Usher comes home strong on his first album in nearly a decade –with his ageless voice, overall presence, and almost unrivaled way of fitting right in while also slyly transcending the reigning sounds of pop, soul and R&B of any given day! It's a 20 track set that's surprisingly strong throughout, giving him plenty of space to do just about everything he does so well – tight collaborations, tender balladry, dancefloor ready jams and all. He's still a king! Includes "Keep On Dancin'", "Good Good" with Summer Walker & 21 Savage, "Kissing Strangers", Risk It All" with with HER, "Big", "On The Side", "I Am The Party", "Luckiest Man", "I Love U", "Please U", "Room In A Room", "Bop", "Stone Kold Freak", "Coming Home" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Usher comes home strong on his first album in nearly a decade –with his ageless voice, overall presence, and almost unrivaled way of fitting right in while also slyly transcending the reigning sounds of pop, soul and R&B of any given day! It's a 20 track set that's surprisingly strong throughout, giving him plenty of space to do just about everything he does so well – tight collaborations, tender balladry, dancefloor ready jams and all. He's still a king! Includes "Keep On Dancin'", "Good Good" with Summer Walker & 21 Savage, "Kissing Strangers", Risk It All" with with HER, "Big", "On The Side", "I Am The Party", "Luckiest Man", "I Love U", "Please U", "Room In A Room", "Bop", "Stone Kold Freak", "Coming Home" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Very weird bit of stoner rock with a slight soul edge, and kind of a rock version of the Isaac Hayes baroque approach to pop covers. Danny Cox performs a number of Dylan and Beatles tunes – like "Dear Prudence", "My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Baby Blue", "Hey Jude", "Just Like A Woman", and "Day In The Life" – all with small group backing on guitars and steel guitar, and kind of a "back to the country" rock approach. Not really a soul record, or really our bag, but an obscure oddity, and produced and arranged by Gary Usher. LP, Vinyl record album

A deep dive into the vaults of the legendary Stax Records – the Memphis label who helped usher in a whole new sound in soul music during the 60s, and was still going strong in the early part of the 70s! In the final years, Stax was hitting big with a number of stars, but also recording a bit more than they got the chance to issue at the time – all top-quality work, often with the key songwriters and studio talent behind the hits – some of which was lost to the sands of time, due to financial troubles in the label's last few years. Yet those rare gems live again here – as Ace/Kent do a superb job of dipping into the legacy of rare and unreleased material from this period – a good deal of which shows Stax moving the bar even further, by advancing the styles of southern soul with newly sophisticated modes. If you know the last few Soul Children records on Stax, you'll get the vibe here – spun out on a great run of 20 tracks that include "I'm Too Old To Play" by Jimmy Hughes, "How Can I Win Your Love" by Eddie Floyd, "I'm Tired" by Mavis Staples, "Come Get From Me (parts 1 & 2)" by David Porter, "You Need Love" by Chuck Brooks, "Ain't No Way" by Shirley Brown, "Did You Hear Yourself (part 1)" by Randy Brown & Company, "Ain't Nobody Like My Baby" by Lee Sain, "I'll Do Anything For Your Love (single edit)" by William Bell, "Standing In The Safety Zone" by Soul Children, "We've Got Love On Our Side" by Bettye Crutcher, "Guilty Of Loving You" by Veda Brown, "Let's Make A Deal" by Frederick Knight, and "A Smile Can't Hide A Broken Heart" by Ollie & The Nightingales. CD

Music from Boyz II Men, BLACKstreet featuring Jay-Z, Milestone, Total, Puff Daddy featuring Lil' Kim, Dru Hill, Tenderoni, XSCAPE, OutKast with Cee-Lo, Monica & Usher, Tony Toni Tone, En Vogue & Earth, Wind & Fire. CD

A deep dive into the vaults of the legendary Stax Records – the Memphis label who helped usher in a whole new sound in soul music during the 60s, and was still going strong in the early part of the 70s! In the final years, Stax was hitting big with a number of stars, but also recording a bit more than they got the chance to issue at the time – all top-quality work, often with the key songwriters and studio talent behind the hits – some of which was lost to the sands of time, due to financial troubles in the label's last few years. Yet those rare gems live again here – as Ace/Kent do a superb job of dipping into the legacy of rare and unreleased material from this period – a good deal of which shows Stax moving the bar even further, by advancing the styles of southern soul with newly sophisticated modes. If you know the last few Soul Children records on Stax, you'll get the vibe here – spun out on a great run of 20 tracks that include "I'm Too Old To Play" by Jimmy Hughes, "How Can I Win Your Love" by Eddie Floyd, "I'm Tired" by Mavis Staples, "Come Get From Me (parts 1 & 2)" by David Porter, "You Need Love" by Chuck Brooks, "Ain't No Way" by Shirley Brown, "Did You Hear Yourself (part 1)" by Randy Brown & Company, "Ain't Nobody Like My Baby" by Lee Sain, "I'll Do Anything For Your Love (single edit)" by William Bell, "Standing In The Safety Zone" by Soul Children, "We've Got Love On Our Side" by Bettye Crutcher, "Guilty Of Loving You" by Veda Brown, "Let's Make A Deal" by Frederick Knight, and "A Smile Can't Hide A Broken Heart" by Ollie & The Nightingales. CD

Ice T's cover of the Curtis Mayfield classic. (Hip Hop, Soul) 12-inch, Vinyl record

A great little live set from Curtis Mayfield – recorded in Europe in 1987, but with a sound that's pretty darn great – much more lean than a studio session, and with a spontaneous vibe that really does great things with the material! The music is played by a small jazzy combo that includes Master Henry Gibson on congas – and while the use of more modern keyboards make the set sound different than Curtis' classic Live album, the overall quality of the work is higher than you'd expect from the date. Titles include "We Gotta Have Peace", "Move On Up", "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Ice 9", "Back To The World", and "When Seasons Change". 13 cuts in all! CD

Curtis Mayfield's lasting classic – and an album that the world will remember forever! Apart from being his hugely successful entry into the blacksploitation soundtrack field, this album's also a monster set of grooves that includes some of Curtis' funkiest work ever – a record that works as well as a 70s soul album as it does a hip action film score! The track list alone reads as a who's who of 70s funk – filled with gems that include "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Little Child Runnin' Wild", "Give Me Your Love", and "Superfly" – and the rest of the set is equally great, essential listening throughout! Plus, this set also features a whole bonus LP – one that brings together extra tracks, unreleased cuts, alternate versions, instrumental versions, and even some cool radio promotional spots – with the "Check Out Your Mind" instrumental studio jam, the full-length version of the instrumental "Junkie Chase", the demo version of "Ghetto Child", and lots more! LP, Vinyl record album

Curtis Mayfield's lasting classic – and an album that the world will remember forever! Apart from being his hugely successful entry into the blacksploitation soundtrack field, this album's also a monster set of grooves that includes some of Curtis' funkiest work ever – a record that works as well as a 70s soul album as it does a hip action film score! The track list alone reads as a who's who of 70s funk – filled with gems that include "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Little Child Runnin' Wild", "Give Me Your Love", and "Superfly" – and the rest of the set is equally great, essential listening throughout! LP, Vinyl record album

Early work from Prince – really his first full fledged masterpiece! Prince ushered the 80s in with a mix of recognizable influences, but filtered through his unique sensibility – taking a new approach to funky soul – by using his own sinister blend of layered vocals, crisp rhythms, and ultra catchy songs – always capped with that unbridled, fearless sexuality that comes across right here on the cover – and which already shows that the singer is a bold new force to be reckoned with! And despite his claim of having a dirty mind, Prince uses the music to unlock the sensual souls in all of us – with tracks here that would already become calling cards for a generation – such as the unstoppable classics "Dirty Mind" and "When You Were Mine", plus "Head", "Sister", "Do It All Night", and "Party Up". CD

The last-ever album from this legendary duo – and a set that's maybe their funkiest record too! Of course, that's probably no surprise, given that they're playing the Curtis Mayfield tunes from Superfly here – great tracks that make for a really wonderful setting for the pair's highly rhythmic style – Eldee Young on bass and Isaac Redd Holt on drums – plus great Fender Rhodes lines from pianist Ken Chaney! The set also features a bit of congas from Derf Reklaw, and organ and guitar as well – and the whole thing's a long overdue follow up to the funky electric jazz style of their earlier album Oh Girl, on Atlantic. Titles include great takes on "Freddie's Dead", "Give Me Your Love", "Pusher Man", and "Superfly" – plus a few of the group's own numbers, like "Hey Pancho" and "Mystical Man" – as well as a super-dope cover of "People Make the World Go Round". LP, Vinyl record album

Curtis Mayfield's lasting classic – and an album that the world will remember forever! Apart from being his hugely successful entry into the blacksploitation soundtrack field, this album's also a monster set of grooves that includes some of Curtis' funkiest work ever – a record that works as well as a 70s soul album as it does a hip action film score! The track list alone reads as a who's who of 70s funk – filled with gems that include "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Little Child Runnin' Wild", "Give Me Your Love", and "Superfly" – and the rest of the set is equally great, essential listening throughout! Plus, this set also features a whole bonus CD – one that brings together extra tracks, unreleased cuts, alternate versions, instrumental versions, and even some cool radio promotional spots! with the "Check Out Your Mind" instrumental studio jam, the full-length version of the instrumental "Junkie Chase", the demo version of "Ghetto Child", and lots more! Great stuff – and in a lovely fold-out package, with the same foldover die-cut cover of the original LP! CD

Early work from Prince – really his first full fledged masterpiece! Prince ushered the 80s in with a mix of recognizable influences, but filtered through his unique sensibility – taking a new approach to funky soul – by using his own sinister blend of layered vocals, crisp rhythms, and ultra catchy songs – always capped with that unbridled, fearless sexuality that comes across right here on the cover – and which already shows that the singer is a bold new force to be reckoned with! And despite his claim of having a dirty mind, Prince uses the music to unlock the sensual souls in all of us – with tracks here that would already become calling cards for a generation – such as the unstoppable classics "Dirty Mind" and "When You Were Mine", plus "Head", "Sister", "Do It All Night", and "Party Up". LP, Vinyl record album

5 classic albums from Nina Simone – packaged together in one sweet little set! First up is Nuff Said – a great little album from Nina – mostly recorded live at the Westbury Music Fair, with a hip mix of jazz, soul, and folk that's stretched out in a slightly informal setting that always brings out the best of Nina's vocals! Tracks include "The Backlash Blues", "Please Read Me", "Sunday In Savannah", "Why? (The King Of Love Is Dead)", and the nice jazzer "In The Morning". Plus, the album also includes one straight soul number – "Do What You Gotta Do", with some great arrangements by Horace Ott. Next is To Love Somebody – one of Nina's greatest records – recorded with her cool combo that included Weldon Irvine! Weldon's on organ on the set, and he co-wrote the two-part track "Revolution" with Simone, one of the album's strongest numbers! That track is set amidst covers of other hip 60s material, including "Turn Turn Turn", "To Love Somebody", "I Can't See Nobody", and "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" – all done with a freely righteous style that has Nina cutting loose at the end of the 60s! Black Gold is a real classic from Nina, one of the excellent sets she cut with the Stroud Productions imprint during the early 70s! The style here is even hipper than her late 60s work on Philips – with a mixture of open-ended jazz and soul that's best summed up in the album's extended reading of "Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair", and a great version of "To Be Young Gifted & Black", which was written by Weldon Irvine, who's probably playing piano here with Nina. It Is Finished is the kind of record that once made purists turn up their noses, but which is now being rediscovered as a unique jazz/soul crossover album, filled with loads of nice moments! The instrumentation's pretty darn interesting – and includes sitar, harp, Spanish guitar, and other odd percussion instruments. Includes Nina's nice version of "Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter", plus "I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl", "Dambala", "Obeah Woman", and "The Pusher". Nina Simone & Piano is a strong back to basics session for Nina, one that featured her piano and vocals only, a very spare approach that was markedly different from her work a few years previously for other labels. Nina's tone on the piano is incredible – and she's working with some striking modern jazz changes that offset the folksiness of her vocals in a fantastic way, creating a sound that's a lot fuller than you'd expect! Titles include "Seems I'm Never Tired Lovin You", "Compensation", "Everyone's Gone To The Moon", "Nobody's Fault But Mine", "I Think It's Going To Rain Today", "The Desperate Ones", "The Human Touch", and "Another Spring". (Vocalists, Soul) CD

The great Roy Ayers joins Soul Society for this classic 90s set – a record that was really forging deep funk territory years before Daptone, Colemine, and all the contemporary labels got into the game! Soul Society's a German collective of musicians and singers with a great ear for 70s grooves, but who also do just the right job of updating the music too – and they wisely chose Roy Ayers' vibes to help shade in all sorts of great aspects of this albums – bringing Roy back from almost-retirement, at a time when most of the rest of the world wasn't giving him a chance to record! Titles include remakes of "Everybody Loves The Sunshine", "Funky Nassau", and "Smiling Faces" – plus "Feed Me Your Love", "Spaced Out", "Pusher", and "Money Mad". (New Grooves, Soul) CD

The last-ever album from this legendary duo – and a set that's maybe their funkiest record too! Of course, that's probably no surprise, given that they're playing the Curtis Mayfield tunes from Superfly here – great tracks that make for a really wonderful setting for the pair's highly rhythmic style – Eldee Young on bass and Isaac Redd Holt on drums – plus great Fender Rhodes lines from pianist Ken Chaney! The set also features a bit of congas from Derf Reklaw, and organ and guitar as well – and the whole thing's a long overdue follow up to the funky electric jazz style of their earlier album Oh Girl, on Atlantic. Titles include great takes on "Freddie's Dead", "Give Me Your Love", "Pusher Man", and "Superfly" – plus a few of the group's own numbers, like "Hey Pancho" and "Mystical Man" – as well as a super-dope cover of "People Make the World Go Round". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing is right – as Timi Yuro's one of the most soulful voices of the 60s, but a singer who's often overlooked because her work fell into a unique space between jazz and soul! The CD offers a much-needed look at Timi's mid-60s years on the Mercury label – a key point of maturity, and work done after Timi's initial and better-known sides for Liberty. The style here takes the depth of Dinah Washington on Mercury and infuses it with styles that are a bit lusher, and more in the increasingly sophisticated mode of other 60s vocalists – supported by Quincy Jones production and some great backings from the legendary Bobby Scott. 24 tracks in all are featured – including the full Amazing Timi Yuro album, plus rare singles, and even a few Italian numbers! Tracks include "I Love My Man", "Johnny", "If", "All I Need Is You", "I'm Still Around", "There Must Be A Way", "Why Not Now", "Can't Stop Running Away", "Get Out Of My Life", "Could This Be Magic", "My Foolish Heart", "Cuttin In", "Ti Credo", and "E Poi Verra L'Autunno". CD

Bo Diddley we already love you – but this set gives us another reason why! Although Bo's probably best known for his classic R&B work of the late 50s and early 60s, but during the 70s he also managed to cut some massively funky albums for Chess – working in the blues revival/funk turnover sound that was pioneered in the Cadet Concept studios with some of the label's classic artists of earlier years. The grooves on this set are amazing – heavy funk all the way, and filled with a ripplingly strong guitar sound over heavy drums and bass – still handled with the same offbeat sense of humor that we love in Bo's older work, but retuned nicely for the hip heavy sound of the 70s! The CD features 20 tracks in all – pulled from 4 albums on Chess from the early 70s – and titles include "I Don't Like You", "Funky Fly", "Shut Up Woman", "Elephant Man", "Down On The Corner", "The Shape I'm In", "Bad Trip", "Hey Jerome", "Infatuation", "Take It All Off", "Bo Diddley-It Is", "Stop The Pusher", and "Hit Or Miss". (Blues, Soul) CD

A silly title, but a surprisingly nice LP – one that takes Chaka back to the style she used on her classic Echoes Of An Era session – the 80s jazz side in which she recreated an older style of jazz vocal work! Chaka's working here with backings by the London Symphony Orchestra, but the sound's pretty darn jazzy overall – with a seemingly small piano combo from the orchestra providing most of the rhythm, as the strings and woodwinds come in on the larger, lusher moments. Tracks are mostly older numbers, and include some surprisingly nice 60s tunes – with titles that include "Goldfinger", "Diamonds Are Forever", "To Sir With Love", "Teach Me Tonight", "Is That All There Is", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Hey Big Spender", and "Hazel's Hips" – plus a Japanese excluive remix of "To Sir With Love". CD

A great little live set from Curtis – recorded in Europe in 1987, but with a sound that's pretty darn great! The music is played by a small jazzy combo that includes Master Henry Gibson on congas – and while the use of more modern keyboards make the set sound different than Curtis' classic Live album, the overall quality of the work is higher than you'd expect from the date. Titles include "We Gotta Have Peace", "Move On Up", "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Ice 9", "Back To The World", and "When Seasons Change". 13 cuts in all. CD

Curtis Mayfield's lasting classic – and an album that the world will remember forever! Apart from being his hugely successful entry into the blacksploitation soundtrack field, this album's also a monster set of grooves that includes some of Curtis' funkiest work ever – a record that works as well as a 70s soul album as it does a hip action film score! The track list alone reads as a who's who of 70s funk – filled with gems that include "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Little Child Runnin' Wild", "Give Me Your Love", and "Superfly" – and the rest of the set is equally great, essential listening throughout! LP, Vinyl record album

Pucho and the gang hit the seventies, and lay down some hard Latin funk in a very blacksploitation mode! The centerpiece of the album is a 15 minute medley of three tunes from Superfly – "Superfly", "Pusherman", and "Freddie's Dead" – all sewn together with a soulful electric groove that's a nice extension from the band's earlier style on Prestige. The Pazant Brothers are still in full force on the horns, and the album features other great work on electric piano, congas, flute, electric guitar, and vibes. The track "S'cusa S'cuas (Why)" features vocals by Marilyn Johnson – and other nice ones include "Judy's Moods", "One More Day", and "Oak Hursts Art". (Latin, Soul) LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "Pump It Up" by Joe Budden, "If I Can't" by 50 Cent, "Situations" by Bravehearts and Nas, "Gasoline" by E-40, "Neva Scared" by Bone Crusher, and "Off The Wall" by Skillz. (Hip Hop, Soul) 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of Jerry Butler's funkiest moments of the 70s – served up in a fantastic soundtrack co-penned and arranged by the great Jerry Peters! Peters is best known for his hip work with a variety of soul acts in the studio, but he really steps out here for the score to Melinda – a lesser-known blacksploitation film from the early 70s, but one that boasts a heck of a great soundtrack! Peters approach here is a bit more baroque than some of his contemporaries – and he uses stepping strings equally alongside funky rhythms – creating a groove that's complicated, yet still plenty darn funky – and a sound that's as soulful on the mellower tunes as it is on the standout uptempo ones. Jerry Butler sings vocals on "Speak Truth To The People", "Tank's Theme", "Love is", and "Melinda Reprise" – but the instrumental tracks are even better, and inlcude the clavinet groover "Part III", the sitar-styled "Melinda Latino", and the cuts "Music For Tank's Boat", "The Blues (Dope Pusher's Theme)", and "I Can't Let You Go". LP, Vinyl record album

Curtis Mayfield's lasting classic – and an album that the world will remember forever! Apart from being his hugely successful entry into the blacksploitation soundtrack field, this album's also a monster set of grooves that includes some of Curtis' funkiest work ever – a record that works as well as a 70s soul album as it does a hip action film score! The track list alone reads as a who's who of 70s funk – filled with gems that include "Pusherman", "Freddie's Dead", "Little Child Runnin' Wild", "Give Me Your Love", and "Superfly" – and the rest of the set is equally great, essential listening throughout! (Cassettes, Soul) Cassette