Sunnysoul

That "Hunk of Funk" LP on Power Exchange was a curious but wonderful amalgam of sounds. Had not only the aforesaid "Call The FBI" but also Eddie Spencer's "If This Is Love" .... As well as Anne Byer's "This Man Is Rated X" , a super charged version of the Prince Johnny Robinson mover. And HB Barnum's fab "We're Having A Party" , which the Osmond Bros were originally given !!!

Released on a Virtue 7" in the US as "My Baby's Missing" . In the UK as a 7" on Power Exchange but under the title of "Call The FBI" ? And then also released on a Power Exchange various artists LP entitled "Hunk of Funk" in which the liner notes say that the title in the UK was an attempt to cash in on the spy records craze (eg I Spy For The FBI , Double O Soul). Really ? Anyone have label scans of both the US & UK 7" releases ? Did My Baby's Missing / Call The FBI get plays at all at the time ?

Check out this great 1965 video clip of the original version of This Diamond Ring by northern "legends" ... Gary Lewis and the Playboys !!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n29zDhsLEWI

Also extremely tasty is the Chi Lites uptempo reading of John Edwards/Sam Dees "Vanishing Love" on Mercury from '76 Have a listen here : https://www.raresoulman.co.uk/d/86364/CHI--LITES

Rich, Bet You'll Never Be Sorry is from their self titled LP "Chi-Lites" from'73 .... same one with Stoned Out of My Mind on it

There are quite a few other Chi Lites Brunswick LP (only) tracks that are worth playing ... especially their superb version of Gerald Sims "Bet You'll Never Be Sorry"

Really nice tune, Black American living in the Netherlands, I have it on the Dutch Poker release with Picture Sleeve but wondering if it was released outside of the Netherlands ? Sebastian is usually the man on the case with these matters ? Sebastian ?

I take on board what you're saying Chalky but isn't one of the central issues to this whole discussion - if not the central issue - all about taking the scene on to a whole new level and bringing on board a whole new wave of (predominantly younger) people ? As for those currently on the scene, well, those with an open mind and who can see beyond the horizon will come along for another bloody great ride , while the rest ... well they are free to choose to gracefully slip away if they like . And that's OK too. It's their choice. If it's done in the right way and with the right people in charge who have the vision and the talent and the ability and the will to do it (and hopefully the monetary resources) , the potential would be absolutely frightening. We're talking about people who see the big picture. The really big picture. Basic human nature tells us that if you put something new and big and exciting out there then the masses will naturally gravitate towards it. And when the product is so good - SOUL MUSIC !!! - then you're on the way, surely . Once again, I hear stories from older friends on the original scene about what happened after the Torch shut down. Apparently the scene floundered for almost a year with no great direction or hope and then suddenly this f-cking great monster called Wigan Casino came along and ... whoosh !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wigan just naturally dragged everyone and everything else along with it, right? Like a massive tsunami. And it introduced a whole lot of people who had never experienced the soul scene before. There is unquestionably a huge number of disparate and varied groups of people out there in the UK and Europe and indeed all over the world ( beyond the narrow framework of people you're referring to) with either a serious or general or passing interest in Soul music who are just ripe for another monster like Wigan Casino to come along again and just drag them all together. I think the only thing holding all this back is that there are a number of people on the scene who find the thought of this, well ... "frightening" ... it's a fear of losing what's been dear to their hearts for so long. And I can understand that. Perfectly normal. But if you want to take this scene onwards and upwards then you've simply got to be prepared to do what's necessary to take it there ... even if that means leaving behind some of the people who made it so great. Sad but that's life. The analogy with English football and its re-invention in the form of the Premier League is a perfect example of all this. Remember, English Football was in serious decline until someone had the vision and will to change everything ... and look at how that has progressed !!! The potential for the Soul scene and soul culture , in its own way, is equally phenomenal , if the right people really want to take it there.

Matt, no one is suggesting that the whole thing be restricted to a handful of big name DJ's but rather, if you give the big names say ... a 3 hour framework with which to work in ... then they will deliver the goods. Why ? Because they can. They have the ability ... and the capability to pull it off. For example , wasn't it Butch who caused a stir one night slipping in Marvin & Tammi ? A 5 quid record no less ! Imagine what a bloody great ride it would be if you gave Butch a 3 hour unbroken set . No doubt he'd play a bit of everything ... from one off's to Motown classics to RnB to modern to 5 quid records and so on and so on ... And the up and coming young DJ's with real talent will also eventually find their way to the top. The cream will always rise to the top. And no one is suggesting that the great current venues shut down. The good ones will thrive and/or survive on their own merits and continue to play an important role. The point is ... think about the big picture. A 2000 + plus weekly allnighter in a super venue. One that will please everyone ! It is possible ! It can be done. If there is the will, then there is the way ! (thanks Jimmy Thomas)

True Chalky , but doesn't any scene need a focus ? Where the sum of the parts is greater than the individual parts themselves ? Seems that in the case of the current northern scene, too often all the little parts keep pulling in different directions. If there was to be a focus, with say just a couple of fabulous big venues every week , with the best DJs and the best records , playing the best of every style and more ... surely that would pull everyone together wouldn't it ?

The single greatest problem with the contemporary northern soul scene surely is that there are far too many people who "wanna be" - or pretend to be - DJ's . Loads of 'em right here on Soul Source. And these people have their own very personal and very subjective perspective on what they think should be played at a northern soul night and what they think the rest of the scene should be listening to . Many of them only started to become serious collectors/DJ on their return to the scene because they now have much greater disposable income than they had when they were 19 years old, and rare records are much more easily accessible (just a credit card away on ebay and the internet). Sadly the total sum of their record collections is pathetically limited and often runs to no more than a couple of hundred records, which they regularly turn over (sell one rarity to buy another one to DJ with : " oh ... I used to have that once "). Even worse, their knowledge of soul music and what we used to call "black music" in general is minimal by anyone's standards and usually limited to the Top 500 northern ! And then the same people also see themselves as promoters. So they put on a little local soul night in some old backwater pub with maybe 50 people in, have 6 or 7 of their mates DJing with their boots and they tell us "we had a great night" but moan as to why they didn't have a 1000 in , instead of a paltry 50 , or moan about why young people don't turn up ! My understanding is that in the 60's and 70's just about all the legendary northern DJ's such as Searling Levine Curtis Soul Sam etc all had not only fairly massive record collections at a young age but had also established a love and breadth of knowledge of not only soul music but all related types of black music. They were regular working DJ's who knew how to DJ and knew how to work a crowd. They were serious players and they were right on top of their game and all the punters and dancers just knew they were in safe hands with Searling and Curtis and the others at the controls. And until Wigan came along , the great venues only had at most two or three DJ's who played for the whole night. Fantastic ! The old timers tell me for example that one of the great things about the Torch was that Minshull and Curtis had several hours each to themselves to take people on a fabulous musical trip all night. They had time to work their sets , as well as the knowledge and the records to produce the goods . None of this nonsense that started with Wigan whereby you have 12 different DJs playing for a mere hour each over the course of the night ! How can a great DJ show their worth in an hour ? Easy for the hopeless DJ with a limited collection and even more limited knowledge of music to cover up his inadequacies when he only has to play 20 records in an hour ! And then you get repeat records played ! Just imagine, if you were booking Butch and Soul Sam for a night, why wouldn't you ask to play them three or four hours each instead of banging them in with 10 other fourth and fifth divison DJs for an hour at a time ? And at the Twisted Wheel, it's well known that the DJ wasn't even that important . If you were a collector in those days and you found a rare and great record you took it along to the Wheel and gave it to whoever was behind the decks so that they could play it to the faithful. Legendary collectors like Brian Phillips (and even Levine apparently at that early stage) had no aspirations about becoming star DJs and personal glory for getting credit for finding and playing a rare record. No one cared as long as the record was heard. And in the 60's and 70s there were only maybe two or three serious major venues at any one time driving the scene forward, supported of course by several smaller venues which also had an important role to play. There was a sense of unity and community of purpose amongst the punters and dancers. Everyone basically turned up as one. Actually, it wouldn't take that much for the scene to again reach the heady heights of the 60's and 70s. All you need is one really big flash commercial club venue in London (to attract the newer younger crowd!) and another similar venue somewhere up north (capacity 1,500-2,000 each) . Make it a regular weekly allnighter every Saturday so you don't even need to think about what you're going to be doing from week to week. But at the same time advertise the scene to the general English public - don't be afraid to market and promote the product ! No different for example to the Premier League when football in the UK re-invented itself. Brand spanking new venues , the best players, promote the product. Great ! Can't miss ! Just don't eventually sell out to foreign billionaires ! Have only the very best 4 or 5 scene DJs (plus maybe a Euro guest and a young up and comer DJ) playing at least a couple of hours each for the whole night . The whole spectrum of music will be played - Top 500, new 60's discoveries , modern , and even the Kings Go Forth (if you must!). If one of the DJs plays something you don't like, don't moan .... just sit down , keep quiet , be patient and then get back on the floor when something you like comes on. Send a nice little letter to all the wannabee little local DJs dotted around the country and tell em to put their nice little DJ boxes away and just turn up to the big nights each week and just be punters again. Quite simple really. Anyone out there want to join me in a new business venture?

He must have been quite young when he recorded Dont Send Me Away ...

Don't you all see what's happening with the genre of Soul music and how it is evolving ? Very much the same as what happened to Soul's antecedent, the Blues . The original legends of the Blues are all now long gone, and for the last 30 years or so the Blues today has become for some a totally unrecognisable music form to the classic blues of Robert Johnson Muddy Waters John Lee Hooker ...... Open virtually any Blues magazine of the last 30 years and you'll see it dominated by so called blues artists who are usually white and from such far flung hotbeds of the blues such as Sweden or Australia !!! Or failed female porn stars like Candy Kane !!! There may be a token article on some very minor league Mississippi bluesman who has managed to live to the age of 85. But that's it. That's the modern blues scene today ... get the picture? To a Blues purist (and mind you there's nothing at all wrong with being a purist) into authentic classic blues, what passes as "the Blues today" is basically a joke . Same thing happening now with Soul music. Soul music was essentially a dead music form from around the mid 80's , perpetuated only by old stagers like Womack and Johnnie Taylor. And so here we are today . Soul music will now be kept "alive" - so to speak - by younger generations of mainly white boys and girls from Europe and other far flung places. The true essence of Soul music however will be sadly lost in the inevitable process of commercialisation and commodification that happens to all truly great art forms. Which is why so many here on Soul Source , who have spent virtually their whole adult lives enjoying the golden era of true Soul music from the 60's and 70's , find it extremely difficult to even contemplate the thought of Kings Go Forth in the same breath as the Temptations or Frank Beverly or Sam Dees or the Impressions .... with some justification one might say . The Kings Go Forth is nice POP tune sure, but as a piece of SOUL music? Don't think so !

Surely this is the greatest northern soul record ever made ....

Nice mint or ex copy on UK Pye would be appreciated. (Not soul you say ? Have a listen to it )

OK , Russ , was it accepted or excepted then ?

Gary, you got mail.

Kings Go Forth ? Might as well play this one at the same time.

Funny ... had several people in recent times tell me that after collecting for many years , they won't touch a record anymore that has cue burn and, generally speaking , have stopped buying from UK sellers in particular .... logic apparently being that they simply don't want to have anything to do with a record that's done the rounds on the northern soul scene in the UK ... preferring to take their chances and wait to buy from a non UK source ... which in itself of course doesn't guarantee the product but it looks like there is this perception/trend (at least from non UK collectors) to stay away from UK northern soul sellers unless they are one of the top two or three recognised guys like Mr Manship ... plus the UK pound is so strong against all other currencies ....

What album ???

Try finding the Aussie release of Donald Jenkins !!!! https://capitolsoulclub.homestead.com/australianlistings.html

Wait until Duffy or Winehouse get a hold of it ....

So many soul legends fell victim to drink, drugs, lovers, domestics, their own failings etc ... However in the case of Curtis Mayfield, a freak wind gust caused a several tonne lighting rig to fall on him while he was on stage performing, rendering him a paraplegic. No one deserves to have a fate like that. Of all the legends who have fallen away over the years , Curtis' is surely the most tragic ...

Two immediately spring to mind ... First, seeing the you tube clip of the last year or so with the great Levi Stubbs in his wheel chair being serenaded by Aretha and the Four Tops. Second, seeing Curtis Mayfield being brought out also in a wheel chair by Jerry Butler, Sam Gooden and Fred Cash at a Grammy Awards a year or two before Curtis passed away. Tragic to see two absolute giants of soul music reduced to that ....

Well Pete, I always wondered how they did The Horse dance !!!