I should have specified: male clothing.  All those sweaty vests.  The young ladies had far more going for them.  I remember a blonde beauty called Joanne back home.  Probably just about getting her bus-pass.  My word, though, she was really something in 1975.

Yes.  Flatties seemed to be the only practical option.  Worn by both sexes, I think or seem to recall.  Anyone on here ever own a pair of Kickers?  I bought a pair in the early summer of 1976.  Very expensive back then.  About £50 or thereabouts - a fortune when your take-home pay was £13 a week.

A topic I know about. I used to dance in Walkover wing  tips (long wings as they seem to be called these days). For Northern Soul, where the dancing depends more on slide than bend. the expansive sole of a brogue, once a bit worn in and shiny and aided by talcum powder, provides the perfect medium for 4/4 grooving. Wooden dancefloor, ideally sprung, absolutely essential or that is not a night out. My neurotic post-mod friends and I, in love with the purist Ivy Look, used to attend 100 Club, and other, all-nighters, in the full regalia - Ivy blazers, 60s vintage and modern Brooks, wash and wear suits, madras button downs, Levis, red or argyle socks, Weejuns or wingtips. Weejuns were good for dancing of course, but the wingtip somehow worked better. We looked rather good, people  used to stare at us a bit. There were other moddy guys who dabbled a bit in aspects of Ivy but we were uncompromisingly pure Ivy League. We were of course young men at our physical peak and the Rare Soul scene in the 80s was primarily populated by folk in their 20s and 30s. I attended some all-nighters a few years ago. While the music still moved me the fellow attendees lacked physical appeal and they did not look good on the dancefloor. I prefer the all-nighter which plays in my mind where beautiful lithe specimens spin and slide and hook vents, natural shoulders, and heavy GI shoes are all around me...

Lovely stuff from Tworussellstreet; only to be expected as he - unlike I - really does know his onions.  Dresswise/shoewise it reminds me of something I once read about clubs in, I think, the south Midlands where it sounded very 'Mod' but rather sussed and dressy (circa 1967?).  Chaps I knew who will now be approaching seventy were wearing mohair suits in Derby, listening mostly to Motown and Otis Redding, and I'm blowed if I can remember what might have been a faster dance music after, say, the mid-60s (although only a nipper I do remember The Four Tops just as surely as The Beatles and The Beach Boys).  Northern Soul was much discussed at my school (comprehensive by 1972) by 1972/3 and tended to have strong football associations.  But chaps like Barry White were also well favoured.  It was quite the thing to draw the fist and write 'Keep The Faith' in your jotter or hymn book even if you did spend most of your time listening to Mott The Hoople.  I acquired a stepbrother and sister in 1973 who were sort of 'Smooths' and seemed very 'cool' to me in their skinny rib jumpers and baggy yellow flares.  They listened to soul but also to - Bachman-Turner Overdrive, was it? - and, I suppose, Bowie and Roxy Music.  You have to remember, though, that this was a former mining village in deepest Derbyshire ('Here Be Dragons') at a time when the local black club disallowed entry to anyone wearing dreadlocks. 
I assume there is still a thriving Northern Soul scene.  All-nighters still?

Just listening to Freddie Chavez on Look: 'They'll Never Know Why'.  A kind of rawer Four Tops?

Anyone remember 'Falbala'?  'The Flasher' was often played at roller-skating at the YMCA on a Saturday night.

Dana Valery: 'You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies'.  Quite a voice, quite a voice.

From a musical perspective both n soul and jazz-funk contain some amazing tunes and some absolute dross. At least with jazz-funk there were far less drug casualties plus, as relates to my personal tastes, far more of a Latin influence. Nonetheless I can happily listen to good examples of either genre.

Although left to my own devices I invariably stick to the Latin (salsa, mambo, Latin jazz and son) and an occasional bit of blues.

Last edited by Yuca (2021-09-14 09:21:43)

Ronnie Laws: 'Always There'.  Remember liking that even though I was an idiot post-punk rocker looking for something more creative.

Always There is a classic. The Side Effect version is also pretty good.

A Brazilian Love Affair - a beautiful track.

Last edited by Yuca (2021-09-14 09:32:40)

'Landslide' was also huge around 1975.  I think Tony Clarke was killed in a domestic dispute.  Kids played these records over and over in their chilly front rooms, practising their moves and hoping not to collide with the china cabinet.

Willie Tee Walking up a One Way Street - one of my favourites. He's done a few other good soul tracks, plus some killer funk as The Gators.