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I don't know where to start really, it was that good! This particular promotion deserves to be a success and well supported, as the promoters/DJs are, to a man: Plumby, Flanny, Baz Maleedy, Steve
Connor and Bob Cozzer, five of the best, not just in the North West of England, but in the UK. The quality of these guys, as people, and the music they collectively own just cannot be bettered ANYWHERE, and
they had the excellent Arthur Fenn as their guest - so that was the musical side of things well and truly sorted, so it simply needed people through the door - and they got them!
Without a doubt, one of the main reasons this particular night looks like being a success is because, at last, it is being promoted properly - past nights at this venue, with the same guys, have been,
shall we say, underpromoted! But properly designed and printed flyers have gone out with lists, posters have gone up at venues, and it was given good promotion on the radio courtesy of King Dick, and of course
the odd plug on here!
There were 'faces' from all over the place: people had travelled up from Basingstoke (the other end of the country); Arthur Fenn had brought a party from Yorkshire; Brian Goucher and Steve Jackson had
travelled up from the south, and there were many other Yarmouth 'usual suspects' in attendance; there were also a good few 'northern' fans there as well, which was good to see. A real effort had been made on
the night, with banners being put up (some being property of Soul Essence), and the atmosphere was just brilliant.
Musically, for me, it was perfect, as I knew it would be - not overtly heavy on the new stuff, nothing too rare or unrecognisable, not too much uptempo soul - Flanny played Blackstreet's 'garage'
version of Stevie Wonder's "All I Do" which was good to hear - in fact each DJ played a perfect mix of sheer quality music, with Bob Cosser and Flanny impressing the little socks off my feet with some of
their selections! Cosser played stuff like Tearra "Just Loving You" He also played the staggering Danny Williams "All Those Lies", Family Of Eve "Please Be Truthful" which is
just a massive tune now. Flanny absolutely made my night by playing Seville "Show Me The Way", a tune that hardly ever gets played - fantastic. And also a track, the title of which escapes me, by
LaShawn Collins which was superb. Plumby's spot was sheer class as ever but a little early in the night to get the dancefloor reaction most of the tunes deserved, particularly the Darwin Hobbs - don't worry
Steve, in a month or so's time that track will be another Sean Oliver! Baz Maleedy (how DO you spell his surname?) kept it up to date by playing quality tunes like Donnell Jones "I'll Go", Ledisi
"Good Lovin'" and sticking all his records together with his best DJ glue - or 'mixing' as it's known!! Steve Connor as usual was a class act early on and Arthur Fenn was faultless as ever, playing
tunes ranging from fantastic shit-rare 60s/70s crossover to 90s uptempo from Gerry DeVeaux and Chantay Savage.
There as a table for the dealers as well, with Plumby, ExpansionDean, City Slicker (Chris from Leyland - I've had a mental block and can't remember his bloody surname even though I know Chris really
well!! - it may come to me by the end of this review!!), and some old bastard calling himself Martin even turned up with a couple of sales boxes!!
Not wanting to miss any of the music, and also since I've now been allowed to drive again by Mister Plod, I got there early and dived straight into Dean's sales boxes and surfaced with a handful of
nice bits: The Jasper Street Company "New Birth" EP; the new Byron Stingily "Club Stories" CD (garagey); an absolutey stunning CD single by Will Easley called "Don't Ya Like It" (the
mellow mood mix) - a beautiful soulful mellow groover - if you don't have it then give Dean a ring and snap one up, because one day you'll hear this and punch yourself very hard in the face for not buying it when it
was available! The final CD I picked up was by the PhatCat Players called "Make It Phat Baby" - another one for the more 'open minded' amongst us - absolutely stunning stuff, being very 70s
blaxploitation Isaac Hayes/Barry White in feel with contemporary jazz/hip-hop production - if you have the Gerald McCauley CD from last year, then listen to Bobby Lyle's "Checkin'" - the feel of the CD is
in that vein - absolutely incredible - it's gonna be glued into my CD player for the next few days for certain - track 9 "This Is Your Day" will without a doubt be in my top ten for the year, and my old
mate Ray's gonna flip when he hears it!!
All in all an absolutey boss night. If you are able to, PLEASE support this night - cos it's fantastic - OK!!!
Cheers
Roger
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