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Long lost soul from Love Apple – the only known recordings made by the female vocal trio in the late 70s – rehearsal takes made with the legendary Lou Ragland! Love Apple is Lily Pearson, Annette Warren and Avetta Henry – working here with Cleveland soul mainstay Ragland, who was... read more

Ostensibly released as a project by Penthouse Magazine, and packaged in a tri-fold cover that includes loads of nudie photos of their playmates (or is it "pentmates"?), this is actually a nice bit of extended disco grooves, with some good acoustic percussion, hard conga and kick drums,... read more

Very nice comeback album by Love Unlimited, and one that still features Barry White at the helm. The music's a nice mix of midtempo modern soul groovers, with a lot of tracks that have an excellent steppers groove to them. With the cuts "I'm So Glad That I'm A Woman", "High Steppin... read more

Great stuff from the girls who first put Barry White on the map! The record is the group's second – and by this point, Barry had developed that tight snapping drum sound that made his orchestral albums work so well. You'll hear it to good effect on most songs on the LP, which have a great... read more

Excellent instrumentals from The Maestro! Barry's in fine fine form here – and he's just about the only one who could make a record with so many strings sound so funky! The album includes the excellent groover "Bring It On Up", which has a tightly snapping rhythm underneath... read more

A beautiful swirling instrumental album that features the classic "Love's Theme", the cut that made Barry a multi-millionaire, and which firmly established his sophisticated orchestral soul style as one of the trademarks of the 70s! This is the ultimate in 70s soul class – from the... read more

A tremendous little record from Love Peace & Happiness – a great vocal trio from the early 70s, and one who really shine with this overlooked gem for RCA! The trio were part of the New Birth/Nite Liters universe that producer Harvey Fuqua brought to the label at the time – and they'... read more

Excellent solo work by Lowrell Simon – once a singer with Lost Generation, but opening up a whole new style of Chicago soul here on his own! The album's a tasty batch of smooth soul tracks with a midtempo club groove – not disco, but with the kind of large production and loping groove... read more

Excellent solo work by Lowrell Simon – once a singer with Lost Generation, but opening up a whole new style of Chicago soul here on his own! The album's a tasty batch of smooth soul tracks with a midtempo club groove – not disco, but with the kind of large production and loping groove... read more

A cool promo-only radio record – one that features tracks from LTD's earlier albums on A&M, mixed with interview bits and dialogue – more than enough to act as a special radio show in itself! The album is divided up into five banded segments, each with a few songs, interviews with... read more

"Best Of" collection that takes tracks from Jon's Columbia releases Song For My Lady and Premonition. The set's a good batch of tracks with a sweet jazzy soul feel, and the LP includes most of the cuts you'd want from the other Columbia records. Tracks include "Hello Like... read more

A beautiful album from Jon Lucien – one that's been far too neglected over the years! This was Lucien's second album for Columbia – and it's a wonderfully strong effort that fuses together jazz, soul, and Brazilian styles, in a manner that recalls some of his best work for RCA –... read more

Amazing work from the great Jon Lucien – and probably his best-ever record! The album has Jon hitting a totally unified vision of spacey soul – bringing in elements of Brazilian music and touches of his Carribean roots, fusing them together with a sweet jazzy style and one of the most... read more

Wonderfully weird sounds from Lucifer – a record cut during the powerhouse 70s soul years of the Invictus/Hot Wax label, but done with a sound that's much more bluesy and rootsy than any other work for the company! Vocals are by Eugene Smith, who has a cool sort of Bay Area vibe –... read more

A great little album from Pat Lundy – an enigmatic talent who crops up a number of times over the years – but always on different record labels, and always with a slightly different sound and style! This album's one of Pat's best – and has her working in a sophisticated soul... read more

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A funky fusion classic – and quite possibly Bobby Lyle's most perfectly realized album! The set was Bobby's first full US outing, and it's filled with soaring, riffing keyboards that stretch out into territory explored a few years before by Johnny Hammond and Lonnie Liston Smith! The real... read more

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A wonderful record by Bobby Lyle – and a genius blend of jazz, soul, and lots of other righteous sounds! Lyle started out as a keyboardist, but this album really has him taking off as a vocalist too – working in a sweet Roy Ayers-styled groove – one that blends mellow rhythms... read more

A stone classic from Bobby Lyle – and a record that really has him stepping out strongly, both as a keyboardist and a singer! Bobby's strength at this point is undeniable – and he's got a perfect sense of balance that rivals contemporaries like Roy Ayers or Webster Lewis – both... read more

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One of Cheryl Lynn's early killers for Columbia – an album of tight, bouncy, joyous soul all the way through – free from any of the too-commercial touches that sometimes slowed Cheryl's later work! Ray Parker Jr produced the set – and he as well is free from the slicker sounds of... read more

Cheryl Lynn and Luther Vandross – a tremendous combination that makes for one heck of a great record! Luther arranged and produced the entire set – and he does a great job here of pushing Cheryl Lynn into more upbeat territory without getting too poppy or schmaltzy! In a way, the... read more

Cheryl Lynn and Luther Vandross – a tremendous combination that makes for one heck of a great record! Luther arranged and produced the entire set – and he does a great job here of pushing Cheryl Lynn into more upbeat territory without getting too poppy or schmaltzy! In a way, the... read more

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An incredibly captivating album of female soul – unlike anything else we can think of! Side one features a suite of tracks that details an ill-fated love affair in 4 modes: Introduction, Hoping, Final Attempt, and The Next Time – all done in a mode that mixes standard southern soul... read more

A landmark album of the 60s – and a record that forever put Gloria Lynne on the map! The album's got a sense of poise and class that was almost a genre into itself – one that crossed Gloria over big with the title hit version of "I Wish You Love", but which was also supported... read more

Titles include "The Whisperers", "It May Sound Silly", "I Understand", "After All I've Been To You", "I Love You Yes I Do", and "It Seems To Me I'm Just A Woman In Love". Arrangements by Hal Mooney.... read more

Slow sexy grooves from Robbie M – an artist with a vibe that's just what you'd expect from his look on the cover! The tunes here are beautifully laidback, and have this slow-percolating quality that's like a mellower take on 80s club – all instrumental, and still with lots of beats and... read more

A funky classic from Galt MacDermot! The record is Galt's score for the blacksploitation film that starred Godfrey Cambridge and Raymond St Jacques – and it's a mix of vocal and instrumental tunes that takes off from the sound of his late 60s work. Melba Moore sings on a few cuts –... read more

A killer-diller bit of essential funk – the only full album cut by Maceo with James Brown production! The set's got Maceo coming back strongly into the JB fold, with a fierce array of funky cuts that kick it every bit as hard as the best JBs work of the time. No surprise, the JBs are... read more

A rare gem from Maceo Parker – the second album cut with his King's Men group in the short time he was away from James Brown in the early 70s! The set was done for the Excello southern soul label, and it's got a bit of a different groove than his work for House Of Fox with the same group... read more

A rare gem from Maceo Parker – the second album cut with his King's Men group in the short time he was away from James Brown in the early 70s! The set was done for the Excello southern soul label, and it's got a bit of a different groove than his work for House Of Fox with the same group... read more

Incredibly great work from Machine – an album of disco tunes, but with a hipper, message-oriented feel than most of its contemporaries! The group will forever be known for their classic hit "There But For The Grace Of God Go I" – an infectious groover with a wild lyric about... read more

A dancefloor anthem if there ever was one – and produced by August Darnell, pre Kid Creole. Strong female vocals in unison – and a hook that just won't quit for the west village clubs!... read more

A raw, frantically-paced live set by boxer turned soul singer Freddy Mack – captured live at Toft's Club in the UK! It's rawly recorded, which is great, given the gritty soul style at play It's a batch of rollicking covers done with infectious energy, Freddy clearly doing his thing out... read more

Some rare early Memphis soul material by this legendary Stax combo! The sound of the recording is a bit rawer than most of the stuff we know by them, but their harmonies are great all the way through, with that hard Memphis soul sound that always made them so great! It features the earliest... read more

One of two albums produced by Rudy Ray Moore – the other being The Sensuous Black Man – which define the art of making love from a gender-based perspective. Like Rudy's Sensuous Black Man, The Madam's version features one side of "instructional" dialogue – very XXX-rated... read more

Excellent little small combo record, cut by this obscure funky jazz group for 20th Century – and probably the only thing they ever did! The album's got a number of tight short cuts, played by organ, vibes, and guitar – and titles include "Soul Samba", "Mad Hatters... read more

We remember when this one came out, everyone sort of put it down and said that Prince was caught in a crisis of overproduction. Now, though, from the perspective of his crap work in the 90s, this album stands as a beautiful bit of 80's jazz funk – and a cool batch of instrumentals that have... read more

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An early Madonna single, with production from Reggie Lucas and Jellybean Benitez.... read more

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Titles include "Over & Over", "Into The Groove", "Holiday", "Everybody", and "Physical Attraction".... read more

Freaky spandex and a mighty nice groove – a record that sounds a lot better than you might guess from the group's outfits on the cover! Magic Lady are a trio of funky females – grooving in a style that's a bit like the Brides Of Funkenstein, but a lot more stripped-down – an 80s-t... read more

A classic bit of indie blues from the Chicago scene – featuring some great players from the second generation after Chess Records stopped picking up the younger local talents! Magic Sam leads the group on vocals and guitar, and he's working here with Mighty Joe Young on guitar, Odie Payne on... read more

Great work from the legendary Magic Sam – a smoking Chicago bluesman of the 60s, and one who was taken away from us all too soon! The set captures Sam in a club in his west side home – playing with the kind of sharp and soulful style he soon made famous on his West Side Soul album for... read more

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A well-titled album – given that Taj Mahal's music is always pretty darn rootsy – and this time around, he's also adding in a bit of Jamaican roots too, thanks to production help from Bob Marley and Aston Barrett of The Wailers! The pair help Taj out on a few numbers, mixing in some... read more

A range of styles from Taj Mahal – from slow rolling, reggae tinged bluesy soul, to much bigger arrangements working in elements of funk, country soul, and more smoothed out jams on a bed of brass and backing vocals – Taj is all over the place here, and it a lot of it works surprisingly... read more

Titles include "Leaving Trunk", "EZ Rider", "Dust My Broom", "Diving Duck Blues", "The Celebrated Walkin Blues", and "Statesboro Blues".... read more

Two of our favorite albums by The Main Ingredient – back to back on a single CD! Euphrates River is a wonderfully complex batch of tunes that shows that the group were taking a cue from some of their hipper contemporaries, and pushing past a stock hit formula. Bert DeCoteaux was still... read more

A killer set from a group that never lets us down – stepping out here in a sound that's more modern, more mature than their hit work of the 70s – yet still filled with all the sublime harmony soul we'd expect from the trio of Tony Silvester, Cuba Gooding, and Luther Simmons! Wade... read more

Some of the greatest work ever by The Main Ingredient – a selection of their singles for RCA records from the late 60s and early 70s – but one that goes way past just the hits, in order to fully trace the evolution of their heavenly vocal style! The trio started out as an already-great... read more

A pair of great early albums from Main Ingredient – Tasteful Soul from 1970 and Bitter Sweet from 1971 – in a single set! Tasteful Soul is one of the groups earliest records, with a great set of Bert DeCoteaux arrangements, and a totally sweet soul harmony sound! The arrangements are... read more

One of the few non-hip hop singles on Pop Art, and a mellow modern soul number by Major Harris.... read more

Although South African vocalist Miriam Makeba had been cracking the American scene for the better part of the 60s, this was the album that really put her on the map – as her hit version of the song "Pata Pata" forever guaranteed that African-tinged grooves would have a place in the... read more

Funky b-boy classic! Sure, Malcolm was a blood-sucking vampire who was hungry enough to exploit any trend he could get his hands on – but in this case, he did all right, and came up with an album that stands the test of time in the breakdance crates. Includes the classics "Buffalo... read more

A great debut from The Malemen – a short-lived group in the recording studio, but one who spent many years on the southern scene as a well-travelled showband! The group have a more modern vibe here than they might on the stage – a sweet 80s groove approach that features plenty of tight... read more

A great debut from The Malemen – a short-lived group in the recording studio, but one who spent many years on the southern scene as a well-travelled showband! The group have a more modern vibe here than they might on the stage – a sweet 80s groove approach that features plenty of tight... read more

A late Norm Whitfield production from the 80s, with a slick commercial soul groove, that's a bit more lean than a lot of his other work. A bit of an odd sidebar sort of record, but not without a few nice moments. Includes "Dance With Me, Baby", "What You Gonna Do", "Easier... read more

The last album ever issued by the enigmatic studio collective Mandigo – a batch of British musicians, but recording here in the best Afro Rock mode of the 70s sound library scene! As with some of the best British projects of this nature, there's a lot of different elements at play in the mix... read more

We have to admit we've passed this album up for years and years, as it seems to be rather ubiquitous in these parts, and boy were we mistaken! Side one is mostly instrumental, and sounds like a lost Dexter Wansel album, with sophisticated, spacey post-fusion arrangements and a quasi-futuristic... read more

Although some of the albums that Mandrill made were a bit weak, and had too much hippy-dippy stuff, this one is one of their best albums, and has a nice hard funky sound that they didn't always match. The album includes the funky break classic track "Fencewalk", plus other groovers like... read more

One is one of their best albums, and has a nice hard funky sound that they didn't always match. The album includes the funky break classic track "Fencewalk", plus other groovers like "Hang Loose", and "Don't Mess with People".... read more

Mandrill's first album of funky Latin jazz and soul – a landmark in crossover styles that still sounds remarkably fresh today! Unlike later records, which feature a tighter funk sound, this one has the band jamming out in a Latin-inflected mode that sounds like some of the best Chicano bands... read more

A tasty set from Mandrill – one of their first records away from the Polydor label, but every bit as great as later efforts for that company, especially Mandrilland. The overall sound is a bit smoother than some of their full-out funky albums – but in a way that really helps blend... read more

Wonderfully tight work from Mandrill – a real standout from the years at Arista – and a set that seems to take all the key instrumental energy of the Polydor years, and focus it on a soulful groove that's even more soaring than before! The energy is wonderful – very much like the... read more

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Group soul titans The Manhattans – still going strong at the end of the 70s & beginning of the 80s – a pair of underappreciated albums together in a single set! First up is 1981's Black Tie – recorded in Chicago with producer Leo Graham – who brings a somewhat polished... read more

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Wonderful sounds from Teena Marie – the last album she ever recorded before she left us way too soon – and a beautiful set that has us missing her more than ever! The vibe is even tighter than the Congo Square album, but there's also a classic sensibility and depth that takes us back... read more

Teena Marie on Stax Records – something we never thought we'd see, but which we're happy to applaud, given the strength of this set! Teena's arranging and producing herself here – and the record has some of the best tight soul modes of other recent sets in the Stax revival – an... read more

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Maybe the greatest album that Teena Marie ever cut – and that's saying a lot, given the strength of the lady's work for Motown! The set's got this bright, positive bounce that grabs you right from the start – but also moves into a depth that's way different than other funk albums of... read more

Maybe the greatest album that Teena Marie ever cut – and that's saying a lot, given the strength of the lady's work for Motown! The set's got this bright, positive bounce that grabs you right from the start – but also moves into a depth that's way different than other funk albums of... read more

Teena Marie steps out strongly on her own – really knocking it out of the park on this initial album for CBS – entirely written, arranged, and produced by Lady T! The grooves are as funky as before, but possibly have a leaner quality overall – a tighter 80s groove approach to the... read more

A definite breakout from Louisa Mark – a set of smooth-stepping rhythms with plenty of Jamaican elements in the mix – yet served up in a warm London vibe that's plenty soulful too! The mix of modes is great – and makes the record a lovers' rock classic right from the get-go... read more

Vintage Memphis instrumentals from The Mar-Keys – a record cut at a time when the group were still rising up with the same power as Booker T & The MGs! There's a very similar vibe going on here – tight rhythms and no-nonsense combo instrumentation that's heavy on organ and tenor,... read more

Two great Memphis instrumental groups, back to back on one CD – in a smoking little live set that keeps the Stax Records sound strong – even away from the studio! The set's actually heavier on work by Booker T & The MGs than it is cuts by The Mar-Keys – as Book and crew... read more

Very righteous work from Esther Marrow – a soul sister who sings with a hell of a lot of power! The set's an overlooked gem in the Fantasy catalog of the 70s, and it's one of only two secular soul albums cut by Marrow – and quite possibly the best of the bunch, too! Esther's got some... read more

An offshoot of the 4AD rock scene from the UK, this number sampled Rakim from "Paid In Full" to great effect – and it made quite a bit of sense that the track was issued on 4th & Broadway in the US (probably also a legal move, so that the label wouldn't sue 4AD for copping a... read more

A sweetly stepping mid tempo disco groover with a hypnotic, stripped down Euro-disco feel that never veers too heavily into the pulsating sequencer mode or cheesy over-synthesized excess!... read more

One of the first great group albums on Motown – and a set that really paved the way for later albums by The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, and other Motown girl groups! The Marvelettes were easily one of the most perfectly-formed acts on the label at the start – and this smoking... read more

A sweet groover from the Marvelettes – and a record that completely re-casts their sound for the Motown of the 70s! The group's still got the great soprano harmonies that made their early hits so wonderful, but the arrangements on the set are deeper and more sophisticated – taking them... read more

The great first album from The Mary Jane Girls – easily their best, and an 80s pop soul delight all the way through! Rick James is firmly at the helm of the quartet for this release – and although the sound has elements of James' own crossover funk of the time, there's also an approach... read more

A lasting classic from the funky female foursome who were one of the biggest acts on Motown in the mid-80s – working here with super tight production and arrangements from Rick James – who also wrote all the songs on the record too! The girls' look is a bit dated, but their sound has... read more

A lasting classic from the funky female foursome who were one of the biggest acts on Motown in the mid-80s – working here with super tight production and arrangements from Rick James – who also wrote all the songs on the record too! The girls' look is a bit dated, but their sound has... read more

A late 70s dancefloor soul set from Mascara – an album and group that's notable for a number of reasons – most importantly for being a pre-solo star showcase for the great Luther Vandross! Mascara is an interesting international joint effort – with instrumental tracks recorded in... read more

A decade's worth of magic from the mighty Hugh Masekela – a sweet little set that brings together some of his most groovy tracks of the late 60s and early 70s – in a collection that's overflowing with goodness! Hugh's got a style here that's unlike anyone else – an approach that's... read more

One of Hugh's more poppy efforts, but still a nice batch of instrumentals with a good Afro soul groove to them, and the jaunty trumpet sound that was Hugh's stock in trade at the time. Tracks include "Actin' Like A Fool", "If I Needed Someone", "Sounds Of Silence",... read more

Sweet South African soul from Hugh Masekela – a set that shows that Hugh's greatness certainly hasn't dimmed with time! There's a warm, captivating sound to the record that draws us in right away – a maturity to Masekela's approach – a depth that not only stretches back to his... read more

Classic work from Hugh Masekela – and the album that pushed him over the top! The record features his version of "Grazin In The Grass", a runaway instrumental hit when it was issued – and a sly little groover that was based upon some earlier South African pop melodies that... read more

A nicely-done overview of the best work of South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela – featuring tracks from his groundbreaking years at the Chisa, Uni, and Blue Thumb labels! The tracks bring together South African rhythms with a buoyant, celebratory approach to soul jazz – cut by... read more

Overall, the sound on this album's very 80s, with lots of electro and synth moments poking through, and a very disco base to the rhythm. The best example of that is the big single, "Don't Go Lose It Baby", an awesome club track, popular with the deep house heads and loft scene here in... read more