Ian Dewhirst

Good thinking Mikey. I'll pass to our hotshot Radio promotion guy.... Ian D

Also the Ourscreen route, https://www.ourscreen.com/, seems to be working pretty well too. This was posted on Facebook last night, courtesy of the good Derek Smiley, Georgina Archdeacon and Karen Janes in Cambridge:- From Ourscreen:- "Congratulations!!!! Your screening is now sold out. You're the first in the history of Ourscreen to sell out a private screening. We were wondering if you knew many more people who would like to attend your screening? Because we may have the possibility to get a bigger screen (screen 1 - 236 seats)" The power of positive action! Ian D

Actually I'm getting quite a few PMs and Facebook messages regarding people wanting to show the film in their areas. Anyone who is in this position and knows there will be a strong demand should PM me and I'll give 'em contact details as to how to proceed. Cheers, Ian D

The sweetest sight I've seen for a long time! Northern Soul mixing it with the big boys! Lw Posn Posn Title Artist 2 1 KEEP CALM AND CHILLOUT VARIOUS ARTISTS 1 2 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 88 VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 3 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL DRIVE VARIOUS ARTISTS 4 4 FROZEN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 3 5 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL CLUB HITS 2014 VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 6 THE NOUGHTIES VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 7 SONGBIRD VARIOUS ARTISTS 5 8 IBIZA - THE ALBUM VARIOUS ARTISTS 7 9 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 1 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK NEW 10 NORTHERN SOUL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK NEW 11 ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC - EUPHORIA 2014 VARIOUS ARTISTS 6 12 SUPERSTAR DJS - VOL 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS 9 13 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL CHILLED VARIOUS ARTISTS 8 14 THE GRANDMASTER FLASH COLLECTION VARIOUS ARTISTS 10 15 THE HOUSE THAT GARAGE BUILT VARIOUS ARTISTS 13 16 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL 21ST CENTURY VARIOUS ARTISTS 12 17 KISSTORY 2014 - THE BEST OLD SKOOL VARIOUS ARTISTS 11 18 MADE IN SCOTLAND VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 19 MINISTRY OF SOUND PTS THE RUNNING BUG 2 VARIOUS ARTISTS 14 20 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL SUMMER VARIOUS ARTISTS Ian D

Will see what the updates are tomorrow as I'm sure there'll be an updated list following the weekend. Ian D

Sunday Evening 21/09/2014 19.38pm Well, we made it! Yes folks, 'Northern Soul: The Soundtrack' has entered the national UK compilation album chart @ a magnificent No.10! Congratulations to Elaine Constantine and everyone involved with the forthcoming film. This is a massive achievement considering that it's almost impossible to get into this chart without a huge TV advertising budget or without a firm commitment and campaign from the big supermarkets. But hey, a Top 10 album is a Top 10 album. We're off and running now! Roll on the film launch from 17/10/14! Thanks to everyone for supporting the soundtrack and film! Ian D

I kinda wish I'd gone on the Friday. Great as it was, I thought the Thursday show was their standard U.S. show which included some numbers that weren't as popular in the UK as they were in the U.S. They were great on Thursday but there were some significant omissions, some of which got included on the Friday night I believe. I thought they still had it vocally. Great group. Ian D

Bang on Greg. That's exactly what happened when I saw it with a bunch of friends and colleagues. Once you've recovered from the visceral sensory overload from hearing those tunes so perfectly aligned with that incredible imagery, you can then get into whether that Lou Pride was an original or not. It's quite an experience for anyone, but, as above, this film appealed to my colleagues who were not on the scene and were not into the music. And guess what? All of 'em want to see it again. I'm the biggest cynic out of all of us, so I deliberately held back from seeing the film until late on. I knew the music choices would be quality and I knew that Elaine was one of the few people who would be able to translate this era accurately and thank god she did. I'm hopefully gonna see it again shortly. Ian D

Soul Explosion was a U.S. RCA marketing initiative. Can't help you with the designer though..... https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AgkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=soul+explosion+rca+records&source=bl&ots=zPm8tU6VGi&sig=R4jN6lcnM0BsW1QYWZEbwyOwtzo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nm8dVNblMurd7QbWsoDICw&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=soul%20explosion%20rca%20records&f=false Ian D

Hi All, Just to cap a near perfect but very manic week, "Northern Soul: The Soundtrack" is incredibly still holding @ No.7 on the Friday midweek! Truly brilliant stuff! Lw Posn Posn Title 2 1 KEEP CALM AND CHILLOUT VARIOUS ARTISTS 1 2 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC 88 VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 3 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL DRIVE VARIOUS ARTISTS 4 4 FROZEN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 3 5 NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL CLUB HITS 2014 VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 6 THE NOUGHTIES VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 7 NORTHERN SOUL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK HARMLESS 5 8 IBIZA - THE ALBUM VARIOUS ARTISTS NEW 9 SONGBIRD VARIOUS ARTISTS 7 10 GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - AWESOME MIX 1 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK Let's hope it can hold over today and tomorrow! Ian D

Thanks Russell. Essentially the soundtrack is the advance guard for the film. We figured we were always gonna have a battle to get the film into public consciousness with no major marketing budgets so the soundtrack album coming 4 weeks before the film launches and hitting the Top 10 UK Compilation Chart, positions the film beautifully and is probably worth more than a £200K TV ad spend in my opinion. The general public will either get or they won't. Right now it looks like they're getting it big time. I was thinking earlier tonight, that the battles we're going through to get the film into as many cinemas as possible in the 3 day window before the DVD release, echoes the self-same problems that the Northern Soul records we all loved faced back then. So the uphill battles we're fighting everyday are completely appropriate for Northern Soul in general. But hey. These artists are now finding themselves in the UK National Top 10 Compilation Chart plus a killer film to follow. Whichever way you look at it, it's a pretty good validation of an incredible scene which many people admire. Ian D

Yep. It's the thin line between between legitimate promotion and the Wild West. I can live with it on this release 'cos this is confounding all expectations and turning into the fastest-selling release that I've ever been involved with. It's the real niche releases that will only do limited numbers that worry me. There's a little bit more latitude with a Top 10 UK album which is selling at this rate. We'll take support from everywhere right now. The job of the soundtrack release is to boost the film and we're kinda getting there touch wood... Ian D

Yeah, I saw that but typically didn't have time to listen. So not sure is the answer. We sent out double CD promos a couple of months back so maybe a journo got creative and uploaded it? I can live with You Tube promos, it's the illegal downloads I have the problem with. Mind you, strangely enough, this is also a huge digital seller too and in the I-tunes charts too. Looks like we're reaching a wide demographic market with this release. Mucho interest overseas too. Good spot Russell. Ian D

13/10/14 Steve. Ian

Well, an extraordinary week. As of today's mid-week chart, we're still mixing it with the big boys in the UK Compilation Top 10:- NEW 7 NORTHERN SOUL ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK HARMLESS We've just done some background checking and if we hold in the Top by next Monday, this will be the highest-charting none TV advertised Northern Soul CD ever! Ian D

Second that. That stall used to groan from the weight of those Broadways 7"s. The world has gone crazy.....this has always been a £1 record in my book. Ian D

Yep, the Sisters Love was deffo a Samantha's biggie and virtually a staple in many a playbox. There was a spate of Mowest action in that period with Frankie Valli and Thelma Houston's "I Ain't Going Nowhere" all pretty massive. I'm still waiting for the Bobby Taylor U.S. Mowest track to take off one day...... Ian D

I remember that period really well and can remember Ian breaking that tune first. No one could believe there was a new discovery on UK Verve. Well done you guys for finding that. Took me years to find one and by then no one was interested. I think the only place it was ever played was via Ian's gigs at the time. I miss these bold, brassy UK Northern releases. The UK production teams in the 60s were quite often better than their US counterparts at the time in my opinion. 'Deep Blue Train' is s real weird one. Props for finding it. Proper digging. Ian D

Actually I've been meaning to go visit him but I've been pretty submerged over the last few weeks. One of my labels is the Disco Recharge imprint which releases classy Disco/Hi-Nrg compilations and we've recently been repackaging and remastering much of Ian's back-catalog from Evelyn Thomas, Miquel Brown, James Wells and Barbara Pennington which are all selling very nicely for niche market releases. Here's most of 'em to date:- https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Dpopular&field-keywords=disco+recharge&sprefix=disco+recharge%2Cpopular%2C134 However, we're about to release two specific Ian Levine compilations which have been compiled by Simon White and which are both getting some great reaction and doing very nicely in the Amazon rankings:- 24 Hours A Day - Ian Levine - The Disco Years https://www.amazon.co.uk/DISCO-RECHARGE-HOURS-LEVINE-YEARS/dp/B00JYDGIYG/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1410883249&sr=1-1&keywords=disco+recharge Beating Faster - Ian Levine - The Hi-Nrg Years https://www.amazon.co.uk/DISCO-RECHARGE-BEATING-FASTER-LEVINE/dp/B00JYDGJ0E/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1410883249&sr=1-2&keywords=disco+recharge Both albums are currently both in the Top 10 Funk and Top 20 Disco Amazon charts which are the most lively positions he's seen for a few years I reckon. So I'm just waiting to get the finished copies in my hand and THEN I'll go see him! I'm pretty sure that will cheer him up some! Ian D

I'm trying to check the stats but as far as I can remember I don't think a Northern Soul album has charted at anywhere near this level on the first mid-week chart. Naturally there's a huge amount of pre-orders in that figure so it'll settle down over the next few days but I think we'll be in line for the highest-charting Northern Soul album ever with a bit of luck! Couldn't happen to a better project and sets things up beautifully for the film, which, as of today, is up to 53 screens I believe..... Ian D

Well I'm one happy bunny today. I've just achieved the highest mid-week chart entry of my 40 year career with the phenomenal "Northern Soul: The Soundtrack". Yes folks, we've smashed into the UK Top 40 Compilation first midweek chart @ an incredible No.6! In fact, due to an anomaly, we're in the Top 40 twice with the same album 'cos the digital version is No.40 too. The cumulative position actually makes us No.4 overall. We're surrounded by NOW albums lol. NEW ENTRY 6 NORTHERN SOUL - THE FILM VARIOUS ARTISTS HARMLESS An amazing start to an amazing film! The only thing I can say, is just go buy it! Soundtrack album of the year without a shadow of a doubt! Ian D

You had Sheila Anthony on Landa?????? Ian D

Glad you caught that. It actually made a change to not do scans on this one! Ian D

Wow. That's an early-doors delivery you got. And that editing on the Richard Searling interview actually took a further 2 grueling weeks but we think it made for a better visual experience rather that just a talking head. The Richard Searling interview is very much the cherry on the top of a particularly delicious cake I hope! Ian D

Exactly the same for me. It was pretty emotional. The Casino scenes are just incredible! Ian D