Harlem Shuffle. Or, How I Got Into Soul Music.

In 1987 I had landed what I thought was the ultimate dream job.  It was with a company which ran a few record shops, released records by local acts, and, best of all, imported records.  Which of course meant that I could sample pretty much everything my insatiable music-hungry heart desired.  On top of that, 25% staff discount was nothing to sneeze at...
I was in my early 20's and my tastes were widening.  I was beginning to feel more open to several types of music which I hadn't been interested in before.  One of those styles was soul music. 
Mostly, I credit Paul Weller's post-Jam group The Style Council with installing that interest in me.  I had pretty much everything TSC ever released and I just loved them.  Live, they covered stuff like Curtis Mayfield's "Move on Up" and on record they wore their influences on their collective sleeve.  For instance, I later found out, one of their best album tracks, "Headstart for Happiness", borrowed heavily from the Chi-Lites.



Motown had also entered my life.  I fell for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles in a big way via the double "Anthology" LP.
Thus, you might say I was ripe for the next step into the realms of classic '60s soul music.  And a co-worker at the aforementioned record company unknowingly pushed my in that direction by one day non-chalantly commenting that this record, "Harlem Shuffle", had been "the best record we imported last year".  My curiousity was raised.
The previous year - 1986 - the Rolling Stones had made a useless record, "Dirty Work", and its lead-off single had been a little ditty called "Harlem Shuffle", a semi-obscure '60s soul tune by the long-forgotten duo of Bob & Earl.  And of course Charly Records, then the leading British re-issue label, had the bright idea to cash-in on the Stones' good choice of a bad cover version by (re)introducing the original version to the record buying public at large by compiling an LP of similiraily obscure soul classics a couple of decades old.

Besides, the '80s was the decade that the advertising industry, especially in Great Britain, awoke to the lucrative possibilities of featuring an "oldie" in a TV commercial.  Jackie Wilson had this way unexpectedly been brought into the upper regions of the singles charts.  So had Marvin Gaye, and Nina Simone.  And then there was a phenomenon called "Northern Soul", which for years had existed as an underground fad among a chosen few in the nightclubs of Britain, but was now floating up to the surface as a viable tastemaker -  although for years the Brits (and, indeed, the world) had been buying Northern Soul classics such as Soft Cell's cover of Gloria Jones', err, glorious "Tainted Love".



But to make a long story short, "Harlem Shuffle - Sixties Soul Classics" (Charly R&B LP, CRB 1139, 1986) was an absolute eye-opener for me.  Besides Bob & Earl's timeless title tune, other highlights include Brenton Wood's Top 2 ("Gimme a Little Sign" and "Oogum Boogum Song" - certainly NOT the novelty song it threatens to be), the Soul Survivors sole hit "Expressway to Your Heart", Barbara Lewis' very best Atlantic sides ("Hello Stranger" and "Baby I'm Yours"), The Capitols' "Cool Jerk", Mel & Tim's infectious "Backfield in Motion", and the Shades of Blue sweet "Oh How Happy" - to name but a few.

And since that fateful day I was introduced to this wondrous music via this great compilation I am here tipping my hat to, I've been hooked...