Andy Smith's Northern Soul Essentials

A FEW WORDS FROM DJ ANDY SMITH: “Roll on to the 90s and while digging for samples with my portable turntable for the band Portishead I would randomly come across records that were more Soul than Funk and realised that these were Northern Soul.

I quickly saw how great these tunes were and continued to dig for these records, eventually adding them to my multi genre DJ sets. After doing Northern Soul nights at the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town, London (and releasing my first Northern Soul compilation on Ace/ BGP records) Keb Darge asked me to DJ at Madame Jo Jos in Soho, London where Northern Soul featured heavily on the musical menu. Now, I do a regular Northern Soul night at The Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, South London and often appear at Levanna Mclean's (“the Northern Soul girl”) events in Bristol. Hope you enjoy this essential selection of Northern Soul.” ABOUT THIS RELEASE This unique blend of fast and furious masterpieces were hand-picked by the great DJ Andy Smith - of Portishead and “The Document” fame. It is a collection of 14 top fast spinning Northern Soul tracks produced during the sixties by the likes of Jack Ashford, Lorraine Chandler, Darrow Fletcher, Harry Bass, and Kent Harris. These are pure Northern Soul stompers, there is no Modern Soul and no crossover whatsoever here. “Andy Smith’s Essentials” is for the dancers and for the true fans who like the finest Northern Soul on vinyl. Even those who normally don’t like Northern Soul will no doubt be tempted by this unique collection of relentless driving beats… ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD OUGHTON Richard has been covering the Northern Soul events for over 15 years in U.K. and abroad. He owns a vast collection of gorgeous Northern Soul related photographs from Blackpool to Brazil. His photographs play brilliantly with motions and shadows and truly capture the magic of the scene as the two superb photos featured on this album demonstrate. The front cover photo was taken at Blackpool Tower Ballroom in November 2016 while the back one was taken at Blackburn Wigan Casino 45th anniversary in September 2018. ABOUT HARLEM SHUFFLE RECORDS Since 2019, the Franco-British label Harlem Shuffle Records has been reissuing under license on vinyl essential and rare records of original Rocksteady /Reggay and Soul/Northern Soul from the 60s and 70s. Their first 45 rpm reissue of the super rare Nora Dean's "Peace Begins Within" was an instant hit. Twenty four singles and four 14-track compilation albums followed, all extremely well received by the critics and the label's many fans...