macca

Fascinating. On one my first trips to Wigan I saw people 'lose it' over this record. We've all been there. I wouldn't dare to compare it to Frank Wilson though.

That's nice read, especially the final sentence. Don't pay over the odds for an oldie. Cough!

Thank you gents. More or less confirmed my suspicions. I'd add The Velvet Satins to that list, if my memory isn't playing tricks. I've do have cassettes from March 1975, but from a different venue, with Sam playing August & Deneen and Third Time Around, among other things.

Any chance someone could point me in the right direction, please?

Stanground Youth Club Peterborough November 2nd 1974. Smudge, Gary Spencer, Paul Donnelly, Jonah and John Manship on the decks. Can't remember the first record , but do remember Cochise being played several times throughout the night.

I thought his version of 'I stand accused' was pretty good, but then we are cousins. Getting mighty crowded was from that session too. Old Dec's a Soul boy at heart.

she probbly meant an obsessive bunch of foaming-at-the-mouth lunatics.

Superb reading Bob. Incidentally, she describes her UK fan base as 'ratty'. Now 'ratty' in British English can mean 'in a bad mood' or 'annoyed'. Is she suggesting we're rodent like?

I very likely that the Bongiovi guy is the same one that worked on Darryl Stewart's Wand tracks at the Record Plant in NYC.

Thanks Dave!!

Does this refrain from a tune ring a bell with anyone? My mate thinks it may be from a Jive Five tune but isn't 100% sure. Any help appreciated...

The Jive Five too!!

The clips are too dark to really judge if people are 'moving in the prescribed fashion'. People will groove the way they want or however it suits or grabs them. Youtube is full of clips of ageing gits and gitesses 'scatting' or attempting to scat as if they were back at Cleethorpes Pier 1976. Personally I find 'exhibition dancers' like this embarrassing to watch. It's not about who moves best it's about doing your own thing, freestyle. Gone are the days when the dance police would be observing your every move to make sure it didn't veer away towards something less orthodox (remember Blackpool Mecca?). It's also very ingenuous (or pigheaded) to assume that the whole of the freakin' world is still looking to the UK for inspiration. People like Butch and Soul Sam are appreciated for who they are, their exclusive sounds and their general disposition to get people on their feet, but they aren't indispensable. People will look to the UK and then look away again. There are plenty of records out there and with the right nose they can be sought out and played, whether they'd be accepted in a Uk context or not. Too much navel contemplation going on over there perhaps...

Spaceland might have cashed in on the Apollo mission too? Or am I getting this wrapped round my uri gagarins?

I'd say we like predominantly Black American uptempo dance records from the 60's and in some cases, the early to mid 70's. We also like lots of records recorded by white artists that try to encapsulate this sound. Some of us even like records that don't try to encapsulate this sound. We are a wide church, as Jim Callaghan used to say...

You can also see the faces in detail for the first time. Younghearts indeed...

I'll swear to you it's the first time I've seen the bugger. Mark, I notice that first picture is dedicated to a Chema Rios. He's actually a friend of a friend. A long time Beatle nut who recently offered me a pedal from Lennon's gran piano. Needless to say I declined his kind offer. He lives in La Coru±a & is an eminent gynecologist. Mad as a box of frogs though.

Only nutters like ourselves would probably scrutinise something like this, but I reckon this is a Major Lance LP in McCartney's hand. Everybody knows the Beatles were heavily influenced by the sound of Black America, but Major Lance is a bit of a surprise. But then again, it might not be. Records like The Monkey Time were huge hits over there in 1963/4 so the Fabs would have been buying the stuff they happened to be hearing in clubs during their time off. Bruce Springsteen's live version of Mary's Place from the 2004 tour features The Monkey Time too. I reckon that a lot of folk in the 70's were under the impression that Major Lance was some obscure recording artist, but it wasn't obviously the case, was it? What do yous think?

He also played esperanto and said the intro sounded like a certain rotund blackpool mecca dj tap dancing. Yes, mr. lewin, kypros and nipper, aka john foote, with an 'e'. I've tried searching for him on facebook but no joy. used to pawn my watch on a monthly basis at the fleet. curry at the mumtaz before the all-nighter. beers in the white lion before the long walk down bridge street to fletton.

and Ken Cox of Dawn Promotions got wind of the financial viability of NS...

I'd describe the Prophets record as odd, if anything. Musically, it seems to defy the premise that simple is best 'cos there's all sorts of stuff going on in there and it sounds as if each musician is reading from a different chart. The vocals are stunning though, and it makes you wonder how many run throughs they had to get that sound. It's certainly the kind of record that would have pricked my ears up years back. Reminds me of stuff by the esquires, but more 'cluttered'.

Right on both counts Martyn. I definitely remember attending an all-nighter at The Fleet well before November. The kilns had, shall we say, a trigger like effect on one's central nervous system. I also remember ornithological forays down to the water's edge where I would attempt to communicate with coots and mallards via rhyder hunt's duck warbler. Happy memories indeed. Does anyone remember weedgie john? he used to go out with stanground girl vicky brookbanks and only went to the fleet to get blocked. he used to wear a levi jacket with a UVF patch and once I was sitting next to him and James Coit came on, which was massive at the time, and I asked him what he thought of the record and his reply was 'it's no that bad, but it's not a gid as the f*** sash. I pissed myself. the fleet had a lot of characters, as did many venues...

Paul, that's not the Mick Parr from Peterborough who died earlier this year is it? I

I loved them and still love them. Admittedly there have been some clunkers over the years but the sheer exhilaration one felt when dancing to stuff like My Little Girl, Cigarette Ashes, My Sugar Baby, Double Cookin' when we were sprogs is something I'd never trade, not in a million years.

March 1975, a good two years before This England, which shows that Mike Walker didn't really give a toss about members' wishes on this issue.