A lost treasure from the Swamp Dogg universe of the early 60s – and one of the first albums to ever feature the vocals of Charlie Whitehead too! Charlie works here as a Swamp Dogg protege – and Swamp arranged, produced, and wrote most of the tracks on the record – with that great deep soul style of his own early gems! The vibe here is more straight ahead, with less of the gimmicks or jokes of Swamp's music – but we mean that in a good way, as Charlie really shines as a singer of southern soul – working here in the Capricorn studios down in Macon. At times, the set has a lot more overt politicism than your average southern soul album from the time – especially on tracks like "Call Me N_gger" and "The Freedom Under Certain Konditions Marching Band" – and oher tracks include "I Dig Black Girls", "Who Do They Think They Are?", and "Sweet Bird Of Success". CD

A massive return to form for Maxwell – his first album in many years, but definitely well worth the wait! The set's supposedly the start of a trilogy – but hell, we're more than happy to have it all on its own – a wonderful reminder of the deeply soulful sound that first made us fall in love with Maxwell's music many years back – at a time when few mainstream soul artists could hit such a classic vibe – equally amazing all these years later, as Maxwell's still doing it better than most! Tunes are beautifully-written – straightforward, without any gimmicks, and cascading in warm beats, laidback grooves, and those sweetly crackling vocals that make Maxwell a winner on both mellow and funky numbers. Titles include "Bad Habits", "Cold", "Pretty Wings", "Playing Possum", "Phoenix Rise", "Stop The World", and "Love You". (Neo Soul, Soul) CD

One of Otis Redding's greatest LPs! Unlike some of his others – which either had some filler, some gimmicks, or were collections of material released after his death – this one is a totally solid batch of southern soul tracks that ranks with some of the best work to come out of Memphis during the 60s. The record features some real gems – originals by Redding like "Hey Hey Baby", "Security", "These Arms Of Mine", "Something Is Worrying Me", and "That's What My Heart Needs" – plus some great covers, like "The Dog", "Pain In My Heart", and "I Need Your Lovin". CD