Funky 4 Corners

Ian, re your notion about missing a certain era; I suspect that most people do, I bet that in the mid 60s there were plenty of folk who were too old to join in the Mod / Soul Club scene and were green with envy. Things were ultra intolerant back then, anyone who was over 21 was looked on as old and maybe odd and so they would have been wishing they were younger. Many mid '60s teenagers may well have looked at you new Northern Soul scene pioneers with envy, they may have got married and had a mortgage or kids by the early / mid 70s. They never had access to the massive wave of US imports that you did, travel to the USA when Freddie Laker hit the scene became accessible to ordinary people etc. I was born in 1950 and suffered my own frustrations; being at school then college, little money to buy clothes, records, scooter etc. I read every tiny detail I could lay my hands on about the London Club / Mod scene, wishing I lived there and could be part of it. I just soaked up every second of RSG! or ads in the music press for the Stevenage Locarno, Orchid Ballroom Purley or the West End Clubs. I could only envy some of those kids in Leeds with tonic suits, Levis suede jackets and Eddy Grinsted Vespa Hurricane's. I have always maintained that these lost moments are the things that motivate the likes of most who go on this forum. Why do we keep those flyers, cards, posters etc? I also maintain that regretting the selling / swapping of rare records is also part of making us what we are. Let's face it, who hasn't regretted getting rid of records in the past? Or worse, missing open opportunities to obtain some. Down here, those who were on the scene, exclusively are not interested anymore, not one jot. I reckon because it was a majority fad that was quickly dropped. That was good for me however as in '73, the place was awash with UK releases. Roburt, again I agree that all will be lost unless it's documented on paper. In the Wheel book we tried to document as much of that scene and era as we could. Let's face it the Manchester Soul scene was massive compared to Yorkshire and the realisation of that immediately put me on the defensive and ever since I have tried to champion `our` scene. Around 1980 I put out a short lived fanzine called `Come & Get These Memories` and featured the West Yorks Soul scene in the first issue.

Hey stegal7, you're smarter than me, I still can't tie my shoelaces and so always wear slip-ons.

Paul Schofield is the man I'm sure, nice bloke I recall. Certainly not Paul Rowan who I knew from Wakefield in the 60s. We used to hang around a coffee bar in Wood Street called the Shrove Bar. Did any of you guys go to the Intro Discotheque at Morley Town Hall, I may be wrong but I have vague recollections of Sharon Tandy live there? Another venue mentioned on here a while back was the Boulevard at Tadcaster, rather typical of the way the scene developed towards the end of the 60s I saw Jimmy James & the Vagabonds on the same bill as Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera. A memorable night was in '65 a `Mod Ball` at the Queens Hall with the Who and the Outer Limits. Again, it's a bit hazy but I think I also saw the Crazy World of Arthur Brown there too. I guess that now a days we look back and tend to compartmentalise the records, clothes, people etc but I recall that the dance floor at the Spinning Disc for example would stay packed to such diverse sounds as the Folks Brothers, `Carolina`and Tommy James & Shondells, `Mony Mony` along James & Bobby Purify, `Let Love Come Between Us`. There hasn't been much mention on the New Mecca, we used to go on Monday nights if I recall, which was the Soul night, Cliff Nobles, `The Horse` was a big record at the time.

On the occasions that I went there all of the staff were Pakistanis, I also vaguely recall there being some white ladies of the hanging around in there?

Swifty, the Four Perfections has now ended but go to advanced search and then completed listings.

I often wonder if young collectors in the USA for example are a) aware and b) bothered about originals, after all the Soul Galore 45 could still be older than many of them. In turn I must admit to similarly being fairly disinterested in such detail when I bought Doo Wop 45s in the US. But £80???? What's happening?

I have been racking my memory about a name that has now come up - Mick Eastwood. In '69 I moved to Manchester and around '70 I got to know Mick and another lad who used to go over from Leeds. RE Leeds Central. I think around 1980 but could be later, I came across a guy with a record stall on Maidstone market. Now Maidstone is not renown for Soul and so I was taken aback to see his stock of choice Soul stuff, some quite rare. He was with his young son and he turned out to be a DJ from the Central who had moved to Folkstone, with his job with Saga. I did know his name but can't recall now.

Kegsy, sorry about the geography, I do recall the proprietors asking everyone who went if they had any drugs? I was amazed at how honest those Bradford lads were when they all said no. Young gentlemen I say.

Eventually went for £80.

Following the notion that a Duke Browner pressing going for £120 is now the norm, I need not therefore ask why there's a Four Perfections on Soul Galore on ebay currently standing at £70. I am clearly out of touch with reality!

I know this is a music forum but back in the day, music, pills and clothes were inseparable from the scene. Let's face it, Wakefield 1964 was, in the grand scheme of things only just emerging from Skiffle and Teddy Boys let alone grasped the Rocker concept and so you might imagine that being an aspiring 14 yr old young Mod at Crigglestone Secondary was, as they say now a days, `challenging`. And so Leeds, some 9 miles away was relatively a much more cosmopolitan scene. In 1965 and we went to the Spinning Disc and early sessions at the Bee Gee and then went home to bed but the older kids, probably 17 / 18 went on to the Wheel or the Mojo. We'd have a couple of Dex or Bluies and think we were major players, I recall taking a couple of Bluies to school and sprinkling them on my English teacher's dinner before she sat down and her having to go home soon after suffering from a `flush`. Many, eight years later when I was a teacher in Kent I was confident enough to tell kids that back then, that all of the gear was of top quality Swiss or German origin and that `speed` was shite, manufactured under very dodgy conditions. As it is now. I also recall that in the mid 60s, possession of controlled substances was not a crime if ingested. Only if they were about your person. I think that Bradford had a big drug scene compared to Leeds. The La Ambassador off Manningham Lane for example. I also have memories of good times in Scarborough in the mid 60s, Radio 270 etc. I also went to Skegness Butlins in '65 and met up with some girls from London and they enlightened me about a scene I could only dream of. While there, I also came across football rivalry for the first time, between Sheffield Weds and United, I watched Leeds and so there was no rivalry other than `the Scum` (MUFC). Happy days

Did anyone notice the Duke Browner, Impact 45 on ebay last week? It went for about £120 but it looked like a boot to me, it seemed to have a moulded on label. I always thought they were all styrene with stuck on labels? Could be too many pints of Doombar however.

Re Jimmy Savile, I never saw him there but do recall many years later on BBC radio when it shut down, Savile DJed and if I recall the last record was the Artistsics, `I'm Gonna Miss You`. Bye the way, re this record, at the time I was going out with a girl from Morley Grammar and she had loaned a copy on Coral from a lad and because it had just been re-issued on MCA, that was the first time I witnessed someone referring to a record as `rare`.

Back then I wasn't that clued up on the origins of these groups, so it didn't really dawn on me what it all meant. I recall for example one mid week night at the Spinning Disc, James & Bobby Purify were billed and the band came on and played the usual `Knock on Wood ` stuff then two black guys came on and started singing and then after one or two songs they dropped back and then J & B came on. I always imagined that they had been delayed or what ever and had they not turned up, who would have know? Wakefield Mecca's Solid Gold Sunday drew some good acts and subsequently plenty of Mod kids. I recall Bob & Earl playing a mid week gig to a pitifully small crowd. Went to see Jr Walker but got chucked out. I also recall some disturbance one Sunday night when the Fabulous Impressions didn't show and the Manager had to stick the contract to the inside of the glass door. On the record shop scene I recall a good stall in Leeds indoor market, Kennedy's, Valances, Wood's and HMV. I recall plenty of rivalry between lads from Halifax and Huddersfield at Lord Jim's also between the Wakefield crowd and the Dewsbury lads at Earlsheaton YC. When you look back, there's no wonder that suits, ties, jackets etc were prominent in fashions as all Mecca Locarno's at that time insisted on that for entry. Although my parents came from there, I only went out in Doncaster twice, once to see the Stones and once to see the Isley Bros at the Coop Ballroom. (Was this the Attic?) Anyhow, on the show were, Traveller's Express, The Mandrakes, Purple Pipeline and the DJ was Dennis `Tamla` Delroy.

I always thought that the Intime was for the older (20/21) crowd. Did they play Soul? Did it have an oddly designed door?