Urban Youtube northern soul all-nighter

[Ground Elder]

If we're doing British northern releases, there's this, erm, oddity which got a few plays at the Twisted Wheel

 

[Ground Elder]

Can't afford a copy of Zu Zu Man? Try this instead

 

[blossie33]

Great story! On the subject of blue-eyed soul, here's Robert Plant (yes, that one) from 1967... no flowers and bells here!


I heard this on one of Ian Levine's Solid Soul Sensations Mixcloud shows, always worth a listen

Wow, that's interesting, I've never heard that before!
I had to check that out as it doesn't quite sound like his voice but, from what I read, it was slowed down slightly to make it sound deeper. It was the b side of his 67 record Long Time Coming.
His band did used to do soul covers as well as American West Coast stuff pre LZ.

 

[ska invita]

This ones got all the Northern Soul elements in buckets, including £900 price tag
Ritchie Adams – I Can't Escape From You

 

[ska invita]

I don't know much about Northern Soul but earlier in the year I heard about Kev Roberts Northern Soul Top 500 book and all 500 tunes are on playlists on youtube (and it turns out there's full MP3 folders out there on the darkweb )...i like the idea of having all these tunes on MP3 and the purists disgust

Northern Soul Top 500 by Kev Roberts Book

Brand new edition for 2022. Contributions from legendary scene figures and historians such as Richard Searling, Tim Brown..

www.northernsouldirect.co.uk

Its a solid selection...IM working my way through and Im thinning them out but keeping the majority
I would say that I think a lot of NS sounds better played at volume on speakers than on headphones, sometimes somewhat naf tunes still have that dancefloor power

 

[Ground Elder]

Top 500 nights are spurned by northern soul purists, but there are plenty who like listening and dancing to the same 500 tunes week in, week out

I would say that I think a lot of NS sounds better played at volume on speakers than on headphones, sometimes somewhat naf tunes still have that dancefloor power

Loads of northern tunes only really work in context

 

[Nanker Phelge]

 

[Ground Elder]

Proper allnighter tunes

 

[scalyboy]

If we're doing British northern releases, there's this, erm, oddity which got a few plays at the Twisted Wheel

Blimey, that's not half bad at all! Certainly way ahead of the Goodies' "Black pudding Bertha, she's the queen of northern soul" silliness...

And also from the world of English popular light entertainment, here's Kenny Lynch

 

[Ground Elder]

Firmly in Belgium popcorn territory rather than northern, but here's a favourite from Kenny

 

[scalyboy]

Serious question for Ground Elder or anyone else on this thread - does anyone DJ at soul nites?

Reason for asking: I've got about 30-40 so 7"s, mostly represses in near mint condition, a few late 1960s JJ Barnes's etc, and I want to get rid as I no longer have a record deck... I acquired these 7s over a few years with a vague idea of playing short sets at people's parties etc, but never got round to it.

Now I have no use for them and wish to get rid - not for silly money, as none of them are worth silly money. But I need to de-clutter, plus it would give me pleasure to think that someone was making use of them.

I'd say around 30 are bona fide northern, some not quite, e.g. a 1972 Millie Jackson or Joe Tex, and there's also a very few late 60s / early 70s reggae original 7's or represses.

Apologies to the Urban admins if I shouldn't be hawking my wares here - perhaps if anyone is interested, DM me and I can give a detailed inventory with photos.

Will throw in this sturdy DJ box for nish!

 

[scalyboy]

I don't know much about Northern Soul but earlier in the year I heard about Kev Roberts Northern Soul Top 500 book and all 500 tunes are on playlists on youtube (and it turns out there's full MP3 folders out there on the darkweb )...i like the idea of having all these tunes on MP3 and the purists disgust

Thing is, there can't be an unlimited supply of top-drawer obscure one-hit wonders recorded by a group of lads (or lasses) in Gopherville Mississippi, who managed to scrape together enough $$ to record one superb tune, briefly did well in their own county/state on local radio before breaking up.
There's no magic soul 7" artesian well, forever being replenished with glorious songs waiting to be rediscovered... It has to be finite, surely?
So I can't see the problem in nighters playing the top 500. In my experience the more popular / well-known tunes do tend to get people onto the dancefloor. One pub / club I sometimes go to will play a Four Tops or Tempts record, a bit of bluebeat, spot of ska, and even the Specials or Selecter. I dare say the purists would be apoplectic with rage, but a lot of people first got into this wonderful music c.1980 via Two-Tone and / or the Mod revival

I would say that I think a lot of NS sounds better played at volume on speakers than on headphones, sometimes somewhat naf tunes still have that dancefloor power

Totally agree. The bass moving through you from the soles of your feet upwards, percussion at high volume, people dancing all around you, it is genuinely exciting in a way that dancing at home or while running can never be

 

[scalyboy]

Can't afford a copy of Zu Zu Man? Try this instead

The similarity is striking! Wonder which one came first - or is it an older blues tune?

 

[scalyboy]

Wow, that's interesting, I've never heard that before!
I had to check that out as it doesn't quite sound like his voice but, from what I read, it was slowed down slightly to make it sound deeper. It was the b side of his 67 record Long Time Coming.
His band did used to do soul covers as well as American West Coast stuff pre LZ.

There's this one too, also 1967


To me - lyrically, and his vocal delivery - it has something in common with the idiosyncratic sound of Bowie's 1960s 'mod' recordings. Not like that's a bad thing tho!

 

[Plumdaff]

 

[ska invita]

Top 500 nights are spurned by northern soul purists, but there are plenty who like listening and dancing to the same 500 tunes week in, week out

i can relate.... i like a lot of old music, from jamaican to electronic 80s/90s electronic dance music.....as the years go by it gets harder and harder hearing the same tunes....then again some obscure tunes are obscure for a reason...id rather hear quality tunes i know too well to poor rare tunes.
50 years of northern soul nonstop would get me desperate for some new tunes ... at least with JA and Jungle/DnB people are still making music you can play alongside at a good quantity.... is there much new stuff that gets played alongside at northern soul dances??

 

[blossie33]

Only record released by a singer under this name and nothing really known about her.

 

[Ground Elder]

is there much new stuff that gets played alongside at northern soul dances??

There are new releases of varying quality, either tailor made for the northern audiences or adopted by them. There is also a steady stream of newly discovered tunes from record company vaults, many of which are as good or better than anything they actually released. The top five hundred is a snap shot of what was popular at a particular time in northern soul and not a definitive guide to the best tunes.

If you only go to an occasional night you'll likely want to hear the tunes you know. If, as for many, northern soul is your entire social life, spending every weekend travelling to a soul night, weekender, allnighter or maybe at one of the soul based holidays abroad, you'll likely want to hear something else from the thousands upon thousands of 7" single released last century.

I've listened to a LOT of soul and related music, but I'm still hearing 'new to me' tunes all the time (thanks scalyboy for the Chuck Cornish, which if I had heard I'd forgotten).

Here's Freddie Scott from my own Top 500

 

[scalyboy]

 

[scalyboy]

 

[scalyboy]

Re. what I wrote earlier about certain tunes being too fast for my ageing feet… suffering Christ, here’s Curtis Lee & the KCPs!

 

[Ground Elder]

Same backing as Big Maybelle's Quitting Time



Which has this on the B side

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Top 500 nights are spurned by northern soul purists, but there are plenty who like listening and dancing to the same 500 tunes week in, week out

Loads of northern tunes only really work in context

I can't hack a whole Northern Soul night, it's too samey, and if a purist DJ gets on I get bored even quicker as it descends in to obscure tunes which don't really measure up. The big songs are popular for a reason, but I don't want a whole night of it. When I had my own club night Northern Soul was part of a wider remit; our tagline was Mod, Ska, Soul, R&B & Sixties Beat. Being able to shuffle about between these vague headings gave us a lot of scope to keep it interesting and people stayed on the dance floor a lot longer. I wouldn't enjoy playing northern all night. We used to get people putting their talc down and having a shuffle, and on the whole they'd stay on the floor when we shifted to Ska. One song the northern soul crowd always stayed on the floor with was Pump It Up by Elvis Costello. It used to bring the house down everytime.

 

[ohmyliver]

I'd like to hear some northern soul big tunes mixed in with some vocal house, and tracks like 'Tell Me Why' by Rachel Wallace. After all Northern Soul is one of precursor scenes to rave culture. I know someone who was/is known as colin the mod and he once waxed lyrical in the early 90s about how great northern soul sounded whilst pilled up, and I recon he'd be right