As the new film "Northern Soul" hits the cinemas today John reflects on his youth and how he got into the music that defined the late 60's and the 70's for many people.
Today sees the nationwide release of "Northern Soul" a new film from Elaine Constantine that tells the story of Northern Soul fans and Wigan Casino so I thought I would take a few minutes to reflect on my memories of all nighters and classic soul.
To most people the mention of the words "Northern Soul" will spark them into mentioning Wigan Casino with its wooden sprung dance floor and all nighters but there is a lot more to it than just Wigan and, in my opinion, the clubs before Wigan were where the sounds, the dancing and the lifestyle was founded.
My first memory of "Northern" is from Toll End Youth Club in my home town of Tipton where on Friday nights we would go to the disco to listen to the local DJs playing Motown sounds such as "Can't Help Myself" (often referred to as Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch) and Dancing in the Streets and dance in our own way to our favourites and then one night in walked an older guy in a long black overcoat (Crombie) with Levi jeans and tassel loafers from Ravel and he stood around for a while before asking the DJ to play "There was a time" by Gene Chandler and then proceeded to dance like a man possessed, whirling and spinning, falling backwards onto his hands and then flipping up into his feet before sliding sideways. I couldn't believe what I was seeing so after the strings at the end subsided I asked him his name (Kenny Greensill) and where did he go to learn to dance like that?
Kenny told me of a life of great music, great friends and great clubs so I decided there and then I had to go and try them out. Around the same time Roland O'Connor (who works for C&D) was travelling each week to the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and came back with tales of unknown records costing a fortune that filled the floors, people dancing all night from 8.00pm to 8.00am and then going home for a sleep before heading to Worcester or Whitchurch to start again!
Roland and I became regulars at the Queen Mary Ballroom in Dudley where Farmer Carl, Oscar Michael and Jamie Carr (who later married my cousin Julie) played great music like "Can I get a Witness- Marvin Gaye", "6x6 - Earl Van Dyke" and "Wade in the Water" and our dancing got better and better as did our suits. I remember that I had a particularly nice check three piece suit with plain trousers with 24 inch bottoms and Roland had a white three piece suit years before John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever.
The natural progression from the Motown influenced Queen Mary was to the Catacombs in Temple Street, Wolverhampton with it's low vaulted ceiling and DJ booth at one end. Condensation ran down the walls like rivers as it was so hot but the music just got better and better - "Hey Girl Don't Bother Me - The Tams", "Cracked up over you", "Blowing my mind to pieces" "Bok to Bach" and "Fife Piper". The Catacombs ended when most of us were just getting warmed up so the logical thing was for my old A35 van or Roland's Ford Anglia to be filled with people and head off up the M6 to The Golden Torch at Hanley or to Up the Junction in Crewe to dance until dawn.
The Torch for me was the ultimate soul venue with more money changing hands in the toilets than ever was taken at the door. Here was where I first saw the sale of uppers and downers and where I saw people selling records from small carry cases. Records that were "pressings" or copies of well known floor fillers as everyone wanted a copy of the sounds of the day but with the originals changing hands for £50 (that was a lot of money in 1970) few people could afford a real version. Dancers queued for hours to get into the venues carrying Adidas holdalls containing a change of shirt (dancing meant changing your polo shirt at least twice each night) and tins of talcum powder that was sprinkled onto the dance floor so your leather soled Solacio loafers could get a good grip when you went into your spin.
Up the Junction eventually closed so we then moved our Saturday nights to the Highland Room at Blackpool Mecca where Ian Levine was playing a "new" Northern Soul before finally swopping to Wigan.
The
soundtrack of the film features many great sounds of the era but I must admit that I am disappointed that it does not include Ski-ing in the Snow (the one record that sums up Wigan for me) or Long After Tonight is All Over which was traditionally played as the last song at many all nighters over the years (and will be played at my funeral).
It goes without saying that I will be at the Lighthouse Cinema in Wolverhampton this week (the film runs for seven nights) to relive my youth but I doubt I can backflip any more. I will be taking my Adidas bag and talc just in case!
Northern Soul - The Sound of a Generation.
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