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Millie Jackson's feelin bitchy – and letting a whole new side of her talents show! After the sweet southern soul sound of her early recordings, the Jackson style takes a sharp shift here – letting a bitchier side show up more strongly, and really setting the tone for the next great chapter of her music! Some of the set still features the older style production work by Brad Shapiro – but that's also pushed out by a smoother more modern soul feel on most of the record – one that has Millie emerging with a lot more pride, presence, and power than ever – all-woman, and all in control! Titles include the 10 minute Latimore cut "All The Way Lover", which has a great monologue that would even make Latimore blush – plus the tracks "A Little Taste Of Outside Love", "Feelin Like A Woman", "Angel In Your Arms", and the great "If You're Not Back In Love By Monday". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "I'm Free", "House For Sale", "Bad Risk", "Feel Like Making Love", "Solitary Love Affair", and "Do What Makes The World Go Round". LP, Vinyl record album

Uncensored is right! Millie's live shows during the 70s were a lot raunchier than any of her records – and were usually filled with profanity, off-color jokes, and plenty of frank and foxy references to sex. She'd built her name on record through sweet heartbreaking southern soul sides – but this album gives the at-home listening crowd one of their first tastes of Millie in the raw, and it contains many classic monologues and lots of witty patter that Millie still uses in live shows to this day. Includes a great version of "If Loving You Is Wrong", with a hip rap in the middle; a nice take on "Keep The Home Fire Burnin", with a similar monologue to that used by Latimore in his live sets; a version of "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?", the "Phuck U Symphony"; a piece on "The Soaps", and "Didn't I Blow Your Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

The tremendous debut of the great Millie Jackson – a new standard-setting deep soul record for the 70s, and one that's quite different than some of Jackson's work from later years! The record's got a heartbreaking southern female soul approach – similar to work by underground favorites like Ann Sexton, Doris Duke, or Shirley Brown – and even though the arrangements are done north of the Mason/Dixon line (in New York by Bert DeCoteaux, and in DC by Tony Camillo), the record feels like it was lifted off the pressing plant in Muscle Shoals or Jackson! Titles include "I Ain't Giving Up", "I Miss You Baby", "Ask Me What You Want", "My Man, A Sweet Man", "I Just Can't Stand It", and "Strange Things". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic update of earlier soul duo modes – served up here by two of the most badass soul singers of the 70s! The album's got the smooth flow of Isaac Hayes' late 70s work – a bit of clubby rhythms at times, some soaring orchestrations at others – all in a mode that opens up into tunes that allow plenty of vocal interplay between Millie and Ike – who beautifully balance their deep soul roots and growing shift into modern soul modes. Brad Shapiro and Millie produced – giving the album some of the flavors of Jackson's late 70s work on Spring – but the Isaac Hayes presence really makes the record his own, too – as if we could imagine anything less! Titles include "Sweet Music, Soft Lights, & You", "Do You Wanna Make Love", "If I Had My Way", "Love Changes", and "You Needed Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A great follow up to Mille Jackson's classic Caught Up album – but one that's also a key turning point too! The theme here is the same as the album before – with tunes that have a woman "caught up" in love and all of its tangles – but the sound is also bolder, more positive, and somehow more righteous than before – with Millie stepping from the weepy shadows very firmly into the mainstream – making a bold move forward for women in general in the process! Production is still by southern soul whiz Brad Shapiro – but he's also brightened things a bit too, in keeping with Millie's bolder spirit – shaking off some of the earthier tones of the music, and hipping things up slightly with some more modern instrumentation. Millie's vocals are completely wonderful throughout – rasping with that badass style that would later explode even more strongly – and there's lots of spoken bits that make the tunes sound even more personal – as if you're listening at the door, or tapping the phone while Millie's talking to her man! Titles include "Loving Arms", "Do What Makes You Satisfied", "Making The Best Of A Bad Situation", "The Memory Of A Wife", "Leftovers", and "Tell Her It's Over". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best of the blacksploitation scores of the early 70s – a masterpiece of music that we rate every bit as high as Shaft or Superfly – maybe even higher! The music here is incredible – a surprising funky turn for JJ Johnson, who most folks know for his straighter jazz work – and like Marvin Gaye, Barry White, and others who were surprising the world with their ability to score music for a full film during the early 70s, JJ really knocks it out of the park with this one – coming up with a batch of tunes that are a wonderful mix of sophisticated scoring, creative instrumentation, and some damn funky grooves! The title cut features Joe Simon on vocals, and Millie Jackson sings on the cuts "Love Doctor" and "It Hurts So Good". The rest of the set is instrumental, and other cuts include an instrumental take on "Cleopatra Jones", plus "Go Chase Cleo", "Goin To The Chase", "Wrap Up", and "Airport Fight". LP, Vinyl record album

A key album in the evolution of the Millie Jackson sound and style – as she leaves behind the weepy soul of earlier albums, and moves into the fierce, proud-stepping mode that would define the "bad girl" of later, raunchier years! In case you can't figure out where Millie's going with her bag, the title is emphasized by a photo of a toilet seat on the back cover – and Millie literally takes the sh*t out on the record – in a series of tunes that have a real bad-rapping approach. Production is by longtime associate Brad Shapiro, but the overall sound is sweetened nicely by David Van De Pitte – who adds in full strings and voices to emphasize the attitude behind the songs. Titles include "Go Out & Get Some", "Put Something Down On It", "He Wants To Hear The Words", "Here You Come Again", and a great version of Latimore's "Keep The Home Fire Burnin", complete with an additional rap on the subject, entitle "Logs & Thangs". LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent early album from Millie Jackson – recorded in a southern soul style in New York and Muscle Shoals, but a lot hipper than most of the rest of the female soul that was coming out of the south at the time! Millie was a bit different than the rest – as although she's got a tear running down her cheek on the cover, she can also be a real badass when she wants too – rapping hard and frankly about the ups and downs of love and live – often sticking to harder material, except for a few tear jerking ballads, and adds in a lot of humor and touches of the fierce sarcasm that would soon become her calling card in the soul business. Key producer Brad Shapiro is working with Millie here – Gary Byrd penned the leadoff cut "I Cry", and the other tracks include "Two Faced World", "Hypocrisy", "Good To The Very Last Drop", "Help Yourself", and "Now That You Got It". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic set of 70s crossover deep soul – recorded in the mode of similar work by Betty Wright or Laura Lee, and done with a similar mix of raw southern vocals and tighter production! About half the work was handled by the team of Dave Crawford and Brad Shapiro – working in the Criteria Studios in Miami to give Jackie a sound that's similar to Shapiro's work with Millie Jackson. The other half was produced in Philly, by the Young Professionals team of LeBaron Taylor, Tony Bell, and Phil Hurt – who give Jackie a warm, gliding, sweet 70s Philly groove! And although you might think that this Philly/Miami split would make for a mixed bag of tunes, the album's surprisingly unified – and in a way, does plenty to link together the growing dancefloor scenes in both cities. Titles include "Willpower", "Both Ends Against The Middle", "Time", "Something In A Look", "Clean Up Your Own Yard", "If", and "Darling Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

Tremendous early work from the great Candi Staton – coming across here as much more of a deep soul singer than on her later club and disco tracks – thanks to rock-solid production from Muscle Shoals legend Rick Hall – probably the best producer ever to work with Candi's voice! The style's a bit smoother than on some of Candi's first few recordings – but still very much in a deep soul mode, with a sophisticated approach to southern soul that's really outta site – and which has Staton really evolving past earlier southern soul styles, bridging worlds in the same way that Millie Jackson was beginning to do with some of her excellent 70s material too! Tracks include "Do It In The Name Of Love", "The Best Thing You Ever Had", "The Thanks I Get For Loving You", "I'll Drop Everything & Come Running", and "Wanted Lover". LP, Vinyl record album

A great non-Stax album from Memphis soul singer Shirley Brown – recorded for Arista, but with all the depth and feeling of her indie work! Shirley's wonderfully teamed here with songwriter Bettye Crutcher –one of the best second generation talents at Stax, and writer with a great way of putting over a mature, modern southern soul tune. In addition to contributing most of the tracks, Crutcher also co-produced the record – and helps give it a sound that's hip and focused – without any overdone southern soul cliches. The set's the kind that should have made Brown as big as Millie Jackson in the 70s – and it's filled with great tracks that include "Blessed Is The Woman (With A Man Like Mine)", "When You Really Love Somebody", "Givin' Up", "Midnight Rendezvous", "A Mighty Good Feeling", and "Long On Lovin". LP, Vinyl record album

A really wonderful post-Stax album from the great William Bell – a set that has the singer still stepping out with all those great deep soul modes from the 60s, but also finding a hipper, more laidback approach as well! There's a beautiful mellow vibe to the record – one that recalls some of Millie Jackson's best ballad work of the time, especially in the way it warms things up with a bit of class, while taking away none of the power of the vocals. Bell produced and arranged the whole set with help from Paul Mitchell – and there's still lots of nice down home themes and feelings to the record, but William's also working with a bubbling groove that comes off great – and which updates his sound without selling his soul – making for a great set in the modern/southern mode. Titles include "Tryin To Love Two", "If Sex Was All We Had", "Relax", "You Don't Miss Your Water", "Coming Back For More", "Just Another Way To Feel", and "I Absotively Posolutely Love You". LP, Vinyl record album