental entitled You're Gonna Be Sorry which turns out to be the backing track to The Tempos' I'll Never Forget, and staying with the instrumentals there's the vocal-less version of Geni (Teri Bryant), which is nice. There's another cruncher from Steve Mancha, He Stole The Love That Was Mine, again sheer magic with a strange chorus ("He talked a hole right through your head"), this is superb. J.J. Barnes' Deeper In Love is performed here by Robert Ward and for some reason is credited as being called Pigfeet! Oh, and there's what sounds like an alternative version of Darrell Banks' current flavour of the month, I'm The One Who Really Loves You to keep everybody happy. Add more goodies from J.J Barnes himself, Darrell Banks, David Ruffin etc, and you've got what is easily the strongest of Goldmine Soul Supply's venture into the Groovesville archives, top quality throughout and some grade 'A' Northern dancers to boot (not literally). This is perhaps the last of the Groovesville releases - I can't recall hearing anything else floating around on tape - so they're going out with a bang. Packaging is fairly minimal with a very brief introductory note from Mr. Koppell, but the music here speaks for itself and I think that we have all possibly been spoiled with the previous releases in this series. Maybe if we take a retrospective in a couple of years time I'll even grow to enjoy hearing Silky Hargreaves massacreing Emanuel Lasky's immortal Lucky To Be Love By You! TRACK LISTING EDWIN STARR - Has it happened to you yet STEVE MANCHA - Let's party/BARBARA MERCER - Happiness is here PARLIAMENTS - Heart trouble/ INSTRUMENTAL - I miss my baby/ PROFESSIONALS - That's why I love you/ WILLIE HATCHER -Searching/ MELVIN DAVIS & STEVE MANCHA - I need my baby/ SPYDER TURNER - Trying to forget you/ STEVE MANCHA - A good understanding/ INSTRUMENTAL - You're gonna be sorry/ JOYCE VINCENT - Solid as a rock/ EDWIN STARR - You're my mellow/ MELVIN DAVIS - Chains of love/ STEVE MANCHA - He stole the love that was mine/ ANDREA HENRY - Time fades away/ INSTRUMENTAL - Geni/ STEVE MANCHA - Need to be needed/ ROBERT WARD - Pigfeet (deeper and deeper)/ DARRELL BANKS - I'm the one who loves you/ J.J. BARNES - The goings on/ STEVE MANCHA - Unyielding/ INSTRUMENTAL - Everlovin'/ DAVID RUFFIN - You're still in my heart. ------------------------------------ THE GOLDEN TORCH REVISITED (GSCD 92) I think that the mood you're in affects CD reviews - one day you might love to hear a CD of oldies, next day you think "Oh no, how many times I have heard these before?" I'm afraid that today I'm suffering from the symptoms described in the latter scenario and I couldn't wait for this collection to end. Why? Because I first heard Mamie Galore, Lenis Guess, James Bounty et al nearly 25 years ago and I'm just bored with them. Having said that, they're still good, great records, but familiarity breeds contempt. The highlight of this CD is actually an instrumental (hello Andy!), Frantic Escape by The Innocent Bystanders which has no melody at all but is Popcorn Wylie and his session men cooking up an absolute storm on this vibe-laden Detroit crasher. Juxtapose this with the other instrumental selection, Bob Wilson's Suzy's Serenade and you get a chalk and cheese situation where you can't believe something as dreadful as that could ever have been played. Ditto The Dramatics' hideous Inky Dinky Wang Dang Doo, a record everyone went crazy over in 72/73, but the actual record is even worse than it's title, what a mess. Those two plus The Exciters' Number One which is a nothing song, are the only duds on this CD, but I have to say that there are at least 7 previously released on CD tracks here, so check the listing carefully. So apart from Frantic Escape, the other main highlights are Lou Johnson's perrenial Unsatisfied, a record which sounded dated from day one but one that contains a masterful vocal performance and is worth the price of the CD alone; Jimmy (James) Conwell with Too Much, a terrific dancer which has the same backing track as Len Jewel's Bettin' On Love and was pressed many years ago but in such bad quality that it was barely recognisable - here you get it in perfect sound quality. Oh and there's Luther Ingram's vocal version of Exus Trek which isn't a patch on the instrumental but for some crazy reason is preferred by a few people, trouble is it's not a very good song.So basically, this is another superb release, it just caught me at the wrong time I'm afraid. Incidentally, check out the accompanying booklet, centre pages, there's a photo of people dancing at the King's Hall, Stoke at the Togetherness allnighter and bugger me, it's your truly, bottom right of the pic with the blue and purple checked shirt - but wait, I've never noticed that sodding bald patch coming before! TRACK LISTING LENIS GUESS - Just ask me/ VIBRATING VIBRATIONS - Surprise party for baby/ DEE DEE SHARP - What kind of lady/ PHILLIP MITCHELL - Free for all/ MAMIE GALORE -It ain't necessary/ PROPHETS - I got the fever/ VALENTINES - Breakaway/ BOB WILSON - Suzy's serenade/ DRAMATICS - Inky dinky wang dang doo/ SUPERIORS - What would I do/ LOU JOHNSON - Unsatisfied/ ROSCOE SHELTON - Running for my life/ TYMES - What would I do/ SEQUINS - A case of love/ ROYAL JOKERS - Love game a-z/ JIMMY CONWELL - Too much/ OVATIONS - They say/ LUTHER INGRAM - If it's all the same to you babe/ JEANETTE WHITE - Music/ DYNAMICS - Bingo/ INNOCENT BYSTANDERS - Frantic escape/ PARLIAMENTS - Don't be sore at me/ JAMES BOUNTY -Prove yourself a lady/ EXCITERS - Number one/ TONY MICHAELS - I love the life I live. ------------------------------------ OUT ON THE FLOOR TONIGHT (GSCD 107) At first glance I thought this was a reissue of an old GM/SS title, Out On The Floor, but no, this is Out On The Floor Tonight. The concept is a little different too - the first CD conatined 24 or so classics, I mean extremely well established sounds, hear them at every oldies night you go to kind of classics like Queen Of Fools, The Snake, What's Wrong With Me Baby and so on. This compilation, doesn't really include any early classics but concentrates on the mid to late 70's biggies. There are also a handful of UK releases thrown in including Kiki Dee's On A Magic Carpet Ride which to these ears is beginning to sound quite nice (after 18 years of it sounding like shit).Other UK's come from John E. Paul, great at the time but sounding like like something from another planet now, can you imagine them laying this at Albrighton or some other 'soul connoisseurs' venue? Ditto Five And A Penny's awful version of Dana Valery and Tony Blackburn's shocking cover of I'll Do Anything. John Drevar's Expression still sounds okay I suppose, as do The Flirtations and Timebox, but the best of the UK recordings is Dusty Springfield's What's It Gonna Be which sounds as authentic as anything else here. But it's not just the UK recordings that provide the shockers here: Otis Leavill's Boomerang sounds like a Gene Chandler/Major Lance recording but is hideous, and is apparently a Twisted Wheel classic, Jeez! One of Levine's old biggies, The Petals - You Can't Close The Windows To Your Heart is bad beyond description, Susan Farrar's The Big Hurt was big for literally two weeks at Wigan before it was pressed then thankfully we never had to suffer it again, and as for Keith, Brian Hyland, Eddie Garrigan and so on, they're records of their own era and just don't fit in today. Strangely enough, Many's The Slip by The Present, although being a semi-psychedelic record, still sounds good but that's probably because of the memories it inspires rather than the quality of the record. Worst of the lot, and perhaps the worst record ever to appear on a GM/SS CD is undoubtedly Marc Copage's Who Can I Turn To, a dire recording by a 6 year old TV star who sounds like he was having his foreskin chopped off while recording this turd. Far and away the best track is He Loves Me by The Chalfontes which is a Detroit sounding dancer I've loved for years but never seems to be remembered with any fondness by anyone else. Oh, and whoever mastered this needs a severe beating around the head with a 3 week old pork chop because, okay, occasionally it's acceptable to miss the first split second of an intro to a track, but there are something like 15 seconds cut from the intro of Jeanette Harper's Put Me In Your Pocket - a small mercy, some may say, but there's just no excuse for it, it actually begins more or less on the vocal when there's a perfectly good and quite exciting intro to the original recording. Remember when they cut off the intro to John & The Weirdest - Can't Get Over These Memories? Why do people have to tamper with things?Let's face it, this is a real mish-mash of sounds and styles and it doesn't come off, and when the likes of Kiki Dee are your saving grace, well perhaps it's time for a bit of a rethink in the quality control department. Having said that, there are probably many, many people who bought the K-Tel Soul Survivors package which was ten times worse than this, so I may be putting on a soul snob hat here to look 'cool' - so, let's end by saying that there's probably something for everybody here, but not too much for me personally. TRACK LISTING OTIS LEAVILL - Boomerang/ PRESENT - Many's the slip/ JOHN E. PAUL - I wanna know/ KIKI DEE - On a magic carpet ride/ SANDY & THE PEBBLES - He's my kind of fellow/ SWEET - Broken heart attack/ DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - What's it gonna be/ JEANETTE HARPER - Put me in your pocket/ JAY & THE TECHNIQUES - Baby make your own sweet music/ JERRY BUTLER - One night affair/ PETALS - (You can't close) the windows of your heart/ BRIAN HYLAND - The joker went wild/ NAT WRIGHT - Mr. Love/ EDDIE GARRIGAN - I wish I was/ NICKY NEWARKERS - Woman/ ARNOLD BRYANT- House in order/ SUSAN FARRAR - The big hurt/ GROOVERS - He will break your heart/ LENNY (TONY BLACKBURN) GAMBLE - I'll do anything/ TIMEBOX - Girl don't make me wait/ FIVE AND A PENNY - You don't know where your interest lies/ JOHN DREVAR'S Expression - The closer she gets/ FLIRTATIONS - Little darlin'/ KEITH - Daylight saving time/ MARC COPAGE - Who can I turn to (questions and answers) ------------------------------------ THE MAGIC OF DETROIT VOL1 (GSCD 93) A collection of material culled mainly from Mike Hanks stable of labels including Mah's D-Town, Wheel City etc and for the Detroit afficinados out there, this really will be your cup of tea! D-Town dominates this set with well known items like Silky Hargreaves - Hurt by Love, Fabulous Peps -My love looks good on you and Ronnie Love's Detroit Michigan being the stand outs, though the previously unknown to me Dee Edwards- His Majesty My Love was my favourite track here, a strange marching beat with Brass fanfares blaring out all over the place as if real royalty was paying a visit to downtown Detroit. this is way from left field and is really great. As for Melvin Davis- Find a quiet place, I actually had a copy of this back in 79, I got it from Pep who had 3 copies, I sold it for something like £15 and I believe its now worth over £500! Ah Shucks! Well I wont go into detail about the rest of the CD because due to the labels utilising the same group of musicans many of the tracks have a similar feel andwhile its all quality stuff its not earth shattering, though well worth buying for the aforementioned tracks. Plus theres The Precisions £500 rated I wanna tell my baby, funny that none of thier other records are worth more than £20, Oh and there's the The Kansas City Playboys version of Big Maybelles Quitting time too which is a dancer and a half. I would guess that this is one of many complitations on the way fromthis source as you cant have a CD featuring wheelsville tracks that doesnt include the mighty Save your love for me baby by Freddy Butler can, you? Sleeve notes wise, theres a brief history of the label and pen portraits of each of the artists and a couple of backroom boys by Tim Brown. *** Track listening to follow.... ------------------------------------ soul on vinyl Thanks again to Pete Smith for the use of his reviews from Beatin Rythm (first 5 newies) to start this section off: Ralph Graham - She just sits there - UPFRONT This has been around for years as James Conwell- sitting at the window. This is a stunning track a slow beat dominated by spanish guitar riff to begin, with a plthora of instruments joining in one by one, and the song is a sad tale of a young girl waiting for her guy to come back from Vietnam . Shes got a long wait. Middle 8 is a bit messy but the staccatto verses are incrediable and this is one of the most atmospheric records of the last few years . Vocalist is surely white with a name like "Ralph" but this is wonderful ***** Annabel Fox - Lonely girl - SATIN A 100 club biggie, this is a fantastic Little Anthony style beat ballad, again produced by Teddy Randazzo (well it sure sounds like one of his jobs), Dianne Warwick soundalike vocalist performs well, but with a production like this she cant fail and whilst listening to it for this tape I got actually got goosebumps during the chorus which features a 100 piece orchestra and angelic chorus. Breathtakingly brilliant.*****+ Hayes Cotton - I'll be waiting - CLAIRE An exciting intro on this R+B dancer and it pounds along in a similar vein to the same artists Black Wings, but the guy has a voice that sounds identical to Barney the Bar fly from the simpsons! Not bad ( but how could anyone pay £200 for this) ** Cody Black - Im slowly moulding - KING Solid Northern thumper from the profilic Mr Black this is one of his best, great backing and instrumentation. ***1/2 Pat Lewis - GENI - UNISSUED Connoisseur via SS/GM have already put out a version of this which sounded identical to the wonderful Teri Bryant version. This second version has diffrent brasswork and vocal styling and a bit more punch to it. Great song this, and featuring a superlative string arrangement from those solid hitbound people. **** more to follow!!!! ..........soon ------------------------------------ RECORD NEWS The following article is an extract from LineOne's 'Staying In' Interactive Guide to Home Entertainment. Rarest Motown tracks to be released at last by Simon Holden Two British Tamla Motown fans have won a10-year battle to persuade record giant Polygram to open their vaults and release an album of rare tracks. Chris King and Jim Stewart refused to take no for an answer from the owners of the Motown catalogue and are now celebrating the release of This Is Northern Soul. It features 24 rarely-heard tracks from legendary singers from the mid-60s like Marvin Gaye,Gladys Knight, Frank Wilson and even Motown's backing group the Andantes.Jim, 50, a CD supplier from Swanley, Kent, and Chris a DJ from Nottingham, hope to sell 12,000 copies of the compilation to ensure a second album is commissioned. They estimate fans would have to pay about £40,000 to privately assemble a similar collection from original acetate and vinyl recordings from the Detroit label. The collection contains Brenda Holloway's 1966 song Reconsider, Frank Wilson's Do I Love You?,Marvin Gaye's Love Starved Heart (1965) and three tracks by Gladys Knight, including It's Too Late For You and Me (1966).''We asked Polygram on numerous occasions with no joy,'' said Jim. ''They obeyed a directive from Motown who were loath to issue the back catalogue. ''It's almost as if they are frightened the older songs would overshadow their current artists. We couldn't see why the two couldn't work hand-in-hand. Now my head is buzzing.''They are good pieces of music and stand up against anything of the other Motown releases.'' A second album is already being planned from the 66 remaining catalogued tracks available to them. page originally posted in 1997