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Heavy funk from the great Yvonne Fair! "Funky Music" is a tight little groover – bass and guitar dancing on the intro, riffing around hard and heavy, before horns and thumping drums come in with Yvonne's bad-ass vocals! "Let Your Hair Down" has some fake crowd noises at the beginning, and features Yvonne in her best Betty Davis mode – bad-rapping over some totally great funky grooves!

Timeless garagey R&B from The Ballantynes –the third great 45 in a row from the Vancouver's group! "Faith" seems to have a bit of an uptempo Motown influence driving it, especially when it comes to the catchy chorus – but underneath that is rawer, but still soulful swagger that's exciting as can be. It's more of a stormer than you might guess from the picture sleeve – and a damn good one! "Velvet" is another winner – with traded male and female vocals on this one. It's their best couple of songs yet!

Totally great work from Chris Clark – a real surprise, given that we haven't really heard the singer since her Motown records of the 60s! Chris sounds wonderful here – every bit as soulful as before, but even more deeply expressive – yet in ways that aren't hokey or overdone at all. "Dream Or Cry" is a really wonderful tune – done with horns that almost have a Hi Records sort of vibe, and this warmly bubbling groove that pushes Clark even farther than before! Then Chris steps into mellower territory with "Sleepin" – a really nice ballad with a gentle, almost jazzy vibe.

Totally great work from Chris Clark – a real surprise, given that we haven't really heard the singer since her Motown records of the 60s! Chris sounds wonderful here – every bit as soulful as before, but even more deeply expressive – yet in ways that aren't hokey or overdone at all. "Dream Or Cry" is a really wonderful tune – done with horns that almost have a Hi Records sort of vibe, and this warmly bubbling groove that pushes Clark even farther than before! Then Chris steps into mellower territory with "Sleepin" – a really nice ballad with a gentle, almost jazzy vibe.

Two Detroit gems – back to back on a single 45! "Set My Heart At Ease" is an upbeat groove from Mikki Farrow – produced perfectly by the Pied Piper team, who build things wonderfully in a very short space – and really out-Motown Motown with the groove! "I'm Coming Home" is a very cool number from September Jones – a tune that's as dark as the namesake month of its singer – with a vibe that's cool and righteous, while the groove still hits some strong Detroit 60s modes!

A 12 X 7" box set version of Mayer Hawthorne's breakout How Do You Do – with each track from the album paired with its own previously unreleased instrumental version – in individual photo sleeves that lay out as a full mosaic! The Mayer Hawthorne story was a strange one from the start – white producer/DJ crafting real-deal, moody, sultry throwback soul under a pseudonym that gets him signed to Stones Throw. The best news, really, is that he's still doing what we loved on the Stones Throw record and singles. Skirting both throwback Motown AND indie soul conventions, but winking ever so slyly at them, making strings sound scratchy, warm and well-worn, subtle horns to sooth and stir, his own vocals layered for a group-like effect. Bonus points for his use of the superstar cameo – he brings Snoop Dogg in to SING, not to serve as an obligatory rhyme cameo. Well played, Mayer Hawthorne! Includes "Get To Know You", "A Long Time", "Can't Stop" with Snoop, "Finally Falling", "Hooked", "You Called Me", "No Strings", "Dreaming", "The Walk" and more. Comes in a heavy duty box – which also includes a custom display sheet that can hold all 12 singles. Beautiful!

A killer cut by The Metros – one of Detroit soul's best secrets in the 60s! The track is amazing – dipping, turning, and soaring with this groove that even knocks out most Motown classics – and it's backed here by an equally great number, making for one hell of a 45!

2 nice ones from Marvin! Both tracks are lesser-known than some of his bigger hits of the 60s, but they both have strong production – "Little Darling" by the Holland-Dozier-Holland team, and "Hey Diddle" by the great Harvey Fuqua. Gaye's voice is great, as always, and the Motown hit sound is firmly in place.

Excellent early soul from Lou Courtney – very much in a Northern groove! "Do The Thing" begins with a rolling piano line, almost Motown – but Lou's vocals are rawer, and really make the track come on hard! "Man Is Lonely" is a vamping number with a catchy groove too – and Lou's vocals again are very very nice!

Northern soul treasures from Lorraine Chandler on a sweet 45 from Outta Sight UK! "I Can't Change" is a great uptempo Detroit groove to it, a great track co-written by Jack Ashford, the percussionist for The Funk Brothers. A great, Motown-worthy cut that was actually recorded for RCA. The flip is great version of the Bond theme "You Only Live Twice" – we love us some Nancy Sinatra, but we'd love to hear this version in the flick instead!