Monday 21 November 2011

Pep up with some Northern Soul

This is what I play to cheer myself up: Northern Soul. It grew up in Stoke, Wigan and Blackpool as DJs competed for the most obscure floor-fillers imported from the US. The drug of choice was speed (though another powder - talcum - was also necessary), the moves were spectacular, and the clothes, well, they were distinctive. You can still spot the occasional Northern Soul fanatic on the streets.

There's no angst about in Northern Soul: the songs were designed to facilitate primitive mating rituals by providing men and women with opportunities for displays of gymnastic prowess.

Dobie Gray's 'Out on the Floor' has everything you could ever want from a pop song:



If this one (Human Beinz's cover of the Isley Brothers' 'Nobody But Me') doesn't make you wanna dance, you must be clinically dead:





And finally Al Wilson's lust-fuelled 'The Snake':

2 comments:

Artog said...

I thought I'd clicked onto a different blog for a moment there, until the line about facilitating mating rituals anyway. A choice selection and I never knew Soft Cell's What?? was yet another Northern Soul cover.

The Plashing Vole said...

I didn't know Soft Cell had covered it actually, they've largely passed me by.

Despite evidence to the contrary, there's more to Vole than being depressed about teaching and politics!