Northern Soul

THE BIG WHEELS KEEP ON TURNIN'

The Wheel was gone, but certainly not forgotten, in many ways the Northern soul scene was only in its founder years,  the post Wheel era would see things change, where rather than soul fans traveling to Manchester, the Mancunians would venture further a field and visit other towns across the UK, many that had already established and others that would soon develop strong Northern Soul followings.  Northern Soul is often discussed as being a type of "underground" scene, personally I cannot understand why, it's certainly true soul music was not played on any commercial radio stations, but by 1971 it was everywhere. Far from being underground there were only four scenes to be on as youth in the early 1970s', you were either a mod/soul/suede head/scooter type of guy, or a "greaser" into motor bikes and heavy rock, or a "weirdo" University type into peace, love and Pink Floyd, or a nerd into none of the above. I grew up as a young kid on the scooter scene and to me "Soul" was not really a "scene" at all, just a way of life that went with scooters.

History appears more often than not to portray only five or six Northern Soul venues worth mentioning, these being the founder clubs of the Twisted Wheel, The Torch, Blackpool Mecca, Va Va, The Catacombs and then Wigan Casino. The reality is that for each of these well known clubs there were many others at a ratio of at least 20:1 and so there were a minimum of a 100 Clubs that soul fans could visit throughout the UK in the early 1970s'. Some were as good as they come, but unfortunately they didn't last long (neither did the Torch), and include the Metro Bistro in Wakefield,  Tiffanies in Newcastle under Lyme, the Blue Orchid in Draycott near Derby, a great all-nighter that was unfortunately sometimes difficult to gain entry to as it had a strict dress code that did not allow jeans or cords and so many out of town visitors went there only to be disappointed on being refused entry and so never returned, my old mate Tony Holland  can testify to this being turned away, which meant the whole Group of us didn't go in either. Perhaps this in part might be why a soul club with great music lasted just one year from the beginning to the end of 1970. Then later there were the Top Rank clubs across the Country putting on the International Soul Club gigs including those in Preston and Hanley, Ian Levine also Dj'd on Wednesday and Fridays at Scoey's in Blackpool as well as at the Carlton Club in Warrington. The Pun Club in Liverpool had DJ Les Spaine and in the greater Manchester area alone there were dozens of soul clubs, including the Pendulum (Barry Tasker played great sounds there), Sounds (Brian Walton now in Australia DJ'd there), Taki's, Rafters (a regular haunt for me and best for Northern on Thursday nights with DJ Mal Barry, gradually turned into a reggae club by DJ Mike Shaft), Belle Vue (in the Elizabethan Suite), Browns in Gorton, Baileys in Oldham (also had many live soul groups performing), The Top 20 Club in Droylsden (closed more often than it was open by bans from the local council due to regular fights), the Top 20 Club in Hollinwood (this is one of the almost forgotten truly great Soul Clubs), St Bernadette's (located in of all places Church grounds), Bumpers (lots of Scooters here), Baileys in Oldham (another Club with strict dress standards who had a DJ named Billy Paul, not the Philadelphia one), The Bird Cage in Ashton  The Mecca (in Sale, not Blackpool, Ian Levine and Colin Curtis DJ'd together there as well as Blackpool). Even Manchester's Piccadilly Club went over to Soul on Saturdays and had regular Monday Northern Soul nights (with DJ's barry Bear and Brian Walker ex Twisted Wheel) and  there were lots of pubs that put on regular soul nights including the Commercial in Droylsden, The Wrecker (aka The Lion and Lamb) in Blackley (was done up like an old ship and was the venue at which my old mate Tony Holland DJ'd at on Friday nights), the list goes on, all made a great contribution to the thriving soul scene. It would be impossible to cover them all in detail on these pages, but let's take a look at some of the more well known clubs from across the UK that were founded or became increasingly popular after the closure of the Wheel and which in their own ways helped make Northern Soul legendary.
 

THE TORCH
Because of the Twisted Wheel's influence The "all-nighter" had become the essence of Northern Soul and regarded as one of the main reasons behind the Wheel's success and so it was only to be expected that the dedicated followers of Northern Soul would be on the look out for another true all night venue. This created an opportunity for any nightclub willing to go out of their way to capture the demand for an all-nighter. One such  Club willing to take the chance and capitalise on this demand was the Torch, first known as the "Golden Torch" due to it's glitzy gold painted Romanesque style decor. Forgetting the decor and the Torch's somewhat unusually hard to find location in suburban Hose Street in Tunstall, Stoke on Trent, the Torch was made for an all-nighter as it had already established a loyal clientele of mods, scooter boys and the like. Interestingly, although the popular retro Torch patch proudly states 1965 - 1973, it wasn't until 1967 the Torch became a soul club and much later in 1972 that the Torch became a true Northern Soul venue, because even though the Torch had been playing soul music since 1967 and like the Twisted Wheel had live appearances from Soul artists such as Inez and Charlie Foxx, Edwin Starr, Junior Walker, The Drifters and Ben E King to name a few, it was only in March 1972 that it first opened as an all-nighter and in a grand way too, staying open for even longer hours than the Wheel from 8.30pm to 8.30am and so being able to claim twelve "so-full" hours. The Torch was about to become no longer 'Golden" but instead in the tradition of all-nighters dark, hot and sweaty. Tracks played at the Torch over thirty years ago were to become legendary and many of the original 45's played there are highly sought after even today after being "broken" at the Torch by DJ's from across the country and now acknowledged as some of the true pioneers of Northern Soul, including Colin Curtis, Keith Minshull, Ian Levine, Tony Jebb, Alan Day, Martyn Ellis (Martyn Skewes). The tracks played included "Sliced Tomatoes" by the Just Brothers on Music Merchant 1010, the storming "Crackin up over you" from Roy Hamilton on RCA Victor 8960, "I've got something good" from Sam and Kitty on Four Brothers 452, "One Wonderful moment" from the Shakers on ABC 10960, "What would I do" from the Tymes on MGM 3631. and even non US releases such as PP Arnold's "Everything's gonna be allright" on Immediate 040, any of which will still pack the floor today.     

The Torch became known not only for it's great music, live acts and big crowds, but also as the best and for a time the only true all-nighter in the UK and so its popularity continued to increase until it had obtained an almost legendary status with Soul fans from all over the UK. The Torch was and always will be something special to soul fans. Sure there was still the odd scallywag ready to cadge your gear or nick your bag or coat and so you still had to watch yourself, but the friendship and camaraderie here was and always will be second to none. Perhaps this was in part due to the closure of the Wheel and so soul lovers valued more than ever before the opportunity to again meet friends and like minded people from across the country and listen to the very best in Northern Soul. The "almost" legendary status of the Torch changed to absolutely, convincingly and without a doubt "legendary" when in December 1972 Major Lance appeared live (see the Major Lance page for more details). The Major was already popular on the Northern scene due to his great live performances, amazing dancing style and Northern stomping tracks that are still embraced by Northern Soul lovers all over the World even today. These include the incredible “Investigate” which was quite a different and innovative sound at the time and the unforgettable anthem "Ain't no soul in these old shoes" on OKeh 7266.

It was on this day in early December 1972 that history was made and Major Lance recorded what would become perhaps the best known Northern Soul album of all time “Live at the Torch”, which was recorded on the UK Contempo label, re released as an album in 1996 and is still available nowadays on CD. Tracks from this memorable occasion are also able to be found across the Internet as MP3 files. As the title suggests the album was recorded live and Northern Soul fans knowing the Major would be there turned up from all over the UK in their thousands. The attendance was estimated at a  record 1,300 and which could have been much bigger as many hundreds of eager Northern Soul fans were left outside with just no room left to let them in. Northern Soul fans desperate to see Major Lance tried every trick in the book to get in, including trying to open fire doors at the rear and scrambling onto the flat roof of the Torch hoping to find a way in, or to hopefully hear the Major's live performance down below. Even those lucky enough to get inside were packed in like sardines, with many literally hanging from the rafters (balcony) and whereas The "Live at the Torch" album is perhaps the most sought after Northern Soul album ever made. It was Major Lance and the unbelievable level of audience participation that made it work, it certainly will never be forgotten for it’s raw enthusiasm and has, just like the Major become a Northern Soul icon. The sheer passion, and excitement of the occasion brought tears to the Major's eyes, for until that moment even he had never fully understood the full extent to which he was revered on the UK Northern Soul scene.

Those privileged to have ever seen the Major perform live know that not only was he a great singer and performer, but also a brilliant dancer and without a doubt many a Northern Soul shuffle has taken a little, if not a lot from his dance floor moves. Howard Yates, the Melbourne soul fan, DJ and shuffler extraordinaire danced live on stage with the major at that memorable night in 1972 at the Torch, if you have any old photographs look closely, one of those up there on the stage is Howard.

The influence of Major Lance and the Torch on the Northern Soul scene can never be overestimated, they rival that of the Twisted Wheel and both will never be forgotten. Ironically just like the Wheel, the Torch became a victim of it's own success and after Major Lance had appeared live that one day in December 1972, which resulted in wild scenes on Hosey Street and in the surrounding suburb of Tunstall, it would be the law, the council and the do-gooders who would together campaign to have the Torch closed as an all-nighter. Two of the founding DJ's may have seen the writing on the wall and before it closed moved back to the Blackpool Mecca and just eighteen months after it had opened it was suddenly over for the Torch. Just like what happened at the Wheel, the enemies of a good time made sure it was closed, but in this case with virtually no notice. What came about was almost unbelievable, soul fans turned up at the Club to find that incredibly and almost unannounced the Torch was gone, almost a quickly as it had came. This was quite different from the closure of the Wheel, which was being rumoured to close for more than a year. The Torch was gone almost instantly even though in just eighteen months it had gained a membership even bigger than that of the Twisted Wheel and estimated at well over 10,000. The Torch had been the greatest Northern Soul show on earth and will never be forgotten,  "The Torch", "Major Lance" and "Okeh" were stamped indelibly as names that would forever epitomise the true meaning of Northern Soul.  

THE CATACOMBS
Like the Torch, originally a mod type club and known affectionately as "The Cats". I am not sure exactly which year it moved to Temple Street, I think around 1968. I believe the contribution that the Cats made to Northern Soul has over the years been greatly underestimated. This was a soul club running at the same time as the Wheel and a lot of the Wheel sounds actually came up from the Cats, which was a club famous for finding fabulous unheard of Northern Soul. I think is was a DJ who used to wear a floppy hat called Farmer Dene who was responsible for most of the finds then Alan Day and Pep. So although it had the sounds, perhaps the Cats may not have achieved all the credit it deserved. Maybe because it was not a cellar club and was not an all-nighter (well not until much later) finishing at 12.30am and for us the Cats was too hard to get to (especially on a scooter) as from Manchester it was about twice as far again as was Stoke on Trent, so it was the Torch  until it closed in 1973 that was always a more attractive option geographically than the Cats. It might not look far on the map, but from Manchester to Wolverhampton on two wheels is a long arduous journey and using the road system of the early seventies it took much longer to get there than it does today, so my experience of the Cats was just one visit. A disastrous one too, because I am sure we went the longest way down there that was humanly possible. I remember going through Chester and Crewe and it rained all the way there and most of the way back and a couple of scooters didn't make it even half way and had to be squeezed into the back of a mini van, yes you could fit two Lambrettas into the back of a mini van.

It didn't matter when we got there though, it was all worth it as the music at the Cats was certainly special. Every soul club is famous for introducing certain tracks to the scene, for the Cats these have to be Richard Temple's "That beatin' rhythm" on Mirwood 5532 and Leon Haywood's Baby Reconsider on Fatfish 8011, both unknown until the Cats and both played there before the Wheel. Then later the Cats kept them coming with new sounds like Brice Coefield's "Ain't that right" on Omen 10, Lorraine Chandler's "I can't change" on RCA Victor 9349 and Sandy Wynn's "Touch of Venus" on Doc 103, these just being some of the tracks introduced to the Northern Soul scene by the Cats.

                                                                                                                             From Blues and Soul, 1973

I am not sure what it was about the year 1974, but the Northern scene was changing a lot then and many of the founder clubs had already gone or were disappearing around this time, even the Stateside label closed its doors in 1974. This was also the year the Cats closed and it was the 13th July (unlucky for some) in 1974 that saw the last all-nighter there. It was tongue in cheek when the night was promoted as "The death of the cats", but once again the reality was that the candle had been snuffed out on another legendary Northern Soul club. 

 

The Mecca & The Casino
It's difficult to discuss each of the clubs in isolation as they in many cases operated within the same time frame as did the early Mecca alongside the late Twisted Wheel. Once the Wheel had closed however there was a flurry of Clubs that opened hoping to carry on the tradition of the allnighter where the Wheel had left off. Unfortunately as already mentioned, like the Torch most did not last long and the Mecca although not an allnighter became the place to go because of its innovative music policy. One might say that as Soul Clubs go the Mecca came next as after all at one stage it ran concurrently with the Whitworth Street Wheel and it certainly will always be remembered as one of the most influential Northern Soul Clubs due to it's innovative DJ policy. The Mecca was without doubt ultimately responsible for breaking more Northern soul classics than any other venue. As the name suggests it was one of the Clubs in the large UK "Mecca" Group and first opened in the mid 1960s', although not as a soul club but as a traditional UK dance hall type venue with a capacity for thousands. It was known as "The Locarno Ballroom" with the smaller "Highland Room" being upstairs, playing pop as well as soul music, along with the odd live appearance from soul stars including the legendary Jimmy Ruffin. History seems to show that Ian Levine was the original DJ at the Mecca and whereas there is no doubt it would be his name that would become synonymous with this great Club in it's Northern Soul era, earlier DJ's there included Ollie Ollerton who emigrated to South Africa around 1969 and Ron Dempster who later emigrated to Canada. 

                                       Image courtesy of Ron Dempster

After Ron and Ollie it was Tony Jebb in 1970 who DJ'd with Stuart Freeman and others, the format was still pop and soul, but when the Twisted Wheel closed in early 1971 there was an increasing demand for what we today know as Northern Soul music and this was Tony Jebb's specialty, as it also was for the Blackpool local and avid Motown collector and aspiring DJ Ian Levine. Ian was already by now well known from his early days as a record hound at the Twisted Wheel and he convinced Tony Jebb to bring over one of his favourite DJ's from the Twisted Wheel (Les Cokell) to the Mecca. It was Ian who found and brought back from the USA thousands of rare imported and unheard of Northern Soul tracks, these were sought and played by other DJ's, and so as he did at the Twisted Wheel, Les Cokell again used Ian Levine's rare records at the Mecca in the Highland room. It was therefore only to be expected that when in late 1971 Les Cokell couldn't make it to the Mecca one night due to a dose of the flu, it would be Ian Levine who would step in for him. By popular demand Ian then continued to DJ each alternate week at the Mecca as the second DJ alongside Les Cokell. It would at the time perhaps have been hard to believe that the then not too technical second string Blackpool DJ Ian Levine would soon with the Mecca start one of the most exciting era's the Northern Soul scene has or ever will experience. It would be the Mecca that would soon become the UK's number one Northern Soul club, outlasting the Torch. There would be some see-sawing of DJ's from the Mecca to the Torch, including Tony Jebb, Colin Curtis and Keith Minshull. When Tony Jebb left the Mecca to DJ at the Torch in 1972 it was Ian Levine who became the No 1 DJ, later Ian would leave the Mecca in the hands of Les Cokell to also go and DJ at the Torch, including on the occasion of Major Lance's legendary live appearance in December 1972. When the Torch closed it was Colin Curtis and Keith Minshull who were DJ'ing at the Mecca and to his own dismay not Ian Levine, who was still traveling from Blackburn to Hanley to DJ at the Top Rank Soul Club.

In 1973 Ian Levine would triumphantly return to the Mecca replacing Keith Minshull and once again teamed up with Colin Curtis and the formidable Levine / Curtis team would be reunited to bring more new and unknown tracks to their eager followers. It was opportune timing as Ian Levine had recently been in the United States searching for undiscovered soul tracks, he had brought back thousands, so naturally it would be the Mecca that would benefit and be the proving ground for these and so many new and never before heard tracks that would be "broken" by Levine at the Mecca from 1973 onwards. The main reason behind the success of the Mecca was Ian Levine's contribution as an innovative DJ. Due to his influence and massive record collection the Mecca became the place to hear dozens of amazing new tracks each night. It was Ian Levine who was able to keep  constantly digging out new tracks and importantly he had the bottle to play them. The word was soon out and soul fans flocked to Blackpool and the Mecca from all over the UK.

            
       The Carstairs "It really hurts me girl", James Fountain's "Seven day lover" and
       Otis Smith's "Let her go" were all regular plays at the Mecca in the early 1970's

Ian Levine kept the great sounds coming and the Mecca would soon regularly be pulling massive crowds of 1000+, rarely seen before at any other Northern Soul venue other than on special occasions. The pace on the scene was hectic and exciting as punters were getting to the Mecca any way they could, hitching rides, coaches, buses, trains, cars, scooters, you name it, it didn't matter how you got there, the Mecca and the new tracks played there by Ian Levine made it the place to be. It all looked good for the Mecca, a good sized venue that lent itself to Northern Soul as a room with "good sound", which really could not be said of the Wheel and the Torch.  The Mecca also had the best in music due to the  innovation of DJ Ian Levine, but as often is the case, just when you think you've got it made someone will deliver a surprise or two and the bubble will burst. This "surprise" for the Mecca seemed to occur because it was not an all-nighter and in 1973 a new Northern Soul allnighter was about to open of all places in the unlikely location of Station Street, Wigan.........

Wigan Casino operated as a nightclub well before it became the famous allnighter and it was an enterprising local DJ named Russ Winstanley who was able to convince the management that the old entertainment centre, not really famed for being a Casino at the time (but which did in fact hold a small private Casino at one stage), could be a success as a Northern Soul allnighter.  One suspects that even Russ and the team at the Casino never anticipated what a success Wigan Casino was about to become due to the introduction of the allnight sessions and who cares if it did or didn't hold a gambling Casino, (after all Wigan also has a pier). History now confirms the name Wigan Casino became synonymous with Northern Soul and not gambling when it was embraced by many of the old soul fans from the Twisted Wheel, those from the Torch etc who were still on the scene and left craving for an allnighter. There was also a new generation of young soul fans who had not experienced the allnighter phenomena and who were fascinated by the idea. It was a matter of perfect, if not somewhat fortuitous timing for the operators of the Casino, who deserve credit for instigating the return of and then further enhancing the allure of the Northern Soul all-nighter to old and new fans alike from across the whole of the UK. The "Casino" was of course open as a music venue before it came an allnighter, but it was the allure of it being an allnighter that would see it attract thousands of fans from all over the UK. The casino was to be very different from clubs like the Wheel though, the average age of the punters was younger, the dress code in comparison to the founder clubs was relaxed, gone were the black Barathea's, Ben Sherman and Jaytex shirts, Levi Sta Press and Eva Press trousers, out went the Crombies and god forgive, suits! The Casino goers instead boasted "baggies" or "Spencer" trousers almost as wide as a skirt, with a pronounced waistband, coupled with sleeveless vests or as they were known "Tank Tops". It's said the idea behind this new dress code was all about keeping cool and the air flow through the baggy trousers helped to achieve this. I am not sure about the validity of this theory and any-one who has ever caught their shoe in the turn up of a pair of baggies on the dance floor when doing a spin and has ended up out of control and nearly killing themselves along with anyone else in close proximity will testify "Baggies" were certainly not made for dancing, especially when they were hiding lethal platform shoes beneath them. At the Casino there was no room for spectators, everybody was a dancer, a change of clothes was mandatory, so the punters came with their Adidas bags, with patches bought at the Mecca and other places sewn on them to show their  pedigree as seasoned "soul brothers". The patches were soon being sold by mail order along with "Northern Soul" belts, braces and car stickers. Inside the overnight bags were vital accessories such as sweat bands, hand towels (worn stuffed in the waist band of the baggies), toiletries, a clean shirt, bottle of Coke or Tizer and perhaps some other stimulant and let's not forget the little green bottle of Brut 33.

The popularity of the Casino began to affect the Mecca, as at the beginning many Soul fans first went to the Mecca and then afterwards trekked on to Wigan to continue at an all-nighter. Some though began skipping the Mecca going straight to the Casino. Not to be outdone, it was for this reason that the as always innovator Ian Levine introduced to the Northern Soul scene the concept of the "alldayer". This culminated in 1975 with the biggest crowd ever known at any Northern Soul event when over 3000 soul fans attended the Mecca alldayer that featured a live performance from the legendary Miracles. These were halcyon days for Northern Soul, the all-nighters were back in a big way due to the Casino and the crowds were bigger than even over at the Mecca. Each venue however had distinctly different music policies, the Casino was all about participation and it appeared to be Russ Winstanley's policy to have the DJ's not waste much dance floor time with too many new tracks. The total opposite was being done over at the Mecca by Ian Levine, who was continually introducing new tracks from the USA. Over at the Casino if it could be stomped to, it could be played. Rivalry had reared it's head and once a track was played at the Casino it was dropped at the Mecca. To help ensure other DJ's did not know what was being played a small round white piece of paper would often be placed over a records original label when it was on the decks, the label would have the wrong credits and so only the DJ and close accomplices would know the real identity of the artist and label. This dubious practice became known as "Covering Up" and was originally to help the DJ's ensure a track they had discovered stayed "theirs" for as long as possible. Covering up also helped ensure the bootleggers did not get hold of a newly found track and then devalue it by "pressing up" a 1000 copies and making it readily available to all. A later, but perhaps the most famous cover up of all is Frank Wilson's "Do I love you", which was put out as being recorded by Eddie Foster until the game was up. There were to be hundreds of cover ups, which went on to include Rita and the Tiaras "Gone with the wind" which was put out as being by the Velvelettes and Pookie Hudson's  excellent "This gets to me" was mischievously credited to his backing group the Spaniels. The cover ups were a pain in the backside for the average soul fan, it became difficult to buy tracks until they were "uncovered" by knowledgeable soul fans or some other form of skullduggery. They were however all eventually revealed, some as quickly as on the first night a track was played, others taking much longer. The cover ups did however make Northern Soul all the more intriguing and the urge to find rare records even stronger, the scene continued to attract newcomers in large numbers.

I hope no-one will take offence at me saying that some of the tracks played around late 1974 began to lose a little relevance to Northern Soul. As well as traditional Northern Soul it often became a matter of if it could be stomped to, then play it. In this tradition it was December 1974 when Wayne Gibson appeared on Top of the Pops under the guise of 'Northern Soul" singing his cover version of the Rolling Stone's track "Under my thumb" a track which he had cut in 1966 which had originally flopped when released in the UK on Columbia DB7911. This cover was only brought back to life due to it's popularity on the Northern Soul scene. Jonathon King appeared about the same time dressed in supposed Northern Soul attire singing "hooked on a feeling". Then there was The Ron Grainer Orchestra with the theme from "Joe 90", the Rhythm Heritage Band with "the theme from SWAT", The Ventures with Hawaii Five-O" and after I had emigrated to Australia I was told, perhaps in jest, they were playing "The Banana Splits", yeah everybody was doing it!  Dancing tracks they may have been, Northern Soul they were not and so it can be seen that in this era a significant change was occurring on the Northern scene and many will agree it wasn't for the better. As many of these new non Northern type of tracks began to appear on the scene it was ironic that a genuine soul label like Stateside was closing its doors, an ominous sign as to what was going on in this era of "Northern Soul".  Around this time there were Northern Soul Clubs popping up all over the place (some good, some not) with new Northern Soul nights being advertised all over the country.

The pace was hectic if not confusing because one of the problems was a lot of the advertised gigs ended up being cancelled with virtually none or very little notice (there was no internet or mobile phones in those days, just word of mouth). Sometimes if a gig wasn't actually cancelled it would just end far earlier than advertised and so you were never sure if you were going to a genuine allnighter or not. Advertised artists sometimes failed to show and all this understandably cheesed off a lot of long time soul fans, many began to seriously wonder about what was happening out there and some stopped looking for new venues to attend.

Northern Soul was on a roll though and the bandwagon rolled on, because for every original soul fan who stayed away there were ten newcomers to take his (or her) place, some would become long time supporters of the scene, others would leave as quickly as they came. Unfortunately more new records were released targeting the changing Northern scene. We can laugh now, but at the time is was less than funny to traditional Northern Soul lovers. For example who could ever forget Nosmo King and the Javells, first promoted as being a black group when releasing "Goodbye nothing to say" on Pye DD. If my memory serves me correctly they were also on Top of the Pops supported by a couple of black female backing singers attempting to provide some soulful legitimacy. I have to confess to being caught up in the frenzy and buying this one myself, still have it in one of my boxes. Funny how there seemed to be a lot of Northern tracks with "goodbye" in them around this time.  Then in 1975 came Wigan's Chosen Few with "Footsee", this made the UK charts, the top ten in fact and so let the whole world know what Northern Soul was really all about!! It wasn't Northern Soul, but what mad song, a great laugh, love the kazoo. Then Wigan's Ovation hit the charts and also Top of the Pops with an inferior cover of "Skiing in the snow", the B side being "Northern Soul dancer" which I think was the name of Mike Walker's race horse. "The Mods" did a version of "Green Onions" on the Casino Classics label and Pye kept them coming releasing "The human jungle" by the Fugitives. Could it get any worse? The answer for some was yes, progressively so. Mid July 1975 saw Selectadisc release on the Black Magic label "Papa ooh mow mow" on BM 102 by the Sharonettes which scared a few more originators away but also brought in a new wave of "Northern Soul" supporters who loved this type of Northern Soul even more when it reached number 26 on the UK charts (my apologies to anyone who could have ever liked this track, it just isn't Soul to me). It wasn't all bad though, as this was the very same week in which by comparison some sanity prevailed on the UK charts when one of my favourite tracks the excellent "The Night", by Frankie Valli jumped into the UK top ten reaching number 7 and which is still a popular dance floor filler today. 

Spurred on by the success of "Papa ooh mow mow" Black Magic quickly released a cover of "Going to a go-go" on BM104, this is what might be described as a diabolical rendition when compared to the original Miracles track, which in its day was a true ground breaker and changed the face of soul music. The Sharonettes cover version changed the face of Northern Soul and amazingly enjoyed chart success breaking into the UK Top 50 and so undoubtedly encouraging a few more new faces to jump on the "Northern Soul" bandwagon and a few originators to hop off. Perhaps not just because of the changing music, but as they were getting older, married, burdened with mortgages and debt and just settling down. I was well in Australia by the time the All Night Band hit number fifty on the UK charts with "The Wigan Joker" on the Casino Classics label in 1979. It was tracks like this that for many spelt the end of "Northern Soul" as we once knew it. By this time I had not been in the UK for a several years but can only suppose this track was meant to be a bit of a laugh, that it may have been, but it certainly wasn't and never will be Northern Soul and not many will disagree with that. The change had arrived though, Northern Soul was about to go on the back burner once again, this was epitomised as Edwin Starr hit the charts the same week going disco with "Contact", not a bad disco track and who can blame Edwin, what was he supposed to do when "Northern Soul" had seemingly lost direction.
 

It wasn't all bad though, after all there may have been some bad imitations / interpretations of soul played over the years, but in the midst of it all there were many more gems and  it's fair to say that Wigan Casino and other soul clubs in the mid to late 70s' should not be overly criticised or remembered for a few play list transgressions, but instead for the many thousands of great tracks they played. The fact remains that the influence of clubs such as Wigan Casino and the Mecca on the Northern Soul scene was immense, the Casino having eight long years at just the one venue. It surely can be judged as the longest running and most well attended Club during the developing years of Northern Soul. Many Northern Soul anthems were either broken or firmly established at the Casino and it's influence spread so far and wide that it was voted the "World's best disco" by Billboard magazine in 1978.  For me though it will always be the Twisted Wheel and the Torch that I remember as the best, for others it might be the Casino or the Mecca and that's how it should be, for we are all fortunate that we have our own particular memories of the past and these have ensured that through good and bad, thick and thin, Northern Soul has survived because we still have the memories of our own favourite Clubs. As a good friend of mine often says "don't just keep the faith, spread it around", after all what goes around comes around and there are plenty of Northern tracks ready to be reactivated and hopefully new ones to be discovered, so if your local Soul venue supports you, then support it, as they say use it or lose it............