A retrospective of the first fifty years of my life, picking fifty items that resonate with me. This one is about Northern Soul songs. Ones released in 1970 or after. This is tricky, as although the scene really took off in the early seventies, a lot of the ‘rare’ soul singles that were being picked up and played were forgotten items from the sixties. They may well have got reissues on different labels and become chart hits in the seventies or later, but where this is the case I’ve tried to leave them off the list, instead treating their release date as the original release date. For every song on this list, I had to discard four others because they were originally released before 1970.
There are some on this list that purists would dismiss as not being Northern Soul, as they are covers, or were commercially successful at the time, or just as being too modern (some great Acid Jazz releases included). But they all have that four on the floor Northern Soul vibe regardless. Plus there are at least two records on here that Northern Soul snobs hate, so I’ve picked them on purpose. Plus there are no Motown releases included, I did a separate list for Motown, though a couple of its subsidiary labels’ releases are included.
The first one on the list is one of those, and of course it’s got a wider audience of hate since Donald Trump has taken to whipping out pieces of paper with the lyrics to it on them and reading them out at his rallies.
- Al Wilson – The Snake
- James Fountain – Seven Day Lover
- The Carstairs – It Really Hurts Me Girl
- The M.V.P.s – Turning My Heartbeat Up
- Jimmy Castor Bunch – Trogladyte (Cave Man)
- Dennis Coffey & Detroit Guitar Band – Scorpio
- Don Thomas – Come On Train
- Eloise Laws – Love Factory
- Joe Tex – Under Your Powerful Love
- The 8th Day – Rocks In My Head
- Soul Searchers – Ashley’s Roachclip
- Dobie Gray – Out On The Floor
- Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons – The Night
- Frances Nero – Footsteps Following Me
- Billy Butler – The Right Track
- Just Brothers – Sliced Tomatoes
- Edwin Starr – Back Street
- Reggie Garner – Hotline
- Toney Lee – Reach Up
- Pharrell Williams – Happy
- Nolan Parker – If I Could Only Be Sure
- Wayne Gibson – Under My Thumb
- The Voices Of East Harlem – Cashing IN
- Bobby Hutton – Lend A Hand
- The Drifters – You Got To Pay Your Dues
- Lou Pride – I’m Com’un Home In The Morning
- Men Of North Country – Debut
- The Dilemmas – Fahrenheit
- Lord Large & Dean Parrish – Left, Right and Centre
- Lord Large featuring Clem Curtis – Stuck In A Wind Up
- Men Of North Country – I’m Comun’ Home In The Morning
- Filthy Six – Girlfriend
- Milk – Hometown
- The Prophets – I Got The Fever
- Fascinations – Girls Are Out To Get You
- The Pointer Sisters – Send Him Back
- Nolan Parker – Keep On Keeping On
- Millie Jackson – My Man, A Sweet Man
- Billy Woods – Let Me Make You Happy
- Otis Smith – Let Her Go
- The Exciters – Reaching For The Best
- Levi Jackson – This Beautiful Day
- Jimmy James – A Man Like Me
- Curtis Mayfield – Move On Up
- Mr Flood’s Party – Compared To What
- Bobby Sheen – Something New To Do
- The Skullsnaps – I’m Your Pimp
- Millie Jackson – A House For Sale
- Armada Orchestra – Philly Armada
- Laura Lee – If I’m Good Enough To Love (I’m Good Enough To Marry)
Now, where did I leave my talc?