Northern Soul Records For Sale

Northern soul is a term that was coined in the 1970's for the type of soul music that was being played and danced to in the North East of England. The London record shop owner Dave Godin is accredited with first using the term Northern Soul to distinguish it from the type of soul music being listened to in the South of England and London.

The term Northern Soul generally refers to black american music of the 1960's, but for a record to be called a Northern Soul record it really only needs to have been played on the Northern Soul scene and accepted by the audience. However this simplistic view can't begin to explain the diverse genre of records that have been played as Northern Soul both in the past and today.

At it's most basic level a northern soul record must be danceable, uptempo and have a certain beat, the best examples are the more uptempo motown tunes. However, for a record to be played it should never have been a hit as the origins of the Northern Soul scene are in new and obscure music.

So Northern Soul is uptempo, danceable and obscure ........ apart from beat ballads which are downtempo but tear inducingly soulful.

All the records I have listed on this page have been played at one time or another on the Northern Soul scene here in the UK, some are rare whilst others are quite easy to find. There is a mix of tempos too from wild stompers, to 70's disco, to early R & B.