Like Jackie Wilson said

Been listening to this great Northern Soul mix from Greg Wilson, who talks about the fickle nature of that scene towards tunes it deemed 'popular', highlighting two different Jackie Wilson tunes that he's included in the mix... excerpt below...

"The scene was notoriously very snobbish about its music, dropping a previously loved record like a hot potato because it had subsequently achieved commercial success, although it was this fervent elitism that played a major part in its success and longevity.

It’s also the reason why a track many might consider to be as Northern as they come, like Jackie Wilson’s ‘(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher’ (a Detroit artist doing an uptempo dance track with Funk Brothers backing) isn’t Northern Soul according to those at the cutting-edge of the scene, despite the fact it was a big favourite in the Soul clubs following its 1967 release.




It’s sin was that it became a UK hit in 1969, just before the Northern scene got into its stride, so, along with a whole heap of Tamla Motown tunes that are Northern in everything but their failure to connect with the masses, it was banished to the realm of pop.

This is why another famous Jackie Wilson track, ‘I Get The Sweetest Feeling’, this time a 1968 recording, which, on the surface, given it’s much mellower vibe, is far less stereotypically Northern than ‘Higher And Higher’, is, in contrast, considered a bone fide Northern classic – the reason being that ‘I Get The Sweetest Feeling’ didn’t become a hit until 1972, having broken out of the Northern scene, then in full swing..."




Jackie Wilson pop video for I get the sweetest feeling made by Giblets (Rob MacGillivray, Mike Sumpter, Carol MacGillivray and Michael Olley) for the rerelease of the record in 1987.

"We had already done a showreel piece of claymation for Jackie Wilson which resulted in Reet Petite becoming number one in the UK charts. The record company let us choose which single to rerelease next and let us shoot whatever we wanted within a small budget.

We had no good footage of Jackie to work with so we came up with this to try and express what our favourite Jackie Wilson song meant to us. We were just trying to create a moment in time for two people in love."