Tindersticks just released their wonderful new album Soft Tissue, which folds horn-filled soul into their sad, late night world. It’s one of the best albums in their 30 year career — read our review here and listen to it below.
We asked frontman Stuart Staples to tell us about some of the musical influences behind Soft Tissue and, unsurprisingly, he offered up a slightly different list than we usually get. He picked 10 Northern Soul singles, all of which he heard as a kid via his big sister’s record collection.
“She is 5 years older than me, a small difference now, but back when I was 9 or 10 she represented a whole other world,” Staples tells us. “A world I wanted to be part of. It was 1974 / 75 and she, like so many kids in the North and the Midlands in the UK, was deep into Northern Soul and that was the sound of our house reverberated to in this grim mining community to the east of Nottingham. She had a whole box of 7″ singles and would boast about the rarity of some. It was my first experience of the wonder of vinyl – this was a different thing to my mum’s Andy Williams LPs.”
The list includes classics like Chuck Wood’s “7 Days Is Too Long,” R. Dean Taylor’s “There’s a Ghost in My House,” and Dean Parrish’s “I’m On My Way.” Listen to a playlist with all the songs that were on Spotify, and read more from Stuart about his picks below.
TINDERSTICKS’ STUART STAPLES ON 10 SONGS THAT INFLUENCED ‘SOFT TISSUE’
Big sisters
She is 5 years older than me, a small difference now, but back when I was 9 or 10 she represented a whole other world. A world I wanted to be part of. It was 1974 / 75 and she, like so many kids in the North and the Midlands in the UK, was deep into Northern Soul and that was the sound of our house reverberated to in this grim mining community to the east of Nottingham. She had a whole box of 7’ singles and would boast about the rarity of some. It was my first experience of the wonder of vinyl – this was a different thing to my mum’s Andy Williams LPs.
There was a school disco sometime at junior school, my mum had sewn an embroidered a ‘Keep the faith’ patch on my jacket. I felt great and tried some of the dance moves my sister had taught me that I had practiced in our kitchen, throwing myself around, knocking over the dog’s water bowl.
For a couple of years, every disco, every youth club I went to was filled, not with the big hits of the day that I watched on Top of the Pops on Thursday nights, but the sound of Northern Soul. Those dancefloors must have been quite a sight, kids of all shapes and sizes attempting swallow dives and back drops. The build to choruses would have been carnage.
By the end of ’77, I was spending all my paper round money on Buzzcocks and The Clash singles and my mum had narrowed my baggy trousers. My sister was grooving to “Got to Give It Up,” her Northern Soul 7” collection gradually morphing in to disco 12”s. At some point around then, she won a local disco dancing competition and came home with a prize of the top 20 LPs. One of them was Bowie’s Heroes. That was the seed of a whole new adventure but back then, before punk, fags and booze there was Northern Soul and these are the songs I remember the most.
Dean Parrish – I’m On My Way
Dobie Gray – Out On The Floor
Al Wilson – The Snake
Robert Knight – Love On A Mountain Top
Chuck Wood – Seven Days Is Too Long
Frankie Valli – You’re Ready Now
Judy Street – What
R. Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House
Reparata And The Delrons – Panic
Candy And The Kisses – The 81
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Tindersticks will tour North America for the first time in 16 years in 2025, including two nights at NYC’s Sony Hall on March 27 & March 28. Tickets for 3/27 and 3/28 are on sale now.