Roger, I can explain why the CD is called "Northern Soul Survivors" while the cover has the title "Wigan Forever". Basically, Russ Winstanley had just released his first Soul Survivors CD set and objected to Goldmine using the title. Of course, they'd already produced the CDs and Kev Roberts being what he is, there was no chance they were going to just throw them away. The solution was to produce new sleeve and insert with the "Wigan Forever" title but still package the old CDs until they were used up. The later CDs did have "Wigan Forever" on them.
The original CD case is extremely rare, I only know of two and I have one of them, still in cellophane.
ReviewTwo things have always struck me as strange about this CD Collection ... the first is how the tracklisting overlapped so much with the tracklist of "Up All Night!", a double LP set issued by Charly/Instant in 1990 ... the second is that on the Disc it is called "Northern Soul Survivors" rather than "Wigan Forever", which makes me think that at the last minute somebody at Goldmine Soul Supply decided that a Wigan connection would improve sales and they changed the title!
As to the music it is a pleasingly varied collection of tracks that became popular on the "Northern Soul" scene with the standard fare of storming mid/late 60's sounds (Maurice Williams, Don Varner, Sidney Barnes, Linda Jones, Gladys Knight etc.etc.etc.) being interspersed with more sophisticated 70's productions (Skullsnaps, Montclairs, Don Thomas) and "enders" (code for downtempo beat-ballads which are normally played towards to the end of a session) such as Sam Fletcher and Kenny Shepard.
It's hard for me to pick a favourite on here ... possibly the Sam Dees track at #12?