VARIOUS ARTISTS: Best Of Five Years (Label: Vinyl Masterpiece)
’80s soul compilations don’t get much better than this. This new 28-track/2-CD set from Holland’s Vinyl Masterpiece label – subtitled ‘From Rare Grooves To ’80s Disco Funk Classics’ – has been compiled to celebrate...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Mirage Records Soul & Funk Collections Vols 2 & 3 (Label: Funky Town Grooves)
Mirage Records was founded in 1980 by Jerry Greenberg, a hot shot record company executive who’d made his name as a significant mover and shaker at Atlantic Records in the ’70s. Greenberg didn’t totally...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: GWP-MTC-TLC VOLUME 2 (Label: Kent)
The title of this compilation is more than a tad obscure, perhaps – at least for the uninitiated – but for soul music fans that know their stuff and like R&B esoterica, the letters...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Divas Of Motown (Label: Universal)
Released as part of the ongoing celebrations of Motown’s 50th anniversary – and to coincide with the imminent UK ‘Divas Of Motown’ tour starring Chris Clark, Brenda Holloway, Mable John, Thelma Houston, and erstwhile...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: An All-Star Tribute to Maze Featuring Frankie Beverly (Label: Brantera Music Group)
Tribute albums can sometimes be naff and cheesy affairs but this one really hits the spot. Its intentions, of course, are laudable – after all, Maze, in the eyes and ears of many soul...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 11B: 1971’ (Label: Hip-O Select)
In terms of singles releases, 1971 was a bumper year for Berry Gordy’s Detroit-based Motown company – so much so that the year had to be divided into two 5-CD volumes for Hip-O Select’s...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘Leon Ware & Friends’ (Label: Expansion)
Leon Ware needs no introduction to dedicated, well-read, soul aficionados who know their subject like the backs of their hands. As a songwriter the prolific tunesmith from Black Bottom, Detroit, has written for the...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘Mirage Records Soul & Funk Collection Volume One’ (Label: Funky Town Groooves)
Mirage Records was born in the summer of 1980 and was the brainchild of Jerry Greenberg, a high flying music executive who started his career as a drummer at the beginning of the 1960s...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘The Complete Motown Singles Volume 11A: 1971’ (Label: Hip-O Select)
In 1971 changes were afoot at Motown. The label’s supremo Berry Gordy – ambitious and upwardly mobile as ever – set the wheels in motion for his company’s relocation from its birthplace in industrial...