Northern Soul

Now for one of my occasional posts that isn’t about weight loss or exercise. This time the subject is, as written above, Northern Soul.

For those of you who don’t know, Northern Soul is a genre of soul music which was grew from the nightclubs of Northern Britain in the 1960s. The music played in these clubs was often obscure soul tracks from America. Many of these songs weren’t a success originally, and lots of what was being played in Northern Britain, was very different to the style of music being played further south. Towns like Wigan and Blackpool along with Manchester helped popularise the genre.

The words above are my own personal summary of what I understand to be Northern Soul. Apologies for any inaccuracies or huge misunderstandings of the field!

But, anyway, the reason for this blog is quite simple – a friend asked me for a list of my top ten Northern Soul songs for his upcoming 30th Birthday party.

I love a challenge likle this, but challenge is the word! To choose ten songs from such a rich seam of music would surely prove difficult?

It did!

However, I gave it my best shot, and the list below are what represent my current top ten (strictly speaking it’s 11, as I’ve added a song since I gave him the top ten!).

The list is in no particular order:

Al Wilson – The Snake
Gloria Jones – Tainted Love (all time greatest Northern Soul song, in my book!)
R. Dean Taylor – There’s a Ghost in My House
The Impressions – Can’t Satisfy
Frank Wilson – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)
Dobie Gray – Out on the Floor
Tony Clarke – Landslide
Tammi Terrell – Two can have a Party
Gil Scott Heron – The Bottle
Nolan Porter – If I Could Only Be Sure
Jr. Walker and the All Stars – I Ain’t Going Nowhere

As a treat, I’ve made a Spotify version of the playlist for your listening delight too.

I also added some soul (ish) other tracks that I knew we’d like: