1999 Reviews.

On this page I hope to put reviews of all things Soul. It will definitely feature a review of the latest gig I have attended and will also look at fanzines, magazines, videos and just about anything else I can get my hands on!! The views printed will be my own opinions with just the occasional few words from one of my cohorts thrown in. You may or may not agree with what I say and I would be more than pleased to hear your comments. Also if you want to send me a review of something you have seen or somewhere you have visited I would be most grateful.

Gigs

Willenhall Baths Re-Union Night 25th June 1999.

The baths was where a hell of a lot of West Midlanders, who were teenagers in the early 1970's, got their first experiences of Northern Soul. It was essentially a normal disco, for under 18's, which ran from 7:30pm until 9:30pm. At the beginning the amount of Northern played was minimal but as it gained popularity it gradually started to take over the majority of the 2 hours. With regular crowds of 750 the Baths a major venue which has lain dormant for almost 20 years.No one quite new what to expect as we opened the doors on the reunion night the good news was that a lot of people had said they were coming, the bad news was 
only 9 tickets had been sold!!A steady trickle of people came and by 10pm, when I was to DJ, there were approximately 100 people in the place. I tried to play a few big records from the 
heyday of the Baths but the steady stream of requests soon put paid to that idea. From the applause the most popular sound of my spot was The Spinners-I Just Want To fall In Love. Mick Moylan followed me a got applause for Bettye Swann-Kiss My Love Goodbye and most of the dancers stayed on the floor until the close.

Winsford Civic Centre All Nighter 26th June 1999.

I had heard a lot about Winsford but to be fair everyone seemed to have a different opinion about the place and so once again as we set off, in the midst of a thunder storm, neither of us really knew what to expect.As we walked into the main room the first thing that hit me was the heat. One of the DJ's said, the next day, that the storage heaters behind the stage were on!
There was a good crowd in by midnight but more people kept arriving from the soul night in Whitchurch and by 2am the room and the large dance floor was fairly full. 
The music was top class throughout the night with notably excellent spots by Roger Banks, who, in my opinion, is the top DJ in the country, at the moment, Dave Rimmer and Bob Hinsley. Although all of the other DJ's were very good it's just that these three seemed to stand out. I didn't venture into the modern room, as it is not my scene at all, but one of my travelling companions did and she said it was excellent.On the whole Winsford makes for a superb all nighter. The place, facilities and the music are all top notch and I can't wait for the next one.

Tonys New Empress Ballroom Blackburn 3^rd July 1999

  Well I’d heard a fair bit about Tonys as the guy who promotes it lives near me, in Wolverhampton, but I still didn’t know what it was going to be like. We managed to park nearby, which is important, cos Blackburn is one mad place around midnight on a Saturday and went in at about 12:15am. The first thing that struck me was that there were already quite a lot of people in despite the fact the place had only been open 15 minutes. It wasn’t until it was explained to me that this place holds its own warm up from 8pm and you can pay £9 and get the warm up and the all-nighter without leaving the building! The venue was OK and had a large dancefloor a record sales area and a drinks bar. This was essential because your bags are searched on the way in and all drinks are confiscated and the management even go as far as turning off the cold water in toilets to stop you getting a free drink! The venue has very much an oldies policy and the guest tonight was Neil Rushton who got precious little dance floor action with his new stuff and soon had to revert to oldies. I would recommend this venue for a change or if you are 35 plus and want to hear records all night that you will know off by heart.

Keele Allnighter 10^th July 1999

Last time was my first visit to Keele and I vowed that I would not be returning but because of work commitments I had to stay somewhere close to home and Keele is only 30 minutes away. Despite having some diabolical music played (mainly by the promoter Neil Clowes) this gig was, in my opinion, much better than the previous one and I enjoyed it a lot more. It seemed to have the atmosphere back that was so lacking at the last one.  Mick Smith stood out amongst the DJ’s playing a fantastic set.

The Wilton Ballroom Normanton 16^th July 1999

  I’d heard virtually nothing about this venue and only went because I had the chance to meet some people I had spoken to only via the internet. The talk in the pub beforehand was excellent and I was looking forward to a memorable night. I got the memorable night but for the wrong reasons. When we first went in the music was good but then each DJ seemed to get worse and worse with a seemingly endless play list of very slow beat ballads and walking pace R&B. Roger Banks lifted the gloom briefly but it soon descended again. Since that night I’ve been told that this was not a typical gig at the Wilton so I will be giving it another go.

Bretby Country Club All Nighter Burton 24^th July 1999

  Despite not enjoying this gig last time I gave it another go because the only other things on this night featured live acts which I find an intrusion at a Soul gig! When we arrived, about midnight, we were warned on the door that it was very quiet and pleasantly surprised to find that the price of admission had gone down to £6. In we went and found only about 8 other paying punters plus the jocks and record dealers. A few more turned up but I would guess that there were never more than about 35 people in and so the move to the larger room never happened. Despite all this the night turned out to be pretty good as most of the DJ’s played spots that were virtually all requests and I don’t remember sitting down much all night, which was a major difference to last week. This is a good venue and really deserves to get crowds just to make sure it doesn’t go the way of so many other gigs. I know a lot of people can’t get on with the promoter but it shouldn’t matter who promotes gigs we can’t afford for them to close down.

Vic All Nighter Wigan 30^th July 1999

This was to be the start of a hectic weekend of Northern bit was a major disappointment. After taking ages to find this club, despite getting directions to it when we were only 250 yards away, we arrived at about 1:45am and walked in to find just 20 others, including the doorman and the DJ’s!  Not many more turned up later and I don’t think that there was ever more than half a dozen people dancing, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as the temporary dancefloor had not turned up and the promoters had made their own from a few bits of 2” by 2” and a some sheets of hardboard! The music, however, was very good but, again, gigs can’t go on with attendances like this.

Northern Soul Convention King Georges Hall Blackburn 31^st July 1999

Straight from the Wigan all nighter up to Blackburn for the premier of Ian Levines film.

I must admit that as I was buying the film anyway I really didn’t have much interest in watching it and had expected that the music would be available, in the other room, all day. This, however, was not the case and we had nothing else to do from 10:30am until 4:00pm but sit and watch the film or go for a walk around Blackburn. I’m not going to speak about the film here, as it is reviewed elsewhere on the site, but I will talk about the gig downstairs. In the hall below the film premier we were offered a soul connoisseurs room from 3pm until 9pm then an oldies spot from 9pm till 11pm and finally Mecca memories until the close. This room eventually opened about 4:45pm and as each DJ tried to play some “cutting edge” music they were moaned at until they played common stuff or oldies! I must take the opportunity to congratulate Andy Rix for being the only jock to stick to his guns and play some cracking rarities. As for the Mecca memories that degenerated into pretty much the same kind of stuff too. Upstairs, when the film eventually ended, we had Mr Levine playing more, washed out, oldies and a seemingly unstable Bobby Paris screeching his three Northern “classics”. A long day (about 14 hours) with only about 1 hour of worthwhile music, in my opinion.

Pigeon Club All Nighter Bolton 1^st August 1999

  Straight from the Blackburn all dayer to Bolton and the Pigeon club all nighter. I’d heard that these gigs sell out and I wanted to see why. It took a bit of finding, probably cos I was feeling the pace a little by now, and when I saw it, I must confess, I thought I would be making a quick exit! What a dump! But since when has it mattered if the venue is a dump? The music was top class, the people were pleasant and the beer was good!! This gig was started up with a deliberate policy to play so called “60’s newies” up in the area where oldies have a virtual stranglehold. The fact that it was jam packed, despite clashing with other gigs, is testament to what a top night it is. Book your tickets for this one though because it’s only a small place and is going to grow in popularity, for sure.

Aquarius Hednesford 6^th August 1999

  Another packer at this ideal venue. Some of the music was a bit forgettable but, on the other hand, some was awesome. I stayed in the record bar, which was again very busy, most of the night but could see that the dance floor stayed full until the close.

Jollees All Nighter Stoke 14^th August 1999

I hadn’t been to this club since 1979 and the first thing that struck me was how tatty it looked, from the outside. Once you are in it’s pretty smart though. The two rooms were Northern Soul and R&B which was good for me as I am not a fan of R&B  and was glad I didn’t have to listen to it at the expense of Northern. The thing that did surprise me was that the R&B room was the bigger of the two and seemed to have the better attendance. I enjoyed the night because while, at times, it seemed a little disjointed there was a really good cross section of music. The DJ’s spots were split into two 45 minute sessions each, which worked a treat for the punters, cos if one was not playing the stuff you liked  you just had a look at some records or went and annoyed someone for a bit and before you knew it, another jock with a different selection. On the whole then a good enough night but really needs a few more punters through the door. Although where they would dance I don’t know cos it must be the smallest dancefloor of any gig I’ve ever been to.

Winsford Civic Centre 21st August 1999

I had been looking forward to this since the last Winsford as I really seem to enjoy the big venues more so than the smaller ones. We set off in pouring rain after what had been a blisteringly hot day and were a bit wary after how hot the previous Winsford had been. When we arrived we saw that the entrance was out of use and the rear door was being used. This sorted the overheating problem out straight away because the door wouldn't shut and a cool breeze blew through the main room all night! The numbers seemed to be down, slightly to me, but the music was very good and the floor saw plenty of action. I spent some time in the modern room this time but it's not really my scene, however, one of the guys that I travelled up with likes that kind of stuff and he went in to have a look at about 2am and stayed until it closed! All in all we were well satisfied and looking forward to the next one in November.

Ritz All Nighter Manchester 29th August 1999

Well if you've read the previous reports you will already know that I love the Ritz and had been really looking forward to this anniversary gig. What a letdown. Every one who travelled up in our crowd felt that it had been the worst Ritz of the year. The DJ's seemed determined to keep repeating each others playlists and the atmosphere was almost non existent. Normally I hardly see Barbs at the Ritz as she dances practically all night, but this time,for the first time ever at this venue we spent at least a couple of hours sitting up on the balcony having a couple of pints and talking. The only, slightly, saving grace was Bob Hinsley's last hour where he played his own unique blend of stuff and really got the crowd and the atmosphere back up where it should have been. It was just a shame that so many had already left and missed it.

Aquarius Hednesford 3rd September

I used to enjoy the Aquarius, once upon a time, but now, sadly, it seems to be dying a slow and painful death. Just a few short months ago it would be packed from the minute it opened to the minute it closed but when I arrived over an hour into the session there were less than a dozen people in the room. Yes it filled up a bit later but, again, there was no atmosphere and the music was terrible. The only good thing, for me anyway, is that I was the only one selling records and because of this I had sold out in just over an hour and was free to leave. Whoever DJ'd the last hour before I left thought it was a good idea to both start and end his spot with Bettye Swann-Kiss My love Goodbye a tactic I have never come across before.

100 Club 20th Anniversary London

This club has put on 20 years of all nighters and I had never been through the door! I had heard so many different things about the 100 Club I'd decided to go and see for myself. We travelled down by train with Dave Rimmers barmy army and as this was the first time I'd gone to a nighter by train since Wigan it was already not like a normal saturday night. We got there and in the queue and I was surprised to see so many familiar faces and I already knew it was going to be a good night. The doors opened and we went in, only a few yards, and our bags were searched and bottles of water were removed. This is becoming an unpleasantly regular occurence at Northern gigs now and it really gets on my nerves. We then went a few yards further only to be told that the free comemorative single had not yet arrived! So it hadn't got off to a very good start and when we went down the stairs and into the club itself my heart sank! I had seen the size of the queue and now I had seen the size of the club. Just where were they all going to fit? I was first on the dancefloor(Kenny Shepherd-What Difference Does It Make) as I had decided to get in a few dances before it got too packed to move. I needn't have worried though because the free singles arrived and everyone got in and apart from being very, very hot there was no problem. The fantastic line up of DJ's treated us to six and a half hours of 100 Club classic sounds and I can honestly say that it was one of the best all nighters that I have ever been to. We walked out the next morning and strolled to the railway station and even this was great! Anybody who drives to all nighters week in and week out could do a lot worse than give the train a try because it definately makes a big difference. It had taken 20 years to get me to go for the first time but I can guarantee you this it won't be long before I'm there again.

Keele 11th Anniversary All Nighter 18th September 1999

Another anniversary and the strongest line up of DJ's that I had ever seen at Keele had all the signs of an excellent night. Inside the numbers were not as high as I had expected possibly due to the appalling weather conditions. The music was pretty average because the crowd seemed keen to keep with fast, older sounds. A few DJ's played slightly different stuff but in the main it was a bit predictable. I did venture into the alternative room but it sounded as if they all had hammers and were trying to build a shed rather than music! The evacuation after the fire alarm at about 6am signalled the end of the night for me.

Station Hotel Dudley 24th Setember 1999

Went over to the Station as this was to be it's final night, due to consistently poor attendances. I can't understand this cos if I didn't work on Fridays I wouldn't have missed many. This place had it all, it was very plush, easilly accessable, a great dancefloor, top DJ's and great music. But it's still finished. What more do people want?

Royal Banqueting Suite Derby All Nighter 2nd October 1999

Decided to go to this gig purely because it was 75 miles closer than the only other all nighter taking place! Not a bad night at all a few to many oldies I suppose but nothing to complain about. This is a very pleasant venue with plenty of atmosphere so it should go on to great things. Having said that there probably won't be any more gigs there!

The Dome. Tufnell Park. London. Soul Night 8th October 1999

A new venture, this one, being tried out by one of the younger generation London soulies.

Off we go then from Wolverhampton, down to London, a bit of a way for a soul night but a good journey spoiled right at the end by my poor sense of direction and the bloody speed camera that got me 2 minutes from the venue! As is normal in London we spent a while trying to find somewhere to park and then walked back to the Dome which is a doorway on the side of a pub, this didn't look good, but once we climbed the stairs it opened out into a very large scruffy room with a massive dance floor a long bar and a DJ booth. There were some tables and chairs round the edge of the floor and, all in all, it looked the ideal venue for a northern gig.

Things were a bit slow for the first 45 mins but then the floodgates seemed to burst and the place filled up rapidly. By 11pm space on, or off, the dancefloor was at a premium and the atmosphere was electric. The DJ's had been specially chosen and all did their stuff admirably with Keb Darge, Andy Rix and Dave Rimmer standing out on the night, but not by much as they were all superb.

This gig is going to be a regular fixture with the next one coming on the 26th November so, if you can, do yourself a favour and get down there cos it really is a cracker of a night.

Bretby Country Club All Nighter 9th October 1999

A bit of a change from last night, but at least I get home half an hour after I leave the place. Actually this was quite a good night. Both the standard of music and the number of punters was better than usual and this, in turn, made for a better atmosphere.

Bretby Country Club Oldies and R& B All Nighter 23rd October 1999

I thought that trying to back to two rooms so soon after the poor attendances had been improved upon was a mistake. But the tried and tested Oldies strategy proved to be a winner with the main room being pretty full all night and the other room did well with the R&B fraternity also.

Togetherness All Nighter. Kings Hall Stoke 30th October 1999

I must admit that we had been looking forward to this since March and I guess that because of our high expectations this was always going to be a let down. Too many played out Oldies, too many repeated records and a sound system that is advertised as "Mega" but in truth would struggle to cope with a church hall. Spent a little bit of time in the modern room but still can't get into it, I did hear good reports from the people who do like it though. Wish I'd gone to the Pigeon Club Nighter now!!!

East Midland Soul Club All Nighter. The Assembly Rooms Derby 13th November 1999

Never been to this place before but it was being run by the same crew who had done the one at the Royal banqueting Suite a few weeks ago so we had decided to try it. What a great place!! Massive dance floor, big bar area, large record sales area and plenty of places, complete with armchairs, to chill out in. Another nice touch is the fact that the music is piped everywhere ( yes even the toilets ) too. So you can listen to it whateever you are doing. There are 4 nighters booked here for next year so look out for them if you can. The icing on the cake came for me when I managed to pick up a Betty O'Brien-She'll Be Gone, Liberty Demo after being after one for months and months.

Fanzines

Soulful Kinda Music.

I have had the pleasure of knowing Dave Rimmer, the editor of Soulful Kinda Music, for some months now but I had never remembered to buy a copy of his magazine, until recently. I now find it hard to believe how I could have missed it!! This magazine is top-drawer stuff. I bought a couple of back issues which had special features on the Stafford All-Nighters, cos I never went to Stafford, but now thanks to these specials I know a fair bit about the place and more importantly the music that was played there.
I also bought the current issue which has some great stuff in including an in depth look at The Crescents (who later became the Wigs) and a detailed look at Philly labels. Each issue also has venue reports and CD reviews and loads of other stuff, a real good read which enjoyed a lot.

Manifesto

I'm sure I can remember when this magazine used to be the dog's whatsits. But then again I'm sure I can remember when Lenny Henry used to be funny (no he did honest). Now, to me anyway, it only seems to be useful as a datesheet for upcoming gigs and a place where you will find a promoters phone number when you have lost the scrap of paper that you scribbled it down on. Sorry but that's the way I see it.

Film

The Strange World Of Northern Soul

I've watched this film four times now so that I could give a balanced review and not some sort of knee jerk reaction. I so wanted this film to be great, as did so many others, it would always struggle to be as good as people wanted it to be and given a lot of peoples irrational dislike of Ian Levine would it ever get a good review?

I was told not to miss the start, as it would blow me away. I didn't miss it and it didn't blow me away! Sure when Frank Wilson sings his couple of lines it's good but not that good. My main gripes with the whole thing are as follows. The footage of artists miming to their northern hits was much to numerous. A few would have been OK but someone needed to say enough is enough. In some parts it does look as though time was running out and rather than waste any a few more have been squeezed in. Messing about with the backing tracks was, in my opinion, totally unforgivable and I can't believe even Levine thought he would get away with doing this without being ridiculed. The video effects were very poor and again totally overused in some cases they were bordering on nauseating! Try looking at something like Phillip Mitchell, which doesn't have many effects, and seeing how much better it is than any of the others that are overloaded with shapes and patterns. Most of the interviews done with people from the Soul scene seemed to just say the same things over and over again. There was barely any film from past venues and considering how much we've been annoyed by the video cameras for the last twelve months there is precious little from current venues either. In fact if you look closely most of the current stuff shown is just one small piece played over and over. I understand there is over 100 hours of current dancefloor footage that hasn't been used. If that was put out tomorrow it would out sell the main film!

So overall I was very disappointed. I realise that we have to be grateful for a project as big as this being done and to have the opportunity to see anything to do with northern is very rare.  I'm glad it was made but wish it had been better. My main problem is the fact that I wouldn't like people, not into the northern scene, to see this film and think that this was what it was like.

The thing is now, in all probability, despite the fact that almost everyone seems to think that they could have done better it's most unlikely that anyone will try.

Books

Crackin' Up. A novel by Maxwell Murray.

Now this was something really different. A novel taking place in the early seventies and telling the story of a scooter riding, pill popping, rocker bashing, soul loving teenager. When I first heard about this book I wondered if the author would be able to pull this off with any credibility. I mean most people have read the Skinhead and Chopper style of books and they were, in my opinion, a bit short on detail. Which really let you know that the authors had not had any experience of doing anything that was mentioned in the books. Crackin' Up though is full of detail amny references to places every soul fan will know. Lots of record titles and various other unmentionables :-)

The book is well written and very entertaining if you haven't got it yet then what are you waiting for cos I'll bet you now that anyone who lived through that period and reads it will find that they HAVE to say, somewhere along the line, "oh God I remember doing that"

If you want to get a copy right now click here to go the authors web page and order it.

The In Crowd. Mike Ritson & Stuart Russell

Apologies if this review sounds a bit like the one of the film but, in a way, my thoughts about both seem very similar! I really wanted this book to be the definitive story of the Northern Scene. Something that when people ask what I'm talking about when I mention Northern Soul I can give them and say "read this" and it will explain everything to them. In my opinion it isn't! Don't get me wrong it is a very good book. But if you didn't know anything about the scene, I think, this book would leave you more confused than before you read it. I notice it is called Volume One and I hope that when all the volumes have been done it will end up being the definitive item. At the minute though, especially, being priced at £30 and £50 for paperback and hardback, respectively, I just don't think it is value for money.