Russ Vickers

How come that this 'easy' record cant be found to sell me a copy . Russ

I have listened to the music & I quite like some of it. I would be very suprised indeed if there wasnt some kinda minor hit amongst this lot. But why oh why does Ian insist on calling it NS. If he was to produce this stuff & just put it out, even under an AKA Im sure it would do very well if it was marketed correctly. But IL has an ego that needs to be fed & this often over shadows the music. There are too many references to 'me' on the myspace page for my liking, let the music speak for itself Ian, yeah promote & market it, but leave your personalality out of it its not required. I wonder if IL has considered getting any of these tracks remixed by lets say Master at Work..........eeermmmmmmmmmmmmmmm unlikely tho' as IL wouldnt then be rsponsible for any subsiquent action said remix got. Some of the tracks are enjoyable, but ditch the ego. Russ

Goodness me thats rather nice................cost? availability ?? please ?? Thanks, Russ

Bastaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrd....................thought I was being a bit clever too .........quality tuneage matey...............our taste in music is uncannily similar tho'. We need to start exchanging notes I think !!!. Hopefully we can meet up soon Trev. Russ

Choooooooooooooooon IMO, copies are drying up quick, get em while you can. Gonna give this some hammer soon.............Oslo boys have already shown what great taste they have by giving it exposure..............has it had plays in the UK ???? (On the NS scene ?) if not should have. Russ

Wanted: Gloria Walker & Mighty Chevelles - You Hit The Spot - Flaming Arrow Any reasonable playable condition considered thank you. Russ

Some of you may have noticed that I have not been on the SS Forum much recently, thats cos, my belongings including my Pc are headed back to blighty from the US, along with a shed load of vinyl. I can use the Pc at work infrequently, but not as much as I would like. The upside is that I'll be back in blighty from September onwards & Ill be back in circulation immediately, Im looking forward to seeing all my old friends & meeting some of the SS ers I have spoken & duelled verbally with over the past few years, also looking forward to getting to my old haunts & visiting the new venues that have started up too. Sooooooooooooooooo the sigh of releif at me not being on the forum talking bollox will be short lived as shortly you'll have me bending ya lugs in person. See y'all real soon Russ

Never left, never will I dont think, Im innit for the long haul..............its a soul music thang.........alway's been a well dodgy scene with shannanigans going on constantly from day one, its part & parcel, now we're all 'respectable' some aspects of the scene seem to be unacceptable. Thing is they always were really, but we just got on with the job of enjoying ourselves. Russ

Stockers are harder than the W/D & dont forget the awesome flip . Russ

I bloody love this record. I have spoken with Martin about it a few times & have looked out for it constantly................If I had 5 grand to spare then I would buy this.............unfortunately I dont. If Martin has got the price on this wrong, then I have cash waiting for a more reasonably priced copy.....................do not hesitate I will paypal you immediately. Martin, good luck, who ever gets this has a stonking record. Russ

Yes, I'll send you a shotgun & we'll put everyone out of thier misery . on the behalf of the 'Soul Police' Russ

Thank you Russ

Any one got an MP3 or audio file of some kind of the Disciples of Soul on Phantom Pse. Thank you. Russ

My copy arrived today................apparently one of the last two !!!!. Great record gonna be giving mine some hammer shortly. Russ

I know this might be stating the obvious, buthas anyone asked Keith . Russ

Agree with you mate.....but is not the converted that I was trying to convince............the NS scene is not particularly open to this kinda sound any more, altho an odd one slips thru.........I also appreciate that some of these records have been 'known' on the NS & other scenes too for years. I never said these kinda sounds would 'save' the scene, rather I asked tongue in cheek if these kinda records have a futere on the NS scene. I hope so if DJ's programme the better stuff. Russ

I wasnt saying that all records played from this point on should all be clones of this particular record.............only that uptempo, heavey funky bassline soul records could find a place on a dancefloor near you & I for one would be listening with an open mind. Russ

Thank you Simon, Im not a massive lover of funk per se, but there are records like this & others that really move me, just wish I knew where I could hear more without having to hear all the JB soundalikes & the massively syncopated traditionally sounding funk stuff aswell..................I apologise to all ya funky monkeeeeeeees, if I sound like a funky philastine, but Im an old soul boy at heart trying to broaden my horizons..................Ian, James T................come to my rescue with some recomendations if ya please. Thank you Russ

Fantastic record in every sense................cant wait to get on the floor to this............the future of Rare Soul ???????????. Can anyone recommend any other sounds like this ??????. Russ

Loved me Polys late Wigan........they never did them in black for years, so we had to dye them black ourselves & we wanted the ends to turn up, so we would fold the shoe in half length ways & put the legs of ya bed on em. Wore bowling shoes too, dark blue, light blue & black, they were the slippiest shoes known to man, I would never wear them outside, only change into them once in the venue, so as not to knacker the sole. Russ

The 100 Club has always had the odd modern moment thru out the years, I have personally played both 8ts & 9ts records in my sets at the 100 Club on occasions to a fantastic response & I have had loads of requests for 7ts stuff when I have DJ 'd there too. One venue that I really loved to DJ at was the Capitol Soul Club with Greg, Flynny & co, I did it on two occasions, but the first time I was very nervous & quite conscious of the fact that it was a predominantly 6ts Northern Venue................Greg, gave me the pep talk before I went on & I kinda intimated that I wouldnt play any 7ts stuff & he replied that I should do my normal set & thats why they had booked me, he was dead right too, the predominantly 6ts crowd did not mind the odd modern dancer what so ever & was even expecting & antiscipating it.............I found this very refreshing as Greg, Flynny & co arnt known particularly for thier love of more modern stuff. Just goes to prove, that most venues will enjoy the more modern tracks if they are worked into the set properly. Russ

I think this is a very poinient observation & thats why promoters should pay particular attention to the DJ's they book & where they slip em in during the night. Dj's should also be proffessional enough to know what tempo is required when...........everyone needs a breather now & again, so nowt wrong with a soulful stepper thrown in for a rest, but on the whole keep the tempo up, altho the hands in the air anthemic Modern stuff does tend to lift a room when you build it & build it & build it & build it..................................then let the little bitches have both barrels with a full on soulful dancer or two, then drop it down & build the set again.......................Modern DJ's tend to be better at this, not sure why really..............I would love to be able to have the dancefloor in the palm of my hand, say like Terry Jones or Sam on occasions & deffo Rod Dearlove when he was behind the wheels of steel, I can only aspire to this level of proffessionalism tho'...............maybe one day. Russ

I cannot for the life of me understand why people get so upset about music policies, I enjoy all kinds of Rare Soul & I consider most of it to be pretty good..............the vast majority of NS venues from the year dot, have played 6ts alongside, soul music from other decades as we move into that decade...............it has always happened & is part & parcel of the scene..............Im not making this up, its a fact, it cannot be denied, whether you like it or not. I am not dictating to anyone that they should or shouldnt like a particualar decade or type of soul music, but to me NS has always been about hearing new sounds, whether they be 6ts newies or danceable soul music from whenever..........its the x factor within the sound that determines whether its accepted on the scene................I enjoy oldies & 6ts soul just as much as I enjoy soul music from other decades, its just that I get excited about hearing something new & invigorating instead of hearing the records I was dancing to 25 plus years ago week in week out, altho if that is what you enjoy, then fine, but its not right to say that records from other decades arnt NS cos they're not 6ts.............also within a good DJ set I think a few good old fashioned oldies go down well mixed in with everything else. My observations are based on fact & cant be disputed..........but if you like 6ts only then fine, fill ya boots, just dont critisise the rest of us who enjoy other decades too. Russ

Probably my favourite period of NS. Russ