
Last year SOUL JAZZ RECORDS released a wonderful tribute/compilation album of the soul, funk and disco that came out of Miami (more specifically the TK Records stable) in the late 60s/early 70s. The collection was hugely successful (indeed the CD version sold out!), thus it was a no brainer for the Soul/Jazz team to sort a second volume – which is set for a September release.
With the imaginative title ‘Miami Sound 2’, the collection comes as a double LP and in a 20 track CD iteration. Like the first volume, the collection features plenty of TK “names” with some of their biggest hits alongside plenty of lesser known offerings.
One of TK’s biggest tunes kicks off the album – Betty Wright’s ‘Clean Up Woman’ but you also get Betty’s sweet and lovely ‘I Love The Way You Love’ – lesser known, it was the single before the ‘Clean Up Woman’ break through. Interestingly the album also delivers the “answer” song to Betty’s smash – Jimmy “Bo” Horne’s ‘Clean Up Man’.
Good old “Bo” was a Miami music mainstay and here you can re-acquaint yourself with many more – people like Benny Latimore, Clarence Reid, Gwen and George McCrae, Little Beaver and Timmy Thomas. You get his signature song, ‘Why Can’t We Be Lovers’ as well as the very different ‘Africano’ .
And that’s the beauty of this collection – sure, you get the obvious, but juxtaposed with plenty of rare and in-demand gems like Raw Soul Express’ funky, gritty ‘Burn The Candle’, Chocolate Clay’s sweet ‘Free’ and Paulette Reeve’s joyous ‘Do It Again’. All three guaranteed to get you hoppin’ and boppin’ !
The Soul/Jazz PR team describe this collection as “a rollercoaster journey across soul, funk, disco and boogie, a party-rocking dancefloor-filling collection of monster tracks”. We wouldn’t argue, and as a bonus for anoraks, the collection comes with extensive sleeve notes as well as an exclusive interview with Steve Alaimo, co-founder with Henry Stone of this musical empire. The album also features the photography of TK in-house photographer Larry Warmoth, whose rarely seen striking and unique images of Gwen McRae, Betty Wright, Clarence Reid and others offer a fascinating window into the pioneering record company.
No matter what you think of Henry Stone (check his bio!) and his business methods, the music he helped create in his HQ in the Hialeah district of Miami was groundbreaking, joyous and soulful. The proof’s in the grooves of this recommended collection.