A key chapter in the soul career of Dusty Springfield – and an album that has her recording at the ABC studios in LA, with full, rich production from Dennis Lambert, Brian Potter, and Steve Barri! The sound here is a bit like that used on some of the best ABC soul albums of the time – although perhaps a bit more laidback and flowery, in keeping with the style of Dusty's vocals. Michael Omartin handled most of the arrangements for the album, and also plays some sweet keyboards on the set – and tunes include a number of surprising soul tracks, sung nicely by Dusty. Titles include "Easy Evil", "Who Gets Your Love", "Breakin Up A Happy Home", "Of All The Things", "Learn To Say Goodbye", and "I Just Wanna Be There". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful chapter in the career of Ray Charles – and a key album in helping raise his respect level a notch or two in the early 60s! We might argue with the mathematics in the title – or at least joke that Ray was using equations as titles years before Anthony Braxton – but you can't contest the fact that this one's a classic treat, and a legendary attempt to class up Ray's bluesy style for the masses. Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns handled the arrangements, and given that the record was issued by ABC a few years before they brought Ray into a country mode, it's interesting to think what might have happened had his career continued this way. There's only a small number of vocal tracks on the record, and most of the rest feature Ray at the organ, grooving away very nicely! Titles include "One Mint Julep", "Moanin", "I've Got News For You", "Mister C", and "Stompin Room Only". CD adds 3 bonus tracks from the album Genius Hits The Road. (Soul, Vocalists) CD

A classic album of soul duets – and one of the deeper records cut by Betty during the 60s! The arrangements are by the great Marty Paich, and although there's some singers in the background, the overall sound is still pretty nice and soulful. Betty's high voice works well with Ray's raspy low one – especially on their classic duet version of "Baby, It's Cold Outside". Other tracks include "For All We Know", "Every Time We Say Goodbye", "Side By Side", and "You & I". (Soul, Vocalists) CD

A dozen tracks from Lena Horne, Carmen McRae, and Della Reese. CD