Gotta soul have

The UK’s Northern Soul scene exploded in Dundee in the late 1960s and is still thriving today, as Gayle Ritchie discovers

Saturday night on a Dundee dance floor and dozens of men and women are shuffling, sliding, stomping, sidestepping and spinning to the music.

Dancing on their own, a look of concentration on their faces, they move in time to the pounding beat.

On the decks, playing Northern Soul, is Alan Watson, one of the genre’s biggest fans, spinning vinyl from his collection of almost 1,000 records.

Alan, 59, has been in love with the scene since it brought he and his wifeto-be, Marguerite, together in 1975.

“We were on our first date, at the Royal Centre Hotel in Dundee, and the DJ was playing the usual pop and chart music,” he recalls.

“Half-way through the night, the music changed and 10 guys jumped off their seats and went on to the dance floor on their own. I’d never seen anything like it.”

The record Alan remembers was by American soul singer Edwin Starr, one of a series of Motown-influenced tunes he was introduced to that night.

Alan, then 18, discovered the dancers were involved in the Northern Soul scene – a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England in the late 1960s with DJs competing to play the most obscure American soul singles.

Usually, these records sounded like Motown, or Chicago or New York soul, but were by unknown or underappreciated performers.

“I was totally hooked,” says Alan, a manufacturing engineer. “It was a combination of hearing records nobody had ever heard of and the unique style of dancing. There was a lot of sliding, shuffling and spinning and you danced on the beat.”

Like dozens of Dundonians, Alan headed to Wigan Casino – the heart of Northern Soul’s legendary “all nighters” – to hear the breaking sounds that would define the classic Northern sound.

His home city also became a stronghold for the Scottish scene and Alan recalls regular Northern Soul nights in Dundee’s Marryat Hall and Queen’s Hotel.

“More traditional nightclubs, like Tiffany’s and The Sands in Broughty Ferry, would oblige a 30-minute spot for our records, where folk looked at us as if we had two heads,” he laughs. “We didn’t care because we loved it so much.

“Northern Soul didn’t suit what was hip in the 60s; it dismissed music that reached the US charts. What made it special was the particular beat and sound and the rarity of recordings. It was the most underground scene ever.”

As Alan’s vinyl collection continues to grow, he focuses on recently discovered 60s and 70s records, but he also collects the best “oldies” – such as No Other Way by The Cautions, on the rare Shrine label.

Along with his pal Shug Robertson, he promotes the Dundee Soul Club at the Royal Tay Yacht Club, where the next night is on May 6.

Alan is quick to dismiss any notion that he’s living in a nostalgia bubble. “For me, it’s definitely not about haircuts and clothes, although some do wear the baggy trousers, vests with badges sewn on and towels hanging from their belts,” he says.

“While some clubs cater for the retro scene, our club keeps it a bit more progressive. I believe the scene needs to keep moving forward and embrace records that we never knew existed back then.”

I was totally hooked. It was a combination of hearing records nobody had ever heard of and the unique style of dancing