One on my musical regrets is never going to Wigan Casino or Blackpool Mecca ballroom when I had the chance and was a student in Manchester in the late Seventies early Eighties.
I came to Northern Soul relatively late. Growing up in the Sixties and Seventies Motown was on the radio a lot and later even Tony Blackburn kept the soul flame burning on his post Radio 1 shows on GLR. Growing up I ‘d seen the crossover hits mimed along to on TOTP but it took The Jam and the track Non Stop Dancing on their first album to really stimulate my interest in Northern Soul.
If there were any all nighters in my Hertfordshire market town home I never heard of them them and anyway by the time The Jam came along there seemed to be just so much new and exciting music to listen to I didn’t have a chance to pursue a new found interest in obscure- and at the time ,I thought, uncool, music, seduced as I was by other Weller, Foxton Buckler songs and The Clash and reggae and all the stuff John Peel played.
I got into the Mod Revival through '79 and early 1980 after being blown away by the music and images on The Jam's All Mod Cons album and so I kept an interest in Motown and Northern Soul.
In reality though it wasn’t until 1983 and the move back down to the South and into London and where I discovered all the pirate stations playing soul music, that I started to research Northern Soul in detail. Compilation albums were easy to get hold of (still are).Some of the sound quality was (is) naff as most were(are) analogue recordings straight from the 7" vinyl and some of the songs are so poor they really do deserve to be obscure.
But some of the songs are the epitome of good quality honest no nonsense dance music and if you play some of them loud, really loud I defy you to not want to perform some daring moves in your living room. Or even just tap your feet.
I got into the Mod Revival through '79 and early 1980 after being blown away by the music and images on The Jam's All Mod Cons album and so I kept an interest in Motown and Northern Soul.
In reality though it wasn’t until 1983 and the move back down to the South and into London and where I discovered all the pirate stations playing soul music, that I started to research Northern Soul in detail. Compilation albums were easy to get hold of (still are).Some of the sound quality was (is) naff as most were(are) analogue recordings straight from the 7" vinyl and some of the songs are so poor they really do deserve to be obscure.
But some of the songs are the epitome of good quality honest no nonsense dance music and if you play some of them loud, really loud I defy you to not want to perform some daring moves in your living room. Or even just tap your feet.
This is one of my favourites. A classic northern soul voice and sound.
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