You can email SOUL AM / contact Master J at:
info@soulunique.net or soulunique@aol.com
Alternatively, click on SPIN BIN tab to the left to contact the show direct!

MJ was born in Greenwich, London, where a passion for music started at a young age courtesy of the legendary house parties which his mum held in the mid-seventies.  What was it about these parties that was so inspiring? 

"I was only around 6 or so, but I can remember the grown-ups really feeling the boogie.  They were captivated and enveloped in joy by the grooves of the era - the bump, the hustle, flared trousers, satin pants, and afros.  All the building blocks a soul DJ could ever need.  Plus add in Evel Knievel and the Star Wars trilogy and the Force is complete!"

These early influences have had a lasting effect on a DJ who manages to recapture this magical feeling in every one of his shows and sets. Transporting each and every listener to a time and a place that was very special, a whole new generation can share in some of the magic of this glorious era along with those who experienced it first time around. 



MJ's record-spinning path started in 1981 with the task of sorting out the sounds for late great Steve Walsh.

 "I was basically a record joey, and big bags they were too"

It was in the summer of 1982 when he got his big break in London, doing the warm-up set for Lindon Tee, Gordon Mack and Steve Walsh. And he hadn't even left school!

During the early eighties, definitive stations such as Radio Invicta, Horizon, JFM, LWR and Solar Radio helped create a huge increase in the awareness and popularity of soul music.  It was inevitable that soul music would break down all barriers, and a young MJ was very much part of this pioneering era in radio's history.



MJ enjoyed spells on two of the leading radio stations at the time, Horizon and Solar radio.  Here he met up with the legendary Les Adams who helped bring something completely new to the soul music experience: the Master Mix.  MJ couldn't have taken his inspiration from anyone better, Les Adams going down in history as a man who helped change the face of UK radio forever. This is Inspiration which, he says, has stayed with him to date.

 "In the early 80's, the only way to spend your bank holiday weekend was at Caister. London was also hot and the artists knew that! Maze, Jean Carne, Luther Vandross - just a few who graced our shores. My friends at Mastermind Roadshow brought over Africa Bambatta to set a new spin to playing on the wheels of steel!

I have had the pleasure of seeing music eras change and change again and the DJ's that change with them. But me! I don't think so! Here's some clubs on my circuit you might have got down to: Vibe, Spats, 100 Club, Ronnie Scott's, Pink Flamingos, Gin Palace, Dunn Cow, The Wag, Gossips, Legends and many many more"



More recently, MJ received an invitation to join leading London based radio station Unknown FM.

"The owners were original soul heads from the school of funk. There was one small catch....9 AM till Noon Sundays! I took it and named it SOUL AM. I soon found out it was one of the best moves I have recently made. Real music listeners both young and old with nothing but respect for the grooves we all love"

The show has become essential listening for London's many soul devotees.  The show's unique nature has included many features over its many years on air, including:
The Dance Decade - playing homage to ten years in order per week to club
Soul from 1977/87 - each week a new year, just like being there
Undiluted - playing 3 club classics chosen by you the listener via email
Classic Artists - paying homage to artists, albums and compilations, such as the Street Sounds collection.

The show is soon to enter into its 6th year.

"I love soul music and I hope you do too!" - The Master Jay, 2008

  COMPILED, PRODUCED, MIXED AND ARRANGED BY MJ FOR SOULUNIQUE.NET


   SUNDAY MAY 17, SUNDAY MAY 24 & SUNDAY MAY 31 2008

Pirates had landed in London from laying siege to our shores since the Sixties. Not the type, mind you, that hid out in the fog and stank of weed (seaweed, that is). Not the type that would completely gut you, as director john carpenter depicted so well in his 1980 classic and aptly named “The Fog”.

No, the type of pirates that occupied London were far more sinister, way more threatening and much more dangerous. A real menace to society. So the government would have you believe.

This was  the 80s, and these pirates swapped their swords and muskets for vinyl and cans of Holsten Pils.  

These were the pirates of London radio, who brought to a needy public the soul music that they craved.

To you and me, this was the most exciting of times for our music. So much so, in fact, that I firmly believe that all these brave pioneers are directly responsible for the success of our genre of music through the passing decades.

Back then, clearly record labels cashed in on the marketing potential, and boy did they tap in: all of a sudden UK artists had a bagful of not only stateside labels, but also UK ones (10 Records anyone?).

All this, of course, would not have worked without some incredible publications and the right methods of distribution, both of which added much excitement to these times.

 

The publications were led by music magazines Blues and Soul, and “more feet on the street” Echoes (or as known back then, Black Echoes magazine) were must-read literature and imperative to the scene.

 

As for the distribution, London Town played host to some of the most brilliant record shops ever: Central Groove records in Greek Street, Hitman Records in Soho, Dave and Nigel at City Sounds Holborn, Red Records Brixton, to name just a few.  These were frequented by so many jocks, including me, back in the very early Eighties. 

 

As usual, the mainstream stores cashed in too, with the Our Price franchise muscling in on the act. But instead of the expected and typical watering-down process, so often associated with corporations who at this time latched onto all things soulful, some say that this mainstream exploitation actually brought significant awareness to the soul scene.  Importantly, it gave local high streets access to the vital vinyl 12”s which previously have only been accessible via London’s West End.

 

 

Compilation albums had been around since the 70s.  Be honest, how many of you still have your old K-Tel lps?  Actually, some were quite good, but many only provide nostalgia value. 

 

But then a set of compilation albums came along that broke the mould.

 

“DON’T WALK; BOOGIE” was sign-of-the-times cover art: so simple, so effective, very 70’s.  When StreetSounds Edition One graced our stores in 1981, it was, in my heart on par with the Death Star final scene in Star Wars. Well, nearly.

 

StreetSounds 1 was Jam packed with full 12” versions, mostly imports, the likes of which were never before witnessed on any album.  This gave a brand new platform for our artists to release their music, and to spread the word that soul was here.  

 

These LPs were an absolute must for both collectors and jocks alike and throughout the early 80s, the Morgan Khan franchise created Street Wave records and endorsed many, many soul events: anyone remember the party of 1984 at the Hammersmith Palais?  This was a big event for me, having worked with – or rather been Baggage Joey boy for - the late great Walshie [Steve Walsh] for about two years.  (Actually, I had also been playing at that time, but still carried the bags).

Tony Blackburn, Greg Edwards and Steve Walsh headlined this event which was a complete and total road-block. Back then, Lenny Henry was by far the funniest man on television.  It was by no fluke that in his hit series, The Lenny Henry Show, one of his characters ran a pirate radio station from the back of his shop, each week playing the hottest soul tune.  Thank you Lenny, for helping our cause.

 

Some say back in ‘82/’83 that there was a shortage of lino (the cheaper version of floor tiles), as all across the world younglings were ripping them up from their mums’ kitchens to graze, mame, and break limbs trying the latest craze out of the states: break dancing.

 

The sort of words that appear in the heading above alone were enough to compound your passions to show off, but to me and the youth the world over, it was well worth a cricked neck to look cool in front of the babe giving you the once over in the crowd.

 

Yes I admit it, I break’d for girls, at first.  And second! Yes, to show off to all the “honeys on the sidelines”, but like most things you are passionate about you do get better.

 

Hearing Planet Rock bellow out in Kisses nite-spot on a Saturday night in ’82, I was hooked.  The Southbank, with JFM and Tim Westwood, was the place to be back then, when body-popping and lokkin were all the rage (and so was the A&E, ouch!).

Like Disco and Soul before, Breakin’ was yet another global success.  So much in fact that Hollywood caught wind and released in Summer of ‘84 “Breakin’”, a.k.a  “Breakdance The Movie”.  Commercially watered down for the masses, it was a smash at the box office, but purists say that only Rufus and Chaka’s “Ain’t nobody” was its saviour.  So, to put things right, next came “Beat Street”, with superior artists and tracks, much grittier and more urban, and to this very date featuring the best ten minutes of Breakin’ ever filmed.

 

If you were part of this very very special time, and maybe walk with a limp, remember, you were part of something so original.

And so unique ‘till 1986 hip hop be bop, don’t stop.

A DANCE DECADE
MASTER J - SOUL AM - LONDON

  COMPILED, PRODUCED, MIXED AND ARRANGED BY MJ FOR SOULUNIQUE.NET


  SUNDAY 20 APRIL, SUNDAY 27 APRIL & SUNDAY MAY 4 2008

"Now I can join in", I hear some of you say to yourselves, over the course of these many many soulful years on this quite incredible journey, and love affair with soul music, I have had the pleasure of meeting so many patrons of the groove.  But I must say honestly that there are a few among you I have encountered that have what I call, “self-destruction of the soul”, when they talk it sounds like they are embarrassed about their age and feel that they would be uncomfortable coming out and dancing the night away, just like they used to.  

But there are the others among you, who when we merely utter the words THE EIGHTIES, their enthusiasm for all things soulful is unbound like they have been part of the coolest thing to ever happen to music!

Well, GUESS WHAT!

You have been part of the best thing to happen to not only music but Soul Music, Our Music.

 

Continuing our celebration, the Dance Decade breaks new ground leaving behind the hardship and recession of the late 70s and enters the age of positive thinking -  1980.

In the decades I have love through, none have been greeted with such enthusiasm and colours.  On both sides of the Atlantic, things in the soul community were happening:

Stateside, having licked their wounds over the death of disco (or more like assassination!) the big bands were again in the recording studios, experimenting and forging new sounds.  To add to the already present origins of 70s funk grooves and once vibrant and hypnotic disco scene, the synth was reborn - as invented in the 50s by Harry Olsen and Hebert Belar, who were employed at RCA's Princeton labs.  This peace of tech genius was adopted in the mid 70s by Mr Herbie Hancock, who single-handily made the instrument his signature sound, and for almost every other band to follow in the Fantastic 80s.

Over here in the not so United Kingdom, London was not as diverse as it is today (let’s not go there !), the Thatcherites saw to that. But, something strange was happening in club-land. More and more nightclubs were opening, which some say was to cash in on what had been bubbling under the surface of London’s Underground warehouse party scene.  People like (the now “Sir”) Norman Jay of Good times had been filling up disused factory’s for years before, and the mainstream was now calling.

 

Unlike the US, where soul was dubbed black music only, here it was different. Soul music was the driving force of any good club.  Don’t get me wrong though, to most others outside this scene soul music was black music.  But to me, soul music has no colour, I simply know and respect its origin! Our music has evolved so much and embraces all who feels its power, and having a soul would help.

 

MODERN DAY Pirates

In the 60s and 70s the UK coast lay siege to pirate ship Radio Caroline, broadcasting off  our coasts, bellowing out then controversial music to all.  Yes, you guessed it, Soul had a platform aboard this vessel too, courtesy of Mr Tony Monson.

It wasn’t until 1981 that these modern day heroes would reach land when Radio Invicita and Horizon’s first broadcasts were  heard, airing twice weekly.  They dazzled us all – finally, we had another platform for our music other than club world.

 

Most importantly, they were not alone  (note later changing to Solar Radio in 1984).

JFM, standing for “Jazz Funk Music”, launched in London with some truly first-rate club dj’s, each with his (or her) own unique but professional presenting skills.  This made these stations both a joy and a must to listen to. Later on came KISS FM, again absolutely wicked when a pirate station, way back then!  (More to follow when we reach 1985).

 

T.K.O. (“total knock out”), Rock to Rock, Reggie and Rare Groove – and so many more, all filled the airwaves

The artists benefitted the most from the surge in stations, with so much air play of soul, funk and boogie, the mainstream could not ignore the record sales any more.

 

Then Top of the Pops came calling.

 

The British soul artists were hard at work in the studios also and again pioneering  new with old, out came Jazz Funk music from the likes of Beggar & Co, Atmosphere, Confunction, Freeze, Central line, The Real Thing and Hi Tension, all playing an important part.  As did the fashion industry, since soul boy attire was very smart: spats shoes, white shirts, Gallini tops, Gabbichis, Farah trousers and of course Waffles, while sporting one earring in the left lobe! And not forgetting the soul belt in thirty different colours (big smile to that one!) and that’s without even mentioning all the fanstatic sportswear. To name just a few:  Fila, Adidas, Sergio Tacchini,  Lyle N Scott and Pringle.  Or was it golf wear…..  How cool did we look?!

 

1982

1982 was when it all happened for me, having seen top djs every weekend live at Kisses nightspot, such as Gordon Mac of JFM/KISS fame. And yes, I was underage! Well underage, in fact.

 

One Sunday eve I was able to witness something than helped forge my path as a Jock to this date.   This on the Tube (TV music programme rather than Northern Line variety) and was a first - a brit dj named Froggy, real name Steve Hewlett was, guesting on the show.   He had been in America for 3 years working with New York dj Larry Levin, of Studio 54 fame, and a young Judge Jules was trying his hardest with dry wit to put reason to Froggy having 2 decks. 

 

I was blown away! Even more ironic was he had two copies of the unreleased David Joseph’s (ex-lead of Hi tension), You Can’t Hide Your Love.

 

The rest is history.

 

For me personally I love the 80s for so many great reasons.

Be proud if you lived trough this magical era.  My timeline through is but from one perspective on the dance-floor, and I for one am so proud to have witnessed such changes for the better.

A DANCE DECADE
MASTER J - SOUL AM - LONDON

  COMPILED, PRODUCED, MIXED AND ARRANGED BY MJ FOR SOULUNIQUE.NET


  SUNDAY 6 APRIL & SUNDAY 13 APRIL 2008

A phrase now that has more meanings that I can mention!

Transport yourself back to the mid seventies in our time machine, which I would willingly take a hammer to once there to right some wrongs, if I didn’t have a beautiful family and some pretty cool friends....

"I'm going down", back then, meant life’s on the slide, a term often used by super talented singers, producers, and artists who knew all to well what struggle meant as America suffered yet another depression there songs captured the mood all too well: JAMES BROWN, BOOTSIE COLLINGS, PARLIEMENT all to name just a few portrayed the hard time but still fell on deaf ears.

It wasn’t until the heavenly vocals of GWEN DICKY, lead vocalist of the band ROSE ROYCE, cut the hit I'M GOING DOWN that the mainstream could not ignore the message any longer. How could they? This infectious tune cut straight to the hearts of hurting Americans and, backed up by an album, ripped straight from a major motion picture it became the smash hit of 1978.

 

1978 is where our mission starts to celebrate these pioneering artists, unsung heroes and lovers of the groove. For the next ten weeks we will, hopefully with your help to via the SPIN BIN, revive, recapture and most importantly celebrate all those rare gems presented to you via my show SOUL A M. Remember, the tunes you hear are always originals, only ON vinyl... CAN YOU DIGG IT?

I know you can, as it all gets very interesting late seventies. This was when we felt the death of disco, sabotaged on purporse. But disco captured hearts, making all it touched happy, giving people hope, all of which was not on the menu. Disco music was adopted, mainstreamed, used in adverts and cheesy promotions - all intended to water down hope! And it did just that. This was America and so it didn’t stop there, such was ferocity in which the destruction of disco was orchestrated, they had more than a few believe all disco was the devil's music. In fact, we had mass bonfires in baseball stadiums to rid people's lives of this phenomenon, and many also say it was just a way to get rid of "BLACK MUSIC" and the message behond it.

The artists slipped back into the underworld. But they soon re-emerged with something even powerful to coincide with a new decade...

A DANCE DECADE
MASTER J - SOUL AM - LONDON

Each week for ten weeks you get to re-visit and re-revive all the magic that that year had to offer the dance floors worldwide. It starte with 1978 and continues weekly until we reach 1988. You will hear all those forgotten gems, you will get goose pimples - sometimes on top of the last lot - but best of all when another listener has chosen a place, be it a bar or club also from your past, it feels almost magical.

Did I mention you can also send in tunes you love for the next weeks show, making the dance decade Fully interactive? Now with the all new SPIN BIN, you can submit a classic tune either at work or at your own leisure all the way up until Friday. Click on the tab to the left to start putting your tracks in the SPIN BIN.

For the very 1st time to SOUL A M , track listings will appear here for the weekly shows 2.
The SPIN BIN, the place for you to submit your all important tracks for future airplay via SOULUNIQUE .NET

SUNDAY 30 MARCH - FEATURED ALBUM/ARTIST:

 

This fine artist /producer/musician/singer best selling album to date, at least from a sales standpoint: it peaked at number 14 on the pop chart, 25 slots higher than 1980's Pizzazz. Still working with a core group of associates -- including Freddie Washington, Charles Mims, Paul M. Jackson, and Marl Henderson (along with a still young Gerald Albright) -- going back to her earlier Elektra albums, the material here is as hypnotic as ever, but some say came at a high price of lighter rhythms or less memorable melodies.

 

Track listing:

1. Forget Me Nots
2. I Was Tired of Being Alone

3. All We Need
4. Number One
5. Where There Is Love
6. Breakout!
7. If Only
8. Remind Me
9. (She Will) Take You Down to Love

I invite you to enjoy vinyl cut, like a fine diamond. 

MJ SOULUNIQUE

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