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Northern Soul was a strangely stirring phenomenon. A music scene which flourished in clubs in the North and the Midlands of England from the late '60s to the early '80s, where mainly upbeat '60s American soul records got people going on the dance floor, it attracted an almost religious-like fervour.
The distinctive thing about Northern Soul was that the DJs' play lists tended to feature lesser-known songs and artists (especially from Motown), not the commercially successful mainstream, which contributed to the feeling of belonging to an exclusive sect. Its influence left its mark on British music, dance and fashion, not to mention paving the way for the booming club culture from the '80s onwards.
A number of other Northern Soul compilations are already on the market but this new 4-disc set selected by Wigan Casino founder and DJ Russ Winstanley, with 25 tracks on each CD, is certainly the most comprehensive - if not the oxymoronic 'complete introduction' it claims to be.
The contents include a few well-known hits, unfamiliar songs by big-name artists, obscure recordings and even some previously unreleased Motown tracks. The first two discs are entirely given over to Motown material, and it has to be said that they are much stronger than the other two, which are chiefly drawn from small indie soul labels, though there are some golden nuggets among the dross.
The album contains bona fide classics such as Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' Nowhere To Run and Stevie Wonder's Uptight (Everything's Alright), which you will find on any Motown compilation album. But more intriguing are the little-known numbers by stars such as Marvin Gaye (This Love Starved Heart of Mine (It's Killing Me)), Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (Whole Lot Of Shakin' In My Heart (Since I Met You)) and the Four Tops (I'll Turn To Stone), which never get played on the radio.
Equally fascinating are some delightful minor hits by minor Motown artists, such as The Elgins' Heaven Must Have Sent You, The Contours' Just A Little Misunderstanding, Brenda Holloway's Think It Over Before You Break My Heart and The Originals' Suspicion, which make you wonder why they didn't go on to become more famous and determined to find out what the rest of their output sounds like.
There are interesting versions of songs better known in other people's recordings, for example Gladys Knight and the Pips' faster, warmer take on the Righteous Brothers' You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling, with its Phil Spector-produced ‘wall of sound'. And the originals of There's A Ghost In My House (R. Dean Taylor), He Was Really Sayin' Something (The Velvelettes) and Tainted Love (Gloria Jones) make the later covers by, respectively, The Fall, Bananarama and Soft Cell look decidedly thin in comparison.
Names you wouldn't expect to find on a soul album are Sammy 'Rat Pack' Davis, Jr. (amazingly, briefly a Motown artist) and Chubby 'The Twist' Checker, who both acquit themselves surprisingly well, though the contribution of home-grown Kiki Dee (also, incredibly, signed to Motown, in the early '70s) is embarrassing.
There is quite a bit of mediocrity on discs 3 and 4, but also some quality stuff from Stax artist William Bell (Happy) and Atlantic Don Covay (It's Better To Have (And Don't Need)) - as well as outstanding tracks from relative unknowns like Earl Jackson, Johnny Taylor, Frank Popp Ensemble and J.J. Barnes. The album ends, fittingly, with Dean Parrish's I'm On My Way, which used to be the last record played at Wigan Casino Northern Soul all-nighters.
Altogether, inevitably for a compilation album of a hundred songs, this is a mixed bag, but you will certainly make great discoveries in this feelgood music which somehow makes your heart sing whether the love songs are happy or sad.
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