Cybersoul Article Published in 27th. Edition of Manifesto (May 2000)

Name of Website: Eddy's Northern Soultime

URL: http://www.soultime.demon.co.uk/

Web Author: Eddy Edmondson

This website is entered through a title page with a dramatic collage of Soul images at the top. Beneath it is a scrolling Marquee advertising the next 'Soul in the Sun' event and a summary of the latest updates. There are two hyperlinks which take the surfer to the main menu which contains the following 23 items:-

Rare Soul, Letters and E-mail, Soulful Links, Modern Soul, Northern Soul, Through the Lens, Soul Fanzines, Soul in the Sun (Tenerife), What's going on, CD reviews, All-nighters, Books & records etc, Soul on Tape, The Cala Gran, Records for Sale, Happy People, Soul for sale, Soul Sounds, Eddy's favourite Records, The Mighty Dells, Cleethorpes Weekender (June 1999), You've got to Laugh.

'Soul in the Sun', 'The Mighty Dells', 'Cleethorpes Weekender' and 'The Cala Gran' are events which the Web's owner, Eddy Edmondson, reports upon in a simple and easily assimilated style. Eddie is so enthusiastic in his reviews that he left me feeling just a tad jealous that I hadn't been able to attend myself. All the articles are well supported by colour photographs with the exception of the 'Cleethorpes Weekender'. Aware of the omission Eddie makes a heartfelt plea for somebody to provide him with some. One word of warning however, the last two snaps in his 'Soul in the Sun' section are not for the squeamish.

Besides preparing much of his own material Eddy has also found a couple of other contributors who write items for him. Wayne Hudson scribes the 'Rare Soul' column in which he reviews records that are currently big on the scene. He seems to produce a new article every three months but past editions are kept live besides the latest. Wayne also writes the 'All-nighters' section which I think is new because it only contains one entry, that of the 'Wilton Allnighter'. A second contributor, Roger Williams, writes a 'Modern Soul' column. Roger is clearly very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his music and his stated aim is to describe his personal favourite soul tunes for 1999. Unfortunately he often digresses into a commentary about the album as a whole and this can be a little confusing. Eddy invites anybody else wishing to contribute to submit their items to him.

Many of the site's other offerings such as 'Northern Soul News', 'Soul Sounds', 'Soul for Sale', 'What's Going On', 'Favourite Records' and 'Letters and E-mail' are self explanatory. Eddy has extracted some of the more bizarre and humorous of these correspondences and given them a section of their own entitled 'You've got to laugh'. Like most sites Eddy also has a 'Links' page which contains dozens of URL's but adds a personal touch by commenting about each one individually.

Being the public-spirited guy that he is Eddy offers the soul surfer some free services. He is not only prepared to advertise records they might want to sell but he is also willing to copy some sounds onto tape for them providing they send him a blank cassette. This section lists the compilations that he is able to offer.

Like most websites Eddy has several areas for reviewing Soul Merchandise. In his Soul Fanzines section he gives detailed reviews to 'Manifesto', 'In the Basement', 'Northern Essence' and 'Sounds Around', but also lists another ten publications with details of how to get them. His CD area is done a little differently and on entering this section the surfer finds his/herself looking at 20 scans of CD covers haphazardly arranged around the screen. Clicking on them brings up a review that CD. One or two do not appear to be finished yet, but those that are are done in completely different ways. Sometimes each track is reviewed separately, sometimes there is a review of the CD as a whole, sometimes there is both. Rather than list the tracks on each compilation Eddy has chosen to scan the contents page of the CD covers themselves. Unfortunately many of these are unreadable, but this is more a criticism of the quality of the covers than Eddy's website. His final merchandise section entitled 'Books/records etc' looks at a couple of recent publications and the output from 'Soul City Records'.

One of the most appealing features of this site is the number of photographs it contains. Eddy not only uses them lavishly to illustrate his reviews, but he also devotes two entire sections to them. 'Through the Lens' are pictures taken by Manifesto photographer Dave Leedham whilst 'Happy Soul Faces' presumably come from a different source. The final picture of Eddy's 'Wife' is not to be missed and if Eddy still prefers to go out souling then he's a very sad case indeed. Just let me know when you're at your next gig Eddy 'cause I'm prepared to go round and keep her company.

By his own admission Eddy is not a computer whizz and the design skills that are visible on other sites are not in evidence here. None-the-less this site still has to be one of my favourites. Although others might have technical excellence they can be a little impersonal. Some sites make me feel as though I'm tiptoeing round an exclusive mansion nervous that I might damage some precious artefact. In Eddy's site I feel as though I've walked into his living room taken off my shoes and sat down for a cup of tea with him. The fact that his site is also slightly disorganised gives it added charm. I've never actually met Eddy but through his site I feel that I know him personally. He's put hours into it and its clearly been a labour of love. He is positive and complimentary about other people's sites whilst being self-effacing about his own. He also takes the time and trouble to thank promoters for organising their events. Just take a leisurely surf around 'Northern Soultime' and feel completely at home. Eddy makes one fabulous host.