VA [2023] - Wigan Casino Three Before Eight [Outta Sight #OS230923]

On 23 Sep 2023, the now legendary, Wigan Casino will celebrate 50 years since opening it's doors at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning of 23 Sep 1973. Inevitably there will be many different events celebrating the occasion with the 'official' one taking place over the weekend of 22-24 Sep at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool. The two main stay DJs were founder Russ Winstanley and Richard Searling who had a parting of the way many years ago and never the twain shall meet so Richard is organising the Blackpool event and no doubt Russ will be doing his own, although I'm not up to speed on them all.

Anyway, also inevitably, Outta Sight has just reissued the famous "Three Before Eight" on 7" vinyl. They were originally all featured on a single back in 1978 on RK Records and the sleeve artwork has been duplicated. They were issued again by Goldmine Soul Supply, not dated but probably late 90s around 96/97.

For the uninitiated, the all-nighters ran every Sat/Sun night for eight years until 1981 and these three songs were played at the end of every all-nighter by Russ Winstanley and signalled the end of the event. They were played in order of Jimmy Radcliffe "Long After Tonight Is All Over" (1965), Tobi Legend "Time Will Pass You By" (1968) and Dean Parrish "I'm On My Way" (1967). Fifty years on and Tobi Legend is still one on my all time favourites. I recall buying the first reissue of it on Eric which had a jump in it and spent ages carefully trying to stop it jumping and ended up with a hiss where I'd held the stylus down on it, the inexperience of youth! By the way, dear old Kylie Minogue is about the only one I know of who's tried to cover the song, on her 1994 self-titled album.

Included below is the last time they were heard at the Casino on the final all-nighter in 20 Sep 1981, although there were a few false ends much to the miff of some all-nighter goers but a joy to others as there were additional nights to be enjoyed.

I'm not quite sure who the target buyer is for this one as anyone involved in Northern Soul who collects records must surely already have these in some format (vinyl and/or CD) but perhaps it's aimed at a new, younger, Northern Soul devotee as I suppose they haven't been available on vinyl since the late 90s but are relatively cheap and easy to pick up if anyone wanted one!

Click on image below for link to where you can buy from.

Details

Rating:	8.4
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul
Format:	Single / Reissue
Media:	7"
Label:	Outta Sight
Cat No:	None
Date:	26/03/2023
Key/BPM:	9A/115 / 7B/133 / 4B/128
Price:	£15

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved

Jimmy Radcliffe [2023] - Big City Blues / You Can't Lose Something You Never Had [Big Man Records #BMR 1012]

Mark Bicknell's Big Man Records is releasing a 7" single consisting of two previously unreleased songs by Jimmy Radcliffe "Big City Blues" / "You Can't Lose Something You Never Had", both 'big city' style beat ballads. The single is packaged with a look-a-like Musicor label and picture sleeve with sleeve notes written by Radcliffe's son Chris and is available now from vinyl dealers.

Jimmy Radcliffe is a legend on the Northern Soul scene mainly for his, Bacharach & David penned, Wigan Casino '3 before 8' all-nighter ender "Long After Tonight Is All Over" but also for his original version of "My Ship Is Coming In" (later covered by The Walker Brothers and also recorded by Walter Jackson). A vocal he did initially for a Pontiac car commercial made its way to a full single release by Steve Karmen's Big Band with "Breakaway". To a lesser extent, "Lucky Old Sun" and "(There Goes) The Forgotten Man" have also received spins, although the latter was more popular via Gene McDaniels cover.

Radcliffe had a minor UK pop hit with "Long After Tonight Is All Over" which spent two weeks on the chart in Feb 1965 peaking at #40. This was more than likely as a result of him visiting the UK in Jan 1965 and appearing on a number of popular TV shows such as Ready Steady Go (appearing with The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Righteous Brothers), Lucky Stars Special Presents Cilla Black, and The Eamonn Andrews Show.

He was born in New York City on 18 Nov 1936 and sadly died on 27 Jul 1973 aged only 36 (due to complications after having a kidney removed) two months before the doors opened at Wigan Casino on 23 Sep 1973 where his record became iconic within the venue and across the country.

He released less than ten solo singles in his career, and no albums (although a 16 track compilation appeared in 2007 "Where There's Smoke, There's Fire" with many previously unreleased tracks on it), but was a fixture in the Brill Building and Tin Pan Alley as a session singer singing demos of songs by the likes of Bacharach & David, Leiber & Stoller, Ellie Greenwich et al to sell to labels and artists. He also providing backing vocals for artists such as Doris Troy, Dee Dee Warwick, Cissy Houston, Melba Moore, Barbara Jean English and The Drifters and is claimed to be the first African-American to record commercial jingles.

He was also a songwriter, often partnering with Buddy Scott, with 185 credits on Discogs with songs recorded by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Carolyn Franklin, Gene Pitney, Tommy Hunt, Esther Phillips, Nancy Wilson, Etta James, Tammy Montgomery (Tammi Terrell), Jackie Wilson, Lou Rawls, Garnet Mimms, Walter Jackson, Johnny Mathis, Ruby Winters, Jimmy Helms, Johnny Nash and many others.

Details

Rating:	8
Explicit:	N
Genre/Style:	Northern Soul / Beat Ballad
Format:	Single
Media:	7" Vinyl
Label:	Big Man Records
Cat No:	BMR 1012
Date:	01/2023
Key/BPM:	N/A
Price:	£20

Copyright © 2009-2023 SoulStrutter All Rights Reserved