Steve G

Glad it's popular now as it is a good sound. Still remember the days when you couldn't give it a way. Steve

Yup fair point, a lot of them aren't played at all anymore.

Hey maybe some dancing lessons then?

Some great posts on here. What does it all mean? Really there are at least two very different scenes that like similar music and dance the same. And it's as simple as that. The dominant one in terms of numbers is oldies based and is relatively commerical these days and has little to do with the aspirations of an underground music scene as say existed in the days of The Wheel, 70s etc. Retro clothes / Baggie trousers, beer towels, Top 500, Frank Wilson and Sandi Sheldon, Wigan revivals, patches and varying levels of memorabilia from the mildly puzzling to the downright offensive. The members of this scene are trying to relive something that existed decades ago. Then a much smaller scene in terms of numbers that also likes some oldies, but also likes to hear different music too. No fashion beyond casual, little / no memoribilia. Very much not trying to relive the memories of the past. Both scenes are broadly friendly, and clearly there is a degree of crossover between the two, but let's just be honest and recognise there are two different scenes here with a completely different outlook.

Come off it James. The only difference is then it was Trickster and he's a mate. Now it's someone you don't know and it lacks integrity and is "cheesy"? The only difference is that Binstanley has hitched his caravan to this woman's site. More fool her for letting him. I personally don't get this "NS dancing classes thing" whether its Trickster, this woman or old Windbag-Stanley himself doing the back flips. As others have said it doesn't really matter how you dance when you feel the music, but I guess if people want to cut the mustard on the dancefloor and pay good money to do that, then thats their choice. But in the scheme of things it's at best a minor curiosity when there is so much completely OTT garbage floating around branded "NS". Hopefully now everyone accepts that trying to pretend NS is some sort of glorious underground phenonemon is a lost cause. Long live "rare soul".

good northern and a legit 45

Interesting "about turns" indeed James? Anyway who cares about the dancing queen and her lessons anymore, it's so tame compared to some of the other garbage being touted about in the name of northern soul. The point has been proven where there's NS, there's blatant commercialism.

Not the same as the imaginary Dance Police, or the Soul Police then? I am sure Arkwright is making some of these designs up now...

£300-£350 sounds about right. Used to be a wee bit bit more. Steve

Shockingly cheap!

You know what stomper, I have seen some pretty cr*p NS dancers in my time, flapping about, out of time, no rhythm, pogo-ing about etc. But I have NEVER seen people laughing at them, and that is one of the beauties of the scene - you are absolutely free to express yourself to the music without being laughed at. There are no dance soul police.

1st one quite rare Billy, doesn't show up much.

Hiya Jordi, I am afraid it's us that's now in the minority/ Agree some are still flying the flag with pride, but a majority? Presumably all this tat sells, or else it wouldn't be produced. Steve

Well we still have freedom of opinion here...it's not China Pete. Point was thread was about woman giving dance classes, and in the context of the commercialisation of NS, that is relatively timid, so my point was why ridicule her when so many others are making a buck. Seems like many didn't know the extent of this commercialisation / merchandise, and thanks to Arkwright advertising some of his wares on here we now know. Russ Vickers would be shocked if he read all this, but it proves the point made earlier that NS is totally commercialised. Any lingering thoughts that NS is the last true underground scene has been finally laid to rest. Our precious underground scene is overground. Steve

Only if you make the kids listen to it

And the irony is the Ronnie McNeir watch isn't selling and has been discounted in price. While you still have to pay full price for Frank Wilson watches....says it all

Last 10 years Mark.\ Gets worse every year.

Excellent find Granville. New category NS Kitchenware Now all we need is a NS toilet roll holder.\I am sure some enterprising person can come up with the goods Steve

Well it's SPanish? How different is it?

Tell you what....at the next major weekender someone should do a survey of the stalls Categories: NS clothes (outerwear / fancy dress sorry couldn't resist that) NS clothes (underwear) NS dancing shoes NS Mugs, plates and Teapots NS Greetings Cards and Pendolphin figures NS Cufflinks, tie pins, pin badges NS car stickers "Keep da faith", "NS A way of life" etc NS Miscellaneous "tat" NS CDs and Bootlegs NS Vinyl paraphanalea (covers, record boxes, record centres etc.) Vinyl

Where can I get me one of those really cool Frank Wilson watches please? : There is no end to this tat on sale at any weekender....That's my whole point. The NS scene is totally commercialised, and despite the best efforts of a minority, the "entrepreneurs" have found some increasingly novel ways to make a fast buck out of NS. As for libel position, as long as not defamatory, people are allowed to express views....

A different perspective on this. The scene has always had a hard core of devotees, and there have always been a regular flow of people both coming onto the scene and dropping off; but back in the 70s there was a constant flow of new people attracted to NS on a weekly basis. The evidence of that is the 100,000 + membership of WC when the average attendance was only about one fiftieth of that. Soul was still appealing as a music form / youth culture and northern was it's underground incarnation, and played music that was fast but up to ten years old. It was hip to be part of something that was not on the BBC, and I can still remember looking over the balcony and thinking "this is great" it was so far away from anything that was happening in my town. For a large part of the community until the late 70s the best music to dance to was based on soul music and Motown and so it was not a great jump across to northern soul, allnighters and WC. By the late 70s disco music became established in it's own right and that effectively 'stole the crown' for the masses when it came to music to dance to. I can remember things like that infuriatinly banal "Ring my bell" being played at every local disco, whereas five years before it would have been a Junior Walker track. With that change, soul became untrendy and the number of new recruits coming onto the scene dried up. That led to the inevitable falling attendances. I know that the playing of crap records also played a part - a number of us stopped going to WC for that reason (preferring instead authentic 6Ts nights in London), as did the rise of the jazz funk scene, but realistically a weekly event was never going to sustain the type of attendance that it did in the mid 70s, when the music style had moved so far away from what the mainstream considered to be "dance" music.

Nor will you Dave, there aren't any. As far as Brunswick is concerned one of those album only groups (except for this Euro release). Lots of great Brunswick albums from the early 70s beyond this and The Eliminators, maybe I should start a new thread on them all.....

It's not hard to find, nor expensive. So good luck.

Smith & Wolenski for a steak