RATING GUIDE

90-100% Excellent

80-90% Very Good

60-80% OK/Good

50-60% Is it worth it?

Below 50% forget it

.

SOUL SATISFACTION

MCA MCLD 19398

Track listing

1 Please give me one more chance

Clyde McPhatter

2 Thanks for a little lovin'

The Trends

3 Self Soul Satisfaction

Earl Jackson

4 That's not love

Holly St.James

5 Lend a hand

Bobby Hutton

6 The LaRue

Lada Edmund Jr.

7 You don't love me anymore

Johnny Caswell

8 I thought you were mine

The Natural Four

9 Like one

Jean Carter

10 Cracked up over you

Danny White

11 Competition ain't nothing

Little Carl Cartoon

12 Shoes

Bobby Bland

13 I'm gonna love you a long time

Patti & the Emblems

14 Winner takes all

Geraldine Hunt 

15 I surrender

Eddie Holman

16 Love runs out

Willie Hutch

17 What good am I

Jaibi

18 For Crying out loud

Bunny Sigler

19 You're falling in love

Betty Everett

20 Take away the pain stain

Patti Austin 

21 One wonderful moment

The (Detroit) Shakers

22 Tainted love

Gloria Jones

Soul Satisfaction

MCA MCLD

This is almost a brilliant compilation. How's that for the start of a review? Not very critical but at least it lets you know straightaway what I feel about it. Well, if Richard Searling has had a hand in it that can't be all bad, can it?

If you want your attention grabbing instantly with a Northern Soul rarity then this how you do it. Just put Clyde McPhatter's Please give me one more chance on the lead track. It's no bargain time wise barely getting to the two minute mark. But this one was stamped classic all the way through - like seaside rock. This is so totally brilliant it always leaves me speechless. 10/10. No discussion. Nada. Only ever released on an LP (Decca 1969) it is the standout recording on this compilation and worth every penny for itself alone. Hear this with its wonderful string arrangement and you know why Clyde McPhatter is such a respected figure in Soul music's hagiography (...go for the dictionary...). 

Thanks for a little loving' by The Trends is a keen mid-tempo number and is what I term typical Northern. It's not as ordinary as that comment makes it sound. Listen to the lyrics and the grabby instrumental break and you'll see just what I mean. Repetitive but one that you just can't stop humming over and over again. (9/10)

Self Soul Satisfaction by Earl Jackson is another great dancer with a wicked guitar doing the breaks and an insidious vocal from the guy. It just gets under your skin in a great way. Generous to a fault I give it a (9/10).

I don't personally rate the next track. Maybe because I'm not one of the Casino goers from 1976. Holly St. James That's not love. Superb orchestration / arrangement and a very over-cooked vocal from the young lady. It's very dramatic but it's too synthetic for my tastes. A bit like Sainsbury Cola compared to the Real Thing. Sorry, 6/10.

Bobby Hutton's Lend a hand is such a well known classic that to give it less than 10/10 would be an act of sheer spitefulness. A really brilliant single that still never wanes when I hear it

Fancy having a forename name like Lada? Is that bad taste or what? Almost as bad as being called Rover. Slice of white dance craze recording here. The La Rue never made it big in Britain in the 60's. Come to think of it - it never made it all! Sorry, Lada Edmund Jr. No wonder copies sit in the give away boxes at Northern Night record bars.(Saw one at the Ritz for £1 and no takers... that about sums it up.) (3/10)

Johnny Caswell You don't love me any more is next. If you don't like this you can't really be a Northern Soul fan. In fact you can't even be Soul fan. Just fabulous. An epic track. Lovely latin arrangement a la early Drifters (Compare with Save the last dance for me or Ben Kings Spanish Harlem). 10/10.

I thought your were mine by The Natural Four is the first 70's work out on the compilation. A simply massive killer record. In the parlance of the 60's Outta sight. This still gets an incredible amount of plays on the current scene and rightly so. Well arranged with interesting lyrics suited to the elder generation of NS ravers. 10/10

Jean Carter's Like One is an interesting inclusion. Until this compilation I never rated this one. It always sounded a touch nasty lo-fi. Hearing it as it should have been heard makes it a pretty endearing track. Now it's acoustically tailored for my ears I definitely rate it. Personally, I can't agree with Richard Searling's comment that this is the epitome of Northern Soul - but its very good indeed. Hence, 10/10.

A driving strongly R&B flava track next. Cracked up over you by Danny White is a touch relentless with its driving beat. If you can still manage flyer speed when you dance for more than a couple of records then this is one for you. Ok. Good but 8/10 only.

Oh, yeh! little carl carlton Competition Ain't Nothin' (Sorry about the visual pun!)is a another great compilation selection. Just love the almost early Stevie Wonder vocals. Driving, relentless, melodic and them feet just head for the dance floor My kind of dance record. 10/10.

Shoes is a great listening track. A superb Bobby Bland interpretation elevates this into the Soul music stratosphere. I don't think it's tricky changes make it an especially good dancer. But it's Soul at it's best. Oh, to hell with it, let's give it another 10/10!

Patti & the Emblems classic cut I'm gonna love you a long time is like the Johnny Caswell track. It's a historic Northern sound. To quote (misquote) Samuel Johnson if you're tired of Patti & the Emblem's I'm gonna love you a long time then you're tired of Northern Soul. 10/10 

Winner takes all is a winner. It does it for me. The horns make 

a great intro. (How about that for a gratuitous image?) Geraldine Hunt handles the lyrics with gusto. This is a through and through dancer with plenty of drive and oomph. Great dancer with nothing but good. 10/10

I can't say this is my favourite Eddie Holman record. Falsetto voices in honour of castrato's may turn somebody on but don't do a great deal for me. I surrender is one of those tracks that ought to be great but don't really take that last step. The switch from falsetto to tenor is a bit of over-cooking and doesn't really marry with the lyrics. Great backing arrangement. 8/10.

Will Hutch's Love runs out has another classic powerful and haunting horn intro. (No I'll resist the image!) It's what I call great Northern music. Lyrics that make sense, driving and relentless music with straightforward but powerful arrangement. Oh, yes! And Willie does it good on the vocals.No wonder it's so well liked at All-nighters. Another well deserved 10/10. 

What good am I? Not really for your average Northern fan. A touch too slow. No matter what Richard Searling says in his sleeve notes I don't think this is good soul music. Sorry Jaibi. (JB?) It's how most of today's youth thinks soul music ought to sound: acted emotion a la Maria Carey/Whitney Houston. If ham acting has a corresponding equivalent in music then this is hammy singing.The lady ought to take a listen to the Betty Everett track You're falling in love that is on this album. That's how it's done, dearie. I can't understanding how Richard Searling can't see the difference! Betty Everett's is 10/10 magic. The Jaibi track is muzak dross. 4/10.

I've always liked Bunny Sigler. Let the Good Times Roll was a track from my Mod youth that did it for me every time. For Cryin' out Aloud is simply another example of this guy's continuing brilliance not only as an artist but as songwriter, arranger and producer. Northern to the Core.10/10.

Patti Austin's Take away the Pain Stain is an excellent mover. Nice to hear something a little deeper than your average tenor saxophone. Better still, listen to how it's used soe effectively as a counter to the vocals. Sheer musical inspiration. 10/10 rather boringly.

One wonderful moment is one of my personal favourites. The Detroit Shakers (to give them their correct name) created this bit of 60's magic to make it huge in the early 70's. A bit of a Torch speciality. It's a wonderfully sung and arranged record. I have to agree with Richard Searling when he says it's catchy. It sure is. if you can't like this, what can you like? 10/10.

Bringing this compilation to a close is the Northern Classic Tainted Love by Gloria Jones. Trouble is Marc wotzisname (Almond?) produced a really nasty version of this well liked classic. I don't think it ever recovered it's popularity after that. Let's face it the 80's cover version made most people hurl/puke/throw when they heard it. (And I'm no exception). Pity. That's the way it goes. Still, forgetting the dreadful 80's cover, let the original stand on it's merits (even if it's a bit over-cooked and passe) and it still got to be worth 8/10.

If you dumped the Holly St. James, La Edmund Jar. and Jaibi tracks from this compilation it would have been totally brilliant. Including those tracks seems almost like a diabolical act. That's why this was almost brilliant and not totally brilliant. Well, it still makes 90% - Just! That what I meant at the start.