Review: Northern Soul Orchestrated keeps the faith with sparkling evening of sounds

When young men and women from across the UK were descending on legendary locations such as The Twisted Wheel in Manchester, Blackpool Mecca, The Golden Torch in Stoke and of course, the legendary and iconic Wigan Casino to perform their spins and drops to a stack of rare black American soul records from the 1960s, I was more interested in tuning into Play School and playing with building blocks and shape sorters.

It was in 1996 that a review copy of a book landed on my desk entitled Soul Survivors, penned by former Wigan DJ Russ Winstanley – an exhaustive trawl back through time to the Wigan Casino era and the phenomenom that is Northern Soul.

From that moment on, I was hooked on this mystical venue – and of course the sounds, going out and picking up compilation CDs of some of the era’s biggest hits, trying to catch up on the fast-paced and uplifting anthems that had thrilled thousands of northerners in sweaty venues throughout the 70s.

The closure of Wigan Casino in 1981 might have ended eight years of all-nighters, but it certainly didn’t kill the love for Northern Soul and the genre is as big as it ever was.

Which brings us to Northern Soul Orchestrated, a superb celebration of those hits which spawned handclaps and yes, those dizzying spins, high kicks and floor drops – all aided by a trusty bottle of talc of course.

Following the phenomenal success of the Northern Soul BBC Prom last summer at the Royal Albert Hall, writer and BBC Radio 6 Music broadcaster Stuart Maconie, alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra and Manchester composer and conductor Joe Duddell have taken the show on the road.

On a Sheffield City Hall stage packed with every instrument you can imagine, the extrremely accomplished orchestra and six extremely talented vocalists took an elated audience on a trek back through time with all the classics.

So we were treated to the likes of Frankie Valli’s The Night with its soaring singalong chorus, a wonderful instrumental rendition of the Just Brothers’ Sliced Tomatoes (famously sampled on Fatboy Slim’s The Rockafeller Skank) and of course, the famous Wigan 3 before 8, Time Will Pass You By by Tobi Legend, Long After Tonight Is All Over by Jimmy Radcliffe, and I'm on My Way by Dean Parrish.

As Maconie told a truly enthusiastic audience who danced non-stop from start to finish: “These songs have never sound so fresh!”

And he was absolutely right.

Originating in the industrial regions in the 1960s and 70s across the North and the Midlands, the Northern Soul subculture emerged as a passionate and vibrant all-night dance movement centred around American soul music.

And the new arrangements elevated already classic tracks to an even higher status, song after song rich with passion, ecstasy, heartbreak and joy.

Of course, a trio of Northern Soul’s biggest gems were kept right until the end – the funky slice of R&B pop that is There’s A Ghost In My House, Gloria Jones’s incredible Tainted Love (no, Soft Cell didn’t do the original) and Frank Wilson’s euphoric Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) topping things off.

An incredible night of incredible sounds from a scene that will never die.

Keep the faith? We certainly will.