Northern Soul Connoisseurs

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The Northern soul fanatics have revived many a tune, and sometimes a career or two, collecting tremendous soulful treasures that are mostly obscure and -- for the most part -- that definitely deserved a better fate first time around. Sure, the Supremes take on legendary songwriter/producer Buddy Buie's answer to Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" only showed up on 1987's the Supremes Never Before Released Masters with a different mix on The Supremes Box Set, but the impeccable taste of the fan base brings this production to life on the dancefloors and on these compilations so the world can "bring back those sunny days." Now some of these compilations -- like this one -- are legit while a variety of them are truly gray area (but no less essential!) The sonics and some of the fades on this package from Universal Music Operations, Ltd, licensed to Spectrum, could have been mastered with a bit more care, especially since these Uni catalog pieces appear to be direct competition to similar compilations the Warner group is also generating to put music they control back into circulation via this genre. You may never have heard Earl Van Dyke's instrumental "6 x 6," but that's one of the surprises that awaits; and as fun as "Learning to Trust My Man" by Sisters Love is, it sounds like it was lifted off of a 45 rpm, which is the downside of some of this music due to the lack of source tapes readily available. Tony Clarke's "Landslide" is a fun beach party type quickie that sounds good, yet Bobby Hebb's sublime rendition of the Jerry Ross/Joe Renzetti masterpiece, "Love Love Love" fades up and appears sonically harsh here. The track went Top 35 in the U.K. six years after its original release on the Sunny album, specifically because of the Northern soul phenomenon, and is such a key piece that those in charge should have given it a bit more TLC as Hip-O did with the mastering of the re-release in America. Hebb's cousin, Edwin Starr, follows with a terrific "Back Street" that should have been a big Top 40 smash in the states. That's the beauty of these energetic and melodic blasts of R&B; they lead to true discoveries that get people back to the dancefloor. There are 17 selections here and any one of them is worth the price of admission. Take your pick -- Dee Dee Warwick's soul-stirring "Worth Every Tear I Cry" or Don Covay's "It's Better to Have (And Don't Need)" which closes the package out. Radio/club DJ/label owner Richard Searling compiled this project and gives three pages of liner notes in the six-page cover insert. ~ Joe Viglione