Killer contemporary club from the Lumberjacks In Hell label – a European imprint, but one that owes plenty to the raw sound of the early years of American house! There's a very underground vibe going on here, and most cuts are stark, spare, and straight to the point – the best kind of club tracks that make just a little bit go a long way – thanks to thoughtful placement of key instrumental elements, and the occasional vocal flourish! 2CD version features one mixed CD, one unmixed – and titles include "Everyday" by Joanna, "Be Good To Me" by Frawl, "Over" by Krewcial, "Get To Know Me" by Seven Davis Jr, "Check The Flow" by Funk Butcher with Trim, "Goddess" by Ant La Rock, "Rabbit's Foot" by Beam Me Up, "Even The Stones" by Giovanni Damico, "Lord I'm Trying" by Tom Noble, "Jazz A Nova" by Boogie Nite, and "Neyt Life" by Reece Johnson. CD

A great look at an obscure indie soul label from the Cleveland scene at the end of the 60s – and a company that's definitely a cut above, given that it released some early O'Jays singles in the years before their crossover fame in the 70s – and members of that group also wrote a fair bit of singles for the label too! Besides a tie to the O'Jays, the Saru label also had a tight, well-chosen roster – one that really helped make Cleveland a hotbed for sweet soul at the time – easily competing with the hippest singers and groups from Philly, New York, and New Jersey – thanks to a string of excellent 45s on both the Saru imprint, and related Horoscope Records! As usual with Numero, the whole package is filled with fantastic details and photos that are as compelling as the music itself – and as for the music, this time around the Numero folks really get to the heart of the matter with a non-stop array of excellent material – not unreleased tapes, but killer 45s that really show Saru as a hell of a great soul label during its short run of records. Titles include "For The Rest Of My Life" and "Tears Don't Care Who Cry" by The Out Of Sights, "I Believe" and "Are You Man Enough" by Sir Stanely, "Stand In For Love" and "Love's Needed" by Pandella Kelly, "Come Back Boy" and "The Last Time" by The Ba-Roz, "Bound" and "I Remember You" by Ponderosa Twins, "Just To Be With You" and "Got To Make It Right" by Elements, "Can't Make It Without You" by Michael Bell, "Got To Get My Broom Out" by David Peoples, "Just To Be With You" by Bobby Dukes, and "Now He's Home" and "Shattered Man" by The O'Jays. CD

A double-length collection of work from two obscure Atlanta soul labels – the Tragar and Note imprints, both run by local producer Jesse Jones! Back in the day, Atlanta wasn't nearly as big of an outlet for soul records as it's become in recent years – so Jones' labels were key in showcasing under-exposed local talent in the city, a range of soul groups, solo singers, and funk combos – all produced here with a really fresh sound! Nearly every track here is super-obscure – and there's few southern soul cliches to get in the way of the music – no overdone blues, no Hotlanta disco, no Muscle Shoals copies – just honest-to-goodness indie soul at its best – full of life, vitality, and personality – all presented with the usual deep-digging Numero look at the artists in the notes. The package is one of the biggest Numero collections so far – and really tells the tale of this crucially overlooked scene – a key link between more familiar southern styles and rising Northern modes, all with a personality of its own. Titles include "All Because of You" and "Down In The Country" by Tee Fletcher, "The Hump" and "Tipping Strings" by The Knights, "Somebody Got A Help Me" and "Love is So Mean" by Richard Cook, "Ain't That Sharp" by Young Divines, "Watch The Dog That Bring The Bone" by Sandy Gaye, "Messing Around" by Bobby Owens & The Diplomats, "Shake Daddy Shake" and "Try" by Eula Cooper, "Tumbling Down" by Langston & French, "You Got A Spell On Me" by Bill Wright, "Now That I'm Wise" by Nathan Wilkes, and "Nitecap" by L Daniels. LP, Vinyl record album

A double-length collection of work from two obscure Atlanta soul labels – the Tragar and Note imprints, both run by local producer Jesse Jones! Back in the day, Atlanta wasn't nearly as big of an outlet for soul records as it's become in recent years – so Jones' labels were key in showcasing under-exposed local talent in the city, a range of soul groups, solo singers, and funk combos – all produced here with a really fresh sound! Nearly every track here is super-obscure – and there's few southern soul cliches to get in the way of the music – no overdone blues, no Hotlanta disco, no Muscle Shoals copies – just honest-to-goodness indie soul at its best – full of life, vitality, and personality – all presented with the usual deep-digging Numero look at the artists in the notes. The package is one of the biggest Numero collections so far – and really tells the tale of this crucially overlooked scene – a key link between more familiar southern styles and rising Northern modes, all with a personality of its own. Titles include "All Because of You" and "Down In The Country" by Tee Fletcher, "The Hump" and "Tipping Strings" by The Knights, "Somebody Got A Help Me" and "Love is So Mean" by Richard Cook, "Ain't That Sharp" by Young Divines, "Watch The Dog That Bring The Bone" by Sandy Gaye, "Messing Around" by Bobby Owens & The Diplomats, "Shake Daddy Shake" and "Try" by Eula Cooper, "Tumbling Down" by Langston & French, "You Got A Spell On Me" by Bill Wright, "Now That I'm Wise" by Nathan Wilkes, and "Nitecap" by L Daniels. LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty fantastic selection of rare disco tracks from the American underground – all of them infused with a spiritual message, but served up with grooves that go head to head with some of the best underground club of the time! The mix of positive energy and upbeat grooves is wonderful – and if you've ever heard the Clark Sisters club classic "You Brought The Sunshine", then you'll definitely know the spirit of these tunes! If you're worried about the message being one that you're not into, don't – because there's sort of a universal spirit going on here – one that gets past conventions of the church, and which really goes for a general uplifting message that's totally great – almost a precursor to some of the positive house in more recent decades. And speaking of house, there's less of that here than you'd expect – as most of the instrumentation and production are strongly in the best New York underground modes from the disco years – with less of any 80s or electro soul elements. Titles include "I Believe" by Calvin B Rhone, "Imitations" by Johnson Family Gospel Singers, "Change" by Wisdom, "On That Other Shore" by Harrison Jones & The Voices Of Harmony, "I've Been Converted" by The Converters, "Ain't No Way To Do Wrong" by New Creation, "Take It To The Streets" by Prophecy, "Let The Lord Come In Your Life" by Wisdom, "Keep The Fire" by Paradise, and "Jesus Is On The Mainline" by Mr Jesse R McGuire. CD

This is mod, and a bit more too – as the set moves past some of the overdone tropes of the UK mod scene in the 60s – getting past some of the Motown hits and UK blues rock to focus on some of the more underground cuts that would have played well on the ultra-hip sides of the scene! The collection is overflowing with soulful gems from the 60s – almost all on small American labels, of the sorts that changed hands almost secretly between UK DJs and tastemakers – a mode that will definitely have you feel like you're digging something special here! Titles include "It's My Life" by Timmy Thomas, "Talkin Woman" by Lowell Fulsom, "Sundown" by The Merced Blue Notes, "Looking For A Fox" by Clarence Carter, "The Pain Gets A Little Deeper" by Darrow Fletcher, "Lay This Burdon Down" by Mary Love, "Coming Back To Me Baby" by James Carr, I Can't Stop" by Arthur Conley, "Keep My Woman Home" by Danny White, and "Elijah Rockin With Soul" by Hank Jacobs. LP, Vinyl record album

Frantically funky club from Lagos – an amazing collection of post-Fela work from the Nigerian scene, lots of it with the kind of uptempo grooves you'd expect from the "disco" in the title! Yet the sound here is hardly the type you'd find over at Studio 54 – as most cuts here still veer more strongly towards Afro Funk than glittery disco – lots of heavy percussion, bumping basslines, and rough production – the kind of gritty grooves that makes tracking down records like this so great! There's definitely a bit more tightness in the instrumentation than a few years before – but things are never slick or commercial – and the overall feel is almost like some of the Banda Black Rio or Uniao Black funk coming from Brazil at the same time. Titles include "Hang On" by Nana Love, "Boogie Trip" by Doris Ebong, "Bad City Girl" by Grotto, "Don't Put Me Down" by Pogo Ltd, "Everybody Get Down" by Asiko Rock Group, "Boogie Train" by Paradise Stars, "Take Life Easy" by Christy Essien, "Boredom Pain" by MFB, and "Rover Man" by Emma Dorgu. (Global Grooves, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album

Wicked tunes hand-picked by the Japanese maestro of the groove – a heady batch of tracks collected by Yukihiro Fukutomi, with a brilliant melding of jazz, soul, and Latin influences! The set compiles 10 tracks from American and European sources – and features many hard-to-find remixes that surfaced briefly on expensive singles, but which have long gone by the wayside – making this collection even more essential to fans of the groove. Fukutomi presents the tracks in their entirety, unmixed – and titles include "Don't Mean A Thing (Incognito mix)" by Space Jazz Dub Men, "I Got Somebody New (original)" by Georg Levin with Clara Hill, "Everything (Yam Who rmx)" by Dwayne Morgan, "Life Rhythms (Raw Deal rmx)" by E Smoove, "Dreams Come True (Afronaught mix for Bugz In The Attic)" by Alison David, "Listen (Just Listen Louie's Master mix)" by Urban Species, "Cosmic Gypsy (Fila Brazilia rmx)" by United Future Organization, "I Just Wanna Say (Domu's Number One Mix)" by Michelle Lawson, and "Cloud 9 (Quenti Harris Shelter mix)" by Donnie. (New Grooves, Funky Compilations) CD

Damn great work from the early 80s Nigerian scene – music that's evolved strongly past the Afro Funk of the 70s, and often has the same electro soul sound as work from the US at the time! These cuts are unabashedly upbeat, and aimed at the dancefloor – full of the kind of basslines and keyboard lines that folks treasure in rare American boogie singles – and topped with English language lyrics that give these tunes a really universal appeal! There's a nicely offbeat vibe to the cuts at times – almost a P&P club sort of style – which makes the whole thing a real treasure for any fan of funky club music, not just Nigerian sounds. Titles include "Only You" by Steve Monite, "Don't You Know" by Peter Abdul, "Fellas Doing It In Lagos" by Hotline, "Too Hot" by Rick Asikpo & Afro Fusion, "Funk With Me" by Danny Offia & The Friks, "Don't Give Up" by Willy Roy, "Groove I Like" by Veno, "Don't Stop That Music" by Sony Enang, "Where Is The Answer" by Burnis Moleme, and "Enjoy Your Life" by Oby Onyioha. The LP version includes detailed booklet and bonus 45 with "On The Air (rap mix)" by Lexy Mella and "Burning Jungle" by Ofege! (Global Grooves, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing look at the early years of Sly Stone – a hip array of rare projects Sly recorded with other artists, plus a few pre-Columbia gems of his own! The package is beautifully put together, and the vibe here is definitely a great precursor to the famous sound of Sly with the Family Stone in the late 60s – a perfect illustration of his early ear for funky rhythms and some of the most righteous soul of his generation! And oddly, even artists who usually sound far from Stone come out definitely sounding a bit Sly-like here – and the package features the usual Ace great notes, to help you understand where all this great music's coming from. Titles include "Danse A La Musique" by The French Fries, "I'm Going Home (part 1)" and "Home Sweet Home (part 2)" by Joe Hicks, "You're The One (parts 1 & 2)" by Little Sister, "Life & Death In G & A" by Abaco Dream, "I'm Just Like You" by 61X, "Underdog" by The Beau Brummels, "Can't She Tell" by Billy Preston, "LSD" by Freddie & The Stone Souls, "Stanga" by Little Sister, "I Remember" by Sly & Billy Preston, "Superfunk" by Freddie & The Stone Souls, and the cuts "For Real (demo)", "I Can't Turn You Loose", "Life Of Fortune & Fame", "You Really Got Me (demo)", and "I Ain't Got Nobody" by Sly Stone himself! (Soul, Funky Compilations) CD

A cool collection of grooves from the legendary TK Records label – and one that goes way past the obvious hits that topped the charts back in the 70s! The package is less the overall story of TK, than it is a great reminder that there's some really funky nuggets lurking deep in the label's mighty catalog – killer tunes that show that the Miami club sound of the late 70s was firmly rooted in funk and deep soul of the earlier part of the decade – at a level that still stayed pretty funky, even well into the disco generation! There's some great gems here – and titles include "Lady Fingers" by Tony Middleton, "Plato's Retreat" by Joe Thomas, "Funk Reaction" by Lonnie Smith, "Harlem Nocturne" by Wildflower, "Don't Turn Away" by Midnite Flite, "Star Cruiser" by Gregg Diamond, "Funk Machine" by Funk Machine, "Hey Sexy Dancer" by Rocky Mizell, "Dance To The Drummer's Beat" by Herman Kelly & Life, and "Do What You Wanna Do" by T Connection. CD

A huge discovery in music – most of which we've never heard before, and which shows that the Boston scene was getting pretty busy during the classic club years – even if the city's grooves never reached the same fame as cuts from New York, Philly, and other points south! The package is definitely a labor of love – put together by DJ/collector Serge Gamesbourg – who's clearly done a hell of a lot of work to unearth these rare singles and small label releases – records that maybe didn't even make it down to New York City back in the day, and which were probably crowed out of the record racks, even if they did! Most of these cuts are nicely rough around the edges – sometimes in more of a fast funk mode, other times with all the cool offbeat touches of indie label club cuts – and almost all numbers get a special Serge Gamesbourg edit, in order to bring out the grooviest elements of the tracks. Titles include "No More Games" by Larry Wedgeworth & Clique, "All In Good Time" by Wildlife featuring Vi Taylor, "Play It By Ear" by Cojo, "Get Up & Dance Don't Want No Party Poo Pershere" by Carrie Mims & Herbe Lee River Junction, "Feel The Music" by Dreamflight, "I Want Your Body" by Royale, "Free For All" by Second Wind, "I'm Gonna Get You (Meeow)" by Carrie Mims & Herb Lee River Junction, "You Make Me Happy" by Christopher Michael Band, "Keep It Comin On" by Gypsy, and "Fire Funk" by Hypnotics. 2CD set features one disc of the music in a continuous mix by Serge – the other with unmixed versions. CD

A killer set of rare club and underground disco – filled with lots of tracks we haven't seen on other collections! Andy Smith has given us many amazing compilations over the years – sets that have a special mix magic, made up of rocksteady, reggae, vintage funk, and even some rockabilly too! Yet as Andy says here in the notes, he first got hooked on music in the disco generation – and has always had a life-long love of unusual and underground grooves – which he definitely demonstrates here, in a stunning selection of cuts that focus on the funkier side of the disco generation – with a good number of tracks that have turned out to be sample cuts over the years. Titles include "For The Love Of Money" by Disco Dub Band, "Patty Duke" by Cloud One, "Times Are Tight" by Jimmy Young, "Share The Night" by World Premiere, "Is It In" by Jimmy Bo Horne, "Let It Flow" by Tamiko Jones, "Main Thing" by Shot with Kim Marsh, "Give It Up" by Neddy Smith, "Groove To Get Down" by T-Connection, "Holding You Tight (ext DJ mix)" by Sure Thing, "First True Love Affair (Andy Smith & Nick Halke reach up edit)" by Jimmy Ross, "Got To Have You (Whiskey Barons re-edit)" by Joanne Wilson, "I Wanna Be Myself" by Don Laka, "Get Up & Boogie" by Freedom, and "Take Me To The Top" by Advance. LP, Vinyl record album

A great look at an obscure indie soul label from the Cleveland scene at the end of the 60s – and a company that's definitely a cut above, given that it released some early O'Jays singles in the years before their crossover fame in the 70s – and members of that group also wrote a fair bit of singles for the label too! Besides a tie to the O'Jays, the Saru label also had a tight, well-chosen roster – one that really helped make Cleveland a hotbed for sweet soul at the time – easily competing with the hippest singers and groups from Philly, New York, and New Jersey – thanks to a string of excellent 45s on both the Saru imprint, and related Horoscope Records! As usual with Numero, the whole package is filled with fantastic details and photos that are as compelling as the music itself – and as for the music, this time around the Numero folks really get to the heart of the matter with a non-stop array of excellent material – not unreleased tapes, but killer 45s that really show Saru as a hell of a great soul label during its short run of records. Titles include "For The Rest Of My Life" and "Tears Don't Care Who Cry" by The Out Of Sights, "I Believe" and "Are You Man Enough" by Sir Stanely, "Stand In For Love" and "Love's Needed" by Pandella Kelly, "Come Back Boy" and "The Last Time" by The Ba-Roz, "Bound" and "I Remember You" by Ponderosa Twins, "Just To Be With You" and "Got To Make It Right" by Elements, "Can't Make It Without You" by Michael Bell, "Got To Get My Broom Out" by David Peoples, "Just To Be With You" by Bobby Dukes, and "Now He's Home" and "Shattered Man" by The O'Jays. LP, Vinyl record album