manus

Most Soul fans can go to a night/allnighter have a drink and good time without causing anyone any hassle - I don't like the idea of anyone having their night spoilt by idiots but it's mainly outsiders in my experience so as stated previously memberships might be the way forward. Cheers Manus ( Doherty)

Mad old days Manus Cheers

Lillie Bryant Nolan Chance - Bunky

Yes great photos - lots of memories of mod girls in 3 quarter length leather jackets locally right up until the late 60s. And on a sunny day in our local park the mod girls would always be walking in pairs with one linking the other and with hand held transistors which always seemed to be playing Heatwave or Dancing in the street. Our local park which had a lake would often subsitute for the coast and large groups would sit around always with radios - Otis Redding SOTDOTB and The Toys Lovers Concerto seemed to programmed a lot too and as a youngster I remember first hearing Marvin Gayes I heard it through the grapevine on someone's park radio - and being an unsophisticated 12 year old I thought it literally meant a grapevine and I pictured Marvin standing behind something that resembled a tree overhearing a conversation and that misconception persisted for a long time lol Cheers Manus

Reverting to adolesence here but this reminds me of going down the coast in 1970 - to the tune of Staus Quo - Down the dustpipe. Going down to the coast now In my braces and boots Ain't no room for no grease down there In a town like Whitley Bay Doing alright now Going down to the fight now na na nana

What a fantastic memento to have - great post.

Sussex Uni ? That sounds interesting I'll check it out tomorrow as I've worked at Sussex Uni Library for the last 16 years - I'm sure Keith Woon will know too as I'm sure he DJd at events at Sussex Uni late 60s. Cheers Manus

Hello Ady I don't think you are being pedantic as I'd go further and say that it would be inaccurate to set a drama based around a "Northern Soul" club in any city in the UK in 1968. There were certainly clubs mainly in the North West and Midlands playing what would become Northern classics but surely they were played alongside new commercial Soul releases and mainstream Soul classics. I would have thought it was the latter days of the Wheel that it became predominantly what we would class as Northern Soul. I remember reading an article by one of the DJs at the Blue Orchid and recalled how they played new releases like Freda Payne alongside the rarer sounds. In terms of Newcastle I would probably class it a bit like London a Black music stronghold in the early to mid 60s but lost it's way into hippydom a bit musically but with enough like minded Soul fans who were prepared to travel to hear their music and eventually build up their own scene. Somebody older and better informed than me like Billy Swift , John Howard or Matty Turner might know when the first nights were held but the first time I personally saw "Northern" dancing was in 1971 at the Copacabana in Gateshead in the late skin/suede days. A group of lads from the North West came to Gateshead to live and work and brought some sounds in - these blokes left a lasting Northern Soul legacy in Gateshead which was channelled through people like Matty Turner and Davy Mason. I think it was often the case that people picked up on the scene this way - often at holiday spots like Skegness, Torquay and the like or through staying over in a city after football. I know that places like Middlesborough and Darlo have very strong Soul traditions and of course Newton Aycliffe a real stronghold in terms of Soul music. Got to say for me Billy Swift is a bit of an unsung hero on Tyneside for keeping things going locally too. First time I met you Ady was at a Tyneside allnighter when Sylvia brought you up - I think about 1984 ? Eddie Holman was on. I'm going to watch this programme in the spirit it was made - a TV detective series and like a lot of period dramas a little off kilter in terms of period but it's only entertainment - disappointed though that Headsy's not in it. All the best Manus

Yes that makes sense Dave looking at the later acts there had been a shift towards prog rock in terms of live acts but I think maybe vinylwise Motown, Stax and Atlantic were still tops - I know the older ones that lived near me and went to the Go Go were very much into Motown. Cheers Manus

The Club A Go Go closed in 1968 but had hosted acts similar to the Wheel among them John Lee Hooker , Garnett Mimms , Spencer Davis , Root & Jenny Jackson, Howlin Wolf , Ike & Tina Turner , Mary Wells , Screaming Jay Hawkins , Sonny Boy Williamson , Zoot Money , Jimi Hendrix , T Bone Walker and more. I was only 12 in 1968 but I remember a lot of the local mods I knew going to the Go Go and being pretty down when it closed - I agree that it's just a bit of entertainment and shouldn't be judged too harshly in terms of period accuracy but I do thing they would have been better setting it in a mod club akin to the Go Go in terms of credibility. But I'm going to watch it with an open mind and being a Tynesider I always like to watch dramas set in the North East. Brian Ferry ( who I don't have a lot of time for) described Newcastle as " a leading mod town" Cheers Manus

Terry Callier magnificent live in my opinion - when I saw him he had some of Britains best jazz players backing him but his vocal still held the centre of the stage an immense dignified presence who's not easily pigeon holed.

Agree Lou Pride one powerhouse of a record - thinking back to times in the 70s at 3am in the morning and hearing Lou Pride followed by Manifesto and then Joe Hicks - breathtaking stuff.

I got one from the states Dylan about 5/6 years ago - $5 I think or around that

The actor/director Simon McBurny ( the archdeacon in the comedy Rev ) was on Radio 4s Dessert Island discs yesterday and spoke of his love of Soul music and had Gil Scott Heron The Revolution will not be Televised and Aretha Franklins version of Young, Gifted and Black among his selections. Cheers Manus

Amen to that Kev

Good post Bob but I think there are a fair few here on the Soul scene who also just buy "what sounds good" . And there are some of us who have grown up with the "Northern " Soul scene but who have also listened too and bought deep, sweet , funk or whatever we think is a good tune throughout. I remember getting together at friends houses for record sessions in the early /mid 70s and a good 50% of the records we would listen to would be ballads yet these were people who also went to allnighters. That makes 9 posts for me on this thread - which is unusual - but it's been a good thread. Cheers Manus

I agree in terms of it being nothing new as we were having the same discussions 37/38 years ago involving the merits of Snoopy Dean, Bobby Franklin, Prince George , Lou Edwards and all - It'll never be over for sure lol Cheers Manus

Not sure how rare this record is but it's certainly a Soul record if not fantastic certainly a decent record and if it's not easy to pick or up or being played on the rare Soul scene then surely it qualifies as a rare Soul record- it's certainly closer to the the spirit of classics like There was a Time than a lot of records that get played in my opinion. One thing is clear reading this thread and others like it is that there is no objective definition of what is Northern or Rare Soul - so if a record is being played at venues and being danced too even if it does not fall into our own personal idea of what defines the genre then I think we have to accept it does for others. And I say this as someone who thinks that a lot of records that get played don't fall into my personal idea of Rare / Northern Soul or even just Soul.

It's a bit like when I take my partner to a Soul do Nev - she's into classical music and only comes to an event about once every seven years and doesn't really drink but she just gets up and starts dancing straight away and I join her two or three pints later lol

Fair enough Pete - but my ears tell me Tony Galla isn't Soul, Northern Soul, Rare Soul or whatever - but we could argue forever what defines a Northern Soul record. Cheers Manus

Dance without getting tipsy that's me out then Nev lol Love to go to Movin On - sounds like a great night Cheers Manus

I'd see at as just a great Soul record Winnie and just the sort of thing I like hearing and dancing too. I'd be quite happy to go to a venue that played both Harvey Scales and Tony Galla as I think it's almost impossible to go to any venue that plays records throughout that everybody is going to like - I accept that records are going to get played that aren't to my taste but as long as I hear some that are then I'm happy. I tend to get to venues early and if I hear 10 records over 6/7 hours or more that I don't like then that's fine. All the best Manus

Different strokes - for me I'd much rather hear records like Harvey Scales than some of the records I hear when I go out. For instance records like Tony Galla ,which I consider a novelty popcorn record, make me cringe and are light years away from what I understand as Soul music - but other people like stuff like that so fair enough.

Fantastic Soul record Russ - I would love to hear this played out and about. Cheers Manus

Hello Manus - it's always disappointing when you go to pick something up and they've gotten it wrong - it sounds as if the tailor was in some sort of high waister frenzy - maybe someone had left something hallucinatory in a repair job. I remember having a cake made for my partners 50th - she's a big hill/mountain walker so I asked for cake depicting a mountain. The cake that arrived looked like something from Michael Bentine's Potty Time - so much so that one of the guests at the party who was a consultant psychiatrist said it looked like something one of his patients would have made lol Cheers Manus ( the other one )