A really well-selected batch of tracks from the Hi Records years of the legendary Ann Peebles – one of the deepest female soul singers of the 70s! Ann was the female equivalent of Al Green for the label – their female powerhouse singer, always at the top of their roster – and always getting top-shelf help from superproducer Willie Mitchell – who makes these sides as smooth and seductive as he did for Al Green's great run of records for Hi Records! Peebles hit Hi as an artist who was already very fully-formed – thanks to early years in gospel, and work in the group of Oliver Sain – and right away, her records for the company started burning hard – and didn't stop at all until her move towards retirement at the end of the 70s. Tracks here are most of the best from those years – and include "I Can't Stand The Rain", "Walk Away", "Part Time Love", "Give Me Some Credit", "Do I Need You", "Dr Love Power", "Old Man With Young Ideas", "I Didn't Take Your Man", "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down", "Somebody's On Your Case", "Slipped Tripped & Fell In Love", and "Breaking Up Somebody's Home". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Easily our favorite album ever by Ann Peebles – not just for the beathead title track, but also because it seems to be the one record where she brings a bit something extra to the studio! The sound is certainly in the classic Hi Records mode here – thanks to production by Willie Mitchell – but there's also a deeper groove overall, a stronger burning bottom, and an all-soul sound to most tracks that goes way beyond simple cliches of southern soul. Ann's vocals are tremendous throughout – sometimes sweet, sometimes mean – and titles include the sublime "I Can't Stand The Rain", plus "Run Run Run", "One Way Street", "You Keep Me Hangin On", and "If We Can't Trust Each Other". CD

A great litle early album from Ann Peebles – rawer than most of her more familiar stuff, with a gutbuckety soul quality that really keeps things fresh! We always love Ann's work, but in these early years she has a deep soul vibe that few other singers can touch – a level that easily rivals Aretha Franklin, but has more real southern roots – and which is handled here by the Hi Records sound. Willie Mitchell produced and arranged (of course!), and the record's got some sweet backing vocals by Rhodes, Chalmers, & Rhodes – very much in a Sweet Inspirations mode, but again maybe a bit deeper too. Tracks include a funky remake of The Isleys' "It's Your Thing", plus "Solid Foundation", "Crazy About You Baby", "Give Me Some Credit", and "Generation Gap Between Us". CD

Ann Peebles sings straight from the heart on this classic early set for Hi Records – a record that's to female vocals what Al Green's work of the time meant to male soul! As with Green's Hi Records of the time, Willie Mitchell is firmly in charge of production and backings – working with that warmly glowing Memphis soul style that carved whole new territory in soul music for the 70s – a maturing and mellowing of earlier southern modes, in a way that helps Peebles hit some fresh and uncliched sounds with her vocals. At a time when so many other singers were trying to copy Aretha, Ann's approach is mighty fresh – as you'll hear on tracks that include "I Take What I Want", "Slipped Tripped & Fell In Love", "What You Laid On Me", "Trouble Heartaches & Sadness", "99 Pounds", "I've Been There Before", and "Somebody's On Your Case". CD

Ann Peebles sings straight from the heart on this classic early set for Hi Records – a record that's to female vocals what Al Green's work of the time meant to male soul! As with Green's Hi Records of the time, Willie Mitchell is firmly in charge of production and backings – working with that warmly glowing Memphis soul style that carved whole new territory in soul music for the 70s – a maturing and mellowing of earlier southern modes, in a way that helps Peebles hit some fresh and uncliched sounds with her vocals. At a time when so many other singers were trying to copy Aretha, Ann's approach is mighty fresh – as you'll hear on tracks that include "I Take What I Want", "Slipped Tripped & Fell In Love", "What You Laid On Me", "Trouble Heartaches & Sadness", "99 Pounds", "I've Been There Before", and "Somebody's On Your Case". LP, Vinyl record album

It's the mid 70s, but Ann's still very much in classic form – with thanks to arrangements and production by Willie Mitchell and backing by Andrew Love, Wayne Jackson, and James Mitchell – and sultry, soulful vocals from Ann! There's a bit more of a groove-oriented production style here than before – but it comes off very nicely, and works wonders with Ann's deeply burning vocal approach. This album stands up stronger next to it's predecessor, the great I Can't Stand The Rain album, better than we remembered – we're glad to tell that! Titles include "Come To Mama", "I Don't Lend My Man", "Love Played A Game", "Beware", "It Was Jealosy", "Doctor Love Power", and "Put Yourself In My Place" and more. CD

Ann Peebles sings straight from the heart on this classic early set for Hi Records – a record that's to female vocals what Al Green's work of the time meant to male soul! As with Green's Hi Records of the time, Willie Mitchell is firmly in charge of production and backings – working with that warmly glowing Memphis soul style that carved whole new territory in soul music for the 70s – a maturing and mellowing of earlier southern modes, in a way that helps Peebles hit some fresh and uncliched sounds with her vocals. At a time when so many other singers were trying to copy Aretha, Ann's approach is mighty fresh – as you'll hear on tracks that include "I Take What I Want", "Slipped Tripped & Fell In Love", "What You Laid On Me", "Trouble Heartaches & Sadness", "99 Pounds", "I've Been There Before", and "Somebody's On Your Case". LP, Vinyl record album

Easily our favorite album ever by Ann Peebles – not just for the beathead title track, but also because it seems to be the one record where she brings a bit something extra to the studio! The sound is certainly in the classic Hi Records mode here – thanks to production by Willie Mitchell – but there's also a deeper groove overall, a stronger burning bottom, and an all-soul sound to most tracks that goes way beyond simple cliches of southern soul. Ann's vocals are tremendous throughout – sometimes sweet, sometimes mean – and titles include the sublime "I Can't Stand The Rain", plus "Run Run Run", "One Way Street", "You Keep Me Hangin On", and "If We Can't Trust Each Other". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic Hi material from Ann Peebles! If This Is Heaven is a few years later than the much loved early 70s material, but she's still working in a killer groove – and with sweet. warm arrangements from Willie Mitchell. Ann's voice is teeming with emotion and strength, and track here highlight that vibe, but she and producer/arranger Mitchell bring in a few more dancefloor ready soul numbers, too. Titles include "You Gonna Make Me Cry", "When I'm In Your Arms", "If This Is Heaven", "I'm So Thankful","Games" and "Boy I Gotta Have You". CD

A great litle early album from Ann Peebles – rawer than most of her more familiar stuff, with a gutbuckety soul quality that really keeps things fresh! We always love Ann's work, but in these early years she has a deep soul vibe that few other singers can touch – a level that easily rivals Aretha Franklin, but has more real southern roots – and which is handled here by the Hi Records sound. Willie Mitchell produced and arranged (of course!), and the record's got some sweet backing vocals by Rhodes, Chalmers, & Rhodes – very much in a Sweet Inspirations mode, but again maybe a bit deeper too. Tracks include a funky remake of The Isleys' "It's Your Thing", plus "Solid Foundation", "Crazy About You Baby", "Give Me Some Credit", and "Generation Gap Between Us". LP, Vinyl record album

A great early single from Denise! Willie Mitchell produced "Trapped" – and the cut's got a slow vamping groove that's as great as anything Ann Peebles ever cut. Great hook, excellent vocals, and really focused early work from this excellent singer! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A wonderful record from Dorothy Moore – done at a time when the singer was not only one of the leading lights of the southern soul scene, but also maybe the heir apparent to styles that had previously been handled by giants like Aretha Franklin, Ann Peebles, or Shirley Brown! Many of the tunes here have an older origin – soul or pop songs of the 50s and 60s – but they're reworked in that hip Malaco blend of deep soul and modern soul modes – warmed up a little, but never too much – given contemporary instrumentation, but never in a way that's too commercial. Titles include "It's All In The Game", "Angel Of The Morning", "Something", "If I Could Feel That Old Feeling Again", "Crazy In Love", "Lonely", and "Talk To Me/Every Beat Of My Heart". CD

Music from Fred McDowell, Robert Nighthawk, Buster Brown, Otis Spann, Blind Willie McTell, Mississippi John Hurt, Gatemouth Brown, Phillip Walker, Johnny Copeland, Willie Cobbs, Marcia Ball, Candye Kane, Roomful Of Blues, George Thorogood, Solomon Burke, Charles Brown, Ann Peebles & more. 60 songs over four cds. CD

Gwen's biggest hit ever! "Rocking Chair" probably blared out of more AM radios during the 70s than every Dickie Goodman single combined – but it's still a great track. The flipside's a mellow soul number, and almost seems to be an answer to Ann Peebles' "I Can't Stand The Rain". 7-inch, Vinyl record

Includes selections from Bill Black Combo, Ace Cannon, Willie Mitchell, Don Bryant, Ann Peebles, Al Green, George Jackson, and Otis Clay. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes selections from Al Green, Otis Clay, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson, Erma Coffee, Hi Rhythm, and OV Wright. LP, Vinyl record album

A real lost treasure on Hi Records – one of the few albums ever cut by Don Bryant, a singer whose talents seemed to be eclipsed by the rising stars of Al Green and Ann Peebles – but who was every bit as great! Bryant's got a sound here that's still firmly in the Hi style forged by Willie Mitchell – who produces this set – but there's also some nicely rougher edges too, a sound that's almost more Stax than Hi – and which certainly features a bit of a nod to Wilson Pickett down in Muscle Shoals – not exactly funk, but with some nice grit in the grooves! The whole thing's great – and titles include "Try Me", "Cry Baby", "Funky Broadway", "Soul Man", "Land Of 1000 Dances", "She's Looking Good", and "Slip Away". LP, Vinyl record album

The Westbound debut of Denise LaSalle – and a killer bit of southern soul recorded down in Memphis with Willie Mitchell, despite the Detroit address of the label! The set is a real burner throughout – one that features mostly original material by Denise, recorded with a spare and compressed southern soul groove that's a lot more Stax Records than anything going down on Westbound at the time. Denise is in perfect form vocally, too – never overdoing things, and really presenting her lyrics with a great sense of confidence – one that matches the best power of Ann Peebles, Carla Thomas, or any other contemporaries on the Memphis scene. Tracks include the classic "Trapped By A Thing Called Love", plus "Good Goody Getter", "Keep It Coming", "Hung Up, Strung Out", and "Now Run & Tell That". LP, Vinyl record album

Think you know Hi Records? Guess again – because this sublime set of rarities has way more Memphis soul than just the work of Al Green, Ann Peebles, and Willie Mitchell! The special package features lots of lesser-known cuts from the vaults of Hi – including a fair bit of upbeat singles that showcase more of a dancefloor soul side of the legendary imprint – music that's still got a fair bit of deep soul in the vocals, but which also shows a bit more Memphis snap in the rhythms – a great mixing of modes that lies in a space that's somewhere between Northern and Southern soul standards of the time. There's a huge amount of tracks here we'd somehow missed over the years – and titles include "Stepchild" by Venice, "So Good To Me" by George Jackson, "Help Yourself" by 5 Royals, "Farmer John" by Four Kings, "Hitchhike To Heartbreak Road" by Bobo Mr Soul, "Save The Last Dance For Me" by Henry Shed, "Frankenstein Walk" by Gene Miller, "I Want To Be There" by The Four Kings, "We've Got Everything" by T 99, "Hard Luck" by Bobby McClure, "Still Around" by James Fry, and "The Way You Do The Things You Do" by Ebony Web. CD

On the TV show High Fidelity, Zoe Kravitz runs a record store that's much hipper than ours – a Brooklyn shop where all sorts of cool folks hang out together. And, as you'd expect, her choice of music is much hipper than we could ever come up with – a mix of soul and rock that includes "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Ann Peebles, "Didn't I" by Darondo, "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners, "Once I Had A Love" by Blondie (isn't that called "Heart Of Glass"?), "Fantastic Man" by William Onyeabor – all served up here with some original songs done just for the show – work by Thomas Doherty and others! LP, Vinyl record album