Soul — Recently Added

What can we say? This is one of the greatest soul soundtracks ever! In a market that was dominated by the big-selling Shaft and Superfly albums, Roy slipped in this masterful blend of jazzy vibes and wah wah funk that's easily one of the best-composed records of the blacksploitation genre! The ... LP, Vinyl record album

A masterpiece of sweet group soul! This was the first secular record cut by The Voices Of East Harlem – a group who'd had an earlier gospel-tinged album on Elektra, but who are soaring out here in a brilliant mix of righteous mainstream soul styles – courtesy of the Curtom power team ... LP, Vinyl record album

Garrett Shider's lost none of his charm over the years – and although contemporary, the set's got the same sharp crackle he first delivered back in the day, when working as part of George Clinton's P-Funk empire! Shider sings and plays lots of tightly-riffing guitar – in a nicely spare ... LP, Vinyl record album

Rarer-than-rare tracks from the glory days of the Northern Soul scene – a set that features some tracks that weren't originally issued on 7" singles, and others that circulated amongst DJs with fake labels on the wax! Yet the rarity isn't the main appeal here, it's the music – ... LP, Vinyl record album

An massive tribute to the genius of Leon Ware – a figure who was as important to the sound of Motown in the 70s as Marvin Gaye – and a singer, producer, and songwriter whose talents touched the careers of countless others in the decade too! Ware had an undeniably mature, sensual style ... CD

Amazing work from The Voices Of East Harlem – a group with roots in gospel, but working here in a wonderfully soaring secular soul style – complete with arrangements and production from the legendary Leroy Hutson! The style here is similar to some of Leroy's best work, and that of his ... LP, Vinyl record album

There weren't many vocal albums on the Mainstream label during the early 70s, and this rare soul side is a real overlooked gem! Alice Clark has a rich soulful voice, with a style that sounds a bit like Esther Marrow, mixed with some of the lead vocalists in Voices Of East Harlem – a really ... CD

A really really amazing package – the full story of the early years of Syl Johnson – one of the funkiest soul singers to ever come from Chicago! Syl's music has become the stuff of legend over the years – initially collected in rare funky 45s and two even rarer albums – ... LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic mellow soul from Tyrone Davis – a great reminder that his vocals were still some of the burningest in 70s soul – sounding especially great in a record like this! Side one of the album's especially great – an all-mellow side that almost acts like some mini-suite of love ... CD

The first album by The Tom Tom Club – a group that started out as a side project by Talking Heads members Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz – but which went onto have a surprising life of its own! Like the Talking Heads at the start of the 80s, Tom Tom Club were very open to pulling ... LP, Vinyl record album

Early 80s underground soul from Dwight Sykes and his Jahari Band – a combo that played in and around the Kalamazoo scene, but never broke big at all on a national level! There's a surprisingly tight quality to the cuts here – as Dwight works with a female vocal trio on some numbers, ... CD

A set that does a great job of opening up the early years of this wonderful soul singer – a collection that not only features Ben E King's initial solo classics, but also his incredible lead work with The Drifters – plus a pair of rare duets with Atlantic Records' R&B powerhouse ... CD

Too young to have caught a 70s funk band in the clubs? Here's the solution – a rare performance by a cool combo from Tulsa – captured live in a very hip club setting! The mode here is different than sounds experienced on a funky 45 – as the tracks are open, long, and have a ... LP, Vinyl record album

Sho nuff grooves from the great Harvey Mason – a jazz drummer at heart, but one whose talents also exploded into the realm of funk and soul in the second half of the 70s! Mason was part of a big generation of jazzmen who moved into soul – drummers like Billy Cobham and Norman Connors, ... CD

A really really amazing package – the full story of the early years of Syl Johnson – one of the funkiest soul singers to ever come from Chicago! Syl's music has become the stuff of legend over the years – initially collected in rare funky 45s and two even rarer albums – ... CD

Maybe the best of their mid 70s records for RCA, in a similar style tp a lot of other East Coast groups from the time who had bigger hits and more mainstream popularity, even if few of their peers were truly as wonderful as the mighty Choice Four! On Top Of Clear is a close to perfect mix of ... CD

Seminal modern soul from the great Leon Ware – an artist who had a great influence on the sound of mellow Motown in the 70s, but who's sounding even better here in an early 80s California groove! Leon's smooth, sophisticated, and very much his own man on the set – unabashedly upfront ... LP, Vinyl record album

An obscure disco trio from the Miami soul scene of the 70s – working here in a way that's maybe like a deep soul take on some of the Philly female trios of the same time! The strings are soaring and the grooves are tight – but there's maybe a richer vocal approach from the group than ... CD

Nicely priced US reissue of this classic! This was Curtis Mayfield's first solo album after leaving the Impressions, and it's a firey album of political soul that shows just how much he was holding back when he was with the group. The tracks are longer, angrier, more experimental, and a lot more ... LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album that is perhaps the single most influential beat source in hip hop! The record was the brainchild of bongo player Michael Viner – who also happened to be running the Pride subsidiary of MGM at the time. Viner's got a meeeeeean touch on the bongo, hitting it hard and funky ... LP, Vinyl record album

Imagination look like a trio of sci-fi centurions on the cover of the set – but the sound within is nicely down to earth, and of the sort that always made the group one of the leading lights in early 80s mainstream soul! The general groove here is mostly in a catchy midtempo mode – ... CD

Definitely something nice from the great Roy C – one of the overlooked soul singer's great 70s albums for Mercury – all of which are ripe for rediscovery by a younger generation! This one's slightly different than the rest, in that the album was recorded at the Dynamic Studios in ... CD

Aretha Arrives in great style – and a mixture between her earlier vocal jazz years at Columbia, and her later southern soul sides of the 60s! Arif Mardin is already arranging Aretha's work at this point, and the backing group includes southern soul studio giants like Spooner Oldham, Tommy ... LP, Vinyl record album

Rare funk from the Indy scene of the early 70s – the long-overdue release of material recorded by a really hard-jamming, horn-heavy combo! Amnesty have a sound that's awash in the best large group influences of the time – a bit of Earth Wind & Fire, a bit of Parliament/Funkadelic, ... LP, Vinyl record album

The Isley Brothers and Santana team up for a sorta raw, pretty powerful joint effort – honestly, we weren't expecting a triumph here, a victory lap for both parties would be solid enough – but Power Of Peace is surprisingly solid! The Isley Brothers on board are Ronald and Ernie, and ... LP, Vinyl record album

Unissued material from Maryland soul legend George Smallwood – an artist most folks know only from his few late 70s tracks that were issued, but clearly a singer who's kept on going strong over the years! These tracks were all recorded by George on a government-issued tape recorder he ... LP, Vinyl record album

The female pop soul trio was alive and well in the 80s – morphed strongly from its 60s girl group roots and 70s disco chorus mode – to the point where a group like Expose was perfectly poised to take over the top of the charts! That catchy, poppy style is very firmly in place here ... CD

A Chicago group who never hit the big time during their short run at the start of the 80s – but one who definitely know how to groove! There's a vibe here that really lives up to the "togetherness" in the group's name – a way of coming together with a tight, sharp sound ... LP, Vinyl record album

A great overview of the work of Levert – the trio who helped find a whole new range for male group expression in the 80s – while also providing the launching pad for the solo career of Gerald Levert as well! Both sides of that legacy are showcased here – in a set of tracks that ... CD

One of the greatest female soul groups of all time – served up here in a career-spanning anthology that finally gets at the full range of their talents! The tracks here start in the trio's early years on Stax Records, move through their sublime 70s hitmaking years at Columbia, with lots of ... CD