Torch56

Apologies for joining this discussion ten years too late but I have only stumbled across this now. Christine Cooper (Heartaches) was a regular play at the Catacombs in the summer of 1973. Because it's such a great record, I'm certain that, had it been played there before, it would have registered with me as it's such a personal favourite. Its dance floor reaction was difficult to guage because the dance floor was small and in that summer (post Torch-pre Wigan) it was invariably packed. Also, the playlist was of such high quality (Duke Browner, Moses Smith, Ben Aiken etc) that there was rarely any let-up in the collective frenzied response. I know Pep had a white demo copy because it was possible to see the decks from the dance floor through a small aperture and note what was next up. I used to regularly ask him to play it along with Alice Clark and "the one with the 'Spanishy' beginning"(Carl Douglas), I also attended Va Vas that summer and Richard Searling too featured it several times throughout the night. SOS was played by Alan S at the tail end of 1972 when attendances were much lower and the response more muted. It's a good record but not in the same league as Heartaches Away My Boy.

In Neil Rushton's book, 'Northern Soul Stories', Graham Warr writes that his big haul from Miami was in October 1971 but I thought from memory it was a year later in the autumn of 1972. Suddenly a whole batch of new sounds featured on the playlist: the Glories, Johnny Moore, Earl Jackson, Soul Twins, Sam and Kitty amongst them which I understood Graham had found. He then told Ian Levine the location of his source, who then went there in 1973 and came back with a find of 4,000 records which Ian referred to as the greatest northern soul haul of all time. Having attended Blackpool Mecca, Up the Junction, the Torch and VaVas in '72-'73, it was very rare that I heard anything that I wasn't already familiar with from the Catacombs.

I remember Alan S playing 'Eddie's My Name' at the Catacombs so it must have been 1973 or earlier since he was removed from the DJ roster then. Could have been even '72.

This was Max's first appearance as DJ at the Cat's. He would go on to be a mainstay of the line-up through to the last night in July, 1974.

Express and Star, January 15, 1972.

I can't be definitive about this, but I think I heard it first at the Torch, December '72, and thereafter at the Catacombs as well. Instant appeal: brilliant instrumentation culminating in a build up of atmosphere matched on the dance floor. Best use of a harp on a northern sound. I'm sure others played it, but I most associate it with Alan Day. Considered to be 'played out' by early summer '73 as playlists moved on.

Ironic that you had to go up stairs to a club that had more of an underground feel than any other.

After Carl finished his spell of Thursday nights in 1972 Alan Day had a more prolonged run behind the decks playing the sounds. A busy man: by this time (November) he was doing Saturday nights at the Catacombs and the Torch.

Jeff Astle.

Interesting DJ double act...

Well, this thread has gone in an entirely different direction to what I envisaged but nonetheless it's not been without interest. A UK Bok to Bach for £20 caught my eye as did the reference to the record shop at the top of Broad Street. As I recall the 'northern' stuff was downstairs and I bought a copy of The Charge by the TKOs there at some point. With regard to Carl Dene's Thursday night slot at the Catacombs, he's just posted on the club's forum that he did a couple of Thursdays around that time. How that didn't register with me at the time, I do not know.

Carl Dene was a mainstay of the DJ roster at the Catacombs from its opening until 1969 when he and Mr Dobson had a falling out. When the club re-opened in September '72, I recall he retuned to do a few sessions but my recollection is that after that, Alan Day had the Thursday slot until he left, which I thought was after this date. Clearly, my recollection leaves something to be desired.

Express and Star, Thursday, June 21, 1973.

I do recall the Contempo catalogue and some of the first records I bought were a a result of perusing its pages. In late '71 I sent off for Please Let Me In and The way You Been Acing Lately, both listed for 70p, but was told they'd gone. I did manage to get Check Yourself (Intruders) and Oh, I've Been Blessed. ( 35p each) Flaming Embers' vocal version of Let's Have a Love In, and Shades Down (Detroit Emeralds) also were cheap and available. In fact, I don't recall anything being more than 75p. There were hundreds of records listed, all mint, unplayed, copies but my knowledge was limited as was my budget, and so a potential Aladdin's cave remained largely undisturbed, at least by me. I was told that Alan S, who worked for British Rail in the early 70s, took advantage of his free travel pass to frequent the Hanway Street shop on a regular basis and picked up some of his big ticket items from there.

Over the years many records have been the subject of hyperbolic claims of impact on dance floors across the land. Eddie Parker remains the best example I ever witnessed of a place energised to such a degree with what was coming out of the speakers. At the completion of the song the crowd simply stopped and applauded and chanted, 'more, more' repeatedly as acknowledgement of the moment. This was at the tail-end of 1972 at the Torch. Now, I understand that applauding a record became a thing at Wigan, and I certainly witnessed it myself at Stafford where it seemed part of the expected response, but until that moment in Tunstall I had never witnessed it elsewhere, and never with such gusto. Incidentally, at the collective request of the dance-floor the instrumental version immediately burst out as Eddie's pleading vocals faded and the dance floor again became a frenzied mass. Apparently, Keith Minshull had two copies, of what was then a very rare item, and was, therefore, able to accede to the demand.

Didn't Dave Godin in one of his Blues and Soul columns refer to punters wearing Twisted Wheel embroidered badges on the breast pockets of their barathea blazers circa 1971? I seem to recall Pete Tilseley had one on his black Ben Sherman at the Catacombs in 1972. The badges thing really took off in the Torch period with the image of the flaming torch being held with THE TORCH and STOKE ON TRENT emblazoned around its periphery. These were ubiquitous by the time of the club's closure in 1973 and clearly became the example that provided the benchmark for the entrepreneurial types, who saw a market for such items, as interest in the scene began to snowball during the Wigan era.

Re: The Record Collector LP. The sleeve notes refer to the songs and where and when they were played and by whom. Back in 1980, pre-internet and before the plethora of northern soul books that have since emerged, they were a valuable record of part of the history of the scene. Hats off to whoever came up with the idea. Neil Rushton?

The kettle drums on 'You Can't Mean It' give its introduction an impact to be compared with any other. The Invitations' 'Skiing In The Snow' also uses them to effect, but Chapter Five deliver a real crashing storm of a clarion call that grabbed attention on first hearing, which in my case was when Steve Whitttle played it on Radio Stoke, circa mid-eighties.

Sequins Case of Love Vibrations Gonna Get Along Without You Now Sapphires Slow Fizz

An interesting thread. Very difficult to attribute credit to individuals for discovering or 'breaking' records as nearly all evidence is anecdotal and localised in character. Many claims will be made in good faith but be made unaware that a similar unveiling occurred elsewhere at a different time. Therefore the following observations are made with that caveat in mind. Mike Ritson and Stuart Russsell in 'The In Crowd' interviewed Alan S and the following extract is just fascinating: "Well I got Sandi Sheldon for four shillings. It was knackered, but it played great. And I got a demo of 'Ski-ing In The Snow' for next to nothing off a list, for about 2/6. Bought it blind, just because it was by the Invitations. I got Johnny Sayles like that as well. Half the time it was pure luck." Others have commented on here that Sandi Sheldon was a Dave Godin discovery initially, but the Ski-ing In The Snow reference suggests that he pioneered its exposure to the scene, and the same applies to Johnny Sayles. His use of pre-decimal currency indicates that he obtained these records before February 1971 and strengthens that particular claim. Johnny Sayles was a big Catacombs sound in November 1971, when I first attended. Ski-ing In The Snow also featured on the playlist and enjoyed amazing longevity on the scene. I distinctly remember it being played at the Torch, late '72/early 73, but it really peaked in popularity in that summer at the Cats, post Torch, pre Wigan, until it disappeared along with the rest of Pep's records out of the DJ booth. Probably the record most associated with Alan S was "That Beatin' Rhythm" by Richard Temple, which by all accounts was a one off for a time at Temple Street. Such was its status that according to The Strange World Of Northern Soul, Ian Levine and Les Cockell made the trip to Wolverhampton specifically to hear it. Pretty sure Alan was the first to have Cigarette Ashes as well. Bob Crocker, who was tragically killed in the same car crash that hospitalised Alan for three months in March, 1971, discovered the Major Lance classic, 'You Don't Want Me No More' but never had the chance to play it, according to Graham Warr as quoted in Neil Rushton's book, Northern Soul Stories. Instead that honor fell to Alan at the Catacombs and that copy was loaned to Keith Minshull at the Torch where of course it became huge. The late Blue Max commented earlier in this thread about the number of sounds unearthed at the Catacombs and it was not without some justification that the Blues and Soul adverts for the club in 1972 used to inform readers that it was "Where the sounds begin". I suspect the first airing for the Velours was there, mid '73. Pep brought it up one Wednesday night and gave it a couple of plays to instant and universal acclaim. On the following Saturday it rammed the dancefloor and the collective synchronised clapping echoed approval around the alcoves and corridors. Quite possibly Pep obtained the record from the aforementioned Graham Warr. To read Graham's account of his finds in Miami in 1972,, which is in Neil Rushton's book, is to share in the stuff of dreams. Hundreds of boxes of old soul records available for purchase of approximately 1p per record. The sheer number of copies of items like the Hesitations, Younghearts, and Soul Twins (500 of each) is impressive enough but they were already featuring on playlists at the time. Even more impressive is the list of items that were then unknown but would go on to grace decks for years to come, one of which was the Velours. I'm sure there are many other examples of discoveries that first saw the light of day at WV2 but the ravages of time have limited the potential to tell the full story. However, what we can say is that 'Where the sounds begin' was not an idle boast.

Mike Raven was the main DJ at the Catacombs' opening night, November 23rd, 1968.

Why When Love Has Gone: the first record that I recognised as being different to the pop music I'd been exposed to up to that point.

Interesting picture of musical taste and trends in 1976. People behind Stafford often referred to an idea that they were reclaiming an idea of northern soul that had been lost. I used to think that was rather a grandiose statement but I can see what they meant by it.