Sweeney

Without wishing to sound like an apologist for the American Recording Industry circa 1960-69 I would imagine the record company in this instance was acting within the law and had the perfect right to release any material recorded at their (usually considerable) expense. That's why artists sign a contract with the record company. It occurs to me that artists aren't usually the best judge of right and wrong with regard to their old recordings. As has been pointed out previously, any monies owed on record sales (if any) have been usually fully paid up long ago. Publishing/Performing/Mechanicals is obviously a very different kettle of fish. Just because us daft gits over here still religiously play and collect these mostly unsuccessful curios from a different age it doesn't necessarily follow that there's a pot of gold waiting at the end of the rainbow for the poor artist no matter how much we wish there were.

Look at post #41 in this topic and be surprised no more...

Since it hasn't been mentioned The Drifter - Ray Pollard. The whole premise of the song - a man unable to cope with the death of his true love and his subsequent descent into homelessness is as gut wrenching as it gets. Any song with the lines: "I wasn't always down once I had a love by my side a love so strong that money couldn't buy but heaven called and took her away out of my arms and left me to wander" has to take the prize for gut wrenching lyrics.

I would use my Euro windfall to buy up all known copies of George Lemons' Fascinating Girl. And have them recycled into traffic cones.

Tried So Hard to Please Her - the knight brothers - mercury 11421 refosoul

Interesting... Also interesting to see the legendary Tommy Hunt on MySpace!

They did indeed! Strange but true! following link tells the story... Joy Division v Northern Soul

Of course, you'd NEVER get inferior records played on the Northern Scene. You could argue that Crossover is an antidote to the mindless stompers, overpriced crocks, tedious instrumentals and white pop drivel that taints the Northern Soul scene. Each to his own...

I Want My Baby Back - the ethics - vent 11297 refosoul The amount of times I've passed this over in sales boxes. Very Nice!

Jock I think these are the same Soul Twins on Karen. Label credits seem to indicate a licensed product. They later became Gas & The Funk Factory and cut the fantastic "The Goodnight Song" on Brunswick. If you like Mr Independent, you'll like this too.

I think it's far too easy to underestimate the contribution of Smokey Robinson. Is he a great soul singer? I truly believe he is. Different in style to the James Carrs and Bobby Womacks of this world, but the plaintive pleading vocal stylings on say 'More Love' or 'Way Over There' or 'The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage' are IMHO every bit as soulful in the way they portray deep emotion. Add to the mix that he was responsible for composing some of the finest songs ever written, American or otherwise and it's a no-brainer. Truly a legend. Sometimes in the world of Rare Soul we lose sight of the obvious when we champion the obscure. Most of the multi-hundred/thousand pound records we chase after like nutters were more likely than not inspired by the work of Smokey. Most of them fail miserably to emulate the sheer erudite beauty of his best work Dusty Springfield was a reasonably talented vocalist, but was hardly original or mould-breaking in anything she did.

I agree with the main thrust of the sentiments Dave Thorley has expressed. Did I think that back in 1981 when I attended an all-nighter for the first time that it would be more or less the same a quarter of a century later? No, I certainly didn't. In some ways I'm shocked that it's changed so little, paradoxically, I'm reassured that it hasn't changed that much. Go figure! Welcome to middle age, I suppose. I thought that Black America would continue to produce innovative, exciting and thought-provoking dance-based music for the rest of my time on the planet. It has, broadly speaking, but very little (if any of it) will now get played at a Northern/Rare Soul night. Why is this? Has Black America failed to live up to our stringent standards, or have we just become immune to it's peculiar charms, preferring records that were made 40-odd years ago? Is it too late? are we, as miserable old gits too innately conservative to embrace a new definition of a Northern Soul scene? Should anyone over the age of 40 be banned from attending All-Nighters? Should comfier chairs and endless supplies of free Werthers Originals be made available at venues? Discuss.

A quality bit of early soul. Thanks for posting it up.

I agree. One of the reasons I stopped selling on Ebay was the fact that people were beginning to return records for no good reason and threatening to neg you if they didn't get a refund. I think people regard it as a normal shop rather than an auction site. I could understand there being a cause for a refund if the goods weren't described accurately or were faulty/damaged, but in one case, the bloke had apparently 'spent too much on records that month' and wanted his money back! He also returned the records (about £250 worth) by normal post without insurance or tracking!

I think you left off the irony smiley. At least I hope you did.

Who's to say that Coronation Street isn't "Soul".

It seems my original post HAS promoted discussion. You talk of treating like with like - how am I meant to respond when you describe my honestly held opinion as being 'silly' and 'blinkered'. Is this not directly comparable to the arrogance you ascribe to me? I wasn't aware that I was breaching forum etiquette by expressing an opinion and certainly wasn't trying to disrespect the Topic originator as you claim. If my economy of words was misconstrued as rudeness, I apologize to SteveA unreservedly. You're also putting words into the topic originator's mouth. He doesn't even mention the 'S' word. He was asking us what we thought of a particular track by an artist. I gave my very humble opinion, which is not to my knowledge part of some imaginary "company line" you allude to. It's an OK Pop record which uses techniques appropriated from black musical forms, as 'Rehab' does, but has little or nothing to do with the reason that we're here – which is the discussion of Rare Soul. Christina Aguilera is not a soul artist (IMHO, obviously). If you put a cat in a stable, it doesn't become a horse. Anyway Pete is right. It's just a pop record after all.

Why the personal insults? I pointed out in my initial post that I didn't regard the Christina Aguilera track as a soul record. In return I get called silly, blinkered and self-inflated by you. Surely the point of this forum is to discuss things pertaining to Soul music rationally (and hopefully) without childish name-calling. You have a different opinion of this record to me - fine. I respect your opinion. You seem not to respect mine. It's a reasonably accomplished pop record we're talking about - not a cure for cancer.

Oh dear! I was labouring under the misapprehension that I DID have the monopoly on the definition of soul. I'll have to go and find the nice man that sold it to me and ask for my money back. Thanks for pointing that out.

I have a very expensive and beautiful system for playing back recordings both on vinyl and compact disc. However I would say: IT'S WHAT'S IN THE GROOVES THAT COUNTS! Berry Gordy was right.

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"Verify" what exactly? Buy some Gospel or Soul records instead. You know it makes sense. She's not a bad singer, but this should be in the "freebasing section". It ain't soul.

As a matter of interest, John (or anyone else) – is the promo more readily available than the issue? I've personally seen more demos than issues for sale down the years.

Fair enough! 1st Northern Soul Battallion. Advance! Take no prisoners!

I can understand your concerns, but folk are entitled to their opinions. If we all thought the same, record prices would be even higher. If they don't get it, fine. We here (mostly) do. Let's celebrate the positive and not concern ourselves with those that don't see it. Wading in isn't going to change their views.