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The first ever compilation of the best music made for MoWest – the eclectic, but still soulful cuts made when Berry Gordy Jr. relocated from Motown to the west coast in the early 70s – releasing cool and sometimes strange music with a soul background, yet toasted by LA sunshine! The MoWest subsidiary lasted just a few years, and gets overlooked in the canonization of Motown at it's most classic and revolutionary – but the legacy is pretty incredible. Funk, sunshine rock and soul fused adventurously by a stunningly diverse roster – late period Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (who's comp-opening track is a slept on sunshine pop-soul classic), breezy-jazzy-soul from Odyssey, the sister funk of Sisters Love, a stunning solo left turn from Spinners singer GC Cameron and more great stuff from Syreeta, The Commodores, Suzee Ikeda, Thelma Houston and others. We've been dying for a well selected MoWest comp like this for years, and Light In The Attic stepped to the plate and knock it right out of the park. The songs choices are great, the notes are great. . .everything about it is a win. Essential! Includes "You're A Song (That I Can't Sing)" and "The Night" by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, "Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love" and "Broken Road" by Odyssey, "Don't You Be Worried" by The Commodores, "A Heart Is A House" Nu Page, "I Ain't Going Nowhere" by Thelma Houston, "I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel For You" by Suzee Ikeda, "You've Got To Make The Choice" and "Give Me Your Love" by The Sisters Love and more.

Badu is back with some of the deepest, funkiest and best music of her career – a mindblowing treatise for a New Amerykah – and what we'll consider an instant classic whether the world at large catches on or not! Erykah steps up this time with a set that balances the wilder impulses of her criminally underappreciated Worldwide Underground and more of a hip hop based, righteously grooving style – but still bursts with a freshness that's unrivaled to say the least. From free spirited soul, to sparse hip hop funk this record is both blunt and beautiful – with a slow-building emotional resonance that'll reach the most jaded souls. Modern soul music of the first order that gives us goosebumps from the first spin to the last beat! The album kicks off with Erykah riffing on and remixing Ramp's "American Promise" as an intro – and it just gets deeper from there. Producers/collaborators include Madlib, Sa-Ra, Karriem Riggins, James Poyser and ?uestlove. Amazing!!! Titles include "The Healer", "Me", "My People", "Soldier", "The Cell", "Twinkle", "Master Teacher", "The Hump" and "Telephone". The 9th Wonder produced single "Honey" is an unlisted bonus track.

An amazing record that stunned the world almost as much as Marvin's previous effort, What's Going On. Like that one, this album's an amazingly unified batch of tracks – with a visionary message about sex and love that is as honest and bracing as the politics and social commentary of his previous record. The record shows a sexy side of Marvin that would stun fans of his 60s work – very adult, very warm, and very preoccupied with desire and love. In a way, this sort of full-on love fest was a big payoff for all the folks who'd hung onto his simpler expressions of affection in the earlier years – sort of like getting let into the bedroom after spending years on the front porch! The record was produced by both Marvin and Ed Townsend – and the arrangements by David Van DePitte, Rene Hall, and Gene Page are smooth and seductive all the way through. Includes slow jam classics like "You Sure Love To Ball", "Distant Lover", and "Let's Get It On" – plus "Come Get To This", "Just to Keep You Satisfied", and "If I Should Die Tonight".

A monster! Foxy Brown is Willie Hutch's magnificent soundtrack for Foxy Brown – a Pam Grier blacksploitation film from the early 70s – and it's pure genius all the way through, a record filled with some of the best funky soundtrack cuts of the era! Willie's got a real Curtis Mayfield sound here – with a dope mixture of full orchestrations and heavy funk, guitar riffing away as drums snap tightly across the album's best rhythms! Includes the classic funky numbers "Ain't That Mellow Mellow" and "Give Me Some of that Good Old Love" – plus "Whatever You Do", "Foxy Lady", "You Sure Know How To Love Your Man", "Theme Of Foxy Brown", "Out There", and "Chase".

An excellent blacksploitation soundtrack – and every bit as funky as any of Willie Hutch's work for other Motown soundtracks at the time! Larry Mizell and Dennis Coffey help out on the instrumentation – giving the album an extra funky instrumental edge, one that takes it way past Edwin Starr's other work – and the tracks are a nice mix of vocals and instrumentals. Titles include "Ain't It Hell Up In Harlem", "Airport Chase", and the massive "Easin' In", a stone sample classic!

A nice one from Badu – one with a depth of feeling and genuine soulful vibes that live up to its title, despite the fact that she records for one of the world's biggest media conglomerates! It's all about the vibe here. Erykah rolls her syllables, scats and emotes feelings more than an actual narrative in the strongest of these cuts. It's not that she's forgone lyrics; but it's all about the ambience, not radio sing-a-longs. She also dives head first into her organic soul and hip hop hybrid sound a little more sparingly, but still better than any of the ladies that followed her lead after Baduizm. She channels Donald Byrd on the great "Think Twice", which is pretty indicative of the vibe as a whole. The groove is sorta mellow, but in a very tripped-out way, with deep organ washes and synth tones, scratchy soul guitar, and crisp organic beats. There's an appearance by Dead Prez on "Steady On The Grind", and a really sweet old school flavored remake of the great "Love Of My Life" track from the Brown Sugar soundtrack with Queen Latifah and Bahamadia, but for the most part Erykah is sweating soul on her own spiritual plane here. It's gonna take a little while to sink in, but this may be her best album (despite whatever naysaying BS you may read in mainstream reviews.) Tracks include "Bump It", the great single "Danger", "Woo", "Back In The Day" and "I Want You".

Long-overdue reissue to Willie Hutch's classic score about pimpin' & mackin'! The album (and film) is virtually a handbook for junior grade hoods, and we can remember back around '90 when the first wave of candy-ass hardcore hip hoppers were coming up, and this was sort of a holy grail. Still hold up nicely, despite the legions of Compton wanna-bes who've overplayed it to death – and with classic cuts like "Brothers Gonna Work It Out", "Vampin", "Theme Of The Mack", "Mack's Stroll/The Getaway", and "Slick".

One of the best Stevie Wonder albums ever! Stevie's moving into god-like territory here – handling a multitude of styles, all well, and crafting some of the most sophisticated soul of his generation. The album's got the same jazzy references you'll find on the best work by Donny Hathaway – best heard on the sublime track "Golden Lady", which gets our clear vote for one of the best songs ever! Just about every track is great, though – and the album features the big hits "Living For The City", "All In Love Is Fair", "Higher Ground", and "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" – plus "He's Misstra Know It All", "Jesus Children Of America", and "Too High".

The second chapter of Erykah Badu's New Amerykah – recorded for the most part, quite incredibly, during the same period and with the same collaborators as the mind-altering, murky and righteous hip hop funk experimentalism that was Part One – some months that must be among the most dizzyingly creative in Badu's career! We're reluctant to call Return Of The The Ankh a lighter listen than its predecessor, but, it's a less dense and outwardly experimental batch in the sonic realm – the emotionalism and the head nodding warmth is at the forefront, yet she's as uncompromising and real as ever. The sound is still innovative, unique and her own on all fronts, but the songs chosen for Part Two are ones you want to approach and embrace from the opening seconds – there's not as much of a tripped out overall vibe and you don't need to acclimate from a distance – these songs pull you right in! Includes collaborations with James Poyser, Shafiq Husayn, Ta'Raach, Karriem Riggins, Madlib and Georgia Anne Muldrow. Includes "20 Feet Tall", "Window Seat", "Agitation", "Turn Me Away (Get Munny)", "Gone Baby, Don't Be Long", "Love", "Out My Mind, Just In Time" and more.

One of the darkest records to ever come out of the Detroit soul scene! As you might guess from the title, the album is Funkadelic's first – and it's a swirling mass of psychedelic guitars, echoey drums, and bass-heavy riffing, all topped off by the band's harmony vocals, which sound like a perversion of the deep-Motown styles of groups like The Temptations or Undisputed Truth – taken into even headier territory! The original 5-member version of the group includes Eddie Hazel, Mickey Atkins, Tawl Ross, Bill Nelson, and Tiki Fulwood – all working here with some mindblowing George Clinton production! Tracks include classics like "I Bet You", "Mommy, What's a Funkadelic", "Music for My Mother", and "What Is Soul" – and the album's the stuff that made these guys a legend right out of the box!

Mayer Hawthorne moves to the majors on How Do You Do – bringing that fun, neo classic bedroom soul sound he did so well on Stones Throw with him – pretty much picking up right where Strange Arrangement left off! 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 LP and singles. Skirting 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.

An obscure second soundtrack for The Mack – one that's not nearly as well known as the classic Motown score by Willie Hutch, but which features some great work from Eugene McDaniels – and funky backings from Alan Silvestri! Eugene sings sweetly on the title theme "In The Beginning" – and funkily on the track "Party Time" – but our favorite tunes are actually the instrumental ones by Silvestri, done in a really wicked sort of groove – one that mixes traditional blacksploitation scoring with some jazzier touches – in a mode that's tight one minute, laidback the next, and filled with a great blend of jazz, soul, and electricity! Titles include "Play Ball", "We Can Beat This", "Slim", "Here Today", "Planetarium", and "Kill Fats".

A masterpiece in psychedelic soul from The Temptations – perhaps the most perfectly realized album from their years working with Norman Whitfield! The set's awash in that bottom-heavy, rumbling funk mode that Whitfield brought to the group at the end of the 60s – served up in bold tracks that push the group's vocals to a whole new level, and which bring in a more righteous sound than anyone might have expected previously from Motown! The centerpiece here is the amazing "Runaway Child" – a really extended number that has all the political soul of a Curtis Mayfield tune – and other titles include "Cloud Nine", "Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me", "Love Is A Hurtin Thing", "I Gotta Find A Way", "I Need Your Lovin", and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine".

A late 60s Motown classic – with a deep heavy soul sound that mixed psychedelic elements into a rolling righteous groove – with a style that was perfect for the political tenor of the times! The formula worked extremely well for The Temps, and shifted them from being just a regular Motown vocal group into a super soul power that shaped soul music heavily in the next few years. Of course, a good deal of the credit goes to producer Norman Whitfield – who's really in his element on the set, and gives the group a sublime blend of heavy bass, fuzzy guitar, and tripped-out production on the vocals. Includes the classic "Psychedelic Shack", plus "Friendship Train", "Take A Stroll Thru Your Mind", "Hum Along And Dance", and "It's Summer".

A classic set of psychedelic soul from this fantastic 60s group! The record is one of the groundbreaking albums the Temps cut with producer Norman Whitfield – and it's a landmark session that perfectly showcases what Whitfield's full-on, guitar-heavy, bassy-bottom style could do for the group! A few mellow cuts hearken back to earlier days – but there's some excellent moments that really let the new sound shine – soaring out with trippier touches that are totally great! Highlights include the storming cut "I Can't Get Next To You", a trippy remake of "Hey Jude", the original "Don't Let The Joneses Get You Down", and the haunting "Message From A Black Man" – one of the most righteous moments ever in late 60s Motown!

Sublime work from the Temptations – still recording here with Norman Whitfield, who's really opening up his bag on most of the record – and taking the group into expansive territory that was barely hinted at in their early work! The album's got some incredible tracks in the Whitfield mode – long numbers that build and build, opening up into long righteous soul grooves with more than a bit of funk – a hard-rolling style that the harmonies really work wonderfully to match – giving Motown some of its most powerful sounds of the time! The best cuts include the album's 9 minute reading of "Love Can Be Anything", it's 12 minute version of "Smiling Faces Sometimes", and the cuts "Just My Imagination", "Man", and "Ugena Za Ulimwengu".

A very sweet little album by this great Motown group! The record was produced by Norman Whitfield, and it's a perfect example of the rumbling funky soul sound that he was developing at the time – a mixture of heavy bass, rumbling percussion, fuzzy guitars, and a stone righteous sound that pushed soul music firmly into the 70s! The songs are mostly all originals written by him and Barrett Strong – and the band is filled with great players like Dennis Coffey, Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, and the great Melvin "Wah Wah" Ragin. Titles include "Ungena Za Ulimwengu (Unite The World) Friendship Train", "What It Is?", "Don't Let Him Take Your Love From Me", "What's Going On", and "You Make Your Own Heaven & Hell Right Here On Earth".

A perfect example groove that got The Undisputed Truth big hit fame in the early 70s – sort of a rumbling funk, full-on approach, using male/female vocals in kind of a "wall of soul" approach. Includes the huge hit "Smiling Faces Sometimes", plus lots of covers of cool tracks like "California Soul", "Like A Rolling Stone", "Ball Of Confusion", and "You Got The Love I Need". Norman Whitfield production all the way through, with a lot of nice twists similar to those he was taking with other Motown groups at the time.

Fierce funky instrumentals from Motown keyboardist Earl Van Dyke – a set that's overflowing with great original tracks, plus some sweet funky covers too! The style here is quite different than Earl's previous work – and quite different from most of Motown too – with a hard-edged approach to the grooves that's much more like the work going on in the funky 45 underground on other labels – especially on the drums, which often snap nicely and give the album a great breaking sort of sound! The set was recorded live at the Hi Chapparal club in Detroit, with audience noise dubbed in later – and titles include "The Flick", "Cissy Strut", "Thank You Falletinme Be Mice Elf Again", "Fuschia Moods", "The Stingray", "The Whip a Rang", "Someday We'll Be Together", and "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye".

An incredible album from Amy Winehouse – even way better than her fantastic debut! Although a contemporary soul album, this one's steeped in tradition – soul styles that run the gamut from Detroit down to Kingston, and which are carried off here with a rougher, sharper-edged sound than before! The instrumentation on here is really mindblowing – almost at a Motown level, with isolated instruments really crackling out from the fuller backings – all set to rhythms that snap and bounce, and are almost a bit funky at times. Credit is definitely due to producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi – but Amy's vocals are really tremendous too – classic, but really personal and fresh! Titles include "Rehab", "Just Friends", "Back To Black", "Love Is A Losing Game", "He Can Only Hold Her", "Some Unholy War", and "Me & Mr Jones".

An incredible look at an obscure Detroit soul label – a tiny little company, but home to some really great funk and soul! The Big Mack label ran somewhat sporadically through the 60s and into the early 70s – but during that time, it managed to cut some incredible tunes with a really unique feel – work that had a rougher edge than most of the Detroit soul on the bigger labels and indies – often with an earthy quality that's miles and miles from Motown! Label owner Ed McCoy had a great ear for male singers, instrumental combos, and vocal groups – but as the 60s rolled on, he also picked up a few hip female acts as well – and throughout the whole stretch, he had a way of producing a tune that we can only describe best as slightly messed up – a sound that's often slightly tripped up, oddly spacious, and which makes the elements of the music fall into each other with a crashingly intense kind of sound! Far from being a mess, this approach only seems to cook things up more – giving an edge to tracks that might have sounded more lackluster with conventional production – and further electrifying these obscure utterings from the Detroit underground. As with other Numero collections, the work here is wonderfully worth discovering – and presented with full notes, photos, and a history of the label. LP features 20 tracks that include "Bui Bui" by L Hollis & The Mackadoos, "Get It Right" by Soul President, "Crooked Woman" by Edd Henry, "Fever" by Essence, "If You Feel It" by Ms Tyree Sugar Jones, "The Feeling Is Mutual" by Manhattens, "I See Her Pretty Face" by The Grand Prix's, "Let's Give Our Love A Try" by Mae Young, "I'll Be On My Way" by Bob & Fred, "Mini Skirt" by The Sleepwalkers, "Monkey Time Shine" by L Hollis & The Mackadoos, "The Man Puts Sugar In My Soul" by Mae Young, "You Drive Me Crazy" by The Grand Prix's, "Got To Have It" by Soul President, and "Your Replacement Is Here" by Edd Henry. LP also features a bonus track not on the CD – "I'll Be On My Way (inst)" by Bob & Fred.

Jackson 5, move over – because the folks at Numero Records have uncovered a whole host of rare kid soul acts from the 70s – most of them a fair bit funkier than their Motown contemporaries! The tracks here all clearly follow the lead started by Michael and his brothers at the end of the 60s – but the music is way more than just a simple copycat of Jackson modes – as each of these artists have a really individual approach, and a heck of a lot of personality in their music – despite their youthful years. In true Numero fashion, most of the cuts here are from tiny little labels – issued only as singles back in the day, but produced with a great deal of enthusiasm for the music – and a confident, competent sound that's quite striking, given the age of the performers. The package comes with complete notes on the music – opening up a whole world of lesser-known kid soul acts – and titles include the amazing "Trust Your Child" by Patrizia & Jimmy, plus "I'm Not Ready For Love" by Promise, "One Is Enough For One" by Jack & the Mods, "Now That School Is Through" by Cindy & The Playmates, "Jersey Slide (part 1)" by 3 Stars, "You Are My Dream" by 3 Simmons, "Can't Let You Break My Heart" by Quantrells, "If You're Looking For Love" by Triads, "Yellow Ribbons" by Atons, "Sweet Pea" by Altyrone Deno Brown, "Time After Time" by Step By Step, "Time" by Otis The 3rd, and "Little Girl" by Michael Washington. LP also contains a bonus track – part 2 of "Trust Your Child" by Patrizia & Jimmy!

One of the first full albums on Motown – and a rockin batch of soul tracks from Martha Reeves and The Vandellas! The title cut – "Come & Get These Memories" – is a stone winner that virtually defines the sound of early Motown – and other tracks are all pretty great too, with nary any filler in the bunch, just great Holland/Dozier/Holland compositions to keep things going! Holland & Dozier produced, and titles include "Can't Get Used To Losing You", "This Is When I Need You Most", "A Love Like Yours", "Tears On My Pillow", "To Think You Would Hurt Me", "There He Is", "Jealous Lover", and "Old Love".

Heavy rock and heavy drums – a fuzzed out classic that's one of the best lost hard rock albums of the 70s! These guys may have been a strange choice for Motown's rock-based Rare Earth label back in the day, but they've more than made a place for themselves in the history books – thanks to some really fierce rocking, and an approach to the drums that's kept the record in more than a few crates over the years – not totally a break record, but with plenty of tight work on the drums and some really monster bass! Titles include "Hard Working Man", "Uncertain Destination", "No Time", "Realization", "The Sorcerer Of Isis", "It Couldn't Be Me", "The Death Trip", and "In The Night".

Massive soul from Wendy Rene – one of the lesser-known talents from the Stax Records scene of the 60s, and an artist who's finally getting her due! We're not sure why Wendy never hit bigger at the time – because her singles here are wonderful – excellent female soul that not only ranks with the best of the Stax sound of the time, but which also challenges the bite of some of the best Motown music too – thanks to a particularly northern groove on some of the best cuts here! In fact, it may well be this style – often closer to Detroit soul than the usual Memphis bag at Stax – that might have held Wendy back. But that's hardly an issue all these many years later – and our hat's off to the folks at Light In The Attic for not only bringing together her rare singles, but also collecting unreleased songs, other rarities, and even material performed with the group The Drapels – all recorded in the years 1964 and 1965, and supported by some great notes too. Titles include "Bar B Q", "I Wish I Were That Girl", "What Will Tomorrow Bring", "Last Love", "Crowded Park", "Give You What I Got", "Deep In My Heart", "Wondering", "First Kiss", "Reap What You Sow", "After Laughter Comes Tears", and "He Hasn't Failed Me Yet".