Twisted Wheel Club

Their record, I've Got What It Takes, appeared on the American Dynamo label in 1967 with a British release on Direction, remember Direction Records, the following year.

Split into two parts, it had this sort of driving rhythm and infectious energy that made it a popular choice at clubs such as Manchester's Twisted Wheel.

I see a man with an old worn out coat.

You know some people, yeah, they take it for a joke.

Soul music was already making its mark.

American artists were touring Britain, records were crossing the Atlantic and clubs such as Manchester's Twisted Wheel had developed a following amongst people who wanted something different from the music on the mainstream radio.

What you wanna be And I'll do it Oh baby Tell me what you want me to be And I'll be it Try anything You want me to try I'm a thousand feet high It may sound silly baby But I love you I need you I want you Just ask me Just No matter what it is I'm gonna run into you You can snap your finger Or whistle for me Cause I love you It may sound funny, funny, but I love, but I love you.

I need you.

Soul Nights were established by 1969.

The club was building an audience for American rhythm and blues and soul and the foundations were being laid for what came next.

Then in 1971 the twisted wheel closed and really that mattered.

A venue which had helped shape the emerging scene was gone leaving a gap.

Soul music was already making its mark.

American artists were touring Britain, records were crossing the Atlantic, and clubs such as Manchester's Twisted Wheel had developed a following amongst people who wanted something different from the music on the mainstream radio.

it may sound silly baby but i love you i love you i need you i want you just ask me You're feeling blue.

No matter what it is, I'm gonna run into you.

the torch, Soul Nights were established by 1969.

The club was building an audience for American rhythm and blues and soul, and the foundations were being laid for what came next.

Then in 1971, the twisted wheel closed.

And really, that mattered.

It's Manchester, 1965, a new door opens, the lights go down and somewhere beneath the streets the sound of American soul is about to change a generation.

The Twisted Wheel has moved from Brasenow Street to Whitworth Street and tonight we're there on the opening night.

Forget everything you know about Northern Soul.

There was no Wigan Casino, no famous all-nighters, no scene as we know it today, just young people hungry for something different.

Imagine you're standing outside number 6 Whitby Street.

It's dark.

The streets are busy and the people are arriving at a new home for the Twisted Wheel.

A week earlier the old club on Brasenow Street had closed its doors for the very last time.

Yeah

... be- before that he was, he, he opened the first, uh, soul club in, um, Manchester, The Twisted Wheel, and he was bringing all the Black R&B and blues artists over before anyone.

And, um, but Eric's was like...

I first went in 1978 towards the end when I was 16.

It is doubtful Banks ever had any idea about his popularity across the pond.

Sides like Angel Baby, Somebody Somewhere Needs You and the Revolut flipside Our Love is in the Pocket became guaranteed floor fillers in an underground subculture centred around Northern all-nighters at Manchester's Twisted Wheel and the Wigan Casino.

Northern Soul, its roots, its culture, and its unique vinyl obsession could fill an entire series of this podcast.

But to this day, Daryl Banks' 45s remain stone-cold classics and collector's items.

But something was changing, the music was becoming more specialised, the records were becoming harder to find.

And in places like the Twisted Wheel and in clubs across the country and down in London something was beginning to emerge from the remains of the mod scene.

That's a game we used to play Hiding sick of what it's made of Lady, you're not, here I come Gee, that used to be such fun I always

used to find a hiding place Time will change, well I'm one step behind you, but still I can

But for me... 1969 is a pivotable year.

It's a point where the old mod world of American soul, dancing and youth culture was beginning to cross over into something new.

The twisted wheel in Manchester was at the heart of it, while elsewhere in Britain, clubs and venues were developing their own interpretations of this growing fascination with American soul.

I can feel on the Row of the Proud.