All Points Bulletin - I'm On My Way

This is the second of three All Points Bulletin songs, which were recorded in 1998, one year after Ian Levine first discovered Steve Brookstein after seeing him come second on an ITV talent contest, hosted by Jonathan Ross. This is a version of a legendary Northern Soul classic, originally recorded by Dean Parrish. Steve was rather taken with Dean, because vocally he sounded very similar, although thirty years younger, and Dean, like Steve, was white but sounded phenomenally black, so this song, which was one of the closing records at the famous Wigan Casino, was such an obvious song to showcase Steve's a amazing and husky voice, a full six years before he even thought of trying out for the X-Factor. So then, way back in 1998, after trying a few solo records, plus a duet with Steve's then girlfriend Kate Jackson, who also recorded under the name Venicia Wilson, Ian decided to form a new Northern Soul band around Steve. This band was called All Points Bulletin, and Kate Jackson was also in the band. Ian was making a documentary about Northern Soul, called "The Strange World Of Northern Soul", and the idea was to create a new young fresh Northern Soul band to show that the scene didn't have to be just about thirty year old records. So All Points Bulletin made three songs, "I'm On My Way", "Lucky Number", and "You've Been Away", and filmed two of these songs in a rehearsal room in North Acton, with, curiously enough, Ian Levine's cousin, Daniel Glatman, in the band, before Daniel went on to create Blue. Ian's partner in the documentary, Neil Rushton, got cold feet about All Points Bulletin, so in 1999, when the film reached its final edit, the footage was left on the cutting room floor at first. So here is the priceless video footage of Steve Brookstein almost ten years ago, with his first Northern Soul band, prior to The Four Vandals, singing "I'm On My Way".