Funky Compilations — CDs  

Dancefloor cookers from the prime Northern Soul years – all instrumental numbers on this sharp compilation on Kent – 45 sides from a labels like Money, Villa, Swan, King, Epic and Warner Brothers! For all the wonderful Kent soul compilations we've gotten our dusty fingers on over the years, it's a wonder they're never been one devoted to instrumentals – until now! Rhythms roll along at a tight tempo, the tight guitars punch it up, some strings soar, and a pounding Northern beat keeps it all stomping! Those core elements are key, but others weave in an out, from hand claps on the beat, to organ grooves, bursts of brass and more. 24 tracks in all: "Double Cookin" by Checkerboard Squares, "Make Me Yours" by Arthur Wright & His Orchestra, "Festival Time" by San Remo Golden Strings", "The Sounds Of Lane" by Tracks To Your Mind, "Champion Pt 1" by Willie Mitchell, "The Guys From Uncle" by The Spy, "Stirrin Up Some Soul" by The Mar-Ketts, "Hey America (Sing Along)" by James Brown, "California Montage" by Young-Holt Unlimited and more.

Funky female soul galore – a killer set of rare tunes that's one of the best sets of this type we've ever stocked! The SuperFunk crew at BGP have gone through the rich array of labels handled by the company – pulling out some massive tunes that really push our understanding of female soul – taking things way past the obvious hits and girl group numbers, into hard and heavy-stepping territory that we really love! Most of the tunes on the set are completely new to our ears, and there's a great mix of northern and southern funk styles that keeps things super-fresh. Drums crackle, basslines pound, and the gals belt it out loud, clear, and funky on a set of 20 tracks that includes "Tell Me What's Wrong" by Lynn Varnado, "Listen Here" by Valorie Keys, "Know What To Do When You Get It" by The Genies, "Heavy Heavy Hangs My Heart" by Vera Hamilton, "Better Get A Move On" by Louise McCord, "Pounds Of Soul" by Betty Bibbs, "Ooh Wee Baby" by Delilah Moore, "Sunshine Of Your Love" by Spanky Wilson, "Staying At Home Like A Woman" by Lynn Varnado, "Hold On This Time" by Fontella Bass, "Mr Fix It" by Thelma Jones, "I'm Glad I Got Over You" by Jeanette Jones, "One Way Street" by Little Ann, and "It's Too Late For Tears" by Rene Bailey.

A fab collection that's casting light on one of the neglected eras in soul reissues, the cusp of the 80s, with an emphasis on great, soulful disco numbers. All the tracks here have a nice pumping 4/4 beat underneath, but the tempos on most numbers sit nicely in the middle, building a set of great 80s boogie numbers, roller skating soul and sophisticated club tracks that fill in some gaps in your 12" collection! There's a number of styles represented, with some nice moogy bits on a few tracks and soaring strings on others, but every cut's a gem, 12 of them in all, with Charme "Georgy Porgy", Harvey Mason "Groovin You", Melba Moore "Standing Right Here", Vaughn Mason "Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll", Young & co "I Like What You're Doing to Me", Dunn Pearson "Groove On Down", "New Jersey Connection "Love Don't Come Easy", James Perry "April Lady", Garfield Fleming "Don't Send Me Away", Goldie Alexander "Show You My Love", Hipnotic "Are You Lonely" and the Circle City Band "Magic".

A cool collection of cookers from the legendary Studio One Records – pulled together here in a collection that bears the Ironsides name of one of its sub-labels, as a great indication of some of the obscure tracks included within! The collection features loads of gems from the earliest years of Studio One – a mix of rocksteady and early reggae cuts that have that wonderfully rootsy feel that was the label's calling card – a way of laying down instrumentation and vocals with a bottom-heavy sound that filters everything together beautifully – and comes out with a wickedly seductive groove. The set's overflowing with cuts we'd never heard before – and titles include "Three Mile Skank" by Lone Ranger, "Rasta Don't Stop No One" by The Stingers, "Nanny's Corner" by Don Drummond, "Danger In Your Eyes" by The Paragons, "Mother & Child" by Fabian Cooke, "Mark My Word" by Marcia Griffiths, "Another Night" by The Soul Sister, "I'm still Waiting" by Cornel Campbell, and "Jamrec Dub" by Pablove Black.

A damn classic entry in the Super Breaks series from BGP – one that's filled with crucial sample cuts from the old school – some really wonderful funky nuggets, brought together here as a great reminder of the tracks that first got us digging back in the day! There's less of the totally obscure numbers here than you might find on other Super Breaks volumes, but things aren't totally mainstream either – and the compilers have not only done a great job of pulling together tracks that were really important for hip hop, but have also managed to put a really fresh spin on the music altogether – reminding us once again that even in the age of digital music, nothing beats a well-done compilation! Titles include "Shifting Gears" by Johnny Hammond, "Mary Mary" by The Monkees, "Scratchin" by Magic Disco Machine, "It's Just Begun" by Jimmy Castor, "Africano" by Earth Wind & Fire, "Apache" by Incredible Bongo Band, "Got To Get A Knutt" by New Birth, "Get Up & Dance" by Freedom, "Super Sporm" by Captain Sky, "Who Is He & What Is He To You" by Creative Source, "Funky President" by James Brown, "Blow Your Head" by The JBs, "Johnny The Fox" by Thin Lizzy, "Let A Woman Be A Woman Let A Man Be A Man" by Dyke & The Blazers, "The Clapping Song" by Shirley Ellis, and "Get Ya Some" by Melvin Sparks.

Heavy funk galore – and easily one of the best titles in the massive Super Funk series! This one seems to go deeper than all the previous volumes – really digging down for some obscure tracks that push past the obvious funky 45 standards, to include some lost gems from rare sources in the southern scene! The set's awash in hard drums, fuzzy bass, tripped out guitar, and lots of rootsy deep soul vocals – stepping from track to track with a quality level that beats most other funky 45 collections on the market, made even better by some superb liner notes from compiler Dean Rudland! Titles include "I Got Some" by Billy Garner, "Deep Soul (part 2)" by Ron Buford, "Doin The Model" by Eddie Clearwater, "Crazy Legs (part 2)" by Albert Washington, "Momma Momma" by Betty Barney, "Don't Ever Change" by Chet Ivey & His Fabulous Avengers, "The Warm Up (part 1)" by Clifton White, "Chicken Scratch" by The Chili Peppers, "Fat N Funky" by Charles Crawford, "Super Cool (You're Just A Super Fool)" by Pat Hunt, "Out Of Sight" by The Soulsetters, and "Boogaloo Party" by Joe Swift's International. 20 tracks in all!

One of the deepest-digging entries in the Super Funk series so far – a blistering batch of underground singles that serve up some of the roughest funk of their generation! We'll be honest in saying that we'd only heard a few of the tracks here before – and our hats are off to BGP for taking this already-great series and making it go even deeper – far past familiar funk classics that usually get showcased on the label, and much more into the realm of the crate-digging underground, or the ebay-rarity stratosphere! A handful of cuts here are previously unreleased – never even issued on wax back in the day – and the rest are all pretty darn hard to find too, and all plenty darn great from a musical perspective. The package features a whopping 21 tracks in all – including a rare 1970 funky remake of "Twine Time" by Alvin Cash, plus "Home Brew" by Miles Grayson, "Just Sitting" by Smithstonian, "Can't Get Enough" by 87th Off Broadway, "Hi Off Life" by Eternal Flames, "Give Me Another Chance" by The Uniques, "Hold On" by Lorenzo Holden, "Free The Soul Man" by La May & Company, "Little Boy Blue" by The Phillips Brothers, "You'd Be Good For Me" by Jeanette Jones, "Who Done It? Who Drained The Pool?" by Big Daddy Green, "Low Rider (Deuce & A Quarter)" by Smokey Wilson, "Can't Buy Soul" by Hebrew Rogers, "Shake A Leg" by Jackie Wilson, "Face To Face" by The Explosions, and "Turn Around & Go" by Lee Bernard.

Sublime 70s soul all the way through – a tremendous collection of mellow groovers and midtempo steppers – quite possibly the best volume so far in the Wants List series! The cuts here are all wrapped around a really unified groove – that 70s style that was never too funky, nor too uptempo – just nicely laidback and warm, yet still with a bubbling, gentle sort of rhythm. Production is full on most tracks, but there's always a great edge in the vocals – and although many of the artists here are bigger names, the cuts on the set (as you might guess from the title!) represent some of their more obscure tracks from the decade! Titles include "Lovely Lady" by Vernon Burch, "Trying To Get Next To You" by Arnold Blair, "If I Can't Stop You" by CB Overton, "Is This Really Love" by Charles Drain, "Show Me The Way To Love" by Carl Davis & The Chi-Sound Orchestra, "Midnight Lovers" by Passion, "Smother Me With Your Love" by Betty Wright, "The Rub" by George & Gwen McCrae, "Feed Me your Love" by The Fatback Band, "Harder & Harder" by Archie Bell, "The Man In The Street" by William Bell, "Sweet Music Soft Lights & You" by Ken Williams, "Wondering" by Betty Everett, "Electrified Love" by Ernie Hines, and "Feel Good" by Michelle Wiley.

Jazz, soul, and a whole lot more – even a rare psychedelic track from the vaults of Mainstream Records – all brought together in one of the most dynamic entries we've ever seen in the Free Soul series! The cuts here go way past the obvious, and way past the familiar – and the genre-hopping approach is a great reminder that the Mainstream label had a heck of a lot more to offer than just some of its famous funky jazz classics. And as always, Free Soul compiler Toru Hashimoto does a great job of digging up and bringing the music together in ways that really sets unlocks its magic – a whole new way of looking at Mainstream, and one that's really helped us get a new sort of appreciation for the label! CD features 23 tracks, and nearly 80 minutes of music – titles that include "Four" by Jeannie Trevor, "Fuit Of The Desert" by Orient Express, "I Want You Back" by Bobby Shad & The Bad Men, "My Heart Said" by Emily Yancy, "Inner City Blues" by Sarah Vaughan, "Soul Makossa" by Afrique, "The Sweetest Sounds" by Carmen McRae, "Down Yonder" by David Young, "Sound Song" by Barry Miles, "I Just Want To Be There" by Jay Berliner, "Hard Hard Promises" by Alice Clark, "Make It With You" by Maxine Weldon, "Moonlight Serenade" by Jeannie Trevor, "Fly Me To The Moon" by Gloria Coleman, and "What's Going On" by Charles McPherson.

80s grooves galore – and a sublime collection of rare and underground boogie tunes from a few decades back! The package was put together by rabid collectors Joey Negro and Sean P – and is a welcome contrast to some of the dodgier 80s sets on the market – because Joey and Sean have gone out of their way to present each track with the best sound possible, in a way that lets the keyboards and electro rhythms sparkle with the same energy they had back in the 12" years! But even more than that, the pair have gone out of their way to annotate each track – so that you know that the excellent track list wasn't just a happy accident, and really represents the cream of the crop of the underground 80s scene! 2CD set features 20 tracks in all – including "Love Treatment" by Brenda Watts, "Am I Gonna Be The One" by Colours, "Ease Out" by Mid Air, "Livin Too Fast" by Vera Brown, "I Can Feel Your Love" by Samson & Delilah, "To Please You" by UDM, "Super Super Lovin" by Masurrati, "Happy Music" by Mastermind, "Think Fast" by Pamela Joy, "Deetour" by Karen Young, "Back At Ya" by Kerr, "I'm On The Real Side" by Lisa Hill, "Down For Double" by Cubie Burke, "I Am Going To Love Him" by Sanctuary, and "Love Massage" by Lowrell Simon.