A swirling blend of soul, funk, and jazzy grooves – and a super-rare album that we've never seen in the original! Supposedly, backing on the record is by the British Afro-Funk group Assagai – which sounds right to us, because there's a nice rolling conga groove on many of the tracks. Lead vocals are by Charles Hilton Brown, in a nicely raw soul style that reminds us a bit of Otis Redding, and a bit of Mike James Kirkland on some of his early 70s material. The record features vocal covers of a number of soul hits – like "Try A Little Tenderness", "Love Train", and "Ain't No Sunshine" – plus some originals that are even better, like the funky instrumental "GRF", and the tunes "Maddox" and "Tell Me Once Again". Nice and raw, and with a sound hip enough to match the record's cover! CD

The complete Malaco recordings of McKinley Mitchell – an excellent singer/songwriter whose work was a key part of the southern scene in the 70s, but who rarely ever gets his due! McKinley had a really unique voice that shared some of the warmth of northern singers – including a few of the uptown crowd of the late 60s – but he also worked in a mode that was much bluesier, with more of the traces of the burgeoning Jackson scene, of which these recordings were a part during the 70s. The set features the full tracks from McKinley's one album for the label, plus singles – with a total of 16 tracks that include "When It Rains It Pours", "Open House At My House", "The Town I Live In", "The End Of The Rainbow", "Same Old Dream", "Slave For Your Love", and "Follow The Wind". CD

(Sound Library, Soul) LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Michael Parks, Tommy Dee, Dale Hawkins, Connie Stevens, Fabian, Russ Hamilton, JoAnn Campbell, Johnny Maddox, Ed Townsend, Don Rondo, and more. (Rock, Soul) CD