Talcum Time! *

The champagne amphetamine's been flowing throughout 2023 in celebration of the legendary Wigan Casino Club, which launched its very first "Northern Soul all-nighter" fifty years ago - at 2am on Sunday 23rd September 1973, to be precise.

Auntie Beeb's certainly been heavily featuring this remarkable genre - the meld of obscure non-chart uptempo American black music and an underground scene that saw punters travel across huge swathes of the North of England in the middle of the night (after conventional pubs and clubs had closed) to dance their tits off until dawn! Indeed, it is a recent BBC article that has prompted me to locate and play for you the tracks on their "Wigan Casino classics" list...:

Dana Valery - You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies

Frank Wilson - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

• NB Mr Wilson's record became the most sought-after, and the most expensive 7" single ever - see here for more.

Gloria Jones - Tainted Love

The Jades - I'm Where It's At

The Adventurers - Easy, Baby

And "three before eight" - three closing songs played before 08:00:

Jimmy Radcliffe - Long After Tonight Is All Over

Tobi Legend - Time Will Pass You By

Dean Parrish - I'm On My Way

"And what do we say, Malcolm?"
"We say 'Keep the Faith', Paul!" **

Notes:

• * "Talcum Time" refers to the alleged practice of scattering talc on the damcefloor to help with some of the punters' sliding dance moves. It could well be an "urban myth" to cover up a nickname for another widely-used white powder found in the clubs.
• ** Much like the term "Northern Soul" itself, it was soul music aficionado and journalist Dave Godin whose regular use of the term "Keep the Faith" led to it - and the famous clenched fist logo first used by the US Black Panthers - becoming the slogan for the whole scene. Paul O'Grady (and his producer Malcolm Prince) used to have this exchange on his Radio 2 show after his weekly Northern Soul slot.

Indeed I Do!

Unaccustomed as I am, dear reader, to feature artists like Bruce Springsteen on this here blog [not normally "our kind of music" at all], an article in The Guardian yesterday piqued some interest...

...for @adecadeago, I published this:

RIP Frank Wilson, soul music producer, who died on Friday. Who? You may ask...

Mr Wilson would have been admired for his sterling work in the music industry - but little else - had it not been for the fact he recorded one of the rarest popular music tracks of all time.

The story of how the man's recording of his own song for Motown back in the 60s eventually led this obscure and deleted pressing to be the most expensive 7" single ever is indeed a fascinating one.

Read the story on Soul Source.

Largely revived from obscurity by the fanatics of the Northern Soul scene in the UK in the 1970s, a copy of Frank Wilson's under-rated original sold in 2009 for more than £25,000!

Here is that very song, Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do):

Frank Wilson - Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do)

[2022 update: new video featurung the legendary Northern Soul venue Wigan Casino]

Oh, and by the way - Frank Wilson also wrote this rather more familiar classic:

Supremes - Stoned Love

Now, ten years down the line, there are rumours that Mr Wilson's rare record may well have recently changed hands for £100,000...

...and to top it all - "The Boss" has revived this Northern Soul classic for his new single, bringing it a whole new audience in the USA, where it originated yet remains completely unknown:

Bruce Springsteen - Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

Frank Wilson would have been so proud.

His original remains the far superior version, of course.

The most expensive obscurity

RIP Frank Wilson, soul music producer, who died on Friday. Who? You may ask...

Mr Wilson would have been admired for his sterling work in the music industry - but little else - had it not been for the fact he recorded one of the rarest popular music tracks of all time.

The story of how the man's recording of his own song for Motown back in the 60s eventually led this obscure and deleted pressing to be the most expensive 7" single ever is indeed a fascinating one.

Read the story on Soul Source.

Largely revived from obscurity by the fanatics of the Northern Soul scene in the UK in the 1970s, a copy of Frank Wilson's under-rated original sold in 2009 for more than £25,000!

Here is that very song, Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do):

Frank Wilson - Do I Love You? (Indeed I Do)

Oh, and by the way - Frank Wilson also wrote this rather more familiar classic:

Supremes - Stoned Love

RIP