Neil plus one; Tony Blackburn at the BBC.

The big secret I’ve been keeping from you?

It doesn’t happen very often but I won tickets to see something special;

{tony_Blackburn}

Yes – the celebration bash BBC London threw to mark his 50 years in broadcasting.

There was an exclusive and secret location – their old studios on Marylebone High Street.

We had to promise not to give it away.

There was a sprinkling of showbix stars;

 

There was music, there was glitter, there was even a proper cake;

 

The message on the photo is from Smoky Robinson who was interviewed last week for the show.

As you’ll know by now this wouldn’t be my kind of thing at all – I’m cynical and I hate all that stuff, but this really was a special night.

And no, I haven't sold out either!

Tony Blackburn has been around as long as anyone can remember – he was the original cheesy, embarrassing DJ of the 1960’s; he invented the whole smaltzy routine.

  J

As he joked he’s about the only one who hasn’t been arrested and some of them are in jail now.

Around 1981, Radio One had had enough of all of them and he got banished to those parts of radio you really don’t want to end up in; BBC Local Radio

It was then that his story starts to get really interesting because London’s local radio is a little bit different. It’s been messed about, cut back, neglected, ignored and had its name changed more times than St Petersburg.

Another week, another image.

But it just can’t help being a big city station all the same; irritating, annoying but sometimes edgy and even risky too.

And Tony Blackburn the original ‘all round entertainer’ could have just carried on doing his same old safe and boring routine until he ended up with Alan Partridge on Radio Haystack.

That didn’t happen, he reinvented himself.

He went back to where it all began – Soul music.

MOTOWNdetroit 

As a result in the 1980’s, his London shows attracted a cult following, an underground movement of soulboys and girls, Mods and groovers attracted by the sound of that sweet soul music.  

HITSVILLE

      U.S.A.

And word got out – there was a scene.

At the time I was working in a record shop and we’d check out his morning soul shows every day to catch the new releases (along with Blues and Soul Magazine and word of mouth) and then we’d get the orders in early so that the people who’d caught the sounds today would find the records already waiting for them tomorrow.

It was cool, I can tell you and we were a chart shop too.

When we sold a record it had an influence on the charts and in those days we played a small part in the resurgence of British Soul.

I could have been cynical about it all and written a sharp and sour piece about last night but it really was a pleasure to be there.

And it was nice, as a Mod, to pay homage to someone who stuck to what he believed in and played some amazing soul music over the years. KTF.

And then there was the music too;

 

Yeah really; me and Robyn in the front row, just by the microphone watching Cy Cranstone and his 7 piece house band. He was playing some of Jackie Wilson’s hits mixed with his own tunes; he’s got an album out and a massive record company plugging him like mad at the moment.

Then we got the cream of British Soul from the 1980’s – these were the acts I sold in our shop; lots of memories for me and some great numbers too.

That’s Jaki Graham blasting it out.

And that was Denise Pearson from 5-Star, really big in the 80’s and frankly, giving it some tonight.

There were some real highlights for us; The greetings from The S.O.S band in the States which made Robyn gasp and I'm guessing that Tony probably quite liked being called "Soul brother No. 1".

We also enjoyed Junior Giscombe (Style Council, Red Wedge, Soul Deep - not forgotten junior); he used a backing track with his duet with the late Tupac Shakur which was a hit for him in America.

Who wouldn’t like that morphing into ‘Mama used to say’ which was a cover hit for him here.

I liked that, but the real highlight for both of us was Leee John of ‘Imagination’;

 

Robyn hadn’t come across ‘Imagination’, they may have been big here but they didn’t cross the water so well.

But we both hate backing tracks and he sang it for real and alone. The pianist he brought with him was something special and Leee had that voice. All the acts should have had the confidence to do it alone too – they’ve got the sound and the soul to carry it off.

And so we drifted away at the end of a really special night.

I was thinking back to all the shows I’d heard coming out of those studios – deserted and abandoned now, come alive again for just one night.

All around us the old monitors and vinyl, the odds and ends of a technology that has been left behind for new sounds and new studios.

BBC London allowed in a small audience of people like us, real fans who’d loved that music over the years.

The kind of people who don’t normally get a glimpse behind the curtain. It was nice.

It was a unique audience too – a good mixture of black and white people who wouldn’t meet up together for any other broadcaster than Tony Blackburn.

And some very special sounds as well.

Thanks for all that.

Oh, by the way you can hear it all yourself (edited version) on all BBC Local radio stations when they all link up together at 7 pm on Friday night. Click on a picture for a slideshow and better quality.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
 

The Reflections at The Halfway House Barnes - again.

The

Reflections

Oh, that’s no good. It’s just not right.

I went to The Halfway House in Barnes because it’s just one month since The Reflections last appeared there and they were back again – public demand.

I’d planned to do a really in depth review this time; photos, a set list and some helpful tips and comments on each number.

I was nicely set up with a clipboard, a sound meter, my protractor set and some nice new pens as well.

Then this happened;

And then this;

 

And while I was standing quietly at the back of the crowd observing, my friend dragged me on the dance floor.

It’s not right; I’m weak– I’ve got a condition.

 

I was lucky, these poor people on the back row were forced to stand on their chairs;

 

The Reflections have chosen to play all the great Soul classics of the 1960’s but this isn’t pub singing.

No club singers here.

No tired, shortcutting vocals. Karaoke it ain’t.

It’s that really great sound; the hard ,tight vocals of Detroit 1965. Clipped and economical, the sound of young, black America.

It’s the sound of Soul.

Rehearsed.

The business.

The Reflections

I’ve nothing against The Halfway House but you aren’t going to be seeing this band there much longer – there are bigger venues crying out for this and the word is getting out.

Me?

I was at the far side which is why the photos aren’t any good. Or maybe it’s because my camera was bobbing up and down at about 120 bpm – Northern Soul time.

Certainly, around me was a definite Soulboy contingent. Where else would I want to be?

Still haven’t found those white sox.

Click on any picture for a slideshow.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

This is Northern Soul

 

 

 

Northern Soul, now that’s a difficult one to explain.

     p

The Mods started at some point in the fifties to early 1960’s and petered out in about 1966. A big chunk became hippies and a minority became skinheads. Some just got old and walked away or gave up because the music died.

But not everyone did that and not everywhere. Rather like a tribe hidden in the Amazon rainforest, people who loved the music kept listening to it, mainly up there in Northern England. They just went on dancing.

   z

Except, even when people want to keep things the same forever, subtle changes happen all the same. As time passes the changes get more obvious.

Gradually, they got a bit bored with the same old Motown and Stax stuff and started hunting out the rare grooves, soul records with a hard R ‘n B Beat, records no one had ever heard before, hard to find imports.

      k

In fact it became a mania, a search for the ever more obscure record. Some rare singles were worth thousands.

It became insular and competitive, a world of its own. Very athletic and fanatical. It also, by the late 1970’s had become very popular, if only in a limited area. Retired and long forgotten minor American soul stars were dragged back on the road by their agents and flown off to Northern England, where to their surprise they found themselves mobbed by thousands at concerts in old industrial towns.

                                    j

Record company executives were puzzled by requests from England for licenses to reissue obscure singles from the 1960’s that no one in the record company had ever heard of.

By the 1980’s it was really big, have a look at ‘Northern Soul’ on Wikipedia or YouTube to get an idea.

By then they were wearing flared trousers and baggy clothes, moving towards sports and casual wear – far from the classic 1960’s MOD clothes I tend to choose. The dancing was hard and athletic rather than what I like to think of as cool. But each to their own and they are dancing to really great sounds.

I remember being in Charity shops in London and the South in the 80’s hunting for 1960’s clothes while the staff were frantically trying to find unwanted flared trousers to send in bulk to their Northern Branches.

In the 1970’s, down in the South, Paul Weller and The Jam had rekindled the old MOD thing, first as a re-creation and then by taking it somewhere new as part of Punk. That’s where I came in. By the end of the 70’s there was a whole revival scene which petered out in the 1980’s. Unlike them, Paul Weller developed and changed – creating The Style Council, which was perhaps the most perfect Mod band ever. There was a definite move from the hard punk of The Jam towards Soul and a tinge of Jazz, which is why The Jam had to come to an end.

But Northern Soul just kept on dancing and ‘Kept The Faith’, which is why it still goes on today on vinyl, at high speed and with its own particular style.

By the late 1990’s, the people into Northern Soul and the Mods had all kind of ended up in the same place although it had taken 30 years and about 300 miles to get there.

And Me? Well I stick out a bit, a Mod amongst the Soulies. I dance differently, dress different. They don’t seem to mind too much and neither do I.

 
Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)
Home:      helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact:   neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Friday night is Soulnite.

It would take forever to explain but one day I really will do the history of the MOD movement and Northern Soul as I promised. Anyway, Friday night found me in Teddington at the Northern Soul Night organised by ‘Soulnites’, who ‘Keep The Faith’ in London.

                                   www.soulnites.com

 

 

It was a room full of Northern Soul fanatics (nothing wrong with that) and one MOD, that’s me. Different clothes, different styles, different dances, the different types of music meeting in the middle; it's the same soul.

They were remarkably tolerant of the ill old geezer in the corner with the Ian Dury walking stick. A lot more tolerant than I would ever have been in the 70’s when I was nearer their ages and watching The Jam or Paul Weller’s Style Council a few years later.

It was a night of some really great sounds.

Here’s Ann Taylor the Soulnites resident;

 

I really like her habit of sneaking in the odd instrumental – they always have a tinge of jazz about them and bring back memories of the whole 80’s jazz dance scene (all right, all right, I know nobody cares about it except me, I won’t go on about it again).

This is Jim Watson guesting from ‘Soul on the Square’, which I may well have to check out myself.

 

A harder, dancier run of music from him, more R ‘n B influenced.

The whole MOD scene – the soul clubs, the MOD bands, the Ska revival is really vibrant right now, well hidden under the radar and as far as I can see growing.

The style is pretty much shorthand for cool these days.

I’m very lucky to still be around at this time, to ride the wave for just as long as I can get away with it

 

 

 

 

 

Helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Sorry folks, absolutely no Talc.

I must admit it was a blow not to be going to Brighton to see The James Taylor Quartet on Saturday. It left me  with a choice - sit at home sulking or do something foolish instead?

Well, of course foolish won and as a result I’m sat here feeling very sorry for myself. Heck, who goes out for the night armed with a bottle of water, spare shoes,  some heavy medication, a wide range of nasty side effects, a walking stick and a pair of crutches in the car just in case I needed them, a Ben Sherman Shirt with a 1960’s straight Tie, tie clip, black jacket and Levi’s 501’s. Oh and did I mention my special dancing shoes?

Here’s a clue for you;

 

Otherwise known as

Murder on the dance floor

By accident I discovered I had a local Northern Soul Club; The Hoodoo Rhythm and Soul Club, just up the road and only a year old, holding their second ‘Alldayer’ on Sunday, that’s a whole day of Northern Soul. This is the world of the MODS, of wild dancing and long, long wonderful nights.

And no, I was never going to be able to manage 2pm till 10pm, I have to look after someone. Also I’m not in the market for wild dancing anymore but I still got there at 6pm and had a good 4 hours of dancing to some of the best dance music in the world.  That's Soul, all on vinyl of course.

And this is the Hoodoo Club;

 

And here’s Soulnites, the joint organisers;

 

It was a great night, really nice people – as one person said to me “The music never leaves you” and he's right.
Only now as a result I’ve got a swollen ankle, a swollen knee, lots of pains in really worrying places and I seem to have broken a few things, some of which don’t feel as though they will ever heal.

Strangely there were a number of people I thought I recognised - it's a very small world.

What a night – when I have time I’ll give you an inside history of the MODS, Northern Soul and everything. In the meantime you’ll just have to make do with Wikipedia.

The Talc? Soulboys put it on the soles of their shoes to make it easier to do their special moves.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)