Barry

Yes but Spider, regional views and fashion should have little to do with understanding what is a qaulity soul production. There are massive, and I mean Massive for me anyhow, records that have only been brought to my attention of late. Am I wrong in feeling a little hard done by - given that I rely, and always have done (as I have had no other option, being that I am what would be classed as a follower] - by the movers and shakers on this scene? Don't get me wrong, I have had sooooo many records brought to my attention by the aforementioned m&s, I have also been sold some crock.....while all the time there have been killer cuts waiting in the wings. Devils advocate, nothing more.

Just to hi-jack a bit but I remember me, Rich and Duncan (The Three Sullies) getting the 4.20 to Euston, on the way to the 100's Club (about '84 maybe, somebody'll correct me) and reading in Black Echoes that 'The Man' had turned off Jackie's life support system (Something to do if I remember correctly with wranglings over the deciding 1% ownership of Brunswick records - this may be one of my urban Soul myths, but hey). We were playing flyer tennis in 1st class going through Rugby I think, at the time and I spilled my tin of Labatts and started to mop it up with this toffee bag I found on the table....it started to fizz up like yellow sherbert...whence I realised it was our bag of Dexy's that I had foolishly used as a dish-cloth. Anyway, amidst this, I remember getting all schoolboy emotional about the wrongness of all this, as you do....then getting off at Euston, hiding our toffee bag in one of the garden squares opposite Euston TS and then exiting the 100's Club in the morning and forgetting which square we left them in. This happened every 100's Club journey btw. Good times, sad times...both of which sat either side of a belting excursion to a Nighter or a nightmare of a lift home from some irrelevant other. (Or Brian Rae....each lift courtesy of Brian was a story alone.) Anyone remember Cliff White? One of Bri's mate's, compiler for Charly Records - I used to stay at Cliffs prior to the early 100's Club outings - his missus was a white witch. Fantastic cork filled walls in his houser retro 60's plastic couches and floor to ceiling 7" racks. A la Brian though, terrible jumpers.

Being a dancefloor beast, a Beta, a follower, a kid. It seems I have always been a victim of my working class roots; not much cash, struggling to attend Nighters that were a bus ride, two train journeys, a good walk and a weeks money away. Now I'm old enough to understand that the NS scene has always been a time and a place, dancefloor side, punter led. But the amount of obviously fantastic tracks that have become major dancefloor fillers (say over the last 5/10 years....tracks that I would understand that collectors [dj's, older more experienced Soulies than myself] would have been aware of in the mid 80's for example), that have taken 25 odd years to get played to the scene is ridiculous. I'll compress my view: I struggle to comprehend that the amount of obvious NS dancefloor killers that have never seen the light of day over the years have recently been aired - given that I would think that they were always there and that people, jocks, collectors, were aware of them. Again, I understand that the scene has always been dictated to by it's to's and fro's, it's social postioning, it's cyclical movements etc....but there are certain records that were never played out at Nighter level but have been known, until recently. How? (Does that make sense, if not please come back at me.)

Shame on you! Nobody has answered the question. Stop reading these sad forays of mine and utilisiing them as a forum to quote 'clever' musical quotations relevant to yourselves - it's lovely to read for me, yes, but answer the question. It's not hard. I truly believe that there are good and bad productions in every named sphere of music....how many posts have you read on forums such as this whereby a given person believes that a certain track is a paltry one, not worthy of the note it is given on the scene? Flip backward to their school years - it may be a punk track, new romantic or a plain pop track that they at heart, love. At what point does accepting personally that a non-Northern Soul track has made an impression on yourself (your youth, your life) become a vehement denial of other forms of music? Judy Street - deemed overplayed and cheesey - not cool. The Clash - Rock The Casbah - a truly fantastic moment in time...musically. As Harry Hill would say on 'The Burp'... "FIIIIIIGHT!"

Not as easy a question as it first appears as, which one person is able to deem a track worthy of the 'Northern Soul' mantle? No one person can deem a track as such obviously as the masses on the floor have always made a track worthy of being called a 'NS' track - the dancefloor has always dictated. The majority swings things generally, elections, Big Brother etc. Therefore the term 'Northern Soul' and the huge volume of musical history behind it must be a democratic based term, no? Bringing about the question: Are people who spend their life banging on about one given area of NS (60's, &0's, Modern, whatever) clueless?

It's a subjective thing yes, you're prob right in that instance.

Mate, I'm made up with that addition - where did you get it from? It's the first time I've had some confirmation on that old Blackbeat tit-bit.

If you listen it has the worst cut in the edit I've ever heard - a close second comes Patrice Rushen's - 'Haven't You Heard' 7" edit - unbelievably bad. For me the plain white demo is the most desirable and appealing of the GSH releases. The best looking coloured vinyl, seeing as you've took me there, is Brainstorm's - 'LIRMG', the deep red/orange vinyl plays of the orange Tabu label so well. 'Coloured vinyl and Soul'? Mmmmmm - don't worry I won't open a thread.

That's very 'Enterprising' Cunnie.

Off at a tangient here but to quote but a few examples of Modern tracks where, to me, the 7" original edit is better than the, in most cases, poorly extended 12" versions. I say 'poorly extended' as indie 12" extended versions tend to simply straight cut edit the track [repeat the previous 8 bars], they don't tend to do a Shep Pettibone on tracks. Yet strangely the 12"s tend to command a premium, maybe due to their 'scarcity' and the recent interest from the Disco fellows. Alfie Davidson, King Tutt, Curtis to name a few of the more popular all are more complete edit-wise in their original 7" form. This view doesn't apply, to me that is, regarding every 12" version - Eddie Holman, Greg Perry, Skip Mahoney for eg. all work better in their longer edited formats (looking at that last sentence, two of them were Salsoul tracks, a label with the money to pay for quality, re-worked by savvy engineers, Thom Moulton etc but you get me drift.) Edits can make or ruin a track - look at that awful 'The Bottle (drunken mix) edit for example. The only reason I love 12"'s is for the response you get over a system from them, but I will forever be happy with my KT 7" (even with it's poor response) over the rather annoying extended version. Am I rattling again?

Any excuse Malc. We could take before and after charcoal sketches and flog 'em at events. We should push the 'after' demolition sketches if we do (less charcoal, more profit). Stick wi' me son.

Group night out Malc?

Just a quickie, a cryptic one though, the final off-beat horn crescendo to AOTR has strangely been utilised on a Granada Xmas advert of late.

Every time a King Tutt thread comes up I have, over the years, posted this possibly dull point of (possible) interest, but anyway here we go again: I remember an interview in one of the old fanzines (Poss Blackbeat) with him (seeing as I've met you, would you mind if I called you 'King') and apparently KT was Jimmy Bo Hornes drummer and had no recollection of recording 'YGMHU', I would think due to his skunk fixation - I may have made that last bit up but what else could it have been? Only track I remember being played at Wigan that I actually realised played in stereo on the Cas speakers.

Now there's no wrong answer to this question, so don't worry. But. To understand fully anything....be it in your social life, your work life or in any sphere that you as a human being need to take on....you need to generally have to take on board other factors that go to make up your views on the afore-mentioned, things that you may not, at first, agree with or understand but after a while, as you grow (mature), these once irrelevant factors go toward helping you formulate a (your) view on matters, yes? If you follow the above statement, as regards things in your life other than music (Northern), then I feel that you should try to relate this formula to your musical views. I'll butt out here as I am in danger of sounding like a Miss World contestant's "All I want is World peace" statement. I apologise for my postings here, I am getting no feedback from the board right now (no wonder Baz, it's late) and at that (this) point I generally begin ranting (like now). So I'll leave it there.

Quo Vadis!

While I'm on it, Brian Rae's innards have been featured on at least four episodes of 'Time Team' - Tony Robinson has found one of Bri's kidneys under Ham Hall in London and another buried beneath Dave Evisons LI 150 (unearthed under a medieval kiln in Stoke). Brian Rae's offal has historically been found to be the only substance that scientist's have been oficially unable to carbon date. No, honestly.

Firstly: What a fantastic question! - I so chuckled. Secondly: Berry Gordy was the Bill Gates of his time. And without either of them lads we'd have f*** all to talk about right haere, right now - and to ad to that, nowt to talk about it upon. Ha ha.

Sam! (Derek Acorah's mate that is!) It's a little known fact that his (Sam's) rendition of 'Indian Giver' complete with puff smoke percussion was the initial recording of this classic)

Some blinders there lads, I was gutted that me Temaze had kicked in and I had to leave the tread where I did last night. You could go on forever - please do.

there's only one answer to that question. "No! Tena-Lady!"

I love to be informed about the input that artists/groups obviously must have had in other stable/label -mates productions mate - nice post.

Bookies - 'Ten To One' Car Booters - 'Packin' Up' Masochists - 'Hurt' Gamblers - I Don't Like To Lose' The Invisible Man - 'I'm Gone' Suicide cases - 'No Second Chance' Suicide Bombers - 'Come See What's Left Of Me' Insomniacs - 'Sleepless Nights' Agrophobics - 'The Outside World' Paranoid Schizophrenics - 'Suspicion' Rectal fixators - 'What's That On Your Finger' Mutes - 'You Didn't Say A Word' Chocolate Lovers - 'Breakaway' Christopher Reeve - The Abseiling Years - 'Catch Me I'm Falling' Jeremy Beadle - 'Lend A Hand' Pyromaniacs - 'My World Is On Fire' Opticians - 'Looky Looky' Voyeurs - 'I Can See Him Making Love To You' Roy Keane - 'I Walked Away' Robinson Crusoe - 'Washed Ashore' Parkinsonian cases - 'Can't Get Over These....errrr!'

Informative post for me mate, didn't know owt about it. But if Will 'Sodding' Smith gets the lead, I'm off. Odds? Who do you think should carry the can yourself?

Ha ha, tell it like it is mate, don't hold back. I do find it amazing, given what you could buy with that money, that someone obviously has that deep a love for that track to lash that amount out for it. But love it they do, and you can't knock 'em for it, after all that kind of madness is what this scene is based on.