Northern Soul

[kenposurf]

Roy..I got into a rather "interesting" conversation with a fellow vinyl collector this morning. We were talking about soul/funk etc. I mentioned that the term "Northern Soul" had to do with the location in England where this style was popular during the 60's..I believe he thought I was putting him on...anyway I thought it might be a fitting topic here if not covered before...

[scotty]

Here a wee fill in A large proportion of northern soul's original audience came from the mod movement. Some mods started to embrace the freakbeat and psychedelic rock of the late 1960s, but other mods - especially those in northern England - stuck to the original mod soundtrack of soul and blue beat. Some mods transformed into what would eventually be the skinheads, and others formed the basis of the northern soul scene. Early northern soul fashion included bowling shirts, button-down Ben Sherman shirts, blazers with centre vents and unusual numbers of buttons, Trickers brogue shoes, baggy trousers or shrink-to-fit Levi's jeans. Many dancers wore badges representing membership to clubs organised by dance halls.
Heres some artists from the norther soul scene
"Every Little Bit Hurts" by Brenda Holloway

Another fav is Frank Wilson - Do I Love You

My personal fav The God of all mod allnighters many a top night dancing to this!

Oh and by the way im still keeping the Faith

[kenposurf]

Northern Soul 45's are among the most valued of all collectable vinyl....

[royclough]

Yes George I am sure it is a good topic, though not really a fan of the genre.

Northern Soul in my view really started in late 60's at a club in Manchester called Twisted Wheel, that had been a favourite of the Beat era in mid sixties, remember going there myself once or twice, but it never received the accolades that the Cavern in Liverpool did.

Northern Soul though from my perspective really came to the fore in the 70's when an old dance hall in the Lancashire town of Wigan became known as the Wigan Casino and became the epitome for Northern Soul.

I recall winning some albums on a radio show on a fairly
regular basis and one of them was called Casino Classics and featured tracks by artists who were classed as being representative of Northern Soul.


Here's just one of many articles.

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/exh_gfx_en/ART24971.html

[hamilton_square]

Yes George I am sure it is a good topic, though not really a fan of the genre.

Likewise, I was never a great fan of Northern Soul music – OK in small doses but too much of it, for my taste, was mediocre and often monotonous. But, in one respect, I am grateful to them for, almost single-handily at times, keeping the music of Jackie Wilson alive in the UK. However, I do have some fond live R & B memories of the ‘old’ Twisted Wheel off Deansgate. To quote an un-attributed online source.

The Twisted Wheel was the brainchild of Ivor Abadi. The club started life as a rhythm and blues venue in Brazennose Street off Deansgate Manchester in early 1963. Gaining popularity with the new wave beatniks of the era. Ivor employed the services of D.J. Roger Eagle for his great knowledge of Blues music, which gave the club a unique atmosphere. By the time of this clubs closure in September 1965 the Twisted Wheel had become the number one venue for "Mods" to congregate
.
The new Twisted Wheel Club opened in Whitworth Street on the 18th of September 1965. Although in many ways the new club was a continuum of the Brazennose Street Wheel, there was now a growing movement towards up-tempo Detroit soul. Many members of the first Wheel were uncomfortable with this change and did not continue membership. Ivor however, recognised the trend was dynamic and encouraged his DJ's to play more of this rare soul music. The clubs reputation grew and young dancers would travel great distances to enjoy this unusual venue (particularly for the Saturday all night sessions) There were other great soul clubs of course, notably the "Torch" in Stoke upon Trent but the Twisted Wheel could only be emulated. For several years the club survived attempts at closure by the authorities, finally succumbing on the 15th of February 1971.

Ivor Abadi admits that the original thinking behind opening the Twisted Wheel back in 1963 was Manchester’s attempt to belatedly replicate in some measure the more established Liverpool music scene. For those of you who may not be aware, 40 miles is all that separates the two cities. It wasn’t till the Twisted Wheel changed locations and switched to a predominantly Motor City driven, record playing approach that the club found it’s so-called ‘Northern Soul’ niche.

Although forced to close for legal reasons during 1971, ageing Northern Soul enthusiasts have recently bandied together to reopen the Twisted Wheel on Whitworth Street for occasional weekend ‘Soul’ nights. Unfortunately, nostalgia isn’t always what is was – but nevertheless, they’ve put together quite a good website in my opinion at.....

http://www.twistedwheel.net

It was a further two years [1973] before Wigan Casino got up-and-running on the outskirts of what is now Greater Manchester. Previously known as the Empress Ballroom, it was a much bigger and somewhat more ornate venue than the smaller Twisted Wheel. It had to be – because by then Northern Soul had become all about dancing and showing off one’s moves. Even with up to a maximum of 2,000 paying customers, sufficient floor space to dance was of paramount importance for patrons and undoubtedly added to the attraction of Wigan Casino as a venue.

For a taste of what Wigan Casino was like at it’s height see…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUIaal4C8t4

One will no doubt note that the ‘Northern Soul’ movement back then was a predominately male preserve when it came to dancing – not many skirts in sight. However, they were in attendance, it’s just that they tended, so to speak, to stay out of the limelight and on the periphery of the action.

Although, no where near as popular in the North of England as it was during the 1970s – being that it simply didn’t travel and as a result slowly stagnated – one can still find small venues putting on ‘soul’ nights for those hardened aficionados who want to get out there and dance.

[kenposurf]

Thanks for the info folks..learning a lot. Looks like many of the artists had only one or two popular songs before fading...