VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘Soul Ecstasy’ (Label: Expansion)
This new 16-track collection from compiler Ralph Tee certainly lives up to its title. It’s a really fabulous compendium of late-’70s and early-’80s dance floor soul tunes that will evoke plenty of happy memories...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘Mighty Super Funk Volume 6’ (Label: BGP)
The somewhat uninspired and visually-challenging front cover to this and, I have to confess, all the previous volumes in compiler Dean Rudland’s ‘Super Funk’ series don’t exactly invite investigation from casual browsers – but...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘Masterpiece 7’ (Label: PTG Records, Vinyl Masterpiece )
Here’s a very enjoyable nostalgic musical trip down memory lane that will appeal to ’80s soul fans. The previous six installments of this compilation series from the excellent Dutch-based reissue label, Vinyl Masterpiece, have...
Various Artists: ‘A Complete Introduction To Northern Soul’ (Label: Universal)
As myth has it, Northern Soul began life as two simple words scrawled on a cardboard box of 45s by record shop co-proprietor Dave Godin during the late ’60s. Godin’s words aimed to describe...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘The Godfather’s R&B’ (Label: BGP)
In 1967, ‘The Godfather of Soul,’ James Brown, hit the funk mother lode with a vengeance when he released a 45 called ‘Cold Sweat.’ It was a song that was revolutionary in terms of...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘The Complete Motown Singles Volume 10: 1970’ (Label: Hip-O Select)
Although it was the year that rock and pop fans mourned the demise of Liverpool’s Fab Four as well as the tragically premature deaths of Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, 1970 was also a...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘The Jerry Ragovoy Story: Time Is On My Side 1953-2003’ (Label: Kent)
“I was like Hitler when it came to vocals.” Those are the recent words of 73-year-old Jerry Ragovoy – a self-confessed perfectionist and despot in the studio – for the liner notes to this...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Blame It On The Dogg: The Swamp Dogg Anthology 1968-1978 (Label: Kent)
To describe Jerry ‘Swamp Dogg’ Williams as one of soul music’s true mavericks is something of an understatement – in a career that stretches back to the 1950s when he modelled himself on rock...
VARIOUS ARTISTS: ‘Atlantic Soul 1959-1975’ (Label: Rhino Handmade)
This new, utterly fantastic, 82-track 4-CD box set (which is housed in an eye-catching sepia-tone 12-inch LP-style package) is a must-have for soul collectors. It’s imaginatively compiled by singer-turned-soul historian, Billy Vera, whose insightful...
