Lost soul: Jackie Moore

You’re right, Jackie Moore’s not lost – she’s got her own wiki entry; and the million-selling Precious, Precious remains an oldies radio classic – but US copies of her northern dancer, Both Ends Against The Middle, are now changing hands for £25 because of the b-side Clean Up Your Own Yard.



I picked up this single 15 years ago in Hanway Street for 25p – I knew the brilliant a-side from a compilation album, and thought the b-side might just have something going for it. And how: it’s a mini masterclass in Philly soul’s hallmark of balancing the tension between heartache and floorfilling anthem.

You can get Clean Up Your Own Yard and Both Ends on Jackie Moore’s 1973 album, Sweet Charlie Babe, for a whole lot cheaper than the US single of Both Ends is fetching: typically in the UK, it’s a £12-15 album and is worth every penny. To take one song as an example: Jackie covers The Elgins’ Darling Baby and while I wouldn’t want to say it’s better than that Motown classic, it runs it very close.
Clean Up Your Own Yard