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Two edits of rare cuts from Tommy Stewart – both of them great! "Practice What You Preach" is heavy on moogy moments – bubbling beautifully over the cut's funky club bottom – then getting sweetened by strings, and cut up and stretched out by this great edit! "Bump... read more

Amazing rare grooves from Tommy Stewart – the Atlanta studio wizard who cut some of the hippest club tracks in the south at the end of the 70s! This package digs way deeper than even Tommy's classic self-titled album – to feature some obscure and unreleased material that show the... read more

The incredibly rare underground funk of Stone Coal White – whose couple of raw, incendiary psych funk 45s have been furiously sought for years – fleshed out here with newly discovered and previously unissued tracks for this most amazing full length on DJ Shadow's Cali Tex label! Stone... read more

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Great work from this famous Italian maestro – sweeping, soaring instrumentals – but also a bit funky at times too! Ettore brings a real soundtrack approach to most numbers – fitting, given that most tunes here are film themes – and he uses full strings, plus some nicely... read more

A very cool update of older vocal group modes – taken into sublime 70s territory with arrangements and production from Willie Hutch! Street Corner Symphony were part of the 70s doo wop revival movement – but unlike some of their acapella contemporaries, they were always happy to let in... read more

Uptempo east coast club soul – not entirely disco, and more like the indie work of the immediate generation before – a time when groups were picking up their groove a bit more than before, creating some lean, soulful tempos for the dancefloor! Arrangements are by Bert DeCoteaux and... read more

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Late 70s soul fusion from masters of the groove – perhaps the best ever by the late 70s supergroup Stuff – featuring a core group that includes Cornell Dupree, Steve Gadd, Eric Gale, and Richard Tee! This time out the smooth sound is vibrantly top notch – all produced by Steve... read more

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One of the most obscure Stylistics albums of the 70s – a smooth late 70s modern soul effort, headed up by group soul maestro Teddy Randazzo! Teddy wrote, arranged, and produced the whole set – and the record nicely links together older group harmony styles, especially 60s uptown soul... read more

A masterpiece of harmony soul – one of THE all-time greats of the genre, and a lasting treasure from The Stylistics! The album really took vocal soul to a whole new level for the 70s – pushing from the sometimes fragile ballad style of the late 60s into a smoother, more mature sound... read more

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A classic indie cooker from Sugar Billy – a bit funky, a bit clubby – and a really great batch of grooves done in a pre-disco mode! The tracks are all pretty darn upbeat – somewhat warmer than the funk of Fatback or Kool & The Gang, but still with a nicely rough-edged feel... read more

Ahh, the dancefloor soul perfection of the beautiful Donna Summer – and classic late 70s production by Giorgio Morodor and Pete Bellotte – songs that are played often, even to this day, but will never be played out! Was this the one that coined the phrase "shipped gold, returned... read more

A double-length, 4 act disco fantasy from Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder – both very much at the height of their powers here – and able to keep up enough energy to make it through what was originally 2LP set! The work's a unified sort of story – kind of a disco opera of sorts... read more

Masterful funky soul jazz from the mid 70s – and one of the best solo albums recorded by Headhunter Bill Summers – a sunny batch of Bay Area funk that really grooves with the best of Fantasy Records from the time! The set was produced by Skip Scarborough, and has that great bubbling,... read more

One of the greatest records ever cut by Sun – the late 70s funk group who some excellent albums for Capitol Records – a group whose records never made the charts as strongly as their contemporaries, but not for lack of quality! This set's a great batch of heavy ensemble funk with an... read more

A pair of stormers from Sun – back to back on a single CD! Wanna Make Love is one of the greatest records ever cut by Sun – a group whose records never made the charts as strongly as their contemporaries, but not for lack of quality! This set's a great batch of heavy ensemble funk... read more

A great batch of lost funky club tracks – heavy moog in the mix, making some great wikki-wikki sounds over the album's smoothly grooving tunes! The group's got Gregg Phillinganes and Roger Smith in the frontline on keyboards – they also play Arp and Fender Rhodes next to moog –... read more

Obscure little disco record, issued on the Pi Kappa label, and with an uptempo east coast sound that's part disco, part Buddah-type soul of earlier generations. Paul Kyser handled the whole project – and wrote, arranged, and produced all the material. Most of the tracks have an instrumental... read more

6 numbers in all "Girls Out On The Floor", "Fire 121", "Do It To The Beat", "We Don't Need No Music", "Laugh The Night Away" and 'Rocko Laugh".... read more

Funky soul covers from a host of hit blacksploitation films – played in fresh new versions by the mysterious Super Dudes! Most of the tracks here follow the originals pretty closely, but have some different elements that we really appreciate – slight changes in rhythms or... read more

Cream Of The Crop may not have been a huge hit for The Supremes, but the record has them handling a variety of interesting work – mostly done in modes that bring the best Motown styles of the 60s into closer contact with the label's more expansive sound to come in the 70s! There's a really... read more

One of the great mid 60s Supremes album – at a time when they could really do no wrong – and featuring a couple of their bigger hits! I Hear A Symphony was produced by the team of Holland & Dozier – and Holland-Dozier-Holland are the credited composers for most of it –... read more

Groovy late 60s work from Diana Ross & The Supremes – a record that has them breaking the Motown mold a bit, and hooking up with a nice variety of modder soul and pop modes! Tracks on the set include a few Motown-penned numbers, but the trio also tackle hits like "Everyday... read more

Groovy late 60s work from Diana Ross & The Supremes – a record that has them breaking the Motown mold a bit, and hooking up with a nice variety of modder soul and pop modes! Tracks on the set include a few Motown-penned numbers, but the trio also tackle hits like "Everyday... read more

Really one of the nicer late 60s efforts by the Supremes – now with Cindy Birdsong in the group in place of the departed Florence Ballard – with the now well known title track, and a number of other great pop soul numbers, with the classic Motown sound! The Supremes could arguably... read more

One of the later Supremes albums with Diana Ross as the headliner – and the final Supremes album with Holland-Dozier-Holland pulling the strings – and led of by the incredible title track! "Reflections" is a straight up incredible tune – one of those late 60s Motown... read more

The Supremes take on the classy Copa nightclub – and really bring down the house with a stunning mix of warmth, charm, and soul – especially on this incredible expanded edition from Hip-O Select! The original album is perhaps one of the "livest" of Motown live albums from... read more

A record that might be easy to write this off as a mistake or inessential session – but thanks to some great arrangements by HB Barnum, Paul Riser, and Gene Page, plus great vocals by the groups, the record shines as much as any other Motown set from the time! The vocals are traded back and... read more

Great waves of sound here from Surface – a set that has the trio sounding even tighter and more fluid than ever – perfectly blending midtempo rhythms with their warm and sweet harmony vocals! The vibe's a bit classier than the usual mellow soul of the time – almost with a jazzy... read more

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Swamp Dogg's on the cover, riding a giant rat out of the ghetto – an image that definitely hints at some of the politics on the record! The album's one of Swamp's key classics from the early 70s – recorded at a time when he was still super-sharp – and when the character was a... read more

24 tracks of heavy deep soul from Bettye Swann – a great female soul singer from the 60s who's rarely ever gotten her due! There have been some cheaply done reissues of Bettye's work over the years, but this is the first time a full set of her best work has been put together with a good set... read more

A tasty bit of late P-Funk! The album was recorded in 1980, on the wane of the main P-Funk groups – and it features Bootsy and Fred Wesley teaming up on the arrangements, in a set of bass-heavy, mostly instrumental tracks that groove hard like the best early work by Zapp! There's a great... read more

A great back-to-basics set for the Sweet Inspirations – now working here as the trio of Estelle Brown, Myrna Smith, and Sylvia Shamwell – and working with David Porter in a strongly Memphis mode! The arrangements on the set are a bit more ambitious than usual for Stax at the time... read more

A great back-to-basics set for the Sweet Inspirations – now working here as the trio of Estelle Brown, Myrna Smith, and Sylvia Shamwell – and working with David Porter in a strongly Memphis mode! The arrangements on the set are a bit more ambitious than usual for Stax at the time... read more

The Sweet Inspirations move in the same musical direction as their once-labelmates in Memphis, the Emotions – and turn their soulful harmonies towards a sound that's clearly aimed a bit more at the northern dancefloors. However, despite the fact that the album might be thought of as a... read more

The Sweet Sweet Sweet Inspirations get the Gamble Huff treatment – and as it worked with Archie Bell, so it works with these guys – really well! The Philly sound gives the girls the right push that they need to keep from being just another snoozy Atlantic stable band, and it pushes... read more

Wonderful soul by one of the best female groups of the 60s! The Sweet Inspirations work here in a southern-tinged style similar to their classic backing work for Aretha Franklin – a sound that was already great behind Aretha, but which is even better here on its own – warm, spiritual,... read more

Heavenly soul from the lovely Sweet Inspirations! The record was the group's first secular album for Atlantic – after recording one gospel album, and doing the backings on a number of fine Aretha Franklin sessions – and it's a gem of a female soul record, with the same classic sound... read more

A sweet sweet groover from Switch – post-Motown, but still sounding great – and if anything, maybe finding a whole new groove in the process! The quintet have all the warm modes of their best previous tunes – a touch of funk at times, but a vibe that's even stronger on tunes that... read more

A seminal bit of seventies soul from Switch, and a record that really helped set the tone for countless others to come in the 80s – no surprise, given that the group's got members from both the DeBarge and Ingram families! There's a warmth here that few others can match – an earnest,... read more

A seminal bit of seventies soul from Switch, and a record that really helped set the tone for countless others to come in the 80s – no surprise, given that the group's got members from both the DeBarge and Ingram families! There's a warmth here that few others can match – an earnest,... read more

Quite possibly the best album ever from Ohio funky soul combo Switch – and certainly proof that the hope of Motown in the 80s was in ensemble group funk! This second album holds up really well, and thanks to some sweet production by Bobby DeBarge and Jermaine Jackson, the record's got a warm... read more

One of the last records Switch recorded before Philip Ingram went solo, and the rest of the guys broke off into DeBarge – and an album with some surprisingly sweet soul moments! The funky side of Switch is still stringly in place, but this record has some great little ballads ballads too... read more

A landmark soul album – and one of the first to break that acoustic-based Soul II Soul sound back into the American market. In a late 80s market of weak tinny soul albums, this one stood out as a deep rich wonderful gem, with a solid classic sound that's still pretty darn nice in any decade!... read more

A host of cool cuts from Dwight Sykes – an 80s soul artist, but one who clearly draws lots of inspiration from the laidback vibe of "Summer Madness"! There's a wonderful slow funk feel to these tracks – rhythms that strut around with an easygoing feel, while keyboards space... read more

How old was Foster Sylvers when he cut this record? Seven? Eight? Whatever the case, the little tyke forever changed the face of funky music with the incredible cut "Misdemeanor" – one of those chunky funky numbers that sounds like nothing else we've ever heard, and which has... read more

Two gems from The Sylvers – back to back on a single CD! Showcases is filled with great groovers from The Sylvers – a set cut when the group were firmly in their disco years – a great setting for their playful family-style vocals! In fact, moving to disco may well have been one... read more

The first album by The Sylvers – a hard soulful band made up of youngsters from LA, but who had a lot more going on than some of the other kiddie-soul bands of the early 70s! The group's a sextet at this point, with four male voices and two female ones – coming across as a sweet blend... read more

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A great little set from Sylvester – 3 sides recorded live in San Francisco, one more recorded in the studio! All the sides have a complicated approach to the groove – larger orchestrations that really show Syl pushing his conception of soul to the max, sounding really wonderful, and... read more

An overlooked gem from Sylvester's years on Fantasy Records – a set that has him working strongly with soul maestro Harvey Fuqua, in a really great blend of disco and more laidback modes! There's a balance here that's like early Luther at his best – a way of being proudly poised, yet... read more

Includes the Larry Levan mix, and features cover art by Keith Haring.... read more

Strange stuff! "Automatic Lover" is a clear Kraftwerk rip off, complete with robotic vocals, and a cold German backing. Very different than anything else Sylvia ever did, and proof that she was certainly a nutter!... read more

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Beautiful spacey soul from Syreeta – and proof that she was one of Motown's great lost talents of the 70s! Leon Ware did the production, and Syreeta's high Minnie Riperton-esque voice is backed by a smooth set of mellow grooves with lots of cool electronic bits and weird moogy parts that... read more

Syreeta's a bit past the point of her early genius here – still singing in that warm and sweet style we love so much, but working with Jermaine Jackson, in a setting that's sometimes a bit too cold for her magic to fully take place. Overall, the album's got a few nice numbers – and is... read more

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Plenty of Magic here from T-Connection – a clubby set of tracks, yet one that's still put together more like a funk combo record from the mid 70s! The instrumentation is mindblowing – impeccable guitar and basslines, set to snapping rhythms that really capture the best Miami funk mode... read more

Funky club from the always-great T-Connection – all extended numbers, served up in one dancefloor-packing set! T-Connection are easily one of our favorite groups from the late 70s club years – and although they played big in discos, the combo also had a core instrumental sound that was... read more

A soaring stormer from T-Connection – and a set that has them sounding even better than before! There's a perfection here the group didn't have with earlier releases – a quality that goes way past indie funk ensemble, into the realm of some of the best mainstream acts on the bigger... read more

Great work by one of the funkiest disco bands of the late 70s! T Connection were always a step above most of their contemporaries, especially some of the weaker pop disco acts on the TK family of labels – which was the group's home during these years. They brought a really solid conception... read more

Ten years in for the Tabou Combo – and the group's sounding funkier than ever! The album's got a groove that's even tighter than some of their earliest records – and there's a definite funky feel to the music at times – not just Haitian styles, but a nice US influence too –... read more

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Soulful fusion by one of the best groups of their genre! The CD contains both albums recorded by Tarika Blue for Chiaroscuro Records in the 70s – both of them wonderful fusion records that have an incredibly soulful sound. The group features work by soulful luminaries like Justo Almario,... read more

A Def Jam classic from Tashan – and a record that really helped bridge the gap between male soul and hip hop in the 80s! The style's still as warm and soulful as most of Tashan's contemporaries, but the record definitely shows a bit of street soul in the rhythms too – often just a bit... read more

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Grady's most obscure album – and one that's got much more of a jazzy tip than his other ones. Richard Tee plays electric piano, and the band includes Billy Butler, George Coleman, and Ron Carter – all of whom do their best to keep things hip, and not fall into some of the schmaltzier... read more

Although Howard Tate's work on Verve has gotten a lot of acclaim – thanks to an excellent CD reissue – this later album for Atlantic still remains in the ranks of soul obscurities. The album's perhaps not as great as Tate's Verve work – in that the arrangements don't fit as hand-i... read more

Incredible southern soul from Tommy Tate – work recorded in the 70s for the Koko label, a good deal of which was never issued at the time! Koko never released a full album by Tommy back in the 70s – just a smattering of singles – so although his talents are mighty, he's been... read more

One of Capitol's biggest soul bands of the 70s – and a strong sweet group who made the shift from mellow soul to the disco years. Includes the band's massive "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel", but we prefer their mellower stuff – like their sublime version of "She's... read more

Always-great work from Tavares – one of those groups who never seemed to miss, and who seemed to weather the disco era a lot better than most of their contemporaries! This 1980 album is key proof of that fact – a tremendous little set, done at a point when Tavares could have rested on... read more

Tavares chill things out nicely, definitely heading for the "new directions" in the title, and going for more of a mellow sound that was clearly going to help them reach new audiences in the post-disco years. The harmonies are as great as they always were in the early days, taking a... read more

A smooth batch of modern soul from this great 70s vocal group! By this point in their career, Tavares have already had great fame on both the radio and dancefloor charts – moving effortlessly between sweet harmony tracks and more strident disco ones. This set has the group working in a... read more

A wicked little set from singer Debbie Taylor – a vocalist who really only shone brightly for this one album – but who's left more than enough of a soul legacy with its greatness! The record's an important early effort from Patrick Adams – and it's cut with a rough-edged style... read more

The early 80s debut from singer, songwriter Gary Taylor – also playing Rhodes, piano and synth on this set – filled with nicely grooving 80s soul! The songs are solid, and though he'd go on to write songs for a number of soul and R&B stars, he lets these numbers build slowly into... read more

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A landmark album from Johnnie Taylor – a set that not only gave his career a giant boost, but which also helped shift southern soul into hip new territory in the late 70s! The music's a great change from Taylor's previous work at Stax – and the set features warm production from Don... read more

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A great little album of modern soul, cut by Johnnie Taylor years after his early raw Stax recordings, and about half a decade after his hit with "Disco Lady". The record's a surprising treat, and has Johnnie singing with smooth slick arrangements, in a warm mellow style, given a nice... read more

One of the coolest covers of Johnnie Taylor's early years on Stax Records – and some pretty great music to match! The album's got a wicked funky blues groove – with production by Don Davis that hangs nicely on both the hard edges and mellower moments – really showing Taylor's... read more

A massive double header – two great albums back to back! Rated Extraordinaire is our favorite album ever from Johnnie Taylor – an incredible set from the late 70s that really has Taylor reinventing his sound – and coming across as a great talent for a mellow groove! The album... read more

Sweet, smooth, and bluesy – perhaps not as hard as some of Johnnie's earlier Stax work, but with an increasing sophistication that really shows his development as a soul singer. The record's a good bridge into Johnnie's modern soul work at Columbia – and it's got arrangements by Wade... read more

Smoother Johnnie Taylor than in earlier years – gearing up for the shift to Columbia a few years later, with backings recorded in both Detroit and Muscle Shoals. Johnnie's vocals are still fantastic – and the album sports the great hit "Cheaper To Keep Her" – but that's... read more

Johnnie Taylor's first album for Stax – and a tremendous little set that easily stands as one of his greatest records ever! Sure, we love Johnnie in all his incarnations – but there's a special sort of something here – a rawness and earnestness – that makes the whole thing... read more

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Lean, mid 80s pop soul and funk from Tease – funky and nicely thumping work from a group that features singer and songwriter Kipper Jones! Kipper would go on to bigger and brighter prospects as a hit songwriter for other artists, but, both of Tease's self-titled sets in the 80s – this... read more

Another one of those overstuffed Motown 70s Anthologies – this time featuring 3LPs worth of Temptations classics, with tracks recorded between 1964 and 1972. The album follows the group right up to their move to ABC, and includes classics like "Cloud Nine", "Just My... read more

The Temptations on Atlantic Records – sounding different than their Motown years, and still pretty darn great! The group's got some wonderful help here from the team of Brian and Eddie Holland – still very much in fine fine form, and coming up with some backings that have a warm modern... read more

A masterpiece in psychedelic soul from The Temptations – perhaps the most perfectly realized album from their years working with Norman Whitfield! The set's awash in that bottom-heavy, rumbling funk mode that Whitfield brought to the group at the end of the 60s – served up in bold... read more

A masterpiece in psychedelic soul from The Temptations – perhaps the most perfectly realized album from their years working with Norman Whitfield! The set's awash in that bottom-heavy, rumbling funk mode that Whitfield brought to the group at the end of the 60s – served up in bold... read more

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A late 60s Motown classic – with a deep heavy soul sound that mixed psychedelic elements into a rolling righteous groove – with a style that was perfect for the political tenor of the times! The formula worked extremely well for The Temps, and shifted them from being just a regular... read more