mods +

[rich.r]

just to link in with the mod thread

happy days

‪Frank Wilson - Do I Love You‬‏ - YouTube

‪Frank Wilson - Do I Love You‬‏ - YouTube

[Emjay]

hey Rich here's a recent film you might like. Bit of a modern stylised look at the Northern Soul scene. There's a few of my friends in this including a solo cameo appearance from one of them right at then end.

Oh and a Mk2 Triumph 2000 to kick start proceedings

As someone remarked to me the other day..."that Northern Soul stuff?? is it where you dance like your trying to get rid of some dogshit that stuck on the sole of your shoe??"

‪The obsession that is Northern Soul 3‬‏ - YouTube

‪The obsession that is Northern Soul 3‬‏ - YouTube

[ZermattGT]

So......Northern Soul.

For the nooob outsider.
Who, and on what album was great in the past.

Who is doing the movement justice now?

[missfire]

now... i'm not confused easily, or something.. but what is northern soul? is it old? new? how long has it been going on.!?

i'm all for folk enjoying themselves and self expression! not enough of it, in a beige world. not 'dissing' it!!

but what is it..?? what are the origins..? from a few glances of your vids, 50's dress, 60's soul music and some break dancing..?! i could take a guess as to how they came together but.. i'd be wrong, and probably have the constituent 'ingredients' wrong anyway. if its an 'anything goes' type thing then rock on! good on ye.

its certainly caught my eye! never seen anything like it, is it evolving as we speak.? never even heard of it before now ... certainly is very 'cinematic' its like watching something that happened in another world or time..

yours, equally inspired, confused, befuddled and in shock,

missfire. (there just isn't a 'smiley' for what my head is doing right now.. (or half of the rest of the time) )

i could go to 'wiki' and read about it but it wouldn't be the same as hearing from someone taking part in it!

[missfire]

Originally Posted by ZermattGT

So......Northern Soul.

For the nooob outsider.
Who, and on what album was great in the past.

Who is doing the movement justice now?

you posted while i was confusing myself Mr GT, i though i was the only one..

do you know what it is..!!!?? have i been living in a bubble or something..!?

[missfire]

right, read the wiki, couldn't wait till tomorrow for an answer..

turns out i knew more about it that i thought.. interesting history. especially the dance moves being nicked by breakdancers! hmmM! so indeed, nothing is ever truly new in the arts! its all a 'mash'.

so this is a revival of a revival ..!?! must keep you fit anyways.

as you were...

[Emjay]

I’ve Got To Lay This Burden Down!
So what is this “Northern Soul” thing you’re into? I must have been asked this question more times in the last month than I care to remember. Questions asked by family, by friends near and far, by work colleagues and loose acquaintances. All of a sudden there is a resurgence of interest. The biggest cult scene of them all is putting it’s head above the parapet again. But what is it?
Well I could try and explain it in cold hard facts.
It’s about music, deep black soul music sung by unknown black American soul singers going by the name of Bobby and Billy, Betty and Brenda, belting out songs of undying love, cheating love, spurned love and unrequited love
It’s about fashion, it’s about club culture, and it’s about deejay culture.
It’s about 7 inch original vinyl records as rare as hen’s teeth in some instances.
It’s about staying out all night dancing,
It’s about popping pills when you were younger,
It’s about rites of passage, trying to get into the scene from the outside, making the progression from newby to be an accepted part of the scene.
It’s about the beat of the 60’s big room stomper coursing through every bone in your body and making you want to dance, and it’s about the smooth sophistication of the 70’s black crooners and polished sounds of Philadelphia International to chill out to.
It’s about working class lads being able to freely express themselves on the dance floor,
It’s about being in a room of 100 likeminded people yet being totally in a world of your own when your tune hits the decks and you lose yourself.
It’s about collecting records by artists you have never heard of, recorded on unheard of record labels long gone, overshadowed by the giants like Motown, Stax and Atlantic.
It’s about getting paid on a Friday and heading off to the city straight after work is over to begin a complete weekend of Northern Soul adventures.
It’s about Roxy Threads or Spencer’s Baggy trousers – you’re in one camp or the other so you make your choice and stand by it.
It’s about dancing in the kitchen to perfect those moves.
It’s about soul clubs, travelling the country to all dayers, dancing from 2 in the afternoon til 11 at night. Dancing at all nighters from 9 at night ‘til 7 the following day while the rest of the world sleeps on blissfully unaware.
It’s about being locked away from Friday to Monday at weekenders, totally immersed in it all.
It’s about going to strange sounding places like Stoke and Skegness, Wigan and Wolverhampton, Coalville and Cleethorpes.
It’s about not needing a skin full of ale to enjoy your night out, pulling a bird, getting into a fight, or having your wallet nicked…we’re soulies and we don’t do that.
It’s about friends taken too early, about friends once thought long gone but reunited once again and those special enduring friendships that will be with you until the day you die.
My own personal journey began around 1977. I was 15 years old, massively into progressive rock and a bit of metal, long haired and spotty without a girlfriend in sight. A few of my mates had started going to the local Friday night disco at the youth club and had been trying to persuade me to go along for a few weeks. One day with now’t better to do I relented. A 20 minute walk found me stood outside the youth club waiting to part with my ten pence admission fee in exchange for an ink stamp on the back of the hand. Then we were inside, a dark and slightly sweaty place with the sports hall turned into a discotheque for the evening. For the first hour the usual fare was served up, plenty of Saturday Night Fever type stuff getting the girls up and dancing while the lads stood, backs to the wall eyeing the talent.
Then it happened.
The most amazing sight and sounds hit my senses. A record was played (which I later found to be “A Ton of Dynamite” by Frankie “Loveman” Crocker) and up stepped one of Gedling Comprehensive hardest lads and he starts to stomp like I have never seen the likes of to this day. Surely lads weren’t supposed to dance? Especially tough hard lads from the wrong end of the estate. Dancing like he could teach Fred Astaire a thing or two. What was he doing? Why was he dancing like that? And what was that track?…..from there on in I was hooked, my journey had begun.
Where are we now? Well for a factual definition of Northern Soul you only have to google the term and you’ll get an overload of information. Some of it worthy of a read, some of it maybe not so.
For me, like most of my friends we are returning back to the scene from our “soul vacations” during which times we married, had kids, and maybe got divorced?? And now we have time to reconnect with the passion of our music again.
It’s not a revival…some of the music we were listening to in the seventies was at least a decade old then!!.
We still dance, albeit a little slower,
We still collect music, though mainly in electronic format,
We still go to all dayer’s and all nighters and weekenders.
We still openly welcome the younger and not so younger generations to the music sung by Bobby, Billy, Betty and Brenda.
Even at our age we still hear new tunes every week that we haven’t heard before. And these days I attend all events armed with my camera trying to capture that elusive image of the dancer, lost in his own little capsule in time and space, music and dance, totally oblivious to everything around him.
What is Northern Soul I hear you ask?….notwithstanding the birth of my kids and the love of my lady it’s the most amazing natural high I have ever experienced…

well you did ask!

‪My Northern Soul Renaissance‬‏ - YouTube

‪My Northern Soul Renaissance‬‏ - YouTube

[Booty]

I've got to say that I am a rocker through and through. I did five years at Monsters of Rock, was always 'hard on' head banging in the 'ten minute metal slot' at my old Middle School lunchtime disco's and sat up the other night until 2am marvelling at Status Quo playing at the Jazz festival in Montreux where drummer Matt Lettley did one of the best 10 minute drum solo's I have ever seen. And I love music, sincerley, and passionatley and I was lucky enough to be brought up among Adults who had very different musical tastes, and in your teens that is where tastes are formed. I used to go to rave's back in the 80's when they were highly illegal and a phone call secured 'it's on' or 'not on' to some huge grain shed way out back of Much Wenlock. I love Trance now and find it very relaxing to listen to on many levels...................but Christ Mart, some of your Northern Soul stuff is that good it hurts................

[rich.r]

Originally Posted by Emjay

hey Rich here's a recent film you might like. Bit of a modern stylised look at the Northern Soul scene. There's a few of my friends in this including a solo cameo appearance from one of them right at then end.

Oh and a Mk2 Triumph 2000 to kick start proceedings

As someone remarked to me the other day..."that Northern Soul stuff?? is it where you dance like your trying to get rid of some dogshit that stuck on the sole of your shoe??"

‪The obsession that is Northern Soul 3‬‏ - YouTube

nice one martyn

a proper smart ass your mate at the end

never quite figured the spin myself

[Emjay]

Originally Posted by rich.r

nice one martyn

a proper smart ass your mate at the end

never quite figured the spin myself

me neither, I just get dizzy watching.

Tommo is a really nice and down to earth fella and he's got a couple of years on me. I couldn't move like that at 16 never mind 50 plus