Paul R

Went last night to a showing at a small cinema in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. The film is on for 2 nights, and the first night was sold out for all 275 seats. The crowd were a mixture of Scooterists and a large number of old soulies. I was suprised by the amount of people who used to travel weekly from Pompey to Wigan. There were Djs playing oldies, on vinyl, both before & after the showing, and the sounds were quite mixed, from played out stuff to lesser heard. The film itself I found was quite enjoyable, even there were loads of faults. I found that generally the trouser lengths were alright, but one or 2 were either too long or too short;) . I've given it 8 out of ten. Paul

I also think Moments-Steve Karmen got some plays;) Paul

Landslide, Can it Be Me, If That's What You Wanted, Laws Of Love. Awsome IMHO. Paul

I was at a Car boot in Plymouth in about 1990, and there was a box with a pile of singles in it. In there was a Marsha Brody boot for 10p that I had. I was just about to walk away when I spied a 50 box on the table. It was mainly pop chart stuff, accept for a mint april stevens pink MGM demo, marked up for £20. I put on the "Twenty Pounds for a record!" voice, and the seller told me that his daughter had seen it in a book for £40. "Forty Pounds for that!!!!". He asked me about it and I told him that it was my mums favourite when I was a kid. He then said I could have it for 3 or 4:D . Of course I gave him £3. The following week at the same car boot there was a stall with a box full of Oriole singles. The only "decent" one was Sherry, Hugo Montenegro:angry2: . The seller told me that some nice man had had a load off him for 50p each about 10 minutes before. In a second hand shop in Gosport I picked up a Patrice Holloway, Love & Desire, UK Issue for 25p in about VG+ condition. Also in Gosport I was looking over a blokes shoulder as he flicked through a box of singles, when my heart jumped at a yellow Chess Demo in a company sleeve of The Tiffanies, It's got To Be A Great Song. again Mint condition. On the downside, I remember my sister had a tape done for her with all the top sounds of the time at Wigan. One of the tracks I remembered the name of was Toody, By Angels One Five. I found 5 copies of it in a junk shop and bought them all. I was stuck with all of them until I just binned then. What an atrocious crock of shit that was! I have found a few others, but not much to write home about. "Soul For Sale" John Schroeder on Piccadilly anyone? Paul

I remember the rumour that it was the Osmonds, but that is probably more to do with the record label than anything else. Paul

I remember thinking at the time, "we will be lucky if this last another 36 years":yes: I'm sure Levine DJed, but not too sure about Colin. Paul

These poor quality boots have been around since at least 1973, when I bought one at the record shop on Preston bus station(can't remember the name of the shop). For some reason it was £1-50 even then!. The label looked like a photocopy. All the othe boots & Okeh reissues(right track inst etc) were 75p. That was my first real foray into buying northern soul, with my 15th birthday money. Paul

Bloody hell! That takes me back to my Ormskirk days. That must have been around the time I sold him my UK Demo of April Stevens for £8 because I needed some shoes and my dad wouldn't pay for them. Actually it was my fault for telling him Sean had offered me the money. Apparently Sean isn't around anymore, under very sad circumstances so I heard. That's when I used to knock about with Pete, Sean, Gozzy(Roy Gostelow) and Dave Lonsdale. Happy crazy times. Paul

That corner by the Mr Ms door on the main room balcony, was the Southport/Ormskirk corner for the first year. Then after the 1st anniversary, when Ms opened we were thrust out.mainly to occupy the far right hand corner of Mr Ms. I was basically a nomad wandering round all night verballing to anyone who would listen:lol: . Some of the crowd with their backs to the stairwell, and the Mr Ms door just to the right of Hilgs(with the beard), from North Wales(RIP). Paul

I used to talk to him quite often, but after I was busted with about 50 odd chalkies at a friday night early session, he personnally banned me for life as the squad were taking me way. He then went on stage and said I had been arrested with a haul of Two Tone Pinks. Street cred definatey went up that night, Sounded far better than chalkies. Nice bloke though. Paul

I've just edited my original post. They certainly were people to aviod back then. Paul

Avoiding Sammy & Grant & friends from Blackburn. Whatever happened to them. Paul

B&S/Probe ran a competition for the tracklisting of Vol 2. I don't think it ever materialised. The suggestions were in an old B&S from about 1974 and had some great suggestions for the time, like "If I could only e sure", and Willie Hutch "Love Runs Out". I'll have to try to find the magazine. Paul

I'll have to give this a listen when I'm not at work. "There's a Moment" is one of the tracks I most remember at Va Vas, my first allnighter. Still love it. Paul

Used to DJ Northern with Tony in Plymouth in the late 70s/early 80s I haven't seen him since he was seduced by the mod side and returned home to Brum. He had some great records back then. Paul

I used to go to Wigan & Mecca from Late 73 through to mid 76, although I was mainly a Wigan goer. I've mentioned it before that what did me in in the end about the Mecca was one night they played What a difference a day makes, and I went downstairs to laugh at the divvies & they were playing it there!. Anyway looking at the playlists from the period they certainly were more soulful, although at the time the "disco" stuff was not really my thing.(although I now love all those oldies, even the 70s ones). One point I would like to make, the use of "Joe 90" theme to show how crap Wigan was, and then listing stuff like "Jaws Theme" in a Mecca love fest thread. I know Wigan really went off the Soul side for a while, Mecca went off the Northern side for ever. Has anyone mentioned "Caught With My Heart Down" Country Store on TA yet? Paul

It's great isn't it. I met Little Stevie in Barcelona, and Simon on the Isle Of Wight. See you at the crown next month Imberboy! Paul

Obviously the person starting the thread. Paul

Only met Max a couple of times back in the day. I used to go down to Wolves occasionally for the friday night Woolfrun Hall dos and stay with my mate steve Henshaw. On the Saturday we would go to Max's shop for some sounds. He was a great guy then. A few years ago I was in contact with him again over some records I was selling. So sad when another of the scenes legends goes. RIP Max and my condolences to his family. Paul

Was actually first big aroung 73/74. I still quite like it as a pop tune, but not a northern tune. Paul

Don't Know if its been posted before, but I only found it today. Paul

In about 1970 ish, at Southport, I sneaked out of boys brigade, hid my uniform, and went down the road to St Patricks youth club disco. The first record I remember dancing to was "Third Finger Left Hand". Paul

Come to think of it, it was an issue I remember. Just can't remember what I did yesterday. Paul

I'm sure it was 75. Shane Martin was pretty big, but nancy Wilson was definately a year or so earlier. Could have been late 74. I've always loved the nancy Wilson Track though. Paul

1975 I think, £6 for Shane Martin on Epic. The UK Demo went for £12 the same night. A couple of weeks later I swapped the Shane Martin(that was just getting massive), for Nancy Wilson "End Of our Love" on US. Total Muppetry!!. Paul