>a. the definitive Mod book? If so, who is it by, what is it called etc..
While it has it's obvious faults, I suppose Richard Barnes 'Mods' (usually
stocked in most Waterstones) would be 'the' definitive one. There's plenty
of other books (60s and sociology) which have better chapters, or prettier
pictures (The Young Mods Forgotten Story, David Bailey's 'Archive One'), but
I can't think of any others purely dedicated to the subject. And as Paul
said, 'Absolute Beginners' for a bit of proto-mod fiction.
>b. a decent compilation of Hammond grooves?
There's a whole load of comps in that area around at the moment, mostly put
together by Dean Rudland, across a number of labels.
Kent's 'Mod Jazz' series are all pretty recommended - particularly one and
two - good mix of stuff with a Hammond emphasis. Also 'Signifying', which is
largely Prestige/Riverside tracks - it's a lot more serious than other comps
(I'd say it's a lot more jazzy and less mod dancefloor oriented, though
still in the right timeframe), the Verve JazzMasters Jimmy Smith comp would
be essential, and as Brian reccomended, some of the Blue Note comps - Blue
Juice is excellent, though not quite so Hammond focused as Blue Breaks 1-3
or So Blue, So Funky (though these are a bit patchy). The John Patton best
of is good, and there's also a variety of cheap CD comps on Blue Note (like
'The Best of Blue Note') that I've seen but don't own due to track
duplication - try and get whichever one has Grant Green's 'Sookie Sookie'
and Lee Morgan's 'Sidewinder' as they're the two huge Blue Note tracks you
WILL know. There's some good re-issues of late 80s/early 90s 'acid jazz'
comps too (the ones that featured old tracks from people like Pucho rather
than Brand New Heavies) but again I can't give any non-deleted titles. If
you're ever down Leeds way, I'd say check out Jumbo records for this sort of
thing. . .
>c. any knowledge of decent Mod/Mod-related nights out in the
>north/north east of England?
Brighton Beach in it's various locations.
The Pow-Wow at The Atrium, Leeds, on Thursdays (Mark Ellis DJing + boogaloo
band).
Shboom on Mondays at the Underground in Leeds (new night from Lava Lounge
people. Currently cannot recommend it as a 'mod night out' though - it's a
lot more of a 'student retro night' that L.Lounge).
Also - Move On Up on Wed (hugely succesful soul night).
There's a new night in Leeds Warehouse called 'The Social' - don't know what
that's like, and there's the Northern Soul do's at Brighouse, and there's a
50s/60s night at The Wardrobe - both these are on Fridays.
Plus occasional garage/psyche events.
