... LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Groovin", "Love", "Cupid", "You Got Soul", "People In Love", "Don't Cry", "You Got To Change Your Ways", "Hold Me Tight", and "Lovey Dovey". LP, Vinyl record album

Mary J Blige is as fresh and essential as ever here – still sticking true to the hip hop roots in her soul music, but with a contemporary vibe that shows that she's not just content to rest on her laurels from the old days! The set features key work from DJ Khaled, HER, Anderson Paak, Jadakiss, and others – and there's a style here that's lean, majestic, and mature – really a great fit for the more thoughtful lyrics that Mary's been giving us of late, as she absorbs the ups and downs of life's journey, and has a stronger ability than ever before to find the right way reflect. Titles include "Here With Me", "Love Will Never", "Love Without The Heartbreak", "Enough", "Need Love", "Good Morning Gorgeous", "Come See About Me", "Rent Money", "Tough Love", "Amazing", and "Gone Forever". LP, Vinyl record album

The fantastic debut of The Pointer Sisters – an album that's a lot deeper than most of their crossover pop from years to come! At the time of the album's release, the trio were a badass group of female singers on the Bay Area scene – out to redefine the role of the girl group in soul – working not only with righteous power that was a real change from modes of the 60s – but also this trans-temporal quality that had them reaching back with ease for references from decades past, which also includes a surprising amount of jazz! The highlight here is the group's classic funky break version of Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can Can" – and other titles include "Naked Food", "Wang Dang Doodle", "Sugar", "Pains & Tears", "Jada", "River Boulevard", and "Cloudburst". LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by Timeless Legend, Tippie Washington, Forbidden Blackness, Ira Allen, Ti-Fri, Young Underground, Wendy Harris, Spaded Jade, Final Analysis, Capris, Greg Foust, and Brother's Rap. LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic! This is the kind of soul that we still collect vinyl for! Freddie Hughes is one of the great lost voices of the 60s, and this sparkling album of soulful tunes is a real gem! He's not the same singer as the Freddie Hughes from Chicago – and he hailed from San Francisco, a very unlikely source for such great soul music. The session was recorded with Lonnie Hewitt (Cal Tjader's funky piano player) in SF – but it's got that perfect New York Wand/Scepter "deep soul meets uptown" sound. The tracks are mostly written by Hughes or Hewitt – and they are all pretty amazing, filled with hooks that just don't quit, and some heartbreaking verses that match the work of writers like Curtis Mayfield or Garland Green. Titles include "Send My Baby Back", "He's No Good", "Tonight I'm Gonna See My Baby", and "I Gotta Keep My Bluff In". LP, Vinyl record album

No opera here – but a really unique early live show by The Pointer Sisters, one that shows the Bay Area quartet to be one of the most diverse soul acts of their generation! The double-length set features the girls singing a mix of older jazz tunes and a few newer tracks – scatting in vocalese one minute, and singing straighter soul the next – all with larger group backing from an orchestra directed by Tom Salisbury. There's a real "show" feeling to the album – as it was recorded even with the group's introduction on stage, as well as plenty of crowd response and an overall format that gets at the highly-entertaining mode of the Pointers in their early years. Titles include "Yes We Can Can", "Jada", "Black Coffee", "Cloudburst", "Let It Be Me", "Hands Up/Wang Dang Doodle", "Steam Heat", "Fairytale", "Shaky Flat Blues", "Love In Them There Hills", and "Salt Peanuts". LP, Vinyl record album

We're not normally ones to rave about electric blues albums, but this one's a lot nicer than you might think – recorded with plenty of deep soul touches, and even a dose of funk in the right places! We hate to admit it, but a big part of the credit here goes to Eric Clapton – who produced most of the record and gives Buddy and Junior a tightness that's missing from some of their other records of the time. There's almost a post-Cream sort of groove to the record – that "hipper than rock" sensibility that colored many of Clapton's old group members' projects for Atlantic in the years after Cream disbanded. But of course, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells are the real stars of the set – and the record's good enough to make even jaded Chicago residents like us appreciate their talents here! Titles include "A Poor Man's Plea", "My Baby She Left Me", "A Man Of Many Words", "I Don't Know", and "This Old Fool". (Blues, Soul) LP, Vinyl record album

Jazzman take on the Cali scene – and the results are every bit as amazing as you might imagine! Like previous Texas, Florida, and Midwest Funk comps on the label, this volume is essential listening all the way through – a massive dig into rare west coast grooves of the late 60s and 1970s – presented with excellent notes on every single track, and more than enough historical detail to put the music in perspective! The whole thing's fully legit, with great mastering on most cuts – and the track list is filled with rare gems we've never seen on any other collections before – a massive funky treasure trove that includes "Turn It Over" by Chucky Thurmon, "Farm Song" by Leon Gardner, "What Goes Around Comes Around (part 1)" by Arthur Monday, "Get It Right" by Rhon Silva, "Funky Fire" by Billy Larkin, "WB" by California Gold Notes, "Curse Upon The World" by Apple & The Three Oranges, "Cold Heat" by Lil Lavair & The Fabulous Jades, "Bones" by Winter, "Smokin Tidbits" by Edwards Generation, "Al's Place" by Enrique Olivarez Y Los Vampiros, "Talking About My Baby" by John Heartsman & Circles, "What's Going On" by Mr Clean & The Soul Inc, and "All Bundled Into One" by Water Color. (Funky Compilations, Soul) LP, Vinyl record album