Track Listing

1. He Who Pickes A Rose - Jimmy Ruffin
2. Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) - Frank Wilson
3. 6 By 6 - Earl Van Dyke and The Motown Brass
4. Look At Me Now - Terry Callier
5. Stormy - Diana Ross & The Supremes
6. The Way You've Been Acting - Al Kent
7. Worth Every Tear I Cry - Dee Dee Warwick
8. Key To My Happiness - The Charades
9. I'm Learning To Trust My Man - The Sisters Love
10. Landslide - Tony Clarke
11. Baby Hit And Run - The Contours
12. Suspicion - The Originals
13. Moody Woman - Jerry Butler
14. Love Love Love - Bobby Hebb
15. Back Street - Edwin Starr
16. Boogaloo Party - The Flamingos
17. It's Better To Have (And Don't Need) - Don Covay

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #730 in Music
• Released on: 2001-05-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 45 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Another week, another northern soul compilation. Ho hum. Thankfully, Northern Soul Connoisseurs is anything but a routine collection. Following on from the superb Motown Connoisseurs, this 18 tracker is once again compiled by eminent northern DJ Richard Searling--and what a selection. As well as a clutch of celebrated classics, including the scene's ultimate anthem, Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)", there's a smattering of highly sought after rarities. The previously unreleased Motown cut "He Who Picks A Rose" by Jimmy Ruffin a number one sound on the scene, so its inclusion is an especially timely masterstroke. Other Motor City marvels include The Supremes jaw-droppingly stupendous "Stormy" and the CD debut of Earl Van Dyke's instrumental mod fave "6 X 6". More familiar perhaps, but equally welcome are Terry Callier's "Look At Me Now", Edwin Starr's "Back Street", Tony Clarke's "Landslide" and The Originals stampeding floor stomper "Suspicion". In short, there's not a single dud track and with its deft mix of the rare and the renowned, Northern Soul Connoisseurs is essential for fervent collectors and northern novices alike. --Chris King

Customer Reviews

Bargain priced intro to Northern Soul
As a new convert to NS I was intrigued as to what I would find on here.
I was pleasantly surprised at the content and there are a few tracks that have already become real favourites.

For me the standout track has to be the hair-raising Al Kent:The way you've been acting. Whilst this is a brilliant track unfortunately it does suffer from being a copy from a record and there is some distortion on the left channel and some of the other tracks are similarly from records and not the original master tape. Still I would rather have them that way than not at all.

All in all a bargain at £3.39 at a large supermarket chain at time of writing.

Choice Northern Soul
Although not strictly a Tamla Motown compilation, as 7 of the 17 tracks come from labels such as Chess, Mercury and other smaller labels, this collection comprises predominantly the Detroit groove that launched a whole new phenomenon in the North of England, a cult that led to the uncovering of many rare or previously unreleased gems that fitted the demanding criteria of the Northern Soul crowd.
Many of these find their way onto this release, via the guiding hand of Richard Searling, including Motown tracks by Jimmy Ruffin, Frank Wilson (the classic Do I Love You), the Originals, and Diana Ross and the Supremes' version of Stormy, originally by the Classics IV. 
Non-Motown artists featured include the undervalued Dee Dee Warwick (sister of Dionne), Terry Callier, Tony Clarke, Bobby Hebb and Jerry Butler, and the album concludes with the highly-infectious Don Covay hit It's Better To Have (And Don't Need)

Thank you Stuart Maconie
If,like me,your appetite for Northern Soul has been whetted by listening to Stuart Maconie's Radio 2 show then this album is an excellent first purchase.

A bonus was the discovery that the album includes "Do I Love You [Indeed I Do]" by Frank Wilson - a certain chicken bits fast food outlet has been using it on recent adverts and I've been trying to identify it.

I defy you not to shake your bits on listening to this.