It felt like I’d been through an emotional storm,” Ashcroft would later tell the NME. “But I got something out of it. Out of all the torment, I had a diamond. And that’s what great groups survive on.” As it happened, the band, in this incarnation, would barely survive the year. A Northern Soul, however, would go on to become of the defining albums of the mid-90s: soul music, palpably real, torn from the core of something intangible.

Iggy Pop’s riotous icons weren’t the only influence. As with A Storm In Heaven, The Verve brought a seemingly conflicting bunch of inspirational figures to bear on their new work. Having looked to Dr. John for their predecessor, Peter Salisbury now immersed himself in Tiki Fulwood’s drumming on the early Funkadelic albums, along with the sonic assault of NWA drum loops. McCabe felt that his guitar reverb tapped into a “dribbling, wibbly” Barry White thing. Experimental Japanese music and Miles Davis’ post- Bitches Brew explorations filtered into the likes of “Brainstorm Interlude”’s psychedelic swamp and the heavy fuzz of “This Is Music.” By the early 70s, northern soul had the power to turn little-known oldies into hit singles. The Fascinations were a girl group whose original lineup included a pre-Motown Martha Reeves; Girls Are Out to Get You featured Donny Hathaway on piano, and was written by Curtis Mayfield, who released it on his own Mayfield label in 1971. Despite that impressive pedigree, it made little impact at the time. However, its euphoric woo-oos and concise gone-in-120-seconds punch made it a floor-filler on the scene. It was opportunistically re-released by Polydor subsidiary Mojo in 1971, propelling it into the UK Top 40 and prompting the Fascinations, who had disbanded two years earlier, to briefly reform for live performances. When he returned, he had one final statement. As with A Storm In Heaven’s “Blue,” brought in at the last minute, “History” would point towards The Verve’s next record: a stately acoustic ballad drenched in strings and which would resonate further than anyone could have imagined. “We were like, ‘F__king hell! That’s an incredible song,’” Jones recalls. The band recorded it that night. McCabe, however, declined to add a lead guitar part, feeling the song was perfect without him; Ashcroft would misread this as McCabe’s refusal to be a part of a song he hadn’t written. Regardless, the end result stands as the perfect encapsulation of the “pained” emotion Ashcroft’s northern soul had experienced. The legacy Other major northern soul venues in the 1970s include the Catacombs in Wolverhampton, Va Va's in Bolton, the Talk of the North all-nighters at the Pier and Winter Gardens in Cleethorpes, Tiffany's in Coalville, Samantha's in Sheffield, Neil Rushton's Heart of England soul club all-dayers at the Ritz in Manchester and the Nottingham Palais. [31] As the 1970s progressed, the northern soul scene expanded even further nationally. There was a notable scene in the east of England: Shades Northampton was one of the leading venues in this area of the country during the early 1970s until it closed in 1975. Later came the all-nighters at the St Ivo Centre in St Ives, the Phoenix Soul club at the Wirrina Stadium in Peterborough and the Howard Mallett in Cambridge. [32] Other towns with notable northern soul venues at this time included Kettering, Coventry, Bournemouth, Southampton and Bristol. [21] 1980s and later [ edit ]

The legacy

Practising in a dungeon in Wigan for this record, you're devoid of any kind of fashion, or thought of 'This is what we should be doing'. Like a band that goes into the studio and plays the music they hear in their heads rather than what they read in magazines. The Northern Soul Show | Every Sunday on Affinity Radio, Remarkable Radio & UKWA 87-88FM". northernsoulshow.co.uk . Retrieved 2 January 2016. a b Keith Rylatt and Phil Scott, Central 1179: The Story of Manchester's Twisted Wheel Club, chapter 10 "The Records" Dobie Gray's Drift Away was one of the biggest hits of 1973, selling over 1 million copies and becoming a staple of dancefloors across the North. a b Stephen Catterall; Keith Gildart (January 2019). "Did Wigan Have a Northern Soul?: Volume 2". ResearchGate.

Larkin, Colin (2011). "Verve". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th conciseed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.Sleeve notes written by Neil Rushton accompanying the LP Out on the Floor Tonight on Inferno Records Record label RCA Victor released many of Northern Soul's most popular records, representing the likes of The Dynamics, Garland Green and The Celestrals. Red Bull Music Academy Daily The Dancers: In Their Own Words An oral history of the forgotten dancers that set London on fire in the late 1970s a b "Soul Survivors". Musicsaves.org. Archived from the original on 13 October 2009 . Retrieved 5 October 2011. Some northern soul records were so rare that only a handful of copies were known to exist, so specific DJs and clubs became associated with particular records that were almost exclusively in their own playlists. Keith Rylatt and Phil Scott wrote:

Norcliffe, Josh (28 February 2014). "The Current Northern Soul scene: Is it just nostalgia?". Louder Than War . Retrieved 17 October 2016. James Ellis. "Biddu". Metro. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011 . Retrieved 17 April 2011.

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Dave Haslam (2002) [2001]. Adventures on the Wheels of Steel: the rise of the superstar DJs. London: 4th Estate. ISBN 1-84115-433-4. From "The In Crowd" to the "Happy People" | Uppers Culture Lifestyle". Uppers.org. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015 . Retrieved 3 June 2015.