Northern Soul

Photo and art by Cubillos

Gordo and I headed north, cold morning with the red winds a blowing.

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The music that has become known as northern soul mainly consists of American soul recordings of a particular style and tempo that were recorded from the mid-1960s onwards. These recordings were based on the Motown sound and released only in limited numbers within the U.S., this includes lesser known songs and artists from the Motown and Stax labels, and releases from more obscure labels such as Okeh Records, Ric Tic, Cameo-Parkway and Roulette were prized more highly. Viewed retrospectively, the earliest recording that can be considered to be the 'true' northern soul sound is "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" by The Four Tops (1965, Motown).

The original northern soul scene lasted from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, and is considered a retrogressive or revivalist movement based on a style of music created years earlier. At the height of its popularity in the 1970s, African American artists had moved on to newer genres such as funk, jazz funk and disco, so the northern soul scene relied on a finite supply of 1960s recordings.

The phrase northern soul was coined by journalist Dave Godin and first publicly used in his weekly column in Blues and Soul magazine in June 1970. In a 2002 interview with Chris Hunt of Mojo magazine, Godin explained that he had first come up with the term in 1968, to help employees at his record shop, Soul City, in Covent Garden, London to differentiate the more modern funkier sounds from the smoother, Motown-influenced soul of a few years earlier.

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Music — Gene Chandler — Nothing Can Stop Me