Davenpete

F*king ludicrous!.. A weak record that's dead common (bet the prats who are bidding on this don't even know 'Two of a Kind' - now THERE'S a proper record!)

Dave

On 25/03/2009 at 09:20, Godzilla said:

I think it's too subjective. I've argued for years that Roscoe & Friends- Broadway Sissy is out and out funk, but lots of people can't see it. And fair enough to 'em too. You could argue that any new release played from the disco age isn't really Northern Soul. Or you can argue that it is by virtue of being played in the clubs. Mitch Ryder was a pretty wild Rock n Roll act but his records were accepted early on. Then of course there's the Human Beinz: first of the garage tunes to played?

The instrumental to "six o'clock" booted as Supertime is deffo an easy listening cut. Lot's of the UK covers played by Minshull etc are beat tunes, as are some of the UK originals like John Andrews (fantastic) and John Drevars (dire).

Did I mention Gordon's Gin?

How about this for a bit of heavy rock then? My contender for worst tune played too, although as it's on youtube some nutcase obviously likes it

little jewel i want to. dorothy berry im not satisfied irma thomas what are you trying to do?maybe.

Is 'What Are You Trying To Do' not a Wheel sound???

Dave

not a fraction as good as the flip imho -bueatiful mid tempo Detroit of the highest standard!!!

BAZ A

Yep a much better track! (likewise Not Only A Girl Knows on the other side of the Victors - used to spin it at the thinnest excuse - which reminds me I MUST buy that one back)

My copy used to play perfectly on a cheapo deck, but jumps like hell on my new deck (the headbanger side) - guess its grooves are just to violent for a modern needle.

Dave

Since Kev didn't DJ at the first few it MUST be later.

Dave

The Tempests - Full of quality sounds , which remind me of the 80's , but my favourite is NOT " Someday " but " I Just Don't Want To Lose Her " , great ballad

Magnificent Men - An outstanding debut lp for them from 1967 , with one of my faves " I Got News " included ,

'Just Walk In My Shoes' on the MM album is brilliant.

Dave

The soulie's that want to listen to something different are attending smaller venues,which are generally badly attended.The way forward may be to do what some oldie's nights are doing at the moment,which is to have a smaller room playing underplayed/rare/x over etc within the same venue such as Bentinck,Riley Smith Hall etc.

This long standing argument that 'oldies' pack em in/'newies' are small and badly attended is a load of crap!

The point is that proper newies/musically healthy nights run with an aggressively righteous approach are often 'magically' well attended because there ARE the people out there who come out of the woodwork when they KNOW they'll hear decent (ie not the usual rank hyper-overplayed oldies) music... Pete used to bemoan the lowbrow mentality of the big 'trouser' venues (despite our going to them through personal loyalty) and it wasn't til the first Lifeline do I dragged him (kicking and screaming) to that he sat up and said 'sod me this music's great - proper northern that I don't know!... And who are all these (young) people who are so into this music?' coz he'd been so hoodwinked by the propaganda and brow-beaten with stodgy third rate 'old' maintstream newies of the ilk of Doug Banks into the belief that was what he would hear.

To be honest we've actually made a conscious policy over the last few years of deliberately waiting for the scene to contract a bit coz it got big enough that the lowest common denominator rule killed off any hope of hearing consistently good music at most venues.

Dave

PS For our second nighter in 18 months we'll be at Lifeline.

whats "trenchant" mean??!!

Trenchant Gardens is where they used to hold the extreme hammered oldies nights.

Dave

What a silly idea - there's hundreds and hundreds.

The White Heather was me and Pete (later on - Pete Lowrie started it at the Swallow Hilltop before it was moved) along with Dave Routledge and Chris (I always did the first three hours!!! - you can have real fun on a spot with that amount of time - allowed you to do a 'proper' spot ranging from wheel right through to modern) - loved doing it but it was murder to get people in - we wanted to move it to somewhere more accessible but the others wouldn't have it, ended up having to close it coz we had a couple of nights where we lost a lot of money.

Anyway we decided to 'do it right' and go for quality - we had Saus, Roger Banks, Carl and Spenna, Mark Bicknell (I think) er loads of others.

Dave

Looks like the booty to me - have a look for a matrix stamp (Bellsound or Frankford Wayne or something - can't remember).

Dave

That's the crudest piece of sampling I've ever heard - Spencer Davis Group 'I'm A Man' is much more playable than this - but we wouldn't play it so why go for this? (similarly in the past, though it was quite nice to listen to at home, why go for a song sung to the backing of Backstabbers when we wouldn't play THAT at a nighter?).

Dave

Why Do We Have Dj,s?

Someones got to look after me coat/beer/bag

Seriously to me a DJ should be there to serve the floor, but more than that - to raise horizons: saying 'if you like that one you already know - how about THIS one that's similar but better that you don't' - envangelising for the music

...Sadly too many DJs seem to lack the knowledge, technical (spot building) skill and records themselves to do this - scrabbling for spots because of the ego trip they get from standing there behind the deck whilst this or that expensive overly well known (and over played) classic is on the turntable (showing a suitably impressed world they own it) - NOT because they want to spread the neglected music they believe should be played - many of the best DJs I've ever seen hardly ever get spots because they ain't pushy and self impressed, just solid soul fans with a superb collection and a real feel for the floor.

Dave

The Moments was just sold on EBay - I was sorely tempted though it would have meant instant execution by the boss.

Dave

Used to use windowlene to get water marks (as opposed to grease) off records.

Dave

where were you - epitome of sound - flip to You Dont Love Me Class!

Thought that was pretty well known - one off my all-time favs is:

The Showstoppers 'What Can A Man Do' - the B-Side of one of the biggest selling of all Northern tracks and just brilliant.

'I Still Love You From (from the bottom of my heart)' - the Four Larks - stunningly good, though pretty well known of course.

Dave

PS Isn't 'You're So Young' only the B-Side on the reissue? And Sammy Ambrose on UK has 'This Diamond Ring' on the other side I seem to remember - a great track in its own right and played long before Dreamsville of course.

Should we allow crisps at nighters?

Except for Prawn Cocktail - they should be banned.

Pigeon Fancier's the first nighter with alcohol? Aside from the Ritz which pre-dates the PFC signficantly (and recorded all the naffer results that can follow from alcohol in its time - some woman called Judith got chucked out for sneaking in a bottle of Bacardi as I remember) give me a break - pretty sure the Unicorn (1985 RSG in Leighton Buzzard) and the Fleet (1983 Dedicated Soul Club days) served alcohol (though I may be mixing up the alldayers - all a Riker blur I'm afraid) and I'm sure they weren't the first either.

Still think it goes against the grain big style.

Dave

NO - has had nothing but negative effects on the nighter scene - hate it.

Dave

If a DJ has been booked for the sounds/genre he/she has and then punters come and request stuff of a different ilk it can end up with his/her spot becoming just another spot of the same ole, same ole and defeating the object of booking them.

Also in the days I used to DJ I put great store in planning a spot, so that if I played a request it meant also changing the 2 or 3 records preceding and following it to fit the flow (one of the advantages of doing the first 2-3 hours til 12 or so at you own nighter).

I must admit if I was asked for a request for something I really didn't want to play I wouldn't play it (and it's easier to say 'yes' than have a stand up argument whilst you're trying to cue the next track), but if someone asked for something that I had intended to play and I didn't get it in before the end of the spot - I'd go and say sorry if I saw them.

Dave

PS Kris Holmes - great DJ!

Pete Lyster is Pete Lyster,from Manchester originally and now lives in Somerset where he and Cathy promote the excellent "Soul Nights @ Bridgwater" A top top bloke and DJ and has one of the best Soul collections - British and USA - imaginable.

He is not a liar or confused.

The quote comes from pre 1971 - when he was a kid in Manchester, Pete used to catch a bus on a Saturday morning to Ralph's and stand in the shop for hours watching what was going on and that's when he saw the centres knocked out.He loves his British stuff so much the horror of it has never left him!

Neil

Fair enough - but as I said my Pete never saw it happen when he worked there - was done on some of the pressing I believe to make them look more authentic.

Dave

I notice that the header ad strip for the new book has a quote from Pete Lyster (who is he BTW - Pete doesn't know him) saying that people were requesting record centres to be punched out to make UK CP and Stateside issues records look like US issues - Pete worked there through the early 70s (71 to 74 with RS) and says he NEVER came across this - obviously Ralph did have a press, but this was for the purposes of juke boxes.

Interesting how legends like this are born, I once invented Bud Harper 'Wherever You Were' on Burgundy Vocallion only to be lectured by the guy I'd wound up about it a year later about how it definitely existed coz he'd seen one.

Dave

Surfice to say Phil Reggie has long since gone mate well both copies actually lol sold the first one for £500.00 way back and almost the same for the other, the record worked during the early 90's at the likes of Keele etc. as an ender, it took off for what ever reason and originally cost me pennies, perhaps not the best record in the world but that can be said for so many records that find their way onto the Northern scene.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

Only a bit of fun Mark, music is a very personal thing, and vive la difference I say. I remember the first time I heard Reggie, and being blown away by that incredible intro......only to be let down by Reggie's very weak vocal. But like I said, just my opinion. It would be a boring old world, if we all liked the same things.

Phil.

'No more flat voice to cause me pain, no weak lyrics that expose voice strain... The sound that was big back through the years is now over, it's over - better that it's over'

Yuck - always hated it - one to go on the Doug Banks bonfire.

Dave

Just a wondered - is there any difference between the M&C and the UK Chilites copy on Beacon?

Dave

what do you mean

The one you're talking about is an RCA acetate isn't it. It was cut at RCA for RS when Richard worked there.

Dave

gary field used to have the original acetate in the mid 90's, cant remember if it was 10 or 12 inch, title was baby have mercy on me, it was a plain white label with typed & handwritten credits, if i remember rightly, he sold it to richard searling

Maybe he sold it BACK.

Dave

Its called 'I'll never see my love again', Mindblowing middle section and musical arrangement, one that I do not think I have heard bettered on any MOTOWN 45 in fact.

Knocks spots off 'Thrill' (which personally I always found a bit lugubrious) - superb tune.

Dave