harpo1

Any good ones...its far easier to just say there wer'nt many bad ones, i have 7/8 salsoul cd compilations its a veritable history of dance music for the last 25 years, so many have be sampled and /or plagerised........and thats 'cause they were so good....if i'm honest too good for my developing tastes at the time...the years have given me today the abilioty to see just how good they were...and still are!!

Ca-the-drals was very early, with a pat lundy track on the other side with a different lable, check it out Dave i'm sure Marc and Dawn have my old copy. First 2 uk 12" i bought were t connection and Garnett Mimms around 75/76 Harpo on the Tom Moulton interview he talks about cutting a Don Downing track on an lp blank as they hsad no 7" available and being knocked out by the sound quality...that must have somebearing????????

Thanks for your replies so far 1/ Paddy Jennings was only on about you to Swoz and Smokey on two seperate occasions this week, is Mary OK?? Great times eh!, we did some miles with youre equipment being used by Pep and i at the Vic plus Alan atLoughborough, Whitchurch, Burntwood etc... You need to pop out and see us all ASAP, bring Aggie if you can find him, ill send my address , phone number etc 2/ Ted, Yes you followed me. which i think you'll agree was , even with your stuff, an unenviable task in those days, you started with playing the felt turntable mat, totally missing the run in groove on Lady in Green, good on you mate keep on keepin' on, the last of us still doing a bit. 3/ Platters, The gentleman you refer to was my old school oppo and later 'best man' Mac Pitt, a rare visitor to the scene these days, never saw it the same when his eye grew back and he had to return the glass one!! believe me its even worse finding it at the bottom of your pint!! 4/ Mark, Yeah it was something special eh! musically having two distinctive yet both as successful periods, in 82-83 without a doubt we were untouchable, and solely flew the flag for rare' 60's newies and modern in that period from the Casino to TOTW, then 86-88 saw an accent slightly more on oldies plus current stuff and was in numbers possibly even more successful and responsible for the return of of many many faces to the midlands scene most of them still out and about today. As for the modern stuff, yes that man was me, it was nice to think that the records i played there, although in many cases played in the last years say Wigan, they never got the reaction that others did at the time, Prince Phillip Mitchell, Alfie Davidson, Charles Johnson and Lew Kirton all going on to become the 'standards' on the modern scene we had Doug Parkinson first plus a wealth of current releases and reactivated 70's sounds Bill Harris Celeste Hardie etc...etc... Chris Plant had the biggest 60's newies and rareties as did Mick Holdsworth, with Neil Rushton using his experience to tease the old faces back on the floor...the guests , and we had 'em all driving it on towards my last hour always bringing it to a creschendo. until Darrell Banks, i'm the one who loves you bought t all to an end for another month. YEAH GREAT TIMES !! STILL REMEMBERED WITH GREAT AFFECTION BY SO MANY PEOPLE I MEET ON MY TRAVELS ON BEHALF OF ALL INVOLVED THANKS TO EVERYONE OF YOU, YOU MADE IT WHAT IT WAS........... Thankyou!!

Harpo here this June sees the 25th Anniversary of the 82-84 'rare soul' nights that were the lifeblood of the newies and rare scene in between Wigan and Stafford. We are holding a night on fri 8th June featuring the orig line up of myself. Chris Plant Neil Rushton and Mick Noldsworth. I would like too produce some complimentary info. packs to be given to those who attend, so any scans of flyers or photos would be nice, as all mine have got lost over the intervining years......................thankyou!!

Lets be brutally honest there isn't a venue that hasn't had its share of shite played, and its a matter of personal taste, without getting to personal i have many hates that rate highly on most persons top sounds list, asi'm sure we all do. The sad and most critical point i find is that as the two factions split in 76, we saw yhe 'Wigan' camp head down the road to playing anything with a dance beat, irrespective of it being soul, with 60's white pop, tv themes etc...all seemingly being ok. The 'Mecca' crowds tastes were pushed further and further towards either disco or jazz funk,The result was the great chunk of new soul releases inbetween were mostly missed until the 'modern' scene was kick started in 79'ish..that accounts for the sheer amount of brilliant things played one after another in the early modern years. So yes i know there were shit things played everywher, others were of their time . and although great then, should never ever see the light of day again, but again, once more to individual tase , they constantly do!!!! And then there's this so called RnB 60'S scene.......no.............perhaps i'd better not go there eh! MNy only criteria is soulfull and in most cases danceable, although we all love the killer slowies that leave you speechless now and then. So looking at the above spec. i ccould easily find a fair few undesirable pieces opf what i think are bollocks at every venue, and from every period or influential venue, but its alla matter of personal taste. Blackpool on the whole was brilliant , but that new stuffs always been my bag, and 70's soul my personal fave stuff, so for me its a winner Oh! and finally Ca-the-drals still love it !!!!! Harpo

JOHNNY. STOP THINKIN bout it too hard n answer the man