A classic! "Mr Big Stuff" is Jean's enduring classic – a tight little groover with a hip feminist message, sampled by Schoolly D and others over the years, but equally wonderful on its own! 7-inch, Vinyl record

A baker's dozen of Stax's biggest hits: "Theme From Shaft" and "I Stand Accused" by Isaac Hayes, "Respect Yourself" and "You're gonna Make Me Cry" by the Staple Singers, "In The Rain" by the Dramatics, "Show Me How" by the Emotions, "Bring It On Home" and "California Girl" by Eddie Floyd, "Melting Pot" by Booker T & The MGs, "Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone" by Johnnie Taylor, "Hearsay" by the Soul Children,"I've Fallen In Love With You" by Carla Thomas and "Mr Big Stuff" by Jean Knight. LP, Vinyl record album

Smoking soul from 60s Texas – a tremendous amount of rare tunes from obscure little singles – pulled together to showcase the Lonestar State as a musical powerhouse to rival Motown, Philly, or the Windy City! The tracks here are all from various labels headed by the legendary Huey P Meux – and unlike other Texas work you may know from the time, lots of these numbers are bubbling over with the kind of soul elements you'd normally hear from east coast indie work of the time – and in that way, are almost like some of the other 60s material cut by southern transplants on the LA scene of the time – familiar, but a little offbeat too – with odd little twists and turns that really keep things interesting, and which make the package a really fresh musical discovery. There's some nice deep soul elements at times, particularly on the mellower cuts – and titles include "Go Go Train" by Jackie Paine, "That Is Why The End Must Begin" by Joe Masters, "Irene" by Rockin Dave Allen, "Time" by Charles Barry, "Get To Gitten" by Big Walter, "Doggin Around" by Jean Knight, "Friends In Show Business" by Joe Melvin, "Neighbor Neighbor" by Alton Valier, "You'll Lose A Good Thing (demo)" by Barbara Lynn, "Let Them Talk" by Johnny Adams, "If You're Looking For A Fool" by David King Thomas, and "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" by Margo White. CD

The great state of Texas turned out plenty of soul records in the 60s – and some of the best of them came from the hands of Huey P Meux – the legendary talent who's responsible for all the work on this set! Huey was also known as the Crazy Cajun – also the name of a label on which some of these cuts appeared – and his work shares a bit of the deeper, swampier sounds you might expect from Louisiana soul of the time, mixed with the rich bluesy currents that Texas had been turning out since the postwar years! The result is some stellar music that never fully got its due back in the day – tracks that maybe had a bit of regional fame, but never hit as big as sounds from Memphis or Muscle Shoals, which makes this collection such a great discovery – rare tracks by Texas artists, and other talents who were pulled down near the Houston scene for these recordings – all presented in a set of well-chosen tracks with some mighty nice notes. Titles include "Too Good To Be True" by The Traits, "Half A Man" by Charles Berry, "The Bad Times Make The Good Times" by Warren Storm, "T'Ain't It The Truth" by Jean Knight, "Strange Love" by Eugene Gamble, "All About Love" by Big Sam, "I'm Losing You" by Henry Moore, "Total Disaster" by Lee Maye, "At Your Wedding" by Jackie Paine, "You're Losing Me" by Jo Jo Benson, "Spunky Onions" by Johnny Adams, and "The Pleasures Of My Woman" by Rocky Gil & The Bishops. CD

A set that's overflowing with greatness from the legendary Stax Records – a set that features both early material later owned by Atlantic, as well as later hits from the Fantasy empire – making for a package that truly runs the scope of the legendary label, and which features 20 of their biggest hits. Titles include Sam & Dave "Hold On, I'm Coming", The Staple Singers "Respect Yourself" and "I'll Take You There", Carla Thomas "B-A-B-Y", Shirley Brown "Woman To Woman", The Soul Children "I'll Be The Other Woman", Eddie Floyd "Knock On Wood", Johnnie Taylor "Cheaper To Keep Her" and "Who's Making Love", Little Milton "That's What Love Will Make You Do", William Bell "I Forgot To Be Your Lover", Jean Knight "Mr Big Stuff", Booker T & The MGs "Green onions", Rufus Thomas "(Do The) Push & Pull", Mel & Tim "Starting All Over Again", the Dramatics "In The Rain", the Emotions "So I Can Love You", Otis Redding "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", Frederick Knight "I've Been Lonely" and Isaac Hayes "Theme From Shaft". CD