Soul16

Agreed

I've just found the bootleg of this 45 while clearing out the loft. Would anybody care to let me know the story behind it, what it's origins are, when, where and who played it? I'm surprised that demand would ever have been high enough for it to be booted. Also came across Grand Piano Company and Julius Wechter boots. I guess that all three of these records come from the same (crazy?) era, in terms of popularity on the NS circuit. I must have acquired these as part of a job lot over thirty years ago. Thanks in advance.

Sure - I've never been to Prestatyn.

After having a good look around over the last couple of days, I've realised that I actually own some NS tat that I had forgotten about - My car has a clenched fist Northern Soul tax disc holder on the windscreen. Just got back from work and opened the post, the British Red Cross have sent me some of their tat, a bookmark, two greetings cards and two drink coasters. Anyway, more to the point, I'm planning to go to the Keele All-Nighter next month, which I notice has got a reggae room....I think I'll have a look in there to see if they suffer from the same problem, in the form of all things red, gold and green and little models of Rastafarians with huge erections, like the ones you see in gift shops when on holiday in Spain

100% true. If Ady wants more details, he only has to ask via PM.

Attempting to sell hundreds of illegal copies of Ace/Kent CDs, for example, hardly constitutes a passion in my opinion.

Hi, Please note, at no point did I mention art prints in my original post, I made reference to illegal bootlegs and other KTF tat - I have not suggested that your original art is in any way connected to what I saw, none of which was worthy of the title 'Art' and was definitely not produced in Manchester. If you were there (which I don't think you were), I missed your artwork completely. It is nothing to do with elitism either, not approving of the selling of bootleg CDs at £2 a pop is just my opinion. I'm sure that if your prints were photocopied, framed and sold for a couple of quid each by someone else, you would be very upset about it, or would even consider informing the police. I wish you good luck with your enterprise, I, for one, have already had a look at your website and I guess others will too.

Timi Yuro - It'll never be over for me. Pretty much all of it makes me shiver, a heady mix of great lyrics and a driving orchestral beat. Jerry Williams - Run, run roadrunner, the bit where he sings "I live the life I love, I love the life I live, yeah yeah,yeah, yeah" Key changes on a record are often able to make me shiver.

I've never been to Prestatyn, but I assume that you are referring to gaming machines

Musically, it was largely a Tardis job - but of course it was sold as such.

The Chateau Impney in Droitwich.

I attended a Northern Soul night at the weekend, musically it was acceptable, but In an adjacent room, I was somewhat dismayed to find what can only be described as a small 'indoor market' selling a plethora of Northern Soul related items: Various items of clothing, drinks coasters, mouse mats, bootlegs DVDs, bootleg vinyl, bootleg CDs of Kent LPs, more bootleg CDs, cloth patches, coffee mugs, gaudy looking slip mats and numerous other types of tacky 'KTF' and Wigan Casino goodies/crap. Thankfully, I did notice that punters weren't exactly queuing up... I guess that sometime soon, somebody will have the brass neck to openly sell illegal copies of Elaine Constantine's film. but we owe it to her and ourselves to resist buying them. I know that what I found was not the norm, that most soul nights are not like what I have just described above and most promoters/venues would not knowingly accept the selling of such trash. I haven't dared look, but I would imagine that eBay is awash with the stuff anyway. Maybe I'm just getting grumpy in my old age.

The Slits - I heard it through the grapevine Thankfully, I didn't know it existed until last week, wish I still didn't.

I'm pretty sure that The Tempests lyric is "give up you silly fool", not 'given you seen them'. Have another listen and I think you will agree.

Having just seen the Northern Soul dancers with Pharrell Williams at the end of 'The Brits', the timing for the release of this film couldn't be better - exposure to the general public of the whole NS thing is growing at quite a pace (whether we like it or not). The chances of the film being a commercial success must be pretty good right now.

As a youth in the 1970's I used to really love listening to the The Capreez - 'It's good to be home again' and Dena Barnes - 'Who am I'

Easily the best 1980's footage I've ever seen. Brilliant

On the Northern side of things, The two Kent CDs below would be my recommendations, nice booklets, interesting sleeve notes and great sound quality. All Killer, No Filler IMHO https://www.amazon.co.uk/Northern-Monsters-Various-Artists/dp/B000NJL67E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387444241&sr=8-1&keywords=northern+monsters https://www.amazon.co.uk/Once-Upon-Time-Wigan-Vol-1/dp/B000189WTG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1387444312&sr=8-3&keywords=once+upon+wigan

I couldn't agree more Mark, it is indeed a production fault, making the Four Tops track very difficult for a stylus to remain firmly in place.

The groove waves around all over the shop on the Four Tops cut, so your turntable levelling, tone arm and cartridge set up needs to be spot-on. Maybe it is set up perfectly though and you've been unlucky yet again

Mal, I changed my email address a few years back so that could be why I didn't reply - I've just got your message via youtube though. Please see my post above too. Cheers.

Just seen this thread. The rooie16 youtube account is mine. I've probably still got the original 30 minute tape somewhere and will have a look for it as soon as I get chance. The video shows a lot of faces very clearly, I don't want cause any upset and there is at least one person that I need to contact before uploading the full version to youtube. If I find the video and I'm given the go ahead, I will upload it and place it here too. If anyone has any objections or thoughts, please pm me. Andrew

That's an easy one for me to answer, the drumming on this is outstanding - just listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hlv8JqzHs0&feature=player_detailpage

I've just played my copy of the Four Tops, it plays through with no problems. I'm no expert on this track, but the mix clearly has an unfinished quality about it, especially given that the instrumental section is missing a saxophone/piano riff. Regarding the way the record looks, it is definitely at odds with the other thirteen tracks in the set, in that the groove appears to be cut deeper and has far more lateral movement across the vinyl, more in keeping with records from the 1960's. The other cuts appear much tighter and finer with a wider run-out area.

I've just spoken to Universal to enquire about an order I placed on Saturday because I would have expected an 'Order Despatched' confirmation email by now. The person on the other end of the phone said that all orders for this item (with Universal only I assume) have now been put "on hold" due to duplicate record issues. The order I currently had was cancelled on the phone. I was informed that I will receive an email update when the issue has been resolved and they begin shipping this item again. We'll see what happens.