David Meikle

This record does it for me. A giant in Soul Music and beyond. Sugar Pie DeSanto RIP.

Mal, we were unaware of parties when Cats closed at 2am Torch, between 1970 and 1973 I attended Twisted Wheel (10 times), Blackpool Mecca, Up The Junction, Golden Torch, Blackpool Casino club, Mr Smiths Manchester, Rowntrees Sound in Manchester. Like John Smith I had free travel on the railway which explains my frequent visits to the North of England. When I went to Cats, the place was heaving and I remember seeing many Wheel regulars there because the latter had closed a few months earlier. Perhaps that explains me remembering it closed at 2am that night. Memory is fading now, so could be wrong. There was an image on a cd of two guys looking at records on a BR trolley. That always reminds me of Wolverhampton station for some reason. Special memories.

I had no idea that it was opened in 1968. Was Carl Dene playing rare soul then? In my opinion it was second only to the Twisted Wheel. Loved their adverts in Blues and Soul. The only thing about the Catacombs was it closed at 2am which was terrible for us travelling back to Glasgow from Wolverhampton! https://bethanackerley.com/2019/01/14/the-death-of-the-cats-northern-soul-wolverhampton-catacombs/

Thanks go to Peter for this thread. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all contributors and staff. Northern Soul has lost two valued members in the past week or two. It is important that we continue to enjoy this incredible scene.

RIP Nigel.

RIP Phil.

Thanks to Geeselad who tipped a book on this thread 11 years ago. “The Sharper Word - A Mod Anthology” is the title and I got a second hand copy today from Amazon for £4.62 incl P&P. Over 200 pages.

Yes. I don’t know when the trend started but “the black glove” was definitely seen in 1970. I have a news cutting from the day after the “Ibrox Disaster” with my mate on the pitch with his “black driving glove” on his left hand. The photograph was dated 3rd January 1971. Twenty eight days later were at the Wheel for the final time. My mate bought Bobby Seale’s book in Manchester Victoria Station that day. Seale was co-founder of the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton in 1966. There was a lot of fuss when two Black American athletes raised their fist on the podium of one of the main track events in the 1968 Olympics. The world assumed that the silent protest was associated with Black Power but Seale later stated the it was to do with Equal Rights. Bobby Seale in 1966.

A guy who never made a bad record.

I made such a list from 10 years worth of Detroit Yellow Pages. see this link. https://soulfuldetroit.com/web06-studio database/studio text/index.html The list is at the rear of this link. Ignore the unfriendly note on the opening page! Detail can be copied as long as I am credited.

The two studios were at the same address. Pac-3 was only ever in Dearborn. The first studio was at the rear of the address in a separate building. The second studio was appended to the main building. Must have been an expansion as Richard was doing well with Parliament/Funkadelic in the early seventies.

Pac-3 was based at 7106 Greenfield in Dearborn and was owned by Richard Becker. There were two studios, the first of which was opened in 1967. Richard let me see it in 2001. It was very small and appeared to be used as a store. There was only one Pac-3 address and that was at Greenfield. Regards Echoic, Ron Murphy gave me some old documents which showed Albert Leigh as “Salesman”. I am sure he was also the owner.

One of Hornby’s top ten lists contained songs by OV Wright and Marvin Gaye. Twenty odd years ago.

A wonderful contributor to the Detroit Sound. RIP Pat Lewis.

Speedy recovery Mark. Soul Underground remains a firm favourite of mine. All the best David