A legendary album – and for good reason too – a set that's as mysterious as it is funky, and a record that's stayed at the top of our crates for years! The album features a really unusual collective of musicians, pulled together under the guidance of producer Paul Winley – a group that features George Benson on guitar, Dave Baby Cortez on organ, Willis Jackson on tenor sax, and Earl Williams on some massively funky drums! The music's a mix of funky jazz and gritty soul – put together with some really weird studio touches – including an uncredited male voice that comes in and out of the tracks, bad-rapping along with some very hip commentary. Ann Winley sings the female vocals on the set – often egged on by the dude – but the real charm of the record lies at the bottom – the wicked drums, funky basslines, and choppy instrumental bits that have gotten the set sampled plenty over the years. Titles include the classic "Smokin Cheeba Cheeba" alone, the groovy "Finger In It", a great breakbeat version of "Ain't No Sunshine" with a tenor solo by Willis Jackson, and the slow bluesy talking cut "Fed Up", a baaaad rap about a couple splitting up – done here in both vocal and instrumental versions. CD

A legendary album – and for good reason too – a set that's as mysterious as it is funky, and a record that's stayed at the top of our crates for years! The album features a really unusual collective of musicians, pulled together under the guidance of producer Paul Winley – a group that features George Benson on guitar, Dave Baby Cortez on organ, Willis Jackson on tenor sax, and Earl Williams on some massively funky drums! The music's a mix of funky jazz and gritty soul – put together with some really weird studio touches – including an uncredited male voice that comes in and out of the tracks, bad-rapping along with some very hip commentary. Ann Winley sings the female vocals on the set – often egged on by the dude – but the real charm of the record lies at the bottom – the wicked drums, funky basslines, and choppy instrumental bits that have gotten the set sampled plenty over the years. Titles include the classic "Smokin Cheeba Cheeba" alone, the groovy "Finger In It", a great breakbeat version of "Ain't No Sunshine" with a tenor solo by Willis Jackson, and the slow bluesy talking cut "Fed Up", a baaaad rap about a couple splitting up – done here in both vocal and instrumental versions. CD

A legendary album – and for good reason too – a set that's as mysterious as it is funky, and a record that's stayed at the top of our crates for years! The album features a really unusual collective of musicians, pulled together under the guidance of producer Paul Winley – a group that features George Benson on guitar, Dave Baby Cortez on organ, Willis Jackson on tenor sax, and Earl Williams on some massively funky drums! The music's a mix of funky jazz and gritty soul – put together with some really weird studio touches – including an uncredited male voice that comes in and out of the tracks, bad-rapping along with some very hip commentary. Ann Winley sings the female vocals on the set – often egged on by the dude – but the real charm of the record lies at the bottom – the wicked drums, funky basslines, and choppy instrumental bits that have gotten the set sampled plenty over the years. Titles include the classic "Smokin Cheeba Cheeba" alone, the groovy "Finger In It", a great breakbeat version of "Ain't No Sunshine" with a tenor solo by Willis Jackson, and the slow bluesy talking cut "Fed Up", a baaaad rap about a couple splitting up – done here in both vocal and instrumental versions. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of work from the legendary Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers – one of the coolest, grooviest groups to record in the 60s – and one who equally touched the worlds of soul, jazz, and Latin at the time! The group have a really special blend here – a groundbreaking way of pulling together all the best sounds happening uptown – some of the soul jazz currents you'd expect from their placement on Prestige Records, some of the crossover soul influence that was taking place in Spanish Harlem, and even some of the funky currents that were showing up in the indie 45 underground of the late 60s. Many of these tracks emphasize that last side with work from the great Pazant Brothers – who were a key part of Pucho's group – as was Neal Creque, a killer pianist who'd later go onto make great records of his own. There's also some key use of electric bass, which kicks these tracks strongly from the bottom – and the 17 track CD is filled with gems that include "Shuckin N Jivin", "Swamp People", "Dateline", "Big Stick", "Swing Thing", "Soul Yamie", "Something Black", and "Strange Thing Mambo". (Latin, Soul) CD

Maybe the coolest record ever put out by the Luaka Bop label – and that's really saying a lot, given all the amazing albums they've given us over the years! The set's a perfect musical tonic for the times – a set of underground singles from the 70s, most of which fall in a space between the secular and spiritual – message-oriented, but not entirely from the scriptures – with a humanist message of positivity that's completely timeless – as powerful now as it was when these gems were recorded! The source of most of these records is from a gospel perspective, but they work a lot more in the territory of righteous 70s soul – making the same sort of shift that The Staple Singers or Voices Of East Harlem did on a better-known scale. Titles include "Peace In The Land" by The Gospel IQs, "We Got A Race To Run" by Staples Jr Singers, "I'm Trying To Be Your Friend" by The Soul Stirrers, "Don't Give Up" by The William Singers, "Let Your Light Shine" by Willie Dale, "It's Hard To Live In This Old World" by Rev Harvey Gates, "Time For Peace" by The Little Shadows, "We Don't Love Enough" by The Triumphs, and a great reworking of Earth Wind & Fire in "Keep Your Faith To The Sky" by Willie Scott & The Birmingham Spirituals. (Gospel, Soul) CD