Funky Compilations — All Formats  

A stellar collection of country soul by many of the greatest voices of any strain of soul music – Solomon Burke, Esther Phillips, Al Green, Bettye Swann, Percy Sledge, Little Milton, Candi Stanton and many more! A healthy portion of the material comes from the late 60s and early 70s – recordings that bring a depth of genuine soul to songs written or popularized by artists more often associated with the country charts. That said, it's soul music all the way – showing both the dexterity of these great soul singers and the adaptability of the such great songs. Includes "Detroit City" by Arthur Alexander, "He'll Have To Go" by Solomon Burke, "Take Time To Know Her" by Percy Sledge, "I Saw Me" by Esther Phillips, "Hangin' On" by Ann Peebles, "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Al Green, "Behind Closed Doors" by Little Milton, "Set Me Free" by Clarence Carter, "Yours, Love" by Joe Simon, "She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye" by Brook Benton and more.

A well-done collection of grooves from the legendary CTI Records – home to some of the most important jazz funk of the 70s! The set does a good job of getting past the familiar hits from the label, and moves into territory that showed the complexity of the grooves being laid down – a depth that's sometimes overlooked, given the success of CTI. The nicely-priced set features 10 tracks in all – including "Hard To Face The Music" by Idris Muhammad, "September 13" by Deodato, "Canned Funk" by Joe Farrell, "Rock Steady" by Johnny Hammond, "I'm Not So Sure" by Milt Jackson, "Hurtin House" by Esther Phillips, "Sugar Free" by Hank Crawford, "Shoogie Wanna Boogie" by Dave Matthews, "I Remember Wes" by George Benson, and "Storm" by Stanley Turrentine.

Here's some chillout music we can really get behind – mellow soul tracks with a beautifully gentle groove – all cut back in the days when an artist could relax a bit without ever losing their cool! The set's heavy on mellow modern soul numbers – all hand-picked by Expansion Records frontman Ralph Tee – who's shown us for decades that he's really got a golden ear when it comes to music like this! There's loads of great gentle steppers on the package, sung by some of the best voices of the mainstream soul scene at the end of the 70s – cuts that include "We Need Love" by Chapter 8, "Be My Girl" by Michael Henderson, "We Found Love" by The Dynamics, "Gonna Make Changes" by Phyllis Hyman, "No Love Nowhere Without You" by Linda Williams, "Ain't That Love Baby" by Lou Rawls, "Brother Brother" by Esther Phillips, "What Do You Want Me To Do" by Lou Courtney, "Stay" by Glenn Jones, "We Never Said Goodbye" by Dionne Warwick, and "Paintings Of Love" by Keni Burke.

A motherlode of funky soul covers – pulled together from obscure sources as part of the great Soul Sides series! The names of the songs here are all familiar, but most of the versions are not – remakes of soul, rock, and pop tunes by a variety of artists, mostly from the 70s – many of whom take the music into even funkier territory than the originals! Compiler Oliver Wang really knows his thing with a set like this – and his care in putting the package together makes the volume way more than just a typical soul compilation – thanks to plenty of funky nuggets that should appeal to most of the crate diggers, plus lots of familiar lyrics that have an appeal to the less initiated. Titles include "Kissing My Love" by Spanky Wilson", "Fever" by Sharon Cash, "Feelin Alright" by West Coast Revival, "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" by Esther Phillips, "Here I Am" by Marcia Griffiths, "Che Che Cole" by Antibalas, "Be Thankful For What You Got" by Donovan Carless, "It's Your Thing" by Cold Grits, "Let's Straighten It Out" by OV Wright, "Express Yourself" by Byron Lee, and "Viva Tirado" by Los Mozambiques. CD features the bonus tracks "What A Man" by Laura Lee and "Walk On By" by El Michels Affair.

Massive funk from CTI – some of the label's grooviest, jazziest, most soulful gems from the 70s – all hand-picked by the folks at Wax Poetics Japan! There's some familiar tracks here, and some lesser-known nuggets too – and the set is one of the grooviest CTI collections we've ever heard – filled with just the right sort of sounds to show the label's genius in its best light – including some tracks from related imprints Kudu and Salvation, too! Don't let the "dance" in the title put you off – because this isn't dance music, just tight funky jazz of the best 70s variety – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Baretta's Theme" by Ron Carter, "Macumba" by Lalo Schifrin, "Stanley's Tune" by Airto, "Star Borne" by Johnny Hammond, "Nights In White Satin" by Deodato, "Hard To Face The Music" by Idris Muhammad, "Corazon" by Hank Crawford, "You Keep Me Hanging On" by David Matthews, "Boy I Really Tied One On" by Esther Phillips, and "Sugar Free" by Hank Crawford.

Not straight soundtrack work, but a wealth of groovy jazz and vocal cover versions – almost all of them from hip 60s movies, presented here in a really wonderful package! The tunes often have the sort of exotic tinges you might guess from the title and cover – an approach that's somewhat loungey, but never in a sleepy or gimmicky way – thanks to an excellent choice of artists for the set! Instrumentation includes vibes, flute, Hammond, and plenty of percussion – and the balance here has a lot more on the instrumental side than the vocal one – although the tracks with singers are still pretty great too. Titles include "Our Mann Flint" by Herbie Mann, "Moon River Cha Cha" by Barney Kessel, "Exodus" by Quartette Tres Bien, "Kookie's Mad Pad" by Ed Byrnes, "Daktari" by Shelly Manne, "Theme From Lawrence Of Arabia" by Les Baxter, "Never On Sunday" by Calvin Jackson, "Batman Theme" by The Marketts, "It's Not Unusual" by Marty Paich, "Latin Golightly" by Barney Kessel, "A Mann & A Woman" by Herbie Mann & Tamiko Jones, "Alfie" by Dionne Warwick, "Theme From MASH" by Jimmy Smith, "Sunday In New York" by Mel Torme, "Theme From Midnight Cowboy" by Young-Holt Unlimited, and "The Shadow Of Your Smile" by Esther Phillips.

Some of the best-remembered cuts from the legendary CTI Records of the 70s – all tracks that have been sampled over the years, thanks to their funky breaks and amazing grooves! CTI and Kudu have been reissued plenty in recent years, but we'll honestly say that this is one of the hippest sets we've ever heard from the label's mighty catalog – and it's got plenty of tracks that aren't that common on the reissue market – a really fresh look at CTI, one that goes way past the bigger hits of the 70s, with a focus on the label's grooves that are being dug strongly in the 21st Century! Titles include "That's All Right With Me" by Esther Phillips, "Canned Funk" by Joe Farrell, "September 13" by Deodato, "Power Of Soul" by Idris Muhammad, "I Had A Dream" by Hubert Laws, "Sister Sanctified" by Stanley Turrentine, "Ziggidy Zag" by Gabor Szabo, "People Make The World Go Round" by Freddie Hubbard, and "Wildflower" by Hank Crawford.