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The Verve - "A Northern Soul" - Play this track here.

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A Northern Soul is the second studio album by English alternative rock band The Verve. The album was released in the United States on 20 June 1995 on the Hut label and in the United Kingdom on 3 July 1995 on Vernon Yard Records. The title is a reference to Northern Soul, an integral part of Wigans history in the 1960's and early 1970's, popular dance/music movement.

Following their performance at Lollapalooza in 1994, The Verve returned to their Wigan-based practice room to begin writing and recording songs for their second studio album. Commenting on the effect that working in the "dank rehearsal room" had on the band's songwriting process, frontman Richard Ashcroft stated: “Practising in a dungeon in Wigan for this record, you're devoid of any kind of fashion, or thought of 'This is what we should be doing'. Like a band that goes into the studio and plays the music they hear in their heads rather than what they read in magazines.”

Initially, the band tried to record the LP inside the rehearsal room itself, so that "they could record as they had been rehearsing", but, when this approach proved to be impossible, they relocated the recording sessions to rural Wales with producer Owen Morris. Tom Hiney, writing for The Guardian in September 1997, claimed that the band's experience of recording during this period was "intense and morose, but it produced an album that will still be listened to in 30 years' time. In my opinion, he was right on that one.

The band thought highly of the album, with drummer Peter Salisbury declaring it to be "one of the best albums in the last 10 or 15 years. As good as Nirvana's or the Roses", and McCabe claiming it contained "some of the best music I have ever heard by anyone". The album was a moderate success upon its release, reaching no 13 on the UK album chart. However, in later years the album saw more acclaim, with readers of Q Magazine voting it the 53rd best album of all time in 1998, and NME ranking it as the 28th best album of all time in 2003 and the 13th best British album in 2006.

Locals will recognise this reflection in a road puddle, just down Tib Street Manchester. The Northern Quarter (N4 or NQ) is an area of Manchester City Centre, England, UK, generally marked out between Piccadilly, Victoria and Ancoats, and centred around Oldham Street, just off Piccadilly Gardens.

A centre of alternative and bohemian culture, the area is usually considered to be contained within Newton Street (borders with Piccadilly Basin), Great Ancoats Street (borders with Ancoats), Back Piccadilly (borders with Piccadilly Gardens) and Swan Street/High Street (borders with Shudehill/Arndale). Popular streets include Oldham Street, Tib Street, Newton Street, Lever Street, Dale Street, Hilton Street and Thomas Street.

The Northern Quarter is part of a larger area of Greater Manchester that is on a tentative list of nominated sites for UNESCO World Heritage Site Status, a position held since 1999. Its a great place to grab some vintage clothing at Aflecks Palace, some Belgian beer, chorizo burgers at Trof or a brilliant piece of cake with custard in 1950's surroundings at Sugar Junction. Did I mention the Night & Day?

In my youth it was a street of XXX Sex Shops and pet shops. A funny mix. Its a lot less menacing than it was, fewer pet and sex shops, more trendy places & eateries.

For Dave Haslam (I can read his music books all day if I can), the Northern Quarter became the last refuge of the Manchester music scene in the 1990s: "A community, of sorts, had developed around music-makers wedded to experimentalism, from Andy Votel to Waiwan, nurtured at club nights such as Graham Massey's Toolshed and Mark Rae's Counter Culture ... In 1992, Frank Schofield and Martin Price (of 808 State) had lamented the fate of the independent record shop, yet within five years there were several new record shops in the Northern Quarter".

When you next visit Manchester, checkout the Northern Quarter. Proper Manchestor!

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

A summer portrait of Cara Philips New Brighton, Wirral with her long hair in red suit..

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC 07092182899

The Runaways - "Cherry Bomb" - Play this track here.

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"Cherry Bomb" is a 1976 punk-influenced hard rock song by the all-girl band The Runaways off of their self-titled debut album. It is widely regarded by many as the band's signature song. "Cherry Bomb" was also ranked 52nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs.

Singer/guitarist Joan Jett composed the song with the band's then-manager, Kim Fowley, and would later go on to re-record it with her band the Blackhearts for the 1984 album Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth.

The Runaways' version of the song was used in the cult classic film Dazed and Confused, and was featured on its soundtrack album. It can also be heard as a partial cover song by JoJo in the movie RV and was covered by Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart, who played Runaways frontwoman Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, for the 2010 biopic film The Runaways.

The song has been re-recorded by Jett and Currie to be featured in the video game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock as a playable song.

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

Pink Military - "Back On The London Stage" - Play this track here.

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Pink Military (originally Pink Military Stand Alone) were a post-punk band from Liverpool. Led by former Big in Japan singer Jayne Casey, other band members included former Deaf School drummer Tim Whitaker, guitarist Martin Dempsey who also played in Yachts and It's Immaterial and drummers Chris Joyce (who also played in The Durutti Column and Simply Red) and Budgie (who went on to The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees).

John Peel gave the band his support and they recorded two sessions for his BBC Radio 1 show, the first in November 1979, featuring Budgie on drums, the second in May 1980. The band's only album, Do Animals Believe In God? was released in June 1980, with the band having signed a deal with Virgin Records who acted as distributors.

A further single was released the next month, and proved to be the final release before the band split up in 1981. Casey went on to form Pink Industry, while Dempsey joined It's Immaterial and later the Mel-o-Tones. Joyce joined The Durutti Column and later played in Simply Red.

The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian Baylis assumed management and began a series of Shakespeare productions in 1914. The building was damaged in 1940 during air raids and it became a Grade II* listed building in 1951 after it reopened.

It was also the name of a repertory company that was based at the theatre. The company formed the core of the National Theatre of Great Britain on its formation in 1963, under Laurence Olivier. The National Theatre remained at the Old Vic until new premises were constructed on the South Bank, opening in 1976. It underwent complete refurbishment in 1985 and in 2003, American actor Kevin Spacey was appointed as new artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre Company which received considerable media attention.

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(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC

Bob Marley - "Could You Be Loved" - Play this track here.

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As we arrive at the end of another year, its fair to ask if we have more love in the world now, than we had this time 365 days ago. Some dictators have gone from this world or dissapeared from view and some new ones are exerting their will. Please make it your business to spread some love this year.

Best wishes for 2012 for you, your family and photography. I look forward to seeing everyones new creations.

My final post this year is this one from the late and missed man who spread Jamaican music, much love and the Rastafari movement to the world. He left us in 1981, hopefully we got more love around the world than 30 years ago. Something to consider when you toast in the New Year.

"Could You Be Loved" is a song by Bob Marley & The Wailers. It was released in 1980 on their last album Uprising and is included on Bob Marley & The Wailers greatest hits album Legend. It was written in 1979 on an airplane while The Wailers were experimenting on guitar.

In the middle of the song, background singers quote a verse from Bob Marley's first single Judge Not: "The road of life is rocky; And you may stumble too. So while you point a finger, someone else is judging you"

Some of The Wailers most notable songs were recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band The Upsetters. During the early 1970s The Upsetters members Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother Carlton (Carlie) Barrett, formed the Wailers Band, providing instrumental backing for The Wailers.

The Wailers recorded groundbreaking reggae songs such as "Simmer Down", "Trenchtown Rock", "Nice Time", "War", "Stir It Up" and "Get Up, Stand Up".

The Wailers disbanded in 1974 due to Tosh and Livingston's refusal to tour. Bob Marley formed Bob Marley & The Wailers with Bob Marley himself as guitarist, songwriter and main singer, the Wailers Band as the backing band, and the I Threes as backup vocalists.

The Wailers Band included the brothers Carlton Barrett and "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson playing lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo playing keyboard, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson playing percussion. The I Threes, consisted of Bob Marley's wife Rita Marley, Judy Mowatt and Marcia Griffiths.

Bob Marley & The Wailers, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer all enjoyed considerable success as reggae music continued to gain popularity during the 1970s and 1980s.

Several of the group's members have died subsequent to Marley's death in 1981: Carlton Barrett and Tosh in 1987, Braithwaite in 1999, and Smith in 2008. Bunny Wailer and Beverley Kelso are the only surviving members of the group's original line-up.

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Keep in touch, add me as a contact www.flickr.com/relationship.gne?id=33062170@N08 so I can follow all your new uploads.

¿Whats this iPod Shuffle set all about? Read about it here

(c) Hotpix / HotpixUK Tony Smith - Hotpix.freeserve.co.uk WDCC