photo by Peter Nikoltsos
NS continues to grow as the new music of choice for a surprising number of people in Greece with NS events always being a balanced mix of people who are already hooked and new people who show up and cant help but get hooked. Dance floors are full of people doing their rehearsed moves, slides, shuffles and kicks and people who just don’t care and are doing their own thing.
Born in the back streets and clubs in the north of England in the Late 60’s and early 70’s the scene was largely established on the back of lost or forgotten upbeat soul tracks from the US. As one of the founder of Athens Northern Soul Club (ANSC), I wanted to introduce you to some of these songs but also throw in a few newly recorded tracks which have popped in recent years to keep the love of the genre growing.
Born in the back streets and clubs in the north of England in the Late 60’s and early 70’s the scene was largely established on the back of lost or forgotten upbeat soul tracks from the US. As one of the founder of Athens Northern Soul Club (ANSC), I wanted to introduce you to some of these songs but also throw in a few newly recorded tracks which have popped in recent years to keep the love of the genre growing.
LOU PRIDE
I'M COMING HOME IN THE MORNING
Anthem’ is a word usually applied to dance tracks that represent the best of a genre such as house or trance. It has elements that tick all the emotional boxes and create a feeling of euphoria. It is both a very personal experience and a collective one. There are personal Anthems that give goose-bumps and make you forget anyone else is in the room, but also ones which enhance the experience of the group or tribe.
I find that quite a few of these have strong rhythm driven by drums and brass, these attributes seem to help it get under the skin, into the soul, hands becoming more expressive, clenched to the chest or lifted to the sky. People look into one another’s faces more intently as if to say, ‘yes, this is great, im glad you’re here with me, lets share the ride’. Nobody is leaving the dance floor and I think it fair to say the NS DJ’s were the first to use the phrase ‘Floor Fillers’ for the many songs which take you there.
Verbal fists were flying recently on a UK Facebook group called simply Northern Soul, which has more that 25,000 followers, The argument resulted in several public insults and the offenders being barred from the group. It started innocently enough with a criticism on ‘rare’ records being played too much by dj’s with the accusation this was for their own ego’s as the owner of a record which perhaps only has 50 vinyl’s in the world, but sounds crap. A song isn’t great just because it has the same characteristics and some songs are rare simply because they deserve to be. The guy said he used to play the famous NS clubs like Wigan Casino in the 70’s, how ‘your not there to please yourself or look good and that if you didn’t play songs the people loved and kept the dance floor filled – you just didn’t get paid’.
I find that quite a few of these have strong rhythm driven by drums and brass, these attributes seem to help it get under the skin, into the soul, hands becoming more expressive, clenched to the chest or lifted to the sky. People look into one another’s faces more intently as if to say, ‘yes, this is great, im glad you’re here with me, lets share the ride’. Nobody is leaving the dance floor and I think it fair to say the NS DJ’s were the first to use the phrase ‘Floor Fillers’ for the many songs which take you there.
Verbal fists were flying recently on a UK Facebook group called simply Northern Soul, which has more that 25,000 followers, The argument resulted in several public insults and the offenders being barred from the group. It started innocently enough with a criticism on ‘rare’ records being played too much by dj’s with the accusation this was for their own ego’s as the owner of a record which perhaps only has 50 vinyl’s in the world, but sounds crap. A song isn’t great just because it has the same characteristics and some songs are rare simply because they deserve to be. The guy said he used to play the famous NS clubs like Wigan Casino in the 70’s, how ‘your not there to please yourself or look good and that if you didn’t play songs the people loved and kept the dance floor filled – you just didn’t get paid’.
Timeless
Tobi Legend
Time Will Pass You By
A classic end of the night song played in NS events across the world, it is the ultimate chill out track, the come down from the highs of all that has been played before and hails the end of the night. This track sums up so much of what Northern Soul has come from as a genre. A little known recording artist in the US who had no idea her dusty warehouse shelved record had become famous in English clubs, this being due to the track having been released under one of her more obscure recording names (Actual recording name Tobi Lark though born Bessie Grace Gupton in 1941)
The mix of love and loss, of passion and pain and romance and rejection underpin so much of NS song writing, and even then, with the saddest of themes comes the driving beat and a beautiful melody which make you want to fall in love all over again. There is no mistaking the passion and drive which weaves like a golden thread through all of this music and never fails to catch the imagination and move the feet.
The mix of love and loss, of passion and pain and romance and rejection underpin so much of NS song writing, and even then, with the saddest of themes comes the driving beat and a beautiful melody which make you want to fall in love all over again. There is no mistaking the passion and drive which weaves like a golden thread through all of this music and never fails to catch the imagination and move the feet.
Dance and Clap
Mood Mosaic
A Touch Of Velvet A Sting Of Brass
Firmly rooted in the 60’s this Mood Mosaic track was one of those break away creations frequently played on Britains ‘Radio Caroline’, an iron ship with a huge radio mast which was operating illegally off shore. Massively popular with British sub cultures as it refused to spoon feed young people the controlled corporate crap more readily found on the BBC.
Its interesting that in a recent interview, the director of the 2014 movie Northern Soul Elaine Constantine said a similar thing, that Northern soul itself was birthed out of a rejection of the ‘shit being spoon fed the nation through the Radio 1 music charts’
Its interesting that in a recent interview, the director of the 2014 movie Northern Soul Elaine Constantine said a similar thing, that Northern soul itself was birthed out of a rejection of the ‘shit being spoon fed the nation through the Radio 1 music charts’
Mr Floods Party
Compared To What
There are always more songs for fans to discover, simply put, Mr Flood is a track I stumbled across recently and just fell in love with and that’s a nice feeling.
New Soul
Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators | Kings Go Forth |
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Two beautiful vocally driven tracks from the last few years. Crossing over into classical moody soul and funkadelic percussion, these tracks sit very happily alongside more establish songs played at ANSC gigs. People just know what they like and what gets them lost in the moment, people old and new, music old and new.
Finally I would like to add that there is something wonderfully un commercial and non mainstream about this music, people feel they are discovering something special. In truth, this is not music fed to the masses, the recording artists were frequently people who spent a months wages going to a recording studio with friends because they had written something they wanted to share. We know this music today because people got on planes, found where these records were being dumped, hunted them down like they were gold, and brought them to life in the clubs of Englands’ North. There is very little that is corporate about it. Perhaps that’s why the people who loved it then, love it just as much today, and can be seen wearing t shirts with:
‘Northern Soul - It Will Never Be Over For Me’
‘Northern Soul - It Will Never Be Over For Me’