macca

I have a special fondness for laura nyro's version with patti labelle. aretha's is not to be sniffed at either.

what about the first time you heard those opening piano chords to my sugar baby?

Superb photo Pablo. You rarely see that kind of quality from those kodak instamatic cameras that everybody used. The colours are really sharp & strong. Nice one. Phil O'Hearn is still on the scene. Macca.

but rocky's black!!

sad to hear that. I went to the brit a few times as I used to catch the notts coach to the casino, but can't say I remember him. please excuse my ignorance, but what's an island t-shirt?

I was in Albufeira about 20 years ago. I don't remember too many places that played Soul, cos it was well before the Internet era. If you drive up through the Alentejo region, you'll see some lovely towns where the accommodation, food etc is much cheaper than down on the coast. Lisboa is simply great, vinyl or no vinyl. I too think Portugal is fab, it's only about 30 mins drive from where I live, so I'm a little biased perhaps. Might be worth a trawl on the fotolog site for Lisbon based mods, soulfolk etc; You never know, the Iberian peninsula constantly throws up surprises. :-) Macca.

no 60's footage of them unfortunately. wasn't this a hose street classic? from the canary islands, please welcome...

What a wonderful thing Internet is, eh? I just love to see posts like these. Apart from the vinyl scans, let's see some pics of live performances, studio shots, anything. Yet another CD on my pre-order list. M p.s. Drums No Guns is a very honourable venture too. American gun culture is one of the things we Europeans find most difficult to comprehend.

I note that fairmount was a CP subsidiary. what kind of material, on the whole, did this label feature? I've got big dee irwin 'you really are together' on a fairmount DJ, a nice tune in my opinion. was its output more r&b orientated than CP? I wasn't that keen on 'because of my heart' back in the day, but when Sam played it at last year's (or was it you Steve?) S.O.U.L. in Luanco, it sounded great. Weird how our perception of sounds changes, eh? M

I wouldn't say it was politics dags, just differing opinions as to the acceptability of a group of musicians doing NS covers as the backdrop to a 'revamped' stage play.

Good tunes there Smudge, except perhaps Marc Coppage :-) There's been several discussions about Billy Woods on here. With people like John Manship & Mr. Dewhurst all weighing in with their recollections. Top sound, then & now. Breath of fresh air at 6am, every time!

In Spain it's called tila I think, but I'm not keen on infusions, so I'll pass if you don't mind. :-) I note that Russ was deejaying in the foyer on the opening night, which would have explained the presence of the 'old northern soulies whose presence was given away by their soul badges'. Dear oh' dear... Paul, I did say, to be fair, that I would have preferred the Tomangoes to the Band in question. Curiosity just got the better of me, that's all. ;-) I've just been scouring Youtube for some clips of it, even if it's only mobile phone footage. I may well be ill.

Well said Moggy. I never did like the word revamp. Link for review https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ent..._bolton_octagon

I wouldn't say it was awful. Certainly jumps at you when hear it for the first time & I think those records are few & far between these days. Ray Agee 'I'm losing again' & Calvin Grayson 'Love's Just Begun' had that effect on me, but the Mello Souls are not in their league in my opinion.

I don't like to think what I'll be saying or doing in ten years, it's too scary. I was referring to your 'age thing' comment, which is why I mentioned the Mello Souls in a zimmer frame context.. Macca p.s. And you're right about humans too...

Don't think this argument holds water either. the mello souls still has people rqattling their zimmer frames, no?

I think you'll find that the guy who asked for the clip also thinks it's rubbish. By giving his opinion on the merits of the record I think we can safely assume that debate was being encouraged on this occasion. I

They could have moved to freebasing though MIke, being for the benefit of tripists everywhere.

I can understand that. I suppose it's down to taste in the end, what floats your boat might not float mine & vice-versa, which is why I said it ain't about black & white. One of my top ten is matt lucas. Say no more.

I agree 100% with Jocko. I've always considered this to be a Soul scene, the quotient of pop records played is in fact really quite small, & as Pete said, they can be narrowed down to a period of specific time. I also accept that they're part of the scene, but at the time I really resented their intrusion. It's not about black or white. Matt Lucas destroys that argument. If that makes me a music snob, then what the hell, I can live with it. Certain records moved mountains. Holly St James? Wasn't impressed then and I'm less impressed now. Joannie Summers? Dreadful to my ears, but there you go. We're all different, it's a wide church, as they used to say in Old Labour. FOR ME, this is a Soul scene, for those of you that consider it just a dance scene, then fine, I just don't share that view point, that's all. Was this record on Mercury?

Ted Heath floored by the miners in 1974, right? Labour government elected under Lord Jim who doggedly sticks it out till the famous winter of discontent (whingeing gits) of 1978. Maggie elected 1979 promising unity instead of division, harmony instead of strife etc, etc. Wigan limped on for less than two years, right? Shouldn't it really have been the Callaghan years? Where's Dan? It's get me coat time...

Seismic clapping at Wigan with this one, or what? One of those legendary intros as well, like Connie Clark, Checkerboard Squares etc;

I hadn't turned 15 when I first went to the Casino in february 75. I'd previously spent a couple of years under the wing of a few of the older lads (paul donnelly, smudge, gary spencer etc) who used to organise soul nights at the local youth club. Having grown up on a diet of motown & stax & not being too enamoured of funk & the philly sound, northern/rare soul was a natural, effortless progression for me. I think the same can be said for most of us, or am I wrong? I must be an intolerant git because in the early 80's, I viewed the invasion of pimply 15 year old mods & skins as something dreadful. Wigan was a necessary rite of passage, to use a well worn clich. I'll never forget it... Macca

of course, I'd prefer the tomangoes any day too, but the band did a very good version, in my opinion, of 'baby don't you do it', a marvin gaye song. I'm also of the opinion that white cover version doesn't always mean crap, necessarily. I doubt these guys are in the same league as levon & the boys though... M

why would some of us struggle to maintain our dignity and soul in similar circumstances? I would prefer to hear the original sound track, but there are some really good cover bands out there. anybody remember soul patrol, white boys from northampton, that toured with a stax tribute about 15 years ago? I'm sure they'd do the Tomangoes justice, or anything other kick ass northern classic for that matter. The Teenagers who supported Dean Parrish in Spain were excellent as well. As good an R&B band I've ever seen, and I've seen a few.