Ian Levine
is a bit of a 'marmite' character on the Northern Soul scene, mainly
because he is accused of splitting the scene in the mid 70s by playing
'modern soul' at the legendary Highland Room (Blackpool Mecca) to the
distaste of the 'purists' and then went on to make 'tailor made' NS tunes
(his first being The Exciters "Reaching For The Best" in 1975).. He later
moved on to Hi-NRG music in the 80s and also produced for Take That and
The Pasadenas. His contribution to NS though is indisputable as he
discovered many of the big tunes in the early 70s with an enviable
collection.
The reason for the pre-amble is because one of those early tailor mades
by
Barbara Pennington
"Twenty Four Hours A Day" has been mixed with L.J. Johnson's (another of Levine's tailor made protégés) 1979 version by Paul Mooney for release on Neil Rushton & Phil Dick's Soul Purpose imprint on 5 Jul 2021. It's only the second release, on the label, the first being Gloria Jones' version of Rita & The Tiara's "Gone With The Wind Is My Love" way back on 31 May 2012.
Barbara Pennington's version was originally released in 1976 in UK which I
thought made the pop charts, but upon checking it didn't, but Levine got
a deal with United Artists in the states where it topped the US Disco charts
for seven weeks in 1977.
The flip side is L.J. Johnson "Gambling On Your Love" from his 1979
"L.J.'s Love Suite" album (and was also recorded by Jessica Williams) and
is best left where it originated i.e. 1979 disco era!
The Jessica Williams version was released with a track titled "Queen Of
Fools", which at first sight I thought might have been a hideous disco
version of the Barbara Mills NS classic, especially when I saw
writing/production/arranging credits for one Simon Soussan (a renowned
figure for bootlegging), and I was half right i.e. it is hideous, but not
the Barbara Mills song.
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
| Rating: | 7.8 |
| Genre/Style: | Disco / Remix |
| Format: | Single |
| Media: | 7" |
| Label: | Soul Purpose |
| Cat No: | None |
| Year: | 05/07/2021 |
| Key/BPM: | N/A |
| Value: | £12 |
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