Nice. Keep 'em coming. 

I thought this was from the 70s, but it isn't apparently. It lurks in my record box and gets played out most times I DJ. I am posting it because it always makes me think of the LBRP. I like the idea of the archangels being swinging cosmic lotharios. Now to find soul tracks for Gabriel, Auriel and Raphael:

 

Raphael Siddiq ("Stone Rollin'") count? I just heard something about him on the NPR. I love that sound. Space. Compression. Tape-y.

Plus, you know, earth.

Been dancing round the room to this one all day.

Love this thread.

Top tune there genlob. Did you see that recent film 'Soulboy' about the Northern scene? It featured both in the soundtrack, and tangentially, as part of the plot. Sort of worth seeing on DVD.

Not yet Gef. But, thanks to your tip, I will soon.

While I find a torrent I'll keep the faith with another classic.

Hmm.  To this American, "soul" means Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Al Green, Lou Rawls, Sam Cooke, and so forth, with allowances for a Dusty Springfield here or there -- if she comes to Memphis.

Clearly I need an education on this British/Northern soul thing.

Here you go Evan

For me, the great thing about the Northern scene was how it allowed aggressive lads from grey post industrial landscapes, like St Helens, where I spent my teenage years, to step out of that expected mode of machismo behaviour and express themselves through dancing. A similar thing happened with the ecstasy/rave thing at the end of the 80s but that scene lacked the dynamic dancing of Northern. There was great pride in knowing the right steps. I can remember watching some real hard knocks practising their moves in the bogs and flowering into beautiful swans on the dancefloor.

You always knew when there had been an all nighter - the lunchtime cafes in town would be full of lads carrying bags and wearing donkey jackets, their heads on the table as they nursed a cup of tea and the speed wore off.

Gil plays Marvin

Ooh no, stop it genlob. I'm supposed to getting down to some writing, but instead I'm just dancing round the living room in front of a mirror. I think I've had too much coffee. Keep em coming though!

Not Soul Music as such, but sooo much Soul

Supernatural thing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=76Q1mCxhfh0

Great stuff. Here's a couple more Northern classics

GET DOWN

Time to improve your interplanetary funkmanship

Genlob: what you wrote above was very much my experience of raving. All the local hard nuts suddenly wanted to become ecstasty dealers instead of football hooligans, violence became unfashionable (well, at least invisible at the raves I was at - I didn't realise how much behind the scenes e dealing was managed by football firms until I read books like Energy Flash a few years later, and I'm sure they weren't shy of dishing out a few slaps. Also I got punched in the face by a twat wearing purple kickers at a party when I was 17, so psychedelic apparel does not always equate to peace and love).

Does it get any more frantic than this?

Like a squirrel trying to break into a Holland & Barrett shop.

DannyL said: All the local hard nuts suddenly wanted to become ecstasty dealers instead of football hooligans, violence became unfashionable (well, at least invisible at the raves I was at - I didn't realise how much behind the scenes e dealing was managed by football firms until I read books like Energy Flash a few years later,

Yes, and there's some similar info in Altered State by Matthew Collin: West Ham's ICF, Centerforce FM etc. Like you Dan I didn't realise at the time, I was just impressed by friendly encounters with geezers I'd otherwise be wary of. In retrospect it is obvious that the scene would be a magnet for dodginess - huge amounts of money to be made not ony via pills (which were absurdly expensive then, £15 anyone?), but also just by commandeering an abandoned warehouse for a night, and charging people £10-£20 to get in...
Ah well it was (mostly) good fun anyway.

There's some interesting stuff on that theme here (scroll down a bit to get to the lengthy article that someone has posted): 

I liked how shaven headed 'orribles would give you a quick shoulder squeeze and make sure you had some of their water rather than smash your face in for being skinny. You're right though, it didn't last long. Especially when coke became all the rage, that just turned alot of people into arseholes.

It's funny how that article Gypsy links to mentions gay clubs. I got totally cheesed off with the 'mainstream' rave scene and started going to gay nights in Manchester. Paradise Factory and Flesh. I really enjoyed that time. I liked the bit about the Art Lab - "senseless acts of beauty" gets my vote for phrase of the day.

@Gef. I watched Soulboy last night. Took me back. I was too young for Wigan Casino but me sister went. That's how I got into Northern, listening to her and her mates dancing around her bedroom. Good film, the lad was a bit of a prick though, he seemed to be constantly walking home from Wigan to Stoke. I liked how they'd incorporated vintage footage from the Casino.  I've put me back out though, thinking I could still pull a back flip.

I might use this in my devotions

 

 

So I only go several months without the internet and suddenly it's all change round here! I like what I see.

Thought this might be relevant:

Ah - Voodoo- and Hoodoo-themed music - does that deserve a thread of its own perhaps?

This is the orignal doc that some of that footage is borrowed from:

 

It's fucking brilliant. Everyone at work, I've talked to your boss - he said you should spend Friday afternoon watching this. I particulary like the way the left wing  film-makers spoon in quite inappropriate class based stereotypical images of the North. Bless the 70s.

STOP PUSHING AT THE BACK

 

I also like the way that lots of the people filmed are speeding so hard they look like they are about to explode.

Evan, you should watch that for a bit of UK Northern soul insight.

This is a old fave of mine: 

 

 

 

(As a technical note, if you make sure the YouTube links are not posted as links... by highlighting them and clicking the "link broken" icon on the reply menu... then they'll show up as embedded video. It's counterintuitive, but that's how it works.)

Cheers grant - a tortuous process but it works!

Shit, Gil's dead. This is my favourite.

This is much more upbeat, musically anyway. The poem's good but wait till the music kicks in. I had tickets to see him when the last Icelandic volcano went off, the one with the very long name. Ash cloud grounded his flight.

Here's a good resource if you want to learn Northern Soul dancing.

Don't know if this thread still covers American soul, but U.K. folks may not know about an icon of 1970s American culture, Soul Train (or, as I thought of it as a kid, "Saturday morning cartoons are over for the day"). 

Gigantic hair.  Outrageous clothing.  And some of the greatest soul artists of all time.

For example, Al Green.



James Brown.



Aretha.



Ike and Tina.



Stevie Wonder (and the best dancing in these clips).

Incredible 'Soul Train' clips Evan - thanks! And they all seem to be performing live (apart from Stevie W) - the JBs were so tight, unbelievable.  

And speaking of James Brown: have people seen this brief dance masterclass?

BTW Evan, soul - its all American soul ! Well 95% of it, the Northern stuff was US records taken up by UK kids up North. Now I'm going back to watch the rest of that huge James Brown clip, tremendous - I was just listening to him earlier today during my morning run in the park...

BTW Evan, soul - its all American soul

The music may be more-or-less the same (although Northern Soul seems to focus on artists who were a bit out of the American mainstream), but the Northern Soul subculture seems to be distinctly British: the Mod roots, the style of dancing, the patches (patches?), and so forth. 

As different from American soul culture as the Wigan Casino dancers are from the Soul Train dancers.

Very new to me.  Very interesting.

And they all seem to be performing live (apart from Stevie W)

Want live Stevie Wonder?  Here's what we had in the U.S. in the 70s instead of Blue Peter:


Best version I've ever seen (or heard).

I bet even Oscar the Grouch was dancing to that one.

Evan, a thousand thanks are not enough for that James Brown clip.

Evan said: Here's what we had in the U.S. in the 70s instead of Blue Peter

I think you got the better deal. And I speak as someone who once owned a Blue Peter badge.

Am I a bad person if this thread primarily reminds me of the Blues Brothers movie?



--Ember--

Not necessarily a bad person, but almost certainly missing an education into the mysteries of Wigan Casino, talc on the dancefloor, and obscure terrifyingly expensive 45s.

*laughs* Well, there are many ways in which my education is lacking, I admit.

--Ember--

Nice bit of dancing here

 

Free as a willow - would you like to be like me?

Tramp or Champ?

That Mohawks track was great Gef!

Now that I'm a bit shorter on time it's mostly the music that draws me in here nowadays. Good collective DJing.

Everyone here needs to listen to this: http://wfmu.org/wfmu_rock.pls

Blurb: "Tune in now for a 24 hour webstream offering the best in obscuro 50's and 60's Rock 'n' Soul hits mixed with vintage radio spots"

This station is one of the best things I've ever heard. I blame it all on The Cramps for turning me onto a world of vintage, crazy, sleazy grooves.