"Blues & Soul Magazine"

**jaybs** · 08-21-2010, 01:52 PM

Received my copy of "Blues & Soul Magazine" Special today, a real bumper edition for the first one back in print again, it may cost £10 but good interviews with The Four Tops and Temptations to name two.

The magazine are talking about returning to print and I hope they do, but this time keep to real soul and not such as hip-hop and dance as it did go, I grew up with the magazine and would love to have it back once more.

**tomato tom** · 08-21-2010, 02:24 PM

Couldnt agree more, I grew up with it too.

**tamla617** · 08-21-2010, 08:44 PM

i got it from issue 92 i think [[bill withers on the cover towards the end of '72) great mag went thru the probs 1st by the competition [[black music a monthly mag) then going weekly [[from fortnightly) and back to normal again.there wasnt and never has been a better soul mag.at worst the news was only 14 days late as opposed to over a month[[with black music).the staff writers were the bee's[[dave godin,frank elson,sharon davis, i forget the rest,sorry,long time!)i started getting the mag again in 2002,what a mistake.the editorials littered with" innit" and "down to da biznez" bollocks.sorry to say what ever they do they have an uphill task getting it back to where they were.dumbing down wiv da hood,left the soul fans for some pipe dream.i wish them luck but i aint getting caught again "innit"

**marv2** · 08-21-2010, 09:19 PM

I've heard of this magazine, "Blues and Soul" since being on this forum. It is it something only made available in the U.K.?

**tamla617** · 08-21-2010, 09:49 PM

marv2
it has always been available in the US.i can remember the 1st one i got [['72)had the dual price £/$ so it was on sale over your side.hate to think what it would cost you now
it never went as far as to have american ads or pretend to be anything but a british publication tho'
check out the site http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/208/bands_1000/ bob killbourn is one of the original b&s guys [[i forgot about!)

**marv2** · 08-21-2010, 10:30 PM

I never knew that. Thank you Tamla617!

**motownmorph1** · 08-22-2010, 05:22 AM

got my copy as well, got to say it is a super read! Hope it comes back in print on a regular basis!

morph

**alanh** · 08-22-2010, 05:22 AM

I agree with you Tamla, the magazine certainly went too 'street cred' in later years. On the other hand, I suppose they might have been trying to bring in new younger readers. Whatever, they lost me and other dedicated customers who had supported it for many years [[I started in the early seventies). I wish them luck if the current owners want to restart it as a 'published' magazine - they'll certainly need to get the old/new music balance right this time and employ decent writers. But the biggest problem will be re-establishing it in a difficult magazine market where the majority of music magazines are seeing declining readership. I've been looking out for the new 'special' in Smiths and other newsagents but not seen it anywhere. I'd like to have a look at it......but frankly it'll have to be very, very good for me to pay £10 for it!

**tamla617** · 08-22-2010, 05:36 AM

i only ever saw b and s in a newspaper shops in london.
where ever i was i had to special order it.
the 1st one i bought was 15/20p! here is a 76 edition on ebay now http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BLUES-AND-SOUL...t=UK_Magazines

**theboyfromxtown** · 08-22-2010, 07:18 AM

Tamla617 - that one has the Supremes in it so I am sure Marv will be pleased.

The first one I bought was in pounds shillings and pence. I guess it was about 2/6 or 3 bob at that time.

**timmyfunk** · 08-22-2010, 08:56 AM

I used to love Blues and Soul back in the day, but I dropped them back in the mid-1980's. I picked up a copy here and there afterward, but it just wasn't the same. I don't know if B&S and could compare with something like Wax Poetics, which now represents the gold standard of music publications.

**tamla617** · 08-22-2010, 09:54 AM

timmy funk
wax poetics is that just the old sounds or contempary stuff aswell.
U.S. publication?thanks in advance

**timmyfunk** · 08-22-2010, 10:33 AM

They cover R&B, Soul, Blues, Funk, and Hip Hop.
Damn near everybody that's featured on the cover of their magazine is in my record collection.
I don't think I can say that about any other magazine out there. Even B&S.

**paladin** · 08-22-2010, 11:29 AM

It was a very good magazine in its day.

**CliveR** · 08-23-2010, 01:32 PM

It is great to see B&S back in printed format, and I am delighted to have made a small written contribution to this special issue, actually published to tie-in with the Vintage Festival [[dealing with music and culture over five decades) which was staged last week.

In conversation with Lee Tyler [[editor) and Claire Daniell [[publisher), they are both very aware of how far B&S drifted away from its 'traditional' style and content late 90s, and are acutely aware of the need to return the magazine to its original musical values should the return to printed-paper become regular.

I have bought the mag since day 1 [[Home of the Blues 1), into its Blues & Soul identity, and regularly through the decades [[as the trunk of back-issues in my loft will testify), but stopped buying it when it 'went off the rails'.

The new issue is a welcome return to the best of popular soul journalism - more in-depth coverage remains the province of In The Basement, Juke Blues and other UK-based mags.

Clive R

**wonder_b** · 08-23-2010, 08:11 PM

Been a subscriber throught the 70's up until 2001 when I just couldn't read anymore about the crappy music they had chosen as a new direction for the mag. Bought back all the issues I was missing up to #1. There never was a better soul mag... Wax poetcis is great but it's a totally different concept. They're talking about music from the past when B&S was documenting the music as it was being released... It was a privilege to grow up with this music...

**timmyfunk** · 08-24-2010, 12:16 PM

But where can B&S go at this point. They'd have to balance their focus between today's contemporary artists and the legends of yesteryear. At best, they'd have to mirror the template of Wax Poetics to some degree, especially considering how surprisingly successful WP has become.

**tomato tom** · 08-24-2010, 12:43 PM

I bought this mag from approx 1972 until it went hop hop/rap/crap....Hope it goes back to its roots. Bring back John Abbey, David Nathan, Bob Kilborne, Sharon Davis [[ooh 4got, shes back...Thank God) Keep on Motown trackin Girl!. I never understood, IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT!.....Paulo XXXXX

**tamla617** · 08-24-2010, 06:29 PM

wonderb and paulo
both of you spot on!
blues and soul was the only soul mag [[early 70's as far as i knew/know) until the monthly black music.all that did was give you the news a month late and mirror everything blues and soul had done the previous month.at least 2 even had the same front covers as blues and soul mags.
the b and s staff writers were the bee's
b and s was run and staffed by a bunch of soul fans for soul fans.black music was run by a magazine publishing empire [[ipc i think) out to cash in on the rise in popularity the soul music scene.
before i discovered b and s,i used to buy the popular music papers NME and record mirror for the half page [[if i was lucky) of snippets of soul news,and next to no reviews.

they wouldnt go far wrong to completely reprint blues and soul and issue a reprint every issue with the lates news of releases of old stuff ONLY!
we can dream cant we?