RnB Meets Northern Soul...

RnB Meets Northern Soul…

A couple of weeks ago I treated myself to three CDs on the Goldmine label, namely “RnB Meets Northern Soul” volumes 1 and 2 plus ChiTown Boogaloo. I spent a day travelling to and from Leicester, during which time I managed to work my way through each CD at least twice. Now they’re all pretty good in their own way, but Volume 1 of “RnB Meets Northern Soul” really hits the spot.

It kicks off with a tale of hard luck and being down on your uppers – Willie Jones’ “Where’s My Money”. This has a fairly typical blues storyline with some soulful vocals over a solid RnB based track. A few tracks in and there’s a Billy Preston track I’d not heard of before “Volcano”. I got this a couple of days after reading of his death so this was topical. Based around a “Fever-esque” beat the production sounds like it’s been recorded in someone’s bathroom – sparse and a bit messy. Tambourine, sax, drums – they all compete for attention.

Other standout tracks include the classic Willie Mabon “Got To Have Some”, Jimmy Ricks “Oh What A Feeling” (this could be classic Big City Soul – with a voice sucking on hot gravel – deep and then some to coin a phrase), Little Sonny vocal and harp workout “We Got A Groove”, Pearl Woods’ classic “Sipping Sorrow” and Buddy Ace on the soulful side “True Love Money Can’t Buy”.

I’d recommend this for anyone who likes the bluesy side of soul and, arguably, the type of tune which bridged the gap between blues / RnB and soul. This isn’t Northern Soul in it’s usually understood manner. It’s too slow in parts, in some ways too soulful compared to the more uptempo dance-oriented tracks and maybe a bit too early. However if you like RnB and early soul this is a goodie.

From volume 2 I’d recommend “Honey Child” by Johnny Williams. I’d only heard the great Bobby Bland version and this is not dissimilar – a great dance tune with a staccato off beat. The next track on the CD is a nice version of the jazz standard “Summertime” by Cornerstone Trio. Before hearing this, my favourite version was the Billy Stewart vocal performance – this has jumped ahead of that. Forget any version you’ve probably heard before. This sounds very different. “Don’t Let Him In” by George Lee is reminiscent of various “Do The Hully Gully” type of tunes and tells the tale of keeping a dancer out of the room to stop the stealing the show at a dance…Finally “Hanky Panky” by the Captions feels a bit like Hestor / Wylie Detroit tunes – probably because of the title! Slowed down and rhythmic.

Off these three CDs if I had to choose one it would be Volume of “RnB Meets Northern Soul” – but there are tunes on there for many tastes who like their bluesy soul