Epic

Even Colin Curtis on the odd occasion i've heard him do Blackpool Mecca sets plays those, plus a few others. Dissapointing really.

Whilst it's great to see all the posts going up, with tunes played, etc. being a big fan of the sound. As most of these were played at the local discos, by Northern leaning commercial jocks. I can make a comparison with Stafford. What was and wasn't played first? Isn't it pointless if the track only recieved one or two plays, and then was dropped? A case of one-upmanship? Some at Stafford have claimed certain records as T.O.T.W. oldies, yet only got the odd play. Just to claim it as a Stafford sound, some of which were probably played at the Mecca, or early Wigan. And in the case of 60's sounds even local regional venues. So is it a valid point?

Problem with a "Mecca Revival" is that records like Carstairs - Eloise Laws etc etc are EXPECTED to be played - if the DJ waivers from this path the attendees ask him for the bleedin' obvious because they find it hard sometimes to think "outside the box" or they question the choice of music - usually because they don't know or believe it was a Highland Room spin.

People have a pre - concieved perception of what Mecca music is - it is not just Gil Scott Heron & James Fountain - just as Wigan music is not just Frank Wilson & Judy Street.

Like everybody else I embraced the "big" tunes back in the day, but I was always drawn to the quirky "left field" tunes that Colin & Ian used to drop now & again. I can remember emptying my pockets on a Sunday morning & finding old beer mats or slips of paper with all manner of weird & wonderful tunes written on them. Some went on to bigger & better things & some sunk without a trace or even many years later made a huge impact at some other club.

i know as i remember richard playing it.but it had been around a few years,probably at the mecca!

Know it deffo has a "Mecca feel" to it but Iam reasonably sure it never got a spin there - as much as I like it I think its lyrical content lets it down slightly.

add to that the brilliant eric lomax "seven the loser" same label.

was this a mecca spin??

No - it was a Richard Searling spin at Wigan - as you say top tune !!

Let's not forget the "Hey Mr DJ column" in Black Music - always first read for me when I got my copy. IL did northern and a geezer called Mo Claridge did the southern side of things (south of the UK that is) I seem to recall he tipped BGL in very early '74. he made it sound so good, but I could never turn a copy up even then! He tipped plenty of othr things that we might think of modern now too - Power of Attorney for example.

I think you could do worse than start your list of Mecca sounds with what Ian tipped in the column Paup-ine.

Best,

RB

Mo Claridge also slaughtered Bo & Ruth - "You're Gonna Get Next To Me" - dismissing it as pop disco of the worst kind. Think people who frequent modern soul weekenders would disagree - it's an anthem - & it was very popular in The Highland Room.

Seem to think Ian was supplying some "Northern" records to Richard around 75/76 when sixties soul had ceased being played in the Highland Room - may be wrong but I heard that Jay D Martin came from Ian Levines collection - Don Gardner - Cheatin' Kind definitely did.

Also Colin Colin Curtis's copy of The International GTO's ended up with Soul Sam in a swap deal - without it ever being played up The Mecca.

I don't doubt that most of the list were played there, Mark, but only fleetingly.

As it happens, I played Brothers Guiding Light as a new release (acquired from Contempo) - long before it would have been accepted at the Mecca. Just didn't fit the profile at all in 73/74... (along with the almost entirey 60's policy, at the time).

1) In fact, John Vincent had it covered up in the early 80's - so it wasn't considered "big" before then, mate.

2) Bill Harris, Ujima and Eddie Billups were brief Colin spins - but were never 'NS Nighter' records until Clifton Hall.

3) And subsequently, they only became modern / crossover spins because of their promotion at Clifton Hall - in the early 80's.

Sean

There were played fleetingly because of the huge turnover of records that were coming out as new releases - records were not dwelt on for any length of time.

1) "big" with whom? - we liked it & bought it - it was "big" with us!!

2) Does a record have to get a seal of approval from a NS Nighter to be considered as acceptable ?

3) Can't really get more modern than being played as a new release !!

& one last point "Who is Mark ?

Didn't see any mention of:-

Ujima - I'm Not Ready

Brothers Guiding Light - Getting Together

Eddie Billups - Shake Off That Dream

Bill Harris - Am I Cold Am I Hot

Some might say Mecca spins (but I know where they became (and who made 'em) Northern Monsters )

Sean

They were "big" for us when first spun at The Mecca - the fact that certain clubs & individuals didn't cotton on to those tunes until many years later just adds more credibility& impact to the Highland Room playlists of the mid seventies. Records like Corey Blake & Jesse James were played & then we moved on to other things - the current modern/crossover scene has played them on & off for the last twenty or so years. The tunes you list above were mainly Colin spins - he played 'em & then moved on - that is how it was & that is what kept us coming back for more.

I think the listings provided have to some degree put the record straight with the always colourful ill yet thought out attacks on The Mecca's input.

I feel I must cast my critical eye over the 'soulful disco' term though.

It's a tough one this in reality as I would think that the term 'Disco' generally brings up, as it should, thoughts of Chic, EWF, Jackie Moore etc....you know major label releases that brought that sound to the masses and that most of us, young or old would associate with the 'Disco' media tag.

'Disco' became a dirty word within the US 'musical fraternity', as we know with the stadium vinyl burning episode and the like - it sadly became a bit of a vent for many things socially at that time with certain people.

Against this, the 'Disco' sound originated over a period of years by a natural progression of an 'in' sound by smaller independant groups, producers and song-writers, formulated a sound that was attractive to the masses at that time, therefore obviously attracting attention from the major labels and it's producers and ultimatley became what would be deemed a commercialised sound that was bastardised to f*ck for the Yankee Dollar.

On the back of this though, how can the mid 70's releases that were responsible for formulating that sound, a sound that was prior to the term 'Disco' as is/was being coined, be called in any form 'Disco' - unless it is in a manner to demean these releases by association?

I know at heart that it could be deemed light hearted banter but I do feel that screamingly soulful 70's all-nighter soul tends to get tarred with a brush wielded generally by people that should know better.

And to save me starting another odd-ball thread, you know the old 'If a tree falls in a forst but there is no one there to hear it fall. Does it make a noise?' addage.

Could we relate this to the ownership of vinyl?

Think about it.

I have always said that most of the people who criticised The Mecca for its musical policy after 1975 never actually went - think this thread goes someway to vindicating Colin, Ian & the Highland Room regulars for the stance they took. 1975-77 was an amazing time for music - what a treat it was to be there every Saturday night - the people who were there will know exactly what I mean - it really was "Livin' For The Weekend".

First night I went to The Mecca , September 1972 , I heard Paul Humphrey - Cochise , Margo Thunder - The Soul of a woman , and The Present - Many's the slip .Legendary venue , so missed .........Best,Eddie

Margo Thunder & Paul Humphrey weren't released until 1974.

A few more from me

Liberty - Girl ,You better wake up

Grace Jones - Sorry

Deodata -Peter Gunn

Bobby Womack - Home is where the heart is

Southside Movement - Do it to me

Heartstoppers - Brainwashed by love

Side Effect - Always there

Debra Anderson - Funny how we've changed places

Ursula Dudziac - Papaya

Betty Baker - Marching out of your life

Lee Ritenour - A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Originals - Down to love town

Carl Graves - Heart be still

Vernon Burch - Frame of mind

Pop a Groove - Dance your ass off

Rimshots - Do what you feel

Roberta Kelly - Troublemaker

Catch - Mr nice guy

DC Larue - Cathedrals

Van McCoy - Jet setting

Clarence Carter - If it don't fit don't force it

Pat Lundy - Party music

Starbright - The language of love

Third Point - Spirit

Miami - Kill that roach

Lamont Dozier - Going back to my roots

Steve Mc

Great list Steve. - All those in Red are so special to me.

Now then, where are my tapers, mohair jumper & plastic sandals ?

Cheers

Andy

Soulful Disco ! , nice list epic

/quote]

Thanks - but it is a list compiled by Colin himself- doesn't even touch what was played between 71 & 74/75 (Northern soul's glory years) by Colin, Ian & the rest of The Highland Room DJs

Chuck Stephens - lets get nasty

===

just bought this ....hope its a goodie

Great record - a fantastic piece of "slip & slide" soul - one of my fave tunes ever from The Highland Room.

Sure it was popular around '77?

P

It was - some 3 years after The Mecca first played it.

i THINK YOU COULD SAY IT WAS PLAYED ALL OVER AT ITS HEIGHT OF POPULARITY. (WHAT i CAN REMEMBER ANYWAY) WHOOPS DIDNT MEAN TO SHOUT!!

p

Believe me it took quite a time to be generally accepted after its initial spin at The Mecca.

Epic - what a great list of timeless tunes many of which without The Mecca Establishment, would have or maybe - not even seen the light of day on these shores. True. .

Many on this list and others like Ronny Dyson - Lady In Red, Flaming King - Ho Happy Day and Jesse James - If You What A Love Affair, were propelled to greater reactivation status years later. Without which may I add, I would have never got to see IMHO the best performance in the soul room at Southport Weekenders - the great "Jesse James".

Thank you. .

Nick.

Sums it all up for me with Gil Scott Heron - "The Bottle". Think everyone will agree that it is now accepted as a Northern Soul anthem. It can also be called Jazz - Funk & even Disco classic. No other club (or DJs up north) apart from The Mecca would risk or "break" a record like that back then.

Maybe its the credit crunch, but we dont seem to get as many tunes in the last hour nowadays

Yea - 3 Disco Re-Edits & it's time for home.

Leo & Co - Hot Dog

Colin Curtis and I were the mainstay through the entire 1970s.

Me from November 1971 - November 1972, and then The Torch from November 1972 till April 1973, and then back after six months from July 1973 - July 1979

Colin April 1973 - March 1979.

Plus...

Tony Jebb - 1971 - 1972

Stuart Freeman - 1971

Billy The Kid - 1971

Les Cokell - 1971 - 1972 regularly, plus stood in for me any time I visited America right up to 1979

Bryan Wakelin - 1979

Pete Haigh - 1979

I don't think I've missed anyone else, but I'm sure Epic will remind me if I have.

Wasn't Keith Minshull involved at the Mecca around 71/72 & in 1979 Steve Naylor did some spinning with Bryan Wakelin.

Some crackers there Andy. Should be able to do an A-Z just from that list.

A lot of the tunes listed were played were when the Mecca/Wigan feud was at its height - people accused the Highland Room of not playing soul music anymore - just "funky disco sh*te" - think the list says different !!

Here is a list of "last hour" tunes played by Colin Curtis - probably up to 1977. Thirty Two years on it is interesting to see how many of these records still feature on many peoples wants lists - so much quality within this list.

Mamie Galore No Right To Cry

Ramsey And Co Love Call

Bobby Taylor There Are Roses Somewhere In This World

Paulette Reeves Jazz Freak

Dorothy Morrison I Cant Go On Without You

James Bynum Time Passes By

Lynn Vernado Wash And Wear Love

Ann Peebles If This Is Heaven

Diane Jenkins Tow a Way Zone

Diane Jenkins I Need You

The Nights Love Knocked You Down

Little Beaver Listen To My HeartBeat

Quadraphonics Betcha If You Check It Out

Bessie Banks Dont You Worry Baby

Stevens And Foster I Wanna Be Loved

Pete Warner I just Wanna Spend My Life

Herbert Hunter I Was Born To Love You

Barbara Hall You Brought It On Yourself

Arnold Jarvis Trying To Get Next To You

The Notations Think Before You Stop

Essex IV My Reaction To You

Bill Brandon The Streets Got My Lady

The Crow Your Autumn Of Tomorrow

Debbie Fleming Long Gone

Bobby Foster If You Ever Need A Friend

Boogie Man Orchestra Lady Lady Lady

Stanley Woodruff What Took You So Long

Danny Reed What Makes Her A Woman

Hosanna Hipit

Eddie Horan The Ups And Downs Of A Love Affair

Invitations Look On The Good Side

Johhny Balker Shy Guy

Soulvation Army Band Dancing On A Daydream

Imperial Wonders You Only Live Once

Jimmy Jones Aint Nothin Wrong Makin Love

Dooley Silverspoon Game Players

Crystal Motion Youre My Main Squeeze

Dave Love Baby Hard Times

Bobby Newton Shady Lady

Donny Gerrard He's Always Somewhere Around

Bo KirkLand Ruth Davis Youre Gonna Get Next To Me

Entertains Love Will Turn Around

Mark Putney Todays Man

Mandrill Never Die

InnerVision Honey Babe

Vessie Simmons I Cant Make It On My Own

John Bowie Youre Gonna Miss A Good Thing Baby

Chuck Stephens Lets Get Nasty

Universal Love Its You Girl

Jackie Moore Heart Be Still

Special Delivery This Kind Of Love

Sandra Richardson Stay With Me

Jean Carn If You Wanna Go Back

Darrow Fletcher We Need An Understanding

Margie Joseph Come On Back To Me Lover

Josie Jo Armstead I Got The Vibes

Newcomers The Whole World Is A Picture Show

Aristocrats Lets Get Together now

Spread Love Here I Go

Jeanie Tracy Making New Friends

Ultimate Girl Ive Been Trying To Tell You

Ty Karim Lighten Up

Lynn Varnado Wash And Wear Love

George Benson Supership

Celeste Hardy Youre Gone

Mel Williams Sweet Girl Of Mine

Joe Anderson You And I

Norman Connors / Philip Mitchell Once Ive Been There

Michael Henderson

Oscar Perry He Sent Me You

Oscar Perry I Got The Need

Oscar Perry Main String

Philly Devotions Just Cant Say GoodBye

MayBerry Movement I Can See Him Makin Love

Charen Cotton A Little Bit Of Love

Ronnie Walker Magics In The Air

Street People Never Get Enough

Pat Lundy PartyMusic

Jacky Beavers Trying To Get Back To You Girl

Almeta Lattimore These Memories

Notations Its All Right

Casanova Two We Got To Keep On

Hypnotics Beware Of A Stranger

Deniece Chandler Mama I Wish I Stayed At Home

Jimmy Holiday When Im Loving You

Frankie Newsome We Are On Our Way

Bill Harris Uptown Saturday Night

Don Renaldo Fiddlin Around (Pete Haigh Redit)

Lydia Marcelle Its Not Like You

Ann Byers Im So Happy About You

Minne Jones Shadow Of A Memory

Donnie Burkes Youlll Never Know What You Got

Windy City We Party Up In Yeah

Wales Wallace Somebody I Know

Wales Wallace Whatever You Want

Lost Family Blow My Mind

Prince George Wrong Crowd

Andre Maurice Youre The Cream Of The Crop

Jobell Orchestra Never Gonna Let You Go

Donald Byrd Think Twice

Johhny Hammond Los Consqistadors Chocolates

Dynamics We Need Love

Dee Dee Warwick Funny How We Change Places

Leroy Hutson Ella Weez

Total Eclipse You Took Took A Heart That Was Torn

Lou Courtney Somebody New Is Loving You

JB Bingham All Alone By The Telephone

CheckMates All Alone By The Telephone

Reason Why Step In My World

Corey Blake How Can I Go On Without You

Southside Movement Do It To Me

Beloyd Get Into My Life

Smoked Sugar 20th Century LP

Larry Saunders On The Real Side

Pleasure Let Me Be The One

Vibrations Shake It Up

TNJ'S Dont Forget About Me

Natural Four The Devil Made Me Do It

Don Downing Dreamworld

Dee Dee Sharp Happy Bout The Whole Thing

tony, remember feeling a bit special with that membership for upstairs. you could go down to the main room and there would be 500+ girls!! We used to try and impress 'em by signing them in [2 per member,ohh err missus].one night i was in the main room on the dancefloor and it suddenly emptied, just like moses parting the red sea. I got out just in time to see the jocks on one side ,and the scousers on the other ,converge into the biggest dancefloor mayhem you ever saw. We always took that as sign to go back upstairs! could be avery scary place at times. happy days

Sometimes you would get some p*ss artists from downstairs wander into The Highland Room during the last hour. If they sat & watched they were OK - if they decided to try & take the p*ss they were asked to go downstairs by some of the "handier lads" who were listening to Colin's set - it always worked!!

All the palm tree,s and all that nonsense was in the main disco which i think was called the BALI HAI room,well sure thats what it was called circa 1974. It was much more sophisticated in the Highland Room with its Tartan carpets and shields on the wall .

Great memories of a great club.

The Bali Hai was a seperate bar room off the main ballroom downstairs. The main ballroom did not have a name.

The Highland Room was having some work done on it around 77 - the ceiling had collapsed. I think & they put a temporary dancefloor in the Bali Hai & that was where the Highland Room regulars went - 2 or 3 times this happened if my memory is correct.

People on this thread mentioned the escalators - to get to the Highland Room from the ground floor you took two escalators then one set of stairs - the second floor housed the bowling alley.

Was huge when I started going in late 75 .There's a vocal to it on British Philly as well but I cant remember who by.........

Teddy Pendergrass.

One of my mates has one of the decks that Messrs Levine & Curtis used in The Highland Room.

They changed the decks circa 1977 & my brother smuggled one of the original ones out under his coat - they were just leaning against the DJ booth when the new ones had been fitted.

Because nobody else on here, with the possible exceptions of Kev Roberts and Russ Winstanley, have received a tenth of the savaging that I have been subjected to.

It becomes nauseatingly tedious after a while.

Ian if you put yourself in the "lion's mouth" every now & again you will get bitten. Accept the praise & take the criticism with the same attitude as they are both "false gods". Some people on here will never like or buy your music & that's a fact, but, if even a handful begin to like it/buy it then surely that goes someway of giving an "up yours" to your detractors.

Anybody who joins/posts on here does so of their own free will - if at times you dislike the contents of this forum then you know what you have to do. Sometimes threads on here do get personal & not "in the spirit" - then is the time to distance yourself for at least a short while.