British Soul Vol. 3, Part 5

The final post of 2013; I'm not going to do a rundown of the year (that'll come later) but carry on with part 5 of the series that has kick-started my blog back in to my corner of the web after another fallow year.

I have to fess up that this is a new one on me that I found whilst researching for some more trax for this compilation. I thought I had pretty much run the well dry with Tom with pretty much all of his LP's and 7"s on Decca passing through my collection over the years. I have said this before but I am baffled by how anyone may have had the chutzpah to spin this at a Northern night ( and I understand they have!). I mean there is no way you can cover up Tom Jones' voice! This I kinda like in that the tune was played on it's own merit of being a good tune (maybe not the 'Delilah' trumpet parping away in the background) and I'm sure would be much more at home on the floors of Antwerp or Eindhoven than in the North of England (more on those crazy popcorn peeps at a later date). And so here is another addition to the Tom canon...now to find one of these bad boys: Are charity shops open on New Years Day?

Tom Jones- City girl

British Soul Volume 3, Part 4 (sort of...)

And so we're on to part 4 of my current playlist with the end of 2013 in sight. It's a bit of a stretch to shoe-horn this Elvis-lite dude in to both the 'British' category and arguably 'Soul'. This be-pony-tailed (and now sporting some massive chads) Yank appears to have debunked to blighty and hitched his wagon post- Tom Jones with a light soul sound (and also following Tom's lead of churning out ballads by the bucket load). Anyhows this is a new one for my cab doors and it recently surfaced over at John Manship's on some ultra-rare Israeli white label demo or summink! Anyhow, I thought I'd heard it all from P.J and had begun to give this trouser-splitting creep the swerve. Seek out other Den faves- 'That's the tune', 'That means a lot' and 'Niki Hoeky'

P.J. Proby- You can't come home again 

British Soul Volume 3, Part 3

First up I have to admit that I cannot remember when I first heard about this tune. I was chewing the boosh last night and how I came to be aware of Bill Oddie's stab at a beat ballad is a complete loss to me. I really wanted to hate this tune as I expected it be a terrible comedy record from the famously grumpy Oddie (for any non- UK readers check out his Wikipedia page). And so what is it like? It reminds me of the fabulous 'Where I'm gonna find her' by Mark Loyd (as featured on British Soul Vol 2) and builds to rousing ending with the cool delivery from Bill of 'You're not to blame baby' ! Possibly too slow and ahead of it's time to get spins at Wigan during the daft years I doubt that anyone has had the brass neck to play this prime slice of vinyl. I would if I could but it joins the other 2 previous entries as having no known reissue/ boot so the only option is an original which in theory should be a cheapie. So it's hats off to Bill and his SELF PENNED! beat ballad monster!

Bill Oddie- I  can't get through

British Soul Volume 3, Part 2

And so an unprecedented second blog post in as many weeks! I'm hot off possibly my most satisfying show with Burly Q at the City Hall Ballroom and looking forward to the combo of an extended break and thinking ahead about more shows in 2014! In the last week I've read the combo of 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah' by Bob Stanley and 'The history of northern soul' by David Nowell- both good reads...one a classic another just ok. Anyhows, I've always been perplexed by where records like this fit post- Wigan Casino as there seems to be no-one fighting their corner. The only positive remarks are apologies along the lines of 'we just wanted to dance to something fast and we didn't care what it was'. There's certainly not a place for tunes like this on the rare soul scene of today and the mod scene seems to be looking back earlier and earlier for R & B kicks. I'd struggle to even get this one classed as popcorn which seems to have a much more open, forgiving approach (similar to Wigan of the '70's??). Anyways, Jenny Wren: a name that brings up Charles Dickens and Paul McCartney references on the web. I'm not gonna rehash my research but it looks like this Philips release is getting harder to find from the Dudley born Jenny. And so where does a record like this fit today? It doesn't appear to have been booted or re-issued (like many British Soul releases). The production sounds impressively 'Wall of sound-esque' for a British release with Kiki Dee type vocals and a nice guitar line and hot horns. I'm amazed I have gone through 18 years of listening to Northern Soul/ British Pop before stumbling across this back in the Summer. I advise you to seek it out...

Jenny Wren- Chasing my dreams all over town 

British Soul Volume 3, Part 1

About 15 years ago I purchased two CD's of British blue-eyed/ northern soul tracks on the now- defunct Goldmine label. I then began (the pre-internet) hunt for these 50 or so tracks to fill out my vinyl collection. In my humble pov these two CD's exhibit the joy and exuberance of the British recording scene in the '60's. Whilst there is a smattering of tracks by acts who were scoring hits (or would go on to) many of these tunes never stood a chance.

With the murky demise of Goldmine around ten years ago (I don't know much about this but I understand that some of their stuff may not have been entirely legit releases) there was never to be a volume 3.

With my penchant for always sniffing out something new to box my cab doors I began to think along the lines of compiling my own volume 3. At first it was going to be a balls- out 18 track single blog but given my recent lack of blogging I'm going to do it one nugget at a time.

I understand that Emma was actually really called 'Jackie Lee' (clearly not the Jackie Lee from Bob & Earl)...are you confused yet?? This hit the shops in January 1967 as the flip of 'Just like a man'. I may be barking up with wrong tree but it's probably safe to say tunes like this sold in the areas where the acts were from (possibly in significant numbers). The little blurb I can find on Emma/ Jackie is that she was 30 when she recorded this and hailed from Ireland. In Den's humble opinion this tune is as strong as any ballad from the big names of the time and would surely have sat nicely with her label mate Lulu. That said I can't imagine that Emma was ever as annoying as Lulu so maybe she won the battle to get her sweaty mitts on this b- side flop. That said, it warmed a corner of Den's world in 2013 and I'm sure you'll dig it as much as I did!

Emma Rede- I gotta be with you