If you hadn't deduced it already from the title, "Northern", of the debut album by The Mint 400, then from the opening track, "Unless Your Name Is Love (You Can't Come In)", (which is a clone of Rita & The Tiaras 1967 Dore single "Gone
With the Wind Is My Love) you know that it's tailor made Northern
Soul. To be fair it's a pretty good 'version' which uses a similar (but re-recorded) backing with different lyrics. This track was released
as a single on 16 Apr.
"Gimme Some More" is based on The M.V.P.'s Turning My Heartbeat Up" (Buddah
1971), "Rescue" is based on Shirley Ellis' "Soul Time" (Columbia 1966) and "So Bad" on Shane Martin's "I Need You" (Epic 1968).
We won't bore you by name dropping each track (cheat sheet below) but most/all seem to be based on originals that we're sure you can probably figure out
yourself if you have any interest in Northern Soul.
Although many of the songs appear to be derived from Northern Soul classics
they all have a new modern/contemporary twist with different lyrics creating a new song with an authentic sound and not
synthetic as is often the case with many of these types of recordings.
Purists may roll their eyes but we don't mind admitting
that we like it as it sounds refreshing. So many of these Northern
Soul tailor mades disappoint as they don't quite capture the authentic
sound. We've heard far far worse 'originals' played on the scene for the sake of 'rarity' and 'exclusivity'. This of course won't be touched by them unless or until it's released on the sacred vinyl in any case!
The musician behind the album is Manchester veteran Paul Ashley Wheatcroft who started out on the Manchester 'industrial funk'
scene in a band called Workforce in 1982. In 1989 he was half of Ashley
& Jackson with Steve Cobby who toured with Happy Mondays, Inspiral
Carpet and Brand New Heavies and released one album and had a modest chart
hit with "Solid Gold" in 1990 (#89 UK Pop chart). In 2007 he
formed TalkingHead TV Recordings and in 2017 changed his name to Hakim
Jamal (the name of the cousin of Malcolm X).
The vocalists are Rachel Maxann from Memphis and 21 yr old Fliss (Felicity)
Mitchell who we think is from Gloucester.
Cheat Sheet
01 - "Unless Your Name Is Love (You Can't Come In)"
(Rita & The Tiaras "Gone With the Wind Is My Love" (Dore 1967))
02 - "Gimme Some More"
(The M.V.P.'s "Turning My Heartbeat Up" (Buddah
1971))
03 - "Rescue"
(Shirley Ellis "Soul Time" (Columbia 1966))
04 - "So Bad"
(Shane Martin "I Need You" (Epic 1968))
05 - "Uptown"
(Edwin Starr - Back Street(?) Ric-Tic 1966))
06 - "You Must Have Left Me 100 Times"
(Marvin Gaye "Love Starved Heart" (Motown comp 1994))
07 - "Come On Baby"
(Don Thomas "Come On Train" (NUVJ 1973))
08 - "Many Faces Of Love"
Darrel Banks/George Carrow "Angel Baby" (Atco/Columbia (1967)
/ Lee Andrews & The Hearts "Never The Less" (Crimson 1967))
09 - "We Don't Talk"
(Linda Jones "I Just Can't Live My Life" (Warner Bros. 1969))
10 - "You Took My Shattered Dreams"
(Jackie Wilson "The Who Who Song" (Brunswick 1967))
11 - "After All"
(we don't recognise)
Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.
Click icons below for further information or to connect with the
artist.
| Rating: | 8.7 |
| Explicit: | N |
| Genre/Style: | Neo Northern Soul |
| Format: | Album |
| Media: | Digital |
| Label: | TalkingHead TV Recordings |
| Cat No: | None |
| Date: | 01/05/2024 |
| Price: | £7.99 |
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This release is astonishing but in the Northern spirit. I think the younger generation will appreciate it because it's quite well done. This should not prevent me from listening to the originals that I obviously have in my head.
ReplyDeleteYves