Frankie Crocker

Good post Kathryn. Let’s keep the scene under the radar of Joe Public. The music and dancing are there to be enjoyed by the committed few and not p!?@#* over by the masses.

Hi Steve. Was just chilling on the sofa, TV on the background, The Mrs in the kitchen, just a typical Saturday eve just in from the gym then this pops up. I’m all for a bit of family entertainment on the Beeb and have even looked at the occasional dance act on a previous series. When something like this intrudes, you tend to sit up and take note, particularly if it is discussion-worthy. It is probably better to watch and suffer rather than switch off and remain ignorant as to what occurred. Having watched the dancer put in an amateurish performance, despite the acclaim of the judges, I felt it appropriate to pass comment - ultimately, it would have been better had the chap not appeared as this segment did not present the Northern Soul scene in a truly representative manner ie most Northern dancers would not dance this way or perform spins/acrobatics in an unaccomplished way.

Plenty of good Northern releases in this batch. Proves there’s still records out there to be snapped up.

That’s What I Want To Know... Mind you, some old biddy was dancing to Hawaii Five-O later on and doing a better job of it...once a Casino classic...

You beat me to starting the thread. The Greatest Dancer currently on BBC1 has just featured a hopeless ‘dancer’ showcasing Northern Soul dance moves. The acrobatic stunts were amateurish in their execution. The tippy-toes prancing style was excruciating to watch. I can only express total embarrassment with regard to this shameless exhibitionism. I will spare the old lad further shame by not naming him. As one of the comperes said, ‘if he wore different shoes, he would look like a clown’... well he did a fine job of looking a total kook and ridiculing the scene just a bit further and on prime time. Pass the sick bucket please...

Nice sound. Is it for sale?

Where are the matrix boys when you need them? Chalky, you want to go on Mastermind sometime?

The two Panther labels are obviously different, one being red and the other yellow. Whether they are the same outfit or two different set-ups I am not sure. As Chalky suggests, there could be a link. The red label is of the earlier plain generic type whilst the yellow one looks later and backed by more promotion finance. Having two separate indie labels clashing names in adjacent states would be most unusual, even back then so I would be inclined to suspect a connection of some sort QED.

It’s a decent Motown cover and quite soulful despite the group composition. No fuss really, just another obscurity receiving some recognition after 50 years of being overlooked. Certainly a record that merits discussion following a noteworthy sale price recently. I would be interested to know if there are any other soul records on the Panther label in view of Ward Burton’s and Ronnie Lowe’s releases.

Yep. I won the copy on Popsike that went for $59! Well pleased with the record. Like yourself, I saw one sell for much more last week. All the Ronny Lowe copies seem to have ‘vocal by Willie’ on them. The Willie Hammond version is scarcer as last time I looked, only two copies featured on Popsike.

Very puzzling. My two bids were cancelled without explanation. I tried contacting them about some eBay wins a month ago and got no response to about ten messages. I will be surprised if you get to the bottom of this. Their Wade Flemons was mint whilst Carolina’s is of a lower grade.

And here was I thinking, lucky me, I now own Berry’s copy of Camel Walk... When I won one of the batch, not too expensively I add, it came with a certificate of prior ownership so I did wonder how it came to be on the market. Now I know. Some of the copies that came up for sale later on were water damaged or scuffed I think. It is not one of the best sounds amongst the stable of labels but it sits nicely in the Motown related section of the collection. I wonder if Berry gave the release the Frank Wilson treatment and pulled all spare copies from circulation?

Interesting the word ‘revival’ crops up in a few of these posts. The 100 Club was in full swing in 1990, the year I started going. The London scene was buzzing with a hard core of Wigan, and especially Stafford, devotees. The 100 Club thrived throughout the 90’s, losing some familiar faces of long distance travellers, but picking up plenty of younger followers. The popularity of the 100 Club certainly encouraged Ady to promote Cleethorpes, tapping into a Northern market that saw decent minor venues come and go. As to the revival per se; was it Keele or perhaps the Kings Hall that were at the root of the upsurge in small, but widespread venues catering to new and old faces preferring oldies in the main? If we are talking about the current revival, it surely must have been the mid to late 90’s and not 1991 as Kev Roberts suggested. Indeed Cleethorpes may have been the catalyst, and the TV programmes that followed, the signal for people to join in the nationwide revival.

Only fake DJ’s play fake records in public. Quality events run by reputable promoters and fronted by top DJ’s or serious collectors steer well clear of bootlegs. There are two big problems. Firstly, artists are cheated of their royalty payments. Secondly, record buyers are conned into parting with funds for goods not described accurately. eBay contribute to the problems by allowing fake goods to be sold on their platform - until they clean up their act, the trade in fake goods will continue.

OK, so they both play. Does Tim blu-tac a penny on the arm when he plays his?

So, is the one that also suffered under a hot light and is now unplayable? Not had a response to my earlier question - is one of the two known copies actually unplayable? If so, the owner of the ‘Kenny Woz ‘Ere’ copy is the only person on the planet in a position to spin an original US copy. The UK release therefore becomes most acceptable for spins at Oldies Nights, Soul Nights, Weekenders in the Med., wedding receptions and funerals but NOT crappy adverts, trashy dance shows and elevators etc.

I think I’ll stick with my Eddie Foster bootleg now as there’s no chance of upgrading to an original copy...

I think the approach at Motown was to fast-track the acts through the studio and have a weekly ‘group’ meeting about what went to the pressing plant on the basis of sales potential. Berry Gordy had the final say more often than not. Ultimately, only the ‘best of the best’ tracks made the cut as Berry was seeking mass appeal and chart success. That said, plenty of really good sounds were left in the can as we well know.

But if a producer/arranger like Frank Wilson went and cut a record without your approval, and this attempt to become a performing artist fell short of the exacting standards at Motown, you might be so hopping mad, you would order all copies of the track to be destroyed if you were the label owner.

I thought Simon Soussan ‘borrowed’ the Motown file copy? Berry Gordy ordered all copies to be destoyed so he would be unlikely to keep one. Is the copy in Todmorden playable or too warped... I can’t recall the rumours on this one?

He obviousy puts the mint records aside throughout the year. Santa tells John to make sure the well behaved record collectors wake up on Christmas morning with a nice surprise at the foot of the bed. Some record collectors have been known to write letters to Santa asking for their mint presents to be placed delicately under a tree rather than upon a bed. The question I have though, is Santa actually John?

Harsh words Chalky. Your comments are misleading and far from the truth. The people attending the Blackpool Weekender are dedicated soulies, not the hangers-on you get at a Saturday night pub event. The dance floor is rammed with a young, yes young crowd, dancing as per the rule book, not like the pissed local hippies at a pre Wigan disco. The crowd are well turned out in smart, casual gear. Some of the folk have travelled from The States, and I bet there are other devotees from Europe too. Pretty much everyone there is a dedicated, dyed in the wool, hugely committed Northern Soul fan. The clips confirm the scene is in good health and in safe hands with a new generation of keen, young devotees flying the flag. Yes, we can all express doubts about dancing contests, but this one was not skewed by the more acrobatic as is usually the case (especially when the cameras are rolling). The topic of ‘divs’ has been discussed at length on Soul Source - nobody fitting these descriptions is evident in the clips on You Tube or the One Show. Thanks again to Ralph for posting his clips and yar-boo-sucks to the person who told him to stop videoing the event.

Makes you wonder why some venues don’t provide a communal box for desparate DJ’s to dip into. Stick in Nolan Porter, Charles Sheffield, Ruby Andrews, Earl Grant, Brown Sugar, Wade Flemons, Barbara Lynn and a few dozen more then this should save DJ’s humping around stacks of common ‘floor-fillers’.

Ah ha, but he confessed he was right into Northern as a youth so I eagerly await further details of his favourite tunes and a dance-step demo... Yet another celeb claims they mingled with the chosen few. Come on John, show us your patches...

Thanks for posting Mike. An enjoyable little snippet. Always good to see Richard in his role of elder statesman. I just hope Strictly does not make a bigger thing of the Northern Dance cult as the programme continues to pervade popular culture.