One of the greatest records ever made by singer Madeline Bell – even though it was never issued to the public at the time! Madeline Bell first broke big on the UK soul scene at the end of the 60s, and also sang famously on many studio sessions too – but here, she works alongside groovemaker Alan Parker (with some help from Mike Moran), to serve up vocal versions of tunes that also appeared on the instrumental album Sound Of Soul! That record was a counterpart to this one – also issued on the Themes label – but the presence of Bell's vocals really sends things over the top, and she works at a level that makes us wish that she and Parker had made more commercial releases at the time. All tunes are nice and soulful, with plenty of funky currents – and titles include "Love Doctor", "Move & Shake Your Body", "Soul Slap", "Crumpet", "That's What Friends Are For", "Flying High", "You're A Winner", "Mr Smooth Man", and "Love Is All". LP, Vinyl record album

Dreamy electronics from Leon Lowman – a batch of tunes that were all recorded in a small Rhode Island studio at the cusp of the 80s, and which feature a fair bit of Fender Rhodes and Arp throughout! The tunes are an unusual mix of jazz and spacier modes – done in a style that's often more structured than other indie keyboard albums of this type, as Lowman brings in some great grooves at just the right moments – and makes a few of these tunes surprisingly soulful – almost a laidback small combo version of some of the more cosmic grooves that were showing up in clubs at the time. The record's got a killer remake of "Bumpin On Sunset" that's worth the price of admission alone – and other tracks are mostly originals, and include "Andrea", "Listen", "Narrow River", "Friends", "Fluorescent Funk", "Back To The Grassland", and "Liquid Diamonds". (Rock, Sound Library) LP, Vinyl record album