I was just a little too young to attend the very first Caister soul weekender back in 1979, I was just a mere 16 at the time but already spending hard earned pocket money and my first wages on new UK releases from the Golden Disc record store just off the high street in Queens Road, Southend. Me and a few like-minded friends used to go there every Saturday afternoon after listening to Robbie Vincent on Radio London. New release imports and jazz cut-outs came from Record Man's stall in the lobby of the Zero 6.
I eventually made it along to my first Caister in April 1980 so consider myself to be a true Caister veteran! It was a magical experience and without any exaggeration, a life changing one at that. I remember being mesmarised at how Chris Hill was able to work the main room into one hot swaying frenzy with records by the likes of Deodato and Tom Browne and how Chris Brown always seemed to attract a seemingly more sophisticated crowd in the little room at the side playing some of the rarer jazz and soul imports. I also recall seeing Eddie Grant doing a P.A of "Living On The Frontline" and hearing new releases from the likes of Cameo, Ronnie Laws and Slave for the very first time. So with the 30 year anniversary looming and having not been to the event for 10 years, I just knew that I had to get on a plane and go back one more time.
So what is the Caister Soul Weekender like now as it turns 30 years of age in 2009?
Well, it's certainly no longer the cutting-edge musical pilgrimage that it once was back in the early days of the event but what it lacks in that department, it more than makes up for in other areas. The crowd are there to dance to the old classics, the soundtrack of their youth if you like. Even those in attendance who are still closely associated with the soul scene - and a good few still turn out for more events than just Caister - don't seem to be unduly put off by the fact that few DJ's seem prepared to push the muscial boundaries very far these days. Having said that, there is still some great music to be heard - maybe not always at peak times anymore but it's there if you want it, you've just got to look for it and support those DJ's that are playing it. I'm sure they will keep those sessions alive so long as enough people want them.
Chris Alexander played a great set of soulful house in the club room on Friday night and showed that he is one of the few amongst this DJ team that even if he's not up there with New York's premier house DJ's or the late Froggy, can mix it up with the best of them. He is also equally comfortable playing main room anthems as he is newer material and put together a well received but to my mind overly long reggae set in the club room on Saturday night. Ian and Rob are not everybody's taste - but to this day they remain original, fresh and take no prisoners. I absolutely love their no bullshit approach, for them it's about the music. They go out hard in full-attack mode from the very first break and don't stop until their time is up. "Sombre Guitar" never fails to hit the spot.
Chris Hill put together a great jazz and latin flavored set in the main room on Sunday afternoon. In the early years the place would have been packed for this but the weather was good for a change and the BBQ sessions have taken on a greater social importance at recent events so it was left to just a few hundred die-hards to savour. Before going to the Goldmine around 1980, alot of us had never heard real jazz in a club before, let alone tried to dance to it. Hilly's selections such as John Coltrane's and Mark Murphy's "Milestones" and "Black Whip" by Ivan "Boogaloo" Jones took us back to those days and reminded us of how our ears were opened up to this music for the very first time. Tom Holland did the same thing with a great selection of 60's and modern soul on Saturday afternoon.
Gary Dennis remains one of the finest modern soul club DJ's and supreme tastemakers in the country. The poor fella was feeling a little under the weather throughout the entire weekend but as usual still managed to drop some really great tunes and tried to give it his absolute all. Roni O'Brien put together some wonderfully entertaining soulful sets, whether it was in one of the rooms or on the radio and always seemed to have a sizable group of Soulful Squires in tow to support her. Pete Collins will be the first to admit that he was something of a late bloomer as a premier league soul DJ. Long before we both worked on Starpoint Radio, I'd known Pete since the mid 1980's when we both used to work on a pirate radio station that was run by Keith Stafford as an Essex based offshot of the old JFM. I also used to work in Basildon back in those days at Fat Sam's and the New Yorker and Pete was resident at a pub called The Flying Childers. Caister 2009 loves Pete Collins and why shouldn't they? He knows what they want and he gives it to them with sense of humor, a big smile and with no questions asked.
It's tough to criticize any aspect of such a long running and successful event that remains popular with thousands of people, although to make it a little fresher I think there is room to include more newer releases at main times without losing the vibe that defines Caister. I also couldn't quite work out why at one point on Saturday night there was reggae being played in both of the main rooms. I left Chris Alexander's reggae set in the club room to the strains of Janet Kay's 1979 reggae-pop hit "Silly Games" to be met only a few minutes later by, you've guessed it, "Silly Games" in the main room! P.A's from the likes of Kenny Thomas and Nat & Gee from Light of The World don't begin to compare with what is being served up at other events such as the Southport or the Luxury Soul Weekenders in Birmingham and Blackpool but nobody seems unduly fussed by that either. It sounds like a finale cliche but Caister really is all about the people where the original soulboys and soulgirls of southern England can forget about problems at work, the bleak economy or the kids and descend on a familiar old caravan camp by the cold north sea. It's a chance to share more than a few drinks with old friends, make a few new ones and party to the music that carries with it so many fantastic memories. Long may it continue, happy birthday Caister!
