Soul — All Formats  

Rough and raw work from Big Bill Broonzy – well-done sides that feature Bill on vocals and acoustic guitar, recorded in Paris in the early 50s, and issued here in a US package on the Scepter label! There's a pretty earthy feel to most of the tracks – a real "crossroads" feel that possibly has more to say about postwar European perceptions of the blues than the actual sound of the American scene at the time – but from the perspective of over 50 years later, there's a definite classic feel to the record that really stands the test of time. Titles include "Hey Bud Blues", "Coal Black Curly Hair", "Low Down Blues", "Louise Louise Blues", "Letter To My Baby", and "John Henry".

60s soul treasures from a trio of New York labels reverered for so many great singles – Sceptor, Wand and Musicor – in a great collection from Kent UK! It's filled with group acts and solo stars, soaringly emotional cuts and rawer rumbling R&B, even some early strains of funk – and includes a number of previously unissued songs from the vault that are just as sweet as the regional hits of the time. The genuine love of the material that goes into these Kent and Ace compilations continues to impress! 24 tracks in all: "That's No Way To Treat A Girl" by Marie Night, "I Want A Guarantee" by Maxine Brown, "Stick By Me" by Ed Townsend, "Sweeping Your Dirt Under My Rag" by Ann Bailey, "Diamond Ring" by The Fabulous Dinos, "So Help Me Woman" by George Tindley, "Speed Up" by Betty Moore, "You Got It Baby" by The Toys, "Walking With Pride" by Dan & The Clean Cuts, "Ain't No Love Lost" by Patti Jo and more.

Some of the greatest work ever recorded by Allen Toussaint – his legendary Toussaint album for Scepter (aka Whisper To A Scream) – plus some rare late 60s singles that have never been on CD before! The core album is amazing – Allen Toussaint's first big move as a solo act, and the start of some great fame that would blossom even more strongly in the 70s! This indie effort has a rougher edge than Allen's later albums at Warner Brothers – a sly, wicked slow funk approach that's a real transformation of the older New Orleans groove for a hipper, more contemporary 70s audience. The instrumentation is relatively lean – with lots of nice organ and piano lines alongside slow-stepping and vamping rhythms – and the set was actually recorded in LA, but still has very strong roots in New Orleans! Titles include the classic "From A Whisper To A Scream", plus "Working In A Coal Mine", "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "What Is Success", "Either", "Pickles", and "Louie" – a few of which are hip piano instrumentals! 17 track CD completes the genius of this point in Toussaint's career – by adding in some killer funky singles – including "Get Out Of My Life Woman", "Gotta Travel On", "We The People", "I've Got That Feelin Now", "Tequila", and "Hands Christiananderson".

Wow! A storming collection of funk and hard grooving soul from the furiously productive period between the late 60s & early 70s – incredible material spun out by NYC labels Scepter, Wand, Dynamo & Musicor – deep stuff, too, with names that we simply don't see often enough these kinds of releases! Dynamic Grooves is just that – with killer numbers by favorites of funk collectors, but relatively (and sadly) obscure figures when it comes to mainstream knowledge all these years later – along with a few bonafide legends. Great funky soul songs by Billy Clark & The Maskman, Warren Lee, Betty Moorer, The Endeavors, Allen Toussaint, Raw Meat, Chuck Jackson, The Soul Brothers, The Backyard Heavies and more! 21 tracks in all: "Soul Party Pt 1" by Billy Clark & The Mask Man, "It's My Thing" by Betty Moorer, "Ain't That Peculiar" by George Tindley, "Chitlin' Strut" by Backyard Heavies, "She's My Meat" by Harmon Bethea, "Horsing Around" by The Soul Brothers, "Fever In The Funk House" by General Cook and more.

The monumental debut of BT Express – and an excellent funk album that often gets overlooked by fans of the music because of the band's bigger fame as a disco group! This first record has the combo grooving hard and instrumentally – in the mode of a tight blacksploitation soundtrack, with plenty of tight wah wah guitar riffing, conga beats, and funky flute and sax – topped off by just the right amount of strings to make the set soar even more! The album's best known for the title track "Do It (Til You're Satisfied)" – which was a big hit, but is still an excellent groover – and the set also includes loads of other great cuts too – like "Express", which was the original song that the created the JBs' response track "Monorail"; "This House is Smokin'", which has lots of funky descending horn bits; and other great tunes that include "Mental Telepathy", "If It Don't Turn You On", and "Do You Like It".

Fantastic! This is the kind of soul that we still collect vinyl for and are all the more thrilled to see officially reissued by careful curators such as those at Kent UK! Freddie Hughes is one of the great lost voices of the 60s, and this sparkling album of soulful tunes is a real gem – loaded up here with incredible bonus tracks recorded in earlier duo sessions! He's not the same singer as the Freddie Hughes from Chicago – and he hailed from San Francisco, a very unlikely source for such great soul music. The session was recorded with Lonnie Hewitt (Cal Tjader's funky piano player) in SF – but it's got that perfect New York Wand/Scepter "deep soul meets uptown" sound. The tracks are mostly written by Hughes or Hewitt – and they are all pretty amazing, filled with hooks that just don't quit, and some heartbreaking verses that match the work of writers like Curtis Mayfield or Garland Green. Titles include "Send My Baby Back", "He's No Good", "Tonight I'm Gonna See My Baby", "You're My Everything", "Natural Man" (the Aretha classic remodeled for a male perspective) and "I Gotta Keep My Bluff In" and bonus tracks "Love Can't Be Understood" and "My Baby Came Back". Earlier in the decade, Freddie sang in San Francisco duos Casanova II with Wylie Trass and The Soul Brothers with Ken Pleasants. This CD includes "Maybe They're Right", "Love's Philosophy", "I Was A Fool" and "We Got To Keep On" by Casanova II, plus "Let Our Love Go On", "Love's Philosophy" (Pts 1 & 2), "Where's My Baby" and more by The Soul Brothers, many previously unreleased. One more bonus track: "Do The Philly" on the Music City label, credited to The Music City All Stars.

It's plenty easy to make way for Dionne Warwick with an album as great as this – the kind of set that spawned countless imitators in later years, but which still sounds better than most of the rest! Hearing the record is almost like going back to the headwaters of 60s pop – especially the more mature version that started to take hold later in the decade at labels like A&M or Capitol. But here, recording for Scepter, Dionne's already got it all in place – thanks in large part to a young Burt Bacharach, who's set things up here with poise and perfection that match the vocals perfectly! Titles include "Get Rid of Him", "A House Is Not A Home", "They Long To Be Close To You", "You'll Never Get To Heaven", "Walk On By", and "Make The Night A Little Longer".

During the mid 70s, some of the older New York soul indies were the first to get on the disco tip – and one of the biggest was Scepter Records, who found the burgeoning movement to be a perfect foil for some of its older vocal groups and singers. This set is a lost 1975 release on Scepter, featuring disco mixes of tunes that had appeared on the label as singles – all handled by the legendary Tom Moulton, one of the greatest forces in the disco studio scene on the east coast. There's a total of 8 tracks in all – including "Make Me Believe In You" by Patti Jo, "We're On The Right Track" by Ultra High Frequency, "Wan Tu Wah Zuree" by George Tindley, "Ain't No Love Lost" by Patti Jo, "Arise & Shine" by The Independents, and "Needing You" by Clara Lewis.

Dionne Warwick's making a bit of a break from formula for this album – by singing a batch of tunes from films and shows, none of which were written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David! Yet despite this change from earlier records, the album's still got a sound that's strongly in keeping with Warwick's 60s years at Scepter Records – thanks to arrangements by Burt that help transform these older tunes, and update them with a new sense of maturity for Dionne's singing style. The real appeal of the record is the way that Bacharach changes things up with some of these overdone numbers – finding new corners to explore, and creating a sense of surprise that's quite different than other albums of this nature. Titles include "Something Wonderful", "Summertime", "My Favorite Things", "I Believe In You", "My Ship", "Anything You Can Do", and "He Loves Me".

Lovely early work from Dionne – one of the greatest voices to ever get the support of the great Burt Bacharach, the guiding hand on this tasty batch of early singles! We hardly need tell you about these tracks, because if you know Dionne at all – these are the songs you know! Titles include "Walk On By", "Wishin & Hopin", "Don't Make Me Over", "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "Reach Out For Me", and "You'll Never Get To Heaven If You Break My Heart".

One of those great 70s records that really reminds us that, way past Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwick's a heck of a great soul singer! The album's a bit more polished than some of her other post-Scepter efforts from the decade – yet still comes off quite well, with Dionne really stretching out vocally – and bringing a lot more to the table than might be expected. There's a few uptempo cuts that are a bit off the mark, but Warwick really shines on the mellow and midtempo numbers. Titles include "Who What When Where Why", "All The Time", "In Your Eyes", "Feeling Old Feelings", "Deja Vu", "I'll Never Love This Way Again", and "After You". CD features two bonus tracks – single versions of "Deja Vu" and "After You".

A great post-Scepter album by Dionne Warwick – one that still has her working with Burt Bacharach, but at a level that's somehow more mature, more adult than even before! There's a gentle quality here that gets beyond the straighter pop of Warwick's 60s hits, and moves into the realm inhabited by Bacharach's sublime solo sets for A&M – a style that still has the singer at the forefront, but which is equally concerned with the full spectrum of sound on the set, and which has the whole album flowing together beautifully. Burt and Hal David produced, and arrangements are by Bacharach, Don Sebesky, and Bob James. Titles include a great reading of "Hasbrook Heights", plus "I Just Have To Breathe", "The Balance Of Nature", "If You Never Say Goodbye", "Be Aware", "If We Only Have Love", and "Love Song".

Dionne Warwick's making a bit of a break from formula for this album – by singing a batch of tunes from films and shows, none of which were written by Burt Bacharach & Hal David! Yet despite this change from earlier records, the album's still got a sound that's strongly in keeping with Warwick's 60s years at Scepter Records – thanks to arrangements by Burt that help transform these older tunes, and update them with a new sense of maturity for Dionne's singing style. The real appeal of the record is the way that Bacharach changes things up with some of these overdone numbers – finding new corners to explore, and creating a sense of surprise that's quite different than other albums of this nature. Titles include "Something Wonderful", "Summertime", "My Favorite Things", "I Believe In You", "My Ship", "Anything You Can Do", and "He Loves Me".

Although this one looks like a greatest hits set, it's actually a live show that features Dionne running through most of her big Bacharach hits during the Scepter years. The set features impersonations by Dionne on tracks like "Baby Love", "Bill Bailey", and "Falling In Love Again" – plus straight versions of many old hits, including "House Is Not A Home", "Alfie", "Don't Make Me Over", "The Look Of Love", "Reach Out For Me", and "Wives & Lovers".

Five albums into Dionne Warwick's classic run for Scepter Records, and she's still sounding great – head and shoulders above most other female pop singers of her generation, with a style that really sets a whole new standard for the time! Burt Bacharach handled most of the arrangements here – with that heavenly sort of quality that he virtually invented for Dionne – a way of penning charts that are full, but never overbearing – and which have a subtle kind of softness, even though they also manage a sneaky sort of rhythm at the bottom. The balance is a beautiful one, and Dionne's vocals are the beneficiary here – on a batch of mostly Bacharach/David tunes that includes the sublime "Are You There With Another Girl", plus "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", "Window Wishing", "Long Day Short Night", "In Between The Heartaches", and "How Can I Hurt You" – as well as a version of "This Little Light", which features solo piano by Dionne!

Dionne Warwick's missing from the cover of this album, but the record still managed to be one of her biggest of the 60s – thanks to a near-classic selection of tunes, and sublime arrangements from the mighty Burt Bacharach! There's a confident, mature approach to the record that's arguably even better than Warwick's first few albums for Scepter – a kind of gelling of the genius she'd discovered with Bacharach & David – cast out over even more adult themes than before, with less of a need to focus on pop-oriented material. The album includes two of Dionne's most compelling cuts ever – "Alfie" and "Trains & Boats & Panes" – both sadder than the usual numbers, and with a good dose of remorseful soul – and other Bacharach numbers include "I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself", "Go With Love", "Here Where There Is Love", and the seminal "What The World Needs Now Is Love". The album also features some non-Bacharach/David songs too – and Dionne does an equally great job with these as well.

Wonderfully mature work from Dionne Warwick – one of her last few albums for the Scepter label,with a sense of maturity, poise, and grace that tops even Dionne's earliest classics for the label. She's still working heavily here with Burt Bacharach – who produced and arranged most of the songs – with some help from Hal David and Larry Wilcox. And in some way, it's almost like Bacharach's reinvigorated here – moving into a deeper mode that's quite similar to some of the more complicated tunes on his A&M recordings from the same period – almost unafraid of charting or not, and working instead in a completely adult mode that's beautifully constructed through webs of sound and sadness, loss and longing. Titles include "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head", "My Way", "Knowing When To Leave", "Let Me Go To Him", and "Didn't We".

It's plenty easy to make way for Dionne Warwick with an album as great as this – the kind of set that spawned countless imitators in later years, but which still sounds better than most of the rest! Hearing the record is almost like going back to the headwaters of 60s pop – especially the more mature version that started to take hold later in the decade at labels like A&M or Capitol. But here, recording for Scepter, Dionne's already got it all in place – thanks in large part to a young Burt Bacharach, who's set things up here with poise and perfection that match the vocals perfectly! Titles include "Get Rid of Him", "A House Is Not A Home", "They Long To Be Close To You", "You'll Never Get To Heaven", "Walk On By", and "Make The Night A Little Longer".

The birth of a genius – and Dionne Warwick's first album in a mighty 60s run for Scepter Records! The album's the first full length collaboration between Warwick and the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David – but it's already the stuff of legend – an album that easily bridges the worlds of soul, vocal, and pop with its unique sense of poise and class – sung perfectly by Dionne throughout, and arranged with orchestral brilliance by the young Burt! Titles include "Don't Make Me Over", "Wishin & Hopin", "Make It Easy On Yourself", "The Love Of A Boy", "I Cry Alone", "Make The Music Play", "If You See Bill", "It's Love That Really Counts", and "This Empty Place".

Sensitive, but never sleepy – a perfect balance between gentle pop and deeper soul – served up with masterful arrangements and production from Burt Bacharach! The album's an early treasure in Dionne's 60s run for Scepter Records – an album that features a bit less Bacharach/David tunes than some of the previous records, but which still has all of the best elements firmly in place – thanks to Burt's growing understanding of the studio, and his ability to create orchestrations that are filled with enough space for an artist like Dionne to really do her thing. Titles include "Wives & Lovers", "You Can Have Him", "That's Not The Answer", "Forget My Love", "Where Can I Go Without You", "How Many Days Of Sadness", and "Don't Say I Didn't Tell You So".

Dionne Warwick's last Bacharach album for Scepter Records. Burt's still very much at the helm on Very Dionne – working with Warwick in an ever-maturing mode that's expanded a bit with some help on arrangements from Marty Paich and Larry Wilcox. The mood is adult, but still has some of the dreamier touches of early pop days – and the Bacharach compositions are among some of the best of the bunch, and include "Walk The Way You Talk", "Check Out Time", "The Green Grass Starts To Grow", and "They Don't Give Medals To Yesterday's Heroes".

Seminal later work from Dionne Warwick – an album that perfectly sums up her evolving genius at Scepter Records! Windows Of The World continues the very successful Bacharach-led arrangement scheme – but also features Dionne deepening things a bit more vocally, and also hitting some more personal notes on a few tunes arranged by Peter Matz. 11 titles in all – including "The Windows Of The World", "I Say A Little Prayer", "Love", "Taking A Chance On Love", "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me", "The Beginning Of Loneliness", "What's Good About goodbye", "Taking A Chance On Love", and "Somewhere".