Tony Clarke: Landslide

( another must on my list of Northern Soul songs)

I was 14 when I was introduced to Soul Music when a friend from my class asked if I’d ever heard of James Brown…

Who?

The rest, as they say, is history. This was my path towards Tamala Motown and Northern Soul.

(Song rereleased in 1979 due to its popularity in the UK dance clubs)

A year goes by, I was poor, working class, had just left High School in a small cloud of controversy and cigarette smoke, looking for work in any job that would be me for life ( no hope, no future in those “good old days”). This is it for the rest of your natural so the weekend was the only time you could be you, time for letting it go, all the aggression. Go out dancing and just have fun but not that mopey hippy shit or the wanky rock and roll of the skinny white middle class guys from poly techs and Universities, I wanted the sound of the underprivileged, the downtrodden, those that have been told they are a waste of time and effort and would rise no further than their parents…..

And what better music than Tamala Motown, the joyous music of a people who knew all about struggle and hopelessness and played this wonderously deep, danceable happy music that just screamed rebellion in its joyfulness.

(Tony Clarke, 1940-1971)

And with that I give you Tony Clarke born in New York City, 1940 and died, tragically young, 1971. Shot by his estranged wife as he tried to break into their house, a sad end for a young composer who, if he’d overcome his demons, could have moved onto bigger and better things.

Luckily he leaves us with this little gem