Markw

Andy, I agree with you entirely mate. My point really is that a lot of the people chasing sounds like this will be the ones who glazed over when you played it to them years ago and then told them its cheap.

I'll echo points made by Mark Bicknell. I too had this many years ago and used to play it out - nobody gave a shit about the tune then. Funny how they all jump on the bandwagon when the price escalates. Like I've said before, lot of people on soul scene know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Excuse me, there's a herd of sheep passing my way...................baaaaaaahhhhhhh

Did anyone spot Rob in the line-up round of Never Mind The Buzzcocks last night? Or I am being slow?

Kiki Dee - On A Magic Carpet Ride was c/u as Chris Clarke - Touch The Sky.................. so there poppickers.

A few I can remember (I've always had trouble remembering the actual titles and artists!) - for some reason these stick in the head: Tempests - Someday - c/u as Bobby Paris Big Frank & The Essence - c/u as Big Joe Ivory's Brass Sam Fletcher - c/u as George Kirby Mellow Souls - c/u as Del Larks William Powell - Heartached Souvenirs - c/u as Bobby Powell (I think) and what was that horrid BBC TV instrumental Guy played in the early 80s? Didn't Dave Flynn compile some sterling research on this subject for the benefit and betterment of mankind!!!?

If it moves, boot it! For crying out loud, they even booted the Four Scandals and that was a fake boot!!! This is Northern Soul after all.

Tim Tam & The Turn Ons? A piece of sh*te but a venerable classic compared to the likes of Bobby Day "pretty girl next door" and numerous others of that ilk. Oh no, here we go again!!

I think Carl or Greg gave the Four Arts some spins 2 or 3 years back at the Dome. Great sound.

To adapt Oscar Wilde's line, there's a lot of people on the Northern scene who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. That's why so many excellent tunes get continually overlooked.

Hi John - yeh, I see what you're getting at. Like I said, the guy is not even a soul singer yet so many people on this site have some sort of connection to him and can get frothed up about it!

Tony - fantastic!! I do clearly remember the half-page ad in Black (as it was then) Echoes advertising it as the World's 1st Gay Northern Soul Night because we were all debating the wisdom of going. In the end the combined impulses of alcohol and curiosity about Levine, the tunes he'd play and what his club was like, all got the better of us. Also, I knew a lot of people who used to go to the Arches when it was the Global Village, a haunt for London's jazz funkers in the late 70s.

Hi Johnny - in reply to your comment, I wasn't suggesting PW was a a soul singer as such, rather that he writes and sings songs which are soulful. The Mod thing is a red herring and irrelevant to the debate over whether (a) Weller is good and ( whether his covers of soul songs are good. Weller's no more a mod than any of the football fans who wear the latest High Street fashions.

Here we go again! It's the old Johnny Daye, Dean Barlow, Helen Troy, Betty O'Brien etc rock n roll, country n western records debate coming back for another round!

Weller's been around a long time and will still be around for a long time to come. The fact that so many people have joined in this topic on a soul website is testimony to the influence he has had and continues to have. A brilliant songwriter, a great singer, a superb interpreter of other's songs and an inspiration to many. My ticket for Cardiff Arena is booked and I'd rather listen to his soulful singing than a lot of the shite passed off as soul at niters these days..........so there!!!

Maybe not the worst soul night but possibly the strangest. Ian Levine's World's 1st Gay Northern Soul night at his Heaven nightclub, Charing Cross Arches. I think it was Easter Sunday 1984 or 85 and it was advertised in Black Echoes. Group of us got sh*t-faced and @ 10am jumped in a mini from High Wycombe to London. The place was full of Freddie Mercury lookalikes and transvestites. The dancefloor was a mix of said leather-clad, moustachioed gentlemen, fake ladies and back-dropping, floor-spinners of undefined sexual orientation. Herr Levine said nothing to the crowd and all records were announced on a CCTV screen (very hi-tech for the time). Then Jimmy Ruffin (bless his cotton socks) was dragged on to voice-over his greatest hits. Paul Fielder could have copped on if he'd wanted to but declined the offer. A wierd night was had by all. Anyone else go to this?