Here's what my favourite website says about it:
Not entirely accurate (Run out of steam!) but a good summation
Northern Soul, for many, is a meaningless term because it doesn't refer to
any specific kind of music. For many others, it's a term that means
everything. Where most soul genres are named for either the region that the
music where the music was created, or for the sound of the music, Northern
Soul is named after where the music was played -- in dance clubs in Northern
Britain. During the early '70s, once the Mods had run out of steam and
prog-rock was ruling the landscape, there were a handful of underground
dance clubs that played nothing but '60s soul records and they weren't any
ordinary oldies. Instead, the DJs at these clubs were obsessive collectors,
finding the most obscure American soul singles. Usually, these records
sounded like Motown, Chicago Soul or New York soul, but they were records by
unknown or under-appreciated performers; Major Lance was one of the biggest
names on the scene. These records were dubbed Northern Soul because of the
clubs. Northern Soul continued to gain popularity until the mid-'70s, when
punk and disco stole its thunder. However, it never really faded away. Some
clubs remained open and there was still a collectors market for the singles,
and many rare singles were going for astonishingly high prices. Most
importantly, many clubgoers, from Marc Almond to Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs
of St. Etienne, went on to form their own groups whcih kept the spirit of
Northern Soul alive in some fashion. The north of England continues to be
the focus for this music, helped largely by such luminaries as Matt Bolton
and Mark McNulty who have ensured that the music, and the clubs it is served
up in, maintain their vitality.
Andy BB
-----Original Message-----
From: Julian Lawton [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: 18 February 2000 12:25
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: someone please explain
> OK this is interesting, can you give me some track
titles/bands/etc
> >which
> might qualify so i get an idea of what it means?
Given the nature of the beast this would be pretty useless - i.e. if
you've never been to club playing Northern or listened to a Northern
Soul compilation or been accosted by a Northern fan, it's pretty
unlikely you'd know any of the tracks anyway. Not trying to be
deliberately useless, it's just the essence of it is on 'non-hit'
soul
(and it's very much on the tracks, rather than specific bands or
vocalists).
Given that Nancy and Greg have left this list onto more purely soul
pastures, I'd guess Ed and Matt would be your best bets here.
Aren't there sound samples at Night Owl? What's Greg Tormo's site
address too - I recall that being pretty good.
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