A great little set of rare soul music – served up by the Cairo imprint of Mississippi Records – and done with a very similar approach to their other reissues of folk, blues, and world music! The set focuses in on rootsier sounds, especially from the 60s – with lots of deep soul gems from both big names and some more obscure artists – all packaged with a detailed booklet of notes, in the best Mississippi style! The style is almost as if Folkway Records put together their own soul collection, but with work from other labels – and titles include "In My Heart" by Barbara & The Browns, "Tired Of Being Your Fool" by Nelson Sanders, "It's Not That Easy" by Reuben Bell & The Casanovas, "Since You've Been Gone" by The Falcons, "Can't Stay Away (parts 1 & 2)" by Slim & Ann, "Don't Ever Leave Me" by Bob & Earl, "Go Now" by Bessie Banks, "I Keep Forgetting You Don't Love Me No More" by The Thornton Sisters, "Don't Mistreat Me" by The Queenettes, "Let Me Down Easy" by Betta LaVette, "Life Is Too Short" by Benny Spellman, "Lament" by Mamie Perry, "I'm Missing You" by Loretta Williams, and "Everybody Knows" by OV Wright. (Soul, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album

A great overview of classic soul music – done in the best style of this Cairo Records series from Mississippi – which means a fantastic choice of cuts, and a beautiful booklet of notes and photos to accompany the music! The set is almost worth the price of the book alone – full color, and filled with scans of rare albums and singles, discographical information, and other details on the music – all in support of a 36 track set that mixes familiar names with much more obscure artists – in order to present a really wide range of classic soul. Titles include "I Pledge" by Lonnie & Lloyd, "My Baby Waited Too Long" by Mamie Perry, "I Found You" by James Hamm, "I've Been Pushed Around" by Blue River & The Maroons, "Please Don't Desert Me Baby" by Gloria Walker, "Helping Hand" by Little Genie Brooks, "Where Is Love" by Eldridge Holmes, "I Still Love You" by Jean Stanback, "Should I Take You Home" by Aztlan, "Don't Make Me What You Don't Want Me To Be" by Nick Allen, "Sippin A Cup Of Coffee" by The Ordells, "Let Me Be The Man" by The Fabulous Vents, "I'm Too Far Gone To Turn Around" by Irene Reid, "I Can't Stop" by Kenny Wells, and "I Wonder If I Had Your Love" by Leroy Smith. (Soul, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album

There's an island on the cover, but the music is all-soul, all the way through – a great collection of classic mellow moments from years back, plus a few excellent choices from more recent years as well! Still, the island's a great image for the sound of the set – as the music has this kicked-back vibe that provides a nice sort of escape from the everyday world – heavenly soul sounds that come both from rare classics, and some of the best of the current underground – brought together with the kind of care and class we've come to expect from the folks at Expansion Records. A wonderful mix of tunes – with titles that include "Remember To Remember" by Rick Holmes, "Under The Moon & Over The Sky" by Angela Bofil, "Living So Fast" by Novocento with Danni Gottlieb & Dave Liebman, "I Choose You" by Paris, "You Are My Starship" by Norman Connors, "It Should Be you" by Ashanti Munir & Neil Letendre, "He Mandu (mother mix)" by Mouth Music, "Far Beyond" by Joey Negro & The Sunburst Band, "It's Like Air" by Sunny Hawkins, "Blending Colors" by Debra Debs, "Unconditional Love" by Greg Dean with Chantae Cann & Jarrod Lawson, "Mississippi Delta Blues" by Lamar Thomas with Carrie K Thomas, and "Peace In The Middle East" by Miri Ben-Ari & Kerri Chandler. CD

First New Orleans, then Houston, now Baton Rouge – leave it to the folks at Tuff City to make any southern city funky funky funky! The album actually only features work by 4 artists – but all of them are pretty darn great, the kind of obscure funky acts that first put us in business years back! The groove is hard and heavy – quite a different slice of LA than the New Orleans groove – with lots more hard drums and rumbling bass, and an overall sound that's very much in the east coast indie funk sound of the early 70s. And honestly, this is one of the freshest and strongest compilations that Tuff City ever put out – filled with great tracks that include "Joy & Affection", "Funky Black Man", and "Hogwash" by Earnest Jackson; "I Never Found A Girl" by Underground Express; "That's Henry", "Mississippi Mud", and "Angela" by Black Blood & The Chocolate Pickles; and "Ooh Wee Baby I Love You", "What The Deal Is", and "Groove Making" by George Perkins. LP, Vinyl record album

A heavenly set of southern soul – a package that pulls together a wealth of rare and unreleased singles from the Malaco label – that important Jackson, Mississippi imprint that took on the deeper sounds of the 70s – after the Memphis and Muscle Shoals scenes were losing steam! Some of the artists here are ones who would have ended up on Stax or Volt, had the labels still been going at the time – and instead found a great home on Malaco, a company who also had a great legacy of work in southern blues, and really knew how to bring out the best in a strong-voiced singer! Yet despite that side of the label, the music here is all-soul all the way through – not some of the soul/blues hybrids that Malaco could do well, and instead amazing deep soul, handled with a new sort of sophistication for the 70s! The sound is wonderful throughout – and the set features loads of cuts we'd never heard before – 18 titles that include "Overflowing" by Jewel Bass, "Ain't No Love For Sale" by Tommy Tate, "Sour Love Bitter Sweet" by Joe Wilson, "Lovin On Borrowed Time" by Anita Mitchell, "Got To Find The Nerve" by Hank Sample, "Two Of A Kind" by Dorothy Moore, "Once Upon A Love Affair" by Chuck Brooks, "That's How Much I Love You" by Eddie Houston, and "Talkin About Love" by George Soule. (Soul, Funky Compilations) CD

A beautiful overview of the early years of American soul music – put together as a set that easily moves between deep soul, northern soul, and some of the other hard-burning modes of the time! The package is a great effort from the folks at Mississippi Records, to kick off their Cairo Records imprint – and is done with the sense of history you'll find in their other reissues – right down to the nice booklet of notes that comes with the album. Titles include "My Heart Is Closed For The Season" by Betty Swann, "I'll Never Love Again" by Cookie Gabriel, "You Killed The Love" by Betty LaVette, "Time" by Chris Kenner, "The Best Of Luck To You" by Earl Gaines, "Enchanted Sea" by The Counts, "It's Raining" by Irma Thomas, "No No I Can't Help You" by Beverly McKay, "Another Day Gone" by Reuben Bell, "I'll Run Your Hurt Away" by Ruby Johnson, "She's Gone" by OV Right, "Easy As Saying 123" by Timmy Willis, "Stop These Teardrops" by Tammy McKnight, and "Try Love" by Dori Grayson. (Soul, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album