The sensuous soul gem from Barbara Mason – a sweetly soulful groover all the way – and one of her strongest records! Give Me Your Love gets our love for a bunch of reasons, but especially for the title track – which is reworking of Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love" – which is arranged by Curtis himself. Vince Montana does most of the other arrangements, and you can see traces of Barbara's move into clubland later in the decade – but this one's more about lush, deeply soulful sounds. Leon Huff is on piano and keys, the tunes have incredible backing vocals with Barbara Ingram, Bunny Sigler, Kenny Gamble and others in the chorus – but this is Barbara's show all the way – emoting soulful magic out front! Titles include "Let Me In Your Life", "Bed and Board", "Who Will You Hurt Next", and "You Can Be With the One You Don't Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Barbara wrote both sides of this early single she cut for the Arctic subsidiary of Jamie/Josie. "Sad, Sad Girl" is the best track, and has a beautiful set of uptown arrangements that perfectly highlight Barbara's little girl soul voice. Nice hook, too! 7-inch, Vinyl record

New work from a revived version of Blue Magic – that legendary 70s group who were one of the best on the Philly scene of the time – still sounding great here in a more contemporary set! The album's headed up by producer Butch Ingram – with backing by the whole Ingram Family – and like some of the recent Ingram projects on Society Hill, the record does a great job of both going back into deep Philly soul roots, and adding a few slight contemporary touches – never too many to ruin the old school modes, but just the right dash to keep the record from sounding like a copycat of the old days. Tunes include new material penned by the Ingrams and Barbara Mason – and titles include "I Can Show You Love", "I Can Want You", "I've Got My Heart Set On You", "Hurting", "Your Spell Stayed On My Mind", "On A Crowded Street", and "Seasons For Love". CD

A nice little entry in the "Woman to Woman" answer song series – which was started a few years earlier by Barbara Mason and Shirley Brown. Lonnie pretends he's the man, listening in on the "Woman To Woman" conversation, and thinking about how bad an earner his woman is! The flipside's an instrumental, with Lonnie's sax in the lead. 7-inch, Vinyl record

A nice little set that delivers exactly what's promised in the title – sweet soul music from back in the day, plus a few tracks from the contemporary Philly scene! The cuts here nicely move between styles – many are the warm harmony cuts that were the calling card of Philly and New Jersey at the start of the 70s – and the rhythms here move from completely mellow to midtempo – that shift in harmony soul towards the club that was so influential from some of these artists at the time. Tracks include "Me & My Gemini" by First Class, "Carla My Love" by Softones, "Together" by Tony Strong & The Philly Soul, "Babies Having Babies" by Terry Tate, "Sure Thing" by New Birth, "Hypnotized" by Linda Jones, "My Ebony Princess" by Jimmy Briscoe & The Little Beavers, "Special Lady" by Ray Goodman & Brown, "Natural High" by Captain Sky, "Reunited" by Johnny Ingram with Sherena Khan, "You Know How To Make Me Feel So Good" by Glenn Leonard with Jean Carne, "Didn't Anyone Ever Tell You I Love You" by Philly Devotions, "Yes I'm Ready" by Barbara Mason, "A Lover's Stand" by Norma Jenkins & The Dolls, and "Your Love Is So Doggone Good" by The Whispers. CD

Christmas Soul from the great Patti Labelle – a CD that brings together her first full Christmas album, plus a number of bonus singles – making for a nicely stuffed 16 track collection! These early 60s sides have a sweet, warm, innocent sound that's completely wonderful – a soulful girl group take on the sound of the season, handled with instrumentation that's light and playful, yet never too kitschy to get in the way of the group's soulful vocals. Patti sounds wonderful on these tunes, with a quality that reminds us a bit of Barbara Mason in her earlier years – and titles include "White Christmas", "Blue Christmas", "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve", "The First Noel", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Silent Night", "You'll Never Walk Alone", "Auld Lang Syne", and "Little Town Of Bethlehem". CD

Dancefloor soul, club funk and thumping grooves from the post disco 80s – selected by Karsten Grossmann, aka Kalle Kuts, and Daniel W Best as GI Disco – benchmark US grooves that made waves in West Germany in the cold war 80s! The post disco, boogie, and cosmic groovers of stateside soul scenes was brought in to the clubs for GIs stationed in West Berlin and other parts of Western Germany, as well as being played on the Armed Forces Network radio, enough to mightily influence the club scenes of West Berlin, Munich and other cities. This great compilation for BBE provides a solid snapshot of time and place, but more than that, it's great little set of club friendly jams from the electronic embellished 80s soul scene – with tracks by Timex Social Club, Barbara Mason, Fonda Rae, BB & Q Band and more. 12 tracks on the CD version: "Rumours" by Timex Social Club, "IOU" by Freez, "Another Man" by Barbara Mason, "Spend The Night" by The Cool Notes, "Touch Me" by Wish feat Fonda Rae, "Money's Too Tight To Mention" by Valentine Brothers, "100%" by Caprice and "Riccochet" by BB & Q Band, "Put Our Heads Together" by The O' Jays, "Falling In Love" by Surface and more. CD

A great collection of rare mellow soul from back in the day – the kind of sweet soul tracks that broke big on the Philly and New Jersey scenes at the start of the 70s – including a number of gems from the Stang/All-Platinum family of labels! Most tunes are nice and laidback, although a few pick up the pace to mellow midtempo – and the set is filled with the kind of cuts that first had us falling in love with mellow soul many years back – when we started to realize that soul music wasn't just about funk! Titles include "Pretty Pretty" by The Joneses, "Million Dollars" by Soul Generation, "Blind Baby" by New Birth, "Three Minutes To Hey Girl" by George Kerr, "Hypnotized" by Linda Jones, "Gloria" by Enchantment, "Cause I Love You" by Lenny Williams, "Look Over Your Shoulder" by The Escorts, "Yes I'm Ready" by Barbara Mason, "Carla My Love" by The Softones, "A Lover's Stand" by Norma Jenkins & The Dolls, "Bound" by Ponderosa Twins Plus One, "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow" by The O'Jays, and "Me & My Gemini" by First Class. CD

A much-needed look at songwriter Chip Taylor – best-remembered for penning the Troggs' classic "Wild Thing", but the man behind some other wonderful work of the 60s as well! As you'll hear in this wonderfully-collected set, Taylor's tunes found plenty of welcome ears in both the rock and soul sides of the music spectrum – no surprise, as his songs often have a timeless, personal quality that we'd rank right up there with the work of Jimmy Webb – although most of Chip's compositions are often a bit more playful as well! As with others in the "songwriter" series from Ace, this volume presents the material with rich track-by-track notes, label scans, and vintage photos – a very detailed look at Taylor's tunes, with titles that include "I Can't Let Go" by Evie Sands, "Country Girl City Man" by Billy Vera & Judy Clay, "Sneakin Up On You" by Peggy Lee, "Picture Me Gone" by Madeline Bell, "Is That You" by Arthur & Mary, "Welcome Home" by Walter Jackson, "Son Of A Rotten Gambler" by The Hollies, "Wake Up John" by Little Eva, "Tommy" by Reparata & The Delrons, "My Johnny Doesn't Come Around Any More" by Debbie Rollins, "His True Love For You" by Al McCarther, "Make Me Belong To You" by Barbara Lewis, "Any Way That You Want Me" by Tina Mason, "Try Just A Little Bit Harder" by Lorraine Ellison, and "I Want The Real Thing" by Chip Taylor himself. CD