Davenpete

Moved to the other thread Dx

Long before my time (The Torch) but wasn't Too Much played first - seem to remember a review somewhere commenting about the stunning new vocal to Jimmy Conwell. Dx

Never actually heard it at a nighter - had it on a tape Mickey Cruise gave me many years ago (had a lot of very very rare obscure things on it, at least at the time, like the MBs - who always sounded like they actually WERE the Merseybeats to me! and the Mello Souls long before it was being played) and loved it instantly - had no idea what it was for a LONG time - I notice its very hard to find boots of it now (all simply having the vocal of Dont Start None instead) - the lyrics are just brilliant whilst the backing is out of this world - overall immeasurably better than Bobby Callendar etc. There are certainly quite a few records that I absolutely worship but never dance to simply because I wanted to listen as closely as possible to them - things like The Sonatas Going Down The Road, The Mello Souls We Can Make It, John Edwards The Look On Your Face, Linda Clifford You Are You Are, The Masqueraders How (and a number I use to just sit back quietly and enjoy watching my friends loving on the floor) loads more besides (now THAT would be a weird set!) - all stuff with brilliant lyrics, plus a lot of things I love but can't catch the beat on like the Admirations (just CANNOT dance to it). I also have stuff that I love that I almost never play at home and guess I ration myself to like Herbert Hunter. Johhny Gilliam is another one - I could only listen to it a couple of times a year coz it just poleaxed me - specially in my black dog times years ago when it used to knock me suicidal - sold my second one last year but I've no doubt I'll buy it again. Dx

Loved the Fleet - was my first regular allnighter (hence my only going to Stafford a couple of times - couldn't afford to travel that far on my own) - used to ride down every month with Martin Midgley from Bradford (best acrobat I ever saw) and Striker on scooters from Hull. Back room used to be great to dance in - pitch black. Used to be a lot of really crap squad (rugby shirts and trainers) that used to get a lot of very vocal abuse - later Cambridgeshire muscled in and then they got nasty, pulling people off the dancefloor, grabbing people in the Coach and Horses car park, pulling people on the approach roads etc (specially the night Smiggy, John, Pauline, Annecia and Anne got had - though that was Mr Buck's period). Dedicated Soul Club started 83 (I have the patch dated 83) - ended because DR got rounded up in Crossbow as I remember. Dave made a living running dodgy burger vans on Scooter rallies and running events at rallies. A lot of great 70s/modern being played there - Eddie Holman, Lifestyle, the Softones, Alfie Davison, Greg Perry, Sadane and Skip Mahony etc etc etc being really big sounds in the main room. A lot of course more or less new releases at the time - for which I guess we have SG to thank. Dx

Shall we say, much as I loved it, I wasn't 'tempted' by the copies of the Q (he had about 100 on a rather dubious orange Hound rather than grey label) - I'm sure you guys remember what an extremely slippery bugger he was and I know he was in direct contact with the group at the time... Take your own inference from that. I also remember you Ted ringing up Salisbury Road frantically before the boy Huff had even got home! Dx

1020 to 1033 - WHAT an amazing string of records in such a short space of time. Dx

Danny Huff (he was my landlord at the time) coming back from New Orleans with two copies of the Cairos on his first trip in 1990 (amongst a heap of other stuff). Dx

Assuming you're talking about the modern RnB scene as opposed to the very earliest days of Northern Soul. Probably the key events that were specifically 'RnB' were Brian Rae's RnB allnighters 1991-93 (I DJed at most of these, along with Mark Bicknell who was really heavily into it at the time and played a major role in spreading the word through spots at Bradford etc, and I think Roger Banks and Allan Millington did some), there were about 10 of these at various venues in central Manchester contemporaneous to Brian/Tim Ashebende's hugely popular Twisted Wheel revivials (one had over 2000 people stufffed into the venue with all seven rooms of Placemate 7 open) which were heavily RnB centred, being much more musically 'high brow' than the Wheel revivals of today. The stated aim of these was to play dance RnB imports that would have been spun/popular at the Wheel had they been known before RnB fell largley by the wayside at the venue in the late 60s. There was a lot of tape swapping about at the time centred on RnB at the time. Whilst not big, these events were attended by a lot of people who went on to promote or DJ RnB who tended to be sat around madly scribbling down records. The stuff played was very much what we'd call 'Rhythmn and Soul' rather than that jump blues crap that RnB as a played genre later dissolved into... Things like Jimmy Armstrong's I Won't Believe It Till I See It and LaVern Baker's Wrapped Tied and Tangled and a lot of Kent, Modern, Duke and Peacock stuff - much of which had been played at the Wheel - people wouldn't even consider most of it 'RnB' nowadays - just soul. Another factor was the London Mod scene and the early Moustrap allnighters at the 100 Club from about 1991 - though these were very poppy by comparison - with a lot of psych stuff like Electric Prunes, John's Children and Davy Jones being played. Overall though there had been a rapidly increasing amount of RnB appearing at allnighters from the mid-80s - I guess kicked off by the popularity of RnB at Stafford and particularly just post Stafford at the 100 Club. Saus was also a major RnB mover and shaker in the early 90s (as Roger became too of course), turning up a lot of stuff and tracks he sold to other DJs who then got the credit for them. Dx

Weren't they also The Corner Boys as in 'Gang Wars (just don't make no sense)' on Neptune? Dx

My favourite one I noticed years ago is that Skiing in the Snow has the same writers, producers and arrangers as Native New Yorker. Dx

Very much a tune of its time - the mid-80s - had a soft spot for it back then. Dx PS It was a biggy for Tony Clayton.

Jungle - as in concrete jungle. The old 'this I feel will bust my pants' has got to be the best. Dx

Original pics are VERY scarce and usually expensive and usually still in copyright. Most of those in CDs come from collectors (often specialists in black music promo pics). Dx

Eddie - Wasn't there also an early club out on the Coventry road right next to where it now crosses the M40? Remember Tony Adams pointing it out to me back when I was still at college in Banbury. Dave Les Cokell was involved in promoting it (possibly with Franny) - he certainly DJed there, it's only a few miles from Settle where he grew up. Dx

I'd just like to say that on the rare occasions we get out (Pete's just not been up to it in the last few years) we usually timed it specifically to be on Lifeline weekends - it's a real pity they've come to their end - have always found the music brilliant. I cannot compliment you guys highly enough for sticking your neck out and doing the right thing musically - a real antidote to the porridge that most venues seem to serve up. I really hope you have the opportunity to continue furthering northern as a living breathing musical form rather than a rotting corpse. Dave

So did I but I got effing yank spellcheck confusing the issue - have to watch that as one of my biggest clients makes all the chemicals for dry rot etc treatment. Mr Laskey's 'Welfare Cheese' would be a good one for a few venues. Hope you and yours are doing well. Dx

Or indeed 'Slowly Molding'. Dx

RS told us that he considered this the definitive Wigan record. Dx

The Valentines - or Wilma Redding 'There Is A Place' which is a British Pye recording and lyrically SO about our sort of scene it must've been written about it (it's a bit tacky though - think Dave Macaleer had something to do with it????)... Or of course Backstreet. Dx

I thought it was common knowledge that SM was in the Professionals? I like the Mad Lads version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBld4GrSX3A

Obviously IAN had heard of the records given where BG got em! Dx

Like her voice and delivery (not quite as oomphy as her ladyship though) but the backing is just soggy like it was recorded through a wet sponge. Dx

DG told me and Pete that Marke Jackson was an absolute twat and that it was him being SO extremely awkward that was the main reason the 444 release never came out (aside from the other stuff relating to finance of course). Dx

Over $1000 for Jeanette - TWICE???? How pathetic. Dx

The lad in the red piped vest is Big Scotty from Stockport apparently. Dx