http://www.twistedwheel.net/
The Twisted Wheel was a nightclub in Manchester, England, open from 1963 to 1971. It was one of the first clubs to play what became known as northern soul.
The nightclub was founded by brothers Jack, Phillip and Ivor Abadi as a blues and soul live music coffee dance club. The original location of the club was on Brazennose Street, near Deansgate and Albert Square. This was a rhythm and blues mod venue, with Roger Eagle as DJ. The club's later location was on Whitworth Street and was mostly soul-oriented. (There was another Twisted Wheel in Blackpool under the same ownership). The Whitworth street venue was a converted warehouse, with a coffee snack bar on the ground floor and a series of rooms in the cellar. These lower rooms housed the stage, a caged disc jockey area, and the main dance room. Back-lighted iron wheels decorated the simple painted brick walls. Ivor Abadi ran the club without an alcohol licence, serving only soft drinks and snacks.
Prior to the opening of the Twisted Wheel, most UK nightclubs played modern popular music, Soul and R&B. The Twisted Wheel DJs and local entrepreneurs started to import large quantities of records directly from the United States. Many of the records played at the Twisted Wheel were rare even in the United States, some may only have been released in one city or State. At the time, in addition to records released by larger record companies, there was a huge number of soul releases by a wide variety of artists on a multiplicity of obscure, independent labels.
All-night sessions were held each Saturday, from 11 pm through to Sunday 7:30 am. DJs played new records that weren't generally heard elsewhere. However, by 1969 popular songs like Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" and Tony Joe White's "Poke Salad Annie" were added to the playlist. DJ Brian '45' Philips, played The Sharpees "Do The 45", Jerry Cook -I hurt on the other side, Dobie Gray - Out on the floor, The Artistics - This heart of mine, Leon Haywood's "Baby Reconsider" and lots of U.S releases on Ric Tic, Brunswick, Okeh and more obscure labels. Each week at 2am, Soul artists performed live at the club, Junior Walker, Edwin Starr, Oscar Toney Jr., Marv Johnson, Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon, and Inez and Charlie Foxx being among the many musicians to squeeze onto the tiny stage. Soul fans travelled from all over the UK for the all-nighters; some by car, most by train, coach or bus. Singer Chris Rea on his album 'Deltics' commemorates the Club in the song 'Down at The Twisted Wheel'. Rea is said to have written this song, because of his chagrin at being too young to go on the organised trips to the Club's weekend all-nighters leaving from his hometown of Middlesbrough in the mid-60's.
By 1970, the club's reputation was that it specialized in rare and uptempo soul. Following a visit to the Twisted Wheel in 1970, music journalist Dave Godin noted that the music and scene at the club, and in northern England in general, was quite different from the music played in London. His description 'Northern Soul' became the accepted term for this genre and subculture.[1]
The club shut down in early 1971 because of a bylaw which prevented premises from staying open more than two hours into the following day. Since 2002, nostalgia soul nights have been held in the original Whitworth Street location on the final Friday of every month. These nights feature the original DJ playlists, and many original members attend such as Brett Speddings, Alan Trotter and John Watson. Two 'Goldmine' recordings,Twisted Wheel and Twisted Wheel Again, feature songs from the original DJ playlists.
