David Flynn's
Anorak's Corner
As the anniversary of Capitol Soul Club's marriage to the Dome beckons, it takes me back to July and my very first visit. I was already familiar with the music from the boy's, but nothing could prepare me for what I actually experienced on going through the doors that steaming hot summers night.
I had decided to drive, and the car was very much alive to the sound of good music, as my partner in life Karen and I enjoyed the company of Dave Holt and Robbo. After a somewhat lengthy journey, owing to roadwork's we arrived at Finchley Park and managed to park about 100yds away from a building with plenty of outside activity. Membership cards shown, we were in, and then it hit us.
Karen and I stood quite motionless for several minutes, not even daring to talk as a wave of music, heat, and an atmosphere to die for flooded over us. Only once before have I ever known that feeling, and that was on my first visit to the Torch in 1972, and here I was again, or was it someone else's first visit to the Casino or the Wheel? I'm sure everyone's who's passionate about their music knows what I mean.
When we finally decided to move our feet and pitch our tent. We were welcomed by a lot of faces wev'e never seen, this was nice and I had already decided to go with the notion of when in Rome do as the Romans do. No pre-conceived ideas, or I've been there done that attitude, Karen and I were going to just let things happen, and did they happen. The music was astounding as Alan, Dave, Carl an Irish Greg continued in the same vein as they did at Tony's all-nighter at Blackburn. Excellent sets of music included The Nomads, The Springers, Sidney Barnes, Jesse Davis etc, etc. Then popped up the guest for the evening non other than our good friend Ian Cunliffe. To say that he did the North justice would be an understatement, Ian did what Ian does, and does it so well. Joyce Taylor, Tommy Turner, Blue Jays, Brooks Bros., all went down a storm, but the real heroes are the punters. They create an energy that all young people do, the difference is this time they do it with Soul.
They also are firmly behind the Jock's and their selections, and are prepared to dance to unknowns, which is so refreshing. I'm now counting the days to the November Dome, but I think I'll just forget everything I've experienced, and start all over again..........wonderful.
Steve Thomson
Midlands
September 2001:
Well that time came round again, time to brave the M1/M6 and get down to North London, for the CSC event at Dome. After a good nighter last weekend refreshed my faith, was well in the mood for some quality rare soul, and a quality nite out. Got there about 10.30, with still a queue outside, got in, and straight away felt the buzz, place was fairly packed, sounds system working great and atmosphere was….well. …atmospheric. Stuart Tyler who was standing in for Irish Greg (who was on at a Spanish weekender) was just finishing his spot so missed him yet again. Spoke to Matt J, who told me his offer of free entry to the first people who turned up with a Bombay Aloo meal complete with all the bits was successfully claimed. Record bar was busy with usual wheelers and dealers - Mark Hanson, Andy Dyson, Roger Banks (also main guest Dj), and more. My vinyl budget is well in red so kept well away from that den of inequity.
Did a fair bit of catching up , so added Trivia points, name checks and odds at the end. Caught up with a bit of feedback on recent events from those who went, Llandudno: all who went said top, enjoyable event and going to next one Wilton: getting the name as the No 1 Rare Soul niter of the North, Someone said the buzz they got off the rare sounds there was equal to the 100 club at its best.
Crowd wise, well have said it many times before, top crowd, well mixed, and up for it, mentioned the atmosphere just seems to be a air of excitement about the place and the way the crowd "reacts" to the sounds. People from all over, were there - North and South Wales, Scotland, all parts of England, international wise usually miss them out but did speak to a few first time Australians. Dance floor wise don't think saw it less than a third full all night, packed full a fair part of the nite, the overall crowd dropped off round one-ish but the dancefloor constantly got used right to the traditional packed ending. Last 30 minutes finale was handled by David Flynn with The Drifter being the last but one, reaction after playing this one was a mass round of spontaneous applause from the packed floor. Not just your usual couple of claps but …well just say anyone who is getting jaded with things should have been there, could just hear the enthusiasm and enjoyment of the crowd in the clapping. Then more of the same with the Trends finishing the nite off, then onto a quick regroup and coffee at M1 services and then the joys of getting home. Sounds wise -Did hear a fewbits of discontent from some with the amount of revivals played, and the balance did seem to swing a bit more that way than usual. To me ratio seemed about like 1 revival in 4. Suppose the full playlists will prove that right or wrong, though gotta say that balance wise, with all different styles, as in revivals, one offs, r+b, raities, traditional, 70s etc the balance seemed to work to me, think it was Roger Banks who said "here's one to keep everyone happy" and reckon that was achieved on the night.
Speaking off balance and various tastes. Off on a tangent, went to a event recently and had a great time, with some well enjoyable sounds, though found out afterwards that whilst enjoying myself, the "play some proper northern" gang went off complaining to the promoters and anyone else who was listening about the fact that their regular diet of teenage memories were interrupted by djs having the audacity to play other stuff, oblivious to the fact that a fair few punters were enjoying it. Gripped my goat this as thought how many times have sat thru "classic spots" and thought fair enough, some people enjoy this sort of thing, will go and have a look round bar or similar. Perhaps answer is instead of doing that should play their game and every time hear likes of "that's not love" or "just a little misunderstanding" go and give promoters earache. On same sort of vein someone said last nite, wonder how many people at other events who now flock to the floor when the likes of "world of happiness" and other newly available stuff is played, where the ones who slagged and abused the northern djs who were playing it and similar yonks ago. Anyway back to the nite here's a rough sounds guide Yet again working off a fast fading memory, so details may be a bit sparse and even some errors might even creep in, and obviously some of the first hears/rarities will be missing, hopefully all djs will continue the trend of passing on full playlists once they have recovered!
Warm Up Guest - Paco
Totally missed the warm up/opportunity knocks spot where CSC give up and coming DJs chance to show what they are made of, hopefully someone will pass on
Stand In Regular - Stuart Tyler
After doing such a top job on his appearance as warm up, Stuart T was chosen to stand in for Irish Greg who was off dj-ing in Spain. Grabbed his top five off him, quality stuff, going by reports if you're after a quality set for your event give him a shout
Hattie Lydells - Heartaches Trouble Misery and Pain - Jobette Acetate
Deadbeats -no second chance-strata
Martha Starr - Love is the only solution - Thelma
Soul Communicators- Lonely Nights - Fee Bee
Liz Lands - Midnight Johnie-Jobette Acetate
Carl Fortnum - delivered his usual strikingly good set mixing rare one offs with rare and worthwhile revivals including likes of
Frank Foster - Moods - Bell Acetate - Pounding instrumental building up be a monster
Anita Anderson - Secretly - Contact - up in soul sounds as part of latest dome mix
Love Slave - Antellects- Flodavieur - big mid 90s-00 spin, not heard much recently, but apparently just bought for big bucks by NW Dj so expect it to be given a new lease of life
Martha Starr - Sweet Temptation - Charay- up in soul sounds as part of latest dome mix
Alan H - issued out his own unique style mix of r+b, tumbleweed, and up-tempo soul such as
Allen sisters- downtown crowd -quality test pressing
Day-tripper - JJ Barnes -ric tic - bit of a neck turner this, went down well with some
Love slipped thru my fingers- Towanda Barnes
Tommy Navarro- I cried my life away-- de jac
David Flynn - threw at us his usual quality stuff including:
The Jokers - Soul Sound Sko-Filed
Donna Loren -Blowing Out The Candles - Capitol
My Proposal - Soul Inc - Coconut Groove
I Need A Man -Precious Three Ref-O-Ree
Hayes Cotton -Black Wings Have My Angel Resist
Edwin Starr -Scott’s On Swingers
Roger Banks - Doing the main guest spot, started off his set with words similar to "Best Soul Nite in Country" and gave us a great set, mixing it up all the way, rare r+b, quality revivals and stunning seventies. Appreciation was shown by the floor remaining busy through out.
Left out - Jesse Johnson - old town
Soul Bros. Inc-Pyramid
Memory’s fading away now so details dodgy
Cadets instrumental - title anyone
R+B track that used same backing of the travelling salesman one -
Either you can’t have your cake or which side is your bread buttered on - know it was one of them or even maybe both!
Finish - as said DF took the last half hour with usual finish on a high set, which included
Chandlers-Your Love Makes Me Lonely
Jesse Davis - Gotta Hang On In There Girl
The Drifter - Ray Pollard
Trends- Thanks For A Little Loving
That’s about it then hopefully memory not failed me too much. Final thoughts, overall another enjoyable cracking nite, not the best one ever but will say up to the usual high standards and still gotta say, if you know of any soul nite that is up to this standard of atmosphere and sounds and enjoyable let us know asp .
Mike Hughes
www.soul-source.co.uk
Flynny:
JIMMY CONWELL - CIGARETTE ASHES - MIRWOOD
EDWIN STARR - (S.O.S.) SCOTTS ON SWINGERS - RIC-TIC
LIMITATIONS - I'M LONELY, I'M TROUBLED - BACONE
TYRONE ASHLEY - I WANT MY BABY BACK - ALT.TAKE - PHIL LA OF SOUL
PRECIOUS THREE - I NEED A MAN - REFOREE
SOUL INC. - MY PROPOSAL - COCONUT GROOVE
OXFORD NIGHTS - I'M SUCH A LONELY ONE - DELPHI
SEPTEMBER JONES - GIVE ME ALL OF YOUR LOVE - UNISSUED PIED PIPER
LORRAINE CHANDLER - I CAN'T HOLD ON - R.C.A.
THE JOKERS - SOUL SOUND - SKO-FILED
MARVA JOSIE - LATER FOR YOU BABY - TIME
SIDNEY BARNES - SAFETY ZONE - JOBETE ACETATE
JAY BEE & MIGHTY SENSATIONS - PRAYING FOR AN ANSWER - THUNDERBOLT
DEL LARKS - OUT OF THE IN-CROWD - JET
KAREN SUE - SOMETHING ON MY MIND - UNITED ARTISTS
DONNA LOREN - BLOWING OUT THE CANDLES - CAPITOL
RODD KEITH & THE RAINDROPS - LIKE THE LORD SAID - PREVIEW
HAYES COTTON - BLACK WINGS HAVE MY ANGEL - RESIST
FRAN OLIVER - SEARCHIN' FOR MY MAN - C/UP
SEPTEMBER JONES - I'M WITH YOU - UNISSUED PIED PIPER
HYPERIONS - WHY YOU WANNA TREAT ME THE WAY YOU DO - CHATTAHOOCHEE
2.30 TO END "OLDIES SWEEP"
CODY BLACK - I'M SLOWLY MOLDING - KING
HIGH KEYS - LIVING A LIE - VERVE
CHANDLERS - YOUR LOVE MAKES ME LONELY - COL SOUL
TEARDROPS - HERE COMES LONELINESS - KENT
JOYCE KENNEDY - I'M A GOOD GIRL - BLUE ROCK
KELL OSBORNE - QUICKSAND - TITANIC
HAL MILLER - A BLESSING IN DISGUISE - AMY
SHAWN ROBINSON - MY DEAR HEART - MINIT
CONSTRUCTION - HEY LITTLE WAY OUT GIRL - SYNC 6
LITTLE JOHN - HEART BREAKIN' TIME - MARTAY
VAN DYKES - SAVE MY LOVE FOR A RAINY DAY - MALA
JESSE DAVIS - GONNA HANG ON IN THERE GIRL - ERA
TRENDS - THANKS FOR A LITTLE LOVING - A.B.C.
RAY POLLARD - THE DRIFTER - UNITED ARTISTS
JOHNNY MAESTRO & CRESTS - I'M STEPPING OUT OF THE PICTURE - SCEPTER
Carl:
The Furys - Im satisfied with you - Keyman
Frank Foster - Movin From Detroit - Bell Acetate
Roy Roberts - Got to have all your love - Bo Ro
Nolan Chance - No one else will do - C/Up
Jesse Davis - Theres room for me - Revere
Martha Starr - Sweet Temptation - Charay
Chubby Checker - You just dont know - Parkway
Dennis Edwards - Johnnie on the spot - International Soulville
Mickey Champion - What good am I - Musette
Eddie Campbell - Contagious love - Artco
Eric Mercury - Lonely Girl - Sac
Fred & The Turbins - Bernadine - Cenco
Maxine Brown - Let me give you my lovin - Wand
Antellects - Love Slave - Flodavieur
Gloria Jones - Come go with me - Uptown
Larry Clinton - Shes Wanted - Dynamo
Constellations - I dont know about you - Gemini
Terry Callier - Ordinary Joe - Cadet
Target - Give me one more chance - Kama
Sandra Wright - Midnight Affair - Truth
Little Richie - Something called love - C/up
Ty Karim - You just dont know - Romark
Anita Anderson - Secretly - Contact