The thing about Northern Soul is that it has many genre branches, reaching out wisteria-like all over the dancing veranda. A rather large percentage is obscure white singers of the 1960’s which make up the rather endearing population of ‘Blue Eyed Soul’. Without being too obtrusive or cynical compared to its Black Matriarch doesn’t quite cut the Colemans. That’s not to say there isn’t some great songs there, for instance Joannie Sommers, Don’t Pity Me is certainly a song that manages to cross over extremely well with its haunting melodic R&B arrangement.
Where as ‘Blue Eyed’ Soul seems to try and recreate the sound of Black America as someone in X Factor sings Frank Sinatra, the Hispanic attempt adds a new dynamic. Comparable to what Jamaica did to R&B, creating an exciting and unique take on American popular Soul music, so did the Latin quarter of New York City. What was to become Latin Soul was still heavily drenched in the Afro-Cuban Rhythms, Salsa and Mambo but had a new sophisticated and of course soulful projection to it. Latin Soul was a short lived genre of the 60’s but through labels like Fania and Cotique gave rise to the 1970s Hispanic dominance of Harlem Jazz Funk & Disco.
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