Soul — All Formats  

It's always a sign of how huge Frankie Beverly was during the 80s that Capitol let him cut not one, but two double live albums during the early part of the decade. This one, his first, has the band grooving wonderfully before a crowd going mad in New Orleans. The tracks retain all the charm of the studio renditions – and are stretched out a bit more, with some nice interplay with the crowd. Includes early Maze classics – like "Happy Feelins", "Southern Girl", "Look At California", and the big sample track "Joy & Pain".

It's always a sign of how huge Frankie Beverly was during the 80s that Capitol let him cut not one, but two double live albums during the early part of the decade. This one, his first, has the band grooving wonderfully before a crowd going mad in New Orleans. The tracks retain all the charm of the studio renditions – and are stretched out a bit more, with some nice interplay with the crowd. Includes early Maze classics – like "Southern Girl", "Look At California", and the big sample track "Joy & Pain".

Titles include "Can't Get Over You", "Silky Soul", "Just Us", "Love's On The Run", "Mandela", and "Songs Of Love".

An amazing debut album from Frankie Beverly and Maze – as perfect as the group would ever sound, with an impeccable approach to both funk and ballads that put them at the top of the stack immediately! Of course, Frankie had been knocking around in indie soul obscurity for a number of years before the album came out – which is why he's so perfectly formed at the start. And like Maurice White, another soul star who spent many years woodshedding all over the place before hitting the majors, Frankie has the talent to lead the group to a unique place in the star system of soul – a unique orbit that was important to mellow soul as Earth Wind & Fire's was to funk. The record features some unbelievably amazing numbers, gems that shine again year after year, no matter where you hear them – on an AM radio, a crusty old tape in a car stereo, or bursting out of the grooves of this beautiful LP. Great ones include the sublime stepper "Happy Feelin's", the smooth mellow groover "While I'm Alone", and the tightly compressed "Look At California".

The first album from Chapter 8 – a set that's probably best remembered for introducing the world to Anita Baker, but one that's also pretty darn great on its own! Chapter 8 have a sharply soulful focus, one that takes them a bit above some of the other mainstream ensembles of the time – a balance of grooving rhythms and deeper feelings that's just about perfect – about at the level you might get from Maze or LTD, two other groups who both sported equally soulful lead singers! Gerald Lyles sings the male parts alongside Anita, and the blend is perfect – one that should have made the record even bigger than it was at the time, but maybe all that much better, since the lack of hit quality really keeps things fresh. Titles include the singles "Ready For Your Love" and "I Just Wanna Be Your Girl", plus "Don't You Like It", "Let's Get Together", "Come & Boogie", "I Go Disco", and "We Need Love".

A great early album from Con Funk Shun – a mix of funkier tunes and some excellent smooth modern ones in step with the mellower work by Cameo or Maze – done with more soaringly emotional sounds that moves beyond their peers! A love for earlier 70s styles might be what pushes Secrets above and beyond – honest, intimate, and at times just more focused in the vocals department than both the funky soul groups of the time and the quiet storm singers of the approaching early 80s – and still doesn't spare the bass, horns and funky interplay! High points include the closing instrumental "Indian Summer Love" and funky centerpiece "Ffun" –plus "Doowhachawannadoo", "Who Has The Time", "Secrets", "Tear In My Eye" and "I'll Set You Out OK".

A super-funky set – two vintage albums from Con Funk Shun – back to back on a single CD! The self-titled Con Funk Shun album is quite different than their later, better known hits! The group sure knew how to slap that bass, even back on this first album for Mercury – but then again, they – along with other big Mercury groups like The Ohio Players – were pioneering the bass-heavy sound that would influence countless bands over the next decade in soul. This first album's actually one of the group's best, with some nice rough edges that we like even more than the smoother sound of later albums. And oddly, some of our favorite cuts are the mellower ones – like the smooth jazzy instrumental "Foley Park", which has a nice moogy solo in the middle. Other good mellow cuts include "Another World", which almost has a "Summer Madness" quality to it, plus "Forever Just Ain't Long Enough" and "Never Be The Same". Secrets is a great early album from Con Funk Shun – a mix of funkier tunes and some excellent smooth modern ones in step with the mellower work by Cameo or Maze – done with more soaringly emotional sounds that moves beyond their peers! A love for earlier 70s styles might be what pushes Secrets above and beyond – honest, intimate, and at times just more focused in the vocals department than both the funky soul groups of the time and the quiet storm singers of the approaching early 80s – and still doesn't spare the bass, horns and funky interplay! High points include the closing instrumental "Indian Summer Love" and funky centerpiece "Ffun" –plus "Doowhachawannadoo", "Who Has The Time", "Secrets", "Tear In My Eye" and "I'll Set You Out OK". CD also features a bonus track – "Ffun (12" version)" – a clubby killer!

Smooth and soulful club from the mighty Capitol Records – one of the few major labels to really understand a groove at the end of the 70s! The 2CD package is a wonderful tribute to the hipper soul coming out of Capitol at the time – a set that features some hits, some album tracks, and a fair bit of rarities that we've never seen on CD before – some lesser-known club cuts that sit beautifully here next to the bigger names in the collection. But big or small, the artists here are all pretty darn great – much more soul artists heading for the clubs in the late 70s than quickie disco acts just looking for a buck. The collection features 31 tracks in all – including a few non-Capitol cuts – with tracks that include "A Little Bit Of Love" by Gentle Persuasion, "Expressway To Your Heart" by Margo Thunder, "Sophisticated Lady" by Natalie Cole, "Windstorm" by Gloria Jones, "One Thing On My Mind" by Evie Sands, "Surrender" by Barrett Strong, "Do It Good" by Taste Of Honey, "I'm Back For More" by Tavares, "Save Your Love For Me" by Donna Washington, "Conscience" by Sun, "Party In Me" by Gene Dunlap, "Our Love Is Insane" by Desmond Child, "I'm Going Through Changes Now" by Brown Sugar, "Southern Girl (live)" by Maze, "Adventures In Paradise" by Minnie Riperton, "Man Up In The Sky" by Barrett Strong, "Positive Forces" by Tavares, "Sixty Thrills A Minute" by Mystic Merlin, "Street Corner" by Ashford & Simpson, "We All Need Love" by Troiano, "Annie Mae" by Natalie Cole, "Don't Tie Me Down" by Brown Sugar, and "Ooh Child" by Charles Jackson.

Perfect stuff for fans of 80s groove! This set features 12 killer modern soul cuts pulled from the catalog of the Capitol/EMI labels – home to some of the smoothest most soulful work in the early 80s, lots of which is pretty darn tough to get on reissue these days. According to the notes, all the tracks are taken from the original 12" single mixes – and the times for nearly all tracks is well over 5 minutes, perfect for groovers! Titles include "Just Can't Give You Up" by Mystic Merlin, "Love On A Summer Night" by The McCrarys, "Dancing In The Night" by Lanier & Co, "Working Up A Sweat" by Full Circle, "On The Beat" by BB&Q Band, "Joy & Pain" by Maze, "Rock Me Tonight" by Freddie Jackson, "There Ain't Nothin (Like Your Lovin)" by Paul Laurance, "Love's Comin At Ya" by Melba Moore, "Sound Of Music" by Dayton, and "Solid" by Ashford & Simpson.

One of Motown's leading hopes in the early 80s soul scene, and for good reason too! These guys have a wonderfully well-rounded approach – great on ballads and even more compelling on groovers – a balance here that puts them proudly in the company of contemporaries like Maze or Slave, with a sound that's sometimes right in the middle of both. Titles include "Don't Take My Love Away", "There'll Never Be", "I Wanna Be Closer", "Best Beat In Town", "I Call Your Name", "You & I", and "My Friend In the Sky".

Nice compilation of the Temprees' great vocal group sides cut for the Stax/We Produce label in the early 70's. If you don't know this stuff, their harmonies are great, and they deliver up a soulful batch of tracks that sound more like they would have come from the great east coast group recordings in Philly and New Jersey from the time, than they would have come from Memphis. 12 tracks in all "Love...Can Be So Wonderful", "I'm For You, You For Me", "Explain It To Her Mama", "Love's Maze", "Dedicated To The One I Love", "My Baby Love", "A Thousand Miles Away", "You Make The Sun Shine", "At Last", "Come And Get Your Love", "I Love, I Love" and "(Girl) I Love You".

A funky explosion of dancefloor grooves – key 70s club cuts from Capitol, Blue Note, and TK Records – all packaged together in a massively upbeat set! Most tracks here move at a pretty quick clip – and represent the funkier side of the 70s disco scene – cuts that draw more from tight instrumental jamming than from smoother tricks in the studio! Almost all numbers have some sort of lyrics, but they usually take second stage to the rhythms – and a fair bit of the numbers are long, with timings that move well past the five minute mark. Titles include "Changin" by Brass Construction, "Do What You Wanna Do" by T-Connection, "Is It In" by Jimmy Bo Horne, "Wrap Your Arms Around Me" by KC & The Sunshine Band, "Freak In Freak Out" by Timmy Thomas, "Singing Hallelujah" by Queen Samantha, "Caricatures" by Donald Byrd, "Pack It Up" by Gonzalez, "Do Ya Wanna Get Funky With Me" by Peter Brown, and "Time Is On My Side" by Maze.

Amazing! Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid 70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". CD also features 5 bonus tracks – "Shining Star (future star)", "All About Love (first impressions)", "Happy Feelin (anatomy of a groove)", "Caribou Chaser (jazzy jam)", and "That's The Way Of The World (Latin expedition)".

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 difference, though, is the album's sweet soulful production from Wayne Henderson – who hooks in the best bits of Bobby's sound, and fuses them with a modern soul-styled groove that creates the same blend of jazz and R&B that you'd get on some of Eddie Henderson's best records from the time, or some of the best Ronnie Foster work on Columbia from a few years later. Bobby's keyboards are capable of hitting both a soulful groove and a deep jazzy vibe – and the record's got a rich palette of tunes that never fail to amaze us! Titles include "Mother Nile", "You Think Of Her", "The Genie", "Pisces", "Magic Ride" and "Night Breeze".

Ahhhhh . . . By this point, George Clinton and the P-Funk team were on top of the world! The record is a masterful dose of slick mothership jamming – perfectly woven together with that tightly compressed style that really served Clinton's production work well. The tracks are long, but never too loopy – and thanks to help from the Bernie Worrell, Jerome Brailey, Gary Shider, and the Horny Horns, the album stays very tight instrumentally all the way through! Loads of Parliament classics, including "Bop Gun", "Funkentelechy", "Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk", and the massive "Flash Light", which we've heard a million times, but which never ceases to amaze us!

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 difference, though, is the album's sweet soulful production from Wayne Henderson – who hooks in the best bits of Bobby's sound, and fuses them with a modern soul-styled groove that creates the same blend of jazz and R&B that you'd get on some of Eddie Henderson's best records from the time, or some of the best Ronnie Foster work on Columbia from a few years later. Bobby's keyboards are capable of hitting both a soulful groove and a deep jazzy vibe – and the record's got a rich palette of tunes that never fail to amaze us! Titles include "Mother Nile", "You Think Of Her", "The Genie", "Pisces", "Magic Ride" and "Night Breeze".

Two classics from this legendary team – packaged here with bonus tracks too! First up is the self-titled Sam & Dave album – one of the best ever albums by this incredible soul duo! Sam & Dave may have been one of the bigger names on the 60s scene, but they also had a sheer raw soul approach that blew away most of their contemporaries – a way of trading vocal lines then combining them that infused their songs with a tremendous amount of power – and which gets past any easy cliches you may have about Atlantic or Stax soul of the time! The album's virtually a blueprint for countless other acts that cropped up to steal the duo's style in years to come – but it's still one of the best of the bunch, and almost without equal. Titles include "Soul Man", "May I Baby", "Hold It Baby", "I'm With You", and "Rich Kind Of Poverty". I Thank You is a killer by Sam & Dave – recorded in Memphis with crack work by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter, and unfortunately a record that was recorded by Stax, but stolen by Atlantic in their 1968 takeover of the label! Sam & Dave are at the height of their powers here – hitting on all burners with that tight funked-up southern soul style that made them one of the most popular acts of their generation – and although the pair may be familiar, they've got an energy that never fails to amaze us on a record like this! Titles include "I Thank You", "Don't Turn Your Heater On", "Love Is After Me", "Talk To The Man", "Don't Waste That Love", "Wrap It Up", and "You Don't Know What You Mean To Me". 2CD package features 9 bonus tracks – including "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down", "Soothe Me (live)", "This Is Your World", "Can't You Find Another Way Of Doing It", "Still Is The Night", "Soul Sister Brown Sugar", "Come On In", "Born Again", and "Get It".

Amazing! Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid 70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". CD also features 5 bonus tracks – "Shining Star (future star)", "All About Love (first impressions)", "Happy Feelin (anatomy of a groove)", "Caribou Chaser (jazzy jam)", and "That's The Way Of The World (Latin expedition)".

Ahhhhh . . . By this point, George Clinton and the P-Funk team were on top of the world! The record is a masterful dose of slick mothership jamming – perfectly woven together with that tightly compressed style that really served Clinton's production work well. The tracks are long, but never too loopy – and thanks to help from the Bernie Worrell, Jerome Brailey, Gary Shider, and the Horny Horns, the album stays very tight instrumentally all the way through! Loads of Parliament classics, including "Bop Gun", "Funkentelechy", "Sir Nose D'Voidoffunk", and the massive "Flash Light", which we've heard a million times, but which never ceases to amaze us!

The second album by Soul II Soul, and although not as totally great as the first, still filled with some very nice moments, and the band's trademark modern classic soul style. Guests include Courtney Pine, Kym Mazelle, Marcia Lewis, and Fab Five Freddy – and tracks include "Get A Life", "People", "Courtney Blows", "Time", and "Our Time Has Now Come".