The Long Way Home Episode 15 - Northern Soul

This week we go back to the records that used to get me onto the dance floor. Back in the late 1970s, music was pretty much my life. If I wasn’t rehearsing or playing with the Mod band I’d joined in 1978, I was usually out somewhere listening to music and dancing. I was never a Northern Soul expert. I didn’t know much about rare pressings, and half the time I probably didn’t even know who was singing. I just knew whether a record was good, and whether it made me want to dance. A lot of these songs did exactly that. They take me back to places like The Palm Cove in Bradford, to nights spent waiting to go on stage, playing pool, dancing if the DJ was any good, and one unforgettable night at Huddersfield Polytechnic when I was shaking with nerves before walking on stage to a packed room full of Mods. There are also a few records here that we used to play ourselves, including The Elgins’ In The Midnight Hour. Our versions had a bit more rock and roll about them, but if people danced, we knew we were doing something right. So this isn’t meant to be a history lesson about Northern Soul. It’s simply a collection of records that still make me want to get up and move, nearly fifty years later. I hope you enjoy them. This week’s playlist: 00:00 Intro 00:45 Dean Parrish - I'm On My Way 03:37 Yvonne Baker - You Didn't Say A Word 06:33 Dobie Gray - Out On The Floor 09:31 The Flirtations - Nothing But A Heartache 12:35 Tommy Hunt - Loving On The Losing Side 15:57 Bobby Paris - Night Owl 18:35 Gloria Jones - Tainted Love 21:20 Frankie Valli - The Night 25:04 Jimmy Radcliffe - Long After Tonight Is All Over 27:30 The Exciters - Blowing Up My Mind 30:41 The Adorables - Ooh Boy 33:15 The Salvadors - Stick By Me Baby 36:22 Eddie Parker - Love You Baby 39:17 The Trends - Thanks For A Little Lovin' 41:45 Darrow Fletcher - What Good Am I Without You 44:09 Pat Lewis - No One To Love 46:32 Gene Chandler - Nothing Can Stop Me 49:35 Lou Pride - I'm Com'un Home In The Morn'un 53:12 The Tomangoes - I Really Love You 55:26 Tobi Legend - Time Will Pass You By 59:03 The Elgins - In The Midnight Hour 1:01:29 Little Richard - I Don't Want To Discuss It If you enjoy the show, please give it a Like, and if YouTube offers you the Hype button, giving that a click really helps the channel. I don’t own the rights to the music in this video. All credit to the original artists and copyright holders. Shared here for educational and entertainment purposes only.