Dave Thorley: Dancing In The Night

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Stafford (18 of 26)
Photo courtesy of Neil Salter

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy new year and I hope 2014 brings you all you wish for.

We start the New Year by returning to the music played by the Top Dog himself Mr. Dave Thorley. This set comprises of Modern Soul that Dave used to spin, many new releases or just a year or two since release. Thanks to Dave and Sean Price for remembering the records, enjoy the music.


The Jones Girls - On Target - RCA
Five O’Clock - Hold On Tight- O'Clock
Aretha Franklin - Jump To It  - Arista
Terry Wells - You Make It Heaven - Philly world
Kitty Haywood - Givin' It Up- Lance
Ren Woods - Get It Right - Elektra
Evan Rogers - Secret Love - RCA
Unique - What I Got Is What You Need - Prelude
Johnnie Taylor - Seconds Of Your Love - Beverley Glenn
Fishburn & Francis - Give Me Some Love - AIP International
Majik - Back In My Heart - Hi (Frank Beverly & Maze - I’m Running)
Jeff Tyzik - New York Woman - Polydor
High Frequency - Summertime - NIA (7”)
Peabo Bryson - Make Up Your Mind - Capitol
Lainer & Co - Dancing In The Night - Waylo

Ady Croasdell: Welcome To Dreamsville

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Ady Croasdell at Leighton Buzzard (photo courtesy of Jon Buck)

For this podcast we take a bow to 100 Club and 6t’s Rhythm & Blues co-founder Ady Croasdell, aka Harboro’ Horace. Although not a resident he did make guest appearances at The Top Of The World. He was and still is responsible via Kent/Ace records for some truly wonderful discoveries. Many at the time given to Keb and to a lesser extent Guy to give them more exposure, Melba Moore, Peggy Woods, Maxine Brown etc etc.

Much of the podcast is based on a set Ady actually played at TOTW, the rest made up of his other spins from that time, approx. 1985.

Tommy Hunt - Pretty Part Of You - Unissued
Sammy Ambrose - Welcome To Dreamsville - Musicor
Marvelows - Your Little Sister - ABC Paramount
Bunny Sigler - For Crying Out Loud - Decca
(Lee Valentine & Bluesmen)
Moments  - Baby Baby Need You - Hog
(Unreleased Edgewood Acetate at the time, the Hog 45 didn’t surface until the early 90’s.)
Hector Rivera - I Want A Chance For Romance - Barry
Melba Moore - Magic Touch - Unissued
(Mary Love)
Peggy Woods - Love Is Gonna Get You - Unissued
Maxine Brown - I Want A Guarantee - Unissued Alt Vocal
Trends - Not Too Old To Cry - ABC Paramount
Tommy Hunt - New Neighbourhood - Unissued
Wally Cox - This Man Wants You - Mono Take
Chuck Flamingo & The Kansas City Playboys - Whats My Chances - Rojac
Chuck Jackson - Little By Little 
Maxine Brown - It’s Torture - Unissed
(Jackie Day)
Little Tommy - Baby Can't You See -Sound Of Soul
Drapers - Your Love Has Gone Away - Gee
(Three Strangers)
Tony Mason - Take Good Care - RCA
Rubies - Spanish Boy - VJ
Harvey Averne Dozen - Never Learned To Dance - Uptite
Two People - Stop Leave My Heart Alone - Revue
Steinways - You’ve Been Leading Me On - Oliver
Roosevelt Grier - Pizza Pie Man - D-Town
The Megatrons - The Detroit Sound - Laurie
(Fred Scrunge)
Boston Hitesmen - Let It Ride - MTA
Johnny Maestro - Stepping Out Of The Picture - Scepter

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Ady with 6t’s co-founder Randy Cozens.

Soul Sam: I'm Your Superman

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Best of buddies, two legends of the scene Sam & Arthur
(Photo courtesy of Patrick Clugston)

Here is the second podcast featuring more Modern Soul magic the Godfather of the Rare Soul scene “Soul Sam” featured in his sets during his brief stint behind the decks at Stafford in around 1984.



Major Lance - Are You Leaving Me - Kat Family
Lenny Welch - You Picked A Fine Time (To Change Your Mind) - Big Apple
Julius Brown - Never Too late - West End
Al McCall - Hard Times - West End
Samson & Delilah - I Can Feel Your Love Slipping Away - Saturn
Mel Stewart - No Work, No Play - Mercury
Ivan Neville (Neville Brothers) - Dance Your Blues Away - Cookie
Bill - Space Lady - Dollar Bill
Richard Caiton - Where Is The Love - J.B.’s Records
Ronnie Dyson - All Over Your Face - Cotillion
Timmy Thomas - Gotta Give A Little Love - Gold Mountain
Mother Fox - Fallen Into Love - Shabang
Luther Vandross - For The Sweetness Of Your Love - Epic
Circle City Band - Magic - Circle City Records
Pure Energy featuring Lisa Stevens - Love Game - Prism
Jan Leslie Holmes - I’m Your Superman - Jay Jay Records
Jamie Lynn - You Ain’t Got No Money - Salsoul
Kinky Foxx - So Different - Sound Of New York

Thanks to Sean price for his help with what Sam was playing back in the days of Stafford.

Soul Sam: Get Into The Groove

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Stafford (9 of 26)
Stafford’s Modern Soul Masters Robin Salter and Soul Sam. (photo courtesy of Neil Salter).


It has been a while since Modern Soul was featured amongst these podcasts with the focus having been on the 60’s and the 6t’s Mafia. Buy we now turn our attention to some Modern Soul and the first of two podcasts to feature the Grandfather of the northern and modern Soul scene Martin Barnfather....or as he is better known to most Soul Sam. Sam’s spell at Stafford wasn’t for very long, approximately 6 months or so but for some he was the highlight of the night with his blend of Soul, Disco and Boogie. Many of his set were at the time new releases.

The following podcast is what Sam played at a one off Modern and Funk all-nighter at the Top Of The World on Friday 4th May 1984.

4th May 1984 Modern & Funk All-Nighter

The Latest - Starting Over - Ransom Records
Bridget Cooper - Get into The Love Groove - Birdie
Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes - Don’t Give Me Up - Philly World
The Chi-Lites - I Keep Coming Back To You - Private I
Junior Walker & The All-Stars - In And Out - Motown (Blow Your House Down Lp)
Terri Wells - I’ll Be Around - London/Philly World
Clarence Jackson - Wrap It Up - R&R
The Jones Girls - You Can’t Have My Love - PIR
The Fresh Band - Come Back Lover - Ar ’N Be Records
Bobby Womack - Tell Me Why - Beverley Glen
Rome Jeffries - Good Love - Rain records
Jocelyn Brown - Somebody Else’s Guy - Vinyl Dreams
The Detroit Spinners - Right Or Wrong - Atlantic
The Ritchie Family - Real Love - RCA (All Night All long Lp)
Funk Deluxe - This Time - Salsoul
Evan Rogers - Stay Here With Me - RCA
Starpoint - It’s All Yours - Elektra

Stafford 4th May 1984
(Flyer courtesy of Megan Willsher)

Steve Smith: Jerk It With Soul

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Steve Smith & Dave Thorley Satfford


Steve and Dave Thorley (Photo courtesy of Catriona Smith)

I hope you enjoyed the last podcast featuring the records of Steve Smith, we are back with the second of Steve’s, again featuring a nice selection of “oldies” and “newies”. As with the first podcast the comments show that the so called “oldies” room was responsible for many main room biggies.

Enjoy the music...some modern soul will be the feature for the next few podcasts, many new releases at the time.

Willie Walker - Jerk It With Soul - Taste
Sunlover’s - My Poor Heart - Breakthorugh
Sam Dees - Lonely For You baby - SSS
(Dan Brantley)
Chuck Holiday - Just Can’t Trust Nobody - Gloria
Calvin & The Twilights - Bashful Boy - Har-Low
(Sold to Keb or Steve Phyllis ?)
Exceptions - Baby You know I Need You - Groovey Groove
Rees Flores - Look Into My Heart - M&H
Soul Bros Inc - Pyramid - Golden Eye
George Smith - I’ve Had It - Turntable
Gene Barbour & The Cavaliers - I Need A Love - HIT
Sweet Three - That’s The Way It Is (When A Girl’s In Love) - Decca
Tate - Love Shop - Cloverstreet
Lee Edwards & His Continentals - (I’ve Got To have Her) Need I Say More - Lantic Gold Sound
(Continental, sold to Dave Thorley)
The Ramblers featuring Little Preston - So Sad - Trumpet
The Turks - The Bad Brought The Good - DJO
(Sold to Dave Thorley)
Joey Gee - It’s More Than I Deserve - ABC Paramount
Gambrells - You Better Move - Carla
(Detroit Girls)
Demures - Raining Teardrops - Brunswick
Betty Wilson - I’m Yours - Dayco
Charlotte Tillman - Baby I’m Serious - Josie
Fabulous Moonlighters - For Granted - Blue Eagle
(Sold to Dave Thorley)
Dickie Wonder - Nobody Knows - Sounds Of Soul
Les Chansonettes - Don’t Let Him Hurt You - Shrine
The Enticers - Calling For Your Love - Cotillion
Linda Queen - I Feel The Pain - Rod

Steve Smith: It's Better

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Steve Smith
Steve on a digging’ trip to the USA (thanks to Catriona Smith for the photo)

Carrying on with our unsung heroes from the days of Stafford who don’t tend to get the recognition they deserve. Here we feature one of the scenes characters, from Gloucester, Steve Smith. Steve a some what veteran of the scene having been attending venues since the beginning of the 70’s. Steve was given responsibilities by Dave to look after the “oldies” room. Bit of an oxymoron the term oldies at times as this room was often every bit as upfront as the main room with many of the DJ’s keeping the records fresh and upfront. Here we have a great selection for Steve’s first podcast, a good mix of the new and old but underplayed.

Reggie Alexander - Its Better - Boss
William Cummings - Make My Love A Hurtin´ Thing - Bang Bang
Jess Johnson - Left Out - Old Town
Kell Osborne - Law Against A Heartbreaker - Highland Willie Hightower - Because I Love You - Capitol
(Robert Banks cover up bought from Pete Lawson)
De-Vons - Someone To Treat Me - King
(King sisters)
Linda Queen - Where Can My Baby Be - Rod
Bobby Sheen - Something New To Do - Warner Brothers
Valerie Lamar - Shame
(Ann Sexton, sold to Dave Thorley)
Moses Smith - Come On, Let Me Love You - Cotillion
Jades - Lucky Fellow - Mode
Jim And Lee - Let Go Baby - Smash
(Shirley and Jessie)
Bands Of Gold - It’s Over - Smash
Billy Storm - Please Don´t Mention Her Name - HBR
(sold to George)
The Witches - She’s Got You Now - Bang
Wooden Nickels - Nobody But You - Omen
Duke and Leonard - Just do the best i can - Stomp Town
Edwin Riley - I love my baby - Sunni
Charles Drain - Stop & Think It Over - Top Track
Karmello Brooks - Tell Me Baby - Milestone
Oracles - I Ain’t Got Time - O-M
Tee Fletcher - Thank You Baby - Josie
Jive Five - You’re A Puzzle - Untied Artists
Maurice Jackson - Forever My Love - Weis
Mark Lloyd - When I’m Gonna Find Her - Parlophone
(Borrowed from Gilly and played three times one night)