Guardian: Working Man's Soul vol 2

I wrote the music column in this week's Guardian Guide, looking at Licorice Soul's superb compilation Working Man's Soul, Volume 2. You can read the whole piece here and check out a gallery of lost British funk gems from private pressings here. Buy the album direct from the lovely people at Licorice Soul here.

Smooth 80s soul jam of the day

Princess' Say I'm Your Number 1 got to number seven in the UK charts in 1985. Bit of lightweight pop from EFTE's childhood which, with hindsight, sounds like a note-perfect electrosoul jam that Joyce Sims would have been proud of. Great video with Princess (aka Desiree Heslop) throwing down with her bra out around The British Museum, Hyde Park, an open-top bus and the BMX-infested Westway. Love him or hate him, Peter Waterman was on top of his game for this one.

CRACKIN' SKULLZ THIS SATURDAY NIGHT

London's finest hip-hop, 80s soul and ignorant bass night takes over The Legion on Old St tomorrow. 8pm-2am, free.

Classic UK soul...

Absolutely killer clip of David Joseph's Hi-Tension performing their eponymous track on Top of The Pops in 1978. Kid Jensen on the introduction, and the band appear to be performing in the crowd which I'm sure wasn't the norm on TOTP. There's a great long version of this song on the 12"; I lucked out in a FARA Romanian Orphans charity shop recently and got that, along with a 7" of their (superior, in my view) British Hustle single. Pretty much anything by them's recommended though.

Out On The Floor

Some nice scraps of footage left over from the Northern Soul documentary called (I think) This Underground Movement.

Two observations: firstly, I can't see those bell bottoms ever making a comeback. Secondly, it's surprising how fruity a lot of the men look, given that everyone I know who's into Northern Soul tends more towards the 'not right in the head psycho' end of the cultural spectrum.