Song Of The Day 1/18/2015: Robert Parker - "Let's Go Baby (Where the Action Is)"

Northern Soul Week: The label "Northern Soul" is a lot like "Classic Rock" in that they came up with the name well after the music itself had been recorded. It refers to soul music that was popular at clubs in the United Kingdom in the late '60s and into the early '70s, so right there it's what I eat up like salted peanuts at a bar.

Although it's a particularly British institution, the music was all from America. Most of it harkened to hallmarks of the Motown sound: lots of that high-melody, mid-tempo, string-rich pop-crossover style that I eat right up. But what I love about the whole Northern Soul scene is that DJ's in England eschewed the most popular songs coming from America and went for the slightly more obscure, off-the-chart stuff. In other words, they didn't play the hits. Like this blog!

It's great for people like myself who trawl around looking for as much R&B as I can fit on my circuits, because it's like finding an entire treasure trove of soul music that the Americans didn't have that much need for and therefore didn't re-package, but the Mother Country's lovingly preserved it. Singers like New Orleans' Robert Parker benefitted from the Northern Soul movement in particular because, based on his UK popularity, he could continue touring there for years where some US doors outside of Louisiana may have been more closed off. Let's start off with him, since he's going where the action is and all.