Northern Soul: The Film Soundtrack

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It’s a bold claim to make about the man responsible for some of the greatest soul records ever made, but This Love Starved Heart of Mine (It’s Killing Me) might just be the best song Marvin Gaye ever released, and almost certainly one of his most under appreciated. Winstanley won’t say who he thinks might have obtained the copy from the Motown files. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble. I mean, I know it was 50 years ago, but…” The Marvelettes were one of the most popular girl groups in Northern Soul, with Please Mr Postman their biggest hit. Although they're still very much a soul group, The Marvelettes poppier sound makes them a good gateway to the more obscure stuff.

Northern soul is a culture based on chance finds, crate-digging and word-of-mouth recommendations. That’s why it would be redundant to fill this list with the titles everyone knows, although it would be churlish not to include some obvious selections, like Out on the Floor, for starters. Searling, author of a northern soul history called Setting The Record Straight, says: “The copies of the record that were in the Motown vaults were … borrowed. Then Soussan sent one to the Casino in about 1975. He’d already put a new label on it, saying it was Eddie Foster. Nobody had any idea it was Frank Wilson until a long time later. It was Soussan who discovered the song.” And where is he now? “Out there somewhere,” says Searling. “Probably.” 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. This double album includes Drift Away and Gray's follow up album Loving Arms, named after his popular cover of the soul standard.Yet the Jersey Boys hitmakers showed off their differing colours with their all but forgotten 1972 LP Chameleon, released on Mowest, the West Coast division of the legendary Motown label. The album flopped initially, but Northern Soul enthusiasts unearthed it later on, with The Night finally charting at number seven in the UK, three years later in 1975. Searling says only six were produced. Other sources claim 250 were made. Whatever the truth, only a tiny handful of copies were put into the Motown vaults in Detroit, and forgotten about, until almost a decade later when someone – either Soussan or Winstanley’s unnamed soul artist – liberated one or more. If we’ve missed off your favourite, let us know. Spread the love, but most importantly, keep the faith.

Originally intended to be recorded by Gloria Jones and the Tiaras, Jones‘ vocal was eventually replaced by new Dore Records signing Rita Graham following a disagreement with management. Northern Soul is one of the most important youth movements in British history, even though it doesn't get as much attention as the punk or mod movements. One thing both can agree on is that Do I Love You was an instant hit with the Wigan Casino crowd. “It was massive from the very first play,” Searling says. “A huge hit from the off. It became a Wigan Casino classic.” 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. 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.

Versions

By the early 70s, northern soul had the power to turn little-known oldies into hit singles. The Fascinations were a girl group whose original lineup included a pre-Motown Martha Reeves; Girls Are Out to Get You featured Donny Hathaway on piano, and was written by Curtis Mayfield, who released it on his own Mayfield label in 1971. Despite that impressive pedigree, it made little impact at the time. However, its euphoric woo-oos and concise gone-in-120-seconds punch made it a floor-filler on the scene. It was opportunistically re-released by Polydor subsidiary Mojo in 1971, propelling it into the UK Top 40 and prompting the Fascinations, who had disbanded two years earlier, to briefly reform for live performances.

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. Winstanley says 500 vinyl demo copies of the song were produced to send to radio stations, but then all but one were destroyed when it was decided not to release it. 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”.

On The Go

Given that a lot of Northern Soul classics are by obscure artists who only released a couple of singles, compilations are often the best way to hear all the classics. You Didn’t Say a Word was originally only released as the b-side to Yvonne Baker‘s 1967 single To Prove My Love is True, on Cameo-Parkway Records, yet it soon became one of the former Sensations singer’s best loved songs.