Sunnysoul

Interesting that not one person , whether they be DJ or promoter or "leading personality" , either on this website or anywhere else on the scene , no matter what part of the soul spectrum they are a part of (oldies, modern, new 60's discoveries, crossover and so on) , suggests that EVERYBODY should get together , perhaps have a summit meeting of some sort, put their prejudices aside, pool their efforts/ideas/resources and organise ONE big weekly or fortnightly regular event which caters for - and pulls together - every strand of the soul scene. It certainly CAN be done , if there is the WILL there is the way .... History has shown that what the soul scene needs to thrive is leadership, focus and direction ... Wheel Mecca Torch Wigan and to a slightly lesser extent 100 Club and Stafford , (not discounting all the other great venues that have made their own worthwhile contributions). Question is, is there too much self interest on everyone's part and too many "perceived" riches and power at stake , to allow the scene to be put in the hands of ONE small group of people to run the scene ?

Yes Sebastian , spot on as usual, it took me ages to find a copy of Wild Is The Night on a PZAZZ 45 after I'd heard it on the LP . Hopefully one day Wild Is The Night will become a monster on the scene, it's that good ! And yes the LP is worth getting too , has a wicked version of the theme from the Steve McQueen movie "Bullitt". I have another potential Louis Jordan northern monster on ABC subsidiary Tangerine from about "65 ... As a tie in to this thread perhaps Pete Smith could post up the interesting guest appearance Louis Jordan made on the Beat TV show ...

Need exc+ or mint originals of both these LPs. Please help. Thanks!

Ady Pountain !

Yeah, I bought a Northern 45 from him a couple of years back for around $700US . It was an ebay item that got no bids but I negotiated after it closed and we did the deal privately. I seem to remember that a few weeks passed and still no record arrived . So I email him several times to ask him what's going on and he says he is having personal problems and will send it as soon as he can ....... Well, the record DID arrive OK in the end, it just took him a while to do the business. So it appears to me that he is simply an unreliable human being incapable of getting his life together enough to honour his commercial obligations in a prompt and business like manner. He has posted sales lists on soul source on quite a few occasions over recent years I believe. Hope you get your money , but I'd say that after this experience, all soul sourcers would be well advised to avoid him ... and perhaps our mods should block any further posts from him on this site ....

https://cgi.ebay.com/Parliaments-on-Soultow...1QQcmdZViewItem Any comments ?

" You're The One " The Twilights !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Was just thinking about Beach Music tunes that have crossed over and become loved by Northern and Rare Soul fans ... loads of course ... personally, the first one that came to my mind was the fabulous Admiral Shohn Ice "Carolina Girl" . How 'bout you ???

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Gamble & Huff didn't "write" all these tunes, rather these tunes are linked to their publishing set up , yes ? "Turn Back The Hands" was the super little dancer on the flip side to the Intruders "Cowboys To Girls" ... and has nothing to do with the Tyrone Davis classic ... 13. " I'll Be Standing By" is a great a cross over dancer Gamble & Huff wrote specifically for Lesley Gore on Mercury around 67 or 68 , towards the end of Lesley's tenure on that label ... And ..... 34. "True Love Is On The Way" is the fantastic storming dancer that appeared on Bunny Sigler's brilliant Let The Good Times Roll LP on Parkway. Only appeared on the LP, never on a 45. I am absolutely staggered that this track virtually remains unknown on the northern scene, considering Bunny's stature amongst rare soul fans and the fact that the LP is well known too. And definitely makes the "I couldn't be arsed to carry LP's around " DJ brigade look very silly, doesn't it

Just like to pose a question here ... Would it ever be possible for the scene to go back to its original convention (ie BEFORE Wigan Casino) when only 2 or maybe 3 DJ's covered a whole event (rather than 12 DJ's with an hour each) ? Old timers tell me the Torch basically had Curtis and Minshull , Levine for a while and one or two others, the Wheel only had one DJ all night didn't it? The Mecca was essentially Levine & Curtis for the whole night and so on and so on, Catacombs etc ... Surely the single biggest drawback of the soul scene in its "revival" of the last 10 years is that every man & his dog who owns a box of records thinks they can be a DJ ? And not only that, most of them think they are promoters too, hence far too many nights going on... Wouldn't you rather put your money and your trust in the hands of an Ady Croasdell or a Butch or a Soul Sam , for example, for the WHOLE night ??? Trusted collectors and DJ's who could take the scene in the right direction ? Shouldn't DJ's really be made to earn their stripes ? Have a wide knowledge of all types of black music of all era's , an extensive collection , ability to work a crowd , good on the decks etc ? Isn't the biggest problem of the scene today the fact that it lacks FOCUS ? ie too many DJ's , too many nights all over the place ? What's the solution ?

I would have thought the best known 45 on ARCHIVE among soul & funk collectors would be that great funk 45 by Sammy Gordon & the Hip Huggers "Upstairs on Boston Road Parts 1 & 2" I also believe that Lee Eldred's "Recuperating" got picked up for national distribution by Chess, although I too have always thought that ARCHIVES is a New York label. Also ARCHIVES may have had something to do with the notorious Hy Weiss who famously owned the OLD TOWN label ...

I always have no hesitation IMHO in saying that David Ruffin was quite simply the greatest male soul singer that ever lived, even ahead of such legends as Marvin Gaye or James Carr. And that is based on consideration of all factors including primarily the quality of the voice but also factors such as versatility, live performance , commercial success , recording history etc etc etc HE WAS THE BEST !!!

Connie Haines was white too ... she was at Motown fairly early on in the piece, 1963 I believe. I have a rather tasty white demo of her doing a nice version of Mary Wells "What Easy for Two" - was she one & the same person as Connie Van Dyke by any chance ???

Pete , that Pointer Sisters is the Demo in Vinyl isn't it, because I have the very same one , although most red and white Demos that come up for sale are almost always in styrene , as far as I can see ? For a long time I thought the vinyl demo that you have up here for sale was a boot because the matrix numbers don't tally at all with Mr Manship's description in his Bootleg Guide, and the run out doesn't have the trademark AT in a figure 8. Even my copy is so shiny and new , it looks like it came straight off the press ... it doesn't "feel" like a 1972 release ... even the colour on this vinyl demo is more bright pink than the usual dark shade of red of Atlantic 45's of the time ... So I thought it was either a boot or I suspected that Atlantic in the US issued it a couple of years AFTER 1972 to cash in on the Pointer Sisters first flush of success on the Blue Thumb label. Perhaps this vinyl Demo was just pressed by Atlantic at another pressing plant & thats why its different from the styrene ? Mr Manship's Guide seems to suggest that the boots are ONLY of the red & black vinyl stock copies ... Can you add any further comments on this or perhaps Mr Manship can contribute ....

Question is, did this get a UK release on a seven ?

Well Simon, perhaps few right now would ever want to concede or contemplate this ... but possibly the future and cutting edge of rare soul appreciation may lie overseas, outside the UK ??? Have a look right now at the flyers for the upcoming S.O.U.L gig in Spain or the Gold Coast gig in Queensland Australia . These are events with a DJ mix of locals as well as established UK guests , they have music policies that can and do embrace all strands of "soul" from 50's RnB to Year 2K Soul , deep funk even and boogie tunes, and everything in between. The emphasis is firmly and squarely on the MUSIC - DANCING, COLLECTING RECORDS & SOUL in all its forms rather than preserving the traditions of what was happening north of Watford back in the 60's & 70's. I think you'll find that with most scenes outside the UK, there is a much younger element and while there is a respect for the traditions of northern soul as it originated in the UK, there is far less paranoia about whether the stereotypical Northern Soul scene - as we all know it - will or won't survive. Even the flyers alone for these two events make all the advertising for current UK events look positively ancient !!! If it is true that many "returnees" are again departing the scene after having had their fill again , well that's because to begin with they were first and foremost only "casual" soul fans into a bit of dancing and a bit of fun (nothing wrong with that by the way!) in the their youth as distinct from SOUL MUSIC enthusiasts who also happen to be Northern/Rare Soul fans and who are likely to be into all forms of soul music until their dying day. As for the scene going back "Underground", well, despite all the TV commercials and other commercial exposure in various forms that 'northern soul" has been subjected to over the last 10 years or so , I think the scene remains firmly underground - and always will - because it demands the sort of attitude and dedication that will always be beyond your average punter.....

The Today label discographies that I have seen dedicate a release number to an LP for the Odds & Ends of "Let Me Try" fame , but in all my years I've never seen an Odds & Ends LP ... CAN ANYONE CONFIRM WHETHER THE ODDS AND ENDS LP EXISTS ?

Ahem .... Esquires were Chicago ... Milwaukee to be precise ...

OK everybody, I need a mint original ( or at least in exc+ condition ) of Charlie Sheffield's "Got Your Vodoo Working" [ please, no cue burn and none that have been jocked with ! ] WILL PAY $350.00 US DOLLARS , PLUS POSTAGE Thanks !!!

Thanks Pete, do you think there might be some "home made" tapes of RSG , as in, did yer average British TV viewer at the time have access to early/primitive tape machines ?

Is the co-writer Chuck Tate the same guy as Tate of Love Shop fame ?

Much has been said on this topic over time, but what IS the generally accepted view as to the existence of any Ready Steady Go footage OTHER THAN the small amount that has been commercially available for years ... ? Is it possible that Dave Clark really has got the WHOLE series stashed away in his basement , or is that an urban myth ? If he does, is he doing an "Allen Klein" and not letting the rest of the world see the stuff .... ? Or is it a sad fact that the tapes really were erased back then for re-use, as the public has often been told ? There were reputedly so many fantastic performances by so many legendary Soul artists, it would be an absolute revelation if some or all of the footage could be retrieved ... Perhaps Pete Smith could advise ?

Richard , there's a great fingersnapping dancer on that Ellerine LP which deserves to be a monster but I can't pull out my copy of the LP to find the title as it's in storage ... you know the one I mean ?