Mel Dancy —
Little Lovin ... CD Mainstream/Ultra Vybe (Japan), 1972. Used ...
$13.99
We've only ever seen this one record by singer Mel Dancy, and it's a groovy little set that makes us wonder why he never moved on to greater fame! The record's got this mix of soul and jazz at the core – with occasional hints at the territory that would be opened up later in the 70s by ... read moreCD
Mad homegrown soul from the enigmatic Darondo – a brief Bay Area star back in the 70s, and also host of TV comedy and children's shows! Darondo only ever saw release of 3 singles, but they're all pretty darn great – a weird mix of funk, soul, and sly slinky grooves – very unique ... read moreCD
Incredible work from Chocolate Star – less a group than a record label or project name used for some excellent underground club recordings from the late 70s and early 80s! Gary Davis is the real brainchild here – keyboardist, songwriter, and main spiritual force behind the music – ... read moreCD
The first album from obscure folk singer Guy Davis – a set that's got a much earthier feel than you'd expect from its late 70s release! Most tracks just feature Davis on vocals and acoustic guitar – singing in a style that's slightly blues-inflected in the vocals, but with playful ... (Folk/Country, Soul)read moreCD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
Features 89 tracks – including work with Jake Porter, Gene Phillips, Helen Humes, Jo Jo Adams, Percy Mayfield, Lloyd Glenn, Joe Turner, Mabel Scott, Floyd Dixon, Ike Carpenter, Clarence Garlow, and Felix Gross. CD
A killer set – one that not only features vocals from Jimmy Dawkins on one half, and vocals from Big Voice Odom on the other – but which also includes some great guitar from the mighty Otis Rush! Rush is fantastic, twisting around Jimmy's own guitar, which is pretty darn great too ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
(Part of the "True Blue Masters – Black & Blue" series!)
A killer start to the 80s for the Dazz Band – with great tunes in a funky mode as well as more measured group soul numbers – and it all adds up one of their best albums ever! Tunes like the opener "Shake It", plus "Shake It Up" and "Magnetized" bring the ... read moreCD
Dazz Band keep it plenty live on this early 80s gem – a killer set from the group's hit run for Motown! The set's got a bouncy groove that's very much in the best Motown funk style at the time – lots of bass at the bottom, and plenty tight on production – but never as smooth or ... read moreCD
The Dazz Band may be wild and free in the title, but the album's tighter than ever – a lean, focused approach to the Dazz Band sound – done here with loads of 80s production and instrumentation in the mix! The rhythms are heavy with drum machine lines – often mixed with keyboard ... read moreCD
A much-needed look at the mighty Sugar Pie DeSanto – a singer who really rocked Chess Records back in the 60s! DeSanto came to the label already boasting one hell of a groove – a rock-solid sense of rhythm that made all of her tunes groovers right from the get-go – and a raw ... read moreCD
A stunning collection of work from Kiki Dee – a British singer that most folks only discovered in the US in the mid 70s, thanks to a duet with Elton John – but one who gave her homeland some fantastic music in the 60s! The set's the first to fully dip into this part of Kiki's career, ... read moreCD
A pretty cool collection produced by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee – focusing on famous speeches by important female African-Americans – mostly focusing on the civil rights era, but also featuring an early speech by Ida B Wells. Ruby reads the speeches, and works include "I Am A Black ... (Spoken Word, Soul)read moreCD
(Special limited CD – pressed up for us by the Smithsonian Folkways label. Comes with original cover artwork, and the CD also features a PDF file with the original liner notes and other materials from the original record release.)
A sweet bouncy groover – one of the rare albums of modern soul cut by the group Delegation! The group in this incarnation are a trio – Ray Patterson, Ricky Bailey, and Bruce Dunbar on vocals – stripped-down harmonically, a perfect fit for the album's groove-heavy arrangements. ... read moreCD
A career-spanning look at the music of Delegation – one of the few UK soul groups of the 70s who could go head-to-head with the best American acts of the time! Delegation have this razor-sharp style that almost prefaces 80s groove – a mode that was born in the disco generation, but ... read moreCD
A nice dose of work from one of the greatest harmony soul groups of all time – the mighty Delfonics, a trio who took high-end vocals to a whole new level! The package does a good job of mixing hits up with a few lesser-known gems from the group – showing their full vocal potential, and ... read moreCD
Bo Diddley —
Big Bad Bo ... CD Chess/Get On Down, 1974. New Copy ...
$6.9914.99
Heavy funk from the legendary Bo Diddley – one of his amazing comeback albums from the early 70s for Chess, all of which are plenty darn great! For this set, Bo's traded in the scratchy guitar mode of his classic work for a sweeter, tighter funk-based sound – a groove that's supported ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
Forget the silly cowboy costume on the front cover – because this is a heck of a great album! Bo might have gotten saddled (no pun intended!) with a silly gimmick for the title and image of the set – but the album's one of his best from the early Chess years, and features a rip-roaring ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
A pair of amazing all-star albums from Chess Records – back to back on a single CD! First up is Two Great Guitars – in which Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry come together in a really unique album for Chess Records in the 60s – and that's saying a lot, given all the groundbreaking ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
A gospel record, but one that lets you know that there's something different going on from the very first note – which seems to be the kind of sound you'd expect more from a blacksploitation soundtrack than any kind of album cooked up in a church! That difference hangs on throughout the ... (Gospel, Soul)read moreCD
Very early pre-Chess work from bassist Willie Dixon – heard here in his cool Big Three Trio – a hip jump blues group with almost a west coast vibe at times – presented here on some rare 78rpm material recorded for Columbia, including a few unreleased tracks! (Blues, Soul)CD
The songs of Swamp Dogg, remixed and refried for the 21st Century – handled here by a whole host of different talents who really make something new from his music! It's hard to say if these tracks are remixed on top of the originals, or maybe stripped down completely and worked up from the ... read moreCD
Funky funky Hammond – a rare late 60s album from organist Bill Doggett, done with some help from James Brown – and a set that's unlike anything Doggett ever recorded before – or since! There's a blasting groove to the record right from the start – thanks to help from The ... (Jazz, Soul)read moreCD
Includes "What A Fool Believes", "Minute By Minute", "Sweet Feelin", "Open Your Eyes", "Here To Love You", "You Never Change", and "Dependin On You". (Rock, Soul)CD
The first three albums from Down To The Bone – packaged here in a nicely-priced set, with bonus tracks too! First up is From Manhattan To Staten – a record that moves across the boroughs of New York – and which also managed to have a huge impact on the Windy City as well – ... (Neo Soul, Soul)read moreCD
Will Downing —
Moods ... CD Mercury, 1995. Used ...
$2.99
A great little collection that definitely gets at the mojo of Dr John – the legendary New Orleans soul singer who really sprang forth in the mainstream at the end of the 60s! Much of this set captures the doctor before that time – early tracks from both New Orleans and LA, all of which ... read moreCD
Solid 80s grooving from George Duke – a really tightly-crafted set, done in the sweet mix of jazz and soul that he virtually helped to invent during the 70s! There's a gentle soulfulness to the record that we really like – a quality that's surprising, given the date, and the fact that ... (Jazz, Soul)read moreCD
One of the great ones from the end of the 70s for George Duke – a ridiculously fertile period for Duke, which is a great thing – because he closed out the decade on a wave of excellent releases! On Follow The Rainbow, George is grooving just a bit more smoothly than before, and it's ... (Jazz, Soul)read moreCD
Two rare albums from The Duprees – one of the sweetest-sounding vocal groups of the early 60s! First up is You Belong To Me – a great full-length set from The Duprees – a record that begins with their huge hit title single, but which quickly moves into a range of material that ... (Rock, Soul)read moreCD
Genius, pure genius! It was hard for Earth, Wind & Fire to go wrong at this point – and the album's a stellar blend of jazz, funk, and soul, all done in that perfect style they'd hit by the mid 70s. And even though this one was a monster album, of the type that you see in everyone's ... read moreCD
Fantastic stuff through and through – and almost a "best of" best of collection from the 70s! The album's a key illustration of the genius of Earth Wind & Fire on Columbia Records – because by the time the set was released in 1978, most of the tracks were already well-know ... read moreCD
A pair of spiritual soul classics – the rare early Warner Brothers albums from Earth Wind & Fire – back to back on a single CD! Earth, Wind & Fire's first album was recorded at a time when the group recently had ties to the Chicago soul and jazz scenes, and a range of ... read moreCD
Earth Wind & Fire's first album for Columbia Records – the start of a really legendary run during the 70s! The sound here is a bit tighter than their first two for Warner Brothers – a groove that has funk and soul taking a bit more precedence over the jazz of their roots – ... read moreCD
Spiritual, soulful, and oh, so beautiful! This record captures Earth Wind & Fire at a perfect transition moment – when they've still got some of their avant jazz roots, but are leaning towards the smooth soulful funk sound that put them on the charts a few years later. The whole thing's ... read moreCD
The classic work of Earth Wind & Fire gets remixed by a host of hip DJs from Tokyo, London, and New York! The package follows the style and spirit of the Jackson Five Soul Source albums – but goes them one better, as the material on the album's far hipper to begin with, and really lends ... read moreCD
A pair of classics from Earth Wind & Fire – back to back on a single CD! First up is Spirit – a big hit for the group – and a great album of smooth funky soul! Spirit is a perfect example of the way that Earth Wind & Fire could tighten things up, yet still keep them real ... read moreCD
(Hybrid Super Audio CD pressing – also works on standard CD players!)
Earth Wind & Fire —
Super Hits ... CD Columbia/Legacy, 1970s/Early 80s. Used ...
$2.99
Proof that the US Army had plenty going on during the 70s – as you'll hear from this killer set of military-produced grooves from East Of Underground! The set goes way past the previous East Of Underground reissue – to feature work by the groups Soap, Black Seeds, and Sound Trek – ... read moreCD
Excellent work by this oft-overlooked east coast harmony group! Like a rare few groups at the time, The Ebonys had a sound that mixed male and female harmonies – in a sweetly mellow sound that was a lot hipper than more famous groups that used the style, and which had all the best elements ... read moreCD
These great sides of mixed east coast group soul have always been hard to find, and have gotten even more so in recent years, as tracks like "Life in the Country" have gotten new fame on the Chicago stepper's scene. That one's on here, and so are lots of other goodies like "Sexy ... read moreCD
The Ebonys sing about life, and a host of other groovy topics too – in this lost soul treasure from the 70s! The set is one of only two albums ever cut by The Ebonys – a consistently great group from the 70s, as is testified by their constant popularity in our racks! The quartet has a ... read moreCD
The first album by 8th Day – a record with a bit of a complicated pedigree, but a massive amount of 70s Detroit soul as well! The set was supposedly compiled to cash in on the group's hit single "She's Not Just Another Woman" – reportedly recorded by 100 Proof Aged In Soul, ... read moreCD
A legendary project from Roy Ayers – and a record that's almost as in-demand as his classic Ramp album! The Eighties Ladies were a hip vocal quartet, with the soulful Sylvia Striplin on lead – and they work here in a mix of perfect Ayers-styled grooves – often using female ... read moreCD
A great collection of tracks by one of the most-overlooked female singers of the late 60s! The set's put together by Ichiban, but it features 23 tracks from Lorraine's years at Warner Brothers – including nearly all of her hard to find Stay With Me album, a few b-sides, and even some ... read moreCD
From a hard soul trio to one of the biggest soul chart acts of the mid 70s, The Emotions had an amazing ride to the top. Although the sisters started out in the field of gospel, then moved through indie labels to cut a few nice raw soul albums for Stax, it was the Chicago soul genius of Maurice ... read moreCD
Amazing box set – five full albums of material, plus lots of bonus tracks too! First up is Flowers – a soaring classic from The Emotions – thanks to some supreme help from the Earth Wind & Fire side of the soul spectrum! This set has the trio really sounding great – ... read moreCD
Emotions —
New Affair ... CD Columbia/PTG (Netherlands), 1981. New Copy ...
$11.99
Post-disco work from The Emotions – breaking free a bit here from the Earth Wind & Fire influence, and grooving nicely with a sweet 80s feel! The girls' voices are still quite wonderful – some of the deepest harmonies in the female soul world at the time – and the tunes kick ... read moreCD
Emotions —
Sunbeam ... CD Columbia/Expansion (UK), 1978. New Copy ...
$9.99
A great little album from The Emotions – largely because it sounds a lot like prime mid 70s Earth Wind & Fire, with female vocals added over the top – ultimately, pulling away with a soulful charm all its own! Maurice White produced the whole set, and it's got a soaring spacey ... read moreCD
A classic album of steel band grooving – a sound that made a surprising crossover in the American soul market in the early 70s! This album's one of the most famous of the genre – a session that was originally produced by Van Dyke Parks for Warner Brothers, and which has a nice blend of ... (Global Grooves, Soul)read moreCD
(There is no indication, but we are assuming the DVD is NTSC, Region 1.)
A hard biting album of hip poetry from the great Sarah Webster Fabio! The title cut is a brutal attack on the free use of the word soul by black musicians – and Sarah delivers the words over spare conga backing by family member Cyril Leslie Fabio II. Cyril shows up on one other track – ... read moreCD
Fabulous Counts —
Jan Jan ... CD Cotillion/DBK Works, 1969. New Copy ...
$7.9917.98
A stunner of a funk album – a must-have for any fan of all things funky! This is the one-and-only record cut by the Fabulous Counts, a version of the Counts before they recorded for Westbound – and nearly every cut is a funky 45-type gem! The group's got a hard and heavy sound that ... read moreCD
A treasure trove of southern soul – the complete Kayvette Recordings of Facts Of Life – a really unique trio with a great talent for mellow songs about life, love, and messing around! The work was recorded in Muscle Shoals by Brad Shapiro and Millie Jackson – and it's often got ... read moreCD
Family Of Swede —
Family Album ... CD Cordial (UK), Late 70s/Early 80s. New Copy ...
$7.99
A long-overdue full length album from Family Of Swede – not a group from Stockholm, but a funky soul combo that worked in Oakland in the late 70s, but only ever managed to issue one single at the time! This set brings together a nice batch of unreleased music by the group – finally ... read moreCD
A 70s album on Miami's powerhouse TK Records – but a set that's got a real northeast pedigree, given that arrangements were handled by John Davis, and the whole thing was recorded at the New York branch of Sigma Sound! Peggy Santiglia handles the lead vocals, but many of the tracks are long-s ... read moreCD
(Part of the Miami Sound – Original Soul/Funk/Disco Collection series!)
Fatback —
Phoenix ... CD Cotillion/Wounded Bird, 1984. New Copy ...
$6.9911.99
Fatback flying like the Phoenix – but hardly rising from the ashes, given that the group's always on top! The sound here is a bit different – slightly leaner than before, but in a good way – with lots of core keyboards from Bill Curtis, who also handles most of the lead vocals ... read moreCD
Some of Fela's earliest work! The Koola Lobitos record features work from 1964 to 1968, most of it never issued before, and a startling look at the early days of Afro Funk. The music is a mixture of highlife, South African soul, and a good deal more funk than Fela's every given credit for during ... (Global Grooves, Soul)read moreCD
2 early 70s Fela classics on one CD! Open & Close hails from 1971 – and it features 3 long songs, all with an incredibly tight groove. Fela, Tony Allen, and the Africa 70 group forge the sound that would dominate their style for the next 2 decades – mixing bass, percussion, ... (Global Grooves, Soul)read moreCD
A bit of the rock n roll you might expect from the title, but an album that's still also very firmly in the best spirit of Jose Feliciano's early 70s classics for RCA! The title element seems to come through in stronger use of electric guitar than before – which makes for less of Jose's ... read moreCD
All the genius you'd ever want by this sublime soul harmony group – packed up on one CD! Lots of great songs by Jimmy Webb and Laura Nyro – and titles include "One Less Bell To Answer", "Save The Country", "Wedding Bell Blues", "Last Night I Didn't ... read moreCD
Elisa Fiorillo —
I Am ... CD Chrysalis, 1990. Used ...
$3.99
... CD
(Out of print.)
Five Special —
Special Edition ... CD Elektra/Wounded Bird, 1980. New Copy ...
$6.9911.98
Classic funky soul from Five Special – tightly crafted throughout, and clearly with an eye on the charts – but also the kind of work that plays nicely on the dancefloor too! The record's got a groove that fits in nicely with some of the lesser-remembered groovers on Elektra at the time ... read moreCD
Five Special —
Trak'n ... CD Elektra/Wounded Bird, 1981. New Copy ...
$6.9911.98
A groovy little move for Five Special – a set that still has the best funkier touches of their previous album, but which also brings in some more electro elements as well! There's a wicked groove on the guitar here – at least on the more upbeat tracks – kind of a riffing edge ... read moreCD
Mindblowing work from Roberta Flack – an album that should be in the collection of any fan of righteous soul music! Forget all the wimpier modes of Flack's later years – because here, the young Roberta is a vision of positive power and spiritual soul – a singer with roots in jazz ... read moreCD
Billy Foster —
Portrait ... CD Equistar, 2005. New Copy ...
$6.99
An overlooked set from the Gary scene – one of a handful of albums by pianist Billy Foster – a musician, radio host, and educator – with a legacy that almost makes him the Ramsey Lewis of his hometown! Billy cut some more keyboard-heavy albums in the 80s, but this record's a ... (Jazz, Soul)read moreCD
Four Tops —
Nature Planned It ... CD Motown/Elemental (France), 1972. New Copy Gatefold ...
$14.99
Why did Motown ever let the Four Tops get away? This album was their last for the label – and it's an excellent one, filled with soul, sweetness, and some of the best arrangements the group had in their later years! The soul component is super-high – with tight group instrumentation ... read moreCD
Way more than disco, a bit different than funk, and a lot cooler than you might guess from the image on the cover – a stone classic from Miami groovers Foxy, and easily one of their best records ever! The set's nice and tight right from the start – not really disco, but more of a ... read moreCD
A long-overdue look at the 45rpm legacy of Aretha Franklin at Atlantic Records – a set that brings together all the great singles she cut during her early years at the label – some of which you'll know as the cornerstones of her albums from the time, others that are maybe a bit more ... read moreCD
Aretha Franklin —
Lady Soul ... CD Atlantic/Rhino, 1968. New Copy ...
$4.996.99
One of Aretha's undisputed classics – a seminal session that furthered her deep soul agenda with key backings from Arif Mardin and Tom Dowd! The Sweet Inspirations provide sublime backing vocals behind Franklin's maturing delivery of the lyrics – and the music is by an all-star group ... read moreCD
An early 80s gem from Aretha Franklin – one of the best of her years at Arista Records, thanks to solid help in the studio from the mighty Arif Mardin! Mardin's in perfect form here – the same blend of older soul and jazzier, more sophisticated styles that he was also bringing to Chaka ... read moreCD
Tracks include "Rock Steady", "Spanish Harlem", "Spirit In The Dark", "Bridge Over Troubled Water", "Brand New Me", "Angel", "Oh Me Oh My", "Until You Come Back To Me", and more – 16 cuts in all. CD
Four soulful fusion classics from keyboardist Rodney Franklin – all together in a single set! First up is In The Center – wonderful keyboard work from the amazing Rodney Franklin – a player who sounds equally great on acoustic and electric piano! This album does a wonderful job ... (Jazz, Soul)read moreCD
Michael Franks has always had a special way with Brazilian-tinged material – as you'll hear here on titles that include "Scatsville", "Samba Do Soho", "The Critics Are Never Kind", "Songbirds", and "Under The Sun". (Vocalists, Soul)CD
(Out of print. Barcode has a cutout hole.)
Free Life —
Free Life ... CD CBS/PTG (Netherlands), 1978. New Copy ...
$11.99
One of the great late 70s Columbia sets from the Earth Wind & Fire side of the universe – the one and only album by this obscure west coast group, who get some strong help in the studio from Phillip Bailey! Bailey co-produced, and wrote some great songs for the record – and the ... read moreCD
Very nice work from Lowell Fulsom – strongly in the mode of his Tramp album for Kent, with a mix of blues and 60s soul, coming together in a sock-hard style that's much better than a lot of Fulsom's other work for other labels! Arrangements are by Rene Hall and Maxwell Davis – the ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
The title gets it right here – as the album's as much a soul effort as a blues one – and is a nice change from the sound of Lowell's earlier years! There's still plenty of grit in the grooves here – and even with the front cover proclamation, the album's still one that's best ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
One of THE all time classics of funky blues – a record built around Lowell's huge single "Tramp" – a massive tune that spawned a whole generation of answer tunes! "Tramp" kicks off the set with a stone break that's worth the price of the album – then Lowell ... (Blues, Soul)read moreCD
Funkadelic —
Finest ... CD Westbound/Ace (UK), Early 70s/1997. Used ...
Just Sold Out!
A heavy-hitting introduction to the music of one of the freakiest, fuzziest funk bands of all time – the legendary Funkadelic, represented here by cuts that are all from their early years on Westbound Records! The music here is a perfect fusion of soulful impulses and psychedelic production ... read moreCD