All the talk about Working men's clubs sparked my memory of another Northern working man's invention that of 'Northern soul" born out of mostly Motown rejects from little known American black soul groups in the mid-1960s ..this documentary gives a fabulous background to the beginnings and current obsession with the Northern soul phenomenon
Being 18 in 1976 and growing up in Leeds and Wakefield I was oblivious to the Northern soul cult happening just 50 miles away in Wigan and much closer to me in Sheffield and Dewsbury ... my only connection with it is through a 45rpm single I came across in my job as a Jukebox tech in Leeds in 1976 where I had access to thousands of singles ... I instantly fell in love with this song by R Dean Taylor ...There's a ghost in my house
and its B side which I actually preferred "Let's go somewhere" which unknowingly to me at the time fed my desire for something or somewhere "different " 😉 ....I'm still looking 🤷♂️
The only song that comes to mind of Bill Nelsons that has a slight soul tint is 'A certain thought passed through my mind" from Clocks and dials ... with the amazing lyric "there was nothing left to say ...that's how it all begins"😍
Pretty interesting. As a guy from Detroit (close to, at least), I hear a lot of the same themes: Hard driving rhythms somehow akin to factory technologies, the release from the daily grind, a certain kind of pride. In Detroit, though, this was also the music of people coming into a bit of money for the first time. Alas, that ethos would not last. It eventually gave way to the heavier, darker tones of funk.
Absolutely love R. Dean Taylor's 'There's A Ghost In My House'..classic!
I can remember putting it up on the old forum's single track of the day thread and I do believe I started a thread about Northern Soul on the old site as well...I think I did anyway.
Something special about collecting 7inch singles back then, 60's and 70's (early 70's and onwards really, for me)..you had a piece of magic in your hands, you cherished it..the whole process of first hearing the record and the build up to getting the bus into town, to your local record shop and finally buying it, was an event!..nothing like that anymore...We had guys in a couple of record shops, Selectadisk in Notts and Revolver Records in Sutton-In-Ashfield that used to specially order/get us 'hard to get hold of' singles and albums..great times!
I agree tourist... Buying records was an event back in the 70s and 80s .... oddly though the only single l have ever purchased (due to getting free 45s from my job) was Teenage archangel by one Be bop deluxe 😳 .... buying albums was something that was a huge thing for me .... my pay every week was about 12 pounds and 5 of that went to my mum for board 👍 l can remember buying the “live in the air age” album from Vallances in Leeds after work on a Friday ... they had a stack of the albums on the counter ,l touched it like it was the most precious thing ..... which it was to me 😳 same thing happened with the following Be bop albums and the Red noise was bought from the Record bar in Wakefield a magical experience.... l have purchased hundreds of albums but those times are memorable ♥️ Music ... what a magical thing eh
Used to see Tamla Motown compilations in the record shops and I never understood why they were UK imports. When I asked someone working at one of the shops about it, it was the first time I'd heard the term "Northern Soul."
YouTube interview appeared a few months back with John Reid, Elton John's former manager, who explained how, at age 19, he'd became the manager for Tamla Motown at age 19.