London Pubs With A Northern Soul๐ถ
As previously mentioned here I try as hard as I can to include and celebrate all sorts of music that I remember from my younger days and although not a Mod or Northern Soul kind of guy back in the day I did have some friends who were into that sound and I subsequently have a 'soft spot' for some old soul sounds.
Memories Are Made Of This๐ถ
On a plus side it did open my eyes to another world, one of which I would have probably remained ignorant of, so here we go with how I got introduced to it...
Back in the day, many thousands of years ago in my late teens/early twenties a big group of us used to hang around a local pub near where we lived, I think I have mentioned in previous posts as a group we all had varying music tastes e.g. Rockabilly, Punk etc. I guess we somehow got hooked with two brothers who also used to drink there too, possibly because the eldest had a fondness for punk? I can't remember, anyhow, his younger brother was into Northern Soul, I have to admit I hadn't really paid any attention to the sound before (obviously I had heard the Motown sound though), so it was kind of new thing to most of our group, although, as he mentioned that whole Soft Cell 'Tainted Love' sound we so liked was actually a cover by an artist called Gloria Jones who first released it in 1964, her version at the link here on the Champion Records Label and became a Northern Soul classic (I must say I was impressed already!).
Two Left Feet ๐ฃ
Our Northern Soul friend played us some of the music he so loved and did try, (poor fella) to teach us the basic Northern Soul 'moves' on the dance floor, I have to say I clearly had two left feet at the time, but could see without a doubt how good it could be if the moves were right and there were a lot of people dancing and cutting similar moves the whole dance floor would 'sway' to the rhythm, as I said previously I wasn't even close to the 'scene', but I could I guess see how much fun it could be. The music inspired me to go out and actually buy Dobie Gray with the track 'Out On The Floor' and music such as Curtis Mayfield with 'Move On Up'.
Catch it 'done proper' at one of the places it used to 'happen' in the UK back in the day on the youtube link to Wigan Casino from 1977, with some 'special' moves from some of the 'peacocks' strutting their stuff on the dance floor.
A Lizzie Line Adventure๐
So, I had some annual leave to be used up and I decided to visit some bits of London I hadn't been to for a while, now the 'Lizzie Line' (Elizabeth Line) goes straight through I dropped off at Farringdon and took a trot around and on to Clerkenwell. I hit a couple of pubs en-route one of them being a really old pub called 'The Holy Tavern' that has 'Candle-lit Tuesdays' quite literally a really ancient old pub with proper fire places, very basic and candle light a quite beautiful place to 'chill'. Oh! and some very witty 'A' Boards outside that just drag you in.
After that I attempted to find the Museum Of The Order St. John's (if you think Red Cross that'll be the one!), which I eventually found tucked around a side road and took a wander around as it is free, it's not a big museum so it didn't take too long to look at the exhibits ranging from mediaeval to modern times, interesting stuff nonetheless.
The Bishop's Finger๐
And then onwards to Smithfield Market which is London's biggest meat market I believe back in the day the pubs would open at 'silly o'clock' to accommodate the people who worked there and started their working day super early. I also dropped into 'The Fox & Anchor' another old school pub with dimmed lighting, individual etched glass 'booths' and some beautiful old Victorian architecture. And lastly...
I think the thing that inspired this post was part of that visit in hitting on a pub called the Bishops Finger (a really old London pub) near Smithfield Market and the music being played on loop was all Northern Soul stuff, I could recognize it instantly (even with an un-trained soul ear). A couple of tracks from the playlist were:
The Flirtations, Nothing But A Heartache (the B side at the link is good too!) and their other beautiful track Little Darling.
There were plenty of others played and I am sure that for all you Northern Soul aficionados out there these are quite run of the mill tracks but I love them!
It brought a tear to my eye remembering old friends, some not here anymore and such great soulful sounds. I guess it's the whole point of this blog for me i.e. 'Music & Memories'.
Have to say it was wonderful to hear some of the music again and bring back so many memories, to be honest could have stayed in the pub longer listening to some great sounds, except it would have encouraged me to have another beer and to end up being a more of a 'messy afternoon'.
Celebrating another music genre and this 'old classic' is signing out with another 'old classic', whatever you get up to during this year just remember and follow the words of this song 'Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy'!๐ Catch u all again very soon.
Photos & Gifs
Photos: ๐ ๐โ ฐ๐ฌ๐ รีผแซโ ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐๊โฑฟ
Gif Source: Tenor.com