manus

Merry Xmas to Soul Fans everywhere - may all your presents be vinyl ( well maybe the odd bottle of single malt whiskey too ) Cheers Manus

Spot on Steve - hats off to all the guys making the tunes available for us. Cheers Manus

Two great tunes - really liked the Sweet Pea Atkinson Steve finished with as well - great rhythm and jazz piano with a top vocal. Cheers Manus

Me too Brett - been playing the Steppin' Stone CD a lot. Cheers Manus

I had some fantastic nights at Wigan and would say that there was some great records played and some awful ones throughout it's time. I certainly felt myself questioning the validity of a lot records during the 78 period because it seemed that the balance had tipped in favour of the awful ones - I've got a very clear memory of really wanting to dance and one bad pop record followed another and feeling that the end was near. I know things got better in the later days but I felt that the Soul element was disappearing - though I would never agree with the statement " Soul died when Wigan opened" because lots of great Soul music did get played. I don't think that Wigan was alone in playing pop records but it does seem to take the blame for it - maybe as I say it's because at one point during it's time the bad outweighed the good and the joke records took over. But I have a lot of great memories of the place and am really pleased to have been a part of it. Cheers Manus

My favourite Howard Tate track - I learned it all the hard way - one of the all time great Soul records I think. Manus howard tate - ztbc - soul-tbc

Well done for putting it all together - It was a great night out. Cheers Manus

Heard this in the car on the way up to Rugby yesterday I hadn't heard it for years and got a real buzz.. I'm not a big fan of blue eyed soul but some really work and don't feel out of place( Paul Anka ICHLY is another). Sorry got no info on Jason Knight unfortunately. Cheers Manus

Me too - had a fantastic time at the Up North weekenders late 80s early 90s Cheers Manus

Good point -I don't normally PM to say something has arrived - mainly because I don't want to waste peoples time but I take your point on politeness and will do in the future. Cheers Manus

Top floor was the Northern room with DJs and a dance floor - it wasn't really small Dave so maybe there was another smaller room further up my memory isn't too good. The main room downstairs played commercial soul/funk like the Three Degrees When will I see you again and some pop. I had a great time working in Torquay in 74 and remember seeing Sweet Sensation at a place called the Castle I think just when Sad Sweet Dreamer was taking off. Cheers Manus

And the bard of Wales Dylan Thomas may have had a hand in it too Theresa as he invites the listener during Under Milkwood to " Listen. Time passes" Interesting to see the writer of TWPYB John Rhys has a Welsh surname. "Time will pass you by" one of the best ever I think. Manus

Very sad news - Give me just a little more time still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck after all these years. Manus

Fantastic stuff Paul two giants of Soul music. Cheers Manus

Saw Soulboy last night and really enjoyed it -OK it was a bit daft in places particularly the dance off but enjoyable all the same. I'd read all reviews on here and I just went with the idea of enjoying myself and like a lot of people on here I was going to Wigan in 74 so I was looking forward to a little walk down memory lane and I thought I got that albiet a slighty inaccurate one. I thought Wigan and the Soul scene were central to the plot and my partner who is into classical music said she thought it was a homage to the Soul scene with a love story added on. What was interesting was there was large group of young people from work there as the girlfirend of one of them actually worked on the film and one young woman has just said how fantastic Wigan looked and how she thought the music was brilliant and wants to hear more. Now these youngsters are all in the 20s and normally when they are talking about music if I say anything I just get blanks stares cos they haven't got a clue what I'm talking about and now they seem to understand a bit more - so cheers to the filmakers for that. Bit tired been up all night reminiscing. Cheers Manus

Maybe not a great film Pete - but I got a real sense of that era watching it - I didn't really think they were particularly well dressed either thats what made it feel quite authentic for me - genuine kids who hadn't quite got the style right - there were lots of them about. And I think if I had got to see it back then I would have had a few sleepless nights over Anne Gooding.

Hello Dave - I saw Bronco Bullfrog a few weeks back on DVD it's taken me 39 years or so to finally get to see it. It was showing at the Tyneside Film Theatre around the end of 1970 maybe early 71 and myself and a few friends went to see it as we had heard that the main characters were skin/suedeheads. It was a half price for students night but open to the general public and the queue was made up mainly of students with long hair and wearing afghans and we were dressed in harringtons, sta prest trousers and loafers/royals. We stood in the queue quietly but it was fairly obvious that the afghan wearers were not happy with us being there and we watched as a couple went and asked for the manager spoke to him and he came over to us and told us we weren't getting in - we tried to reason with him but he wasn't having it. As we walked away the people in the queue cheered. We hadn't caused any trouble we'd just stood quietly in the queue and it was pretty ironic that these people were going in to watch a film about people like us but that they didn't want to actually have to sit in the same cinema as us. I'm not sure what the classifcation was for the film but I had managed to blag my way into the nearby Odeon to watch Soldier Blue around the same time and my mates were all older than me and had every right to go in and watch the film. Sorry for going slightly off topic - going to see Soulboy tomorrow and looking forward to it. Cheers Manus

It's on in Brighton for one night next Tuesday the 28th at the Duke of Yorks - really looking forward to seeing it . Cheers Manus

That's pleasant enough I like the guitar work- it's a bit like the jazz funk tunes that were popular at places like Rafters in the late 70s Cheers Manus

I work in a university library - one day a young guy came to the counter with a t shirt with Northern Soul written across it - I asked him if he was into the music and he didn't know what I was talking about he said he just liked the t shirt so he bought it. Cheers Manus

Different strokes and all that

Great to hear the flute played - the bit in the Bottle always gets me and Herbie Manns Waterbed got an odd play if I remember rightly along with the LTG Exchange cover . Cheers Manus

Two great tunes - love the Fred Williams very soulful and atmospheric - be great to hear that played out. Manus

I agree that her voice is gone and it would be better to step down now - but the twice I saw her before her voice went she was fantastic. And also she sat for about an hour around 77/78 signing autographs after a show at Newcastle Mayfair. I don't doubt that some people have found her unpleasant but my experience was the opposite - she was friendly and didn't give it the ego trip at all and signed an autograph " Forget me not" on my request. Maybe the fact that she has lost her voice has left her with the need to point out how good she was - who knows: Manus

I post fairly regularly on the crossover thread - I'm aware of the definition of crossover as late 60s early 70s but I just read crossover as Soul. Most of the stuff I post wouldn't satisfy even the broadest crossover definition but would all fall within Soul music - my last posts were 2010 CD only releases - contemporary black music. I couldn't care less about genres or the arguments about what record fits what criteria - I'm only interested in if I like the record or not and I think that most of the posters on the crossover thread feel the same that's why it never deteriorates into silly bickering and is simply about music. Cheers Manus