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Deep southern soul from vocalists Chuck Brooks, Joe Wilson and George Soule – a both gritty and and some sweeter material cut at Malaco Studios, mostly in the early-to-mid 70s – with some rare 45 numbers, and others that were never issued at all! The Chuck Brooks tracks are wonderful and show a real range, from funky, stripped down numbers to bigger productions that still have plenty soulful grit to them! The Joe Wilson tunes are just as strong – with a heavy bottom end to the rhythms, organ and vamping soul guitar in the mix, and uniquely emotive vocals from Chuck. The set's closed out by a trio of tunes by George Soule, solid, moody, a mix of soul, a bit of southern rock & pop, and Motown ballad influences. Really incredible stuff! Includes "Loneliness (Is A Friend Of Mine)", "Baby Please Don't Set Me Free", "You Can't Be In Two Places At The Same Time", "Once Up A Love Affair" and more by Chuck Brooks, "(Don't Let Them) Blow Your Mind", "Sweetness", "When A Man Cries", "Our Love Is Strong", "Don't Look Back", "Go On And Live", "Walking Away From True Love" and more by Joe Wilson, "Talking About Love", "The Easiest Think I've Ever Done" and "That's Why I'm A Man" by George Soule. 25 tracks in all!

Forget blues, because Geater Davis is a soul singer through and through – a really incredible southern talent with a deep soul sound that few others can match! Although Davis didn't record nearly as much as his contemporaries, he's got a sound that matches or beats them – a raw, raspy quality that's a bit like Bobby Blue Bland, touched with the depth of feeling we love in James Carr, peppered with elements of other Memphis singers – all produced to perfection with a sound that's as classic as anything on Stax or Goldwax. This excellent collection features all tracks from Geater's rare album Sweet Woman's Love, plus additional singles from the time – all produced by Allen Orange, an overlooked genius in the southern studio scene of the 70s. Titles include "Don't Marry A Fool", "Cry Cry Cry", "I Love You", "I Know My Baby Loves Me", "I Can Hold My Own", "Cold Love (long version)", "I'll Get By", "I'll Play The Blues For You", "Breath Taking Girl", and a killer long take on "For Your Precious Love".

The first ever retrospective of the late 60s & early 70s work of singer Willie Hobbs – a great mix of uptempo southern soul, slow cooking groovers, tender ballads and more – and Hobbs nails it on all fronts! Most of the singles were cut for Nashville labels– including Silver Fox, Seventy Seven, Sound Plus and others – with top notch production and song selections, when added to Willie's exceptional vocals, adds up to excellence that rivals the best soul of the period made anywhere. It includes some great stuff recorded at Fame in Muscle Shoals, with that sound well represented, plus a bunch of stellar Nashille recordings that range from gospel-tinged soul to funky beaters! 22 tracks: "Yes, My Goodness Yes", "The Game Of Love", "Where The Sweetness Lies", "Where Did I Go Wrong", "Do Your Own Thing", "Big Legged Woman", "Mr. Lovemaker", "Why Me", "Judge Of Hearts", "At The Dark End Of The Street", "(Please) Don't Let Me Done", "Why Does It Hurt So Bad", "Somebody Love Me" and more..

Beautiful early 70s Muscle Shoals recordings from Bobby Sheen – songs cut at Fame, Widget and Broadway Sound studios in the famed city – material that sounds as great to us as much of the best southern soul of the era! Bobby had been cutting terrific material as far back as the 50s, recording for Phil Spector with Bob B Soxx & The Blue Jeans, plus The Robins and other groups, on top of stellar singles of his own. He headed on out to Muscle Shoals in the early 70s, looking for greener pastures in a thriving soul scene – and creatively, he found it! A few excellent singles were leased to Warner Brothers, great stuff that could have busted out big, and sadly didn't. A number of these mid-to-late 70s tracks are seeing release for the first time ever, and all of it is great and truly ripe for discovery all these years later. Titles include "Too Many To Fight", "Tryin' To Get To You", "Payback", "Don't Make Me Do Wrong", "Give It Up", "It Ain't Easy Being Your Fool", "I'm Sorry", "She Hit Me From The Blind Side" and more. 17 tracks in all.

Deep down rare soul from Barbara Stant – all of the known recordings of this beautiful 70s soul singer – obscure singles cut for the Shiptown label in Norfolk, VA! Barbara has a lovely voice that exudes emotion naturally, and she has remarkable control that can work in a number of modes – from timeless, gritty soul to a funkier style. There's a mix of slow cookin' southern soul numbers, more anthemic ones, and others that work a bit more towards thesoaring sounds of the coming disco revolution, still with a gritty edge. Includes "Baby I Love You", "I'm Going To Outfit You Baby", "That Man Of Mine", "Unsatisfied Woman", "Hung On", "My Mind Holds On To Yesterday", "Superman", "He's Still Your Man", "(I Found Me A) Real Man" and more.

Incredible southern soul work from Sound City – a lesser-known studio operating out of Shreveport in the 70s, with a groove that's a bit different than some of its bigger contemporaries on the scene! The Sound City approach is a bit leaner than Hi, Jewel, Malaco, or other outfits running at the time – and this collection of tracks issued on its tiny Alarm label show a growing sophistication that moves past some of the more familiar southern soul modes. There's a bit of funk on some of the tracks – almost more New York influenced in approach than down south –and there's also some more personal, mature ballad numbers too – really great tracks that make great use of the more heartbreaking qualities of the vocalists featured here – Ted Taylor, Reuben Bell, and Eddie Giles. The set has a really unified sound – given that there's only these three singers featured on the set – and that all vocalists have a good way of hitting both high notes and rootsier modes. Titles include "Somebody's Getting It", "Steal Away", "I'm Gonna Hate Myself In The Morning", "Looking Back", and "Everybody's Stealing" by Ted Taylor; "I'll Be Your Woman", "Superjock", "One Sided Love Affair", and "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" by Reuben Bell; and "Swearing Out A Want", "There Must Be A Place", "You're My Sweet Inspiration", "How Many Times", "I Can't Get Over You", and "Married Lady" by Eddie Giles.

Powerhouse soul from singer Doris Allen – who made a bit of a splash in the late 60s southern soul scene with duet partner Big John Hamilton – but who's own work from that time and a couple decades later have been under acknowledged in the digital era until now! The first half of the CD features the late 60s work, and it's wonderful – produced by Finley Duncan at Duncan's Playground Studios – featuring a couple of the Hamilton duets, but it's Doris's show. She can both shout out soulfully to the heavens and reign it in for more delicate numbers, and the often gritty soul backing of drums, organ and horns are of the finest caliber. The second half of the set jumps to the mid 80s, and the cleaner, smoother sounds of that era – still produced by Duncan – and Allen's voice as impeccable as earlier. Titles include "A Shell Of A Woman", "Kiss Yourself For Me", "Let A Little Love In", "A Place In My Heart", "Them Changes", "Bright Star", "Candy From A Baby", "Treat Me Like A Woman", "Full Time Fool", "Night Time Is The Right Time" and more, plus 9 previously unreleased tracks, including "Clean Up Woman", "Birmingham Jail", "Ashes Won't Burn" and more. 23 tracks in all!

A treasure trove of work from this overlooked southern soul singer – recordings that Sam Baker cut down in Nashville for the Sound Stage Seven label – all brought together here in one very comprehensive package! Sam's got a voice that's pitched slightly higher than some of his contemporaries, but with soul that goes equally deep – and the setting here is perfect for his phrasing, with nicely punctuated rhythms that give even the mellower cuts a nice kick up from the bottom! Baker's got a nicely sensitive approach at times – which really makes the set great – a nice mix of sophisticated styles that gets way past overdone southern soul modes. 22 tracks in all – including "What Did Sister Do", "You Can't See The Blood", "Just A Glance Away", "Safe In The Arms Of Love", "I Believe In You", "I'm Number One", "Sunny", "I Can't Stand It", "Coming To Bring You Some Soul", and "Strange Sensation".

A long buried treasure trove of southern soul from deep deep down in the Muscle Shoals scene – gritty, beautiful, powerful work by Mary Gresham – an unjustly unknown singer who we'll put way up there with very best female funk & soul vocals of the 60s, 70s and beyond! Mary found modest success on a couple of late 60s singles with singing partner Chuck Cooper, recorded as Chuck & Mariann, for the A-Bet label at Fame Studios – tunes that start out this collection – but the vast majority of this material is seeing an official release for the first time ever! She stayed busy over the years as a session backing vocalist, but she's a wonderful leader on these tunes – backed solidly by the horn accented Muscle Shoals brand of gritty southern soul – and it's unbelievable that this great stuff is only now hitting shelves. Loads of powerhouse soul, and the best kind of natural, truthful balladry – with Mary's vocals just killing it out front! 24 tracks in all: "Let's Walk Down The Street Together", "The Woman In Me", "Going Through The Changes", "Motivation", "Just Me And You", "Spend A Little Time (Loving The World)", "Get On Back On The Right Track", "Rainin' In My Heart", "Use Me", "I Want To Be Loved", "Promises Are Not To Be Broken", "We Are So In Love", "So Many Ways" and more!

Wonderful work from the overlooked JP Robinson – a killer soul singer on the Miami scene at the end of the 60s – finally given his due in this overstuffed set! Robinson's got a voice that's quite compelling – still in the deep soul mode you might expect, but with this slightly fragile quality that comes through especially when he's trying to hold a note or emotion – a really great aspect that almost makes you feel like JP's going to break down right in the course of a tune, even when he's getting a bit of support from female backup singers! And speaking of backup, the rhythms here are all pretty great – as tunes were recorded at Muscle Shoals, Criteria, and the TK Studios – with the kind of top-shelf talent that really helped knock all these singles out of the park. Material was originally issued on the Atlantic and TK family of labels – and titles include "You Can Be A Lady", "Doggone It", "George Jackson", "Our Day Is Here", "Keep Me Satisfied", "Only Be True To Me", "Love Is Not A Stranger", "I've Got A Long Way To Go", "Say It", "Hot Love", "You Got Your Thing On A String", and "Wall To Wall Love". 20 tracks in all!

Top shelf southern soul from a great singer – a deep collection of singles by Charles Smith – who had a regional hit with "My Great Loss (Ashes To Ashes)" back in the day, and it's really everyone's great loss that he's not more widely regarded decades later! Smith recorded that great single and a handful of others for the Seventy Seven label in the early 70s, and without national distribution, it was tough to break Smith out bigger, but boy did he ever deliver well enough to deserve more! He really shines on the ballads, imbuing those with such a genuine depth of emotion, and his naturally expressive voice really brings out the best elements of some great songs. It's tried and true southern soul, very much in the spirit of other Muscle Shoals recordings of the time, along with Memphis and other cities. Smith was produced by Dewey Vandiver and many of the recordings were done at Quad City Sound, along with Fame and Muscle Shoals Sound. This excellent Soulscape CD collects the tracks from those singles, other recordings that weren't released at the time, plus a few alternate versions. Other tracks include, "Glad To Home", "I'm Useless", "Pull Me Out Of The Water", "Full Time Fool" (plus alternate version), "Two Pillows", "Walk Slow", "Reach That Mountain", "I Want To Love You", "It's Getting Harder To Get By" (plus alternate version), "Why Can't I Cry" (plus an alternate version), "The Only Time You Say You Love Me" and more. 19 tracks in all.

A treasure trove of early material from singer Tommy Tate – most of it pulled from demo tapes at the Malaco Studios in Jackson, and some of it previously unreleased! The music here really shows a great evolution in styles – as the earliest tracks show Tate coming off his role as the singer for The Imperial Showband, with a more popular 60s soul style – and the later tracks have Tommy deepening strongly, into the mature southern soul modes of his KoKo Records period. Like so many other releases on the Soulscape and Grapevine labels, this set's way more than a reissue collection – and much more of a discovery in soul – a rare look into the vaults, and a batch of material that really deserved better circulation at the time. The package features some compelling notes on Tate's career, and comes with a whopping 23 tracks that include "The Whole World Is The Same", "Friend Of Mine", "My Wife", "I'd Really Like To Know", "Do You Think There's A Chance", "Cold & Lonely Man", "Solid Straight & Sound", "So Hard To Let A Good Thing Go", "Hold On", "All A Part Of Growing Up", "Get It Over Anyway", and "Peace Is All I Need".

Modern southern soul from CL Blast – a singer who took his music into great new territory during the time covered on this set! CL was a vocalist with roots in much bluesier modes, but at the end of the 70s, working with producer Frederick Knight, he really hit his stride in hipper, more contemporary styles – using an approach that was a bit like the updated Johnnie Taylor sound over at Columbia, but still somewhat more southern overall! There's a mix of Miami and Malaco vibes going on here – the tightness of the former but without the too-contemporary styles of the latter – and although Knight's production (plus a bit of help from Sam Dees) really sets the tone of the tunes, it's Blast's vocals that send the whole thing home. CD features 20 tracks in all, plus great notes on the music – with titles that include "Don't Fight The Feelin", "Beautiful Lover", "I Wanna Get Down", "50/50 Love", "Boomerang Love", "Let Me Entertain You", "Drown In My Own Tears", "I've Got To Make It On My Own", "If I Had Loved You More", "Share You Love With Me", and "Lay Another Log On The Fire".

A long buried treasure trove of southern soul from deep deep down in the Muscle Shoals scene – gritty, beautiful, powerful work by Mary Gresham – an unjustly unknown singer who we'll put way up there with very best female funk & soul vocals of the 60s, 70s and beyond! Mary found modest success on a couple of late 60s singles with singing partner Chuck Cooper, recorded as Chuck & Mariann, for the A-Bet label at Fame Studios – tunes that start out this collection – but the vast majority of this material is seeing an official release for the first time ever! She stayed busy over the years as a session backing vocalist, but she's a wonderful leader on these tunes – backed solidly by the horn accented Muscle Shoals brand of gritty southern soul – and it's unbelievable that this great stuff is only now hitting shelves. Loads of powerhouse soul, and the best kind of natural, truthful balladry – with Mary's vocals just killing it out front! 24 tracks in all: "Let's Walk Down The Street Together", "The Woman In Me", "Going Through The Changes", "Motivation", "Just Me And You", "Spend A Little Time (Loving The World)", "Get On Back On The Right Track", "Rainin' In My Heart", "Use Me", "I Want To Be Loved", "Promises Are Not To Be Broken", "We Are So In Love", "So Many Ways" and more!