In the final years of Dave's life he set about a project which he had been wanting to do for years.  I don't know if he knew he had cancer because he told me he had chronic fatigue syndrome.  I asked him once how he managed to do so much when he was so exhausted.  He said it was easy because all he had to do was a little bit at a time.  But the little bit involved travelling all over the world, talking to record producers, record companies, locating and visiting a number of obscure artists, and coordinating probably the definitive collection of influential deep soul music.  He was so delighted when the first CD was released and when the third of the four in the set was released he sent me this collection of reviews.  They are not available anywhere else on the internet and they are a testimony to the man and the collection of music.  If you want to buy these CDs there are also links at the bottom of the page.

It is a pity that the set of reviews are not complete for all four CDs but it was really good to read how acclaimed the Deep Soul Treasures were and it was a delight to know that Dave's ambition was not only coming to fruition but that it was also being so well received.

Phil Johnson, writing for the Independent, said of the 4 volumes of Deep Soul Treasures that "...[Dave Godin] created one of the towering monuments in the history of black music."

Here is a list of obituaries available on the internet:

The Gardian
Dave Godin - Champion of black music who coined the term 'northern soul'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/oct/20/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

The Independent
Dave Godin - Esperanto-speaking vegan who became an apostle of soul:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/dave-godin-544348.html

The Soul Walking web site has a beautiful piece about Dave at:
http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Dave Godin.html

Soulful Kinda Music is a web based magazine and has articles by Dave Godin and an obituary:
http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/dgodin.htm

Spectropop.com
http://www.spectropop.com/remembers/DGodobit.htm

...and here are a few memorable and inimitable quotes from the man himself

Talking about being an R&B fan he said "I suppose it's like being gay. Everybody thinks they're the only gay person in the world until they realise there's more out there."

Speaking of David Blunket (an aquantance) "That man always had a whiff of Stalin about him."

Dave knew Mick Jagger from school and introduced him to American R&B. Dave felt it was ironic that the Rolling Stones were so famous as a result of his encouraging Mick's interest in black music. Dave also disliked Mick Jagger for a number of reasons and felt that he exploited black music. Dave was with Marvin Gaye one day when Mick Jagger asked him to introduce him to Marvin and Dave famously said "Fuck off and introduce yourself."