Stevesilktulip

Soul Source seems to be cosying up to clueless BBC presenters. I remember, around the time Craig Charles' Coronation Street character was - all of a sudden - a big northern soulie, I saw him interviewed and he admitted he was never much into northern soul and Frank Wilson seemed to be the only record he knew.

Haven't seen it and probably won't but can't get exited either way. Regarding Stuart Maconie, on a northern soul show on radio 2 a few years back, he said he loves the music but doesn't like the politics. To illustrate this he told the story of when he tried to play 'the Night' but found himself on the wrong side of a compilation so played 'Grease' on the basis they'd know it. He just likes every pop music fad deemed 'cool' by the telly since he saw the Beatles aged about three.

Perhaps the first thing to say is that John Lias is probably the most impressive and important soul fan in the world to date and, on current trajectory, that could turn out to be ever. I've been an admirer since his top 100 turned up in Voices from the Shadows about three decades ago and these tomes constitute the best chance yet of soul music becoming an accepted artform, comparable - in its own way - with classical music and jazz (alongside my mixclouds, though I'm well aware that myths are constructed in words not music - just read a few hundred of the few hundred million words that have been written about the Beatles). He's four or five years older than me and has been a soul fan for four or five years longer than me, so he was very young. This is reflected in some of the broad slippage between his preferences and mine which could deflect from my claim that it's potentially timeless music, though I imagine the passage of time will 'iron out' such discrepancies. Ironically, Lias doesn't make the claim that soul music is an artform though he thinks there's a case for deep soul and has said he expects people to still be listening to James Brown a century from now. I would agree about deep soul and was thrilled to see two OV Wright albums so high in his top 100, but would place the bar significantly lower, though I don't see a case for Michael Jackson, Barry White and much else. Incidentally, both of us seem to prefer the first era of James Brown we came across, and my preference is for a number of the classic seventies funk bands ahead of Sly and the Family Stone who were such a massive influence on them all. It remains to be seen whether it will be remembered at all and, if so, in a way similar to amateur dramatics favourites Gilbert and Sullivan or the scholarly study of Stravinsky, Shostakovich et al. My brilliant Cultural Studies lecturer claimed a definition of art is if it's 'worthy of study' and - since the Death of the Author (composer) - I would argue that something is art if the reader (listener) treats it as such, and I would further argue that Lias has certainly done that with his subject. Furthermore, I find it wholly inadequate to line up the great soul artists with people like the Rolling Stones, Bowie and Madonna. I don't agree with the premise that the age of soul music came to an end in 1982 when CD sales apparently overtook those of vinyls. I was still involved in the soul scene at the start of the nineties and the only person who could afford CDs was Steve Davis and there was still virtually nothing available from soul's golden age. Even within his rules, I don't understand the inclusion of Lanier and Co, Ernie Isley and Chris Jasper and the exclusion of Anita Baker, one of the greatest voices in recorded music who made two of the best soul albums of the eighties. I recognise the difficulty presented by jazz-funk and, while I'm no particular fan of George Benson (until I dipped back further than Breezin to find almost supernatural skill on the guitar), his voice is not dissimilar to Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder - whose voices I'm similarly agnostic about - and I believe Breezin through Give me the Night probably should have been included. Incidentally I don't feel the need to apologise for preferring Latimore to Stevie Wonder. He gets his blues boundary fairly spot on but perhaps goes further into disco than I would have I was relieved to find no Tina Turner - not even with Ike - and Dusty Springfield, though I fear he may have wished to include the latter. My view is that her inclusion as soul should now be put to bed, alongside Janice Joplin. I'm uncomfortable about excluding the Average White Band but concede it begs the question of how far to go. Hi Tension and maybe Light of the World would do for me. One thing serious soul fans always seem to underestimate is P Funk, like rock people who don't get Zappa. Underneath the star wars, cartoon, comedy there's some serious music going down, generally courtesy of Bernie Worrell though - like Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Muddy Waters, James Brown and Zappa - Clinton is in the middle pulling it all together. And I really don't get why the Rotary Connection are not there. I think there may have been albums by Carl Hall and Hot Sauce but I'm not certain and really don't care. I think we can sleep safely in our beds that there isn't a What's Going On or a Show Must Go On gone astray. A couple of artists I have major disagreements with in volume two. While I know many people whose preference in Womack is for the Poets, they're almost exclusively people for whom this was the first of his stuff they heard. It brings up a debate about what constitutes a good album but I'd rather have Safety Zone for Daylight than all the Poets. For me, he's always been the Preacher. Curtis Mayfield is an artist I can become very emotional about and I think if older people could accept the brilliance of his early solo stuff and younger folk could find his Impressions, he could be recognised was one of the giants of music history. I remember a Blues and Soul at the end of the seventies which sought to round up the decade and claimed that Back to the World and America Today were his finest albums. Time and the mass pop media laying claim to soul music has turned the general preference towards Curtis and particularly Superfly. The latter is almost inarguably the greatest soundtrack album of all, and it's strongest tracks are magnificence, but it inevitably has it's love and chase themes. America Today is a fine set and his last great album, but it lacks the scale and killer cuts of Curtis, Roots, Superfly and Back to the World, all of which I'd have had to include in a top 100. Headers would have been a useful addition to the book; while I can generally identify artists who are spread over many pages from album titles, others may be less fortunate. Furthermore, there's a lot of emphasis on chart positions, which really don't interest me in soul any more than they do in jazz, blues, reggae or anything else. However, I'm now knit picking and these volumes must be part of the essential kit of every serious soul fan worldwide. I leant my brother them individually but found myself contacting him regularly to look up something or other. I'm now confident for the first time that I'm within earshot of hearing nearly everything that would interest me, bearing in mind there are many artists I don't feel the need to listen to everything they ever made. We all owe him an enormous debt for what it is no exaggeration to say is a staggering achievement of human endeavour, not least because he's trawled through hundreds of terrible albums so we don't have to. The one thing which will force him back to the publishers for a revised edition is his claim that Frankie Beverly, Philip Bailey and Lenny Williams are the greatest vocalists from the self-contained(ish) bands. Bailey is an undeniable virtuoso but is very specialist which found him co-lead vocalist most of the time. Lenny Williams I would describe as next best. The greatest lead vocalists of the funk bands, who stand with the great solos vocalists and the great leads in the great vocal harmony groups are Frankie Beverly and Ronald Isley. I imagine he hears Ronald as the lead vocalist in the group who recorded at Motown - his preferred material from them - but there's no doubt they became a huge force in soul music with the younger Isleys through the seventies.

Lanier and Co and Ralph Graham, though I'm not that fussed. What tortures me are five cuts that I had as vinyls and have as rips but would pay highly for a compilation with any of them on: Stan Ivory - Come Live with Me, Rance Allen - Where Did I go Wrong, Deon Jackson - I'll Always Love You, Bobby McClure - You Bring Out the Love in Me and Epicenter/ Sandra Feva - You Can't Come up here no More. The latter I had on a seven but the rip is a twelve which renders the seven version redundant.

Having read more of the blog, I get that the objection to covering the early Upnorth Weekenders was because they barely featured northern soul at all. However, I realised almost in hindsight that many thought they were about modern soul as an offshoot of northern, and based on the Mecca and the seventies records played at nighters in the eighties; a view I didn't and don't share. It was more about people, often with a background in northern soul, jazz-funk or club music - and I'd done all three - but had been listening to 'real soul' at home for years. I disentangled myself from them in 91 which is the year Kev Roberts reckons kick-started the northern revival and I would argue they led directly to Cleethorpes, Prestatyn and weekenders throughout the land which have become the new temples of northern soul. We'd had to move from Fleetwood because the soul room was far too small, and I recall thinking we should have swapped the two rooms, though I don't remember if I ever suggested it to Alex. He would have never gone for it because he always wanted it to be like Caister, Bognor and the original Prestatyn's, but with a small soul room stuck on, not least because he wanted them to be all about him and knew the soul room was more about me, in the same way the jazz room was more about Simon Mansell. The Upnorth Weekenders did not lead to the northern soul revival - indeed they should have prevented it - and the northern weekenders would have happened anyway, but at a different time and in different ways.

Nobody does their cause any favours by claiming the artists miraculously recieve money when vinyls are exchanged between dealers and collectors. There isn't a serious singer, musician or producer on the planet who thinks CDs are in any way less valid, authentic or worthy than vinyls were in their day. On the contrary, they want you to buy their CDs and go and watch them live as the only chances they have of ever getting paid. Once they've gone, - and most of them already have - they want your kids to stream it and your descendants to implant it directly into their brains so they can listen with perfect sound quality just by thinking about it. They don't want this music - an artform, in its own way comparable to classical music and jazz - to become nothing more than insipid nostalgia for a few people, most of whom weren't even there. The people who made the decision it has to be vinyls have a vested interest in maintaining them, because they have lots of them and probably make money from them, just like the bootleggers did. Collecting vinyls, or any memorabilia, is a perfectly good hobby, but the vinyls community - still miniscule, despite mammoth campaigns over several years by the record companies and the media - is not about being a music fan, so nobody who would rather play or listen to rubbish on vinyls than the best music in existence on any other format should not mistake themselves for soul fans.

Not part of the scene, but in my 45 going on 46 years as a soul fan, the chasm between Soul Music and the soul scene has never been so vast, which I'm sure is not the intention of the nice people at Soul Source. The order is very, very rough and reflects a mixed clientele including a gang of drunk local gals who just wanted to sing karaoke: Latimore - Dig a Little Deeper (2017) OV Wright - Let's Straighten it Out Eddie Hinton - I'll Come Running Emotions - So I can love you John Edwards - Tin Man Jackey Beavers - Trying to get back Dells - It's all up to you Garland Green - Ain't that Good Enough Melvin Moore - All of a Sudden Margie Joseph - Let's Stay Together Teddy Pendergrass (featured artist) - Love TKO, Be Sure, Is it still good to ya Harold Melvin - You know how to make me feel, Wake up Everybody Johnnie Taylor - What About my Love Chimes - Still Trying to Find Swing Out Sister - Am I the Same Girl, Love Won't let you Down Womack - If you think you're lonely now, How could you break my heart, So Many Sides (request) Beloyd, Flowers, Gloria Scott Jesse James - If You Want a Love Affair (request) Darrell Banks - Only the Strong Survive Gabor Szabo - Breezin George Benson - Affirmation Donald Byrd - Just my Imagination, Dominoes (live) James Brown - There was a Time (Apollo 2) Eloise Laws - Love Factory Willie Hutch - The Way we Were Keith Barrow - You Know you Want to be Loved Spinners - Ghetto Child Bataan - The Bottle Aretha - Oh No Not my Baby Al Johnson feat Jean Carn(e) - Back for More Isleys - Here we go Again William Bell and Mavis Staples - Leave the Girl Alone Barbara Lynne - Trying to love Two Ashford and Simpson - Top of the Stairs Temptations - Ball of Confusion Four Tops - Keeper of the Castle Marvin - Where are we Going, God is Love, Mercy Mercy Me William Devaughn - Be Thankful (original version) Maze - The Look in your Eyes (live) Young Holt Unlimited - California Montage Millie Jackson - House for Sale, Summer

I never know why people get so troubled by the term Modern Soul. Modern Classical Music began at the end of C19th and ended around the middle of C20th and Modern Jazz started in the forties and ended at the end of the sixties. Some people say Modern Soul is everything since about 1970 but any sensible definition would have the word seventies in there but may also include some late sixties, the eighties and early nineties, but really shouldn't include C21st neo/nu soul. Crossover is jazz-funk; the term was grabbed years ago and in a soul context is entirely meaningless and no two people agree on a definition anyway.

Re the Ritson book, there are claims that Snowboy's book on the acid jazz/ funk/ dance scene was a kind of sequel, but that's only half the story, and not the side you're concentrating on, though there's definite overlaps.

At Berwick, the soul rm wasn't open long and I doubt there was any northern played; I cerainly never heard any. The funk mob had Prestatyn years before Searling et al. I think it would be 88 when I went. The rm which became the northern rm played house (or whatever tag it had in 88). Chris Hill raised a banner in another rm saying Acid Free Zone and played one of the best sets I've ever heard. He looked thoroughly p!$$ed off.

I'm surprised the first real soul weekenders didn't get more than a single mention of Southport. Stuart Cosgrave described them as northern soul although they were never that, beyond Mr Searling doing an hour in the jazz room on a saturday afternoon. How times have changed. These weekenders were critical as a stepping stone from Caister, Bognor and the original Prestatyn Weekenders and were responsible for launching all the weekenders that followed. I'm assured many still claim Fleetwood in particular was the greatest soul room ever, and Sam Dees' performace, even for a PA. was utterly extraordinary. Myself, Searling and others gradually drifted away and Mr Lowes eventually got the weekender he always wanted, but for a time it seemed that anything was possible.

The CD sections are being neglected because of the so-called vinyls revival, which was something of a damp squib last year, though the record companies, backed by the media, are seriously stepping up their campaign this year. Somebody said to me recently, we won you lost. I thought he was a fanatical brexiteer and, as with brexit, we've all lost.

Don't you just love lazy afternoons at work where you can just youtube choons. Been through the Hayley list and, while there's nothing I'd have sold a granny for (and my grannies came cheap) there's nothing terrible either. Would have appreciated them more in the mid-seventies when I was always on the lookout for stuff nobody was playing. Some great singing, especially Gilford and Scruggs, Delphs, Mancha and of course JJ. I'll no doubt have to buy all the albums on payday.

I'm a Soul Fan (actually a Black Music fan verging on Music Fan), not a (northern) soul on vinyls fan. I buy a couple of dozen albums a month and discovered years ago that the Amazon basket (the worst company in the world but in a monopoly situation) will only hold 600 items, though I could always cheat it a bit. I've recently found out I can only cheat it by another 50 items meaning I have about 200 items on hand-written sheets. I'm not desperate for new stuff to arrive.

Great to hear Curtis still adding guitar at this stage.

Hi again again. I try to avoid Soul Source (too many Beatlemaniacs and punkrockers) so have just come across this. I'll (persuade the missus to let me) order part 2; to be honest I've been getting frustrated without it, but there's always music to buy which has to come first, though books can enhance music enormously. I've started putting a Soul Album on my facebook page (Christine Tulip) each day and you get the odd mention. A little slippage in Funk - perhaps the age difference - but I'd say 68-78 though I acknowledge a decline after 75. Despite maybe half a dozen essential tracks I think many of the bands who followed on from Sly improved on them. I'd have had Wild and Peaceful, All n All, 3+3 and some P at least in my top 100. 'Serious' Soul types always seem to struggle with P Funk, particularly poor old Bootsy; like Zappa, I believe it will have time on its side. Although I seldom listen to her these days, I think Anita's first 2 albums disprove any theory that the Soul Album disappeared once CD's outsold vinyls. As a singer I think she ranks with Aretha, Linda Jones, Betty Wright, Minnie Ripperton and Jean Carn(e), but I think the age slippage is in play here. Certainly I know many (and some would have been at Bilbao) who think she was a very big deal. For me, although I don't care much for Roy Ayers beyond odd ones, should have been there because, unlike say Herbie Hancock and Donald Byrd, he was never a big deal in 'Real Jazz'. However, I struggle with the omission of DB so perhaps I think vocals are an issue here. I certainly think Benson should have featured because he really stopped being a Jazz Artist at all and vocally was in the scope of Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, though - beyond his incredible Jazz Guitar playing, I don't care much for any of his music. Overall I think the Jazz-Funk issue was a minefield no two people would ever agree on, but debate in itself is good. Hopefully see you in Bilbao next year. Steven.

My list has probably changed since the last post which had probably changed since the first post; note my comments on Sam Dees. You are in a privileged position of being able to put out a book and the nice people at Soul source allows us to put in our two penneth. Anything of this nature is only a starting point for an exchange of ideas, discussion and discourse and I'm always pleased to add a few more to my ever growing wants list (though Mrs Silk definitely isn't). Haven't seen the original VFTS for years which seems to be in a loft. I wonder if you have a copy of the list you could send me when I order vol 2. I know there were at least a couple on it I hadn't heard, and of course nowadays you can get virtually everything. It would be fascinating to see how your choice has changed over the years. Forgive me but it's also worth noting you're obviously a few years older than me, and that slippage goes a long way to explain many of our differences. However, this also highlights one major difference we have which is that I absolutely believe Soul Music is an artform, which would suggest it should be timeless. Only time will tell. Applying modern cultural theory, classical music (or even jazz) does not have to be used as a model, but unfortunately, Soul Music hangs on binary oppositions of grain and something along the lines of 'if I have to explain, you wouldn't understand'. Obviously hadn't read/ retained your 82 cut-off and I think her first two albums perhaps warrants a rethink. I was still involved in weekenders ten years later and soul fans at least, were still preoccupied with vinyls (too many still are). But I'd have also wanted to include Angie Stone, the only Soul Artist to emerge in the last twenty years, to stand with the greats. The funk jazz/ funk divide is a real toughy, not only because of James Brown, Isleys and Maze, but also Curtis, Marvin, Willie Hutch and countless others. I suspect you're not all that keen on funk, at least after JB, and I'll hazard a stab you're also big on Sly, but that's more or less it. As somebody who has gone through the ninety year history of jazz, most jazz people think jazz funk is smooth jazz is universally dreadful. I like jazz-funk (though not smooth jazz) but I tend to put it with soul/funk rather than jazz. Having made the decision (or accepted the inevitability) to include funk, Roy Ayers is probably one you should have included, though - again - I suspect it's not your thing. Finally, didn't know you were playing in Bilbao or I'd have gone - no pressure than.

Just come across the top 100 at the end. I remember many years ago reading Lady Soul is the best Soul Album ever, and while I've never been able to split them, I'm surprised he had her so high. Id probably have them both - in consecutive positions - much further down the list and wouldn't have a third, but if I did, it wouldn't be YG and B. I understand him not wanting Whats Going On in pole position but wouldn't have gone Aretha. Surely he doesn't have Otis Blue in vol 2. Paul Kelly has slipped down since Voices from the Shadows and, while I never had it on vinyls, Hooked Hogtied and Collared has been in my basket for a couple years, it's just been promoted. A cheap Best Of is as much as I could ever be interested in by Etta James and the Don Covay is new to me so need to investigate. Not a great singer in my view (Nor Syl Johnson). I'd have at least 4 Al Green albums ahead of Gets Next to you - 3 of which he has - but probably only 2 in the top 100. I used to have Sam Dees on a parr with Marvin, then second only to, then best album not by Marvin, but may now have best not by Marvin, Curtis/Impressions or Luther Ingram. Probably about eighth. I get why he has these particular JB album so high, but most of the albums I've bought have been unheard and that's how I like it. Prior to CDs, which makes it much easier to trawl through piles and piles of albums, James was probably best heard on compilations, of which there are loads. The 3 volumes of Soul Classics were the ones for me. I'd probably have Dells albums but maybe not these ones and I'd definitely have Chilites albums but definitely not these ones. I'd have People get Ready as the top Impressions album (perhaps not surprisingly) with Young Mods second, My Country third with the debut fourth, and maybe all 4 in top 100. As a blues fan, Two steps by Bobby Bland album is much over-rated by pop nerds trying to talk about Soul. Johnny Adams is a fantastic choice. l'd probably agree with his choice of Luther Ingram though I'd have the other two masterpieces as well; possibly all top 20, but no room for Stealaway Hideaway. Garland Green absolutely, though I'd have JR Bailey and Anthony White ahead of Lou Courtney. While I love Ashford and Simpson, Come as you Are and Is it Still Good to You are the only totally succesful albums, neither of which are the 2 he's selected. Sandra Feva absolutely. John Edwards is a highly rated album, and while it's good, there's much wrong with it and I may prefer the one on Cotillion. His choice of Isleys makes me think he maybe should have tried to find a way to not include Funk, though the JBs is a monster. I don't think Phases of Reality is particularly William Bells best though I was the first person I ever heard play Man in the Streets. Bizzarely I don't know this particular Tyrone Davis album which shall be rectified soon, though I'll be surprised if I have it top 100. Which brings us back to Marvin. Lets Get it On and the sixties hits are the reason it took me so long to get into him - yes I was one of those who, in 74/75/76, thought JJ was better. I love Keep Getting it On and a couple others, but the first live album has the best version of Distant Lover. The album hasn't aged well and some of it's pretty crap. I'd have Here my Dear, In Our Lifetime and I Want You, maybe as high as top 20, but I'm not sure LGIO would make the list at all. No problems with Millie Jackson, James Carr, Jerry Butler, Blue Magic, Linda Jones, Shirley Brown, Ike Hayes (though not that album), Otis Clay and Walter Jackson. Wouldn't have Doris Duke, Mitty Collier, Solomon Burke, Tops (as an album band), Gladys Knight (doing so well), (that) Donny Hathaway, Clarence Carter, Ray Charles, Sam Cook or Ace Spectrum. Would have GC Cameron, Lamont, Facts of Life, Michael Henderson, ZZ Hill, Willie Hutch, Charles Jackson and some funk. Most bizarre exclusion, which seems inexplicable and may be an oversight, though I suspect not, is Anita Baker, who, as far as I have read, is excluded entirely as a solo artist. Songstress would certainly make this list and possibly Rapture too. Still the best book on Soul in the known galaxy, though part 2 is still battling it out with 600 CDs in my basket.

It occurs to me, I wonder whether I would have been accused of being blinkered if I'd said I don't like the Beegees, Wham or Simply Red; glam-rock, new romantics or boy/girl bands; graphites or eight tracks. We know from the media that the Beatles, punk-rock and vinyls are diferrent, and as Soul Fans we know that everything the media says is 'the truth'. Fraid from where I'm standing they're all the same, except that the Gibb brothers were better/ more mature songwriters than Lemon and McCartney, punk-rock was the worst of all pop music fads, and for real surface noise it has to be graphites rather than the lightweight crap, kackle and plop of vinyls.

I hadn't planned to write about Leroy's latest UK show so apologies for no photos, but check out my review of his dec gig at Camden Jazz Café on Bebop Spoken Here. At the time the editor asked me about nominating him for the Jazz FM award for top Soul Act and, not having initially put him forward, I agreed and he secured a nomination. Maybe down to us, maybe not. I'd waited almost thirty years, through two cancellations, for a proper Leroy gig and I told my editor afterwards that he'd be back, but hadn't expected it to be so soon. Nevertheless, the contrast between the two venues meant I didn't dare miss it. It was the same British band who again opened with Cool Out, but this time continued with another instrumental I can't identify without checking. He arrived on stage to Lovers Holiday which had done me in at the Caff, but the horns weren't quite on it tonight. It's Different (if I remember correctly) was followed by All Because of You, which finished me off in dec. I can still remember the first time I heard the album version - and I liked the seven - at a club in London, courtesy Scottish jock Tom Jackson, but tonight it seemed a bit messy, unable to decide whether it was the single or album version. Incidentally, the most I ever paid for a vinyls was £56 for Hutson in the early nineties (not long (enough) before it came out on a twelve with Lucky Fellow), though I've paid more for CDs. Having been a massive Curtis fan from the mid seventies, it's inexplicable that I didn't get into Leroy, but the albums, each having one or two extraordinary tracks, aren't great in the sense of being good from start to finish, so I let them pass me by before Modern Soul. By my reckoning there are seven tracks which are up with the greatest music ever, about the same again slightly behind, quite a few which are perfectly good, and a few stinkers. In dec he played four out of the seven and I'd hoped he'd add at least another tonight. Sadly, while he added Love the Feeling, complete with band run-through and a brief audience participation he conceded he wouldn't have joined in with, he omitted Think I'm Falling in Love which he'd played in dec. Once again his female backing singer took Cashing In and Trying to get Next to You, he wrote for Voices of East Harlem and Arnold Blair respectively, and he finished with Lucky Fellow, proving the high-spot of the night (as it was at Southport all those years ago), and the encore was a new single which actually sounded pretty good. In his early seventies, he looks and sounds terrific, my junior jazz genius firstborn observing he sounds better than on record., but these days artists are commonly told which ones to play. Chatting with the chap running the merch store, I claimed that the Modern scene had broken him (with Colin Curtis the main player) but his perspective was that it was the rare groove scene, and giving it consideration, I think it was both. Over-simplification alert, but rare groove comes more from a funk thing, which doesn't necessarily do justice to Leroy. Nevertheless, I'm sure Get to This must have had spins in London and the South, and Love oh Love, having featured on Curtis in Chicago, must have been heard by more people than any other track he's ever recorded. The chap told me Leroy's back at the Caff this dec and I considered introducing myself to him as one of the people instrumental in bringing him over the first time, and slipping him a note with those two tracks written on it, together with his own achingly beautiful version of Heaven Right Here on Earth he wrote for the Natural Four. Instead I just said hello and introduced him to my Curtom T shirt many had admired. I hope, by writing this, it may get to him and he'll work out the best possible set from his illustrious, though relatively sparse, back catalogue. I'm sure the gig was great and many said it was, but for me it was up against the history and emotion of seven months earlier. On this occasion I was upstairs and some venues generate greater atmosphere downstairs (ie Newcastle City Hall), but I've been to the Barbican many times, and seen great concerts from both, so this may or may not have been a factor. It remains to be seen whether I make it this dec. My long-suffering, hard-up Soul and Real Music widow will no doubt have something to say about it (though she loves him and was there last dec). But I was in London the previous weekend for Angie Stone and the P Funk mob, in the spring for the Jazz FM Awards, I'm back in aug for reggae legend Johnny Osbourne and in nov for jazz/ fusion bass king Stanley Clarke at least. I'm at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival on sunday for Zakir Hussain, Dave Holland and Chris Potter (google each of them) who I missed in London last year because I was in Chicago for jazz/ rock/ fusion maestro John McLaughlin's farewell tour. Plus I was at the Cheltenham Jazz festival for lots of people including Tower of Power and Kamasi Washington. This apart from all the gigs I go to in the North East every week: mostly Soul, Jazz, Blues, Rock and (proper) Rock, but also Asian Music, African Music, Classical Music, hip-hop, folk, country and western and even the occasional popstars. And of course my eldest son's quartet are touring the North East and Cumbria through the summer. Not bad for someone blinkered because I don't like or believe stories about a pop group who - give or take your take on other religions - are more over-rated than anything else in the history of mankind, or twenty seconds of pop music from the mid/ late seventies which makes up another of the holy trinity of biggest lies in modern music journalism - the third is that music lovers prefer vinyls; vinyls lovers prefer vinyls. Trust the self proclaimed wordsmiths are managing to keep up. Last Friday I was in Darlo for a real live Chicago Bluesman. He asked the audience whether we wanted him to keep on playing the blues or a Stones cover he's recorded, presumably to take something back and make some money, To my horror, lots of people wanted the Stones and only I wanted blues, even though there'll have been cover bands in pubs in Darlo that night playing stuff by bands like the Stones. Last year Leroy sold out two nights at the Jazz Caff right after Christmas and before New Year. This year there'll no doubt be covers bands in pubs in Camden the same night playing a selection of pop records by bands who like to tell the media how rebellious they are, like the Beatles, Stones and punk-rock groups. Anyone who can't decide should probably save the entrance fee to the Caff.

In April I attended the Jazz FM Awards Ceremony, having been asked for proposals for the best blues and best soul artists categories. The only blues artist I could reasonably put forward was Lucky Peterson, who had an album out last year (a tribute to Jimmy Smith) and played a storming set at Sage Gateshead. He received a nomination but it was won by Robert Cray, who my brother had grudgingly suggested. In the Soul category I had no hesitation in proposing William Bell, who played triumphant sets at the London Jazz and SummerTyne Americana Festivals - why don't Soul Fans like William Bell? - and his latest album is one of the best 'real' soul albums of recent times. My other choices were Tasha (daughter of Johnnie) Taylor as one to watch, and Angie Stone as the greatest Soul Artist of the last quarter century. Following my review of Leroy Hutson at Camden Jazz Festival just after Christmas, my editor put a question mark next to him and I enthusiastically concurred, with two sell out gigs and a full reissue programme for 2018. He received a nomination along with Moonchild and Jordan Rakei. We received a copy of the Moonchild album in our party bags and I'm not sure what it is beyond it isn't very good. I still haven't heard Rakei, though I understand he's a white Australian, which of course has form in northern soul. He was presented to the Cheltenham Jazz Festival by Giles Peterson, the jazz end of the Funk Mafia, a collection of DJs who dominated the Black Music scene in London and the South (also Caister, Bognor Regis (where he shared a pirate radio show with Colin Curtis) and Prestatyn (when the big room was full of ravers) in the eighties and nineties but, in amongst Tower of Power, Kamasi Washington, Nigel Kennedy doing Hendrix, Christian McBride and Rob Luft, I decided to give it a miss. During the ceremony, one of the comperes claimed we have healthy scenes in jazz, blues and soul, illustrating how northern soul isn't the only show in town. I have a suggestion; if the contemporary DJs swap with the northern DJs and play vinyls, since we're told daily that vinyls are back, and the northern DJs start using CDs and/or computers as well, they will be able to play whatever they want, without being restricted to these fantastic vinyls collections which, for the most part, don't exist.

This is about the first part and I'm really pleased I didn't find out about it sooner, cos I wouldn't have been able to wait for part two. It's not perfect, but may be the best book yet on Soul Music, give or take Pruters' Chicago Soul. It's actually a bit scary how much I agree with and how much of it reminds me of my own experience discovering albums by Marvin, Al Green, Sam Dees, Luther Ingram, Garland Green, Johnny Adams, ZZ Hill, Willie Hutch, John Edwards, Eddie Hinton, the Dells, Ashford and Simpson, Sandra Feva etc etc. He still over-rates Paul Kelly in a way I don't and didn't over-rate Luther Ingram, but I'm guessing he gets that now. I agree that Lamont isn't yer typical Soul Singer, but when it works it works, and I don't think his music necessarily suffers as a result of any short-comings. Moreover, I think this is mirrored in other Soul Singers more famous for writing, including George Jackson, Eddie Hinton, Frank (O) Johnson Dan Penn and Nick Ashford (as he recognises). He suggests that Sam Dees wasn't aware of his popularity in this country until he turned up in London in 89. I'm pretty sure his Southport appearance was his first ever in the UK and his manager assured me that he was well aware that, to an admittedly small number of people, he was a God. The people who weren't at Southport thought he was brilliant at Morecambe six months later and I'm guessing this coincided with London and I'm wondering if he had a band in the capital. I remember him on Newsnight playing piano and singing a brilliant rendition of One in a Million You, a song I never really liked by Larry Graham, for whom he wrote it, but I'm guessing this was a year or two later. It isn't OTT on vinylism but he perhaps overstates the signigicance of the format, in that everybody who ever made a forty minute vinyls album was creating a complete work of art but everybody stopped when CDs came out and just started bringing out collections of unrelated songs. Neither position is credible and I think that period simply coincided with an historic period of creativity in music which was probably over and certainly passed its heyday before CDs took over.

Great art, music, literature doesn't die. Just the fads the media rams down our throats.

We really need to start listening to Mr Z. He rightly pointed out that every fad in pop music was accompanied by a fashion statement; but with punkrock they just didn't bother with the music. It's rightly identified that a golden age of rock and soul came to an end in the mid-seventies, courtesy punkrock and disco. It's like the Beatles, the myth bares no resemblance to what happened on the ground. The heads were listening to funk, while punkrock was just twelve year olds in their uniforms jumping up and down spitting at each other. Not an automatic exclusion, but the Sex Pistols were a manufactured band, as are all teeny groups, but Rotten is one of the biggest dickheads allowed to have an opinion on music in the mass media. The only sensible thing he ever said was on an American tour when he admitted - ever got the idea you've been conned. Remember the black chap on that documentary about them in America saying 'man that's just garbage'. No black act would be allowed to make such dreadful music, which even with the myths, is what it's supposed to be. It's true some metal bands take influence from the myth, but they applied proper musicianship, and the rubbish hip hop (most of it) is like a modern day punkrock while the best hip hop (the minority) comes from reggae, funk and jazz.

I find it a bit sad that northern soul has become our Beatles. In the seventies, the aging sixties teenies got into Elton John or Pink Floyd or whatever and the fabs became totally passe and gradually they were into nothing. Then their kids grew up; journalists, teachers, the telly and the government kept telling them how swinging and groovy they were and they wanted some of it to tell their grandkids, who they were more or less bringing up while the parents worked and went out. Then Britpop, mojo, Q and all the rest made the fabs the swingingest, grooviest group ever - which they never were in the sixties - and everybody just bought into it. Many northern people got into punk-rock, two-tone and gradually nothing (a big improvement on punkrock and 2 tone) until their kids grew up and Soul Survivors and Duffy and Fatboy Slim and other things converged to bring back northern for the masses, based on the same records, period fashions and even - most catastrophically - the perid format. Old jazzers still play their 10 inch graphites, but they also play vinyls, CDs and no doubt computers. I remeber when videos first came out and I paid £30 (a lot of money at the start of the eighties) for Brothers and Sisters (feat Marvin, Curtis, Ojays, Chilites, Temptations, Bill Withers, Jerry Butler, Staples, Main Ingredient, Gladys Knight, Jackson 5 and a gospell choir) and my brother telling me visuals was a different type of entertainment which didn't suit repeated viewing. Nowadays it's quite normal for people to watch, not just music performances, but feature films over and over again. I remember when I would get an LP for christmas and another for a birthday, and I'd play them over and over again, but now I buy albums almost every day. Just like we're not designed to read the same books and watch the same films over and over again, I don't believe we're designed to listen to the same music all the time forever. The first time I returned to northern soul was in the early eighties (though I have never become a northern soulie again) and I found I either knew everything or knew nothing, and most of the ones I knew I still liked. Each time since that I've returned to it, I find that I like less and less of the old records I loved in the mid-seventies, though a small minority remain amongst my favourite records. It's not so much the scene I worry about but the very existence of Soul Music - the greatest music in the world - which I'm afraid has been badly served by the scene.