Northern Soul At The Proms

I wasn't expecting much from the BBC's Northern Soul at the Proms. Usually, TV representation of Northern Soul is pretty poor, cliched, and superficial, with Grayson Perry's Full English episode on Northern Soul, a few months ago, being a pretty abysmal example. On top of that, TV studio versions of the music always lack authenticity, and any actual soul. With the full BBC concert orchestra in the huge bran of the Albert Hall, as against the small, sweaty dance halls of the 1960's, and early 1970's, in which the music literally grew like mushrooms, it didn't seem hopeful. But, actually, I thought it was great.

I thought Darrell Smith gave a particularly powerful rendition of Ray Pollard's, The Drifter. Earlier, he did a very good job of The Night, by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and If That's What You Wanted, by Frankie Beverly and The Butlers. The evening started with a very good version of The MVP's, Turning My Heartbeat Up, performed by Brendan Reilly, which he followed up with Dobie Gray's, Out On The Floor, and Nick Shirm's performance of Shane Martin's, I Need You. Praise should also be given to the musicians of the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Edwin Outwater, whose performances closely matched the original sounds. Of course, live performances are always different to recordings, even by original artists, and J.J. Barnes version of Our Love Is In The Pocket, is not the same as Darrell Banks version, so it was to be expected that there would be some variation, but I'd say the music and sound was pretty damn close to the original, as I expect was the intention, for fear that Northern Soulies would have been quick to note, otherwise.

If I had any criticism, it is that, as with a lot of coverage of Northern Soul, it was a bit Wigan Casino centric, reflecting the fact that, coming later, it was better known, particularly amongst the younger cohort of the Northern Soul generation, and misses some of the more soulful and lessy poppy roots that dominated the era of The Twisted Wheel, Torch, and Catacombs of the late 60's, and early 1970's. For the same reason, the selection would not have been my choice, but, in a limited time, there is only so many songs you can cover, and it would have been necessary to choose songs that the performers themselves could do justice to. Still, it would have been nice to have seen some of the Twisted Wheel and Torch Classics, covered. Again, with a full orchestra, I had expected the singes to be given a break by having at least one of the many instrumentals that Northern dancers love, covered, but having employed six singers, I suppose they wanted to get their money's worth from them.

Matching the three male singes, were three powerful female singers. Frida Mariama Touray kicked off with Rita & The Tiaras, Gone With The Wind Is My Love. Brendan Reilly returned to perform Tony Clarke's, Landslide, followed by The Trammps, Hold Back The Night.

Natalie Palmer, was the second female singer, giving a rendition of Dana Valery's, You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies. That was followed by Vula Malinga's powerful performance of Gladys Knight's, No One Could Love You More. Frida returned to perform Barbara McNair's, You're Gonna Love My Baby, followed by an energetic rendition of Sandi Sheldon's, You're Gonna Make Me Love You, which climaxed the first half.

Darrell Smith kicked off the second half with If That's What You Wanted, followed by Lee David's, Temptation Is Calling My Name. Natalie Palmer, was next, with the Wigan favourite, What, by Judy Street, which she followed up with a powerful performance of the Vel-Vets, I'm Gonna Find Me Somebody. Frida performed Little Anthony's, Better Use Your Head. Vula was up next again, doing Yvonne Baker's, You Didn't Say a Word. Darrell did R. Dean Taylor's, There's A Ghost In My House.

The evening was concluded with the traditional Wigan, three before eight, starting with a performance of Dean Parish's, I'm On My Way, by Nick, which he followed with Jimmy Radcliffe's, Long After Tonight Is All Over. The last of the three, Tobi Legend's, Time Will Pass You By, was performed by Vula, but, of course, there had to be more.

Vula sang Gloria Jones', Tainted Love, and the ensemble, finished the night with a performance of Frank Wilson's, Do I Love You (Indeed I do).

At the end of the night, there was a segue to Northern Soul The Movie, which I was surprised the BBC chose rather than Soul Boy, given that its lead actors like Martin Compston, Craig Parkinson et al seem to be part of a BBC stable that have also appeared together in Line of Duty and other BBC productions. I also prefer Soulboy, but then I'm biased, because my son worked on the crew, and appeared in it briefly.