Overview
Casino Classics: Chapter One is a compilation album released by Casino Classics in 1979, which compiles the first seven northern soul singles (fourteen songs overall) that the label had released or re-released as 45 rpm releases in 1978–79 following their popularity at northern soul nightclub Wigan Casino. The singles, some of which were rare, were originally released on the label in order to cater for the nightclub's record-collecting goers at the height of the nightclub's popularity. The compilation is the first in the Casino Classics series and was released to general acclaim. It has been described as a best-selling album. In 2015, Cherry Red Records re-released the album as part of the Casino Classics: Complete Collection box set.
Background
In the 1970s, the northern soul nightclub Wigan Casino, based in Wigan, Lancashire and established in 1973, was one of the most popular northern soul all-nighters in northern England, even being voted "greatest disco in the world" by Billboard in 1978. The club's owner, Gary Marshall, alongside its founder and popular DJ, Russ Winstanley, and the nightclub's manager, Mike Walker, Though most of the music was released as singles, the label conceived a series of compilation albums named after the label, Casino Classics, to collect the music released on the label onto single LPs.
Music
Casino Classics: Chapter One is the inaugural edition of the series, compiling the songs that featured on the label's first seven singles, as well as the three tracks that comprised the Three Before Eight EP, The album's liner notes describe its songs as "the most popular sounds that have echoed around Wigan Casino for the past five years." Lorraine Silver's "Lost Summer Love" (1965) was recorded when she was 13, These were issued as the Three Before Eight EP in 1978.
Release and legacy
Casino Classics: Chapter One was released by Casino Classics in 1979; though not charting on the UK Albums Chart, it has been described as a best-selling album. Writing for Eye Plug magazine in 2015, Long John wrote that, with hindsight, the "open minded music policy" of the Casino Classics series, as established with Chapter One, "is to be applauded as the Northern scene in more recent years has succumbed to churlish elitism, by puritanical DJs and collectors, who will sneer at those whose own tastes in music are not obscure and exclusive enough to be allowed into the clique." He continued:
Side one
#The Ron Grainer Orchestra – "A Touch Of Velvet - A Sting Of Brass" #Lorraine Silver – "Lost Summer Love" #The Ron Grainer Orchestra – "Theme from Joe 90" #Reparata and the Delrons – "Panic" #James and Bobby Purify – "Shake a Tail Feather" #Lenny Gamble – "I'll Do Anything" #Allnight Band — "Six by Six"
Side two
#Allnight Band – "The Joker" #The Flirtations – "Little Darling" #Diana Foster — "I'm Gonna Share It with You #Gerri Granger – "I Go to Pieces #Jimmy Radcliffe – "Long After Tonight Is All Over" #Tobi Legend – "Time Will Pass You By" #Dean Parrish – "I'm on My Way"
See also
*Wigan Casino *Northern soul