Great work from one of the undisputed UK maestros of lovers rock during the 80s – producer Neville King, who serves up this totally sweet batch of overlooked gems from the time! The groove is nice and mellow – that fantastic blend of contemporary soul and reggae rhythms that really took hold in London and other UK spots from the late 70s onward – perfect for slow-stepping in the more laidback hours of a party, or chilling out back home on your own! Singers on all these tracks are great – nicely understated, but plenty soulful – and titles include "What About Me" by Blood Sisters, "Lady Lady" by One Blood, "At The Dance" by Leroy Simmonds, "It's Love That Makes A Woman" by Karen Dixon, "They Don't Stay Long" by Unique, "Open Up The Door" by Charisma, "The Day Will Come" by The Sadonians, "Love Sweet Love" by Love & Emotion, and "Not My Baby" by The Sensations. CD features bonus tracks – "Hold Me Tight" by Natural Touch, and "Loving Kind" by Simplicity. (Reggae, Soul) CD

An explosion of groundbreaking sounds from the 60s – all records issued in the magical year of 1965 – with a fresh vibe that would influence years of soul, psych, and garage styles to come! Jon Savage has already given us two other great year-based collections on Ace, but this one might be one of his most impressive – given that most folks tend to overlook the musical power of 1965, in favor of bigger explosions later in the 60s – but all of which were inspired by these earlier moments of fire! You'll definitely recognize some of the tunes here, but with his usual genius, Jon Savage has a way of mixing the familiar with the obscure – coming up with new ways to put everything together, and really opening up our ears in the process. As with previous volumes, the notes are huge – with plenty of details on the sounds within – and the 2CD package features a whopping 48 tracks in all – with titles that include "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" by The Silkie, "Concrete & Clay" by Unit Four Plus Two, "I'll Feel A Whole Lot Better" by The Byrds, "Buttermilk (part 1)" by Sly, "Boot Leg" by Booker T & The MGs, "Fortune Teller" by Tony Jackson with The Vibrations, "That's The Way It's Got To Be" by The Poets, "Come & Stay With Me" by Marianne Faithful, "See My Friends" by The Kinks, "Too Many People" by The Leaves, "I've Got Mine" by The Small Faces, "The Duck" by Jackie Lee, "The Story Of John Hardy" by Sir Douglas Quintet, "We Sell Soul" by The Spades, "Blow Your Mind" by The Gas Co, "You Just Gotta Know My Mind" by Karen Verros, "Can You Hear Me" by Lee Dorsey, "London Town" by Pretty Things, "Are You A Boy Or Are You A Girl" by The Barbarians, "I'm Alive" by The Hollies, "Leaving Here" by The Birds, and "Twine Time" by Alvin Cash & The Crawlers. (Rock, Soul) CD

An incredible package – and one that goes way farther, and way deeper than any of the previous volumes of Stax/Volt Records singles! This 4th volume is kind of a correction/addition to territory covered by the previous three – as CDs 1 to 3 of the collection go back to bring together all the wonderful b-sides for the singles that didn't appear on the other packages – really incredible work that's often more amazing than the bigger-name cuts on the a-side – as the tracks are often rougher, rawer, and a fair bit more edgey too! Then, CDs 4 & 5 do a great job of looking at some of the rock and other non-soul material cut by the Stax labels – with a focus on material that came out on the Hip, Enterprise, and Ardent labels – followed by CD 6, which features all the excellent gospel material issued by Stax on the labels Gospel Truth and Chalice. The whole thing's got a hell of a lot of music in one sleek package – 145 tracks on 6CDs, with a big booklet of notes. Artists include Shirley Walton, Linda Lynell, Jeanne & The Darlings, Soul Children, Shack, The Nightingales, John Gary Williams, Hot Sauce, Ilana, Lee Sain, Green Brothers, Prince Conley, The Astors, Gorgeous George, Karen Casey, The Caboose, Clark Sullivan, Chuck Boris, Connie Eaton, Paris Pilot, The Goodees, The Cheques, Poor Little Rich Kids, Lonnie Duvall, Dixie Nightingales, Louise McCord, Rance Allen, Stars Of Virginia, and many more! CD

A macho disco classic from the TK Records family of labels – in case you couldn't guess from the image on the cover! The drums are more pounding here than on the typical clubby record of the time – especially on the title track – and there's this nicely funky groove at most points, a full-on forceful style that makes no bones about where the music is headed – and which gets things going long before the vocals come into the mix! Those are sung by Karen Silver – who never tries to compete with the rhythms, but just finds a nice way to slide along with the groove. Titles include "I'm A Man", "I Can't Get Over You", "Melody Of Love", "Good Times", and "Make Time For Love". CD features the bonus track "I'm A Man (7" version)". CD

A fantastic entry in this excellent series – in part because more than half of the music here appears for the first time ever! Yet despite the unreleased status of the tracks, they definitely live up to the "masterpieces" promised by the title – great grooves from a time when more sophisticated production was coming into soul music, but never in a way that was too commercial or chartbound! Instead, these tracks mix all the raw vocals and righteous energy of the early 70s with some more sophisticated styles of arrangement and production – really taking soul music to a new level for the growing generation of the time – with results that were so ahead of their time, even the cuts here that got pressed on wax hardly got much circulation back in the day! The whole thing's wonderful – and titles include "Have A Good Time" by Maggabrain, "Don't Play Me Cheap" by Foxfire with Johnny E Adams, "I Want You" by Cynic, "Bedroom Eyes" by Betty Everett, "Happy Times" by Ramona King, "Higher Than High" by Joe Graham, "Let's Make A Move" by Ronnie McNeir, "Second Time Around" by The Exportations, "Must Have Had Company" by Elayne Starr, "Hobody" by Margie Joseph, "You Could Have Tried" by Karen Sanders Group, "I'll See You In Hell First (alt take)" by Phillip Mitchell, "You Done Let The Daylight Catch You" by Second Resurrection, "You & Me Baby" by Joe Hinton, and "Doo Doop Dee Deep Doot Doo" by George Semper. CD