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A killer lost disco album – a way better club set than you might expect! The group looks extremely silly on the cover – ridiculously so, in fact – but the record's a stunning batch of jazzy club tracks with a mostly instrumental groove, and a very tight feel – not at all ... read more CD

A funky treasure trove from Apple & The Three Oranges – a group we hardly know at all, but who really blow us away with the cuts on this collection! The groove is plenty hard right from the get-go – the best of the funky 45 underground of the early 70s – which means that ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of great albums from this Norman Connors side project! Fantasy is righteous soul, but with a wicked groove too – a killer set from Aquarian Dream, made even better by some great Norman Connors production! In a way, Aquarian Dream were to Norman Connors what Ramp were to Roy Ayers ... read more CD

One of Joan Armatrading's real classics of the 70s – a record that perfectly blends her acoustic soul with some slightly tighter arrangements – but all at a level that still feels really personal and spontaneous! Joan's unique singing style is very much upfront – that individual ... read more CD

An excellent lost bit of funk and comedy from the south side of Chicago! Manuel Arrington was a heavy-handed small-time comic who played many shows at smaller clubs in the city – and we'd often see him opening for acts like Jack McDuff or Charles Earland, doing some racy "party" ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

A bit more pop than some of Steve Arrington's earlier work, but proof that Mr Slave could still come up with a groove when he wanted! The record's got a quirky approach that's almost in line with later versions of P-Funk – but Arrington's never as goofy, and mostly lets the gimmicks come out ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic funky soul from Steve Arrington – the drummer who got his start in Slave, then really exploded on his own with a host of great records in the 80s! This batch of tracks is from those key initial solo years – and the set not only features some of the key cuts that Steve ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Not as sublime as their first LP, but still a nice batch of modern pop sound collage. More traditional song structures are poking through the cool po-mo facade here. With "Opus 4", "Eye Of A Needle", "Backbeat", "Instruments Of Darkness", "Peter ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

One of The Artistics' most beautiful albums for Brunswick – and the one that includes the title song that was perhaps their greatest single! "I Want You To Make My Life Over" is a classic bit of Chicago soul – done at a level that really sums up all the sophisticated changes ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

The songbird that keeps The Inc afloat returns! This third full length is once again produced by the Inc staff of 7 Aurlelius, Chink Santana and features appearances by Ja Rule and TI. Tracks include "Still Down" feat TI, "Only U", "Focus", "Don't Let Them" ... read more CD

One of the coolest club records ever cut – and one with a great gimmick too! That gimmick is the "hotel sheet" – an instrument created by percussionist Jack Ashford, which is a light piece of metal that's snapped back and worth to create these cool wibbly, wobbly waves of ... read more CD

Always-great work from the team of Ashford & Simpson – the kind of a record that has them at the top of their game, even though they'd changed their overall sound over the years! The vibe here is more in an 80s groove mode than some of the duo's Warner albums, but they've still got an ... read more CD

Sublimely satisfying work from Ashford & Simpson – a stone killer from the height of their late 70s glory days on Warner Brothers! The pair are working together wonderfully at this point – wrapped up in that blend of upbeat soul and righteous undercurrents that made them a real cut ... read more CD

Ashford & Simpson may have gotten their start at Motown, but they really found their groove at Warner Brothers – as you'll hear on this massive collection of tracks from their landmark late 70s years at the label! Even many decades later, the strength of this music is undeniable – ... read more CD

The first album by Atlantic Starr – a tight set of modern soul tunes with a very different feel than their later work! Part of the credit goes to Bobby Eli – who arranged and produced the set, giving it a feel that's almost late Philly – tight, sophisticated, and right on the ... read more CD

A groovy little classic from Atlantic Starr – and a great example of the group's wonderfully catchy way of hitting a groove! The music's never pop, but has some captivating hooks all the way through – sweet little bits mixed in with the funky soul approach of the ensemble – made ... read more CD

Wonderfully warm soul from the great Patti Austin – a key artist in the late 70s, and one who really helped push the music forward with a new sense of sophistication! Patti's got a strongly jazzy vibe here – and works with David Matthews arrangements that are really well put-together ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

CTI Masters, and then some – a collection that features one full album from Patti Austin, plus lots of bonus tracks too! The first 10 tracks on the album comprise the classic End Of The Rainbow debut for CTI – wonderfully warm soul from the great Patti Austin – a key artist in ... read more CD

A big one for Patti Austin – and a set that moved her from the jazz/soul sidelines right into the mainstream – but all without losing any of her charm from before! A big part of the record's success comes from the production work of Quincy Jones – a longtime associate who gave ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

12-inch, Vinyl record

Classy soul from Patti Austin – working here with some great help from Quincy Jones, Narada Michael Walden, and others – all of whom help her find just the right space to groove nicely! Patti's one of those soul singers who always sparkles best in a smoother setting – and the ... read more CD

A huge run of funky soul from The Average White Band – a group who were already well above average at the start, then just got better and better as their music grew during the 70s! The package is the first we've ever seen to honor the group in this way – and includes all their ... read more CD

Sure, it's not classic funky Average White Band, but the album's a great one that showcases the group's best second suit – their smooth compressed late 70s soul sound – a great evolution of their earlier groove, and one that showed them as a great mainstream soul act! The tunes are a ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Roy Ayers in a very Afro-styled mode – working here on his own after a famous collaboration with Fela Kuti – in a set that's filled with the same sort of hard-driving Afro-Funk grooves that you'd find in Fela's classic recordings! The songs are shorter than Fela's, and with more of Roy' ... read more CD

A great little album from Roy Ayers' early years with Polygram – often overlooked amidst some of the bigger records in the catalog, but a very soulful set that's got some wonderful funky numbers! There's a really jazzy feel going on here – Roy's nod back to his older roots in music, ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

What can we say? This is one of the greatest soul soundtracks ever! In a market that was dominated by the big-selling Shaft and Superfly albums, Roy slipped in this masterful blend of jazzy vibes and wah wah funk that's easily one of the best-composed records of the blacksploitation genre! The ... read more CD

What can we say? This is one of the greatest soul soundtracks ever! In a market that was dominated by the big-selling Shaft and Superfly albums, Roy slipped in this masterful blend of jazzy vibes and wah wah funk that's easily one of the best-composed records of the blacksploitation genre! The ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Stellar sounds from the great Roy Ayers – an early 80s album for Polydor, but a set that's still got the wonderfully tight, wonderfully groovy feel of his late 70s albums for the label! Roy's really perfected his sense of balance by this time – and does a great job of balancing ... read more CD

A great little album by Roy Ayers – one that features none of his hits, which means lots of fresh material – and which has great examples of both sides of Roy's talents at the time! The dancefloor side of Roy kicks in with "Love Will Bring Us Back Together", an extremely ... read more CD

One of the rarest and greatest Roy Ayers albums of all time – the sly, funky and spiritual masterpiece He's Coming from 1971 – really the beginning of the funk years from Roy Ayers Ubiquity! This one's a totally solid mix of soulful jazz, jazzy soul and righteous funk – and it's ... read more CD

Roy Ayers in a seductive mid 80s mode – his first for Columbia – and a record with some incredibly nice moments that blow away most of his contemporaries! The synth soul and drum machine era might seem like an odd fit for Roy's jazzy vibes, but it actually works really well here! You ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

One of Roy Ayers' best-remembered albums of the 70s – a sublime blend of mellow numbers and some of his more club-oriented grooves of the time – all wrapped together with a genius that we can only describe as Ayers-like! The album's a beautiful example of the balance that Roy was ... read more CD

An archetypal album by Roy – and one that really shows him at the turning point! Gone are the trippier jazz funk moments of earlier albums – and in their place are some tight grooves and wonderfully spacey soul. Roy hits the dancefloor with one of his first uptempo funk numbers "B ... read more CD

An oft-overlooked funky soul gem from the incredible Roy Ayers – taking turns with both uptempo material and more smoothed out soul sounds – all done with Roy's trademark jazzy approach to the dancefloor! No Stranger To Love is a sly, and often funky set that deserves to be mentioned ... read more CD

Seminal early funk work from Roy Ayers! The record catches him at that perfect point when he was turning from a straight jazz player into a sinister force in 70s funk – and the group on the session includes super-hip soul jazz giants like Charles Tolliver, Sonny Fortune, and Harry Whitaker, ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

A cool collection of work from one of our favorite artists ever – literally one of the guys whose music was so great, it inspired us to start Dusty Groove! The package brings together a really hip assortment of Roy Ayers' best work for Polydor in the 70s – really incredible tracks that ... read more CD

One of Roy Ayers' greatest albums of the 70s – a set that tightens up the groove from previous Polydor productions, yet still keeps all the soul intact! The record picks up the style begun with the Mystic Voyage album, and pushes it to some slightly tighter territory – a more focused ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

A funky classic from the team of Roy Ayers and Wayne Henderson – both at the top of their game here, and effortlessly mixing together jazz, funk, and soul! The record really seems to embrace the best of both artists' styles – some of the bassy groovers that Wayne did so well himself, ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Talk about a meeting of the minds – a pair of ultra-amazing classics from the team of Roy Ayers & Wayne Henderson – back to back in a single set! At the time of Step Into Our Life, Henderson & Ayers were probably the biggest names in the jazz funk business – both with a ... read more CD

Fantastic! The lost link in the Chicago soul scene of the 60s was Baby Huey – and he was a pretty darn big link too, if you've ever seen him in pictures! Weighing in at about 300 pounds, Baby Huey was sort of a rockin' soul star who played clubs on both sides of the city, to audiences of ... read more CD

A brilliant funky soundtrack – with great work from a number of different artists! The Buddah soul stable came out in full force for this soundtrack, including Harvy Fuqua, The New Birth, Barbara Mason, and Horace Ott – as well as the little known group Badder Than Evil! They play on ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Philip Bailey hits a great groove here – working with Nile Rodgers, who gives him a lean, clean sound that works perfectly with his vocals! The sound is a nice change from the direction Bailey was heading in previously – a return to the focused soul of the later Earth Wind & Fire ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

CD

The pinnacle of classy crossover soul at the end of the 80s – and a landmark album that's probably still helping Anita pay her bills! The feel is mellow and laidback without being too cheesy or too adult contemporary – drawing from mellow soul traditions of the 70s, and filtering it ... read more CD

Rockin soul from the legendary LaVern Baker – a killer collection of classic 50s work for Atlantic Records – tunes that went on to have an undeniable influence on the sound of female soul in the 60s! Baker's vocals are amazing right from the start – raw, but with a vocal range ... read more CD

Bessie Smith by LaVern Baker – a great blend of modes that really comes off great! Instead of sounding like a throwback blues album, the set comes across with a nice degree of contemporary class – thanks in part to a jazzy presentation that's a bit different than some of Baker's other ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

Lost funk rock from Ballinjack – the rare self-titled set for Columbia that's arguably best remembered for being so massively sampled – but the group that deserves a more widely-credited legacy! The sound is a bit like Mandrill on the best cuts, with the band going hard on the funky ... read more CD

Lost funk rock from Ballinjack – the rare self-titled set for Columbia that's arguably best remembered for being so massively sampled – but the group that deserves a more widely-credited legacy! The sound is a bit like Mandrill on the best cuts, with the band going hard on the funky ... read more CD

A lost classic in the funky poetry mode of the 70s – and right up there with the best work from the time by the Last Poets, Jim Ingram, or Gil Scott Heron! Bama's got a rough-edged voice that works very well with the funkier backings of the set – handled by a team that includes Bernard ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

One of the original Dramatics, singer Ron Banks strikes out here on his own – a slept on gem from the early 80s! The set's in a similar modern soul mode to LJ Reynolds, who also worked with him in the group, and was having a bit of a solo career of his own at the time. It's got sort of a D-T ... read more CD

Titles include "Animal", "I Adore You", "Leaving You", "Get Your Fingers Wet", and "Stop Look What You're Missing". LP, Vinyl record album

The Bar-Kays definitely groove as one on this tight little set – with amazing choppy guitar, bumping basslines, and brassy horns – all wrapped up with some wonderfully warm production! The group have come a long way from their fuzzier funk roots by this time, but they're still sounding ... read more CD

LP, Vinyl record album

Late Bar-Kays – when the group were getting the "rock" out of their grooves, hitting the bass a lot heavier than before, and opening up in that slicker funkier style of the late 70s. Given that the group had a big hand in defining the sound and style of mainstream funk in the years ... read more CD

Compilation put together in the late 80s, of Bar Kays' tracks, originating from the mid to late 70s, issued as singles on Stax and Volt. 13 tracks in all: "Son Of Shaft", "Montego Bay", "Humpin'", "Sang & Dance", "Midnight Cowboy", "AJ ... read more CD

LP, Vinyl record album

Man, these guys really know how to groove – and even on a bigger label, with a more commercial image, they still manage to come up with a tight little set! There's a key ear for a bassline and beat that keeps The Bar-Kays standing stronger than most of their contemporaries – a sense of ... read more CD

One of the best instrumental records to come out of Memphis, and a real kicker by the funky band that went down with Otis Redding in the tragic plane crash in 1968! The leadoff track is the group's amazing hit "Soul Finger", a stormin' instrumental with a wailing brassy sound that ... read more CD

A pivotal album from The Bar-Kays – a key post-Stax set, but one that's still very firmly grounded in Memphis funk! The groove definitely shows a bit more polish than before – the same sort of shift the Ohio Players made after moving to Mercury Records – but as with the Players ... read more CD

Keith Barrow's first album of secular soul – a soaring set of vocals that really shows off his gospel roots! The record's produced by Bobby Eli with a bit of a Philly soul touch, but in ways that go quite past the conventional modes of the time – kind of offbeat at points, with a ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

The last true classic from the masters of the 80s groove genre – a post-Capitol effort for Elektra, but one that's still awash in great keyboards and snapping electro beats! Some of the jazzier sound from the past is gone here, but in its place is a leaner, cleaner sound that's still a fair ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

12-inch, Vinyl record

12-inch, Vinyl record

12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the rarest funky records of all time – the hard-to-find second album by Beginning Of The End! This West Indian combo hit it big with their first album on Alston, but this second set, for some strange reason, never really got distributed – which is a damn shame, because it's ... read more CD

A monster bit of funk that's unlike anything else we can think of! Beginning Of The End hailed from The Bahamas, but don't hold that against them – because instead of being a Caribbean cliche, they took the best part of the island rhythms, and used them to forge an incredible approach to ... read more CD

A monster bit of funk that's unlike anything else we can think of! Beginning Of The End hailed from The Bahamas, but don't hold that against them – because instead of being a Caribbean cliche, they took the best part of the island rhythms, and used them to forge an incredible approach to ... read more CD

A monster bit of funk that's unlike anything else we can think of! Beginning Of The End hailed from The Bahamas, but don't hold that against them – because instead of being a Caribbean cliche, they took the best part of the island rhythms, and used them to forge an incredible approach to ... read more CD

By this point in his career, Archie's recording without the Drells, and has moved from Philly International onto the smaller Becket label in New York. However, he's still recording in a very similar style to his late 70s work in Philly – with a smooth grooving sound that's very seductive on ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

One of the strong Philly LPs by Archie Bell and the Drells (and they really did make the transition to Philly pretty well). Side one has some of their more blatent attempts to appeal to the then hot disco crowd, but side two has them back in a great easy soul two-step sound, like "It's Hard ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible bit of southern funk – the first landmark LP by Archie Bell & The Drells, and the first big burst of energy from the Texas scene of the 60s! The album's incredible – with Archie up front on rough-hewn vocals, the band grooving in a mad tangle of guitar, bass, and ... read more CD

20 track compilation that spans the career of groovy soulster Archie Bell, and his group The Drells. The set includes Bell's huge hit "Tighten Up", but it's also got a great array of other material from his different recording periods – all of which show him pushing way past his ... read more CD

A really wonderful post-Stax album from the great William Bell – a set that has the singer still stepping out with all those great deep soul modes from the 60s, but also finding a hipper, more laidback approach as well! There's a beautiful mellow vibe to the record – one that recalls ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

William Bell was one of Stax's first great male singers, prefacing Otis Redding by a few years with his initial recordings for the label. However, what's not as well known is the fact that Bell also recorded some excellent duets for Stax – all of which were only ever issued as singles, until ... read more CD

An album that definitely earns the "wow" in its title – as it makes us sit up and take new notice of William Bell's talents! Although Bell's best known for his earliest Memphis hits, he really changed a lot near the end of the 60s – evolving into a hipper, more mature singer ... read more LP, Vinyl record album

12-inch, Vinyl record

Raucous, rumbling and hard-charging Chess rhythms, rock and roll by Chuck Berry – his legendary After School Session – and possibly his greatest album ever! It features not only some of Chuck Berry's most famous material, but some of the best early rock songs, period –particularly ... read more CD

CD

CD

Chuck Berry makes the same London move as some of his other Chess Records contemporaries – and the result is one of Chuck's best albums from the later years! The set's not as star-studded as other efforts of this nature – but that's fine with us because Chuck really shines as the lead ... read more CD