Frankie Crocker

Disagree. It's a decent track to follow a few up- tempo numbers. Sure it's not in the Same class as I Love Her So Much It Hurts Me but it is a good track that I've had for 20 years and would not object to hearing in public.

No. Probably not. Yes, by me. Yes. No. No one in particular. All of them. Maybe. Us. Everyone who has travelled to a venue has made a contribution and 'shaped' the scene. Credit is due to the DJ's like Roger Eagle, Russ 'n Richard etc for moving the scene forward. Plenty of characters have brought lost and forgotten sounds to the publics' ears but most are too modest to claim any glory - come out of hiding Simon, all is forgiven...

Looks original as it has not been booted. Gilly is the main man when it comes to this label - your thoughts Gilly?

Did I read somewhere that Charles Sheffield's 'Voodoo Working' was released as a Halloween novelty record? Could the Four Vandals possibly do a cover version of Monster Mash for the end of the month...?

Simsy - great track. I would call it medium-pace, somewhere between up-tempo and mid-tempo.

Mick Smith, top collector, top DJ, top floor-filler and top bloke. Anything Mick plays is good enough for me.

Best disco act I ever saw was by the Wigan locals at the Saturday eve bop before 1.00 a.m. chucking out time - anyone whiling away a few hours before the main event would see half a dozen shaggy haired lads throw beer at each other then drop their trousers and stumble around on the dance floor to Carl Douglas' Kung Fu Fighting...

Tongue in cheek, check out some of the Blackpool Mecca CD compilations and you will find some disco tunes. Here's a few others worth checking out for the high soul content... Jesse Green - Nice And Slow Tony Etoria - I Can Prove It Sunny - Doctors Orders Moments And Whatnauts - Girls La Belle Epoque - Black Is Black 5,000 Volts - I'm On Fire Blackbyrds - Walking In Rhythm George Mc Crae - Rock Your Baby Also, check out the pop charts for 1978-1979 as there's a few decent acts amongst the dross.

Not convinced this should be released legally or otherwise. Hope it will not flood the local soul nights and kill the track off at the major venues. I think the team behind it should state how many copies have been pressed to minimise controversy - £10 is reasonable for a record that may exist in sizeable quantities. Is this another Johnny Watson on Valise or Four Voices on gold Voice - I hope not? As mentioned earlier, the original version is the best version so why muck around with out-takes? Definitely not a record to bid on and one strictly to be played in the house methinks...

Is his name Eric? Does he collect Erics by number? Give us a clue...

Steve - obviously not a 'top' DJ or maybe not even an honest collector... So sad in fact, I would pass a hat around to raise funds for DJ's in need... Alternatively, rally the troops to dance in a circle, thumbs in belt loops and Status Quo style rotate and sway, shaking the head vigorously. Perhaps we've reached the point when a MC holds up an OVO sign when it 's safe to dance or a pair of old Doc Martens when the carvers/reissues/Erics etc are on the decks?

Call them the Cheapskate Forgers. They could rerelease the tunes on the Duff label and have a starry-flower logo to convince collectors they are buying a genuine fake.

Absolutely spot on. This dealer calls himself mainly45's when he would be more precise to style his enterprise mainlyboots... Personally, I think these should be kept off ebay as they ruin things for the genuine collector. As for auctioning bootlegs, that is a dubious practice anyway: when the items are imprecisely described and deceive potential buyers, the seller's ethics have to be questioned. I would never buy from anyone who set their stall out like the one under debate. No objection to sellers at soul nights flogging old boots - best place for them to sell with minimum controversy.

A few years ago, there was a hand written sign at the 100 Club saying No Talk On The Dancefloor. Winston was patrolling around the floor with his rounders bat that night so no one dared speak...A talc coated floor is a must when the floor is grunged up but the best floors, lovingly polished, never need talc. Do promoters ever give the dance floor the preferential treatment it deserves? I hear Johnsons do a pretty good floor polish which if used more regularly, would cut back on talc use and the petty restrictions it provokes.

Hi Brian - as Gordon says, the picture at the start of the thread is the same as the Too Darn Soulful second edition cover. The photo on the Soul Survivors cover has the same cool cat on it, great dancer, don't know his name though. The photos were taken at the first anniversary. These and other photos appeared in Blue And Soul #209 that was given to everyone who attended the third anniversary in 1976. In the early 1990's, I went to the B&S office on Praed Street, Paddington to access the photos but the editor said the file was empty. I wanted the wide angle crowd from the stage shot captioned Spotlight On Wigan Casino featuring yours truly: this was taken within minutes of the best known crowd shot on the picture sleeve of Footsee and Seven Days Too Long. Still nt sure who has the copyright to the prints but someone said Russ took the shots... Not sure as they look too professional so maybe the local newspaper people? Good to hear Jethro is around and could be putting something into print - perhaps he will confirm that it was not a Celtic shirt he wore but a v neck, green and white vertical striped shirt. Memories are a bit hazy, but even the commercial 'Pye' months of '74-'75 had so many good tunes, totally outnumbering those best not mentioned. Even the Mecca War years following yielded considerable numbers of vintage sounds again eclipsing the newies. Maybe, with 20:20 hindsight, we had it pretty good

Loadsa good chunes here to which I'd add:- Billy Sans - I Don't Want To Lose A Good Thing on Impreario and Invictus: has cult potential King Floyd - Times Have Changed on Pulsar: getting spins at key venues Danny Price - Come To Me on UA: unknown anthem on major label

This is so unbelievably bad. How could any self respecting soulie lower themselves to do this? Maybe the Dance Craze movement will make a comeback - you've done The Duck so now do The Cringe, The Sweep or The Cop On Traffic Duty.

Your mate's comment made me cringe as he was into the dance scene but in another decade - why no empathy or even a bit of Faith and Understanding? I am looking forward to the soundtrack of the movie, the dance scenes, old fashions, travel escapades, humour amongst friends etc, in other words, the things Soul Boy scored well on, pleasing plenty of us on SS. Personally, I expect the movie to provoke a 'Commitments' film reaction when those oblivious to soul music, speak up and say what great sounds were played, and we can feel smug because we knew that all along.

I spun it at the 100 Club in 1996 - a few came up to the decks to check it out. Recently picked up the blue issue from Herman Lewis' collection plus a few other goodies...

As I said earlier, the kitchen is a great place to do some practising - roll the wrists with a tea towel, 320 degree spins from fridge to cooker, punch the air with the mugs that go on the top shelf etc. Being a swimming pool attendant was a great opportunity for practising in the 70's - wet tiles and Patrick training shoes perfect prep for the Casino but God knows what the public thought of us spinning/wobbling around.

Who cares about the masses - let them watch Grand Theft Auto. If the movie pleases the soul critics, it has a chance of crossing over to a wider audience so let's hope it it realises it's potential. I liked Blue Juice and Soul Boy as they were fillums pet ie entertainment, culture, a bit of a caper, not a matter of life or death, but something that's been created for our appreciation so let's look ahead to enjoying the movie and save the analysis until later...

Don't know whether to laugh, cry or throw up. This is so excruciating but also totally wrong, wrong, wrong...

Alexei Sayle summed it up nicely when he said anyone who mentions the word 'workshop' not in the context of manufacturing industry is a t***. It is a sad day when film producers have to organise mass line-prancing sessions to make whoopee-do action scenes that hopefully convey the high-energy of a classic Northern track. It is worse still when similar sights are witnessed at venues - the soul coaches should know better and tell the wannabees to watch from the sidelines until they can dance. I would recommend extra lashings of talc to mop up the beer these novices seem to spill on the dance floor and perhaps have a few sacks of sawdust handy to deal with the puke attacks suffered by true soulies. Finally, the kitchen parquet or the bathroom floor are good places to move to the music without suffering carpet burn - that said, if you wear decent shoes, you won't need talc so get some Terry's brogues now, available in all Chelsea shoe shops...

Great tune Pete. Always reminds me of a trip to St Malo in Brittany - when I heard it in a cafe, just had to have it. Whenever I hear the tune, it transports me back across the Channel.

Grab it in any condition and upgrade it later - this tune is set to soar.