Pete S

It's about 90% Northern to my ears..

A mess of a record

I honestly thought they'd just run out of labels!

I've seen another Soul Fox 'test press' like that mate, Herb Ward - Strange Change.

Was first booted on the Soul Fox label

Praise indeed Ted, is there anywhere online to hear this, he says expecting the answer 'no'

I only heard it for the first time today after it was getting discussed, it sounds a ringer for Peggy Lee's "Fever" as do lots of R & B (and pop) records of the period (that, and a million Stand By Me influenced tunes) I have to say I really like them personally and it's borderline Northern / R & B, could be described as either really.

Quoted by me? Just because it had the word confused in I think. I don't know, I'm confused myself. But I can definitely say with a lot of confidence that 1973 and 1974 were the years of the instrumental and people were actively seeking out instrumental versions of well known classics, I'd say maybe 30% of all records played then were insts as compared to maybe 2% nowadays

You know what though, I've got two tapes with "I'm On Fire" on from Wigan, actually they are both the instrumental version, so they must have had it on a pre release before it got near the charts.

It's the "Only girl I had" side in case anyone was wondering. Not the New York side. You're right, it's poor.

Primary school eh...making me feel old, they had their first hit just I started seniors in 71, if you lived round here you loved and probably still do love Slade, I do anyway, as I mentioned before, I often see Dave Hill in our post office, he's a miserable old sod.

I used to love those Willie Mitchell productions on Al Green, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles, kind of 1971 to 1974, that distinctive sound so that you knew straight away that it was that Hi / Willie Mitchell sound, I remember having a poster of Al Green on my wall after the Slade posters came down.

Yeah I think in the search for more and more obscure tracks, they went a little too far back, though I love most of the older stuff as well, but it bears no relationship to Northern Soul which it was originally a kind of offshoot from. Then again, neither does most modern soul.

It used to be. Don't know about now, a lot of the white records would never get played today. It's nice to remember them from time to time though. But yes it is predomanently a dance scene.

What bizarre logic, you're saying a 60's record recorded in the 60's sounds like a pastiche of a 60's record? And as for your second statement - doesn't make sense - if I played Freddie & The Dreamers at a Northern do, it doesn't automatically make it Northern Soul. It just makes me in need of some kind of specialist treatment.

I'd call it a very average 60's pastiche.

It's not cinfusing really. Condition Red is your typical oddball Northern Soul record. On many levels it's rubbish. On other levels, it's a fantastic record to dance to and is absolutely Northern Soul, even though there is actually no soul content. So many fantastic Northern Soul records are by artists with no soul qualifications whatsoever, but we still love 'em.

Stewart Ames? That's just plain ol' Northern!

Rob it was definitely the Amnon record that Mick had, he's getting the labels mixed up, he had it covered up, I put it on a Beatin Rhythm tape as long ago as 1995 under it's cover up name, Dave Welding had it before Mick.

No that's an old one mate, I remember it from the mid 70's, it was supposed to be like a secret handshake for soul lovers

I see the same arguments going on on the youtube clip Chalky.

But someone's already done the burger idea Steve, back to the drawing board!

Yeah and I sent you one gift I'll never live down

I never thought of Jimmy Robins and Mickie Champion as anything BUT Northern Soul, then suddenly mid 90's they got a new tag...

No, I agree with everything you've written and do exactly the same