The Exile's Northern Soul Corner

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Northern Exile
Northern Exile
Nov 2024
10:27am, 27 Nov 2024
10,640 posts
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Northern Exile
Good innit? :-)
Derby Tup
Derby Tup
Nov 2024
4:53pm, 27 Nov 2024
69,212 posts
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Derby Tup
Very good! Love that
Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel
Nov 2024
9:33am, 29 Nov 2024
24,762 posts
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Red Squirrel
Gotta Be A Reason - Bernard Smith & Jokers Wild
https://youtu.be/gv5vYgCEm9o?si=QJUfhpJ-vFNDWbwy
Northern Exile
Northern Exile
Nov 2024
8:18am, 30 Nov 2024
10,646 posts
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Northern Exile
Was that for my benefit RS ? Classic Carolinas beach music, big one at Stafford as I recall. As blue-eyed as they come 🙂
Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel
Nov 2024
7:17pm, 30 Nov 2024
24,764 posts
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Red Squirrel
Yes I realised it was the beach sound. I checked them out as they sounded a wee bit blue-eyed, but I think the lead singer isn’t.
Northern Exile
Northern Exile
Nov 2024
9:54pm, 30 Nov 2024
10,647 posts
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Northern Exile
Oh really? Certainly sounds very white.
Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel
Dec 2024
9:51am, 1 Dec 2024
24,765 posts
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Red Squirrel
discogs.com
Northern Exile
Northern Exile
Dec 2024
10:01am, 1 Dec 2024
10,648 posts
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Northern Exile
Thanks RS :-) I find it really interesting that even back in those days there were clear signs of music breaking down racial and social barriers. Discogs is a great resource isn't it?
Northern Exile
Northern Exile
Dec 2024
10:02am, 1 Dec 2024
10,649 posts
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Northern Exile
Just to save everyone the trouble, here's the text from the link RS provided. Worth a read.

The Jokers Wild were originally an all-white Richmond, VA band formed by some Tucker High School friends in late 1964, as an off-shoot from The Regents. Members originally included Buzz Montsinger (saxophone, and relative of Chip Wood from The Greater Experience), Randy Moss (lead guitar), Wayne Leake (bass) and Greg Duncan (trumpet). They were managed initially by John Richardson and his partner, promoters who went by the name of “The Society of Richmond Orgies”, and then later by Charlie Bradshaw. The band name was extended when their manager introduced black vocalist Bernard Smith to the band a couple of years later. Wayne Leake moved on early in the set up to play with the Soul Senders who had a regional hit with "I'm Hurt" backing Little Tommy. Paul Thomasson and Steve Bassett also appeared in the line up at one point. The final Jokers Wild profile included Herbie Atkinson who replaced Wayne, Larry Hamilton (drums), Howard Awad (trumpet) and Walter Sheely (Hammond B-3), and of course Bernard Smith.
Starting as an all-white band, Jokers Wild didn't sit well in certain social circles in 1966, losing them some country-club gigs and debutante parties. But leader Howard Awad was tenacious in booking the band and their popularity grew. Early in 1968, producer Martin Gary recorded the group at Edgewood, a 4-track studio in Washington. But nobody successfully marketed the record and the standard pressing (500 copies) saw few sales. "Gotta Be a Reason" is incredibly tight, with a near rumba rhythm carrying Bernard's suave vocal. It's a soul sound that seems headed for Virginia Beach, while sounding classy enough for the Riviera. -Brent Hosier (Style Weekly)
Northern Exile
Northern Exile
Dec 2024
10:08am, 1 Dec 2024
10,650 posts
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Northern Exile
Note the comment above regarding the "standard pressing of 500 copies". This, of course, is why many soul music records are so rare, a good number of those 500 would have been discarded/used as ballast and some of them would have had a demo label for distribution to radio stations etc, in many cases they are the more sought after copies but not always.

The reason I say not always is that in a situation where there was doubt as to a record's saleability they only pressed a small number of demos and just a handful of issues to prove the label design, thus the issue can be rarer than the demos ..... but not always :-) I can think of many instances where just one demo is known the exist globally.

About This Thread

Maintained by Northern Exile
I thought I might indulge of my "other" passion for your entertainment :-)

Feel free to post, but please do try and keep it soulful. No funk or ska please! I maintain an off-line list of all the tracks posted, if you would like a copy please feel free to fmail me.

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