A big package of work – all the albums recorded by The Weather Girls, plus solo material and bonus tracks too! First up is Success – maybe the greatest moment ever from The Weather Girls – a long-running duo who started out as backing singers for Sylvester in the 70s, then recorded as Two Tons O Fun, and finally got the chance to cut this classic for a major label in the early 80s! Both Martha Wash and Izora Armstead are great singers – and work here with previous disco maestro Paul Jabara, who has a great way of shifting the groove to 80s club, while still allowing all the playful elements of the decade before! In a way, this was definitely one of those records that showed the world that in the right corners, disco wasn't dead – heard to best effect on the classic "It's Raining Men" – alongside other cuts that include "Success", "Hungry For Love", "Dear Santa", "Hope", and "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair". Next is Big Girls Don't Cry – soaring vocals from The Weather Girls, set to bouncy grooves that are equal parts soul and pop! Martha Wash and Izora Armstead have mighty vocal chops throughout – that bold duo approach they first crafted as Two Tons O Fun, and pushed even more strongly as The Weather Girls – set here to keyboard-heavy backings from Leon Pendarvis, who knows just where to put the best hooks in the grooves! Titles include "Well A Wiggy", "Lock Me Up", "No One Can Love You More Than Me", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "You Can Do It", "Laughter In The Rain", and "March". Next is the self-titled Weather Girls album – the last album in the original run of The Weather Girls – and a set that's full of well-produced tracks from Reggie Lucas and Full Force, balanced out nicely as a way of pushing the duo's sound strongly past the disco years from which they emerged! Sylvester makes a guest appearance on the cut "Love's On The Way" – and other titles include "Why Can't We Show Our Love", "Burn Me", "Love You Like A Train", "Opposite Directions", "Something For Nothing", and "Land Of The Believer". Last up is a super-huge solo set from Martha Wash – made a number of years after her fame in The Weather Girls, and at a time when she had really emerged as an important voice in dance music after a big cut with C&C! By this point, Wash had plenty of recording experience under her belt – and she knocks it out of the park with vocals that are disco-trained, but much richer in soul content overall – certainly more so than some of her other contemporaries on the early 90s club scene. The album features help from a huge amount of studio talent, but it's clear that Wash is the shining star in the lead – really blowing away so much of the work from the "sound system with singer" generation of club – on cuts that include "Leave A Light On", "Give it To You", "Runaround", "Things We Do For Love", "So Whatcha Gonna Do", "Someone Who Believes In You", "Just Us", "Hold On", "When It's My Heart", and "Carry On". 4CD set features bonus tracks on every CD – 22 more bonus mixes and more! CD

Maybe the funkiest album ever from Detroit guitar genius Dennis Coffey – a set that takes off nicely from his early funky 45s, but which also delivers the goods in a longer-form mode that's completely outta sight! We love Coffey's later albums on Sussex Records, but the vibe here is even more raw – a core combo with Lyman Woodard playing some amazing lines on organ, with just bass and drums for support – letting both of the players really stretch out and do their thing! The drums are great, very funky throughout, with plenty of breaks – and titles include some great Galt MacDermot grooves like "Let The Sunshine In", "Sodomy", and "Aquarius" – plus other excellent covers and originals, like "Hair & Grits", "Hey Jude", "Do Your Thang", "Iceberg's Thang", "It's Your Thang", and "Electric Thang". CD

A stone burner from 100 Proof Aged In Soul – a group who really take off with this tight second record! The album's a classic from the days when soul music ruled AM radio on both sides of the tracks – and the rest of the album is equally great – packing that tight post-Motown punch that made the Hot Wax label one of the best proponents of Detroit soul in the 70s! Arrangements are by a huge amount of early 70s heavyweights – McKinley Jackson, Paul Riser, and HB Barnum – and the set was produced by General Johnson and Greg Perry, in a style that soars along with the Chairmen Of The Board albums of the time. Titles include "Words", "I Don't Care If I Never Get Over You", "Everything Good Is Bad", "Ghetto Girl", "Nothing Sweeter Than Love", and "Don't You Wake Me". CD features lots of bonus tracks – "I'd Rather Fight Than Switch", "If I Could See The Light In The Window (version 2)", "My Piece Of The Rock (vocal)", "My Piece Of The Rock (inst)", and "I'm Mad As Hell (parts 1 & 2)". CD

A great lost record from Clarence Reid – one of the most multi-talented artists on his scene, stepping out here with the depth and sensitivity of some of his best southern soul contemporaries of the 70s! Despite the fact that at the time of the record, Reid was simultaneously recording as the goofy raunch-soul act Blowfly, the cover of this set features him sitting alone at a grand piano, looking all sensitive and serious – like he's Billy Joel or somebody! The style of the album, fortunately, doesn't match the cheesy singer/songwriter presentation – and it's a strong batch of Miami soul tracks that roll along with the classic TK groove of the mid 70s, yet without any of the too-pop or disco modes that were holding back some other artists. Reid's vocals are more heartfelt than ever – really soaring out at a level that almost matches Latimore – and all tunes were written by him, with a bit of help from Steve Alaimo, who also produces the record. Tracks include "The Best Part Of A Man", "The Only Time She Loves Me", "Caution! Love Ahead", "Down Where The Love Is", "Nappy-Haired Cowboy", and "Sleep With Me". Hmmm...kind of sounds like a Blowfly album after all! CD

Hey, don't hold Wayne Cochran's hair against him – because he's one massively soulful dude, despite a high white pompadour – and really knew how to rock the clubs back in the 60s! Cochran's a really unique figure – working with a look that was whiter-than-white, but coming across with a groove that was right up there in the best funky soul mode of the time! Wayne played for the same sort of crowds that went to see Baby Huey & The Babysitters – blending together soul and R&B influences with a really party-oriented groove laid down by his legendary CC Riders backup group – and crossing countless borders along the way, all in pursuit of a socking soul sound! This wonderful set is the best we've ever seen on his music – and features tracks pulled from his sessions for King, Chess, and Mercury – plus a full never-issued live album for King, titled The Wayne Cochran Show. There's more than a few covers here of other 60s soul tunes, but Wayne somehow manages to make most of them sound even better than the originals – bringing in funky arrangements that weren't even used on the hits, and making us wish we'd had a chance to catch his cooking show back in the day. 38 tracks in all – with titles that include "Dance To The Music", "Hold On I'm Coming", "Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song)", "I Can't Turn You Loose", "Hard To Handle", "Chopper 70", "Everybody", "Let Me Come With You", "My Machine", "Get Ready", "Which One Should I Choose", "I'm In Trouble", "The Peak Of Love", "Somebody Please", "I'm Leaving It Up To You", and "Big City Woman". CD

A record that shows a very different side of Dr John than you might know from the trippy classics of his early years at Atlantic Records – as the set's all instrumental, but with the doctor focusing on an older tradition of New Orleans piano! The quality of the record is amazing – all solo, with no other instrumentation at all – and honestly, were it not for the setting, you might never know what a hell of a pianist Dr John can be – as his work on the keys is sometimes hidden amidst larger arrangements and placed next to his vocals. Many tunes are originals, and titles include "New Island Midnight", "Saints", "Honey Dripper", "Big Mac", "Memories Of Professor Longhair", "Mac's Boogie", and "Delicado". New version features bonus tracks – six more tracks added to the original album! CD

There's enough chest hair on the cover of this one to carpet the inside of any custom van – but the record's a fair bit better than you might guess from its image! The set's an outing as a leader by disco maestro Paul Sabu – one that features plenty of the riffing guitar he brought to other disco sessions of the late 70s – spun out over some relatively extended tracks that step along in a very clubby mode! Other instrumentation includes keyboards, bass, and lots of the percussion that made Sabu productions great for other artists – and even though Paul sings a bit, his vocals are mostly compressed down into the rhythms pretty strongly. Titles include "You're Mine Forever", "Loose Lucy Is On The Loose", "I Wanna Feel It In My Heart", "We're Gonna Rock", and "Rocking Rolling Disco King". And note: this isn't the same guy as Sabu Martinez, the conga player! CD