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The first of Bobby's highly successful Poet albums from the early 80s – wonderfully done albums that showed the world that he was still very much on top of his game at the time! The sound here is great – still with that older Womack rasp and warmth, but also done in a slightly smoother mode that grooves things up with some modern soul touches, yet never loses Bobby's charm! Tunefully, the record is one of his best in years – with some wonderful mellow soul groovers that never fail to delight – all produced with a warm California sound, and featuring some great backing vocals by The Waters and a host of other Womacks. Titles include "So Many Sides Of You", "Lay Your Lovin On Me", "Secrets", "Just My Imagination", "Games", "If You Think You're Lonely Now", and "Where Do We Go From Here". CD

Music from Bay City Rollers, Helen Reddy, Five Stairsteps, Carl Douglas, Wild Cherry, Starland Vocal Band, Vicki Lawrence, John Travolta, Terry Jacks, Manfred Mann, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jim Croce, and more (Rock, Soul) CD

A sweet sweet set of electric 70s funk – recorded by Booker T during a brief, but well-needed reunion with the MGs! The sound here is quite different than Stax-era MGs – as Booker plays a range of keyboards, not just organ – and the grooves have these great jazz funk touches at the bottom – almost a CTI vibe at times, but packed with the tighter energy you'd expect from the group! Steve Cropper's guitar is great – super-fine, and razor-sharp – really helping cut a nice edge on the cuts – over bass from Donald Duck Dunn and drums from Willie Hall, who's the only new member of the group. In a way, the album feels like mid 70s efforts from Johnny Hammond or Jimmy Smith – sweetly soaring on a let-loose 70s vibe. Titles include the funky break track "Grab Bag", plus "Sticky Stuff", "Moto Cross", "Tie Stick", and "Space Nuts". CD

An obscure little album – but one that's had surprising life in recent years, thanks to a great batch of funky tracks on the set! Little Royal is one of those soul singers who doesn't mind borrowing bits from bigger stars as long as they work well in his act – stepping out like Garland Green on the album's title version of "Jealous Kind Of Fellow" (oddly credited to Royal as the writer!), or like Joe Tex on some of the mellower southern soul numbers – but sounding even better as a rougher James Brown-styled singer on the album's funkier tracks! Huey P Meux produced the record down in Houston, but he's clearly trying to give the record some of the grittier styles of Brown's later work on King – possibly in the hopes that Royal might replace him as King's leading star when James departed for Polydor. Titles include the classics "Razor Blade" and "Panama Red", both great instrumental numbers that crackle like some of JB's late King work – plus "I'll Come Crawling", "Soul Train", "Losing Battle", "Jealous", and "My Love Needs Company". LP, Vinyl record album

An obscure little album – but one that's had surprising life in recent years, thanks to a great batch of funky tracks on the set! Little Royal is one of those soul singers who doesn't mind borrowing bits from bigger stars as long as they work well in his act – stepping out like Garland Green on the album's title version of "Jealous Kind Of Fellow" (oddly credited to Royal as the writer!), or like Joe Tex on some of the mellower southern soul numbers – but sounding even better as a rougher James Brown-styled singer on the album's funkier tracks! Huey P Meux produced the record down in Houston, but he's clearly trying to give the record some of the grittier styles of Brown's later work on King – possibly in the hopes that Royal might replace him as King's leading star when James departed for Polydor. Titles include the classics "Razor Blade" and "Panama Red", both great instrumental numbers that crackle like some of JB's late King work – plus "I'll Come Crawling", "Soul Train", "Losing Battle", "Jealous", and "My Love Needs Company". LP, Vinyl record album