ACE SOUL…

doris

Premier reissue specialists, ACE, kick of their 2011 campaign in fine style with a pair of wonderful single artist sets and a fabulous compilation. The compilation – ‘Sweet Inspiration’ – features the songs of DAN PENN and SPOONER OLDHAM and includes material from PERCY SLEDGE, DIONNE WARWICK, ETTA JAMES, THE OVATIONS, SOLOMON BURKE, ARTHUR ALEXANDER, JAMES CARR and the SWEET INSPIRATIONS who provide the LP’s title cut.

The single artists’ sets are retrospectives on two sadly neglected soul super stars – DORIS TROY and SWAMP DOGG. The DORIS TROY set – ‘I’ll Do Anything’ – is the first ever proper, career-spanning anthology on DORIS and includes all her best Atlantic material alongside rare stuff from labels like Calla and Everest. The Ace people have also managed to secure rights to some of the lady’s Apple recordings along with ‘Hear Me Calling’ – a lovely duet with JAMES HUNTER.

The SWAMP DOGG set, ‘It’s All Good’, takes a look at the man’s single releases between 1963 and 1989 and though our hero recorded under a number of aliases, his unique take on soul is the unifying factor throughout.

Ace has also just released their second volume of JACKIE DE SHANNON recordings and though it’s not a soul set per se, there’s some stunning versions of BACHARACH and DAVID songs – notably ‘Come And Get Me’.

Watch out for reviews @SJF very soon.