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2 great later gems from The Dells – both essential sides of their later catalog! I Touched A Dream is an especially tremendous record – a bit smoother than before, but still much more daring vocally than most other harmony groups at the time, cutting through some smoother arrangements with a sublime approach to the material that's all-soul all the way! Arrangements are sometimes bit uptempo and modern, but they're still in a strong Chicago groove – with backings by Tom Tom 84 and Sonny Sanders – and production by Carl Davis and Eugene Record, making for a late 70s update of the classic Brunswick soul approach! Titles include "Look At Us Now", "All About The Paper", "So You Are Love", "Passionate Breezes", and "I Touched A Dream". Whatever Turns You On is another later winner from The Dells – a record that has the group mixing uptempo grooves and sublime mellow numbers – all of which are sung with heartbreaking vocals that show the group as still one of the best in soul music – even after more than 20 years on record! Arrangements are by Tom Tom 84 and Sonny Sanders, and production by Carl Davis and Eugene Record – all key factors in the success of the album, thanks to a long local history with the Chicago soul legends – and a respect that's very clear in their handling of the sound on this set. Titles include "Happy Song", "It Took A Woman Like You", "Whatever Turns You On", "Ain't It A Shame", "Stay In My Corner", "is It It", and "Heaven's Just Step Away".

Seminal 70s southern soul from Millie Jackson – a record that's head and shoulders above most of what she recorded in later years! Before she got all naughty and raunchy, Millie Jackson was one of the best female soul singers to come out of the south – and this album's a work of understated brilliance that brings a new level of emotion and feeling to the music. The whole thing's conceived as a bit of a concept album – one in which Millie's a bit fragile at the start, due to unfulfilled love – then regains her confidence by confronting those around her, and eventually steps forth boldly as a proud, new woman. Jackson put together the record with producer Brad Shapiro – and the overall style is Muscle Shoals, but with a more sophisticated twist – thanks to inventive use of strings alongside the more standard soul rhythms. Highlights include a great remake of "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right" (complete with a nice bit of spoken dialogue!) – plus "I'm Through Trying To Prove My Love To You", "It's Easy Going", "I'm Tired Of Hiding", "Summer (The First Time)", and the great "It's All Over But The Shouting". CD also features 4 bonus tracks – including alternate "live vocal" versions of "I'm Tired Of Hiding", "I'm Through Trying To Prove My Love To You", and "Feel Like Making Love" – and an instrumental called "A House For Sale" by The Muscle Shoals Swampers!

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". CD also features 3 bonus tracks – "Lovin Your Good Thing Away (alt vocal)", "Angel In Your Arms (alt vocal)", and "If You're Not Back In Love By Monday (alt vocal)".

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. For one thing, Millie was a bad mamma singer – rapping hard and frankly about the way things is (or were). For another, Millie's not necessarily as great in the sweet department as some of her contemporaries – so she sticks to the 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. 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". CD features a whopping amount of bonus tracks too – previously unissued versions of "It Hurts So Good", "Help Yourself", "Here Comes Love", "That's My Style", "Hypocrisy", and "Breakaway" – all sounding much more different than the master takes!

Ahhh . . . Great stuff! This Millie Jackson's tremendous debut album – and the work here is completely different from later records that have her more in a bitchy mode! Here, Millie's a heartbroken southern diva – right in the vein of 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". CD version features a whopping 11 bonus tracks – many of which were never issued before – and titles include the MGM numbers "My Heart Took A Licking" and "A Little Bit Of Something", plus "Ask Me What You Want (unedited master)", "Untrue Men", "I Don't Wanna Talk About It", "Strange Things (alt mix)", "My Man A Sweet Man (unedited master)", and "You're The Joy Of My Life (alt take)".

A rare gem from Maceo Parker – the second album cut with his King's Men group in the short time he was away from James Brown in the early 70s! The set was done for the Excello southern soul label, and it's got a bit of a different groove than his work for House Of Fox with the same group – a style that's got a bit more conventional southern production overall, and grooves that run towards soul a bit more than funk – although the whole record is still pretty darn funky overall! Players in the group include Charles Sherrell, Melvin Parker, and Jimmy Nolen – and titles include "Funky Music Machine", "Dreams", "TSU (Aristocrat of Bands)", "Funky Tale To Tell", and "Born to Wander".

A pair of overlooked albums from Clover – a great Bay Area group from the start of the 70s – best known for later work with Elvis Costello and Huey Lewis! Clover is a great start for a very cool group – a set that definitely draws on some of the "out of the city" sounds of the post-Haight scene in SF – as you might guess from the cover – but which also has some funkier undercurrents too, and almost a garagey mix of soul amidst the rootsy elements – one that really shows the evolution of a group like this from the styles of a few years before! Titles include a cover of "Shotgun", plus "Come", "Could You Call It Love", "Southbound Train", "Going To The Country", and "Stealin". Fourty Niner shows a wonderful growth in Clover – a record that really has the group coming into their own, and hitting some of the best Marin County vibes of the time! There's a definite rootsy feel to the record – some of those Bay Area transmogrifications of sounds from the south, into much more hippie-oriented styles – but there's also a sense of confidence and care with songwriting that should have made these guys huge – a quality that easily rivals the best work from the late Byrds or early Eagles camp – with maybe a bit to challenge The Band too – served up with a great Fantasy Records rock approach all the way through. Titles include "Mr Moon", "Harvest", "Old Man Blues", "Sound Of Thunder", and "Love Is Gone".