Crate Digging: Mikey Collins from Glasgow mod club Friday Street
Resident digs out his favorite vinyl records as the seminal Glasgow night comes to an end
After 13 years, seminal Glasgow night Friday Street comes to an end this month. Throughout this time their music policy has focused on ‘60s soul, rhythm & blues, beat, boogaloo and ska, and resident Mikey Collins has chosen one from each genre to play us out. All on vinyl, naturally, because ‘reissues just don’t do them justice’.
Kurt Harris ‘Emperor Of My Baby's Heart’ (Diamond, 1964) is a mid-tempo soul masterpiece from New York City where ‘the bugles play’ and ‘the trumpets start’, a class record that’s as popular at the club now as it was when first spun there almost a decade ago. Jo Ann Henderson ‘Baby Please Don't Go’ (Phonograph, 1957) is also a massive favourite on the dancefloor, with powerful growling female vocals building in intensity all through the record. It’s by far the best version of this much-covered classic.
One of the finest British Mod records of the 1960s is from Manchester band The Richard Kent Style ‘All Good Things’ (Columbia, 1966), which is filled with pounding fuzz guitar, an up-tempo beat and a heavy brass section. It’s an immense record. Manny Corchado and his Orchestra ‘Pow-Wow’ (Decca, 1967) is also an up-tempo stormer, where Latin soul plus boogaloo plus funk equals party time. It’s without doubt one of the most popular records ever to be played at Friday Street.
Finally, I’ll go for Azie Lawrence ‘Pempelem’ (Blue Beat, 1964), a saxophone driven, rocking, hypnotic Jamaican ska beat. It tells a story and fills the floor every time, with the great line ‘if you've got the loot and you think she's cute you can buy her West Indian fruit.’
Friday Street’s 13th birthday and final night is at Blackfriars, Glasgow, Sat 27 Jul. Their new mod night Tailor Made begins in the Barony Bar, Glasgow, Sat 12 Oct.