Ady Croasdell started the 6Ts Rhythm’n’Soul Club was started 30 years ago to celebrate sweet soul music in its purest form, a Southern counterpart to institutions such as Stafford’s Top Of The World all-nighter. By the club’s fifth birthday, Croasdell was working at Kent, within the growing Ace empire, and inaugerated the idea of pressing up a highly-desirable 45 to celebrate, starting with Mary Love’s sublime Hey Stoney Face. This has continued to the present, as Croasdell’s relationship with labels such as Modern, Scepter, Musicor and Wand blossomed into vault-opening paradise. The singles have always been limited to 500 copies, though tracks later appear on compilations.
Unsurprisingly, in this market, the singles have become collectors’ items. This wonderful set drawn from 30 A- and B-sides can’t fail to be a monumental feast, studded with gems by the likes of The Platters, Melba Moore, Chuck Jackson, Sharon Scott, Garland Green and The Hytones. Picking highlights is near-impossible, but Carla Thomas’ I’ll Never Stop Loving You (unearthed by Ace’s mighty Roger Armstrong) is nothing less than transcendental, while Lorraine Chandler’s stab at a Northern James Bond theme on You Only Live Twice is oddly effective. Croasdell’s exhaustive account of compiling the singles complete a new Northern monument and an all-night cavorter’s dream.
