Diggin' in the crates

As I said last time with a relaunched night and reduced reliance on all those CDs burnt from singles, abums and downloads it's time to revamp the singles box. Never easy despite only having four hours to fill between the two of us. I'm trying to resist the temptation to go for the middle sized box (about 200 singles) and keep to the small (?) one of about 100. That has however meant a great opportunity to riffle through old boxes and spin tunes I'd forgotten I had or which have been left neglected for 10+ years. Plus with not having a huge dancefloor and able to concentrate on a wide range of esoteric sounds pretty much anything goes (although I'll resist the temptation do half an hour of southern deep soul wailers...)

So in no particular order a quick guide to what's found it's way back into the box (before I revamp it yet again to fit in further rediscoveries):

Don Covay - 40 Days, 40 Nights - brought in in favour of the more well known See Saw and another fave of mine Iron Out The Rough Spots - fairly typical southern inspired pounder on Atlantic

Georgie Fame - El Bandido and No Thanks - well, why not quite frankly? Examples of tunes I copied to CD to thin out the box and then rarely played. No it may be time to resurrect

Temptations - I Couldn't Cry If I Wanted To - I love the Temps vocal style and this mid tempo clip clopper does it for me (flip side on Gordy of (I Know) I'm Losing You)

Miracles - I Can Take A Hint - another early style shuffler with great harmonies

Johnny Nash - (I'm So) Glad You're My Baby - lovely mid tempo on MGM which I bought maybe over ten years' ago and remember playing at a soul / Northern night and cleared the floor. Not the first time I misjudged an oldies crowd not really wanting something a bit below 95 mph. Oh well, still love this

Jimmy Witherspoon - My Baby Quit Me - not one for the floor but a lovely cross over of blues and soul with a gravelly voice

Esther Phillips - While It Lasted - a few beats up from Just Say Goodbye but still smashing vocals

Mongo Santamaria - I Can't Get Next To You - the Motown cover which isn't Cloud Nine! Both equally great but this deserves it's time in the limelight after having played C9 over much

Roy Lee Johnson - Boogaloo #3 and Eddie Wilson - Shing A Ling Stroll - two from the early days of AOY and these sometimes bemused the scooterists - low down and dirty boogaloo

Little Ann - Who Are You Trying To Fool - the second I think of two Kent reissues by Little Ann - I used to play the mid tempo What Should I Do and honestly couldn't remember this at all - it's a bit rougher and the sort of low down sound a basement venue deserves. It can't quite decide whether to be Etta James or Marie Knight but no worse for that

D C Ramblers - Hangin In There - another forgotten single whch I've just seen listed for 20 quid (!) on Keynote - Willie Mitchell style pounding horns / sax and guitar - got to be worth a play

That's volume 1 - further posts to follow no doubt as the box gets resorted

Getting back to our roots

So after nearly 19 years at The Waterfront (November 1994 saw our first night) we've moved on to pastures new. Crowds were down and the club wanted bigger numbers and went for cheesy pop and dropped us plus Martin's soul night and the ska night. Never mind.

We've got ourselves a relaunch night at The Rumsey Wells in the centre of Norwich, down in the basement on Saturday 9th October. I've always liked downstairs venues as you feel like entering a world only you know about, making a particular effort to navigate the stairs in the dark. Once downstairs the venue has a small bar and various seating areas / snugs, a sound system and a small dance floor (no backflips here!) - but it feels right from the art on the walls, ceiling height and general look. Hopefully it will be a success and they'll have us back!

It's also prompted a re-evaluation of what I carry in terms of music. Without a huge dancefloor and the passing semi interested night club punters we can go back to basics without trying to please those who really want a 60s night rather than what we offer. I've spoiled myself with masses of CDRs of burnt singles and album tracks over recent years and neglected vinyl which doesn't even get out of the house these days. So I've been working my way through too long neglected record boxes to unearth some tracks I'd forgotten I had or haven't played out (or in!) for years. I even treated myself to a box set of awesome early RnB:

I want to try to spin tunes I've not played for a while and focus back on my loves of soul, RnB and play some more latin and hammond given an opportunity. A downstairs venue to me cries out for downright dirty tracks.

Hopefully our regulars and previous attendees will come on down.

The details:

Saturday 9th October 8 to 12

FREE