Soul16

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NORTHERN-SOUL-EPITOME-OF-SOUND-YOU-DONT-LOVE-ME-/191534350747?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c9856419b It seems that nothing is sacred any more Pete. A fairly shoddy job, the seller makes it clear that it is not an original, but for some reason that picture makes me feel quite annoyed. £22 as I type, with five days to go... Madness.

Epitome Of Sound arrived today. Auctioned as a 70s' Pressing in a 1 day auction on eBay. It was clearly an original though, I put a low bid on it and won!

I bought the green boot and the cream label versions from the same box for about £1.50 each back in 1976, at the time I had no idea if either one was an original. All I can remember is that the cream one was supplied in a brown paper sleeve and appeared to be more authentic in appearance. The sound quality on the boot is exceptionally good, indistinguishable from the original to my ears.

Funnily enough, I was just watching some of the contemporary crop of dance floor videos on Youtube before arriving here. Youtube is awash with the bloody things. Now I don't profess to be a particularly good dancer, but some of the gyrations I see on display are often incongruous at best. I have sometimes been tempted to put a few links on Soul Source to the offending videos, but the problem is that I feel it would be ignorant of me to do so, as who am I to pass judgement on how people express themselves. When viewing the vintage videos though, (roughly mid 2000's and before) I see dancing that I can connect with, recognise and understand. It seems to me that much of the new interest and current fascination with Northern Soul seems to revolve around 'the dancing' or 'learning how to dance Northern Soul' without really feeling the music. The music, the artists, the labels, the true passion and the true emotion has, in some way, been lost to this fashion/craze for needing to be seen as 'cool'. Thankfully, I see that there are still plenty of genuinely great dancers out there though. Just my opinion folks, Andrew

The 1976 Silver Spotlight Series UK reissues of Little Anthony - Better Use Your Head/Gonna Fix You Good seem to be getting regularly transformed into original UK Demos. If played out, it would certainly fool the cameras, but given that it was mixed in stereo, to complete the illusion, the DJ would also need to remember to flick the Mono switch on the amplifier.

Personally, I've always considered the UK London version more desirable.

A guy on eBay that regularly lists these pressings/re-issues with stuck on labels won a couple of 'proper' 1970's vintage pressings off me recently, I am now expecting them to be auctioned off very soon with freshly printed labels and see him get back three times his original investment. He is very honest (if you can call it that) about what he is selling, so I won't make further comment on that side of things. I doubt that I am alone in this, but when I was regularly attending venues in the 1980's and 90's, part of the thrill for me was being in the same room as those rare pieces of vinyl that the DJ had spent a lot of time and money tracking down to play for our listening and dancing pleasure. I'm now struggling with the idea that there are 'imposters' going up and down the country, carrying boxes of mocked-up 45's to play to the paying punters. Come to think of it, I attended an event last year and every now and again, the sound quality off some of the records seemed suspiciously poor, so I guess I may have been an unsuspecting victim of someone spinning a few boots here and there. Maybe I'm just over sensitive, I felt terribly cheated when I found out that Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny wasn't a live broadcast and was actually recorded in October...

Sounds like the Delfonics to me.

Yeah, yer average bloke down the pub don't give a flying f##k about the back story of a recording, coz all he has to do is Shazam it, then stream it to his phone any time he wants. If he really wants to 'get into Northern' though, old Dodgy Dave in the corner will burn him a DVD containing the entire Northern Soul 'Top 500' in convenient MP3 format for the price of a pint.

Yep, went down with 13 seconds to go!

Gary Sole - Holding On. It starts at a steady pace and gets progressively faster and faster. Personally, if I was on an exercise bike trying to keep pace with it, I would need a Paramedic on stand-by. A great record too imho.

It might be worth asking a few locals about records, if they happen to be having a Yard Sale...

Here you go Andy https://greatofferstore.com/*/Boxset-Offers/Various-Artists-The-Motown-7s-Vinyl-Box-Rare-And-Unreleased/3JT304AZ000

"All tracks restored from the original Hitsville master tapes Discoveries all in one beautifully designed Limited Edition numbered collectors box set" There can't be any numbered ones left, surely?

Whether we like it or not, 2014 has turned out to be quite a year for Northern Soul. The timing of this auction will definitely bring it to an interesting climax.

Very sad. A final farewell, R.I.P. Jimmy.

I just don't get it, Amazon are delivering pre-ordered DVD and Blu-ray copies today, for £9 and £11 respectively. Why would any decent human being want to knock out pirate copies, furthermore, what kind of Northern Soul or film enthusiast would feel comfortable buying a fake? Bloody crazy if you ask me. (ODVDO and OBRO for me!)

He is probably the most influential film critic in the country, so everybody involved in the making of the film must be over the moon about a review like that on national radio.

Very positive review by Mark Kermode too!

Thanks guys!

I need to get out more because I don't think I've heard this record before and it sounds pretty good to me.

Great phrase that Pete - I'm gonna shoehorn that into a conversation as soon as I get the opportunity.

The best compilation ever is probably on Kent, but it is impossible for me to pick out just one. Otherwise, for sentimental reasons, I would have to pick Jumping at the Go Go - hearing that LP for the first time was a defining moment for me. I have the orange label version, but I believe that it was also issued with a black label too.

The trailer on YouTube looks pretty good to me. Looking forward to seeing/hearing how the music has been used on the soundtrack.