The slow and painful death of the once highly respected BLUES&SOUL magazine has moved into its final and terminal death throws.A change in format,style and distribution since the recent death of its long time publisher,will not save this one time bastion of the U.K. soul scene,but mearly prolong its death agonies.R.I.P.BLUES & SOUL.Goodbye to the magazine that held us together through the fledgling days of the british soul underground,that brought us the wit and wisdom of Dave Godin,John Abbey,David Nathan,and many other writers that loved the music and spread the word.Keep the faith.

That should read "BLUES&SOUL" of course!

This is truley sad news.I still believe this is the best mag on the market.But due to the internet, we can get info much more quickly.

Where U @: THE LOFT

Sad news indeed. Just dug out two cardboard boxes of B&S mags dating way back when. Like you say if you wanted any info back in the day, just had to flick through Blues & Soul to find out, in amongst the pictures of Chris Hill displaying yet another jacket..........Lol

Having been a reader of B@S since the early 70s I have seen many changes in the mag(not all for the better).They have to keep evolveing to keep in touch with a growing younger readership.I do agree the Mag is not entirely how I like it (reviews not as good,and a lot less reviewed),but give it time,or call them and tell them.

Where U @: soulville hq

To Grim Reaper, you are very wrong about the 'death' of the magazine, in fact the magazine is most alive and well thankyou and we are now into a brand new era, so a bit of support & encouragement instead of negativity would be welcomed. Admittedly not everyone will like the new format to the magazine, but you cant please all of the people all of the time and you have to keep up with current trends or you wont have a business for long. Now, do we try to appeal to a vast area of the magazine buying public in the UK or just appeal to 5 soul boys in Kent? I thought so.... Weve actually had great feedback and well over 90% of our readers are actually happy with the new format. I personally have my own beefs with just a couple of things eg, reviews not long enough now etc, but overall i think the mag is better, looks better, feels better, is more concise and is different from anything else on the shelves right now. However we will continue tweaking the mag all the time over the next few months, until we are happy and the subscribers are happy. We all respect the classic journalists over the years, including as you so rightly said Dave Godin, John Abbey & David Nathan, but we have to move forward not backwards, but indeed must learn & take inspiration from these cult journos of the past. Regards - everyone @ B&S HQ

This all sounds a bit familiar,wasn't this what Jazz FM said when they changed their format to Smooth FM,and then again when they morphed into "m.o.r.hell FM" this year?.

While at Southport I picked up a copy of the new mag innit's new format.I was really impressed by the new layout and shape!!! That's why I was shocked when I heard the new's.Thank's to the B&S team for clearing it up.

As an old fixture and fitting from our tome at Praed Towers, I was perhaps more curious than many about the latest manifestation of our music's bible. And I don't think I use that term lightly.

The point being here, of course, for many reasons (tastes, trends, demographics, finance et al) the mag has constantly changed, constantly sought to find the middle ground where the specialist fan lives and does his/her listening, loving, buying, punting...

Of those changes, the most recent is the surge forward in technology, and I think you'll find that B&S has now got itself all over that like a rash. On line, our baby is again bouncing and gagging for sustanance; as in, your patronage.

As a mag, do what I have told people to do for decades (and yes, this debate is that old, and older!) and get stuck in and read it. OK, you might not like the turn on the cover,or the record of the week, but odds are say 80% of what you need/want to know that fortnight will be there, or there abouts.

True, I might be biased, but that's why I became part of it in the first place. This magazine, nearly 1,000 issues old now, is and remains important and let's not forget unique, and noone will tell me otherwise.

It's as strong as its readership, so be strong, people.

Your loyalty does you proud,Mr.Webster,but I guess time will tell, in the meantime somebody tell them that putting Natasha Bedingfield on the cover is hardly likely to save them,or add to their readership.

Personally i think the mag is better now than it has been for years. Much better presentation and content is more eclectic with other things to keep u reading like film reviews etc. The imagry is great, the print quality really good and writing and info spot on!

The one problem is that i find it hard to get any soul/black music mag in my area...........East London...go figure??!!

Where U @: home

B&S MAGAZINE ON HOLD

For those of you not already in the know, following the publication of our landmark 1,000th issue, we’re deeply saddened to report that Blues & Soul magazine has temporarily ceased publication. This is as a result of a period of prolonged financial difficulty endured by the current publisher, 4 The Wall Ltd., which has subsequently put itself into receivership. This brings to a close over 40 years of continuous fortnightly publishing of B&S.


There is some good news, however; a title with a heritage and a following as strong as B&S’s cannot be allowed to disappear, so arrangements are already in place for a new publisher to take on the title and re-commence publishing as soon as possible. At present, the best guess is that this could be achieved by late September/early October.


Bob Killbourn has asked me to send out the following statement to the industry as we currently do not have access to the B&S office in Praed Street. I am using all the industry contacts I have from my home office, so there may well be a few omissions - please feel free to pass on...


Of course, as soon as there is anything further to announce we will let you know. In the meantime www.bluesandsoul.com will continue to run but with no further content being added until further notice.


Here are B&S team contacts should you wish to reach out to any of us.


BOB: 01474 707360
JAMIE: 07909 872623
JO: 07860 150936
MARK: 07768 822623
BRU: 07956 238770
SHARON: 07931 534102


Keep the faith... Jamiex


Jamie Topham

Sad news indeed Jamie :(

Terrible news,i,ve read that mag since the early 70s.

Sad news indeedy i started buying this when i was @ school circa 1973 and actually got thrown out of my music class for reading it (well it was music) in those days we couldn't get it off the shelf not in Bognor anyway so my dear mother god rest her SOUL ordered it for me at the local newsagent we used ,i can still see her now coming home and saying your Blues and Soul has arrived,such good memories and in my mind the bible of quality Black Music
lets hope someone can rescue it

Just had a right 'benny' in my newsagents over my 'late copy' again,{ mmmmmm!!! looks like i've got to eat some humble pie this time }

thats funny

SAVE ME A SLICE RICHARD

This really is sad news. I have fond memories of visiting Bob & John at the offices in Praed Street circa early 80's and still have the B&S editions with advertisments/reviews of gigs that I did with Froggy back in the day.

Where U @: www.starpointradio.com www/myspace.com/djeddyjames

Stretch Taylor-Blues&Soul Magazine in North London.
Hi everybody, I just wanted to clarify things before any dreaded rumours start. Im in as much shock as anyone else with the news especially as I was just back from honeymoon yesterday, and after spinnin tunes at the 1000th issue party just 3 weeks ago! Its an unfortunate situation that the magazine finds itself in, especially after 40 years and on its 1000th issue. However, i must stress that the magazine is only on hold temporarily and it is not envisaged that this is the end for the magazine at all. It was on the cards for the last few weeks to be honest because quite simply, the new publisher who took over the magazine following the death of Roy Daniell was not a soul man, the music did not run through his veins and heart, and he did not put his money where his mouth is. So, we sincerely hope that by the end of September to have a new publisher in place, with 'real' finance and not an empty bank balance, to put the magazine back where it belongs in its rightful position as the worlds number one black music magazine. We would be grateful that when the magazine does hit the streets again, that you do go out and buy it to support us. In the meantime you should find the next issue will be published online at www.bluesandsoul.com very shortly. Hope you all have a wicked weekend, keep it soulful and many thanks for your support over the years. Respex. STRETCH TAYLOR - Editorial contributor - Blues&Soul Magazine

I think the biggest decline for B&S is that it is just no longer relevant to our scene. 3000 people go to caister, 4500 to Southport, 1000 people a month to the Lacy and I would imagine virtually none of them subscribe to B&S nowadays. There was a reply above from someone alledgely at B&S that said "Weve actually had great feedback and well over 90% of our readers are actually happy with the new format" WSell it is not the format that matters but the CONTENT. Also 90% of a few people is still a few people. Younger punters simply dont buy magazines, they might steal one, but they rarely subscribe. If Blues and Soul appealed more to the older crowd that frequent the events mentioned above it might still retain a healthly existence. That age group WOULD subscribe, they would collect and they would buy. They have the interest, the income and the knowledge, There are far too many yuth magazines out there for B&S to compete in that field, kids use the internet and wont pay subscription fees (even if they had a cheque book). B&S lost it when they stopped appealing to the Caister/Southport/Lacy punter of which tens of thousands exist and are not catered for. These people needed a mag that was both relevent to them, contained gig information that they would go to and music that they know. B&S should be a retrospective mag in some ways and it would find a great untapped market out there. Advertisers would want to reach the 30/40 plus age group that have the disposal income to spend on expenisve items. All in all if it returns I hope it returns to its glory days with columns by Chris Hill etc. It could do this as well as containing more "street" level content.

You make a valid point OBONEKINOBI (a name to a post helps!. Unfortunately times have changed and BNS i feel have only stuck to what they know....reviewing and featuring NEW BLACK MUSIC first and foremost. Yes it is important to look back and cover the times gone by as most of todays music is still taking from it in someway or another, but along with all this.......Advertising revenue pays the bills more than the subscribers fee, it's fact i'm afraid. Unless of course you wanna pay a fortune for your copy??
I think personally a monthly format would be better allowing more pagination and a greater coverage of all aspects of this music and the people involved in it...

The last issue (1000th) is an excellent read and i'm still looking thru it. Nostalgic to say the least! ;))

Well,some months down the line and it seems that no rescue plan has emerged, and rumour has it that ex-supremo,B.K. has moved to Cyprus.What a shame that the recent MOBOS didn't find it in their hearts(or souls) to acknowledge the passing of the longest running magazine once devoted to soul/black music.
Anybody know anything??

Two of the main contributors to the magazine in recent years, Charles Waring and Bill Buckley, have resurfaced with a new website.

www.bluesandsoulunplugged.com


It carries this notice......* Blues and Soul Unplugged has no affiliations with the recently defunct UK based black music magazine Blues & Soul.