Barry

You can't knock people for taking a little pride and time when they are designing their flyers surely? I once produced an 'anti-flyer' for one of our events and it had the correct effect when handing them out to the masses in a heaving and messy 'Powerhouse' crowd at Southport Weekender. If you stick a 'normal' flyer into peoples hands, they tend to stick 'em in their arse pocket without further ado. 'Anti-flyers' (so named due to the fact that the imagery upon such is that daft that no one would expect anyone to pay for 10,000 flyers with such an odd image thereupon) have a greater effect. Here is the image we used on the front of that particular 'anti-flyer' - some of you may recognise Deano (on the right) from the Northern scene over the years:

I put a lad from Chicago on at one of our do's, Rahaan, and that track hurt him. As did the plethora of other indies that I devilishly subjected his ass to. When I first heard it at Wigan I spent ages trying to track down a track called 'Aloowicky'.

Anyone?

A Searling play at Wigan for me. Just to add that to play it from the album will do your dancefloor no favours, beautiful track yet awful response.

From the drumstick click opening to the rolling piano drop and funk geetar lick, a stone cold, stay still to this, killer. 'Listen to my heartbeat, just listen to my heartbeat - BUMBUMBUMBUMBUM -BUMBUMBUM - BUMBUM!' Livin' it right now.

666. Bazza. From one Saint to another, why didn't you inform me that Pimbletts went bust man? The thought of never holding a Pimmies meat and prater twixt my digits have kept me awake at night. F*ck the motor industry, Barratts and Lloyds Bank but don't take away my Pimbletts. It was them new fangled sliding doors that did it, I tell you.

It is difficult for one such as I, not overly active on the current Nighter scene these days, to have a take on todays scene as is. I'd have thought what with this Interent malarky and all the opinions that I am allowed to view because of it that I should find it easy to see the overall view, but I have found that my understanding just gets muddied somewhat by this. Anyway. Are there people, and nighters, out there that accept a wide span of music, era's and styles in the way that Wigan, it's dj's and its punters did. Or, has the internet become a bit of a wart on the finger of Northern by giving a forum to secular groups that, quite rightly - freedom of speech an' all that - feel the need to shout from the mountain tops that if 'this' and 'that' don't get played, then it's just not Northern. Soul terrorism, a truth?

Again, what then is Northern Soul? If it is to be judged, as it should be, by what is played - and danced to - within the sphere of a designated All Nighter, then the term NS should be allocated to an ever moving take on the music taken on board by the dancefloor, as deemed by the lads (DJ's) that follow the ever changing sound that the dancers have required. The punter has always deemed what has been played. The lads that take the mantle of DJ, simply refelect the present state by their playlists of what is required by the punter. Certain sounds and styles will always take prescedent - on the flip certsin styles will always take a back-seat. Music, like fashion, is cyclical. The majority will eventually look for a progression. 'Progression' is a dodgy word to use, as it may read in a manner that could be read as 'newer sounds', which I don't mean it to - we all have a hankering to learn, to be played different sounds - to progress. I'm tying myself up here, so I'll stop before I sound any more ridiculous. The bottom line is, the lads that have carried the mantle of 'DJ' over the years have done little more than accomodate the majority of the dancefloor - putting your neck on the line week in, week out is bound to bring negative responses. They simply kept their eye on the scene's ball for the dancefloors sake, for your sake, for Northern's sake if you will. Name me a bloke that has djed on this scene that has done more harm than good? There isn't one.

It's a course of action that I was waiting for them to take. We all know the bravado that comfort brings within a scene, they spend a few years on it, get to know a few people, enjoy their time. But, it is a great moment when youth breaks out of it's cocoon and goes in search for itself. These people did. And that proved a lot to me. There are many that just sit and enjoy their little moment on a scene without seeking answers, nowt wrong with that in reality - but what a joy when something inside makes people follow something, without knowing what it really is they are following.

All this Soul shit aside, I was most upset when the series was cut. Tenafly was the boy. Just prior to S&H I think.

Nice one Monster.

I'm sure I've posted this before but seeing as it has just popped into my head and can't remember if it's tru or not, I'll stick it down again. When I was a kid there was a US cop/detective series that I loved called 'Tenafly', played by James McEachin. I'm sure I read in a Blackbeat or Echoes or the like somewhere that James McEachin's recording pseudonym was James Mack of 'My World Is On Fire' fame. Anyone?

The Kings Arms, yes mate. I'm getting a tad misty eyed here but the Pier nighter was musically positioned (mid eighties, which coincided with large attendances at Soul and Funk venues) for so much more, at the time anyhow, current (modern) stuff to get played and be accepted more readily than previous nighters. Alexander O Neal - 'What's Missing', Luther's - 'I'll Let You Slide', The Dells - 'Don't Want Nobody' etc etc - but on the flip you'd still have a full floor to Roscoe & Friends - 'Broadway Sissy' Or a Vibrations track. Morecambe had a sassy, clued up crowd that were out to enjoy their soul music. I may have my rose tinted specs on but there seemd to be very little, in comparison, politics at that time.

It was busy I believe and the girls enjoyed their night Bazza - I set them a task to seek you out...but apparently you were always on the stage. Looking at the state of 'em when they got in, I think it was a good move on your part.

Picking up on the comment that certain tracks may have got maybe only a couple of airings and didn't 'stick'. All that says to me was the lads where so aware of the huge amount of relevant and playable releases at the time that were at their disposal, that their excitement at having such a plethora of quality releases to play each week deemed that policy necessary. Put yourself in their place, it must have been a fecking blast having what they did each week in their armoury.

Understood Dave, and you're quite right. It is difficult for me sometimes and I do have to scrape the barrel question-wise, as I think on me feet when I'm on here. I guess I'm just lonely.

Malc where are you? Once again I've spent three hours on here attempting to prise a reply from someone, unsuccesfully. So, seeing as I've just drained me last drop of Shiraz (Oops did I say that out loud?), I'm off to bed, once again defeated by this deafening wall of silence. Night.

...then it isn't a problem. I can, up to about five grand that is, understand a person digging deep for a track. But beyond that, I do believe that you are either mad, or you are sending out a bit of a statement that goes beyond the actual need to own whatever piece of vinyl that you have spent what I see as a ridiculous amount on. Now I know, as I've said, if you can afford it it's not a problem. But does having enough money to enable you to make your dreams come true mean anything to us poor bastards that can't? Are you more of a Soulie than us poor feckers that scrimp? Not that I'm jealous or owt!

The more that are added, the more it becomes apparent.

After reading the description of what the bootleg is meant to look like in the 'Soul Detective' section of the Essential Northern Soul Guide, I'm still a little hazy. I remebered that I had a copy that I had always considered a boot, as I bought it when I was a kid, in my shit box (a term I used as a kid I must add) in the loft and after reading about it went and dug it out. Now, if I'm honest, what I've got here has to be a boot, it just screams it and I'm quite sure what I have hers is. But, what I read in the EG, doesn't really put my mind at rest. What should I be looking for in an original copy of Gwen & Ray?

...and simply as the people I am about to speak of are (younger) people that have kind of been introduced into soul music through Southport Weekenders, a clubbing youth and the fact that they have been surrounded by owd bastards during their initiation but.... ...over the last 12 months I have noticed a wonderful change, if it is such, in them. The 'change' I talk of is one that has taken them to a stage whereby, with no peer-pressure at all, to take an interest in the NS scene. For example this weekend Tina, ex-Geordie, SP veteran and her mate Jude (drug free and normal) are going to Lowton with my missus Gill, Gill being fairly well up on the scene for a young lass, for no other reason than they have obviously been intrigued by it. These are girls all in their twenties btw. This scenario I have observed quite often recently, lads and lasses. Is this proof that the Soulful House scene has become over-commercialised? Is it proof that certain individuals who maybe don't hold a great deal of 'knowledge' as such, still understand that there is a certain cut off point when it comes to over-comerciallising a scene? Also is it proof that the SH scene, being an introduction for many youngsters to independant black music these days. has ultimatley been a positive for the Northern Scene? And, does it prove that (as, on the whole, the youngsters that I have noticed that who have gained an interest in the NS scene of late are not real vinyl-purchasers, fact-finders - for want of a better description, anoraks) there is a certain beauty in just being happy listening and dancing to this great music without all the strings that we have attached to us? The lure is there at present, there appears to me to be a certain dis-harmony with what is the 'Soulful House' scene presently, that is showing itself with these fantastic random acts of interest. Promoters take note - the second phase is out there.

Keith Brady playing, was it, 'The Starlight Room' when you first walked in. Gibbons' whole family, Gran, nephews etc working everything from the cloakroom to serving tea. Janice Thorpe (ex-Wigan stomper) from Leigh, still stomping (8 months pregnant) on the little dancefloor toward the back. The night when the skinheads kicked off outside. The big old pub over the road from the Pier, what was it called, where we all used to meet up. I could go on but I'll spare you it. Great memories of a wonderful time and place.

I think the listings provided have to some degree put the record straight with the always colourful ill yet thought out attacks on The Mecca's input. I feel I must cast my critical eye over the 'soulful disco' term though. It's a tough one this in reality as I would think that the term 'Disco' generally brings up, as it should, thoughts of Chic, EWF, Jackie Moore etc....you know major label releases that brought that sound to the masses and that most of us, young or old would associate with the 'Disco' media tag. 'Disco' became a dirty word within the US 'musical fraternity', as we know with the stadium vinyl burning episode and the like - it sadly became a bit of a vent for many things socially at that time with certain people. Against this, the 'Disco' sound originated over a period of years by a natural progression of an 'in' sound by smaller independant groups, producers and song-writers, formulated a sound that was attractive to the masses at that time, therefore obviously attracting attention from the major labels and it's producers and ultimatley became what would be deemed a commercialised sound that was bastardised to f*ck for the Yankee Dollar. On the back of this though, how can the mid 70's releases that were responsible for formulating that sound, a sound that was prior to the term 'Disco' as is/was being coined, be called in any form 'Disco' - unless it is in a manner to demean these releases by association? I know at heart that it could be deemed light hearted banter but I do feel that screamingly soulful 70's all-nighter soul tends to get tarred with a brush wielded generally by people that should know better. And to save me starting another odd-ball thread, you know the old 'If a tree falls in a forst but there is no one there to hear it fall. Does it make a noise?' addage. Could we relate this to the ownership of vinyl? Think about it.

Upon reflection, the way that I worded that question does make it a bit of a non question. Fair do's.

Accept the fact that you alone, singularly, know that your view on this music is correct? Think before you answer now.