“30 Floorshaking Northern Classics” subtitle written on the front cover
Also entitled "C'mon & Dance 3" on the spine of the jewel case
16 page booklet with notes by Kev Roberts
ReviewAs "Northern Soul" compilations go this one is rather hard-core, with only a handful of tracks being widely known (Hank Jacobs and Rufus Lumley as examples) outside keen NS fanatics. So what we have is a collection of pounding Midtempo/Uptempo Mid/Late 6Ts Soul obscurities that will have instant appeal to people obsessed with that "Northern Soul" sound, but perhaps not to many others.
Everything here was recorded in the second half of the 1960s, with the back-cover/inlay conveniently pointing out the years involved .... so out of the 30 tracks on offer the breakdown is as follows ...
1965 - 7 Tracks
1966 - 10 Tracks
1967 - 6 Tracks
1968 - 6 Tracks
1969 - 1 Track
I'm not surprised that 1966 is the "peak" year, but I would have expected a track or two from 1964, or perhaps even 1963, as those were the years when this particular style of music started to develop.
My personal picks on here would be the Paula Durante track at #9 (which always sounds to me like a curious hybrid of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" and Paul Anka's "Diana") and Ty Karim's 1966 take on "Lighten Up Baby" (a song which uses a much recycled backing track) at Track #17, which is not to be confused with her later version of "Lighten Up" which appeared on an earlier Goldmine compilation GSCD 8 "Crossover Soul".