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This was the originating tune of the northern/modern split ("Modern Soul" meaning early 70s onwards,) extremely controversial, although I don't think anyone ever destroyed a copy.:

Modern Soul scene is worse for floating turds, this Jimmy Buffet bullshit is a £2000 record:

IMO (and obviously I'm reconstructing this historically, I wasn't there are the time) the records played on the scene got a lot better in the early 80s after the scene "died" and the Casino closed. You had venues like Top of the World in Stafford digging for slower, deeper records and playing...

Even then the best "classic Northern" (for want of a better word) does have a frantic rawness you wouldn't find on Motown:

The 100MPH wigan stomper side of things definitely lends itself to celebrating mediocrity, including stuff like the Joe 90 theme tune and barrel-scraping white pop shite like this (possibly the worst record to sell for £500+):

On the other hand, some of the best northern soul records can be had for about a tenner:

Dunno why it's taken me so long to post this one:

Wendy Rene's other heartbreaker:

Not really symphonic (more of a post-psychedelic basement trip) but I'll take any excuse to post this, a similarly rare and expensive record that I do actually own:

Spiritual jazz/modern soul crossover that just builds and builds. A rare and expensive record even by the standards of this sort of thing:

More of a lo-fi synth twilight zone floater but it hits the realms:

Horns and organ rather than strings but it's gorgeous:

Some big-city mid-60s beat ballads, maybe more Broadway than symphony at times but at their best they hit hard:

Not symphonic by any stretch of the imagination, but probably my favourite use of strings on a soul record. Gritty midtempo Southern soul (even grittier on my battered vinyl copy) but when the strings come back at around 1.24 it goes heavenward:

I suppose a second tier blaxploitation soundtrack after Mayfield and Hayes, but I love this so much (was of course put to genius use by UGK)

This record (apparently with incognito P-Funk backing) is like a gorgeous bridge between late 60s psych-soul and early 70s symphonic, no strings but a lush and trippy atmosphere:

Chi-Lites of course, Delfonics/Stylistics etc. (all the early Philly Stuff.) Surprisingly decent guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2015/apr/29/symphonic-soul-10-of-the-best

Montclairs - Dreaming Out of Season LP is a slightly-overlooked peak IMO: