1966
BABY HIT AND RUN * CONTOURS * TAMLA MOTOWN 886 * UK
The Contours last recording with Dennis Edwards on lead vocals; recorded in 1966 but was never released in the UK until 1974 just around the time that the majors were catching on to something called Northern Soul. It is, by all accounts, a Northern Soul standard and does mark something of a difference in the (one time) musical tastes of the Soul music fan North and South of the Watford Gap (give or take a town or two). While tastes have changed and even coincided over the years, to the point where many a young Soul fan in Southern England only thinks in terms of Northern Soul music, there was, back in the late 1960s early 70s, a very marked difference in the type of records favored by collectors and dancers; though at the center there would have been a large pool of much the same music. Baby Hit And Run while being a class record it is was not, because of its high end pace and tempo, one that was played in many of the clubs and dance halls in London and the South. An example of the type of Soul record from 1966 heard more often would have been something like Baby Scratch My Back, and the type of record from 1966 that would have been heard out, and held in high regard, by both sets of fans would be Open The Door To Your Heart.