At last the much publicised Northern Soul feature film and linked-in soundtrack is all set for UK release.
The film, ‘Northern Soul’ has been directed by Elaine Constantine and stars James Langridge and Ricky Tomlinson and previews reveal that it’s a reasonably accurate portrayal of one of the UK’s most potent and unique youth sub cultures. The movie tells the story of two friends whose horizons are opened up by the discovery of black American soul music. We’ll wait till we’ve seen the movie before we comment on that but in the meantime Harmless Records have secured the rights to the soundtrack which will have official release on September 15th.
The album is a 2CD + DVD package which celebrates all the key Northern Soul tracks from the film, including two until-now-hard-to-find-on-CD tunes – James Fountain’s ‘Seven Day Lover’ and The Montclair’s ‘Hung Up On Your Love’. The additional DVD features bonus film material including an exclusive interview with Elaine by actor James Lance who plays top Northern Soul DJ Ray Henderson in the film. The package also comes with a 20 page booklet written by Gareth Sweeney – co-author of the bestselling accompanying book to the film.
Collectors will also, we’re sure, like to know that Harmless are also issuing the soundtrack in vinyl. With 7″ vinyl recordings at the core of the Northern scene, there’ll be 14 x 7″ discs in full pic-sleeves featuring key scenes from the film, together with a specially commissioned 60 page hardback book of film stills edited and re-touched by director, Elaine herself. Housed in a solid collector’s box, these 14 discs represent 28 Northern Soul classics – many of which are making their legal UK release for the very first time including tracks from Lou Pride, Gwen Owens, Freddy Chavez, The Luther Ingram Orchestra, Eddie Parker, The Salvadors and Sam Dees. The Dees’ track, by the way is his debut 45, ‘Lonely For You Baby’.
