BIANCO
NORTHERN SOUL
The next two box sets from Bianco Northern Soul
- Northern Soul Shack and Timeless Northern Soul. Two 3 CD sets containing a
few gems, a few surprises, a few fillers, but overall representing excellent
value as they are so so cheap. As before starting off with the Official Press
Release followed by my reviews.
The next step in the Bianco Northern Soul series
is here! Introducing "Timeless
Northern Soul" and "Soul Shack". Following on from Bianco Northern Soul's successful Cream
of Rare Soul and Cream of Northern Soul comes these further formidable sets of
collectable albums.
HARLEM SHUFFLE - Cat No NS50011
I FOUND THE RIGHT GIRL - Cat No NS5012
FIRST DEGREE LOVE - Cat No NS5013
TURN ON THE HEAT - Cat No. NS5014
EVERYBODY'S GOING WILD -CatNo.NS5015
HOW DO YOU LIKE IT - Cat No. NS5016
MAKING UP TIME - Cat No. NS5017
ORDER DIRECT FROM BMG ON +44 (0) 121
543 4100
Or FROM BIANCO MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT ON
+44 (0)20 7535 3365
AVAILABLE NOW!!!
"Soul Shack" and "Timeless
Northern Soul" are available from all good record stores.
For further information, contact Bianco Music
and Entertainment on + 44 (0) 207 535 3350 or fax +44 (0) 20 7535 3383,
alternatively e-mail info@biancomusic.co.uk or www.biancomusic.co.uk
.... Immerse yourself in the music
Following Reviews by Mike Ashley
Northern Soul Shack - Volume 1 - Turn on the
heat
Nice start with Carl Carlton, Nothing sweeter than
love and Adorables, Oooh Boy. Includes a multitute of Popcorn Wylie productions
- would have preferred the vocals to Going to a Happening and Sweet Darlin but
doubtless they'll turn up somewhere in the series.
Includes popular items such as Tony Hestor and
Luther Ingram, if it's all the same to you. - and also Cool Off by the Detroit
Executives and the same backing tracked more vocal Mighty Lover.
Unexpected goodies like Hurting by Eric and the Vikings
and the lovely Juanita Williams, You knew what you was gettin from Golden World
presumably. All the items on here, I think, coming from Detroit. Also Spaceland
by the bizarre Moon and the Planets which I've heard being played a few times
lately - strangely!
And lest I forget also includes the magnificent
I'll be your Champion - certainly a top ten item of a great number of people.
Northern Soul Shack - Volume 2 - Everybody's
Going Wild
The top cut on here is undoubtedly All the way
home by Dee Edwards. The best cut for me on here is her slower You stay you
love me. That's all I need say really - worth the corn for these two.
Another big sound included is Hide and Seek by
Lillian Dupree. Another worth a mention is Find a quiet place - Melvin Davis.
Rest for me are largely fillers, Lee Rogers,
Fabulous Peps, Buddy Lamp, International Kansas City Playboys.
Northern Soul Shack - Volume 3 - How do you
like it
This is largely the Mirwood, Jayboy, Contempo
Raries, Soul Fox! even, selection depending on where you are likely to have
first come across them. Mostly all very well known, Jimmy Thomas, Bobby
Garrett, Jackie Lee, Belles, Jimmy Conwell, Richard Temple - all with the
unmistakable Mirwood beat.
Best tracks are Stubborn Heart by The Sheppards
-beautiful male vocal offering with a less frenetic beat than most on here, and
the excellent Jackie Lee and Dolores Hall - Whether it's right or wrong - one
that I've forever loved.
Closes with the unexpected mournful deep and
soulful and almost doo - wop in feel of JW Alexander - Leave a light in the
window.
Timeless Northern Soul - Volume 1 - I found the
right girl
Strange selection - 2 by Willie White, 4 by Reggie
Milder, 2 by LJ Reynolds and Relations, 2 by Jeanne Reynolds & Re-leets.
Reggie's haunting - I can't live without you has
some bizarre qualities as has his distinctive vocal, and LJ's Stop look over
your past shows his Deep Soul references and Jeanne's also on the mellow and
soulful - mess around.
Amongst all this you can find the fine I gotta
know by Willie Hatcher, The male group soul of The Swingers and the excellent
Sammy Turner. The track listing goes a bit awry near the end. Brilliant cut in
I hold the key - Nelson Sanders.
All together this is a slower and more soulful set
than most of the others and not really Northern Soul, just Soul. A nice set.
Timeless Northern Soul - Volume 2 - First
Degree Love
This one also contains some unexpected soul gems
especially by the Dynamics and the Metros. All typical 60's male vocal group -
lovely stuff.
The ever popular and much repeated Candle by Doni
Burdick and his obligatory Bari Track. Out of left field there is Arabia by the
Royal Playboys.
The wonderfully named Lafayette Vaughn is a real
gem - First degree love
The vocal of Fascinating Girl by George Lemons is
also well received. Mellow and midtempo. Also the ever popular Brooks Bros -
Looking for my woman.
Timeless Northern Soul - Volume 3 - Harlem
Shuffle
Back in a more uptempo groove with the likes of
Bob & Earl (3 tracks) and Eddie Holman ( 3 tracks) with the big Wigan sound
- Where I'm not wanted and the highly falsetto - Surrender, and Philly Dog and
Secret Agents- Olympics (Yes some of this is fairly predictable!)
Over to Harthon for the brilliant Focused on you
Bernard Williams & Original Blue Notes - one of my all time favorites, and
it's B side It's needless to say.
Irma & The Fascinators - You need Love is a
good one and one that currently goes when played.
Starting
off with the Company's Press Release, followed by my reviews.
Introducing Bianco Northern Soul,
the most comprehensive, retrospective collection of Northern Soul albums
currently available on the market. The Bianco Northern Soul series
comprise of 4 album ranges that include thirteen, 18 track, unique collectable
albums. "The Cream of Northern Soul" and "The Cream of
Rare Soul", each comprise of three fantastic 18 track albums charting
a wide variety of Northern Soul classics
Every
track that appears within this amazing series has been digitally enhanced using
the system 6000, 48 Bit technology to provide quality sound recordings of
classic Northern Soul favourites. This is undoubtedly the best value Northern
Soul series, offering the widest variety of quality Soul Music.
Marcello
Tammaro Bianco's Managing Director comments, "The trade has
expressed a desire for quality Northern Soul albums at a keen price point, and
as always Bianco has responded to this demand."
Other
ranges available within the series include "Timeless Northern Soul"
which features three, 18 track collectable albums: - "Harlem Shuffle",
"Don't Mess Around" and "I'll be on my way".
Finally Bianco introduces "Soul Shack" a four-part album
series-featuring album titles "Turn on the Heat", "Everybody's
going wild", "How do you like it" and "Making
up time".
"Fans
of Northern Soul and rare groove should immediately seek out "The Cream of
Northern Soul" and "The Cream of rare soul"... Can you say essential?"
(Billboard Magazine December 2000)
"If
you feel that you should dip your toe into Northern Soul, there can be no finer
starting point than this..." (East Anglian Daily Times Jan 2001)
"The Cream of Rare Soul"
and "The Cream of Northern Soul" are available from all good
record stores - Other titles within the Northern Soul range coming soon.
For
further information or a full catalogue contact Bianco Music and
Entertainment on + 44 (0) 207 535 3350 or fax +44 (0) 20 7535 3383,
alternatively e-mail info@biancomusic.co.uk or www.biancomusic.co.uk
Now my
Reviews of the sets Cream of Rare Soul and Cream of Northern Soul
First of all some general comments:-
1) The packaging is nice - some retro photos and old style badges.
2) The packaging is nice - but... there is no substance whatsoever to the inner
notes, other than a list of albums in the series and an advert. I would have
thought for this kind of series at least some basic information would have been
useful.
3) The CD's can be bought individually or as 3 box sets. There are 13 CD's and
4 x 3 CD box sets. It doesn't add up! One CD is a series has to be bought
separately.
4) Most of the albums nicely follow a 'theme' e.g. Detroit, Harthon/Arctic that
kind of thing - and therefore the feel for each is right. However there is
nothing overt about this and you have to know that. Are these aimed at the
converted, or are they trying to convert? If the former then most of the tracks
are a) well known, and b) have already been reissued.
Otherwise again a bit of information would be good.
6) All of the tracks are licensed from Goldmine. It would be interesting to
know from how blank a piece of paper these compilations started from. Were they
started completely from scratch and then Goldmine approached - in
which case there are some bizarre selections given what Goldmine have
available, or was only certain product made available from which selections had
to be made. If the latter - which I suspect is the case - then it's a bit
overstated to say ..'The Cream of...'
7) I can't really see the distinction between Northern Soul and Rare Soul.
8) We are told that market research suggests a market for this. I assume that
to be correct. The marketing of these is quite slick in that this doesn't come
across as repackaged Goldmine.
The Cream of Rare Soul
Six by Six
Contains a few good tracks like 'This and that' -
Willie Thatcher, 'Reason for livin' - JJBarnes and Steve Mancha and a couple of
Bob & Earl. Also contains some banalities that I thought had long since
been forgotten like the Soul Fox Orchestra , Floorshakers, Echoes and the Soul
Masters. Sorry but not much to commend on this one.
The Cream of Rare Soul
Soul Food
This one fares a little better with a higher
average of good cuts - 'Head & Shoulders' - Patti Young, 'What's wrong with
your love' - Metros, 'It's real' - Nelson Sanders, 'Open the door to your
heart' - Doni Burdick.
Top track in terms of current popularity is probably
'Make a change' Johnny Rogers followed by 'Give my heart a break' Sammy Turner.
I like also the Lloyd Williams cuts which I have
to say I don't remember and know nothing about. The slower 'It won't matter at
all' is very good indeed.
Let down again by mindless instrumentals which I
accept were part of the scene back then ... but not now... and the Sharonettes!
The Cream of Rare Soul
Someday
This one has the names thet always crop up on
similar compilations covering this era, like Martha Starr, Emanuel Lasky, Rose
Batiste and so on. However whilst there are some good ones, for example, Love
is the only solution, most of them are second rate. It seems to me that the
licenses rest with Goldmine and they probably acquired these amongst the better
stuff and this is an attempt to offload what they're not interested in. On the
other hand do we really want 'Hit and Run' again - at least this widens the
scope a bit.
'You got the best of me' - Eddie Hill and 'Sorry
just ain't good enough' - Joe Matthews are for me the stand out cuts.
Whilst a good number of tracks are interesting
enough it highlights my main gripe about these sets and that is the title.
Whilst nobody is going to agree with every single track on a compilation
through personal choice - there is sufficient on here to be of interest - but
it patently is not 'The Cream of Rare Soul'.
The Cream of Northern Soul
Groovin' at the Go-Go
This is much better taking cuts from labels like
Harthon and Arctic.
Nice one by The Victors - 'Not only the girl knows',
the in demand 'Eddie's my name' - Eddie Holman (amongst three Eddie Holman
cuts). The storming 'False Alarm' by the Volcanos.
Includes the double sider of Preludes - Shiggy
Diggy and Deeper than that, and the perennial title track by the 4 Larks. Touching
the 70's I think with She's puttin you on by United 4.
The Cream of Northern Soul
Let's get together
Starts with the beautiful 'Who's kissing you
tonight ' by Herman Lewis - you could argue that the whole set is worth buying
just for this. Followed by 'That was my girl' by the Parliaments who were great
in this era. Then comes 'Watch out Boy' by Orthea Barnes.
The rest is all Detroit material of or around the
same time - Robert Ward (prefer however The Holidays - I'll love you forever),
Tony Hestor, Pat Lewis, Edwin Starr, Steve Mancha.
The Cream of Northern Soul
Keep the faith
Anything, anybody, anywhere that starts with the
magnificent 'Somebody Somewhere need you' - Darrell Banks gets my vote!
This is far and away the strongest with 'I'll
never forget you' O'jays, Don't be sore at me - Parliaments, Hit and Run - Rose
Batiste, Sweet Sherry and Please let me in - J J Barnes, Our love is in the
pocket - Darrell Banks, That's why I love you - Professionals, No one to love
& Warning - Pat Lewis, Making Up time - Holidays (an instrumental I do
like!), Loving you takes all my time - Debonairs.
This one seems top heavy with top cuts.
Visitors: