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DEPTFORD NORTHERN SOUL CLUB
Shawn Robinson / Bessie Banks
My Dear Heart / I Can’t Make It (Without You Baby)
Deptford Northern Soul Club
Shawn Robinson’s ‘My Dear Heart’ was originally released on Minit in 1966. Original copies go for around £250 plus. Filled with positively glowing soul sounds underpinned by gorgeous vibes and a heady beat. Big at Wigan back in the day, a favourite of Richard Searling.
The flipside, from 1967, is from the inimitable Bessie Banks, the hit maker of ‘Go Now’ fame. Originally released on the Verve imprint. Fired up by choppy guitar and a heavy cross mix of vibes and horns, it’s a chugger with some essential breaks for added impact.
A triumphant anthem.
TRACK LISTING
1. Shawn Robinson - ‘My Dear Heart’
2. Bessie Banks - 'I Can’t Make It (Without You Baby)'
The A-side, ‘Tell It Like It Is’, goes for around £45 on seven, its follow up, an previously unheralded classic from the same year. Both tracks are a unique funky take on gospel.
‘Tell It Like It Is’ is filled with wah wah guitar chops and some excellent lead breaks that spice up the conga-adorned upbeat; a heady song grasping for the truth.
‘Give Me Liberty Or Death’ is slightly slower, with a Motown-styled backbeat behind a fist pumping anthem that reels in its churchy roots and some great vocal interplay, a message song filled with emotion.
Two fantastic tunes from a transient ever-changing group who, in the 1960s and 1970s, were known for soulful harmonies, glass-shattering lead singing.
Typical of their repertoire of songs that provided social commentary on the troubles of the world from the war in Vietnam, drugs, violence, prejudice, civil rights and child delinquency.
TRACK LISTING
1. Tell It Like It Is
2. Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death
Velma Perkins, Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr
Yes, My Goodness Yes / You Can’t Blame Me
Deptford Northern Soul Club
With more than a touch of Diana-era Supremes, it’s a gorgeous uptempo groove with typical Twinight horns and a funky guitar that could well be Al himself lending a hand. It’s a super rare 45 that never seems to come up for sale these days. Cut with Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum and Durr’s debut single for Capsoul, ‘You Can’t Blame Me’.
Signed to the label by DJ and singer Bill Moss (his ‘Sock It To ‘Em Soul Brother’ on Pama is a corker) as The Revelations, the band changed name and cut two 45s before disappearing. A super soulful funky mid-tempo tune that lets all five (even though there are just four names in their chosen name) vocalists lay down a super plush soundtrack. Punctuated with strings, it’s a magnificent full-on sound that goes for over £30 on seven inch.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Velma Perkins - Yes, My Goodness Yes
B1. Hawkins Johnson, Tatum & Durr - You Can't Blame Me
Featuring ‘Is It Worth A Chance’, the flipside of Josephine Taylor’s 1969 single ‘I’ve Made Up My Mind’, original copies of which go for anything between £30 and £100 these days.
A brass peppered funker with a driving bassline behind Josephine’s strutting vocal, it was the climax of her short career that started with three 45s for the Mar-V-Lus label.
Cut with Krystal Generation’s 1970 side ‘Satisfied’, the B-side of their ‘Is It Meant To Be’ that goes for around £75 if you can find a copy.
A female four-piece from Chicago featuring Darlene Arnold, who recorded several sides in her own right as well as half a dozen with Krystal Generation, who also released a couple of singles on Gene Chandler’s Mister Chand label.
‘Satisfied’ revolves around Darlene’s lead vocal, some glorious harmonies and some sassy Staxlike horns.
Slightly slower paced than Josephine Taylor’s cut - more soulful but just as funky.
TRACK LISTING
Josephine Taylor ‘Is It Worth A Chance’
Krystal Generation ‘Satisfied’
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Catchy and bright, funky floor fillers from yesterday, earnestly repressed by your good friends at Deptford Northern Soul Club who should be awarded a medal for their services to soul.TRACK LISTING
Cindy & The Playmates - Don't Stop This Train
Paul Kelly - The Upset
TRACK LISTING
Helene Smith - True Love Don’t Grow On Trees
Helene Smith - Sure Thing
Quantrells / Promise
Can't Let You Break My Heart / I'm Not Ready For Love
Deptford Northern Soul Club
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Deptford Northern Soul Club continue to attack the market value of this elite scene by repressing some of the most memorable and must-have records at an everyman's price. I've always championed such behaviour and I'll be honest, it was one of the things that always left a sour taste in my mouth about the Northern scene. It's nice to hear these tracks on vinyl without having to worry about auctioning off your liver.TRACK LISTING
Quantrells - Can’t Let You Break My Heart
Promise - I’m Not Ready For Love
‘I’ll Be On My Way’ is not only a staggeringly beautiful song, it’s also a super rare side filled with those strings that recall the echoey ceiling of Wigan Casino. A supremely soulful cut with a sturdy beat from 1966, with a classic vocal to fall in love with. Originally on Big Mack and going for over two grand, even the re-issue on Goldmine fetches 75 quid, it’s such an invigorating vocal and storming instrumental.
On side B, The Volumes’ funky floor surfer ‘I’ve Never Been So In Love’. Filled with horn slurps over a crazed organ anchor, it chugs into a singalong chorus that’s impossible to forget. From 1969 and originally on the obscure Garu label, it goes for between £40 and £140 pounds if you're lucky enough to find a copy.
Nicely pressed in sturdy 7" disco bag. Northern never sounded so crisp and fresh!
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Shark-slaying re-issues to keep Kevin Lewandowski crying into his dipping stock value. If you're a fan of Northern on a budget (and sounded nice n crisp to boot!) you need these floor-fillers!TRACK LISTING
Bob & Fred - I’ll Be On My Way
The Volumes - I’ve Never Been So In Love
Sebastian Williams
Get Your Point Over / I Don't Care What Mama Said (Baby I Need You)
Deptford Northern Soul Club
Get Your Point Over is a brass-led funky dancer that beautifully compliments Sebastian Williams’ soulful vocal style, while the flipside, I Don't Care What Mama Said (Baby I Need You), is a slower groove that lets that vocal really soar, arriving complete with a groovy psychedelic guitar break before Williams testifies to his lady amid some punchy brass stabs.
Two stellar tunes from Sebastian Williams (aka Roger Williams of no-hit wonders The Quarter Notes), whose solo recording career amounted to just three 45s, all five years apart, along with a couple of releases as Sebastian And The House Rockers and finally, in 1975, just Sebastian.
Imagine vintage Tavares lead singer Chubby Tavares at his gritty best with a funky brass section in a soulful Harold Melvin And The Blue Notes- styled blast. Both tracks mastered from the original sound source for maximum soul sound
TRACK LISTING
1. Get Your Point Over
2. I Don’t Care What Mama Said (Baby I Need You)
The Soul Stirrers / Spinners
Don’t You Worry / Memories Of Her Love Keep Haunting Me
Deptford Northern Soul Club
Featuring The Soul Stirrers’ funky, backbeatthumping classic ‘Don’t You Worry’, with gorgeous harmonies and a tortured lead vocal.
A gem filled with the kind of soulful positivity we need right now. In every sense, an upbeat classic that fetches around £200 on 7” on the original Checker imprint out of Chess back in 1969.
Backed with The Spinners’ ‘Memories Of Her Love Keep Haunting Me’, an essential piece of lost Tamla Motown from the late 1960s that’s never been officially released as a single before.
Powered by that Motown slap drum sound and a conga player on uppers, it’s a stomping tale of love lost with a super Motown production and a great horn break.
Both mastered from the original sound source for maximum soul sound.
TRACK LISTING
The Soul Stirrers - Don’t You Worry
Spinners - Memories Of Her Love Keep Haunting Me
The Ballads
I Can't See Your Love (For The Tears In My Eyes) Pt. 1 / Pt. 2
Deptford Northern Soul Club
Featuring an upbeat, brass-powered Temptationslike harmony with a call and response, a deep sax wail and a piano motif pushing it forward towards a glorious middle eight that breaks into a Gospel roll out.
Powered by Ric-Tic-like drum rolls; a euphoric soulful classic split into two essential parts.
The Ballads were a four-piece from Oakland, across the bridge from San Francisco, featuring Freddie Hughes, who would later sign to Wand. The band themselves almost made it, charting in 1968 with the Willie Hutch-produced ‘God Bless Our Love’ but this earlier recording is the business.
Both sides remastered from the original sound source.
TRACK LISTING
I Can’t See Your Love (For The Tears In My Eyes) Pt.1
I Can’t See Your Love (For The Tears In My Eyes) Pt.2
Huge at Wigan Casino back in the day.
Original copies now go for a huge £700 apiece.
A brass-powered stomper with a funky rhythm and backbeat that leads to a euphoric chorus and instrumental break.
Expertly remastered from the original sound source.
Two stellar versions; both mono and stereo for maximum dancefloor impact.
Written by Chris Andrews, who also penned Chris Farlowe’s mod anthem ‘Out Of Time’.
Sue Lynne (AKA Sue Vanner) quit the music business after the single’s failure to chart and ended up in the Bond movie ‘The Spy Who Love Me’, as well as a host of TV shows.
TRACK LISTING
Sue Lynne - Don’t Pity Me
Sue Lynne - Don’t Pity Me (Mono Version)
TRACK LISTING
Tyrone Davis - Slip Away
Gene Chandler - There Was A Time
TRACK LISTING
Jackie Wilson - Because Of You
Doris & Kelley - You Don’t Have To Worry
Produced by Willie J Key and arranged by Bob Holmes (Joe Tex / Freddie North / Slim Harpo) it’s a slice of funky party disco. A proper floorshaker. V Rare Function’s ‘Disco Function’ was originally on Soul Unlimited in 1976 and fetches around £50 a copy these days.
Sampled by Luke Vibert in more recent times, it’s a brass-stabbed party anthem with a nod to Kool And The Gang when they were funky.
TRACK LISTING
Willi J & Co. - Boogie With Your Baby
Rare Function - Disco Function
Herb Ward / Bob Brady & The Con Chords
Honest To Goodness / Everybody's Goin' To The Love-In
Deptford Northern Soul Club
Featuring Herb Ward’s 1968 RCA release that goes for around £200 if you can find a copy.
A Catacombs Club favourite that emphasizes Ward’s deep soulful vocal with a gorgeous call-andresponse bridge that leads into a truly uplifting chorus.
Backed with Bob Brady And The Con Chords’ blueeyed soul classic from the same year.
Often compared in style to Smokey Robinson, ‘Love In’ is a brass-led scorcher with a pulsating back beat that could have been a Motown 45.
Both tracks remastered from the original sound sources for maximum dancefloor effect.
TRACK LISTING
Herb Ward - Honest To Goodness
Bob Brady & The Con Chords - Everybody's Goin' To The Love - In
Featuring fifty quid’s worth of excellent brasspowered psyche soul that originally turned up on Buddah Records in 1969. An absolutely huge Blackpool Mecca 45 with a backflip moment at around 40 seconds that repeats for all stomping excessives.
Backed with the legendary Lee Dorsey’s mighty ‘Give It Up’ from the same year. A swampy soul stew with a funky feel by the hugely underrated singer. An Allen Toussaint
TRACK LISTING
Lou Courtney ‘Trying To Find My Woman’
Lee Dorsey ‘Give It Up’
The Delreys Incorporated / Oscar Wright
Destination Unknown / Fell In Love
Deptford Northern Soul Club
Backed with Oscar Wright’s 1966 Hemisphere flipside, a notoriously rare and, when found, in poor condition 45. Taken from the original sound source, it goes for anywhere between £150 and £300. A funky northern gem with a Hendrix break - one of the great brass-led soul tearjerkers.
TRACK LISTING
The Delreys Incorporated - ‘Destination Unknown’
Oscar Wright - ‘Fell In Love’
Lester Tipton / Edward Hamilton And The Arabians
This Won’t Change / Baby Don’t You Weep
Deptford Northern Soul Club
TRACK LISTING
Lester Tipton - This Won’t Change
Edward Hamilton And The Arabians - Baby Don’t You Weep