Another eminent figure from my louche and highly enjoyable youth has gone to his reward.
Count Suckle, whose mighty sound system, with bass that shook your liver to pieces, filled Notting Hill cellar dives and West End clubs and discos with the most fabulously danceable Ska and Blue Beat, later Reggae, discs you ever heard in your life, always a couple of new ones, for many years between the fifties and late seventies. He featured in and owned and ran a succession of clubs including the Q Club in Praed Street.
Suckle was a forbidding character respected by all. No one messed with him. Heavenly Choir move over...
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Thanks for mentioning this AC... you know I like a bit of musical stuff so Googled further to find this amongst others...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mPyMb0I4Y0
I thought I'd amaze Mrs F with my new found understanding of the period when she arrived home but she was way ahead of me as she'd avidly listened to the piece Radio 4 did on Count Suckle in the day.
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Thanks Fenlander... now that's what one might call dancing music. It can get me going even now, although not for very long probably...
It all seemed so normal and everyday at the time. One didn't appreciate what tremendous fun it all was (most of it anyway) in those packed, sweltering cellars solid with bodies and weed smoke.
Such an interesting period... it felt as if something was going to happen. But nothing ever did.
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The reason the Heavenly Choir might find it convenient to retire to the dressing room for a while is that Count Suckle was extremely professional. He would arrive in a car but the equipment was in a van with two or three of his men (as forbidding as he was). They could turn up somewhere and within five minutes, without a word to anyone, the gear would be arranged and Suckle already spinning the first disc.
There were other sound systems but Suckle's men wouldn't have given them a chance. No one messed with them.
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Suckle - Fenlander
