shirley ellis ‘soul time’
still here? good. just in time for 2-4-6-8-10 soul time…
another wee nostalgia trip about northern soul and specifically wigan casino.
the song is ‘it’s an uphill climb to the bottom’ by walter jackson.
how does one dance to a northern soul ballad?
i give up.
…
by the way, no slight was intended by my previous comment about ‘grim’ northwest of england towns. i’ve visited places such as blackpool, southport, warrington, and kendal. they are all very fine places to visit.
a bit grim, tho.
hit the north
it took me a while to actually understand northern soul. i literally didn’t understand what it was.
now, i freely admit that i am not the smartest of cookies. i don’t really understand how the internet works, how planes fly or how to do any fancy sums.
but what’s not to understand about a kind of music? it’s a kind of music. surely even for me, it’s what the americans would call a no brainer?
nope. it is what i would call a brainer. a real fucking brainer, i tells ya.
still is a bit, if i’m honest…
you see, what is northern soul? how does one get into it? who are it’s heroes and what are it’s heroics? what does it sound like? how would i spot a northern soul record if i didn’t know i was listening to it? also, should i use capital letters for Northern Soul? that would be against the grain for me as i am unashamedly and pretentiously lower case all the way.
the facts are thus; northern soul (i’ll keep it lower case, just to be safe) is the name for a british youth cult based on dancing to obscure american soul records.
simple.
yet it’s not a genre. it’s a movement or subculture (admittedly one which has inevitably been robbed & commodified like any other youth cult) which has become (or maybe always was) shrouded in mystique & mythology.
perhaps the appeal lies in that intangible quality and the fact that northern soul only really exists in the minds of those who want it to exist.
or something.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
sue lynne ‘don’t pity me’
tis my favourite song of this mysterious thing they cry northern soul. certainly one of my favourites anyway. i don’t know why.
nor do i know anything about the song or artist and i don’t care to either.
hope this helps.
for me, the fascination with the northern soul phenomenon comes from the sheer incongruity of this joyous, life affirming, soulful music being played against the backdrop of grim northwest towns like blackpool, manchester, liverpool and of course, wigan.
i think this is evident in this clip about wigan casino, the hacienda of northern soul.
