Back Street Blue

Seen TV ad' toinight.... Thought there'd have been ruptions on here. Is Curtis Lee on many compilations? On the one hand, loved most of the tracks when I first heard them, so can't begrudge others doing the same. On the other hand, TV ad' very cheesey and K-Tel-esque. Could be good news for the textiles industry, lots of material will be required if the kex go viral?

The big names were so prolific that they're bound to get the credit for discovering sounds. That said there must be many lesser known DJ's and diggers and collectors who have had their personal moments of glory and I agree that it would be great to hear their accounts. I was at college in '76 with my mate Scally (Mike Atherton-"Scal" on here) who was on a mission to track down the artist Oscar Perry. Scal eventually got Oscar's phone number and struck up a friendship which culminated in Scal discovering and sourcing a copy of "main string" and he was instrumental in persuading Oscar to come over to the UK. Being a collector and not a DJ, Scal was also reluctantly persuaded to do a set at an alldayer (at the Rose Bowl?) in Burnley...where he shared the decks with a certain Mr Mark Dobson. There must be plenty of other guys out there with similar tales to tell.

Quite like seeing what's goin' on out there Saw myself on vid for the first time last year......must've been taken while I was treading water 'til a "proper one" got played

Pre '74....."Underground" Post '74...."Overground" After that..."wombeling free"

Temps - ain't too proud to beg and Isley's - take some time out....73 from Ma Dobbs I think (big sister took me in her Mk 1 mini) First Northern Mitch Ryder- Breakout....from the Golden Disc in Oldham. Remember rushing out and buying Timmy Thomas when it came out with O'jays - love train

Great news.....for every day people!

Don't know....will PM big Cliff to find out

Think the advert's pants. Get why people cringe at what my late friend Chris Buckley called "the circus folk"....but it doesn't bother me if people choose to dress "retro cool" Most of the folk who wear vintage stuff that I know are regular niter goers and at events week in, week out.... and are very good company The bloke in the ad is a well known old hand it turns out and good luck to him I say

Shredded Wheat my arse.... ..You only wore those threads in the days when people went "to work on an egg"

Thought the Wheel and Torch episodes were good....John Cooper Clarke's account was great....but lost interest part way through the Wigan episode which was largely Russ's mobile disco version of events that has been covered before and would have prefered some in-put from RS. Didn't know that Gethro was one of the TOTP's dancers though!!

Missed it yesterday....just put it on to hear the Philly stuff. Hoping to hear Arnold the dog?

"Merry Christmas ya filthy animals and a happy new year too".... Thanks Mike & the Mod's for another year's efforts

Would love to help but don't want to give the game away before the release of my forthcoming Northern Soul fitness video..... ..... don't think NS is ideal for people on exercise bikes .... unless they can get hold of some really big bicycle clips to tuck their Spencers in!!

What creates the demand? Influential DJ's playing /resurrecting records which then get picked up by other DJ's.... Or is demand coming from the punters who are fed a playlist of "you may also like" sounds when they look for "Frank Wilson" or "Wigan Casino" on youtube?

There was a thread with an article about how M's came into being, details of the DJ's etc....using my phone so too hard to look for it....maybe not the case in 80/81 but the 70's and "modern" stuff was getting played downstairs which didn't appeal to everyone. The demand for the stuff played in M's was obviously significant, so much so that the Oldies nights were introduced in '76.

The stuff played in the mainstream night clubs obviously varied over Wigan's eight year lifespan... The Wheel and other 60's clubs played contempory releases of the day...SDG and other Mod groups which may be where some of that blue eyed stuff came from As NS popped up on the main stream radar in the middle 70's it wasn't unusual to hear some sounds played at regular night clubs.."Disco's" but also there was a lot of Motown/Philadelphia stuff plus funk (e.g. War/ fatback band etc) being released and played at them too, in amongst Carl Douglas, Middle of the Road, Lt.Pigeon etc. Don't think M's was about reviving the Wheel/Torch/Cat's sounds....more like a continuity of the music that just kept on going and didn't die with the earlier clubs or the earlier crowd. ...Just my addled view of things obviously

M's stapels that come to mind; James Carr- that's all I want to know / Davis & Tyler - hold on help is on the way / Soul Sisters - good time tonight/ Brooks & Jerry - I got what it takes /Mitch Ryder - you get your kicks/ Rex Garvin - sock it to'em JB/ Bill Cosby -Lil ol Man/ blue eyed Shane Martin - I need you/ soul twins - quick change artist/ the velvettes - gotta find/ me somebody/ the Dynatones - the fife piper/ fantastic Johny C - don't depend on me/ spencer davis group - trampoline / Ramsey Lewis - wade in the water ........Then you sat down and lit a players' No.6 to get your breath back!!!

....Here it is "Chad Chad the fat skinny lad"

Sorry photo's not come up with quoted post!!!.....bugger!

WOW....(sorry for bringing up this old post but only just seen it as this thread's been resurrected...) The bloke dancing in M's is definitely "Chaddy" (Gary Chadderton from Oldham) and I'd put money on the fella profiled in the right hand side frame of the photo being Bryan Millard (from Shaw) This must have been taken at the oldies anniversary in '81 going off the length, or rather lack of, Chaddy's sideburns and given that he stopped going to Wigan in '76 except for that oldies night!! Chaddy and Lemmy, Dougie Ling, Joey Horton, Paul Maceever, Ian Galvin and Ronnie Hanley....all legends to us young pups from Oldham.

....This and Travis Wammack....Wheel back catalogue....file under "Hicksville" not "Hitsville"?

Any chance of naming tracks/artists being posted please?

Hiya Dave.....Barry Holland ran the revived KGB for about 15 years at Bar Abbey on Abbeydale Road until the premises were taken over by new owners a couple of months ago. He's probably a good place to start with your enquiries, not sure of his Monica on here but you'll find him in the past events pages on that venue from earlier this year. He's on FB as "Barry KGB Holland".