I'd wager you're absolutely right. This is like mythically rare, isn't it?
Never seen it. the double sided promo of Girl What Have You Done, or something is all over the place though, too bad its the flip they are after. that montclaires is shit ass rare too. worth every dime though.
you can listen to a couple nice mp3s here. some super classic northern and a couple semi unknowns. this thread is way more positive than "what is northern soul" thread. seems like the whole thing is really really misunderstood by americans. I mean if you cant feel some uplifting soul jams (& who really cares if you put northern in front of it or not) then I feel sorry for you.
The whole "northern soul" phenomenon, I think, is confusing to Americans who are unfamiliar with the history of the dance scene in the northern side of England (and really, why would most Americans be familiar with it?). At least, it was confusing as hell to me. Until five years ago, I had never heard of "northern soul." I knew soul music, doo-wop music, and a whole lot of other genres (even the ridiculously named IDM), but "northern soul" was a new one to me. As I began to hear the term bandied about by record collectors, my reaction is "what the fuck is "northern soul" and why is it only spoken of in hushed money-laden tones?" Without knowing any better, my first formed hunch was that this must be from the north, as in Detroit/Chicago versus the southern soul of James Brown and the Memphis crew (Stax/Volt/Hi, etc.) To some extent this is true, but it wasn't long before this theory was debunked by the odd mention of the UK and England in the context of "northern soul." This led me to believe that this was music recorded in England somewhere north of London. This theory lasted only until I heard the next person identify specifically a northern soul track which I knew to have its origin in the former colonies. So what the hell is going on?
I have come to understand that the term takes it name from songs that were popular or would have been popular on a dance/club scene in the northern part of England. I'm still uncertain about the heyday of the "northern soul" scene up there, but it seems like it was maybe in the early 70s? [Please correct me on this.]
I don't know of any other genre that has come to be known by the geographic location of the scene in which the songs were popular. We know of the Chicago sound (hi curtisologists), the Memphis sound (hi rob bowman), the Muscle Shoals sound (hi rolling stones/aretha/candi staton fans), the Philly sound (hi gamble and huff), the west coast sound (hi byrds/gram parsons fans) the Abermarle sound (hi twee indie pop fans), the New York punk sound (hi Johnny Thunders guitar riffs), the London punk sound (hi snot nosed sex pistol fans), but all of those geographic monikers relate to the locale where the music originated and/or was recorded...not some separate locale where it gained cult/local popularity.
I still have conflicted feelings about naming--or really claiming (it already had a perfectly good genre name)--a genre of music after the relative location of an obscure scene in which it gained popularity. I suspect that economics have a lot to do with this particular genre name sticking - the records are in relatively short supply generally, the British pound has outspent the American dollar at least since the records were around, hence the prices tend to be (or seem) inflated around here, so dealers recognize "northern" as an effective price increase modifier for "soul" and then compilations are issued that seek to capitalize on this emerging market. Throw in to the mix the expropriation of mainly black music to construct a "cool" scene for whites in the north of England (which had the (unintended?) effect of making these records difficult for their original intended audience (indisputably black americans, with some crossover to whitey appeal) to obtain and hear), and it really starts to have all the makings of a soulstrut hattfest. If you want to dissect it, it can get kind of sickening.
But on the other hand, I like the idea of a specific scene that is centered around a particular sub-genre of soul music (sweet soul mostly). As sbn says, these are just "uplifting soul jams" that deserve to be listened to, danced to and enjoyed, as they clearly were in the scene which added the "northern" to their soul.
Anyway, this is my typical long-winded way of saying that the shit is complicated, the shit is confusing, and trying to unravel the mystery of the "northern" in front of "soul" is generally not that satisfying of an exercise. But what is satisfying is listening to the music, a lot of great examples of which were shared here in this thread. So thanks everyone. Music like this brought me to soulstrut, and it keeps me coming back.
Throw in to the mix the expropriation of mainly black music to construct a "cool" scene for whites in the north of England (which had the (unintended?) effect of making these records difficult for their original intended audience (indisputably black americans, with some crossover to whitey appeal) to obtain and hear)
A lot of these records would've already fallen through the proverbial cracks, realizing obscure status and likely did not enjoy the financial largesse to gain a wide audience amongst its original target group, either on the radio and/or distribution channels - thus languishing in racks and warehouses - not sure if the difficulty in sourcing the material is attributable to the UK Northern Soul army spiriting away these titles (after the shelf life of the bulk of these records were past due) from said locations or the conditions into which these records were birthed (e.g. lack of payola $$$)...
Throw in to the mix the expropriation of mainly black music to construct a "cool" scene for whites in the north of England (which had the (unintended?) effect of making these records difficult for their original intended audience (indisputably black americans, with some crossover to whitey appeal) to obtain and hear)
A lot of these records would've already fallen through the proverbial cracks, realizing obscure status and likely did not enjoy the financial largesse to gain a wide audience amongst its original target group, either on the radio and/or distribution channels - thus languishing in racks and warehouses - not sure if the difficulty in sourcing the material is attributable to the UK Northern Soul army spiriting away these titles (after the shelf life of the bulk of these records were past due) from said locations or the conditions into which these records were birthed (e.g. lack of payola $$$)...
Well said. The mass exodus of US soul records to the UK happened after the vast majority of these records were a dead issue stateside, i.e. the Brits were able to grab them because no one in the US gave a crap (our bad...)
the fact that the records in question were Stateside commercial failures is central to their appeal on the 'northern' scene - i.e dud titles that never got a repress will harder-to-find than hits & are thus raerer, more exclusive etc etc.
What label is that Sam Fletcher on? I think there is an LP at my local spot for cheap by a guy with the same name? On Vault maybe? Same dude, or am I off base?
he has an lp on vault that is pretty common, but that 45 is on tollie I think.
Comments
gotcha.
Never seen it. the double sided promo of Girl What Have You Done, or something is all over the place though, too bad its the flip they are after. that montclaires is shit ass rare too. worth every dime though.
The whole "northern soul" phenomenon, I think, is confusing to Americans who are unfamiliar with the history of the dance scene in the northern side of England (and really, why would most Americans be familiar with it?). At least, it was confusing as hell to me. Until five years ago, I had never heard of "northern soul." I knew soul music, doo-wop music, and a whole lot of other genres (even the ridiculously named IDM), but "northern soul" was a new one to me. As I began to hear the term bandied about by record collectors, my reaction is "what the fuck is "northern soul" and why is it only spoken of in hushed money-laden tones?" Without knowing any better, my first formed hunch was that this must be from the north, as in Detroit/Chicago versus the southern soul of James Brown and the Memphis crew (Stax/Volt/Hi, etc.) To some extent this is true, but it wasn't long before this theory was debunked by the odd mention of the UK and England in the context of "northern soul." This led me to believe that this was music recorded in England somewhere north of London. This theory lasted only until I heard the next person identify specifically a northern soul track which I knew to have its origin in the former colonies. So what the hell is going on?
I have come to understand that the term takes it name from songs that were popular or would have been popular on a dance/club scene in the northern part of England. I'm still uncertain about the heyday of the "northern soul" scene up there, but it seems like it was maybe in the early 70s? [Please correct me on this.]
I don't know of any other genre that has come to be known by the geographic location of the scene in which the songs were popular. We know of the Chicago sound (hi curtisologists), the Memphis sound (hi rob bowman), the Muscle Shoals sound (hi rolling stones/aretha/candi staton fans), the Philly sound (hi gamble and huff), the west coast sound (hi byrds/gram parsons fans) the Abermarle sound (hi twee indie pop fans), the New York punk sound (hi Johnny Thunders guitar riffs), the London punk sound (hi snot nosed sex pistol fans), but all of those geographic monikers relate to the locale where the music originated and/or was recorded...not some separate locale where it gained cult/local popularity.
I still have conflicted feelings about naming--or really claiming (it already had a perfectly good genre name)--a genre of music after the relative location of an obscure scene in which it gained popularity. I suspect that economics have a lot to do with this particular genre name sticking - the records are in relatively short supply generally, the British pound has outspent the American dollar at least since the records were around, hence the prices tend to be (or seem) inflated around here, so dealers recognize "northern" as an effective price increase modifier for "soul" and then compilations are issued that seek to capitalize on this emerging market. Throw in to the mix the expropriation of mainly black music to construct a "cool" scene for whites in the north of England (which had the (unintended?) effect of making these records difficult for their original intended audience (indisputably black americans, with some crossover to whitey appeal) to obtain and hear), and it really starts to have all the makings of a soulstrut hattfest. If you want to dissect it, it can get kind of sickening.
But on the other hand, I like the idea of a specific scene that is centered around a particular sub-genre of soul music (sweet soul mostly). As sbn says, these are just "uplifting soul jams" that deserve to be listened to, danced to and enjoyed, as they clearly were in the scene which added the "northern" to their soul.
Anyway, this is my typical long-winded way of saying that the shit is complicated, the shit is confusing, and trying to unravel the mystery of the "northern" in front of "soul" is generally not that satisfying of an exercise. But what is satisfying is listening to the music, a lot of great examples of which were shared here in this thread. So thanks everyone. Music like this brought me to soulstrut, and it keeps me coming back.
Love through music,
JRoot
A lot of these records would've already fallen through the proverbial cracks, realizing obscure status and likely did not enjoy the financial largesse to gain a wide audience amongst its original target group, either on the radio and/or distribution channels - thus languishing in racks and warehouses - not sure if the difficulty in sourcing the material is attributable to the UK Northern Soul army spiriting away these titles (after the shelf life of the bulk of these records were past due) from said locations or the conditions into which these records were birthed (e.g. lack of payola $$$)...
Well said.
The mass exodus of US soul records to the UK happened after the vast majority of these records were a dead issue stateside, i.e. the Brits were able to grab them because no one in the US gave a crap (our bad...)