Ahh sweet Northern Soul. There’s such an abundance of great songs from that it seems like I come across a song I deem as my new favorite on a bi-weekly basis. As I was driving home yesterday I tuned into the local ‘Superhits’ station 650 CISL and heard a gem of a song called ‘Soulful Strut’ by 60’s soul and jazz instrumental ensemble Young Holt Unlimited. The tune was stuck in my head the entire evening so I had to investigate further. Turns out this was a very popular song back in the day, hitting #3 on 1968’s Hot 100 and subsequently re-recorded (with vocals) by quite a few artists, some notable (Dusty Springfield) and others not so much (Joss Stone). I’ve posted 4 different versions at the break for your soulful strutting pleasure.

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One of my favorite genre’s next to Twee. When I think about it, Indie Pop artists do borrow alot from Northern Soul with bands like Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura creating the same upbeat, floor stompers with sometimes (who am I kidding, pretty much all the time) sappy lyrics. For those of you may not know what Northern Soul is, get hip to the info you square - The term is attributed to some music journalist, who in 1970, coined the phrase to describe a specific type of soul music that was popular in the clubs of northern England during that period. Although some of the more popular groups at the time were The Supremes, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye, lesser known and often commerical flops in the USA such as Tami Lynn, The Fascinations and The Velvelettes became popular amongst the British Soul fraternity.

With the plethora of songs that were released during it’s heyday it’s hard to pick just 4 good tracks, but I’ll give it a shot:

 

 The Blossoms - That's When the Tears Start: Play Now

 

 The Detroit Executives - Cool Off: Play Now

 

 The Jewels - Opportunity: Play Now

 

 The T.S.U. Tornadoes - Getting The Corners: Play Now

Similar to many bands I discovered back in the day, I just happened to come across Paul Weller on MP3.com as he was listed as an influence for a lot of my favourite bands at the time (I subsequently ‘happened’ to come accross his entire collection on audiogalaxy, man that site was awesome). Hard to believe I had no idea who he was considering The Jam, The Style Council and his solo material have made it to the UK Top 10 more than 15 times since 1978.

Not many artists can manage such dramatic transitions in their sound and still be successful. The Jam were an integral part of the punk phenomenon and at the height of their fame, Weller decided to disband and take a route of ingenuity by experiementing with many different styles (soul, jazz, funk, rap and rock) and formed The Style Council. Moderately successful, they released a few chart topping tracks like “Long Hot Summer” and “Walls Come Tumbling Down!”. TSC disbanded in 1989 after their popularity began to slide in the UK. Weller disappeared from the public eye for a couple of years, before returning to prominence as one of the major influences of the mid 1990s and hasn’t stopped since.

It’s easy for me to say I like or love alot of bands, but rarley do I say I respect an artist. Paul Weller is a man I respect.

I had the pleasure of seeing Paul live at Massey Hall back in 2005 and I gotta say, if you like Britpop, you must check him out. If you want a taste, here’s a recording of an entire acoustic show in Amsterdam with Steve Craddock thrown in to give it a little more Mod flavour.