You might normally associate the Four Tops with Motown – and the famous quartet certainly rose to fame in Detroit – yet during the 70s, the group also moved to ABC Records, where they cut some completely sublime material too! At some level, the move might have been warranted – as the Tops never got the same sort of special handling in later years that the Temptations were getting – and it's almost as if the move to ABC really helped the group open up and sound a lot more righteous for the 70s! Production on many numbers is by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter – usually working with Steve Barri – and the sound is full and rich, but still a marvelous showcase for the lead vocals of Levi Stubbs, and the backing from the rest of the group. CD features 35 tracks in all – a fantastic introduction to these years – with titles that include "Keeper Of The Castle", "Are You Man Enough", "Am I My Brother's Keeper", "Inside A Brokenhearted Man", "Peace Of Mind", "Sweet Understanding Love", "Main Street People", "Ain't No Woman Like The One I've Got", "One Chain Don't Make No Prison", "Drive Me Out Of My Mind", "We All Gotta Stick Together", "This House", "Strung Out For Your Love", and "The Show Must Go On". CD

A seminal step forward for this legendary group – easily one of the greatest albums they ever cut! With ABC, the Jacksons are expanding their sound with the club-oriented grooves of the time – using Holland, Dozier, and Holland on many cuts, trying for a similar soaring groove as some of the trio's work on their own Invictus label. The move's actually a great one – as the maturing group has a strong adult harmony sound, the one that they would lean on more heavily during their years as The Jacksons, and which calls for much smoother arrangements than before. The record's got a surprisingly righteous, joyous sort of sound – and titles include "The Love You Save", "ABC", "One More Chance", "Never Had A Dream Come True", "I'll Bet You", "I Found That Girl", "La-La Means I Love You", "2-4-6-8", and "The You Folks". CD

The 2LP set that brought together material that was later issued on the Monk In Italy and Monk In France albums – landmark live sides from a 1961 European tour! The set features the killer 60s Monk quartet with Charlie Rouse, John Ore and Fark Dunlop. 18 tracks in all, including "Epistrophy", "Jackie-ing", "Body & Soul", "Off Minor", "Rhythm-a-ning", "Straight No Chaser", "Bemsha Swing", "Well You Needn't", and "Crepuscle With Nellie". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Ike & Tima Turner, BB King, the Crusaders, the Four Tops, the Pointer Sisters, Lamont Dozier, Nolan Porter, Bobby Bland & more. CD

A cool collection of work from the mid 50s jazz years at ABC – one put together as an introduction to the label, and which features some of the best tunes from the time! There's some mighty hip work on here – including "Night In Tunisia" by Vinnie Burke's String Jazz Quartet, "Reminiscent Blues" by Urbie Green, "Walkin" by Jackie & Roy, "Last Night When We Were Young" by Jimmy Raney, "I'm Beginning To See The Light" by Don Elliott, "Speculation" from Oscar Pettiford, "Stockholm Sweetnin" by Quincy Jones, "Quicker Blues" by Zoot Sims, and "The Peanut Vendor" by Candido. LP, Vinyl record album

A great showcase for the instrumental talents of Jamaican saxophonist Roland Alphonso – one of the key players who helped transform the sound of the scene in the 60s! But despite Roland's name on the front, the album's more of a group affair overall – directed by Boris Gardinier, and also featuring wicked rocksteady work from Lyn Taitt on guitar and Aubrey Adams on Hammond – both musicians who get almost as much time in the spotlight as Alphonso himself! Titles include a nice noisy take on the Booker T & The MGs tune "Hip Hug Her" – plus "Narata", "Pure Soul", "Wild & Free", "Little Nut Tree", "That's Life", "Sad Song", and "ABC Rocksteady". PLUS, this 2CD version has a huge number of related bonus tracks – 43 more titles, all produced by Sonia Pottinger, many of which are on CD for the first time – tracks by The Gaylads, Melodians, Ken Boothe, Patsy, Glen & Dave, The Tennors, Junior Soul, The Conquerors, Al & The Vibrators, Roland Downer & Count Ossie, The Soul Lads, Johnny & The Attractions, Dermott Lynch, and many others. CD

The complete Back Beat and ABC Records singles of the mighty OV Wright – a hell of a deep soul singer who we'd rank right up there with James Carr, Otis Redding, and other known southern greats of the late 60s! Yet OV never fully got his due, and we're not sure why – as the material on these vintage singles is stunning right from the very first track – no clunkers, no filler, no bad moves at all – just a rock-solid legacy of soul music that spans the space of a decade in this excellent collection – which includes early work on the Texas indie Back Beat, then a shift to the bigger ABC label when that company absorbed the indie into their fold. Like Bobby Blue Bland – another contemporary who made a similar label shift – Wright didn't lose anything in the transition, and continued to sound wonderful right up to his final years of recording, before his untimely early passing in 1980. The 2CD collection features 41 tracks in all – including "Can't Find True Love", "Don't Want To Sit Down", "Monkey Dog", "Why Not Give Me A Chance", "Ace Of Spades", "Afflicted", "Born All Over", "Pledging My Love", "A Nickel & A Nail", "Oh Baby Mine", "Working Your Game", "Treasured Moments", "Heartaches Heartaches", "Fed Up With The Blues", "Missing You", "This Hurt Is Real", and "What More Can I Do". CD

One of the first albums ever by this legendary jazz vocal group! LHR do the incredible – and create a set of vocal renditions of standards by the Basie band, putting jazzy lyrics in to replace the instrumental solos, but keeping the same vibe as the original tracks. The sound and approach is amazing – and it's no wonder this record made them instant legends. Titles include "Down For The Count", "Fiesta In Blue", "Blues Backstage", and "It's Sand, Man!" LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant later work by Bobby Blue Bland – done with backings that are much fuller than on his earlier albums – a mixture of strings and horns that really expand the sound! That doesn't keep things from being soulful, though – as Bobby's in incredible form vocally, really rising to the occasion of the session with some of his best vocal performances of the decade. Great throughout – and one of his few true classic sessions after the early Duke years. Titles include "Today I Started Loving You Again", "I Take It On Home", "I Hate You", "If Fingerprints Showed Up On Skin", and "Too Far Gone". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of ABC Records classics from Bobby Blue Bland – back to back on a single CD! First up is Get On Down – brilliant later work by Bobby Blue Bland – done with backings that are much fuller than on his earlier albums – a mixture of strings and horns that really expand the sound! That doesn't keep things from being soulful, though – as Bobby's in incredible form vocally, really rising to the occasion of the session with some of his best vocal performances of the decade. Great throughout – and one of his few true classic sessions after the early Duke years. Titles include "Today I Started Loving You Again", "I Take It On Home", "I Hate You", "If Fingerprints Showed Up On Skin", and "Too Far Gone". Reflections In Blue is a bit of a shift for Bobby Blue Bland – a record that picks up some slight touches of the disco generation, thanks to arrangements by Michael Omartin – but a record that, thanks to Bobby's fantastic vocals, still really stands out from the pack! The shift is a bit like the one that Johnnie Taylor was taking at the time – music that's still rooted in southern soul and blues, but which has some slight updates at a few points – but never in a way that's trying to put Bobby on the dancefloor at Studio 54! Instead, warmer keyboards, strings, and some well-crafted guitar lines are used in a few spots – while other tracks retain more of the horn-heavy arrangements that made his Duke Records material so great. Throughout it all, Bland is vocally fantastic – on titles that include "It Ain't The Real Thing", "The Soul Of A Man", "I Got The Same Old Blues", "Five Long Years", "It's All Over", and "If I Weren't A Gambler". CD

We've got to admit, we don't know much about Angelo Bond, but we've always had kind of a soft spot for this nice overlooked album of 70s soul tracks recorded for ABC. The arrangements are by McKinley Jackson and Paul Riser, and the tracks are a nice mix of 70s soul themes – with some political material and some soulful love tracks. Best cuts include "Reach For The Moon (Poor People)", "I Love You", "He Gained The World (But He Lost His Soul)", and "Man Can't Serve Two Masters". LP, Vinyl record album

Albert Brooks' famous takeoff on the Music Minus One series – and a cracker of a comedy record, too! In addition to the title gag – which even includes a script and mirror so you can be the co-star – the record also features Brooks' excellent "Another Kooky Krazy Kall", plus "Other Things", "Special Stereo Demonstration", and "Rewriting The National Anthem". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the jazziest Candido albums ever – a tight little 50s set that features the master congolero working with a small combo that includes Al Cohn on tenor, Dick Katz on piano, and Joe Puma on guitar! The sound is nice and stripped-down – bristling with a percussive approach to the grooves that really seems to inspire the soloists – especially Cohn, who's playing here with a tone that we didn't expect! The session jams along nicely throughout – and tracks include "Perdido", "Candi Bar", "Mambo Inn", "Candido's Camera", and "Indian Summer". LP, Vinyl record album

Candido's firey conga is backed by a tight jazz group conducted by Ernie Wilkins. The players include Art Farmer, Jimmy Cleveland, Hank Jones, and Ernie Royal, and although they don't get to solo much, they play nice and hard, and give Candido great support in the background. Tracks include "Lady in Red", "Warm Blue Stream", "Tin Tin Deo", "Kinda Dukish", and "Takeela". LP, Vinyl record album

Perhaps the rarest of Candidio's ABC albums, and one of the few that's just all-out Latin, with no other gimmicks, and a straight ahead hard groove! Players include Chocolate, Armando Pereza, and Patato Valdez backing up Candido's hard-hitting congas – and the record features some excellent bits of Latin jazz like "Night In Tunisia", "St. Thomas", "Now's the Time", and "Conga Jam". LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A classic! What seemed a silly idea at the time was true proof of Ray's genius, and the result was the most successful album of his career – and a bona-fide number one hit that rode the charts for years and years! Ray's voice works perfectly with the material, and thanks to soulful arrangements by Gil Fuller, Marty Paich, and Gerald Wilson, the whole thing comes off to perfection. Titles include "You Don't Know Me", "I Can't Stop Lovin You", "Careless Love", "You Win Again", and "Worried Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant work throughout – both of Ray Charles' classic country albums on a single CD package! Volume one is the stuff of legends – and what seemed a silly idea at the time was true proof of Ray's genius – the most successful album of his career and a bona-fide number one hit that rode the charts for years and years! Ray's voice works perfectly with the material, and thanks to soulful arrangements by Gil Fuller, Marty Paich, and Gerald Wilson, the whole thing comes off to perfection. Titles include "You Don't Know Me", "I Can't Stop Lovin You", "Careless Love", "You Win Again", and "Worried Mind". Volume 2 is the second installment of one of Ray's greatest albums – and a landmark in the genre of country soul! As the title implies, Ray's singing a host of tunes best known from the country side of the spectrum – but he's working here with arrangements by LA jazzers Marty Paich and Gerald Wilson, to completely re-cast the tunes into the "modern sounds" mode promised in the title. The result is wonderful – a style that gave Ray's career a whole new boost, and a genre that was a perfect foil for his rich bluesy mode of singing. Titles include "No Letter Today", "Take These Chains From My Heart", "Teardrops In My Heart", "Making Believe", and "Hang Your Head In Shame". 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". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent set that brings together 2 rare albums from the 50s! Sonny Criss At The Crossroads is an obscure 1959 session recorded by Criss in Chicago, and it's one of the only jazz records ever on the Peacock label, which put out mostly gospel and blues. Criss is joined by Joe Scott on piano, and the Chicago rhythm section of Bob Cranshaw and Walter Perkins, both fresh from the MJT+3. Great tone, warm solos, and a nice vibe throughout. Tracks include "You Don't Know", "Butts Delight", "Softly", and "Sylvia". Kenny Dorham & The Jazz Prophets is a fantastic lost hard bop album, featuring Kenny Dorham leading a tight quintet that stars J.R. Monterose on Tenor. Monterose and Dorham are great, and really open up on the 5 tracks on the album – all of which are long enough to give the players plenty of room to blow. Probably one of the best jazz records ever recorded for ABC, and with the titles "The Prophet", "DX", "Tahitian Suite", and "Blues Elegante". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Apart from the title's terrible pun on the Glenn Campbell hit of the mid 70s, this album's a real treat – a very soulful batch of smooth funky jazz tunes by The Crusaders, who by this point have fully emerged to claim the throne of the pop soul jazz genre they virtually invented. The record's got razor-sharp production, which you'll hear perfectly in the album's jazz stepping hit "Keep That Same Old Feeling", one of the best tunes ever to come from the pen of Wayne Henderson, and a track that he recorded endlessly with other groups. Other tracks include "Feeling Funky", "Spiral", and "Til The Sun Shines". LP, Vinyl record album