Browsing Category

Reviews

ARCHIE BELL and the DRELLS: The Albums 1968-79 (Robin Songs)

Despite having enjoyed 20 major US hit singles (and 5 in the UK), Texan stalwarts Archie Bell and the Drells have never been considered a major league soul group. Maybe this wonderful new compilation...

JOHN ELLISON: Some Kind OF Wonderful (Music On Vinyl/PopMi Music)

Most soul collectors have a soft spot for cult, soul hero JOHN ELLISON. Their affection is based on his timeless 1967 smash hit  ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ which he recorded way back in 1967...

BELLA BROWN AND THE JEALOUS LOVERS; Soul Clap (LRK Records)

Over the past 18 months or so modern day funkateers, BELLA BROWN AND THE JEALOUS LOVERS have made quite a name for themselves. From out of nowhere  it seems Bella (real name Carol Hatchett)...

VARIOUS: Luxury Soul 2024 (Expansion)

Grey, cold and pretty miserable – we’re well into 2024 and the year-heralding soul fest that is the Blackpool Luxury Soul Weekender has come and gone. The music, however, lives on! The event’s accompanying...

CALVIN ARNOLD: Funky Way (Kent)

The first soul release of 2024 from Ace/Kent features some in-demand funk from Southern soul man Calvin Arnold. Not that well-known in the mainstream, Southern soul collector, though, might know a little something about...

KEYON HARROLD; Foreverland (Concord Jazz)

Keyon Harrold is an acclaimed jazz trumpeter who hails from Ferguson, Missouri. The son of pastors, he decamped to New York to study jazz trumpet at The Mannes Conservatory and he was soon working...

PHINEAS NEWBORN, JR: ‘A World Of Piano!’ (Craft Recordings/Contemporary)

Despite being one of the most technically accomplished pianists to grace the jazz world, the prodigiously talented Phineas Newborn never became a household name. Great things had been predicted for him when he burst...

THE DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET: ‘Jazz At Oberlin’ (Craft Recordings/Original Jazz Classics)

This groundbreaking jazz group are best remembered for their iconic album, Time Out, recorded for Columbia in 1959, which produced that rare phenomenon in jazz, a hit single in the shape of ‘Take Five,’...

ARETHA FRANKLIN: ARETHA FRANKLIN, A PORTRAIT OF THE QUEEN 1970-1974. (BMG)

Since Aretha’s sad passing in 2018 there haven’t been that many retrospective/ greatest hits packages to (for want of a better phrase) “cash in” on the tragic news. Rhino released a 4 CD/81 track...