Amsterdam Russ

Now that I like! Thanks for sharing, otherwise I might have missed that. Copies ordered.

Fair enough. Much like others on here, I got The Platters 45 down at the 100 Club. Heard it more often than Johnny Hampton because Ady was playing it there regularly prior to the anniversary 45 and the release of the Kent LP on which it appeared. Although a fabulous tune, I've never been so keen on the stereo mix, which - to these ears at least - make the track sound as if it was recorded in an empty concert hall. By contrast, Johnny Hampton I had on a boot - and on a cassette - and always thought the track sounded very muddy; although that's really down to the quality of the merchandise I had. In spite of that, the rawness, lack of polish and the sense of urgency in the vocal delivery make this a great record. If somehow you could blend the polish of The Platters with the more rough and ready sound of Johnny Hampton, then you'd have the perfect version - one that takes the best elements of both versions.

I like both and can't favour one over the other. Is there the possibility of having "I like them equally" as a third option rather than having to make a decision?

"I got eyes" is the flip to "I don't want to be without you".

Getting played at our club here in Amsterdam...

The most-liked photo for the month of April is this ice-tastic shot... Congratulations @wayoutgirl!

We have a three-way tie for the most-liked photos for the Month of March! The very worthy winners are... Congratulations @Soulfinger @soulandy & @Rick Cooper!!!

Blue sky - a rare treat. I'm just sorry the cherry blossom got in the way! Most-liked photos of the month... Had forgotten and so will do it a bit later. Sunset silhouettes...

Cherry blossom in the Amsterdam woods...

Yes, saw that. Thanks. I'll wait for the link to go live on Friday...

There's a typo in the actual url. It should be www.raresoulvinyl.co.uk Can't actually find the book on the site though. Have checked the "books" link at the bottom of the left-hand nav column, but it's not listed there. Is there an actual page for it?

I wouldn't worry about labels - they can be so terribly artificial. After all, when Sam Fletcher went into the recording studio he didn't go there with the intention of creating a Northern Soul or a Popcorn tune! While my three selections fit firmly into what might be classed as Northern Soul, Popcorn embraces just about anything that can be played - whether sped up or slowed down - with the desired tempo. That includes jazz grooves, exotica, and just about anything else you can think of. And if you can dance to it in the Popcorn style, then it's Popcorn! It's as simple as that.

The speed of the track is down to the DJ, but the point of Popcorn is to have tracks at roughly the same slowish/mid-tempo so that couples can dance to them in their relaxed "jive" style. There is a separate Northern Soul scene in Belgium, which seems to range from classics to modern soul. Leuven has a great night, but sadly that's just twice a year. @tlscapital might be willing to throw some more light on the subject of the soul scene in Belgium...

We had a Belgium meets Amsterdam night at our club last year. Cover-ups are still very much part of the Popcorn scene, just as it is with Northern...

Three popcorn faves from me...

Just for additional info, and in case you want to go searching for one - on the acetate of this, instead of "Baby sitter pt2", there's an absolutely cracking track from Turner that was never released.

The reissue is coming out on Colemine and has their name across the top of the label. There won't be any confusion about which release is first or second.

Hearing oldies is good for you On this big scene what shall we do? Back then you looked for tunes to claim Now you want the same again While in the past those sure were fun The search for new just ain't been done Oldies are great, I must agree But moving forward works for me Fifty years, we still are strong, But looking back is sometimes wrong You feel the soul and so do I And that is why it will not die.

Last CD I bought was this one and that was probably at least a year ago now. Bought a new iMac before Christmas last year. Apple, in their wisdom, chose to do away with the inbuilt CD/DVD drive. That means unless I buy a separate drive, I have nothing to play CDs on and nor can I upload them to iTunes, which is what I always did. Seems Apple would prefer their customers to download music via their own iTunes offering rather than allow us to have the option of playing something physical. As a result I can't see me buying any more CDs for the foreseeable future - not that I was a great buyer of them anyway.

Yup. I read what you said, and if I'd said it too you can be sure I would have pointed it out.

I'm pretty sure that's what I said five years ago in my post on the first page of this thread.

Some excellent spinning going on in 1943 Tibet...

Northern Soul dancing is so much more than the gymnastics: it has a style and form of its own. People have been performing acrobatic tricks for as long as mankind has been able to dance, so I wouldn't describe backdrops, splits, etc, as being unique to the scene. Here's a great bit of archive footage of 1959 Nigeria, which uncannily foreshadows breakdancing by a number of decades.

The proto Northern Soul scene.