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