Blackpool Mecca - Northern Soul at The Highland Room

Northern Soul At The Highland Room

The Highland Room was used as a rare soul venue from 1971 to 1979 and it became one of the most popular venues on the Northern soul scene. Unlike similar clubs such as the Wigan Casino and the Golden Torch, these events were not all-nighters and ran from 8pm until 2pm on Saturday evenings.

The two main DJs for the Highland Room soul nights were Ian Levine and Colin Curtis. Several classic 1960s Northern soul records were discovered and broken by the aforementioned DJs at the venue, including Tony Clarke's Landslide, Morris Chesnut's Too Darn Soulful, Frankie Beverly & the Butlers's If That's What You Wanted and R. Dean Taylor's There's A Ghost In My House.

Later in the 1970s, the Highland Room became synonymous with a more contemporary and less frenetic style of Northern soul music, typified by records such as the Carstairs' It Really Hurts Me Girl, Voices Of East Harlem's Cashin' In and the Charisma Band's Ain't Nothing Like Your Love. Because of the change in tempo, a slightly different shuffling dance style developed at the venue. This newer sound and dance style caused some controversy and led to the formation of the parallel Modern soul sub-genre, which still exists today within and alongside the mainstream Northern soul movement.

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