Russ Vickers

Oh dear, the superior modern soul guy's strike again .............................I'll have you know that certain venues that play Northern aswell as other kinds of soul music did play this & many other new releases, I collect from the early 60's to present day, I dont even come near to catching every new release, but things like Al Green were played as new releases in most of the forward thinking venues I was attending, along with Sean Oliver etc, etc. The smilies might be winking etc, but we all know that for some reason you feel superior to the guy's that appreciate the soul output from other decades, I'm just pleased that good records (CD's) can reach a wider audience. Also think that you will find, that the venues that thrash these records are the venues that people like myself would not attend any way. I like it Northern, Xover, Modern, Newly releases or what ever, if its soulful & ya can dance to it & its got that certain something then its ok with me. Oh BTW same venues I mentioned earlier all had CD players aswell as decks, so you can get off your high horses now & try & think of some other way's you can make yourselves feel soulfully superior . See how many bites we get for that................ Russ PS The Newbury Nighters also had mini disc too.............& this was far too many years ago for me to remember now, hope this is technically enough advanced for your kinda soul music.

Bouncers at Wigan would releive you of ya smarties if you wernt careful !!! Russ

Yep, like running a gauntlet & punks kicking off when you where queing to get in also. Russ

Used to be a great dancer/spinner at Wigan called 'Sparky' (I think) used to dance front right of stage, late 70's he was wearing 'Jazz Funk' type clothes, but danced Northern. In my younger day's, I was runner up in quite a few dance comps, none of the 'big' nighters, but Derby Kings Hall in the late 70's came third once. Even won a comp early nineties at a Yate revival !!!. These day's rather more rotund, but still dance most of the night & usually there for the last toon. More about enthusiasm & passion to express myself to the music these day's tho' I'm afraid. After Wigan we alway's went to the Stafford or Locarno Dayers, at Wigan we would dance 'normally' but we treated the dayers as a place to practice our spins.................would just kinda two step on the edge of the floor & then spin in the appropriate places, practicing for the nighter the next week end. With regard to timing, there is definitly a right place to do tricks & spins within a tune..............alway's in time with the beat & usually tricks on the break & spin out...................still some good dancers around now, but find it frustrating when other wise good dancers do there stuff in completely the wrong places & as stated above there is a right & a wrong place. Russ

Used to quite like this ish until the 'pub singer' comment, now cant get that image out of my mind & its getting on mi nerves..............thanks Gareth .

How many copies are there Russ??? Russ

Cheers buddy, I will make it over to you guys soon, whats your July & August dates Mike BTW. Russ

Any of you Notts lot remember a guy back in the late 70's early 80's called Chalky, I used to travel from Long Eaton to Notts for the Brit with him, he was in the Army ????. Best Russ

Hello mate.....................I'm good...............suffering serious withdrawal from the UK scene tho', hope you are well buddy. Best Russ

Some excellent DJ's out here & with open minds too Mike from Cali, Jason Thornton, Miss Shingaling, Brian Harris, Brian Poust, Marco etc, etc, I think that the only thing holding the US back from a full blown scene as we know it, is the logistics of travelling to venues..................do's are more localised with bigger do's fewer & far between, the exception of course is the Bakersfield Allnighter which is monthly & to my shame I never made yet, but I will (small problem of a flight from coast to coast)...........................there is of course the now legendary Hitsville Florida Nighter, which will be on again in September......................so come on you lot, get the flights booked, already more bookings for the weekend than last year & the buzz is big for the next one, so come & see for yourself, some serious record dealing went down last year too, its great for the sounds. Russ

If theyre any good they'll shine thru', if theyre not they wont..................any decent promoter books on quality not the age of the DJ, jeez what ever next...............to a teenager any one over 25 is past it, so where the hell 38 comes from is beyond me, can we just concentrate on the music please, ridiculous comments about age etc just detract from it, who gives a toss so long as the quality is there. One of the very very very best DJ's the scene has ever had or will have for that matter is Soul Sam, & I would be most upset if this guy was forcibly made to retire, no one could replace this fella, fantastic taste, the bollocks to play unknowns frequently & the enthusiasm of DJ's half his age, you retire naturally when the bookings stop. Russ

Awesome choon Joan. Russ

Hhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahah . Russ

Bang on mate Russ

I'll be there when I get home from the US Jamie, you can count on that & come the day of the revolution it shall be proven, as it was with Stafford & other venues, that the people who drive the scene forward will be shown to have taken the correct route. I love oldies in the right context, but theres nothing like hearing a fantastic new tune for the first time, still remember hearing Ady drop the RCA stuff for the first time at the 100 Club & the floor never missed a beat................................Allnighter heaven. Russ

How do you know this is the case??? & how can you tell from a play list, surely this is your personal preferences,cos if you didnt see how many people were dancing this a bit of a farce. Just cos records are fetching large amounts of money doesnt mean they arnt any good......................I find this weird, people dance to what they like, some will like em some wont. I personally dont give a flying fart how much a record is worth, if I like it I dance or with regards to collecting I buy what I like, sometimes a few pounds, sometimes a few hundred or more pounds but price tag is no indication of quality, as you can tell with the some of the over priced over hyped oldies . Russ

Ditto..........................progressive = moving forward as opposed to moving backwards or stopping in the same place. Russ

To me the Northern Soul scene has alway's had to be 'progessive', that is what the essence of the scene was about & is about.............enterprising DJ's & Promoters finding lesser known rare soul records & bringing them to the attention of a crowd hungry to hear the latest discoveries, whether you like it or not, that is what the original venues were doing & what the original punters wanted & what the scene was built on. Years later this is still what excites me & keeps me going to Nighters (When I'm in the UK). I appreciate that it is becoming more & more difficult for those DJ's & promoters that have this drive to keep the Northern scene moving forward with completely new discoveries & it must be a real effort & a labour of love, but my hat goes off to these people, because they are keeping the real Northern Soul scene alive, particularly when from some of the comments I hear on SS & else where they could quite easily, play the same old same old week in & week out & a lot of people would be happy & wrongly imagine that they are part of the Northern scene, well it was the f***ing 'all' oldies nighters that nearly killed the scene first time around. You can call me what you like & if being called smug means that I prefer to stay true to what the proper Northern Soul scene is about then crack on lofty, I dont give a toss really, I'll stop up all night in my front room if I have to & play records rather than have to go to venues that are playing shite & justify this by saying any one that prefers lesser knowns is smug. I am not knocking oldies, if thats what you like great, fair play to you, I like them myself, but I dont want them all the time, & certainly not the same ones, mix em up, keep the night interesting, oldies, newies, rarieties, sixties, seventies, Modern, Cossover & New releases too where appropriate, if people have a bit of a moan sometimes but the vast majority are happy most of the time great, let the moaners crack on at least we know they're not dead. I have gone off slightly on a tangent here I know but to be able to keep new discoveries coming through we have to have the venues & DJ's who are prepared to stick with the true spirit of the scene & by slagging off these people who try very hard to do this kinda thing, its not helping the long term future of Northern Soul as it was intended. Yeah & I'm a smug bastard, cos I care about the the future of the Northern Soul scene & dont want to be ridiculed as a bunch of fat old people dancing to the same thing they were 20 - 30 yrs ago. I'm still 100% passionate about this music & fortunately there are promoters, DJ's & punters out there that are too & I salute you & more power to you, its not alway's easy to do the righ thing. Now come on then I'm ready for the smart arses to start the slagging instead of thinking of the greater good of the scene. Smug Russ

James how much did the William Cummings sell for pse. Russ

Many thanks to Blake for posting the Soundfile of this in another thread. I had completely forgotten about this fantastic slab of of soul. Can any one pse give me any info on this: Was it released, if so what label, also price & availability..................does Sam still have his copy ???. Thanks in advance Russ

Yes there is a vocal.........................great toon, Russ

Can any one one tell me what format the Betty Wright original came out on, I know there is a 'live' version as well as the studio one, but did either get a release as a 45 or is it LP only. Much prefer the original far superior IMHO maybe not cranked up enough for some tho'. Russ

Original or represss mate ??? Russ

Told you we would eventually get you there with the 7ts & Modern . Hope you are well mate. Best Russ

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo...........................Breakthrough, bit more expensive tho'. Russ