An excellent album by Rance Allen – one of the most overlooked talents in Stax's early 70s roster, and a real genius for blending his gospel roots with influences of the soul and funk scene of his time. Proof of this is the album's great remake of "There's Gonna Be a Showdown", done in a style that's more rootsy than other Philly versions, but which uses that good Philly bounce to push Rance's deep baritone into a whole new groove. Other good tracks include "To the Other Man", "If I Could Make the World Better", and "That Will Be Good Enough For Me". (Soul, Gospel) LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of wonderful records – reissued here together as a single CD set! The core album Let's Make A Record is a starkly beautiful album from New Orleans street evangelist Sister Gertrude Morgan – recorded in 1968 with only voice and tambourine, but in a way that's got a highly rhythmic groove! Gertrude's been rediscovered of late, due to interest in her artwork – and this record itself is coming back strongly into the spotlight, thanks to King Britt's own brilliant reinterpretation of most of the tunes! But honestly, even if Britt hadn't picked up on this one, we'd still find it extremely compelling – because with only a tambourine to set the groove, Gertrude manages to shake out some tightly snapping little tunes that crackle with an earthy electricity that's pretty darn unique. Titles include "Let Us Make A Record" – which should be chanted at the start of every recording session from now on – plus "Way In The Middle Of The Air", "Power", "I Am The Living Bread", "He Wrote The Revelation", "I Got The New World IN My View", and "I Was Healed By The Wound In His Side". For the other LP, the cosmic talents of King Britt takes older acapella vocals and tambourine rhythms from New Orleans evangelist Sister Gertrude Morgan – originally recorded in 1969, but expanded tremendously here through use of additional keyboards, percussion, and a surprising amount of acoustic instrumentation! Britt's got his usual drum patterns and electronics in the mix, but there's also a fair bit of slide guitar, harmonica, acoustic guitar, and even a bit of lap steel on the set – all of which makes for a sound that's as folksy as it is modern – really opening up a whole new chapter in Britt's career! Titles include "Let's Make A Record", "Living Bread", "Devil's Music", "Power", "New World In My View", "Unceremonious", and "I Was Healed By The Wounds". (Soul, Gospel) CD

If you never went to Skippy White's record store in Boston, you really missed a hell of a shop – a surprisingly great outlet for rare and underground soul, located way up in New England – and a place that was giving the world wonderful music over the course of many decades! Back in the early days of the store, Skippy really had his ear to the scene – and managed to capture all sorts of great artists who were working very underground on the Boston scene – mostly soul acts, but a bit of blues and gospel too – all featured here in the first-ever collection to look at White's work at this level. The package was put together by Eli Paperboy Reed, and has notes from Boston contemporaries Peter Guaralnick and Peter Wolf – yet it's far hipper than any of those references might imply – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Do The Thing" by Earl Lett, "I Love What I Found In You" by The Precisions, "I've Been Lifted Out Of Sin" by Sons Of David, "Evil Woman Blues" by Guitar Nubbit, "Treason" by The Precisions, "Holy Ghost & Fire" by The Lord's Messengers, "Skippy White (parts 1 & 2)" by Junior Washington, "I Was Standing" by Lynn Harmonizers, and "Now Is The Time" by Earl Lett. (Soul, Gospel) LP, Vinyl record album