No mixed feelings from us, this an excellent mid 70s soul tune – magical stuff from mid 70s South Carolina combo Mixed Feelings! "Sha La La" is a wonderful tune with a vamping guitar groove mirrored by some really sweet keys, and tight drum work for instrumentation – but the best part about it is the interplay between lead vocalist Arthur Donaldson, formerly of The Royals, and his female backing vocalists – a rapport that shows love for earlier doo wop, in the middle of an overall sound that's right at home anywhere in the 70s! An exceptional number reintroduced by the always tasteful Soul Cal label! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Soaring grooves, spacey keyboards, and some wonderful duo vocals from Ellis & Cephas – a tune that perfectly mixes late 70s club and earlier harmony soul modes – with all the best elements of both! The instrumentation is relatively spare – mostly drums, bass, guitar, and keys – and the sound has the roughness of an indie soul single more than a smoother club one – but it's that roughness that makes the groove great, especially given the sincerity of these vocals! "Heaven" is very much in the same territory – a bit fuller on the instrumentation, but filled with more spacey keyboards and some heavenly falsetto vocals to match! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Completely sublime! Shuggie Otis first wrote and recorded "Strawberry Letter 23", but it took The Brothers Johnson, and some smooth Quincy Jones production to make it a hit! The track loses none of it's original trippy soul in this version – and if anything, the better vocals really take it over the top! 12-inch, Vinyl record

A high school record, but also one of the first hip hop singles to come out of Chicago! Given that in the early 80s, Chi-town was still focusing mostly on soul (and soon, house), the Windy City was way behind New York in terms of hip hop production – and most early rap efforts came out as novelty tunes by local personalities. But this little gem has a surprising level of quality – simple old school backings at best, copping a Sugarhill groove from the start – but some nicely scripted lyrics from a number of Carver High School seniors, presented in a way that's a bit more staid than the usual east coast single – but still quite nice! The flipside has a mellower cut – a cool "Senior Song" that's done like some laidback 80s R&B ballad, but with a more youthful vocal approach. 12-inch, Vinyl record

A fantastic meeting of two generations of soulful music – Sheila E, the daughter of Cali Latin soul genius Coke Escovedo, meets up with the snappingly funky world of Prince – and results in one of the strongest records of Sheila's career! The singer/percussionist had already been around for about a decade on record – turning out some great Latin work with her brother Pete in the Bay Area – but this set has Sheila going of the top with a great Paisley Park groove, really working with lots of influences from Prince, but still also getting plenty of Latin elements of her own into the mix – on long tracks that are filled with wonderful rhythms and plenty of great percussion too! Titles include the sublime title cut "The Glamorous Life" – plus "The Belle Of St Mark", "Oliver's House", "Strawberry Shortcake", "Noon Rendezvous", and "Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar". 12-inch, Vinyl record