Northern Soul: The Film Soundtrack

Product Information

Despite the name, most Northern Soul music actually came from the States, where DJs dug up obscure singles and limited releases from pretty much unknown artists. In fact, the term Northern Soul was coined by a London record shop owner to describe the obscure requests of Northern football fans. Dobie Gray's Drift Away was one of the biggest hits of 1973, selling over 1 million copies and becoming a staple of dancefloors across the North. Although The Twisted Wheel was the birthplace of Northern Soul, Wigan Casino was its most popular venue. It was once named the best disco in the world by Billboard magazine and at one point boasted over 100,000 members. Its all nighters, which began at midnight and ended at 8am, are the stuff of legend.

Although the Northern Soul movement was more focused on singles and songs than particular artists, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas were responsible for more than a few dancehall favourites. The record was deleted from Motown’s catalogue because at the last minute they decided not to release it. Wilson, who died in 2012 aged 71 from prostate cancer, gave an interview to Searling in 2001 and said that just before the record’s scheduled release on 23 December 1965, Motown founder Berry Gordy took him to one side to tell him he had a choice: did he want to be an artist, or did he want to be a writer/producer? According to Wilson, it was a “no-brainer”, and he went on to work with artists including Marvin Gaye, the Supremes and the Four Tops.Playing live became our forte,” Jones says, recalling how A Northern Soul was largely written in six weeks on the road, the group firing on all cylinders, treating audiences to new songs the day they were written. “We’d read about The Stooges going in and recording an album in six days and that was what we wanted to do.” The northern soul DJs were very competitive and protective about their finds, and to stop rivals knowing what he was playing, Winstanley says he covered up the label with a fake one, proclaiming the record to be by “Eddie Foster”.

This compilation is a great place to start your Northern Soul dance extravaganza, with classics like Tainted Love by Gloria Jones (AKA the Northern Soul song everyone knows), Nothing But a Heartache by The Flirtations and Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) by Frank Wilson the perfect introduction to the high tempo soul played in The Twisted Wheel and Wigan Casino!

The opening riff sounds transported straight from a Bond film in which 007 ditches the casino for a sprung dance floor and dances with his enemies (someone should make that film… Wigan Casino Royale?). It has a cool and mysterious feel, yet is still a real stomper. If you're looking for something to dance the night away to, you've come to the right place. Our Northern Soul collection on the musicMagpie Store includes some of the best Northern Soul compilations and artists around. To get you started, here are 10 of our personal favourites. After digging through hundreds of floor fillers and rare records, Getintothis’ Adam Lowerson has finally managed to settle on ten of the best Northern Soul classics. But the intensity took its toll on the band. Somehow, they came to the belief that 10pm at night was the only time they could capture the sounds in their collective heads. Recording until four or five in the morning, they’d sleep for 12 hours, get up and do it again. “It was all about waiting for the inspiration… And if it wasn’t there, we’d get really, really depressed,” Ashcroft would recall. “After six weeks of going up and crashing down, everything you’ve been doing takes its toll. You start losing it.” This double album includes Drift Away and Gray's follow up album Loving Arms, named after his popular cover of the soul standard.