Russ Vickers

Sat here in my 'Pod' in Iraq, had a couple o glasses of red wine & whilst I'm very familiar with the Ohio Players version of LSTMY I havnt actually played it in a few years so got it up in refosoul, sh*t its good, the bongo's & the that awesome vocal, so fragile, almost like its gonna break, but the power house delivery........just went wooooooooooooosssshhhhhhhhh, like at a Nighter when the medication kicks in.......WOW !!!. Think I'll have myself a wee soul night of my own, sod the neighbours . Russ

What a shocker.........have known Alan & Judy since the first Hitsville Weekender in the States. When I arrived at the DJ Villa, not knowing a soul really, Alan & Judy made me feel very welcome. Later when we were amusing each other playing tunes, he pulled out Motown acetate after Motown acetate, along with other fantastic sounds, was hoping to see them in Mojacar this year, but believe Alan was poorly. I am truly shocked & we are all worst off for losing a true soul man & a genuinely nice guy...........you touched our soul's Big Man. My thoughts go out to Judy & the rest of Alans family & friends at this sad time. RIP Russ

????????????????????????? say what ?. Explanation needed I'm afraid, gone right over my head i'm afraid. Russ

Go & kick the dog or summat, you obviously just wanna row. What a joker. Russ

I have just read this post again, what is your problem, i dance to soul music, i dont give a f*ck who's playing it, what the hell are you talking about, you have obviously got some deep seated issues that you need to get sorted out, i never said anything of the sort that you are suggesting, look if you wanna listen to oldies forever crack on lofty, but dont put words in my mouth.............OMG, is that what you really think this is about, go back & read my posts again & then I'll read your apology later FFS. rUSS

Mate, why do i bother...........hope you & Marie are well, hope to be home Xmas, so hopefully catch up, in the mean time I'll go stick some pins in my own eyes, I'm losing the will to live........... Russ

Yep, your right I'm wrong..................see ya. Why do i bother, your obviously just not interested in anything anyone has to say about a current scene. Byeeeeeeeeeeeee

I know mate i fall for it every time ............got a night off for a change, bored in Iraq & armed with a laptop. Hope you are safe & well mate. Russ BTW WHAT WAS THAT 7TS RECORD YOU PLAYED IN sPAIN I ASKED YOU ABOUT, only a cheapie but wow, what a tune.......PM me if you can remember what it was, sure it was on same label as the Diplomats ??? Russ

Agee entirely & lived the life too . I do know what you mean, but back then, finding records was like shooting fish in a barrel, the more discerning DJ's these days are still doing the business tho, Butch, Andy Dyson, Ady Croasdell, Carl Fortnum, & many others........also you have to realise, that the scene never ended for many like myself, so some of these records arnt the culture shock that they might be to some who had a long break & came back to a different scene, because the scene continues to progress, different sounds come in & out of vogue, many are not the traditional four to the floor, but are still worthy of nighter plays. To put it another way, if a punter had stopped attending Nighters Nighters from say '69 - '79, the scen they would have come back to, would have been very different musically even then. I dont understand the hang up people have with the term Rare Soul......it doesnt matter to me if a record is worth £5 0r £5000 a good record is a good record, many oldies are very rare, does this make them bad records ?. Within a night there will be records that i'm not personall keen on, i actually dance to, collect & enjoy many genres of 'Rare Soul' including Modern, Xover, Funky Soul, Latin etc, it still has to have the X factor though to make it an Allnighter hit !. I am absolutely 100% up for the forgotten great oldies to be played, you know the ones that you have not heard for 20 years & many are almost like newies to some...........theyre what I consider to be propper oldies & to be honest, these are the records that will keep the scene fresh & exciting along with the few new discoveries coming through. Great post Steve & thank you for taking the trouble to put a sensible debate forward. Russ

I obviously dont necessarily like every record i hear played out, but what i can appreciate some times, is that even if i dont like the record personally the passion & comitment that the DJ's put into thier sets. 100 Club, full dance floors, Lifeline, full dance floors, Burnley, full dance floors..........

Ian, I dont think that you are quite getting the point, the whole ethos of the NS scene is to discover new records, by not advocating this, its already dead. My comments were made in defense of what is actually the real scene, whether you or anyone else likes it or not, nostalgia type events are not a true reflection of what the essence of NS was & is about. I understand that if folk wanna do this, fine, its up to them, if they wanna wear fancy dress whilst doing it, then thats fine too, each to thier own, what ever makes them happy........the point is, for the scene to be true to its original origins the search for new & interesting records must continue & thank god there are promoters & DJ's who still hold these sentiments close to thier heart. I dont dislike oldies, they are part of the scene, they have thier place & i would say any Nighter should have an element of credible oldies mixed in with everything else, after all, almost all the records being played, even at the more progressive venues have had plays else where over the years...........you have to remember that even the most popular oldies were newies once & some like me & many, many others expected almost every record to be a newie or recent discovery, although you had to support them & dance. Some records considered classics now, cleared dance floors when first played & people like myself, by dancing & requesting them & DJ's that truly beleived in the records, as well as the promoters who supported the policy are to be applauded, the scene was based on new discoveries, thats why i find it hard to understand why folk have seemed to have forgotten this, its very frustrating & i cant work it out.........I am passionate about my soul music & will defend the 'real' scene to the end & I am right, because long before i started to attend Allnighters the scene was set, i havnt just made this up myself you know. Why have people forgotten or choose to ignore this & that is spose to be an intelligent question, so if some one can give me an intelligent answer i would be very pleased. BTW For the record, i enjoy listening to oldies as much if not more than most, i love em, but i wanna still feel the excitment of hearing a record played out for the first time & getting behind it, requesting it & seeing it turn into a classic hopefully, sensible DJ's then rest em for a few years & bring em back as quality underplayed oldies................i feel i may be wasting my time here, but it would be nice even if someone could acknowledge that what i am saying here is true even if they dont agree............ Russ

Russ

You obviously have an opinion, other wise you wouldnt have posted ? & I wasnt taking the piss I'm serious, an oldies only attitude will eventually kill the original ethos of the NS Scene. Anyway, bored of baggy bating now, gonna hunt down some lesser known gems to bore people with, you never know in another 20 years or so, some body might play one of em from a dodgy boot leg & get a massive dance floor reaction down't workies . Russ

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz here we go again, the poor hard done by oldies only fans, get with the programme & keep it real FFS. Russ

You are fecking certifiable & your living in a some nostalgia bubble, you f*uckers will kill the scene, stone dead, I cannot put into words how cringe worthy & embarrassing that is, I would rather sell my records & go to an Abba convention than to have any asscotiation with that vomit inducing bilge you pass off as the'scene'..........i have even had to do a Judas when people have mentioned these type of events, as I do not want to be asscotiated with it what so ever. I want to scream at you WHY, why do you wanna hear the same records, wear daft clothes & worst still, tell anyone who will listen that what you guys do is the real scene, well your wrong. The real scene is the truly underground scene, it was, has been & always will be, 1977 first Nighter & still going strong without a break...........what you are suggesting is the scene could not be further away, there are Soulies turning in thier graves at what you suggest. I cant tell you how wrong you are, the scene is about finding & exposing new & undiscovered soul/dance records to a wider dancing audience, that is the whole point of it, there are some fantastic under played oldies & rareities out there, that we all enjoy hearing now & again too, mix the whole lot up.............. I'm not suggesting dont do what you do if you enjoy it, but just as you suggest people are sneering & being derisory about the uniform, then what are you doing when your slagging off, what is essentially the true Northern Soul Scene, staying true to the cause & not selling out & trying to re write history & the sooner these feckers get bored & piss of & live in thier Soul in the Sun Retirement Homes the better. The scene is now truly international & will live forever in the hearts & souls of the real faithful............. Russ

Easier to see on the WD. rUSS

Played at Yate & else where for years, i like all the versions in different ways, but the OP has a special place for me, can never understand why it didnt go MASSIVE every where, maybe has lived in the shadows of SW for too long.........the instrumentation on the op IS SIMPLY AWESOME & just makes me wanna dance !!!!. Russ ,

Play from the original format, cant be much clearer than that........if you dont wanna DJ with ya rare records to keep em nice un pretty, then dont DJ.......At home etc, please ya self what ya listen to ya music on, when you play out, original format only please. This absolutely staggers me, why has this become an issue in the last few years, it should be a question that should never be asked, we ALL know the answer........dont have the original, then dont play it, full STOP. BTW Would be interested to know who the credible DJ's are who are playing from CD, as opposed to original format. Butch, Mick H, Andy Dyson, Soul Sam, Ady Croasdell, Mick Smith, Keith Money, Karl Heard, Steve G, Steve Plum, Bob Cosby, Gavin Page, Dave Abbott, Steve C, Marco, Keb, Arthur Fenn, Tony Smith, ETC, ETC ETC arnt........................... Russ

Hope I'm not missing the point here, but why wouldnt we, I actually personally know a promoter, who albeit politely removed a DJ from the decks for playing from a carver, thier was no fuss, most people present would not have known, there was no nastyness, but said person has never DJ'd again at the venue, promoter had speciically made the policy clear. I wouldnt attend a venue or support a DJ who didnt do this, but its all kinda weird that we're having this discussion again really, we all know the crack. Best Russ

Its about playing from the original format, be that vinyl, CD, mp3 or what ever............its just the way it should be, its the 'Real Deal'. In a lot of cases DJ's have spent many, many hours, day's & years tracking down these sometimes very elusive sounds & to me at least, playing from a CD a disc that was previously released in its original format on vinyl, shall we say, is cheating.........we all know the ethics of the scene, if you wanna DJ do it right & use OVO or the original released format. I find the discussion on this subject to be quite offensive, not this thread particularly, but just generally, I cant imagine why anyone on this scene cant understand this.............play off what you like at home or in the car etc, but if you DJ do it right, CD DJ's have no credibility on this scene (if said track was originally available on original vinyl. Ok, here we go, stand by for the dancers dont know or care blah, blah, blah......etc,etc,etc............not OVO dont bother. Russ

Russ

Hi Keith, Garland Davis, top tune, Saus had this covered for many years in the late 9ts, maybe before, think it was c/up as Jesse Slaughter ?. Best Russ

Yes & I know where, beat me to em by a whisker, there were actually four copies of the PT but a US collector got that other !!!..........you n Shifty didnt call me the unluckiest digger in NATO for nothing lol Hope ya well mate Best Russ