jocko

Northern with a capital S for me, great record independant of its price and history, but all together it is, as someone said, a taylor made all nighter record! I wonder if I will ever dance to things like this again!

Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer. One of my 4576 funeral songs, but probably one of top 3. Loved it for ever. Even played it out, right time right place, including my afternoon set at Soul Essence.

Sorry Sebastian, it was my attempt at humour that rarely works on here, I hate the Beatles with a passion, so it was just an opportunity to get a cheap dig at them Thanks for info people, I did a bit digging on this and Calla that I will put up tonight, but not a lot out there on the WWW. Interestinly Mr M has at least 2 copies for sale not particularly cheap, so I assume its had some scene exposure. I haven't had the bravery to listen to the other side, but Bobby Moore is surely not likely to be challenged. Considering I dislike Benny Troy's single just slightly, and very slightly, less than I dislike the Beatles, the idea of him being in this band doesn't surprise me.....

Maze - I Got Love - Calla Absolutely horrible record to my ears, suspect its been a blind buy, can't remember buying it, which is unusual for me, and couldn't remember how it sounded. Recorded it and my ears screamed in horror. Brit Psych Pop from the 60's (which I don't like so this is not a soul v pop debate please) but poor mans attempt to my uneducated ears. Is that an accurate description or did I not pay attention when I bought record collector back in the day! Anyone know anything about this band, personell etc, why this record ended up on a label that has otherwise almost all soul output, or does it, looking at Mr Rimmers excellent discography below there may be some other odd ball releases? Any info generally on Calla and anyone know Dave's missing numbers to complete the run? As I say neither this style or this label are my strongpoint in knowledge so just keen to know a bit more before I throw it out, or hopefully sell it for a life changing sum as it sounds bad enough to be the Beatles under another name. https://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/callarecords.htm

Interesting. That might have been a guy I was at school with playing it at Clouds then, although sure it was played on a Saturday night then. But I was also sure I could dance in those days, and as some glass filled tables proved, I couldn't!

And bloody hell, I forgot the Twans, maybe the most emotional record to lots of Scots guys for a period. It melted me. So was it good, not half!

As the eternal spoiler of these due to my normal low tolerance levels of misquotes and rewrites, I will try and enter spirit. As I often say I was only regular for last 18 months so maybe not best to judge, and as a result I would probably say most records were good, I certainly did not know enough to judge a good soul record or not ,and probably not even a soul record (park the sarcy comments please). However with power of hindsight, which is obviously a massive temptation to allow to taylor your recollections, there was mostly good music in that time, and dare I say it mostly good soul music. Winstanley probably most inconsistent but main things I remember are his vocal-less dubs, Sweet Talking Guy being the one I most remember, his Candi Staton c/u Mary Wilson, which I loved and bought at the time but is just a bland poppy record on relistening, Gene Latter Groove Me which again I loved and bought but leaves me cold now, his Gene Latter Funny Face Girl which I actually still love , and Roger K which was first record I bought, and cracked the same night, a fate I suspect would have happened at some point later in my buying career but struggling to remember much more any good which I suspect is a bit unfair. I recognised the Seeds as rock pish the first time I heard it and eventually it was the record that started my war cry, that’s not Soul, once I had gained a little confidence and found it difficult to stay quiet holding court in the nooks and crannies of the balcony. After that all Dj's were pretty great I am sure, obviously all had boo boos but I have eliminated them from memory. Working back from Dave Evison - the currently popular Mighty Marvellos, sure he used to dance to that himself, Nolan Porter Oh Baby, Tower of Power This Time Its Real, Millie Jackson House For Sale, leading me not to really think of 70's v 60's, it was all Northern for my young easily influenced ears, I also hold him dear for first time I heard Love You Baby played out at full on nighter and it made the hair on my baws stand straight up. I even loved George Benson On Broadway as he played it, for a joke I believe, and still do, but maybe not as a Northern record, and the ones that I have best memories of was the Superlatives, as even in the sparsely attended days it seemed to lift the atmosphere, certainly did the hairs. I appreciate to the majority that much of his set were old and maybe too well known, but obviously not to me, and more importantly many have stood the test of time as music I would still listen to at home. And he took time to talk to an ever enthusiastic youth with a desperation to learn about the music. Brian Rae, for every Fats Domino, there was a Bobby Bland Shoes and Barbara McNair and Ray Pollard, proper soul boy in my books and a massive inspiration at that point. As old as my Dad then I thought but cooler and he'd been there. Keith Minshull - Seems to take a lot of stick for pop stuff but in these days he was awesome some big rarities soon to become monsters, well known to those bug eyed big boys from Gloucester etc I suspect, but to a kid here it was an education, as well as just some great unplayed, Frank Polk Love Is Dangerous, being the one I remember most. A twat to the young guys but an inspirational DJ at that time. Gary Rushbrooke, probably my stalker candidate as I bothered him mercilessly every time, where do you start Magnetics I Have A Girl, Lovers, Ascots, Arcades (think Minshull might have played this instead/also) etc etc and lots of these Carolina type blue eyed (as if I had even heard that never mind knew what it meant at that point) records he used to favour (Embers/Twilights) that maybe wouldn't get me all dancing now, but some would, just outstanding DJ and probably my biggest inspiration as a DJ, it was all about the records, and he had an ear. Have to admit I was one of those who signed the petition to get Sam out, although for me it was more about getting Gary on, I signed it 4 times, but then his missus was pressganging us, and Julie was scary. I can't remember Sam much, I don't remember him playing Casanova, although did it hear him play it at Mecca when they had done a reopening night, early 81?, when most of our bus didn't get in because of dress code and they whiled away the time with a stripper and snake before we headed to Wigan, I thought Sam was finished by then. I do remember him playing She Devil, and it was definitely a soul record, a goddamm awful one. But other than he was the Devil to Gary R's saint! And Pat Brady, Rueben Howell/Sandy Linzer, did he play Timmy Williams then, I think so and my memory is claiming it, Catalinas, PB aloof and scary, till getting to know him in later days as a good guy, but sometimes his place in all of the is forgotten, I am certainly guilty of that. And Tricky Dicky Searling, what can you say, not much more than has been said, as good a set of records as you could ever get as pure Northern, and then the rest, new LP tracks that we just swallowed like a luke warm pint from the pub up the road (Bee something?) burping back our acknowledgement of a great night. Not much point listing anything, did he play a bad record in those 18 months, I doubt it, (actually lets not mention JC Mesina) were 99% of them life changing/scene changers, they were for me. And special kudos for Eloise Laws, Peabo Bryson and Alphonse Mouson, all new releases, all sounded great, all earned me pelters on the bus home for liking "newies", what the f**k did I know, but the ultimate for me will always be Ivy Jo Hunter c/u, Tommy Tate and his almost High Energy belter that had me almost in tears as Wigan drew to a close thinking this is it, nothing will beat it, the criminally underplayed Dee Dee Gartrell Over and Over (Ernestine Eady) almost orgasmic in its pushy rhythm and Larry Clinton, still the ultimate Northern record in its short spurt of pure energy, it starts with the climax and goes on. Nothing has beat it since in feeling. And probably nothing can. Youth, aural stimulation and the coolness of the life we lived at 17/18. These were the best days of my life undoubtedly, but musically it was only the beginning…….. And things like Yvonne Vernee, probably Gary, possibly Richard, Eric Mercury, which I had always thought was Gary but now looks like Chris Plant, Toni Basil Richard or Pat, Kenny Gamble Jokes On You, ?? a marmite record but I will have double toast with it please, Yvonne and The Violets, Frankie Howard, Judy Hughes etc etc etc etc…... I suspect some of my memories are now blurred, for some mysterious reason, and possibly some of these aren't Wigan or right person. My mind however says, Say Isn't So - maybe that was the ultimate after all……...

I am assuming you are the organ grinder in your relationship with Mr Smith so I will respond to this and leave you to it. A The first bit is in your head, the debate is much more about do we want to hear pop records now, or it would be if anyone got into any sort of reasonable debate these days without people flouncing off calling people names. I have never seen anyone saying it is or was a purely soul scene, and I reserve my right to debate on what is good and bad and if pop vocals make it baad for me now that is not me saying anything about the past. B. You said people want to make it a soul only scene to be cooler and elitist, which to any sane rational albeit swearing person means that they don't really care about the music more about the image. If that isn't patronising, arrogant and name calling then your planet is much further from mines than I ever thought. I will leave you to now protest at your good guy image being ruined wrongly and unfairly, Sorry and all that.

Here we go again Mr Innocent. Which bit of saying people only say they like to hear soul because they want to be cooler and elitist, i.e. they can't really mean it, isn't name calling and insulting. , But you are right, silk purse and pigs ear etc etc. On you go with your hard thought out opinions. And as always you don't even read the response other than the swear words,

Anger management, behave yourself, there is a world of difference between finding someones ill thought out post worthy of a strong response to getting angry! So stop your sh*t stirring, we have been here before. I am showing just how ridiculous your chums name calling is, and articulating it as it deserves. Its getting absolutely stunning the level of pish people seem to say out loud on here, and the fact that people continue to call peoples names and slag them openly and then act all innocent when they get the level of retort they deserve. But you are right, I have better things to do than deal with peoples ignorance, so back to leaving you all to it.

Elitist and cooler, what playground wall did you see that on. You can't just be a soul fan daring to stick up for the music you love, you can't have your own taste within the 40 years of the history of the very differing music played on the scene, you can't like debating on the differences , obviously not unless it fits yours obviously?? fu*k right off, what is it with all the name calling whenever anyone dares to disagree with a couple of you on here. Why can't you accept it and debate it like a fuc**g normal human being rather than pathetic 5 year old name calling twat. F**k me, some of the shit on here gets more like the worst acid trip going. Oi Dave, yes son, you know how you coined that sh*t we used to sell to Northern people as Northern, no son it was Northern Soul because my shop only sold Soul, oh right, just there's a debate doing on down there saying it was never soul, yes son that was the dickheads that came a few years later and like writing history to suit there own ends, oh right Dave so nothing for us to worry about then, no son get back to filing those soul 45's in order. F**k me. Very few people say there should be no pop records played, lots of people don't like the shit pop records, which some of us like having a healthy debate on, our opinions because guess what we feel as strongly as you do on your opinion, get fuc**g over it but don't rewrite f****g history.

For his first wedding I think we should point out, and what a day that was, I think Keb had played it on loan before that. Another Gilly tip.....

Stop removing your prices when sold, I am nosy! And when are you getting to your really rare boxes, all 12 boxloads of them!!

Pretty sure I have a WD with same title both sides of this as well as an issue. Philly stuff is unsorted so don't have time to check tonight but PM if you aren't sorted and I'll try and remember and have a look.

Truly Sad. On the very few occasions I have been out lately, having not seen each other for long time, he has always been one of the first to bound up and say "you alright Jock", his intro to me for so many years and as always before I could respond with the first word he leapt into telling me about at least one record I need, and he was normally right. There are so many mad stories about Micky and ending up in strange cars, with strange people, going to strange flats but favourite ones are two almost normal, as normal as Micky did, out of nighter experiences. First time I proper spent time with Micky was early Allanton, I had spent a mad weekend, I suspect a weekender in his company through other people I knew and we got on well and talked about records, I didn't think about it until a few weeks later on the morning of Allanton just getting ready to go over to give Jim a hand and outside on the wall was Micky. I hadn't given him my address or details but he had made his way up somehow. Now in all honesty I thought Micky C was nice guy, but more on the dodgy side and I had to leave, I was in a dilemma. I phoned my mate who had I think introduced him and he said don't worry, you can trust him totally, totally 100% so I left him in the flat and went off for the afternoon, I had said not sure I would get back so he said no problem I will find my way. Not easy from Allanton. So I felt sorry and went back to get him, there he was sitting on my sofa, reading the paper, having tidied up and done about a weeks dishes (neither an easy task in my flat at that time) and sipping a cup of tea. We then had an enjoyable hour or so before having to set off. I almost asked him to move in. Only almost. I like to think we were reasonably good friends after that and over the years he always made time. The second occasion was we spent a great day after some very good friends wedding, having not seen each other for some years, where he basically looked after me all next day, had a great day with him and Annie in their flat, drinking and laughing and talked about anything but records. He couldn't have been more attentive in making sure I was having a good time. Just a top bloke. I don't believe in the afterlife but its hard to believe that a star that burnt so brightly down here can be truly eliminated. I hope not. The all nighter world has another atomic bomb size hole blown in it, it definitely won't be the same without him. Lots of love to Annie, Julie and all those people who knew him better than I did. Nothing can make it better for now, other than to know that not only did Micky love and care, which he did, he was very loved by and cared for by so many. Probably as good a testament as you could ask for really, Love and kisses Micky Jock xxxxx

Its on Always Together double LP Kevin, great LP, with a few strange ones

Bloody hell, I could stretch to £1.50 for some of these.....

These 2 get it to the bone, one more succinctly than the other! But equally eloquent and correct. Not going to praise Ady directly, his growing head must be an easy target for the fast bowlers now he is single handedly being given credit for inventing CD's and the soul music market, sure Kent's parent company Ace won't be bothered at being written out of history!

Right one more before I go off to remind my dear old mum of the time I took a whole mini bus back from Allanton to my old flat that was getting done up so only had one socket in use, so we had to alternate between kettle and tape player, people went thirsty as you would imagine. My new neighbors got a glimpse of what was to come. And one of the biggest influences on me then musically was Dave Molloy, supplied me with numerous tapes and lots of tracks to play including this one, which I had almost forgotten about till Jim reminded me off the recent Kent CD, full dance floor at 7.30 to this. Can you imagine now?

And of course the Sassenachs, they had a tip or two, none more so then the Betached Andy Whitmore (although we now know Suzanne was the real brains behind the organisation) These were 3 of the best among the 100's he tipped all that time ago, he charged me between £8 and £12 for these 3, (tight git) and all went on to gain some levels of popularity at that little miners hut in the back of beyond. Long before the tent boys appeared to claim them as their own... Bernard Smith - Never Gonna Let You Go https://youtu.be/Ks7cCe7RMKQ Patti Ward - You Have To Wait For Love https://youtu.be/0GLknx8r-dE Masterpiece - Love Affair, this struggled but I persevered.. Right time, right place, right people, and the only dickheads were us, the right sort of dickheads,,,,

Andrew, nostalgia is contagious young man. And enough about other DJ's lets talk about me..... or okay maybe not, maybe about the people behind the DJ's. Most of us were lucky to be getting records tipped on a weekly basis, some have gone on to be, some to be claimed by radio jocks as their's many years later, one of the finders of records was the promoter himself, Mr O'Hara, in between looking good for the ladies and ordering the people in the tea bar around he did have an ear for a tune too. He tipped me these two and a couple of Allanton legends were born.... Mandrill Too Late, - played so much my cue burn lasts about 7 seconds Isley Brothers - My Love , now a crossover classic, then it was a nighter floor filler, the tempo terrorists were away on their training camps

Pigbag - Papas Got a Brand New PB everyone danced, well for one night only and there were only about 10 people in, it was near the end, I must have got lost and found myself there...... It was pretty dead by the time I started, for people doing something naughty (Barry obviously) or those who just wanted to stomp by that time I suspect.

Barrold for someone who is always seen enjoying the moment to the full your memory is always brilliant, that just brought the whole thing flooding back in my head, I can even feel the sweat on the arch as you brushed past it.

Funny that was exactly what I was thinking, it must have been an oldies night, I went pretty much every Saturday in 81 and other than end of era type nighters the record bar was never this full, in fact on some Saturday's the main room wasn't this full! Although some Saturdays there were almost equal amounts in both! The 500th wasn't empty by any means but yes not an Oldies type crowd, mind I didn't go to my first Oldies till early 80 so not sure if they even were as busy as they had been. Definitely 80/81 picture as recognise a few of the faces as being regulars on Saturday too. They did have a Saturday Oldies mid month early 81 as well did they not, but fairly sure that was very empty. On reflection I do wonder if this was the 7th Anniversary (Sept 80) because that was rammed was it not, and was my only anniversary, even more than the Oldies I went to and remember not being able to move in record bar. The night I met Pete Lawson I am fairly sure. Absolutely magic picture, and in all honesty even then only reason I went to Oldies was for record bar as I had never seen anything like it and probably never since for records.

And definitely not an Allanton record, huge 100 Club, but then anniversary single, I got 2! And 7.52 at Allanton, whipping up a frenzy, off to blow my nose now....