Features music by Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Jimmy Reed, Slim Harpo, The Coasters, Marvin Gaye, Gene Allison, Rufus Thomas, Muddy Waters, Irma Thomas, Don Covay, Howlin Wolf, Alvin Robinson, Dale, Eric Donaldson, and the Temptations. CD

42 rare gems from the Motown vaults – an incredible treasure trove of unreleased material! The package follows beautifully on the heels of the first Cellarful Of Motown volume – but also manages to go even deeper, and get beyond the better-known "lost" Motown tracks, into a realm of soul music treasures that we never would have expected! The whole thing's great – overflowing with tunes so great, you'll find yourself scratching your head as to why Motown never issued these back in the 60s – and will turn towards the label with a whole new level of respect for all the greatness they still managed to record underneath their more familiar hits. The 2CD set also comes with a great booklet that offers track-by-track notes on the tunes – and a selection of cuts that includes "Take My Hand" by Dalton Boys, "Take Me In Your Arms" by Eddie Holland, "All Day All Night" by Earl Van Dyke, "A Woman Just Won't Do Right" by Shorty Long, "I've Gotta Get Away" by Tommy Good, "Show Girl" by The Vows, "I Can't Get Along Without You" by The Monitors, "I Hope You Have Better Luck Than I Did" by The Marvelettes, "My Heart" by Tammi Terrell, "Where Is the Love" by Rita Wright, "Those DJ Shows" by Patrice Holloway, "Rescue Me" by Blinky, "I Can't Go On Sharing Your Love" by The Isley Brothers, "Choo Choo Train" by Little Lisa, "In The Dark" by The Creations, "Love Trouble Heartache & Misery" by Hatti Littles, "Positively Absolutely Right" by The Temptations, and "Let's Talk It Over" by Marv Johnson. (Soul, Funky Compilations) CD

A massive third helping of rare Motown soul – filled with just as many obscure moments and unreleased gems as the previous two volumes! Even if you're a Motown completist enough to buy those giant Complete Singles volumes, you'll still find plenty here to love – because this UK-only series really digs deep into the Motown vaults, and proves that there's a tremendous amount of great music that never saw the light of day back in the 60s! The overall style is strongly in the Northern Soul mode – no surprise, given the British origin of the set – but even with that tight focus, the range of music here is really wonderful, and includes a great amount of work by lesser stars in the Motown galaxy. All tracks are presented with full notes on the original recording date – and the 2CD package features a whopping 43 tracks that include "You're Walking Out With My Heart" by Brenda Holloway, "This Love Will Never Die" by The Miracles, "At The Go Go" by Stevie Wonder, "I'm In Love Again" by Shorty Long, "Easier Said Than Done" by Dennis Edwards, "Never Give You Up" by Blinky & Edwin Starr, "A Chance With You" by Marvin Gaye, "Watch Your Step" by Mike Varo, "Come Back My Love" by The Temptations, "Too Young Too Long" by Carolyn Crawford, "SOS Girl In Distress" by Marv Johnson, "Thief Of Love" by Oma Page, "Loving You" by Fantastic Four, "Just Too Much" by The Monitors, "Little Girls Grow Up" by The Marvelettes, "Don't Stop Loving Me" by Ivy Jo, "Soldier Of Love" by The Four Tops, "I'm Here Now That You Need Me" by JJ Barnes, "Beware Of A Stranger" by Rita Wright, "Cindy" by Bobby Taylor, and "Too Late I Learned" by The Spinners. (Soul, Funky Compilations) CD

Fantastic sounds from one of our all-time favorite producers in soul music – the legendary Norman Whitfield, the man who helped some of Motown's artists pick up a new sort of righteous sound at the end of the 60s, before moving on to start his own Whitfield label in the 70s! If you don't know Norman, you definitely know his work – as he's the cat responsible for adding heavy basslines and fuzzy guitars to Detroit soul – picking up on some of the wider musical changes in the Motor City, and using them to push more message-oriented tracks into the scene! Yet Norman wasn't just a 60s powerhouse – as when the 70s approached, he found a way to expand and refine that sound, keeping it fresh in so many different ways – as you'll hear here in this really well-done collection of his best recordings, supported by very detailed notes as well. Tracks include "I Saw You When You Met Her" by The Undisputed Truth, "Ooh Boy" by Rose Royce, "And All Hell Broke Loose" by Willie Hutch, "I've Been Waitin (single version)" by Spyder Turner, "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye, "Come With Me (single version)" by Rare Earth, "Just One Love" by Stargard, "Wishing On A Star" by Jr Walker, "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" by Rose Roce, "Love Is What You Make It" by Masterpiece, "Good Lovin" by Mammatapee, "Papa Was A Rolling Stone (single version)" by The Temptations, "War" by Edwin Starr, "It Should Have Been Me" by Yvonne Fair, "Me & Rock & Roll Are Here To Stay" by David Ruffin, and "Psychedelic Shack (single version with intro)" by The Temptations. (Soul, Funky Compilations) CD

A brilliant testament to the righteous power of soul music in the civil rights era – and key proof that even a subtle message could do a lot back in the day! The package presents the work in roughly chronological order – starting from a time when politics had to be peddled softly, and moving towards a time when things could be a bit more explicit – showing a great evolution of themes of pride and power, offered up in tunes both familiar and obscure. The collection is way more than a "hip hits of the 60s" sort of set – and acts almost as a mini-documentary of the contributions of soul music to civil rights – supported by a great set of notes and photos in the booklet. We're especially happy to see the track "Have You Ever Seen The Blues" by Yaphet Kotto – alongside 22 more titles that include "Blues For Mr Charlie" by Lou Gosset & Joe Lee Wilson, "The Ghetto" by Homer Banks, "We're A Winner" by The Impressions, "When Will We Be Paid" by The Staple Singers, "Oh Lord Why Lord" by Parliament, "Message From A Black Man" by The Spinners, "Run Charlie Run" by The Temptations, "Cryin In The Streets (parts 1 & 2)" by George Perkins & The Silver Stars, "Free At Last" by Jackie Day, "Someday We'll All Be Free" by Donny Hathaway, and "The Prayer" by Ray Scott. CD

A wonderfully groovy set of Christmas tracks – one done in a style very similar to the Get Easy Snow compilations – as you might guess from the title! The selection here is great – with a few perennial favorites, a few rare gems, and a great middle stretch of wonderful bits from some of the grooviest artists of the 60s and 70s – a great antidote to some of the too-played holiday music you might hear during the 12th month of the year! Titles include "Santa Claus Is Definitely Hear To Stay" by James Brown, "Close Your Mouth It's Christmas" by Free Design, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by Jimmy McGriff, "Snow" by Claudine Longet, "Black Christmas" by The Emotions, "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" by The Temptations, "Christmas Gift" by Margie Joseph, "Winter Warm" by Bob Crewe Generation, "Snow Flakes" by The Ventures, "Winter Symphony" by The Beach Boys, "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway, "Children Go Where I Send Thee" by Kenny Burrell, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" by Ray Anthony & His Bookends, "Swinging Christmas" by Helmut Zacharias, and "Jingo Jango" by Bert Kaempfert. (Holiday Music, Funky Compilations) CD

Sam Dees is a hell of a singer, and he's a hell of a songwriter too – one who's worked not just with the southern soul stars of his roots, but also a much wider range of soul talents too! This wonderful collection really gets at the strength of Dees' amazing ability to pen a special soul tune – as it features work from a surprisingly huge array of talents from all sides of the soul spectrum – including a fair bit of vocalists we never knew worked with Sam's material. We love Dees' own records to death – and have enjoyed many of his demo recordings over the years, too – but a set like this really shows the important influence he had on soul music in the 70s – the way he touched so many folks, and helped them out with his meaningful lyrics. The set features great notes on Sam and his contribution – and 22 tracks that include "Where Did We Go Wrong" by LTD, "Vanishing Love (UK rmx)" by The Chi-Lites, "Girl Overboard" by Dorothy Moore, "So Your Love Finally Ran Out" by Les McCann, "Run To Me" by Sidney Joe Qualls, "Save The Overtime" by Gladys Knight & The Pips, "Seconds Of Your Love" by Johnnie Taylor, "One In A Million You" by Larry Graham, "Spoiled By Your Love" by Anita Ward, "What A Way To Put It" by The Temptations, "Good Guys Don't Always Win" by Ray Crumley, and "My World" by Sam Dees himself! (Soul, Funky Compilations) CD