RSD 2024 EXCLUSIVE - ANDY SMITH'S NORTHERN SOUL ESSENTIALS

Harlem Shuffle Records presents ANDY SMITH’S NORTHERN SOUL ESSENTIALS L.P.
14 Fast Spinning Soul Stomper by DJ Andy Smith - for dancers mostly!
With stunning Northern Soul photographs by Richard Oughton

GREEN VINYL ALBUM COMPILATION OF 14 TRACKS 750 COPIES LIMITED EDITION L.P. Exclusive to RECORD STORE DAY - on sale April 20th 2024 in stores participating in Record Store Day.

ABOUT THIS RELEASE
50 years ago, on the 23rd of September 1973, Wigan Casino started its first-ever Northern Soul all-nighter, an incredibly popular event that was celebrated all over Britain - from the vibrant Northern Soul clubs all the way to the BBC Proms.
To celebrate further, Harlem Shuffle Records asked DJ Andy Smith, of Portishead and “The Document” fame among others, and also an accomplished Northern Soul DJ, to hand pick this unique blend of fast and furious Northern Soul masterpieces, a genre Andy particularly loves.
It is a collection of 14 fast spinning tracks produced during the sixties by crème de la crème of Soul producers Jack Ashford, Lorraine Chandler, Darrow Fletcher, Harry Bass, and Kent Harris. These are pure Northern Soul stompers, there is no Modern Soul and no crossover whatsoever here. These 14 relentless tracks convey particularly well the energy of Andy Smith live DJ sets.
“Andy Smith’s Essentials” is for the true fans and the dancers also who like the finest Northern Soul on vinyl. Even those who normally don’t partake in Northern Soul will no doubt be tempted by this unique release of 14 relentless driving beats on this gorgeous neon green record superbly illustrated by the work of Northern Soul photographer Richard Oughton.
NOTE: this 750 copies’ limited edition is the only release on vinyl and there will be no downloads.

A FEW WORDS FROM DJ ANDY SMITH
“Roll on to the 90s and while digging for samples with my portable turntable for the band Portishead I would randomly come across records that were more Soul than Funk and realised that these were Northern Soul. I quickly saw how great these tunes were and continued to dig for these records, eventually adding them to my multi genre DJ sets. After doing Northern Soul nights at the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town, London (and releasing my first Northern Soul compilation on Ace/ BGP records) Keb Darge asked me to DJ at Madame Jo Jos in Soho, London where Northern Soul featured heavily on the musical menu. Now, I do a regular Northern Soul night at The Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, South London and often appear at Levanna Mclean's (“the Northern Soul girl”) events in Bristol. Hope you enjoy this essential selection of Northern Soul.”

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER RICHARD OUGHTON
Richard has been covering the Northern Soul events for over 15 years in U.K. and abroad. He owns a vast collection of gorgeous Northern Soul related photographs from Blackpool to Brazil. His photographs play brilliantly with motions and shadows and truly capture the magic of the scene as the two superb photos featured on this album demonstrate. The front cover photo was taken at Blackpool Tower Ballroom in November 2016 while the back one was taken at Blackburn Wigan Casino 45th anniversary in September 2018.

Enjoy!