When Dave Godin from Soul City Records, London, visited the Twisted Wheel in January 1970 he was blown away, mesmerised, by the music, the dancing and the togetherness of the emerging Northern Soul scene. It was unique, not only to the tiny basement club, but to the North. It was something that the swinging capital didn’t have and didn’t understand. This was Soul and solidarity – the yet-to-be-coined Northern Soul –and it belonged to the North. 

This compilation celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the “cellar full-of-soul” years at the famed Whitworth Street location, September 1965 – February 1971. The groundbreaking years that saw the Wheel’s playlist move from Blues and R&B to the upbeat sound of young America, or as Blues & Soul journalist Dave Godin put it “the groove up North”. It was these pivotal years and these dance tracks that lit the Northern Soul torch.

TRACKS:

SIDE A

    JACKIE LEE - The Duck
    THE OLYMPICS - Baby, Do The Philly Dog
    ROBERT PARKER - Lets Go Baby (Where The Action Is)
    THE ESQUIRES - And Get Away    
    THE SHARPEES - Tired of Being Lonely    
    THE O'KAYSIONS - Girl Watcher
    GENE CHANDLER - Nothing Can Stop Me
    THE MOOD-MOSAIC - A Touch Of Velvet - A Sting Of Brass

SIDE B

    BOBBY WELLS - Let's Copp A Groove
    THE KELLY BROTHERS - Love Time
    CHRIS FARLOWE - Looking for You
    THE DU-ETTES - Every Beat Of My Heart
    JIMMY ROBINS - I Can't Please You
    CHRIS KENNER - Land of 1,000 Dances
    LITTLE HANK - Mister Bang Bang Man
    THE WATTS 103RD STREET RHYTHM BAND -Spreadin' Honey