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A return to Stax by Rance Allen – his first album for the label after a stellar set for Capitol, and a much smoother set than before! Rance has learned from his work with Larry Mizell on Capitol, and is using a warmer glide on his tracks on this set – arrangements mostly done by... read more

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No honking here, as Sil Austin takes his deeply soulful tenor sax, and turns it to a set of creamy late-nite tracks – all done over some very "pretty" backings, ala the Verve strings work of Ben Webster or Lester Young. Most cuts have voices in with the orchestrations – and... read more

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A dancefloor classic! The album's the second by Gregg Diamond's Bionic Boogie, and head and shoulders above the rest – a sublime blend of soul and club that's hardly been matched again! Diamond manages to make things groove, but never loses sight of the soulful styles that make the record... read more

Here's a record we wish they would have used for the soundtrack to Happy Days – Blowfly cashing in on the 50s craze in the 70s, and offering up his own off-color version of a number of classic oldies! The sound is pretty darn goofy, but also has links to Blow's roots as singer Clarence Reid... read more

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Smooth ensemble funk – somewhere between Earth Wind & Fire and Average White Band – not bad on the vocals, which are mostly sung harmony style, but lacking a bit of an edge on the grooves, which never really seem to catch. Titles include "Top 40 Band", "Soul... read more

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An obscure record with a silly title – but a seminal batch of southern soul instrumentals, recorded at the height of the Muscle Shoals scene! The record's a really odd one in the Chess catalog – because it's got the feel of a record that should have come out on Atlantic or Capitol, or... read more

This one has the Chambers working in a number of styles, sweating hard in a gritty version of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose" and to some funky percussion and call-and-response vocals on "Do Your Thing", and grooving softly on "Guess Who" and others. Other... read more

Beautiful beautiful work from The Chi-Lites – and a record that we might even say tops the best of their late Brunswick book! Despite the move from that label to Mercury, the group have a sound here that's still wonderfully fragile and harmony-focused – especially on the mellower cuts,... read more

One of Doug Clark's bawdy frat rock-soul party LPs on the Gross label – with his trademark "blue" material for adult listeners, backed up by raunchy R&B riffing! The general style's a bit dated, but it's also the kind of album that paved the way for Rudy Ray Moore in the 70s. ... read more

The first album cut by party favorites Doug Clark & The Hot Nuts – a raw mix of comedy and music, done in the fast-talking style that they served up to countless gatherings in the south! The album's perhaps a bit less blue than some of the later work, but also possibly more compelling... read more

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Classic funky groovers from Dennis Coffey – with his hard guitar sound gettin' all fuzzy over some loud drums and funky Sussex production! This one's still very much on the "Scorpio" vibe, when the label was keeping things nice and hard – and before Dennis got a bit hooked... read more

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Forget the "funk" in this album – because the best bits are the mellow ones! Crème D'Cocoa are one of those groups pushing slick bass-heavy funk when they should stick to the mellower cuts – which they do nicely on this album, in a smooth male/female harmony style that... read more

Great early work from Andrae Crouch & The Disciples – just the kind of soulful set that made the group a big crossover act at the time! Although gospel at heart, the record's got a nicely secular feel in approach – a style that's a bit like some of the other larger group soul of... read more

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A stone pop soul winner from DeBarge – the kind of record that made the group a heck of a lot of money back in the 80s, and which sounds surprisingly great to our ears today! The record features lots of electro arrangements – fuzzy keyboards and bass pedals grooving around in a way... read more

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A groundbreaking album of vocal group soul – right from the first note! The record kicks off with the sublime "Ready Or Not, Here I Come" – which starts with fierce stepping strings that are actually funky, then soars into some of the best harmonies the group ever put to... read more

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Modern rock/funk, with sort of a New York downtown sound, and touches of the 80's days at Celluloid. The group has electric funky basslines, and some guest keyboards on tracks by Bernie Worrell, but the sound is mostly avant rock funk, instead of straight-on funky stuff. Tracks include "Flash... read more

Coke Escovedo's best album and a nice bit of groovy soul from the mid 70's. Patrick Gleeson produced, Harvey Mason plays drums, and the whole thing's got a nice laid back spacey soul sound. Includes covers of Lamont Dozier's "Why Can't We Be Lovers" and Leon Ware's "If I Ever Lose... read more

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A classic killer from The Fabulous Rhinestones – a group with a plenty soulful approach to their music, even if the group was probably more of a rock outfit than a funk-based one! There's some heavy rhythms on most of the tracks – kind of a gentle funky groove that's mixed in with... read more

A Chicago house classic, taking off on the riff from the Isaac Hayes tune that's been re-edited and mixed as doubles in clubs for ages and turning it into a new club anthem!... read more

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An early 80s gem from Aretha Franklin – one of the best of her years at Arista Records, thanks to solid help in the studio from the mighty Arif Mardin! Mardin's in perfect form here – the same blend of older soul and jazzier, more sophisticated styles that he was also bringing to Chaka... read more

Surprisingly great work from Full Force – a set that seems to only get better with the passage of time, set apart nicely from most of its 80s soul contemporaries with a good deal of homegrown charm! Sure, there's some pretty heavy beats here – and sure, the sound is a few notches... read more

Early work from Gwen Guthrie – produced by Sly & Robbie, but with a sweet modern soul sound that's got a lot less of their influence than you'd guess! The sound is much more New York than Jamaica – and that's probably due to some great instrumental backing on keyboards by the likes... read more

African grooves meet European club – in a totally sweet session with a very unique feel! Sandra Hallvey sings in French, sometimes with a breathy Euro style – but arrangements are by Jo Tongo, and have lots of funky undercurrents – offbeat grooves that electrify some deeper... read more

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After leaving Stax, Ike seemed to be trying to turn himself into more of a Barry White-style artist – with more emphasis on original tracks about love and loving, instead of his older method of transforming pop hits into little baroque symphonies. On a record like this, the approach meant... read more

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Nice one! This obscure blacksploitation soundtrack features a hip Monk Higgins score for a Pam Grier film that's supposedly "Hotter than Coffey and meaner n' Foxy Brown". Having seen the film, we don't know if we'd totally agree with that assessment, but the music's strong enough, and... read more

Jennifer Holliday's strong '91 set – with material that's par for the course for Arista soul efforts of the late 80s and early 90s – but Holliday outshines it with her powerful, emotional and wonderful voice! Definitely an underappreciated set, particularly for fans of powerfully... read more

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Titles include "Marriage License", "Young Wings Can Fly", "Actions Speak Louder Than Words", "There's No Fool Like A Young Fool", "Make Him Feel Like A Man", and "Bring It To Me".... read more

Wonderful work from Ingram – an incredibly talented soul family who'd spent more than enough time woodshedding in earlier years, and emerged to become one of the strongest mainstream acts of the 80s scene! There's a solid feel here that goes way beyond commercial soul – a great way... read more

A wicked 80s groove from the mighty Ingram Family! Ingram were one of those groups that actually got better as they got slicker – and by the time of this 1983 release, Butch, James, and William Ingram had had more than enough experience working together and with other artists to really forge... read more

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A pretty odd little record from Gloria Jones – a great soul singer back in the 60s when she was pounding out the hard northern numbers, but not so great here, where she's in an odd style that mixes disco with a hard soul approach, and just doesn't work. The "Reunited" in the title... read more

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An 80s soul classic from Kashif – an artist who really helped transform R&B at the time, all without the benefit of a last name! The album's completely arranged and produced by Kashif himself – cementing the reputation he'd begun working behind other artists in the earlier part of... read more

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An amazing blend of raspy vocals, rumbling backings, and hip late 60s Motown soul – proof that Gladys Knight's move to the label was one of the smartest of her career! Thanks to top-shelf production here from Norman Whitfield, Gladys gets a newer sound that's ultra-hip – a bit deeper... read more

A 60s LP that compiles Julia's earlier sides for Capitol – a mixture of jump blues, swing, and R&B, recorded with players that include Red Norvo, Benny Carter, Vic Dickenson, and Baby Lovett. Titles include "Last Call For Alcohol", "After Hours Waltz", "King Size... read more

Some very nice pop soul tracks by this lovely vocalist from the 60s! The record features a core group of backing by the Ronnie Brown trio, plus some larger arrangements by Lincoln Mayorga. The sound is nice and soulful, with a bit of a jazzy touch – in the manner of some of Nancy Wilson's... read more

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A near-lost Philly disco album – recorded at Sigma Sound, but released on Casablanca at the end of the 70s, and nearly buried under the weight of the label's collapse at the time! There's a style here that borrows bits from some of Casablanca's more mainstream artists – focusing... read more

Despite what was probably an easy temptation to go pop disco, Barry White and the girls here stick pretty closely to their classic 70's soul sound – the large part of which was a huge inspiration for disco in the first place. Barry's production, as always, is excellent, as is his songwriting... read more

An album of theirs that you don't see that often – with Barry White's takes on popular movie hits. Some of this veers a little to close to the cheesy side of things, but it's worth it for the "Theme From King Kong" alone, an uptempo funk number that has a great almost afro-funk... 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

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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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"Got To Be Real" is one of the most amazing tracks of all time. Not only did it bridge the disco and soul worlds at the time, but through hip hop sampling, it also became an essential old school classic. Still sounds great today, and it's a cut that we can never get enough of.... 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

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

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This is it! The record that helped put disco over in a huge way, with a sound that would go on to be heavily imitated for years to come. Sweeping disco production from Hugo & Luigi arranged and conducted by Van McCoy, already a studio mainstay by this point, coupled with a set of accessible... read more

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Nice! US reissue of one of the better post-Josie albums by the Meters, with a groove that's a little New Orleans, and a little 70's funky soul. Not all cuts are great, but there's some nice funky tracks on here that make this one worth having, and which keep it from being a disappointment, like... read more

Real 80s groove soul – with polished sound that's got a bit of a jazzy flavor in it, thanks mostly to the competent instrumentation of the band. Titles include "You Satisfy Me", "Just A Little Bit", "Heavy Rotation", "Start It Up", "Sweet... read more

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An amazingly soulful set of folk tunes from the late 60s – the only album we've ever seen from singer Jerry Moore, and a real rarity from the ESP label! Moore's got a style that's somewhere between Terry Callier and Tim Buckley – earthy and acoustic one minute, but stepping out with... read more

One of the more unusual records on Sue from the 60s – an all-instrumental outing, recorded by Juggy Murray in tribute to the late Dr Martin Luther King Jr! The music is done in a larger orchestral mode that's much more soundtrack-oriented than Juggy's other work – with less (or none)... read more

A standout classic from one of the all-time overlooked greats – the sublime Mystic Merlin, a group who cut a handful of killers in the early 80s! The group's biggest claim to fame is a young Freddie Jackson on vocals – but they're honestly much more an ensemble act than a backup for a... read more

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A funky instrumental classic – with a groove that was copied by a huge amount of other groups! Cliff and crew take the funky 45 sound into the mainstream – vamping and comping in tight choppy grooves that were perfect for dances like The Horse, The Jerk, and some of the other harder... read more

One of the crowning achievements of Alexander O'Neal – a set that uses cool little intro tracks to help structure the standout songs on the set – giving the whole thing a much more well-conceived approach than other mainstream soul albums of the time! Some of the cuts draw from O'Neal's... read more

Babatunde Olatunji's two classic percussion ensemble albums for Columbia collected in one set. The first LP was recorded in New York with a mix of drums, chants, and afro grooves. Olatunji's joined by Montego Joe and Baba Hawthorne Bey on percussion, and they're backed by a large group of... read more

A great batch of harmony vocal tracks – nearly all of them with an upbeat, kind of silly approach – similar to The Coasters at their best! The Olympics owed a lot to the late 50s Atco recordings The Coasters did with Lieber & Stoller – and they had a similar tight-lipped... read more

A dancefloor classic – one of the strongest albums ever by Al Hudson, Alicia Meyers, and the whole One Way crew! The record's got a sweet soulful feel that provides a nice counterpoint to its bass-heavy grooves – popping along at that midtempo pace that was Al's popular remedy for... read more

Titles include "We Belong To Love", "Soweto", "You Should Be Mine", "Emotional", "A Second Chance", and "Love's Not Ready".... read more