The following article was written by SCOTT TAYLOR in Voices From The Shadows 1988/89. It's an interesting read - and a decade on, does the scene have the solution he asks about at the end of this piece?

Unlike the South, Scotland's real soul scene is pretty dormant. A good example of the apathy which exists up here was the September All-Dayer at Madison's in Edinburgh, where, despite a DJ line-up that boasted Bob Jones, Alex Lowes, Graeme Ellis, Tom Jackson, Bob Jeffrey, Martin Haughton and promoter Roual Galloway, only 200 people turned up. The majority of them stayed in the club room (upstairs) which resulted in the soul room having to be closed due to lack of numbers.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. Martin Haughton's two All Nighters at Leith attracted healthy turn-outs with the 750 or so divided fairly evenly between the Club, Northern and Modern Soul room. The sting in the tail is that a small amount of trouble -prompted by outside forces - at the last event led to Edinburgh's new police chief imposing a 2am curfew on all further activities. I must stress that there is never any trouble at events up here and you couldn't hope to meet a friendlier bunch of people -this was an extremely rare exception.

The major problem in establishing a thriving soul scene in Scotland is the small population. Additionally, there Is a split between Northern/60s soul (for which there is a sizeable following) and modern soul which, ironically, seems to resemble the Northern scene more and more every day.

What really is required is a coming-together of the opposing forces which, I'm pleased to see, is beginning to happen. The best example of this is at the Allanton Miners' Welfare Club near Shotts. A more unlikely setting would be hard to find, but promoters Brian Welsh and Jim O'Hara have established this monthly All-Nighter as the longest running current event. The music is predominantly Northern soul with a some Modern and it's pleasing to see of the punters dancing to both. The club has very basic facilities and no drinks' licence - which tends to deter the uncommitted. It is an event run by fans, for fans, and I wish them continued success.

Tom Jackson can always be relied upon to play quality music and he has a regular Thursday night gig at Cadzows Wine Bar in Hamilton. Although there's a reasonable crowd, it's the old story of needing a few dozen extra to really establish it.

What Scotland really needs now, I feel, is a good venue where top quality soul music is played on a weekly basis. An event which would be supported by all the soul fans thus ending the current situation by bringing everybody together under one roof after all, when well over 200 Scots attend Blackpool, it seems ridiculous that such a club does not already exist.