Northern Soul records that aren't really Northern Soul

yes mark, groovin with mr bloe is just such a record, and i have often wondered how it got its status in this scene, as it so obviously an outsiders record, and the northern soul scene is so strict.

i don't know how commonly played these are, but i've also wondered about:

len barry ~ 1,2,3
young holt unlimited ~ soulful strut
moon people ~ land of love (been a while since i played this so i can't quite remember which one it is

ahhh, it's because Northern Soul is a sort of circular definition - something became Northern Soul if it's was played at a Northern Soul club. so it's a strict definition, but not really a strict musical one. also, evidently when the scene started to split and some deejays started playing the early disco records, the ones with the 'fixed' Northern Soul attitude just kept looking for anything with a 4/4 stomping beat, which is how some of these weird ones got in there. i think the Joe 90 theme was another 'outsider' one.

as for Young Holt Unlimited - 'Soulful Strut', it's actually just the instrumental side of Barbara Acklin's 'Am I The Same Girl?' (a great soul tune!), but was picked up on promo by radio deejays and released under the YHO name, actually being released before the original vocal cut. i don't think Young Holt Unlimited had anything to do with it

Timi Yuro did record some 'proper' soul tracks in addition to her more ballad-y/pop releases - 'It'll Never Be Over For Me' is a fantastic Northern Soul number: the rest of her work is a bit of a letdown after that (still good though, just not as amazing)

Because "Groovin' With Mr Bloe" has, indeed, *groove* in excelsis. I think that's enough.

I learned something today -- I always thought "Northern Soul" referred to soul music created by folks living in the North of England (which would inevitably also be "blue-eyed soul", I imagine.) What are some other Northern Soul records, some more famous ones that I might have heard of?

Records that were played at every Northern Soul night I ever went to (over 20 years ago - so in the heyday of the Wigan/Stoke/Seaside scene)include : 1,2,3 - Len Barry. On My Way - Dean Parrish. What- Judy Street. The In-Crowd - Dobie Gray. Jimmy Mack- Martha+Vandellas.

While mainly 4/4 Motown stomp-based there was also the equiv of the current club 'chill-out' where novelty recds could be played, also easy listening stuff, often organ-based by the likes of Alan Haven. You'd also get Brit R+B stuff like Georgie Fame, Chris Farlowe. This was rare by the late 70's, but probably common 5+ years earlier.

Famous Northern Soul tracks include "The In-Crowd" by Dobie Gray, "Tainted Love" by Gloria Jones and "Do I Love You" by Frank Wilson.

The "outsider" tracks we have been talking about might seem odd examples of Northern Soul but they fit quite easily into a wider Mod Revival culture. Mod Revival taste seems to include soul, freakbeat , Britgirl music, Latin grooves and Sixties Frenchpop. To what extent do the Northern Soul and Mod scenes overlap?

ha, the point was most of them *weren't* famous - the records played were mostly either from small US labels, or else b-sides and unreleased promos from bigger labels (e.g. the Motown group: Soul, Gordy etc). the clubs started in the 60s as being soul clubs for the more dedicated soul fan, but the 'Northern Soul' part came when some deejays kept playing 60s soul when others had moved to what would become 70s soul, jazz and funk. in the quest for 'new' records the deejays started having an increased reliance on obscurities, until the scene became just that

**To what extent do the Northern Soul and Mod scenes overlap?**

If we're talking late 70's, it's quite complex. Where I lived (N/Lincs, S.Yorks) there was a large faction who attended Wigan Casino where were strictly N.Soulies and didn't ride scooters. Typical clobber would be rugby shirts, or 3-button 'casual shirts' with Oxford bags or 18"- 24" parallel trousers. Their music was Soul all the way. When the mod revival came along there was IIRC a division between the older mods with scooters who liked to mix soul with The Who, Small Faces etc and also R+B and jazz. Younger mods would typically go for a mix of Motown and The Who and The Jam. Parkas and casual gear was a more common than suits/jackets for both camps. Up North no-one was interested in the mod-revival bands like Secret Affair, The Chords and The Purple Hearts. That was a London thing.

Reading Terry Rawlings book Mod : A British Phenomenon (or something ike that -can't remember full title) it seems that the London Mod scene wasn't too different, but more sophisticated. There were also smaller factions like casuals - who burgeoned later on into scallies, perry boys etc, and non-mod scoter boys. Also people would switch camps at the drop of a hat.