TheBigO

Well put Steve as usual you silver fox you x I hear a lot about Stafford etc but very little about what it was really like being part of the Sixties Newies movement of the time, or the Modern Scene. Stafford was hated by a large percentage of the scene wanting Oldies only, Guy and Keb banned from venues, the usual civil war and arguments on the way forward etc etc. If you read posts about Stafford now it gives the impression it was all great and rosey and there was no bitter in-fighting. I can tell you from experience it was hard to be in the 6Ts Mafia! As for todays scene the problem is we are older, have commitments, life gets in the way and the price of petrol etc makes it very prohibitive to travel from Thursday to Sunday in search of soul. Steve is right, a lot of the passion has gone from the majority, it's hardly an underground scene anymore when you can type the words NORTHERN SOUL into google and get several million hits!

and fun is what its all about today as most sounds are known, at least to someone, and I've lost count of records played at clubs or listed recently as cover-up or 'new discovery' that are old Stafford or Morecambe spins from the 80's etc. That said I have fallen foul to the devilish Big Jacko who handed me a toon to spin covered up at our local Sunday Nite Soul Session in Hitchin in the 80s, claiming it was a Guy Hennigan MONSTER that he'd got the night before at Stafford and I gave it the big intro, everybody waiting for the burst of a new Sixties Newie to send them into delirious dancefloor delight only to be greeted by the opening bars of 'The Birdie Song!' - cue much laughter and pints being thrown my way!!!! Total bastard lol but genius

I always liked the 70s LP track version that John Vincent used to spin at the end of the 70's/early 80's and whose name has completely escaped now that I'm typing!

Now thats a toon! Reminds me of Pyramid vocally, that deep tone which gets you by the balls and says LISTEN SUCKER! I'm going to have to dig thru the racks and get my old copy out gain, thanks Mark :-)

Barbara Lynn at Fleetwood (I think, memorys going) was a belter! Major Lance in Stoke in the 80's was another great one, he was and still is my hero, the first man I ever collected everything on with a religious zeal, walking from Burton to Stoke to see him and had the joy of meeting him at the venue after, chatting and sharing stories. He took time out and made me feel as though he was generally interested and happy to talk to me. A top man who didnt disappoint either in performance or person. Edwin Starr always at the top of the tree as far as I'm concerned too. ( 1Direction live at the O2 a few months back with my daughter was ........ I'll get my coat x)

Features on the CD just released No Boundaries compiled by Colin along with a shed load of other great TOOOOOOONS! Always loved this track, spun at the jazz rooms I've attended over the years in Camden too.

The Olivettes featured former Ikettes Frances Hodges and Sandra Harding (aka Sandy Harrell) who used to back Oliver Sain after Frances became pregnant. Not sure who the 3rd member was yet. Quick google search reveals that Sandy and Ann Olivette were background vocals on Fontella Bass songs whilst Oliver was arranging and playing on them so this may be the original line-up of the group. He did recruit local talent throughout the area to handle background vocals.

I remember thinking at the time that Robin's adulation of Soul Sam was going too far when he started to look and dress like him!!! I'll get my hat

I remember Robin spinning this at Stafford and making a dive for the decks to see what it was, not sure if he was the first to give it a push but he was certainly the man I associate with it - along with a load of other Modern TOONS at the time. Him, Soul Sam and Adam, to name but 3, completely changed my musical tastes and I embraced the newer soul sounds and 70's alongside Sixties newies etc. Never did convince Soul Sam that R&B was great though :-)

Well done Mike, excellent site, bringing you joy and ANGER in equal measures at times but really has helped keep the scene moving forward and informed. BTW do you still look like 'The Master' from the early Doctor Who series?? I'll get my hat x

Hi ya Tony, long time no see mate! I think I remember that night, no doubt it was the usual mickey taking that we from the Herts/Beds area are known for :-) On the video you can see me and Keb/Gary chatting about records on the stage whilst I'm wearing the very stylish look of black vest over white T, grey Bowies! Not many can carry that look off - I didn't EEEK! I also recall trying to my first cardiac arrest of the night whilst the great Adam was on, sprinting from the floor to the decks to write down the names etc.

Class act! "I'll Be Loving You" one of my top 3 of all time and still makes the tears fall, as we say down south TOOOOOON!

I'm sure it will be the usual memorable mix of fantastic music, people and good times with just a hint of bad singing, the odd 'Dad Dancing' ( you know who you are!) and overall fantastic day out for all. If you've not been before to experience the magic of the event then this is your last chance to do so!

Sorry Andy got the wrong end of the stick, thought it was an open invite!!! EEEEEEK lol

Have all the releases and all quality with a big Q! Fantastic job Ian, keep up the good work.

Have it on my player as I type - fantastic. Forgotten how great Mel & Tim sounds - awesome

Really looking forward to seeing this, I love Southern Soul and as a friend of mine in the States once said to me, "Southern Soul is the Truth baby!" I knew exactly what he meant!! The Ace releases are fantastic and the complete Stax Box sets that came out some years back are never far from my player!

Top album and label, theres some QUALITY TOOOOONS! being released at the moment.

I think they are waiting to get a release slot allocated, hoping to meet up with Elaine at a memorial night for Rob Kearney later this month so will ask. I've no doubt that she will have done the scene justice as everything I saw up at Kings Georges was spot on and well researched.

We are as one Pete on this mate, re: Manship. I think there are too many people happy to slag him off for the prices he achieves but at the end of the day his auctions start out at £1. I miss the days of writing for Beating Rhythm magazine and being censored by your fair hand :-P

That's the problem with collecting at the moment Pete, the crazy prices people are paying for what are average records at best. I recently watched an online doc featuring Keb and Snowboy and they were moaning about this very same thing on the Deep Funk scene, that many collectors are being priced out of the market because of this. I still hunt and collect but its getting harder to pick up the bigger items at sensible prices. As for Manship, hats off to him, he doesn't set the price at auction, its the buyers that determine what they will pay and sadly, as many have pointed out, some have more money than sense!! As for the record in question I sold my 2 copies a while back for £20 each.

Whilst we ran the Sunday Soul sessions at the Cranks Wine Bar and The Angels Reply in Hitchin and Letchworth we were often asked for records where the titles were completely wrong: a few were 'You've Got VD' (Bobby Valentine 'Bad Breath'; 'Skinhead In The Snow' (Invitations - Skin In The Snow') and my all time have, after almost 10 mins of arguing with the guy that the record simply didn't exist and getting him to sing it to me!, the immortal 'I've Got A car Load!' (Manifesto!!!) I pissed my pants laughing :-)) '

Not exactly on topic but the best 'eyebrow raising' lyric must come at the end of Jackie Wilsons 'I've Lost You' - comes at the end of the record as song: "I'm gonna kiss you in the morning where the sun don't shine" or at least that's what I've always heard it as. Top man!

Loving the black guy around 2 mins in with the red satin shirt with THE largest collars I've seen and bad hair do. Most of them look like they've stepped off a late 60's porno film - eer, not that I've watched anything like that

The Vibraharps were a NY group from Buffalo and were not the same group as the ones who recorded for Fury. That's about all the info I've found whilst trawling. I'm also trying to establish that Troy Keyes is also Danny aka Lenny O'Henry as I've a 4 Seasons freak who says this is so as its the 4 Seasons on backing for Across The Street. Gets weirder but as he appeared on these shores a little while ago I'm certain someone on here can confirm if he mentioned any of this! Update - seems he is also L.B.Wilson as he worked with Bob Crewe a lot in the 60's and also recorded as the High Keys.