Includes bonus disc of other Specialty artists. CD

A beautiful collection of work by funky soul diva Spanky Wilson – a set that features her full Westbound album Specialty Of The House, plus a nice array of even harder-hitting singles! Spanky first rose to fame as a gritty singer mixing jazz and soul on a series of late 60s/early 70s sides with HB Barnum, but during her Westbound years she cleaned things up a bit – taking her already-rich vocals, and turning them towards fuller backings and more soaring soul that almost hit the heights of soul singers like Marlena Shaw or Motown artists of the time. Backings penned by David Van DePitte, Paul Riser, and others gave Wilson a nicely mature sound that was a good change from her aging style of previous years – but other singles still maintained a grittier, funkier groove too – allowing for a nice range of modes during these short years at Westbound Records. This CD's the first to give full due to these overlooked years in Spanky's career – and it breaks up the core album and intersperses some of the funkier singles, plus unreleased tracks – in a blend that sounds even better than the original records! 18 tracks in all – including the break classic "Kissing My Love", plus "Shake Your Head", "Non Stop Flight", "He Called Me Baby", "Easy Lover", "Spend The Night With Me", "Missing Pieces", "I Think I'm Gonna Cry", "Standing Room Only", "Love Song", "The Downer I Get", and "I'll Stake My Life On You Boy". CD

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Features "Short Fat Fannie", "Baby's Crazy", "Dizzy Miss Lizzie", "Lawdy Miss Clawdy", "Slow Down" and more – 22 tracks in all. CD

Wonderful early work from the great Jesse Belvin – one of the key singers on the way to soul, heard here in some great recordings before his smoother sounds for RCA! CD

Beautiful blues from Guitar Slim – west coast material from the mid-50s, recorded with some very hip backings! Slim's got a lean, mean edge – a style that's a bit similar to Johnny Watson in his early years, touched with some of the class of the R&B scene that was bubbling up in the late 40s in LA! The added instrumentation really makes the tracks great – not just the usual blues, but a more sophisticated mode with some nicely jazzy undercurrents. The set's very well put-together too – 26 tracks in all, with titles that include "Going Down Slow", "The Things That I Used To Do", "Well I Done Got Over It", "Twenty Five Lies", "Stand By Me", "Sufferin Mind", "You're Gonna Miss Me", "I Got Sumpin For You", "Story Of My Life", and "Our Only Child". CD

Titles include "Stange Things Happening", "Cry Baby", "Advice (For Men Only)", "Hunt Is On", "Louisiana", "Loose Lips" and "Get Way Back" – 25 tracks total. CD

Includes 25 tracks. CD

One of the coolest doo wop duos from the 50s – a pair of singers who arguably paved the way for countless male soul duets in the 60s, given their dynamic energy! Titles include "Jungle Hop", "Pink Champagne", "The Letter", "Mammer Jammer", "Koko Joe", and "Justine". CD

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A really classic session – one that features an all-star lineup of players who were in the Dizzy Gillespie band of the mid 50s – stepping out here in a smaller group on their own for a one-off date on the Specialty Records label! Specialty normally recorded R&B at the time, but they knock it out of the park with this one – really letting the players stretch out with lots of soulful energy – in a lineup that includes the young Lee Morgan on trumpet, Al Grey on trombone, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul West on bass, and Charlie Persip on drums – plus the fantastic Billy Root on baritone – a really great player who only recorded a bit back in the day! Arrangements are nice and hip – done by Benny Golson and Roger Spotts – and titles include "About Time", "DDT", "Whisper Not", and the very long "Dishwater" – a nice uptempo workout, Dizzy style! CD

A double-length set – overflowing with Little Richard classics from his early years on Specialty Records! Titles include "Hey Hey Hey Hey", "Baby Face", "Send Me Some Lovin", "Ready Teddy", "Slippin & Slidin", "The Girl Can't Help It", "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Long Tall Sally", "Rip It Up", "Lucille", and "Miss Ann". CD

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Not the all-out chaos you might expect from the title, but a hell of a great 50s session from trombonist Frank Rosolino – produced by a young David Axelrod, and possibly one of Frank's greatest albums of the time! The group's got a bit more bite and a lot more soul than some of Rosolino's other combos – thanks in part to smoking tenor from Harold Land, who's at the height of his young powers here – and from tight rhythms by Victor Feldman on piano, Leroy Vinnegar on bass, and Stan Levey on drums! But Axelrod's clearly part of the sound here, too – as the bass feels way more up in the mix than usual for a date of this vintage – making for a pulse that gets things moving, even when mellow – a real delight to our ears so many years later. Titles include "Chrisdee", "Love For Sale", "Twilight", "Free For All", and "Sneakyoso". CD features 3 bonus alternate takes, too! CD

A great little record – way more than just a simple jazz version of a soundtrack! True, the Wiggins trio is working here with material from Victor Young's score to Around The World In 80 Days – but Gerald really opens all the tracks up on the piano, so much so that we can hardly recognize most numbers – thanks to the Wiggins touch on the keys, and to some fiery work on rhythm by drummer Bill Douglass and bassist Eugene Wright. Possibly David Axelrod's production helped in hitting the sound of the set (the session was one of his first!) – but whatever the case, the album's a great one, and features the tunes "La Coquette", "Around The World Beguine", "Aouda", "Passepartout", and "Way Out West". CD

The second half of the Ebb Records Story – featuring late 50s work from this groundbreaking LA label! The focus here is on R&B and bluesy material – and the style is thrown pretty far, from urban blues to rootsier work – and there's a total of 29 tracks, with titles that include "What Is Life" by Floyd Dixon, "Chicken Baby Chicken" by Tony Harris, "No Buts No Maybes" by Professor Longhair, "Cha Cha Cha" by Jerry Hawkins, "She's My Witch" by Kip Tyler, "Don't You Know" by Tony Allen, "Come Back" by Tony Allen, and "When The Deal Go Down" by Ray Agee. CD

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A fantastic entry in this long running series – a batch of compilations that normally focuses on rare disco grooves, but which also features a fair bit of funky soul nuggets this time around! The groove is still mostly uptempo, but with all these wonderfully weird, wild funky elements in the mix too – not gimmicky tracks, but the kind of unusually-crafted cuts that are quite far from the mainstream – and which show that there were often some really amazing things happening in the farther reaches of the soul music underground at the end of the 70s! Plus, most of these cuts are impossibly rare – so much so that many are reaching our ears for the first time, via this excellent compilation – in a list of tracks that includes "Specialty Item" by MVP Cloudburst, "Give Me Love" by EKG, "Disco 2000" by Pleze, "Flashback" by Jeff Burns, "Dance Your Blues (part 2)" by Spellboun, "Forget Yourself" by Body Heat, "Say Raise Your Hand & Say McNasty" by McNasty, "Reflex" by Reflections, "Reaching For Our Star" by Sharon Revoal, "Space Ghost (parts 1 & 2)" by Jackson Lee, "Spend Some Time With Me" by Rideout, "Move On" by Frederick, "I'm Into Your Love" by Executive Jam, "Seeking" by Cash Money, "Give It Up" by Horizon, and "Twilight" by Firewater. CD