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The
following article was written quite some time ago, but if you
haven't had
a chance to read it yet please do as it is one of the most
interesting
retrospective looks at the medias idea of what the northern
scene was like that I have ever seen.
Our thanks to Pete Smith for allowing us to publish his article.
NORTHERN
SOUL IN THE MEDIA - "BLACK MUSIC"
by
Pete Smith
Black
Music magazine first hit the streets in December 1973, heralding
itself as "the first complete black music magazine",
probably in an attempt
to distance itself from Blues & Soul which was ostensibly a
soul/disco
magazine. BM's intention was to cover the whole spectrum from
blues to jazz,
gospel to reggae, African music and other ethnic styles...and
Northern Soul.
In
this article I'm going to look at BM's coverage of Northern
Soul, not in
an
investigative way but more of a blow-by-blow account of each
issue and
it's content which hopefully will be of interest. It reads just
like a diary
of what was happening on the Northern Soul scene in 1974-75.
Firstly,
the
soul
chart of December 73 contained a handful of singles which had
made
their mark on the Northern scene including RobertKnight-Mountain
top (also
a UK top 10 crossover hit), the Isleys-Tell Me It's Just A
Rumour and Jimmy
James - A Man Like Me. At this time both the pop and soul scenes
were being
flooded
with reissues of classic oldies and in-demand club sounds, a
phenomenon
which continued well into 1976 as you will see as this article
progresses. Ian Levine is a name you can't escape from on the
Northern scene
and even today arguments persist as to the rights and wrongs of
his musical
policies.
Levine shared top billing at the Blackpool Mecca with Colin
Curtis,
and when he wasn't spending thousands of pounds of inherited
cash on
obscure
US soul 45's he was writing a column for Black Music entitled
'Hey
MR.DJ".
His first column began..."Southerners are biased towards
the
Northern
Soul scene and it's 190 mph dancers. It's true that a record has
to
have
a consistent, fast beat to be danced to in our clubs..but there
are
good
and bad Northern dance records, and the ones I mention here are
the
ones
that I feel are the very best around at the moment. Certain
artists
seem
to come up with many brilliant dancers to their credit, whereas
others
seem
to make just one. Singers such as J.J.Barnes, Patti Austin,
Edward
Hamilton
and groups such as David & The Giants and the Ambers, are
idolised
as
being leading exponents of Northern type soul records, just as
James
Brown,
Lynn Collins, the Fat- back Band and Jean Knight are leading
exponents
of funky music". A good link there as Levine then goes on
to
review
some of his fave spins of the moment, kicking off with the
pre-Fatback
Band Gerry & Paul-Cat Walk (Fatback) plus the superb Linda
Jones-Just
Can't Live My Life (Loma), and a couple of hot tips in the form
of
Terrible Tom -We Were Made For Each Other (Maverick) and David
& The
Giants-Ten
Miles High (Crazy Horse). Can anyone remember when those two
weren't
oldies? Levine mentions that the Giants other disc, Superlove,
was
in
the top 5 Northern sounds right now, as is Otis Smith- Let Her
Go.
Finally
in this first Levine column, a few records that the man himself
is
trying
to track down: World Without Sunshine by Sandra Phillips
(Broadway),
What
Can A Man Do by Harold Melvin (Arctic) and finally the great
Freddie
Chavez-They'll
Never Know Why (Look). Black Music also provided an excellent
guide
to new Stateside product, much Of which was available through
semi-specialist
shops in your local high street. One interesting release
which I spotted in the 'Hot Stuff' section of BM1 was the
Montclairs-Hung
Up On Your Love (Paula), which soon became the no.1 sound in the
country.
One
of the most well respected voices on the soul scene, the
legendary Dave
Godin,
was also a contributor to BM in it's early days. His first
column was
a
kind of introductory 'what is soul' piece, but he also reviewed
a few
singles including Jerry Williams-If You Ask Me (Calla) which got
a 4-star
rating. There were a few pressings for sale in that first issue
e.g. Rufus
Lumley, Righteous Brothers Band, Shalimars, Kellly Bros,
Dramatics etc.
Apart from being big Torch sounds, these discs have a common
link in that
they
were all pressed on Out Of The Past and could be obtained
through the
Torch-based
International Soul Club who boasted a membership of '30,000 and
growing
weekly!' Onto issue 2, January 1974, and only one release of
note
in
this months Hot Stuff, the Temprees version of At Last (We
Produce) which
was
a big sound in 74. Levine gave mention to some real classics
this month,
viz.
Gwen & Ray Build Your House On A Strong Foundation (Bee
Bee), Janie
Grant-My
heart your heart (Parkway), Joe Hicks-Don't It Make You Feel
Funky
(AGC)
and Leslie Uggams-Love Is A Good Foundation (Sonday). Also
mentioned:
Chubby
Checker- Looking At Tomorrow (Parkway), Ikettes-Beauty Is Just
Skin
Deep
(Pompeii) and Mad Dog & The Pups-Why Did You Leave Me Girl
(Magic
City). Dave Godin took a trip to the Mecca and wrote an
excellent piece,
giving
mentions to some of Colin Curtis' tips, including Johnny
Caswell-You
Don't
Love Me Anymore (Decca), Susan Barrett-What's It Gonna Be (RCA),
Wally
Cox-This
Man (Wand) and Freddie Chavez on Look. Two reviews, the superb
George
Blackwell-Can't Lose My Head (Smoke) and Gwen & Ray-Build.
Finally, a
tip
from Dave for all would be Detroit collectors: "The letters
ZTSC on a
record
is merely a Mattrix code for the manufacturer and are in no way
indicative
of the style of the record". Watch this space... Black
Music of
February
74 kicked off with a full page advert for Selectadisc, a
Nottingham
based
record shop who were responsible for a lot of pressings, as well
as
running
the Black Magic label. Selectadisc's top 10 sellers were the
Gems,
Sherrys,
Didi Noel, Thelma Houston, Christine Cooper, Sweet 3, P.P.
Arnold,
Patti
Austin and Tony Clarke-Landslide at no.l. The months new 45's
included
Ray
Godfrey's 60's soundalike Candy Clown (Mercury) and a reissue of
Jay &
The
Techniques-Baby Make Your Own Sweet Music. Levine's column
mentions a
couple
of discs, Billy Joe Young-I've Got You On My Mind Again (Paula)
and
Hang
My Head And Cry by The Big Guys (Warner Bros). Two albums tracks
mentioned
too, Thelma Houston-I ain't going nowhere and Robert
Knight-Branded,
which was eventually taken off the LP due to Northern
demand.
Dave Godin's column deals with pressings and the never-ending
argument
about their merits. Dave's opinion was that anyone who knows the
people
behind the bootlegging should report them to the BPI (which is
exactly
what did happen a few months later). Godin's significant sides
this
month
are Roshell Andreson-Know What You're Doing (Sunburst), Big
Maybelle-Don't
Pass Me By (Rojac) and the extremely strange Crow-Your Autumn
Of
Tomorrow (Inner Ear), which eventually came out on Godin's own
Right On
label.
Godin describes the Crow disc as "Full of latent passion
and anger,
this
one is a certain killer-diller which is mean, signifying and
black, and
as
righteous as it wants to be" Yeah right. Always sounds to
me as if
they're
all on acid! On to issue 4 of BM and a new regularular feature
entitled
1000 Giants of Black Music. This was an attempt at a sort of
who's-who
and was one of the best things to emerge from BM. Artists of
interest
to readers of this article who were featured in the first part
of
1000
Giants, were Ernie Andrews, Lee Andrews, Barbera Acklin,
Artistics and
Darrell and Homer Banks. New UK releases included Robert
Knight-Everlasting
Love and the Lorelei-S.T.O.P. Selectadisc's new pressings
included Melba
Moore-Don't
Cry, David & Giants- Ten Miles High, Watts 103rd St
Band-Brown
Sugar,
Detroit Shakers (sic)-Help Me Find My Way and Magnificents-My
Heart
Is
Calling. Talking of pressings, Levine's column began...'With the
bootleggers
pressing up my records before I've hardly had time to play them,
it's
becoming increasingly difficult to tip new sounds in my column
without
putting
money in the pockets of these racketeers. He ends..."I
shall try my
hardest
to keep the faith" (spot the cliche?). Once again, a good
selection
of
records mentioned in this months Levine column; Van Dykes-Save
My Love
For
A Rainy Day (Mala), Charles Mann- It's All Over (ABC), and
Edward
Hamilton-I'm
Gonna Love You (Jameco). Also mentioned, Wilbur
Reynolds-Tenderizer
(CB) & Shaine Hunter-Sweet Things (Aware), Jodi
Mathis-Don't
You Care Anymore (Capitol) and Bobby Taylor-There Are Roses
Somewhere
(Sunflower). Colin Curtis' big cover up of the month was Casino
Brothers
(aka Casanova 2)-We Got To Keep On. Recycled vinyl, tax and
racism
make
up a rather heavy Dave Godin column, and only two reviews this
month:
James
Bounty-Action Speaks Louder Than Words on Compass and Barbara
Lewis-Don't
Forget About Me (Atlantic). The International Soul Club pressed
it's latest batch of biggies, using the shooting star design.
These included
Nolan
Chance, Patti Young, Jerry Williams, Ben Aiken, Mel Williams Vel-Vets,
Steinways and Frankie & The Classicals. These are slightly
rarer than the
earlier
white label OOTP releases. The ISC was busted very soon after
this
batch of pressings went on sale. April 74's Black Music
editorial was the
first to concern itself with Northern soul: "Britain's
notorious Northern
Soul scene is getting so much publicity these days that you'd
almost think
they were MAKING the music up there!" It then goes on to
pour scorn on the
bootleggers and adds "As you groove to that rare Northern
sound, does it
make you feel good to think that the guy who poured his soul
into it may be
penniless and forgotten?" To be honest I could'nt give a
toss, all I'm doing
is dancing to a record in a disco. This months Levine goodies:
Watts 103rd
St Band-Joker (Warner Bros), Art Wheeler-That's How Much I Love
You (Cee
Jam), Madeleine Wilson-Dial L For Lonely (Sanar), Storm-Sweet
Happiness
(Sunflower), Frank Beverly-Tomorrow May Be Your Day (Gregar),
Petals-Windows
Of Your Heart (Mercury), Lada Edmund Jr- La Rue (Decca) and
Chips-Mixed Up
Shook Up Girl (Philips). This months 1000 Giants included
J.J.Barnes,
H.B.Barnum, Chris Bartley, Big Maybelle, Bobby Bland, Otis
Blackwell and
James Brown. This months new US releases included Melvin
Bliss-Reward
(Sunburst) which was played, plus quite a few names from the
past including
What More Do You Want man, Gene Toones billed as Gene Toone (the
king of the
Screamers) on She's My Girl (Thuinley). In the UK, Chess
rush-released Tony
Clarkes Landslide to stop Selectadisc making a killing from
their pressing,
and Motown issued the Contours-Baby Hit And Run due to demand.
As a footnote
to Dave Godin's comments in BM 2 concerning the ZTSC mattrix,
Fax 'n Info
now publishes the following information.: "Further research
shows ZTSC to be
a fairly good method for dating the release of certain records,
and
determining the origins of discs with these numbers". Black
Music 7 (June
1974) was a real biggie for Northern 'fans' - a seven page
investiagtion of
the scene. This is a massive piece which would take literally
pages to
analise in full, but basically it's a guide to what the scene
is, who the
people are, the djls, what sort of discs are played, the venues,
the
bootleggers and the artists themselves. Journalist Tony Cummings
pays a
visit to Newcastle Tiffanies where he describes Sam's set as
"A downer" and
adds "Many kids don't share my aversion for the Ventures
and hicoughing pop
discs which sound like the Nashville Scene (sic)'' (in other
words, Sam only
plays pop music). There's a guide to whos-who on the Northern
scene which
makes interesting reading: Keith Minshull - "A rather
unimpressive dj who
encourages the market for pressings";
Pep-"Occasionally mixing a little too
much pop into the dancing soul brew, he is respected and
influential"; KevRoberts-'His influence is
considerable"; Richard Searling-'Seems to play
mainly discs supplied by bootlegger Simon Soussan" (oh
really??); Russ
Winstanley- 'The most likeable of the Wigan crew" and
finally Soul Sam "The
joker
in the pack, playing streams of unknown pop records which just
happen
to have the right beat". For me though, the most
interesting part of this
7-page
feature was the inclusion of the countrys top 5 sounds for each
years
from 1967 onwards. The top 5 was listed, often complimented by
sarcastic
comments. This is how those top 5's from yesteryear looked: 1967
- Tony
Clarke--Entertainer (Chess), Bobby Sheen-Dr.Love (Capitol),
Little Hank-Mr
Bang Bang Man (London/Monument), Shirley Ellis-Soul Time (CBS),
Major
Lance-Ain't No Soul (Columbia) 1968 - Chubby Checker-Discotheque
(Cameo
Parkway), Poets-She Blew A Good Thing (London), Flamingos -
Boogaloo Party
(Philips) ("An inane, mechanical stomper"),
Contours-Misunderstanding (Tamla
Motown), Bobby Freeman-C'Mon Swim (Pye Int) 1969 -
Invitations-What's Wrong
With Me Baby (Stateside), Tami Lynn-Gonna Run Away From You
(Atlantic),
Tams-Hey
Girl Don't Bother Me (HMV), Earl Van Dyke- 6 By 6 (Tamla
Motown),
O'Jays-I Dig Your Act (Stateside) ("A dull stylised
disc") Alexander
Patton - A lil lovin sometimes (Capitol), Leon Haywood-Baby
Reconsider (Fat
Fish), Bob Brady-More more more (Chariot), Bob Wilson-All Turned
On (Ric
Tic) ("Boring Detroit instrumental"), Ad Libs-Nothing,
Worse Than Bein Alone
(Share) 1971 - Prophets-I Got The Fever (Mercury), Sandi
Sheldon-You're Gonna Make Me Love You (0keh), Richard Temple-Beatin
rhythm (Mirwood), Bobby
Hebb-Love love love (Philips), Hoagy Lands-Next In Line (Stdteside)
1972 -
Sam & Kitty-I Got Something Good (4 Bros)("Repetitive,
boring and obscure Chicago dancer"), Chubby Checker-Just
Don't Know (Cameo Parkway), Lenis
Guess-Just Ask Me (SPQR), Soul Twins-quick Change Artist
(Karen), Archie
Bell & The Drells-Here I Go Again (Atlantic) '1973 - Tony
Clarke-Landslide
(Chess) Damita Jo-I'll Save The Last Dance For You (Ranwood),
Tempos-Countdown (Canterbury), Gems-I'll Be There (Riverside),
Invitations-Skiing In The Snow (Dynovoice) 1974 - Joe
Hicks-Don't It Make
You Feel funky (AGC), Salvadors-Stick By Me Baby (Wise World),
Watts 103rd
St Band-Joker (WB), Maurice Chestnut-Too Darn Soulful (Renfro),
Louise
Lewis-We Oo I'll Let It Be You (Skyway) It's interesting to note
that up
until 1972 practically everything being played was on UK issue.
BY 1975 the
dj's obviously realised that to discover really new, unknown
discs, they'd have to look to the original source, the USA.
Finally in BM's article on the
Northern scene, we have another Wigan slag-off as our roving
reporter visits
Blackpool Mecca and describes the punters as "the
connisseurs of the
Northern scene" and of their counterparts says "the
black bombing, bootleg
playing, dull brained brothers from Wigan". It's strange
how Tony Cummings keeps contradicting himself in this piece. On
one hand he's praising the
Mecca for it's policy of "no white stompers allowed"
but then slags off
almost
every record he hears: Chris Jackson-Since There's No Doubt
"Pleasant
but just like a thousand others": Lydia Marcelle-Its Not
Like You 'A
Supremes ripoff". And to end the piece, one last dig at the
Wigan Casino:
"My brother heard them play the pressing of Eddie Foster at
Wigan, bloody
pressers
ripping off the artists". Question is, how did he know they
were
playing the pressing??? Anyway, meanwhile back at the rest of BM
7,
Selectadisc had a new full page advert with Butch Baker at
number one with
The Joker (Jocker?), along with new bootlegs of Moses Smith,
Sandra
Phillips,
Audio Arts Strings, Fred Smith Golden World Strings (Total
Eclipse) and Dana Valery. I should think that something happened
to the Dana
Valery
pressings on Pussycat as I had to pay £4 for one in 75 and sold
it at
Wigan in 76 for £6! A lot of money back then. New releases this
month
included
Jimmy Conwell-Cigarette Ashes, Contours-Do You Love Me and
Frankie
& The Classicals-What Shall I Do on a new label called Pye
Disco Demand.
Over
in the States, completely unnoticed in the Hot Stuff section was
a new
release on GSF by the Anderson Brothers entitled I Can See Him
Loving You.
Twelve months later it was big everywhere, impossible to find,
and remains a
classic today. The 1000 Giants of Black Music this month
included Chubby
Checker, Tony Clarke, the C.O.D.s, Contours and Lou Courtney.
Wigan Casino
printed their first allnighter advert in this issue: "Visit
the Heart Of
Soul and listen to the countrys best sounds like Danny Wagner,
Dena Barnes,
Richard Temple, Shirttails, Al Wilson, Furys, Casualeers etc '
plus lots of
SECRET SOUNDS!" Ian Levine's column this month featured
newies like Sam
Ward-Sister Lee (Groove City), Jr.Walker-I ain't going nowhere
(Motown),
Shiela Anthony- Livin' In Love (Buttercup), Sweet Three-Big
Lovers Come In
Small Packages (Decca), Remarkables-I can't Give Up (Audio
Arts), BK
Marcus-Does She Care About Me (Gamble), Johnny Baker-Shy Guy
(Fog City) and
two versions of No Matter What You Do To Me, one by the LaVettes
(Philips),
the other by the Sherrons (DCP). So, June 74's, Black Music is
certainly one
to look out for, the best thus far. July 1974 kicked off with
readers
letters debating the same subjects which Northern soulies argue
over today,
i.e. pressings, venues and drugs. A Mr.R. Winstanley of Wigan
wrote to say
that he as being unfairly treated and that 'Wigan Casino never
play backing
tracks with the vocals taken off (So what about the Mirwood Orch,
Mirwood
Horns, Mirwood Strings etc?). New releases this time were the
Fuzz-I'm So
Glad on Pye and a couple of re-recordings by Major Lance on
Contempo. The
Inter-City Soul Club had just been formed and they took out a
full page
advert inviting people to join the club and gain many advantages
such as
discounts on records and other items which were vital to the
Northern soul
fan such as key rings, scarves and electrical goods! Can you
imagine wearing
a Wigan Casino scarf?? The ICSC kicked off at the 67 Club in
Temple Street,
Wolverhampton, but that place was such a dump that it's hardly
surprising
that the venue was sparsely attended. Dave Godin reviewed discs
by Bobby
Foster, Patterson Singers, Garnet Mimins, Vonettes, Holland
& Dozier and
Dean Parrish's I'm On My Way ("Yet to find widespread
acclaim" said Godin.
Very soon after, Jonathan King issued the disc on his UK Records
label (and
Hoagy Lands too if I remember correctly). At this time, EVERY
label was
trying to jump on the Northern Soul bandwagon, even the majors
like EMI,
RCA, CBS etc. where rummaging through their dusty vaults in an
attempt to do
what Pye did with Wayne Gibson. Over in the USA, new releases
included
Tyrone Davis-What Goes Up (Dakar) and the soon-to-be- huge
Ladies Choice by
Boby Franklin (Fee). Carl Davis, the Dells and Nella Dodcis
featured in 1000
Giants this month, while Ian Levine recommended that we check
out the
following sounds: Bobbettes-Tighten Up Your Own Home (Mayhew),
Montclairs-Hung Up On Your Love (Paula), Conie Clark-My Sugar
Baby (Joker),
Herbs-Never Never Will I Fall In Love (Smoke)(incidentally, this
was one of
three big sounds currently being played oh the Smoke label, the
others being
George Blackwell and the Exsaveyons), Fay Ross-Faith hope &
charity (Round),
Pat Powdrill-Together Forever (Downey), Ithicas-Gonna Fix You
Good (Fee
Bee), Towanda Barnes-You Don't Mean It (A&M), Freddie
Hughes-My Baby Came
Back (Wee) and finally Ray Paige-Ain't No Soul (RCA). August
1974 now, and
first off is an advertisement for Track Records 'Allsorts'
compilations, the
only one of which is of interest to anyone interested in black
music being
Liquorice Allsorts which contained tracks from the Debonairs and
Sandpebbles
along others. 1000 Giants included the Dramatics, Dynamics, Earl
Jean,
Elgins, Shirley Ellis, Esquires and Exciters. Ian Levine's Hey
MR.DJ column
had now become the Rare Soul column (and was soon to become the
Northern
Soul column), and soon became an excuse for Levine to waffle on
about
obscure 70's releases which no-one had ever heard, would ever
hear or would
even want to hear. However, one goodie this month was Dean
Courtney-(Love)
You Just Can't Walk Away (MGM) which wasn't played at Wigan
until 1977
(unless they tried in 74 but gave up with it?). Other sounds
reviewed were
Aldora Britton-No Cookies In My Bag (Decca), Pam Colquitt-It's
Gotta Be Love
(Jacklyn), Detroit Soul Masters-Stirrin' Up Some Soul (Jacklyn)
(isthis a
real record or was Levine making it up - he says that he is 'yet
to hear
it'), Dean Courtney- We Have A Good Thing (RCA) and Lenny
Williams-I
Couldn't Find Nobody (Fantasy). The letters page was handed over
to Northern
fans to have their say about the recent 7-page special. Several
well known
names replied including Russ, Les Cokell, Sam and (the great)
Alan Rhodes.
Winstanley accused the magazine of starting a feud between Wigan
and the
Blackpool Mecca. Cokell completely agreed with everything that
was said,
apart from the fact that neither venue was as good as the Wheel
(well he
would say that wouldn't he?). Sam reckoned that he only played
Hawaii 5-0 at
Newcastle as a joke, and Vicki Thorpe from Stamford said she was
apalled
that Sam had been treated in such a way, after all she'd been to
many
"discos" where Sam had played and had never heard him
spin a pop record! It
was an extremely intense and angry debate, and it leads me to
think that the
whole thing was plotted right from the start to cause maximum
interest in
the scene which would in turn get the punters buying the rapidly
increasing
number of Northern singles being issued on UK labels. Plus the
fact that
probably 75% of BM's readership were those who bought it just
for the
Northern pages, in the same way that a lot of people buy Echoes
these days.
There was also the fact that a lot of 'soul' journalists and
dj's went on to
act as advisors for the cash-in companies. Very little on the
new release
front except for Universal Mind-Something Fishy Going On (Red
Coach) in the
US and the Incredibles-There Is Nothing Else To Say
(ContempoRaries) in the
UK. Dave Godin. congratulated Pye on their first three Disco
Demand singles,
and paid a visit to Wigan Casino. His verdict: sounds played
were variable
but of a high standard, the DJ's delivered the goods and the
best points
were 'a soul laden atmosphere and intense enthusiasm. Worst
point - lethal
slippery toilet floor! Dave went on to give a very good and
honest review of
a night at the,Casino, exactly what it is and why it exists.
Okay, that's it
for now, there are another 8 pages of this for me to scan, is it
worth
continuing it, did anyone find it interesting, did it bring back
memories?
It took me nearly two hours to edit that because the scanner
mixes up some
of the letters.
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