Saturday, April 30, 2022

Keep on Burning - The Story of Northern Soul (2012) 1 hour 35 Minutes

Ease myself back in with a docu...This is one of the better documentarys done to explain the UK Northern Soul Scene. As a Long time collector,and patron of the many clubs i,ve visited on the scene, i must point out a few of the inaccuracies mentioned on this docu...Firstly Wigan Casino,s golden years were from 1973 when it opened till 1977. Take it from someone who was there it went into decline from 1978 till it closed in 1981...The footage of wigan was filmed in the last 3 years of its life.sadly there is no footage inside the club from the golden years..and no interviews with anybody from the golden era which does not give the viewer a true picture of the scene in its heyday...Then you had to fight to get onto the dance floor it was packed..literally,and the lights were NEVER on in any northern venue,this was shown in the footage for the TV companys filming for the "this is England" an earlier documentary that was intergrated into this later documentary,and sadly the main genuine fans are not represented in the interviews just the folk who discovered the venue in its latter years...to be fair their love of the music and scene is evident... It does highlight the highs and lows of the scene and a good insight to the mechanisms of what it was all about. the great music,friendships made between people from all over the UK....Keep on Burning tells the fascinating story of the world's most enduring underground music movement, Northern Soul! ..Featuring interviews with key DJ's, journalists and promoters, including soul radio pioneer Tony Blackburn, this documentary was filmed on location at Manchester's iconic Twisted Wheel and London's 100 Club.as well as Wigan Casino in its latter years. Wigan Casino DJ Russ Winstanley and Soul music journalist Tony Cummings recount the artists, records and stories which have made Northern Soul a way of life for its aficionados, this their opinions and not a totally true and unbiased opinion. With contributions from record label executives' Tim Brown (Goldmine), Ady Croasdell (Kent), Dave McAleer (Pye/RCA) and Neil Rushton (Inferno), Keep on Burning reveals a unique insight into the music phenomenon that came of age in the clubs of Northern England in the mid-seventies. Featuring archive Northern Soul performances and never before seen performances from a lot of great artists...Also Granada's 1977 TV documentary "This is England" with an exclusive interview and commentary by its BAFTA award winning director Tony Palmer, which has been acknowledged as doing the scene more harm than good being portrayed by the makers who didnt have a clue what it was all about and did a great injustice back in the day!...And the pop group who cashed in on remakes of great records to make a quick Buck!...Keep On Burning is the ultimate story of those who decided to Keep The Faith....And some of us still are...Its in the Blood For good!..You make up your own mind about the scene...Enjoy!...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

AMM 


                                                              Link Good For 7 Days Only

50 comments:

oldsoulrebel said...

Thanks for this AMM, totally agree with you, it did go down hill after 1977 although Richard Searling did bring some great Soul back in 1979

gmortars said...

What? No Richard Searling? Criminal! Anyway, should be an interesting watch all the same for those of us who have only heard of the bloody thing. 😎
Thanks, AMM!

AMM said...

he,s on at end very briefly,also no john vincent or colin curtis at all!...IMHO with searling the best 3 jocks!

Guy said...

Thank you, this looks fascinating

Little Bill said...

Thanks a lot AMM this explains the story I guess

DrHepcat said...

Looks to be a tasty dinner of molten vinyl!

pmac said...

Really looking forward to this. Many thanks, AMM.

USMAN47 said...

Not being English, I obviously did not know this movement which still fascinates me today.
So this documentary is of great interest to me.

Yves

Bill said...

This`ll make good viewing AND listening!

Anghellic67$ said...

Thank you AMM,Great Review

RMstorm said...

Thanks AMM. Very interested to learn this story - and a day early too.

clash said...

I haven't seen this one yet. Please and thank you!

ELtel said...

Though you'd be away for the long weekend MM, thanks for the vid. Enjoy the rest of the holiday.
cheers,ELtel

bostig said...

This sounds nice. I will enjoy it later. All the best.
Bostig

Gustavo said...

Seems to be a very interesting documentary. Thanks AMM

MusicFan59 said...

I haven't seen of heard of this before. I am looking forward to seeing this story. Thanks for the review!!!

Carlos Uria said...

Thank you very much for the review AMM very grateful, KEEP THE FAITH!!

trinity said...

thank you kindly for this review mate - let's see who i can recall

richsoul said...

Looks good and can't wait to check out the Northern Soul Scene. Great information provided by AMM.

CanoMan said...

Great info on this review thanks for sharing this documentary

PhilN said...

Great post. Many thanks for the review.

Jumpstart said...

This looks really interesting. I've seen the movie "Northern soul" from 2014, in which the northern soul scene is described in a fictitious story. But I guess this documentary gives a truer picture.

Arty said...

Cheers, AMM. This looks good. Many thanks.

AMM said...

@Pierre,sorry you cant post on here but your most welcome.

BillyMac said...

As Jumpstart said, I saw the drama film "Northern Soul" which was very good. But I really want to see a documentary because the whole scene always fascinated me. I met a Brit collector on South Street in Philly at a record store aroun '79. I'll never forget what he said to me, " You Yankees want the Beatles, you can have 'em. We'll take the American soul music and we'll come out the better." Thanks for this AMM.

hakase said...

yes i never knew this docs quite interesting thank you so much AMM
btw what means "the bloody thing" im curious!

Bob Mac said...

I've heard much about this subject but know very little, so looking forward to learning more. Thanks for the review.

Jean-Jacques Mura said...

I thank you very much for this post. Nice review. Very appreciated.

reb.jukebox said...

Welcome back AMM hope you had a great time in the lakes fishing and caught a few!!
Many thanks for this doc, not sure if i have seen it or not, title don't ring a bell
Reb

Rocco said...

What a brilliant post my friend.
Fantastic work.
Enjoy you evening.

Rocco

Smokey said...

Thanks for this documentary. It will be a nice evening here!

RicTicRelic said...

A great review. Thanks

Wicked Souldies (Gto Town) said...

Thanks for this documentary review

Tel said...

Just Watched The Documentary And Really Enjoyed It.Great To See Some Familiar Faces,Especially My Old Mate Pete McKenna.
Pete Is A Personal Friend And We Had Some Great Parties With Pete And His Partner Carmen Before He Moved To Spain.
Thanx Once Again AMM

Guy said...

Thanks, an afternoon thoroughly well spent watching it.

Bill Pritchard said...

Thanks for this, not my thing usually but I really enjoyed it.

Big Dave said...

Nice one...! Many thanks for this.

BigD

tsi&hrjs said...

An excellent selection. Thank you very much allmusicman.

RossyBoy said...

Looking forward to his one, AMM ! Many Thanks. RB

RossyBoy said...

Just read some of the earlier comments. I had come through the Mod scene in the mid-Sixties and had been collecting "Soul" Music since 1963. I was married by the time the Northern phenomenon started and missed out on it completely at the time; I didn't even know it existed till much later. But the best Northern collectors know about the whole Soul genre, way beyond the "dancers" played in the All-Nighters. Brenton Wood's "Seven Days Is Too Long" was a Mod dancer long before the Northern scene. There's not many who can say they were too old for the Northern scene, but I am one ! I just think it's great that we are all here, from different backgrounds, all through love of the music. And the diversity of the music that AMM posts here is a tribute to his dedication and love of the whole "Soul" music spectrum. Thanks, as always, ALLMUSICMAN !!!

brianbrora said...

Many thanks for another great documentary.

Rush said...

Thanks for the review AMM looks interesting

AMM said...

Bill Aers Said In am Email.......Hi AMM,

I`m a 76 year old Southern Softie, but we got most of the early 60`s US SOUL releases played at a local club. We danced in a similar way to some of the NORTHERN SOUL styles,ankle slides and spins. Up until FUNK arrived I think the SOUL music played both North and South was basically the same. I didn`t get to go to any of the NS clubs, we frequented a cellar SKA/BLUEBEAT/EARLY MOTOWN/ATLANTIC club in Margate so it was MOD music.

we listened and danced to. We also did a bastardised jive which suited some of the very early MOTOWN releases( Kim Weston,Marvin Gaye,etc) I don`t feel I`ve missed anything. It all went a bit stale in the 70`s,but I suppose I was growing up! I still love that “sound”that so many NS tracks have. Idon`t feel I missed anything.

Cheers!

Bill

renald said...

Quite entertaining and very interesting. Thanks AMM!!

RossyBoy said...

My bad. Of course I was referring to Chuck Wood not Brenton. I've gone all Lowrider over the past 55 years since Seven Days came out and also have a few senior moments where the memory fails !! RB

AMM said...

happens to us all m8...lol!

Davetuba said...

Thank you very much AMM. I'll give it a watch.

Chocoreve said...

Very interesting documentary, that's a great review. Now I realize I'm far from knowing everything about Northern Soul, I always discover new artists, thanks to you AMM !

Big Dave said...

I really enjoyed this documentary, thank you AMM
One of the artists mentioned was Tommy Hunt... I recall playing keyboards with his band on a couple of dates in London, back in 1975.
At the time, it was said that he had such a powerful voice that he didn't need a microphone !!!
Not sure if that was true, but it makes a good story...

BigD

andr3 nalin said...

Yess, take us back home up north :D Superb review, big thanks again ✌🏻🌞☮️