Talcum Soul 3
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The term “Talcum Soul”
comes from the seventies practise of Northern Soul Dancers sprinkling talcum powder on the
dance floor to reduce the friction between the soul of the shoe and the wooden surface. It
will come as no surprise therefore to discover that this is an out and out compilation of
classic Northern Soul stompers. As time has
progressed and the bones of the soul boys have started to creak a little the tempo of
modern favourites have tended to become a little slower.
This compilation makes no compromise to old age however and is pure,
unadulterated 100 mph frantic soul. The
slowest tracks in the compilation are ‘Baby I Need You’, by ‘Two Shades Of
Soul’ and ‘Kissin’ Her And Crying For You’ by ‘The
Checkmates’, but even these could hardly be classified as Mid Tempo. All the tracks have been selected by the compiler
Nigel Reeve from the EMI vaults who have given him access to the catalogues of Capital,
Sue, Liberty, Minit, Laurie, Tower, United Artists, Josie, and Roulette record labels
amongst others. The compilation opens with Bettye
Lavette’s storming “I Feel Good All Over”.
It was clearly made at a time when the lady was going through some
experimentation with the spelling of her name as it is credited to Bettye Levette. It also contains long time favourite of mine
“Baby Mine” by Thelma Houston (Auntie to Whitney). This is such a lovely track and one that you
cannot have too many times in your CD collection. Other
noteworthy songs are Bettye Turner’s, ‘Be Careful Girl’, a warning to other
women not to allow themselves to be used by men, Alder Ray’s “My Heart Is In
Danger” with its inspiring Sax riff and J.J. Jackson’s dramatic, “It Seems
Like I’ve Been Here before”. Anna
King’s answer to James Brown’s “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag”
entitled; ‘Mama’s Got A Bag Of Her Own’ is also interesting. One aspect of Northern Soul, which
never ceases to amaze me, is how songs about heartbreak and sadness can work with such
up-tempo dance beats, but they do. The
classic examples on this compilation are “Good Little You” by Joey Dee and
“River of Tears” by Barbara Banks. My
two criticisms of the compilation are as follows; firstly where alternative artists
performing the same song are available the compiler has gone for the inferior version. In my view Sidney Barnes version of “I Hurt
On The Other Side” is vastly superior to Jerry Cook’s as is “The
Poets” version of “She Blew A Good thing” to that of Donald Height. Secondly it is the same old complaint that I have
levied against just about every NS compilation for the last two years. Far too many of the tracks are already available
on other compilations. The only new ones I
gained from this purchase were ‘Turn Around Baby’ – Lena & the
Deltanettes, ‘You’ve Got The Love’ by Little Rose Little and the already
mentioned ‘Mama’s Got A Bag of Her Own’ by Anna King. A well worth addition to the
collection if you’re short on some of these tracks, but it is worth checking which
you’ve already got before putting your hand in your pocket. Track Listing
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Why Not visit the Authors other Website, 'The Alternative Blackpool Website' at http://www.localdial.com/users/jsyedu133/bpool This Site Last Updated 18/05/05
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