Soul — LPs  

A fantastic bit of jazz funk fusion – and one of the landmark 70s albums produced by Larry Mizell! This is Gary Bartz's second (and most amazing) collaboration with Larry Mizell – a studio genius who could focus on the best talent of a jazz artist, then expand it using additional keyboards, percussion, and often a sweet bank of chorus vocals to give the tracks an extra soulful sound! By the time of this album, Larry had already worked to great fame with Donald Byrd, Bobbi Humphrey, and Johnny Hammond – and the record has him turning his talents towards Gary Bartz to unlock a whole hidden side of soulful expression that would never be matched again! The title cut – "Music Is My Sanctuary" – is a jazz fusion classic in anyone's book, and it features characteristic Mizell keyboards alongside Gary's soulful sax, augmented by a deep vocal chorus that's simply fantastic. Other highlights include "Carnaval De L'Esprit" and "Macaroni" – and the whole album's nice!

A massively wonderful album from Dayton – an album that has the group really getting their groove together – still sticking a bit in the older funk mode from the past, but also bringing in some warmer, deeper touches to their music too! There's a solidness here that's undeniable – a balance of rhythms and instrumentation that few other soul groups of the time were hitting – topped by vocals that have a nice dose of jazz in the mix too, with the sort of sophistication you might expect to hear from some of Wayne Henderson's At Home productions. Production is nice and warm, never too cold or commercial – and titles include the group's great cut "The Sound Of Music" – not the theme from the Broadway show, but a great two-stepper that's instantly infectious – plus "Caught In The Middle", "It Must Be Love", "Promise Me", and "Lookin Up".

An 80s groove classic – and a killer bit of Captiol Records soul from High fashion! Of all US major labels, Capitol was probably putting out the best soul in the early 80s – and this is a tight modern batch of up-tempo tracks, right up there with other contemporary classics on the label, like work by BB&Q Band, Taste Of Honey, and TS Monk! The tunes all manage to have a great groove without sounding cheesy – thanks to some nice jazzy touches in the arrangements, good hooks in the songs, and some great soulful vocals. Very, very nice – and nearly every cut's a winner! Tracks include "Feelin Lucky Lately", "Next To You", "Hold On", "When The Lover Strikes", "I Want To Be Your Everything", and "You're the Winner".

The first-ever release of this lost soul treasure – a rare session from a late 70s group from Tulsa, recording in LA at the studio of Sly Stone! The set's got a groove that's way more than you'd expect from any Oklahoma combo – a mature, modern soul sparkle that's totally great – almost the sort of vibe you'd find from some of the best groups of the time on labels like Elektra or Capitol, but handled here with a bit more indie charm overall! The tracks are all originals, and they balance out mellow steppers and tighter groovers nicely – which makes for an album that's amazingly deep in conception, and way more than just a slap-dash batch of tracks from the studio. We're sure that Sly would have been proud of the work here – and our hat's off to the folks at Lotus Land for finally getting this one released! Titles include "Funky Sounds", "Accept The Truth", "Keep On Smiling", "If You Dance Tonight", "I Love Everything About You", "On A Lovely Night Like This", "I Hope You'll Be", and an untitled track.

Although he's best known for his albums on Capitol, David Axelrod cut this great record for Fantasy during the mid-70s, and it features Cannonball Adderley producing Axelrod's work (instead of the other way around, as on Cannonball's albums from the time). The tracks here are a bit more jazz funk oriented than earlier stuff, but there's still the great Axelrod sense of composition, with lots of space, and lots of spare cold bits that are nice nice nice for sample cuts! As proof of this, the reissue includes his classic track "Everything Counts", plus other nice ones that include "Get Up Off Your Knees", "My Family", and "Mucho Chupar".

One of the grooviest albums ever recorded – a set that's funky, offbeat, and has way more to offer than most American album of the time! Swedish singer Doris really knocked it out of the park with this one – working with arranger Bert Egerbladh, who gives the set some nicely unusual grooves, often augmented by his own work on organ! The album is famous amongst the break crowd for the track "You Never Come Closer", which has a deep groove and weird fuzzy piano that's been sampled by more than a few folks over the years – but over and above that, the record's an excellent batch of off-beat pop tunes – and it feels like some of the nuttier work that came out on Capitol Records during the late 70s, as evidenced by the Blue Juice/Blue Breaks love of the record in the past decade or two. Tracks include "Did You Give The World Some Love Today Baby", "I'm Pushing You Out", "Beatmaker", "Don't", "Waiting At The Station", "Bath", "You Never Come Closer", and "I Wish I Knew".

An amazing batch of sophisticated soul tracks – and a favorite with the righteous groove scene! On the surface, the record's a combination of jazz and soul tracks in the same mode that you'd find on some of Nancy Wilson's albums for Capitol during the same time – but digging deeper, you'll find an undercurrent of politics, feminism, and social commentary delivered with surprising intensity. Marlena Shaw's voice is generally sweet, but she's set up in some extremely powerful arrangements by Richard Evans and Charles Stepney that recast even the simplest phrase into a whole new setting of strength and pride – and Bobby Miller of Dells fame also helped make the record what it is, and helped write some of the best songs on the record. The set includes Marlena's classic original reading of "Woman Of The Ghetto", which has been sampled by just about everyone, plus "California Soul", which has a nice hard break, and the tunes "Liberation Conversation", "Where Can I Go?", and the original version of "Go Away Little Boy" – as sweet a statement of womanhood if there ever was one!