Garethx

I can't believe I'm reading some of these comments. This label released some of the best soul music ever. Full stop. Records like I Love Music, Backstabbers, Where Are All My Friends, Don't Let Love Get You Down, Can't Stop Turning You On, Ain't No Time Fa Nothing, Was That All It Was, Let's Clean Up The Ghetto, Jam, Jam, Jam All Night Long, I'll Always Love My Mama, Heard It In A Love Song, Keep It Coming, Travelling In Heavy Trafic, Hey Baby, Put Our Heads Together (an absolutely massive 'Northern' record in its day) and countless others are all faultless examples of their particular genre, i.e. soul. These records were played by fantastically skilled musicians, arranged by geniuses, sung by incredible singers and written by master craftsmen. Each time I listen to classic Philly I know that these records could not be bettered: the take that reached the streets was perfection in almost every case. Philadelphia International may have spawned the bastard offspring 'disco' but to tag any of the records mentioned above as such would be a cruel dis-service. Perhaps the crime committed by this particular record label was to be too good for the Northern scene: the records were uniformly great and sold in reasonably large quantities, by definition disqualifying them from 'rare soul' exposure. In slagging these records their detractors prove once again that they have no particular feel for soul music, and even less taste.

Betty's live version of Tonight Is The Night is the one to have. It's far, far superior to the studio cut: in fact one of the best 'live' soul recordings ever in my opinion. As I've mentioned here before the mesmeric bass line has already been lifted by numerous other records, most famously Color Me Badd's excerable pop hit "I Wanna Sex You Up".

To quote Pat Brady... "NOT TOO MANY RARE SOUL COLLECTORS OWN THIS GEM..." Mmm... I wonder why that would be.

Good points, Pete. In those days The Scala had an atmosphere all of its own. Shane MacGowan was practically the only person I knew when I first went to the 100 Club. I was familiar with him from his stint behind the counter in Stan Brennan's Rocks Off shop in Hanway Street, so I used to spend quite a bit of time talking to him in the cloakroom. I was about fifteen and paranoid that I'd be ejected from the premises for being underage. When he first mentioned the idea of Pogue Mahone, where he would meld Punk Rock and Rebel Songs, I thought, with legendary foresight, 'that'll never take off." Happy days.

It's on a green label called Musical Energy from the west coast. Soul Sam had one in his sales box for a time last year for about £400. It wasn't in the best of nick, but played fine. Maybe he still has it? Quite a nice record.

The Jo Boxers, Karen. They were mates with Keb, Ion etc. in the early 80s and used to regularly hang out at any do going on in London. They did a cover of the Womack/Pickett song Jealous Love which was quite credible. Sean McCluskey was their drummer and was quite a face on the London scene in those days: he used to run a night called London's Chosen Mass which helped spread the 60s Newies word down south quite a bit. I could be wrong, but I seem to remember him even deejaying at the 100 Club at some tiime in the 80s: maybe Ady C. can confirm this. He's still about and is still quite a big name on any underground club scene that springs up in London. Dunno if he's still got any of his soul records. Years later I managed a band called Earl Brutus which included one of the 'Boxers, Rob Marche, on guitar. Gordon King from Earl Brutus was quite heavily into Northern for a time. He had some great records and used to buy quite a lot of stuff from Rod Shard and co. in Manchester. Rob used to play guitar with The Grid, which was how I met ex-Soft Cell keyboard player Dave Ball. Dave was originally from Blackpool and did genuinely go to the Mecca quite a bit in his youth. I've played records at (non-soul) clubs with him over the years and he does have genuinely good records and great taste in soul. I guess my point is that a lot of people in pop groups are at least aware of Northern Soul, and it's not as mystifyingly underground as we sometimes think it might be. It seems to be a genre which blows away people who are genuinely into music. Where they differ from many of us is that they don't like it only exclusively, and don't stop listening to other forms of music, past and present.

An unissued recording from Kent's Dave Hamilton series. This was played in the early 90s by Dean Anderson & Kitch from an acetate which was quite different from the finished product as released by Kent.

Phenomenal record. I bought one of these off Soul Bowl in the mid 80s after Tim Brown had enthusiastically reviewd the other side in Black Beat... think it cost about two quid then (this was before Ovide was seen as a label to collect in any way). Couldn't see what the fuss was about that, but flipped it over and found this titanic tune on the reverse. I've loved it ever since and quite seriously consider it to be one of the greatest soul records ever made.

The red one is the first stock copy. The re-issue or bootleg is on a blue version of the later 'chrome' type Turbo label.

That wasn't really the pont I was trying to make, James. In trying to copy JB, Otis Redding and Motown the producers and artists of black America came up with often brilliant music: sometimes the more amateurish and na¯ve attempts to do exactly that are the most transcendent examples of our music. My point related strictly to Northern Soul deejaying. Most NS records are, whether we like it or not, generic. When DJs try to 'push the envelope' and play a record which is a very radical departure, sound-wise, for the Northern Soul scene, it can enhance the scene in a significant (if short-term) way. The Crow is a great example of that. The problem arises when deejays with less vision try to hammer lesser records which 'sound like' records which broke the mould, as it were. The earlier example I gave, Kell Osbourne and a limited number in the same mould like Sam Fletcher were great records, but opened the floodgates to Popcorn being an accepted strand of the scene. Fine for those who like Popcorn, bleeding horrible for those who don't. I could have used examples like Charles Shefffield (50s R& or The Carstairs (smooth 70s soul). Years down the line we have far, far weaker examples of all these genres competing for deck space with 'proper' northern. A degree of experimentation is a very healthy thing, but the records must always be very good if they are intended to break generic strangleholds.

Why is this ever classed as 'rock music' by collectors, when it is clearly nothing of the kind? That always gets my back up. Another record which is often tarred with the same brush is Judy Freeman's "Hold On" on RCA, presumably because her band are called Black Rock. James, in terms of deejays playing other records that are like it: it really is kind of unique; that's what makes it so special. Other funk records might have the same degree of syncopation, and may even have better breaks, but can't really match it for atmosphere or drama. It always sounds great as a counterpoint to other types of soul music. In a set of wall-to-wall funk it may not have quite as much impact. Records which break new ground on the scene do so when they stand out from what's around them at the moment: when people try to find other records that imitate mould-breakers things can start to go downhill. "Quicksand" by Kell Osbourne used to sound incredible in the 80s in sets of often-frantic 60s soul. In trying to replicate its impact deejays opened the door to the dreaded early-60s big-voice phenomenon. A lot of these records had zero soul-content, and a few played in a row could kill any dancefloor. The great thing about 'Northern Soul' is that it's a broad church, sound-wise, but I wouldn't want to hear an hour of records which tried to ape the Crow, if you catch my drift. Variety is the spice of life.

I'm sure I've heard Mick Smith play Mr Lucky loads of times. Has he sold it?

Probably the greatest unknown I've ever heard.

His record on Shama (I Wouldn't Change Her/I Can't Break Away) is very good Chicago soul.

Nice one, Roger. Good to see someone prepared to stand up for new soul records that don't necessarily and self-consciously sound like old soul records.

I'd say the UA issue is now much harder to locate than a copy on Lime. These seem to turn up pretty frequently nowadays. Think Reaching Higher is pretty good in its own right.

This is a pretty good record. I've heard Butch play it out as well: at the moment I suppose it's safe to say that it's pretty hard to get, so well done.

Looks fascinating.

Hadn't thought of that... I'm sure you're right, Pete.

That would make sense with the Ninandy connection. Nina (Simone) and husband Andy (Stroud)'s custom RCA logo in the states. Funny thing is, they didn't lease-in many outside productions: what made them go for Roy Roberts apart form the fact that it's a great record and sounded like it could be a hit? Both Roy Roberts and Nina Simone were music business veterans at the time, and were both originally from North Carolina: maybe a case of doing an old friend a favour... In any case, the WI copy of this has appeared quite regularly on lists over the years: usually at a bit less than the value of the BoRo release of the record. Still a nice thing to arrive through the letterbox, though.

I would have thought about half that figure, personally, but who knows. I firmly believe the market for anything except cast-iron, massive oldies or those newer records on the playlists of a select few djs (Butch, Soul Sam and a couple of others) has well and truly stagnated.

"Indication" is a great record. I don't normally buy UK releases, but I would be tempted by this. Not at seventy quid, though.

Willie Harper's "I Don't Love You Anymore" on Tou-Sea is a fantastic deep record.

Three really good records in their own different ways. It's funny that "Be's That Way..." remains virtually unknown to many on the rare soul scene (I guess 'cos it's not rare in any sense whatsoever except quality) yet always sounds phenomenal when played out loud. The instrumental version by Montego Joe on Ninandy is worth listening out for too, as is the version by Nina's brother, Sam Waymon on RCA.

What a great record the Bobby Foster on Select-o-Hit is. Top quality southern soul.