Paul-s

No one with the true grit, honesty, tenacity and willingness to sacrifice time and lose a fortune left to step up to that mark i think

Indeed. John Hurt also starred in 1984 which kind of captures the dystopian state of Group Think, Double Think and News Speak that dominates the commercial spaces of Northern Soul dancing gurus: their products and productions. It doesn't work on the radio, but its a great space for these narcissists to showcase their sales propaganda and to sell and fabricate an imagined past....much like the Ministry of Truth in 1984. Spot on!

Yes, very good point! They never object to the misrepresentation, but rather, choose to exploit it for profit. Its disingenuous and comes across as delusional and narcissistic.....but, more often that not (if you dig deeper) they are all sole trader or limited company 'Northern Soul dance' businesses. The result is a plethora of hoppy, skippy, smiley, windmill armed, line dancers who have missed out the part that requires time, patience, observation, attendance, meeting people, absorbing the atmospheres (beyond the line dancing class venue), contribution to the scene, listening to the music and connecting with it all. The business(s) of Northern Soul dancing have watered it down to the simple equation that it is just steps to music....nothing more. No need for cultural connection, no need for historical connection, no need for a connection to the musicians. In some cases labels are even replacing images & biographies of the Afro-American musicians who have always represented the heart of the scene, with those of self promoting 'celebutantes' whose soul has been moulded via hashtags and relentless posting of the self online. It does have long-term implications due to its cynical erasure of memory, and the cultural amnesia that AI inspires and propagates. Much like the Wikipedia facade of self written history! It negates those who danced before us, collected, played, contributed, traveled far and wide, post - Wigan, to keep the scene going. And also those who perished in the pursuit. Imagine a lazy (they are all lazy) TV or Radio producer (BBC comes to mind) goes online and googles Northern Soul Dancer because they want to feature one, they will get this list of individuals. Apart from being below average dancers, who are not even on the scene as a whole, they are people who are solely business orientated and do not have the humility to recognise and admit that there is no such thing as 'a World Champion Northern Soul dancer, or a boy or girl or man or woman who represents the scene and its culture. It was/is a communal scene, a community, or nowadays a series of rival communities perhaps? Anyway, personally, I find it not to be "a bit of fun" but recognise it as a vacuous profit driven business model aimed at sucking the soul of the culture and the scene dry....and often attempting to gaslight us into thinking we are being negative if we question their motives and their products. Anyway, that is just my opinion and experience of course.

This seems to have left the archives so heres a link. Lots of unknowns, underplayed and forgotten tracks https://www.paulsadot.com/blog-native

Here it is, with playlist: Deans show in 2018 can be found here: Loads of gospel on there. https://www.paulsadot.com/blog-native

Yes, its weird. The others are all available, but mine isn't. All that comes up is Is Dean on here? Maybe he can ink us up? Cheers Paul

Well, it doesn't, thats the entire point? BUT, the idea and discussion is not about its validity but the fact that history is co-opted by AI and people (lazy bookers and TV producers) take the results as gospel and book these comedy parody dancers to represent the scene. In that way, like most vernacular dance culture, it becomes gentrified, sanitised, and mis-represented. You may not care, but as someone who has spent 5 decades caring and contributing, I do.

Another Great gone. Always remember dancing to this downstairs at Notts Palais Alldayers in the 70's

Its now all about the algorithm rather than the rhythm.... The more you post yourself the more you become the greatest Northern Soul dancer of all time: Forget the great dancers we have all seen over the decades... It's now more like Virtual Reality, curated online through relentless posting of the self, and you would definitely require some sort of artificial intelligence to buy into this manufactured hype. I'm still waiting for Kev Roberts response regarding the 'World' Northern Soul Dance Championship and what qualifies it as a 'World' event rather than a comedy event, a bit of fun.. These are the 'real world' consequences of cynical, ego driven marketing ploys such as calling it 'World' instead of 'Blackpool' (which is what it is in reality). Kev has now created individuals who believe in his Emperors New Clothes competition as a 'World event and consequently sell themselves (for money) as World Northern Soul Dance Champions - notably one from 2022 who never goes to nighters and started out as a YouTube NS dancing parody act - feeding the algorithm and erasing history in the process. AI is historically illiterate and has no 'real world' connection, no visceral instinct or rhythmic capacity, no soul, no spirit, no embodied experience. The last comment on the AI results is that NS culture is based on word-of-mouth, yet its ridiculous rankings are generated based on who posts the most images online (Bristol appear to rank highly for some reason). Anyway, interested in your thoughts on this?

Hi mate, Ah, ok. Is there a way i can get a copy (file/Link) of the one I did?

The 11th January 2018 show is missing for some reason? I was guesting in the studio with Dean. Anyway here is the full playlist from that show. ·

Yes, its weird. The others are all available, but mine isn't. All that comes up is Is Dean on here? Maybe he can ink us up?

My Playlist from Dean Andersons TNT Soul Show - 11th January 2018 (which has now mysteriously been taken down ). Quite a lot of gospel in there! · ·

Used to have both, but the Cliff Gober was so badly recorded it needed a very good sound system to manage it. Brilliant track though. I also rate the Spiritual Four version of 'If You Think Your God is Dead'

Appreciated ....thanks

Hello all, I am trying to find a summary description of Amphetamine Blues for a book. Mods will probably move this somewhere else, but to me its a part of the scenes history and intrinsically connected to it its all about soul: despite the clean up of image operations (re-writing of history, or omissions made) that are taking place in various quarters. Anyway, I seem to remember they turn my S--T white on many occasions and they were often called Strychnine Blues. Can anyone point me to any official descriptions etc? Much appreciated Paul-S

I know a few of the people in the video pics, including a very young me at the end with Johnny Cockerel and Jane. Saw Ryder Hunt in there too. I'm always bemused when the information (as in the newspaper) says they are big fans of the music but then they want to try to make a replica of it themselves. But, good luck to him. A bit Levine style pop/soul for me.

For me Greg is the man with the tunes in this genre. He supplied me The Sacred Four and some other great Gospel tunes around 16 years ago, which led to me searching for and finding more stuff: he has a real in-depth knowledge in this area. Here's a couple of mixes I did around 10 years ago. https://www.mixcloud.com/paulsadot/the-rapture/ https://www.mixcloud.com/paulsadot/soul-full-gospel/

The woman, the legend, the soul, the JOAN!! Happy Birthday xx

First time I have looked at that site. Amazing how many brilliant underplayed tunes are on there at OK prices, but not touched by punters.

It was full of nighters and nights in the 80's. The wheat and chaff tourists had gone and it was down to a dedicated group of soulies to keep it going: and GO it did. In addition to the ones you mention, I remember Warrington, Rotherham, KGB, Cleethorpes, Bradford, Blackburn, Morecambe, and loads of nights like the Tracky in Barnsley. It was a great period as far as I experienced. Went a bit dark and quiet after 'Operation Crossbow' (I think that was its name), but bounced back.

Ursula von der Leyen

https://www.solatio.co.uk/browse-shop/