Soul -- Recently Added -- LP  

Juicy are past their hit fame here, but they're still sounding great -- very much in the tightly grooving mode of their debut, thanks to continued production work by Deodato! The style's smooth, focused, and sharp-edged -- but all without sounding too chart-oriented or clunky -- and although the ...

Bobby's so great, it's hard to fit all of his good stuff on one LP -- but this set does a pretty darn good job, and includes 12 tracks from his legendary years on United Artists! Hearing this set, we're stunned to realize just how many great tracks Bobby turned out over the years -- especially ...

Legendary Iceman soul from the inventor of the genre! The set's got 12 of Chuck's best from his early years on Wand, including "Any Day Now", "I Don't Want To Cry", "I Wake Up Crying", "Beg Me", "In Real Life", "Since I Don't Have You", ...

Wicked 50s R&B -- raw and raunchy, and non-stop hard rockin all the way through! Wynonie Harris delivers the hilarious "Grandma Plays The Numbers", plus "Rock Mr Blues" and "Bring It Back". Roy Brown sings "Old Age Boogie", "Queen Of Diamonds" ...

Lost funky soul from Jersey -- incredible workby Tyrone Ashley & The Funky Music Machine -- a rare batch of gritty harmony soul and some mighty funky numbers! Tyrone, aka Sonny Campbell, and the Machines were contemporaries of the Parliaments and future P-Funkers George Clinton and Bernie ...

Sweet jazzy funk -- from the cornbelt of Omaha! The LA Carnival are one of those rarer-than-rare funk groups who not only never got their due back in the day -- but also recorded a heck of a lot of great material that never even got issued! They have a totally great sound that bubbles in jazzy ...

Some of the greatest funky work you could ever hope to find by Johnny Otis! The package brings together tracks recorded by Johnny in his fantastic post-R&B years -- the late 60s and 1970s, when he was scrappling around a variety of small labels, but also getting the chance to use that freedom ...

The best collection we've ever seen of the work of funky soul legends Dyke & The Blazers -- a double-length set that features full, unedited versions of their classics -- plus a whopping batch of previously unreleased tunes! Dyke & The Blazers had a groove that was mighty solid back in the ...

A massive amount of rare work from East Bay funk maestro Eugene Blacknell -- an artist who never cut a full album, but managed to record a lot of great funky tracks over the years! This package is the first ever full length set to focus on Eugene's work, and it's a treasure trove of guitar-heavy ...

The legendary Spanky Wilson makes a great return to the studio -- thanks to superbly funky help from the Quantic Soul Orchestra! Spanky's voice was first heard famously on a number of great soul sides from the end of the 60s, but the passage of decades hasn't dimmed her talents a bit -- and the ...

Thundering funk from the early 70s Detroit scene -- and the complete work of The Propositions, a group who only ever managed to issue a few singles at the time! Due to a typo on the label of one single, the Propositions were also sometimes known as the Prepositions -- but whatever the name, the ...

One of the most obscure Stylistics albums of the 70s -- a smooth late 70s modern soul effort, headed up by group soul maestro Teddy Randazzo! Teddy wrote, arranged, and produced the whole set -- and the record nicely links together older group harmony styles, especially 60s uptown soul mode, with ...

The second album by Roger & crew -- and the "wheeeeeeet/whomp!" sound is very firmly in place! The album takes off from the proto-electro P-Funk of the first, but hits more of a beat on most tracks, going for that 80s update of 70s funk that forever changed the face of the west coast. ...

A great collection of Jordan's material from the mid 40s to the mid 50s -- starting with his jazzy numbers of the earlier years, and moving into the more blues/rock 'n roll sound of later recordings. His band always sounds great and it also sounds like they're having a good time especially when ...

Excellent work by Smokey -- recorded with a super-heavy vibe that's very different than his 60s work! The record has an amazingly large conception of arrangements -- mostly handled by Smokey, and done in a complicated baroque harmony style that points forward towards his later Quiet Storm sound. ...

One of the two albums issued in the US by Ice, also known as the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. As you probably know from the compilations on the group, the material by Ice is a bit more up-tempo than some of the slower Afro Funk material by the band -- but it's also still got a lot of their same ...

Although Gene Chandler wasn't scoring nearly as big in the 80s as he was in the 60s, he was still a great vocalist, and could turn out some good material when he wanted to. This album's more than enough proof of that -- and it features some good mellow tracks that have Gene singing in a ...

What a strange one! The title says "Willie Mitchell Live", but then the back says "All tracks previously released on Hi Records." Clearly, the Memphis bunch are knob-twiddling here, and adding fake applause to some of Willie's better instrumental moments from the old days. ...

A modern soul masterpiece! Leon Ware had always been cutting great records, but the quality of this one's so high, it almost feels like he'd been waiting his entire life to record it! Leon gets some crucial help on the session -- as the great Brazilian artist Marcos Valle joins in on keyboards, ...

A great lost album from Jerry -- and a key link in the hip Chicago scene that produced Terry Callier and Oscar Brown Jr! Sure, you might think of the album as a silly "cash in on the folk craze" effort -- but Jerry keeps it soulful throughout, and thanks to some wonderful arrangements by ...

One of the best of Rufus Thomas' funky LPs from the early 70's. It's got 2 of his best funky tracks "Funky Robot" and "Funky Bird", plus a lot of other cuts without the word "funky" in the title, such as "I Wanna Sang", "Steal a Little", and "G ...

Excellent solo work by Lowrell Simon -- once a singer with Lost Generation, but opening up a whole new style of Chicago soul here on his own! The album's a tasty batch of smooth soul tracks with a midtempo club groove -- not disco, but with the kind of large production and loping groove that you'd ...

Excellent smooth seventies harmony soul from the DeBarge brothers and the early Switch group. This album's the best realization of their sound, and emphasizes the ballads over the funky numbers -- which is a great move in our mind. Titles include "It's So Real", "I Wanna Be With ...

One of Phil Upchurch's best records -- and one that's a no-nonsense batch of funky instrumentals that feature some really great guitar! Phil's dropped the Hendrix fuzz of some of his Cadet sides of the late 60s -- and instead, he's working in a stretched-out chromatic mode that has bits of Wes ...

A different James Brown album -- but a nice one! James doesn't sing soul, so much as jazz -- in front of large backings by Louis Bellson, with arrangements by Oliver Nelson that are in his best 60s soul mode -- and which give the album a very very groovy feel overall! The record's not funky, but ...

Excellent early work by Zulema -- high-minded and righteous soul, with a really expansive sound that's in keeping with the best on Sussex at the time! The arrangements are nicely complicated -- arranged by Bobby Taylor and Gene Page with a good blend of funk, righteous soul, and some heavier ...

Quite possibly the best record ever by The Trammps -- halfway between their roots in the early 70s east coast indie club scene, and the smoother approach of their later disco hits! The set is prime Sigma Sound disco -- with strong harmonies by the group in a post-Spinners mode, and plenty of help ...

Beautifully smooth soul from Robert Winters & Fall -- a great mix of 80s groove and modern mellow -- handled with lots of warm touches that make Winters' vocals come off wonderfully! The feel here is a bit like some of the smoother sets from DJ Rogers -- as Winters' voice has a deeply soulful ...

This album and the following really took the Gap Band over the top, and was once a common enough record that's getting harder and harder to come by, at least on vinyl anymore. "Burn Rubber" and "Humpin" packed 80s dance floors and put the band in steady rotation on Soul Train, ...

A landmark bit of jazz funk -- from one of the greatest backup groups of the 70s! Herbie Hancock first brought The Headhunters to light -- working with the San Francisco-based combo that included Bennie Maupin, Mike Clark, Paul Jackson, and Bill Summers -- using their sound to give his work the ...

An obscure early 80s electro effort from George Clinton -- all the more surprising, given how much he pretended to hate hip hop! At some level, Jimmy G & The Tackheads are mostly an 80s groove outfit -- using lots of bass and keys to pop and lock the groove, while throwing in plenty of wikki-wi ...

Always exciting work from the Wicked Pickett -- a set that's filled with sharp-edged soul tracks throughout -- and which perfectly shows why Wilson was a key link between funk and soul back in the 60s! The album was recorded at the two great hubs of southern soul production in the 60s -- Memphis ...

Excellent funky LP cut by Johnny Otis and his late 60's version of "The Johnny Otis Show". Shuggie's playing guitar, Delmar Evans is singing, and Sugarcane Harris even shows up on a few tracks. The LP contains two excellent funky 45 cuts, "Cuttin Up", an instrumental with ...

Excellent later album by the Dells that has them working with Don Davis on production, and singing in an excellent smooth soul setting that still lets their raspy soulful harmonies shine through, but which also gives them some excellent seventies grooves in the background. Nearly every cut's a ...

Jean Knight's classic -- and a monumental album of funky female soul that was one of the best albums in the "second generation" Stax era! You probably know the title cut, as it was her biggest hit, and the inspiration for loads of "answer" songs (some of which came from the ...

We couldn't think of a better way to describe the sound of Slave than "stone jam"! The band's got a bass-heavy groove, mixed with a lot of soul, in a style that was often copied by many groups in the 80s, but never equalled. The real strength in the band was their songwriting -- always ...

A pretty nice little set of house tunes -- issued by Profile in the late 80s, but featuring tracks licensed from a number of different labels. 12 tracks in all including: "Let's Work It Out" by Exit (produced by Blaze!), "Do It Properly" by 2 Puerto Ricans, A Blackman, & A ...

A big album for Chaka -- as her hits of the late 70s and 1980s are remixed into new club versions for the 90s -- although oddly, those versions, which were "fresh" at the time, sound almost a bit dated next to some of the originals! Remixers include Hank Shocklee & Eric Sadler, ...

Beautifully sweet soul by Billy -- perhaps a bit more pop soul than some of his other albums, but no less great! Gamble & Huff were firmly in the control room on this one -- and the results show on excellent cuts like the huge hit "Me & Mrs. Jones", the funky groover "Am I ...

17 tracks in all, including "Family Affair", "Love", "Steal Away", "No More Drama", "Testimony", "Dance For Me", "Flying Away", and "In The Meantime". ...

A massively beautiful piece of work by "the new Rotary Connection" -- a version of this groundbreaking Chicago soul ensemble which featured Phil Upchurch, Henry Gibson, and Charles Stepney -- the cream of the Chicago production scene! Minnie Riperton's still in the band on vocals, and ...

One of the biggest charting LPs by The Supremes -- and one of the best, too! The girls are opening it up a bit here -- getting in on some of The Miracles Go Go action of the period, and laying down tunes that have a bit more of a northern groove to them -- relying a bit more on a more steady ...

Seminal 80s groove from 70s Miami soul star Gwen McCrae -- reinventing herself here for the new decade with a totally different sound! The album's best known for the amazing club track "Funky Sensation" -- one of those tracks that crossed over big, and had a huge influence in countless ...

A clear follow-up to "The Hustle" (not on this album), with a number of tracks that come close to the genius of that track, but never quite manage it altogether. Van's on lead vocals, and the record's got some good keyboard work by Paul Griffin, Richard Tee, and Leon Pendarvis. Includes ...

His hair's getting longer and his music a bit more flowing and dramatic -- but Gino Vannelli's still going strong here, really opening up in the shine of his own mid 70s pop brilliance! The record's slightly more ambitious than some of Vannelli's earlier efforts -- especially on side two's ...

A pretty darn soulful album of disco tracks from Bobby Thurston -- produced with help from Willie Lester, Rodney Brown, and Al Johnson, who also sings in the backup vocal group. The album's got two killer mellow soul cuts -- the stretched out slinky groover "I Want Your Body", which has ...

Smooth group soul from the Dynamic Superiors -- one of the last of the 70s group to strongly hold onto that falsetto-lead style. The record mixes sweeter numbers with some others that try to be a bit more funky -- and although those funky ones don't really work at all, the sweet numbers more than ...

One of the last records that Allen Toussaint produced for this New Orleans funk group, but you'd hardly know it because the whole thing was put together in LA, and has a very slick feel. Still, there's some nice 70s jazz funk moments, with lots of smoothly produced keyboards and mellow basslines ...

The first album -- and an archetypal bit of jazzy rocking soul that would forever change the face of 70s pop. Chaka Kahn and the band are still working things out at this point, but the record's got some excellent sweet funky moments, and some great LA production that drives the whole thing home ...

Al Green's first major album, and a killer batch of Memphis soul tracks with a sound that's a bit rawer than later years. The formula for the hits is firmly in place -- and Al's beautiful voice is swept up wonderfully in very sympathetic production by the great Willie Mitchell. Although Mitchell ...