| VA: - For Dancers Only |
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Ace Records 1982 | LP | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Forgotten Duo's of Rock & Roll Vol. 1 32 tracks incl Gino & Gina, Billie & Lillie, Don & Juan, Joan & Joy, Dee & Patty, Dash & Dot etc |
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Holycow Records 1999 | CD | 19.00 € |
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| VA: - Four By Four Vol. 4 16 biisiä |
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Stardust Productions 1993 | CD | 19.00 € |
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| VA: - From The Ghetto 29wild rock&roll and R&B movers |
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Vee-Tone Records 2011 | CD | 15.00 € |
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| VA: - Full Time Groovers: Hotlanta Soul Vol. 2 This CD is the natural successor to the widely acclaimed , GOOD GUYS DON'T ALWAYS WIN (CDKEND 163). The tracks are primarily 70s recordings from the mid-southern cities of Atlanta, Birmingham and Nashville. Ten of the twenty three songs are previously unissued and as is often the case, the absence of vinyl on those recordings was not reflective of their quality. Atlanta was a happening city in the 70s and Michael Thevis' musical enterprises were financially comfortable enough from his other businesses to allow for a bit of musical experimentation to be written off on the balance sheet. The labels also produced plenty of their own revenue with hits from Loleatta Holloway, Jimmy Lewis, John Edwards and Dorothy Norwood. The publishing arm of the business was equally blessed, with writers of the calibre of Sam Dees, Frederick Knight and Floyd Smith. Sam Dees' name is all over this CD, starting the whole thing off with another tender sparsely-recorded ballad Anything Is Fair In Love And War. Though originally intended as a demo, Sam sang it too well for his own good-.-the notion of improving on this version must have been quite daunting. Sam was also heavily involved in the Alpaca Phase III recording that follows it, in fact he was probably a member of the mainly studio group though not the lead singer. Sam's trademark intimate song style goes right through to track 3 where Bill Brandon gives us Let's Get It Back Together Again a more mid-paced Dees offering. All of these songs were found in the studios, as were the two Frederick Knight contributions. Fred was also a fine singer/songwriter and, like Sam Dees, had his songs covered by many artists. You Need A Friend Like Mine was cut on Annette Thomas and Rance Allen for Stax subsidiary labels Truth and Gospel Truth, this original demo is another fine take on an inspiring song. Fred's other recording featured here is Time, co-written with Dees-.-a more broody, haunting song than the gospel-influenced Friend. Nashville music alumnus Moses Dillard teamed up with someone by the name of Johnson to record Here We Go Loving Again on the Piedmont label. The song can only be described as joyous ( you can picture the musicians having a ball) and is inspiring enough that my Lee Marvin type voice often joins in on the chorus clearing the garden of birds. It's the type of song that made disco worthwhile and makes up for all that hi-hat excess and reflective clothing. Also, don't forget that if we hadn't had disco, black dance music in the 70s would have been non-stop funk, paaarty and blowing bleeding whistles. The real bonus with this CD and the 'Good Guys' compilation is the inclusion of Moonsong and Clintone recordings. Rozetta Johnson and Bill Brandon were at the pinnacle of their careers when they cut these great ballads and it's an honour to be allowed to include them here. These are varied soul styles from various related sources but all right there in the pocket. By Ady Croasdell (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2000 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Further Adventures Of Mod Jazz |
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Ace Records 2008 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Gaz's Rockin' Blues 28 biisiä |
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Ace Records 2005 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Get In The Groove 18 biisiä - nauhoitettu livenä 2003 |
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Norton Records 2005 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Get Your Lie Straight - A Glaxy Of Funky Soul 22 biisiä |
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Ace Records 2004 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Girl Crazy 20 Northern Soul tracks by female artists |
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VOR 2005 | LP | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Git It |
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Get S | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Glitter And Gold -Words And Music by Barry Mann And Cynthia a hand-picked collection of the very best work by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, one of the most revered and succesful songwriting partnerships of the modern era |
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Ace Records 2009 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Godfather's R&B - James Brown's Productions 1962-1967 Between 1960-1967 James Brown honed his live revue to become the best ticket in town. James recorded both his band and singers on some of the finest protp Funk / R&B records ever. Here are the best of those recoridngds on one CD for the first time. |
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Ace Records 2008 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Golden Age Of American Rock & Roll - Special Bubbling Under 30 biisiä |
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Ace Records 2006 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Goldwax Story Vol. 3 The Goldwax Story Vol 3 is intended to be our final volume of this fascinating, and for many, crucial series. However the revered Memphis label does seem to give up its treasures over years rather than months and more tapes may materialise yet. Finished but unissued recordings by the Ovations, Ben Atkins, George (Jackson) & (Dan) Greer and the Lyrics will be enough to sell the CD to committed Goldwax fans but there is much more here than just those gems. Some would have been scheduled for future Goldwax 45s, as several contracts list singles that were never pressed. The biggest discovery was that the George Jackson ascribed acetate of ‘You Hurt Me So Good’ / ‘You Gotta Have Soul’ was actually Chicago soul singer Lee “Shot” Williams: so please change the credit on your “Goldwax Northern Soul” CD. His take on the excellent O.B. McClinton ballad ‘You Hurt Me So Good’ is superior to James Carr’s to my ears if only for the more simplified arrangement. The Ovations have a whacking four tracks: one that couldn’t be squeezed on to their solo CD; two authentic new Goldwax songs that will thrill; and one classic that has been misrepresented on Ace in the past. The original take of the Sound Of Memphis album track ‘I Can’t Be Satisfied’ is my favourite; it’s another case of less is more. Even better represented is Unknown Artist. The tapes were well-preserved but there were a few cases where the box or reel had no annotation at all. Damaged or loss along the way, or perhaps a tired producer, after a long hot day left the note-making to tomorrow and let it slide. Two such tracks are the alternate vocal to the Ovations’ ‘Recipe For Love’ and possibly the original version of ‘What Can I Call My Own’ that James Carr and Marvin Preyer cut; both are fascinating listening for southern soul aficionados. Of the rest ‘I Think I’m Gonna Cry’ is a particularly notable deep mournful number, almost in the tradition of the haunting prison ballads of an earlier era. George Jackson gets his name rightfully all over the credits, as apart from his duet with Mr Greer, he is represented by two sparse piano demos of his own songs. ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’ has the added bonus of a fine vocal group behind it and ‘I Can See Sadness Ahead Of Me’ is as bleak and soulful as the title suggests. Issued 45s include Phillip & The Faithfuls oddball ‘Rhythm Marie’ which takes a few plays to get under the skin. Wee Willie Walker rips it up on the Beatles’ ‘Ticket To Ride’ giving it the full Memphis treatment, while Oboe, aka O.B. McClinton, crosses Arthur Alexander with Ernie “K” Doe and gets a possible homicide rap for ‘Mother-In-Law Trouble’. This is a satisfying end to a long musical saga. Recently discovered company photos only serve to enhance the Memphis label’s professional reputation. We’re still praying for more tapes to filter their way out of Soul City USA but as you can’t depend on miracles, enjoy these last soulful minutes. By Ady Croasdell (ACE Records website) |
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Ace Records 2010 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Good Morning Vietnam original motion picture soundtrack |
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A&M Records | CD | 12.00 € |
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| VA: - Got The Go!!! Vol. 2 60s soul, garage, rock and roll |
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La Classe Internationale | LP | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Granpa's Gully Rock - 25 Dynamite R&B Gems Vol. 1 Great brand new cd, just released!. 25 amazing dynamite R&B tracks. Most of the stuff is rarely found on other compilations. If you are into new breed r&b, early soul and so surely you'll find some great stuff you already didn't knew. |
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Floridita Records 2008 | CD | 15.00 € |
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| VA: - Granpa's Gully Rock - 25 Dynamite R&B Gems Vol. 2 25 great R&B tracks from 1958-1964 |
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Floridita Records 2009 | CD | 15.00 € |
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| VA: - Greetings From Philly |
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Sony Bmg Music 2005 | CD | 9.00 € |
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| VA: - GWP - NYC - TLC VOL. 2 For a company who only put out nine R&B singles on its own logos, GWP sure had some soul. Originally a production set-up that placed recordings on major labels, they had a fruitful history before the initial 1969 GWP release, but at least half the story is about the recordings that didn’t come out. The Devonnes, the Shaladons, the Modettes, Bobby Penn and Milton Bennett were acts who cut some very worthy music for the company that never saw the light of day. Others like Benny Gordon and Larry Banks & Jaibi had top quality material left over from their singles sessions that will be welcomed by soul fans of all persuasions. The dance tracks featured here are particularly good. The earliest is probably Lilly Fields pacey and pure Northern ‘Changes’, a Detroit Pied Piper recording from a New York/New Jersey artist. Sadly, most of the paperwork was destroyed just prior to Ace’s purchase of these tracks, so the history is speculative, but the recordings were made at Detroit’s United Sound and the rhythm track is indicative of the Funk Brothers featuring Joe Hunter on piano. Bobby Penn is virtually unknown; there was one 45 by an artist of that name on Uptight Records in 1968, which could well be the chap. His version of the Larry Banks/Joan Bates song ‘Without Your Love’ is probably the best of the several versions. Banks and Bates combined vocally to great effect on the self-written ‘My Life Is No Better’, a Dynamics number, even out-performing the creators. We just released this previously unissued RCA recording as the flip of the latest 100 Club anniversary 45 and already demand for this track is massive. The latter period GWP provided some fabulous singles and tracks like ‘Detour’ by the Persians. ‘Stop’ and ‘Never Gonna Let Him Know’ by Debbie Taylor would ironically be more revered over here if they hadn’t been so abundant, due to good Stateside sales. The Hesitations’ ‘Go Away’, however, was found on an unreleased multi-track tape and its release two years ago as a 100 Club anniversary 45 has already created demand for this sublime slice of mid-tempo soul dance music. The rest of the GWP and GWP’s Grapevine releases are also high quality. Debbie Taylor and the Persians recorded exquisite ballads in ‘How Long Can This Last’ and ‘Here It Comes’. The Hesitations then funked-up Aretha’s ‘Good To Me’, as did Little Rose Little on her Pazant Bros-backed recording of Otis’ ‘Tennessee Waltz’. Both of these only ever came out on GWP’s two compilation LPs, a year after the 45s had ceased. More beautiful balladry comes from the Devonnes with another Banks/Bates creation, ‘I Don’t Care What He’s Done’, and a real grower from the terminally obscure Modettes with ‘I Won’t Be Such A Fool’, which is my current top play. Southern soul fanciers will be pleased that Benny Gordon has three previously unreleased songs, including a 1967 update on Saint Maxine’s ‘All In My Mind’ and the rhythmically complex ‘Never Give Up On Love’. He also presented a version of his Estill recording ‘So Much In Love’ by the vocal group the Exceptions, who really excelled on this fine song. (The recording does not suffer the terrible sound distortion as Benny’s 45 of the song.) There’s a Northern soul standard from Alice Clark with the George Kerr-produced and wonderfully titled ‘You Hit Me (Where It Hurt Me)’, a Larry Banks demo of the Cavaliers’ RCA 45 ‘I Really Love You’ and mo’ George Kerr from Plus 4’s lead singer telling us how she’s ‘The Happiest Girl In The World’ and really sounding like she is. The finale is certainly grand, a master tape of Dave Godin’s “greatest soul record ever”, ‘You Got Me’ by Jaibi that is the Kapp 45 version but with extra added girl backing vocals. Now that’s something every self-respecting soul freak’s just gotta have. by ADY CROASDELL (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2009 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - GWP NYC-TCB When I visited Gerard W Purcell's New York offices above his Paparazzi restaurant around 1990, I wasn't really sure why I'd gone there. Though I rated his GWP label highly, there weren't any big Northern Soul sounds or rarities on it and though Debbie Taylor's 'Don't Let It End' is one of my all time favourite soul songs, it wasn't going to move box-loads of CDs. I knew there was some link with the fabulous 60s soul of Detroit's Pied Piper Productions, that we had already released on the "Rare Collectable & Soulful" CDs, but apart from shared publishing, it was hard to figure out the exact nature of the relationship. Gerry Purcell himself was amicable enough, though he didn't seem to know much about the nitty gritty of the recordings that I revered so much. His main interest was in a series of London-recorded pieces of orchestral music, based upon the signs of the zodiac; fascinating, but of zero musical interest to me. He spoke with affection about England and Ireland, but most of the time I was distracted, looking over his shoulders at some large, old green filing cabinets that just oozed possibilities. Despite us getting on well, Jerry had better things to do than to let a bizarre Brit rummage through his documents and I left his office thanking him kindly but not really knowing if I'd wasted my time or not. However, from little seeds some years later Ace was contacted by GWP who was looking for a European deal on his R&B recordings; this time it was arranged that I could get to see the master tapes. My curiosity and optimism was rekindled. By now the offices had been moved into Gerry's home in Bayside, NY where I renewed acquaintance with him and was introduced to his musical right-hand man and the person in charge of his soul recordings, Ed Bland. Ed and I got on well once we had swapped some music talk and it became apparent that apart from representing GWP's interests, he wanted to see the music given a new lease of life to people who cared about it. The tapes looked terrific. Lots of ¬º", ¬?" and 1" masters in great condition. Nearly all of the ones we knew about were there and there were plenty more besides. We arranged to get them copied. Now; "was there any other material or information around that would help us when we compiled the CD?" Ed took me into a dingy basement room where some reassuringly familiar dark green filing cabinets lived. "Have a look in those, there might be some things of interest." The drawers related to Millbridge and other publishing companies that GWP owned and were crammed with sheet music and reference copies of records for each of the published songs. Not only was there at least one vinyl copy (usually several) of each song published, if GWP also published the flip, there would be a separate file with copies for that too. Records like September Jones 'I'm Coming Home' / 'No More Love' would have at least two copies; in this case six. Even better there were acetates (multiple copies of some) of some of the unissued Pied Piper recordings that we had already licensed from RCA, such as Willie Kendrick's 'She'll Be Leaving You' and Lorraine Chandler's 'You Only Live Twice'. But even betterer, some of the acetates were of songs I'd never heard before. Larry Banks' manic original of 'Ooh It Hurts Me' and some storming Nancy Wilcox RCA reference dubs, impressed me immediately. The avaricious record collector in me (coupled with the musicologist's caution of course), couldn't let these Aladdin's cave musical jewels go back into dormancy for another thirty years. I pointed out to Jerry, after running it by Ed, that there were more copies of each song than were required for reference purposes. The discs would be better appreciated across the Atlantic where they would soar into DJ's collections like released Phoenixes. Luckily Jerry had pity and a big heart and told me to take what I wanted; I even had to press dollars into his hand to keep my conscience clean. Some years later a series of events (which I'll relate to you in GWP Volume 2), made it clear that I had taken the right moral path and I can still sleep easily at nights. Sadly Jerry passed away a few months after this meeting, but Ed Bland fought Ace's corner in purchasing the label from Jerry's son Eric Purcell and five years on (fifteen from the first) we are the proud owner of these great soul recordings. The original GWP label recordings were made in 1969, mostly arranged by Ed Bland and produced by the great George Kerr. Debbie Taylor, the Hesitations and the Persians were the main acts, all of whom recorded some sublime 60s soul sounds, just as that Renaissance-like decade was drawing to a close. These recordings were fully produced with New York's top R&B session musicians and with songs from George Kerr, Ray Dahrouge and Billy Terrell, the already established classy soul singers gave some great performances. The Hesitations' 'Is This The Way To Treat A Girl', Debbie Taylor's 'Let's Prove Them Wrong' and the Persians' 'I Don't Know How' are as good as it got in that period. A huge bonus has been finding unreleased tracks - like Debbie Taylor's stunning ballad 'All That I Have' and the Hesitations original version of the Moments' early 70s hit 'Gotta Find A Way'. GWP also produced for other labels and Alice Clark's 'Heaven's Will' is another excellent and very moving, deep soul ballad. Little Rose Little and Betty Barney's recordings for the label are on the grittier side of soul but it is the earlier pre-GWP label productions that a lot of Kent fans will be bowled over by. Larry Banks' prot?©g?©s the Devonnes sing a captivating version of Terri Bryant's Verve single '(You'd Better) Straighten Up And Fly Right'; the unknown Bobby Penn contributes a great original dancer called 'No Defense' and the Shaladons, who never had a record released, show the Hesitations (who cut it on an LP) how Larry Banks' 'Without Your Love' should really sound. There's a brand new and oh too rare, Jaibi recording; previously unreleased southern soul from Benny Gordon; a mid-tempo, Detroit sounding number from Lily Fields and Frankie Newsome's Chicago R&B hit 'My Lucky Day'. Ed Bland and Ray Dahrouge contributed stories and information to unravel this mysterious chapter of the Big Apple's soul story and the photos of the acts are especially fabulous; check out Debbie and Lily's glamour shots and the Persians funky headgear. The moral of the story then is: follow all leads; don't be too shy; never give up and you'll end up with a CD or two's worth of righteous soul sounds. |
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Ace Records 2005 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Hall Of Fame Nearly two years after we began our initial excavation of the Rick Hall’s FAME Studios tape vault, our findings continue to enthral. So far we’ve brought you CDs of the complete FAME recordings of Spencer Wiggins, Candi Staton and Jimmy Hughes, the first of several volumes by George Jackson and a fantastic boxed set, as well as numerous vinyl treats. Now we’re reaching into the deepest corners of the FAME vaults for our first multi-artist scoop of rare and precious soul, part of an ongoing series we call “Hall Of Fame”. The series will focus primarily on unreleased gems from the studio’s vaults, but will also make room for unreissued sides along the way. Most recordings are finished masters, although we will also be including some demos to give the listener a glimpse behind the scenes at Avalon Avenue. Many will be early recordings of acknowledged classics, as is the case here with Clarence Carter’s demos of ‘Tell Daddy’ and ‘Too Weak To Fight’. The quality is never less than first-rate and is really quite staggering at times. Even allowing for the vast quantity of great Southern soul that was around at the time, it beggars belief that Rick Hall was unable to find takers for so many great performances – many of them proving to be more than a match for any of FAME’s readily acknowledged classics. Many of FAME’s major players get a look-in on our series debut. Numerous of the songs will be familiar to collectors in recordings by others who plied their trade at the studio, but the versions here are mostly previously unheard by anyone other than those who participated in the sessions. The CD abounds with highlights. I’d like to give an especially big hand for Ralph “Soul” Jackson’s fantastic take on Jimmy Hughes’ ‘You Really Know How To Hurt A Guy’ and for Jimmy’s own riveting version of Etta James’ ‘I Worship The Ground You Walk On’. I’d also like to commend June Conquest’s Motown-style rendition of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham’s ‘I Do’ and Prince Phillip Mitchell’s chunky remake of James Barnett’s ‘Keep On Talking’ – one of only three tracks on here to have been previously issued in any format. But really I can recommend literally everything on a CD for which the phrase “all killer, no filler” could have been coined. By Tony Rounce (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2012 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Handy Man - The Otis Blackwell Songbook Arguments over who the greatest rock’n’roll songwriter is will abound long after those reading this have gone to meet their maker. But surely near the top of everyone’s list of contenders would have to be Otis Blackwell, a one-man hit factory whose catalogue includes more classic rock’n’roll songs than any other single songwriter of his time. His compositions for Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis alone would guarantee his entry into every music Hall Of Fame. “Handy Man”, named after the song that brought worldwide chart fame to Jimmy Jones in 1959, is a worthy tribute to a man who, if he’d only written ‘Fever’, would still be regarded as one of the foremost composers of the rock’n’roll era. Compiled in the spirit of previous entries in our songwriter series, it’s much more than merely a collection of Otis’ 24 greatest hits, sung by those who recorded them first. We like to mix it up a bit, so the title track is heard in Del Shannon’s stomping 1964 version, while Jimmy Jones is represented with another fine Otis Blackwell song. Those interested enough to purchase will have more than a passing familiarity with Elvis’ version of ‘All Shook Up’, so rather than reissue that for the gazillionth time, we instead bring the song to you by David Hill, whose rare original makes its first legitimate CD appearance here. Likewise ‘Don’t Be Cruel’: rather than Elvis we bring you Jerry Lee Lewis’ uproarious take, in preference to any of the Otis Blackwell compositions generally associated with him. As for Elvis, being spoilt for choice made us opt for his first, and one of his very best, post-Army recordings; ‘Make Me Know It’ reignited his recording career and was deemed potent enough to kick off his “Elvis Is Back” album. The songs featured in “Handy Man” cover roughly from around 1953 to 1963. Later offerings by Solomon Burke and Sam Butera show that, unlike some of his peers, Otis easily adapted to the changes in music as the 1960s unfolded. How durable his compositions were are demonstrated by Derek Martin’s classic 1962 cut of ‘Daddy Rollin’ Stone’, which Otis had recorded as a menacing blues almost a decade earlier. Via Martin, the song became a boastful declaration of intent for a new generation of sharp boys, and of English mods in particular. Brace yourself for a masterclass in rock’n’roll songwriting by a man who was much more than merely handy with a pen and paper. By Tony Rounce (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2012 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Hard To Handle - Black America Sings Otis Redding His achievements as a singer may cast a giant shadow over everything else he achieved. Anyone with a passing interest in music should be able to tell you that Otis Redding wrote ‘Respect’ and ‘Dock Of The Bay’ – that’s a given. But the vast majority of his many other singles had an Otis composition or co-write on at least one side, while almost all of the albums released during his lifetime featured additional Otis Redding copyrights. A prolific tunesmith and savvy A&R man, Otis also found time to write songs specifically for Arthur Conley and others whose careers he hoped to boost. Otis wrote a staggering number of quality songs in a very short period of time. In fact the more Otis wrote, the more he wanted to write: in the few weeks leading up to his death, he went into Stax’s McLemore Avenue studio and cut around 30 new songs, leaving behind enough material for a trio of posthumously released albums which, for many fans, are better than many of those that came out while he was still alive. There’s no way of telling how Otis would have progressed as a songwriter had his plane not crashed in December 1967, but the unreleased songs he left behind give a pretty good indication that he was moving in interesting and special directions. The quality of many of those posthumously issued compositions was quickly recognised by his peers. Fine versions of several of them, by Buddy Miles, Etta James, Patti Drew, Percy Sledge and others, appear in “Hard To Handle”, the latest volume in Ace’s occasional “Black America Sings” series. As befits one of the greatest purveyors of a soul ballad, many of the best songs here allow their singers to tug at the heartstrings in the way Otis’ own versions still do. A significant number are performed here by women, who seemed to gravitate to Otis’ catalogue in the wake of Aretha’s blockbuster success with her revival of ‘Respect’. But as well as the ballads there are numerous great examples of Otis’ up-tempo work, exemplified by his protégé Arthur Conley’s romp through ‘Wholesale Love’ and an alternate take of Otis’ own Northern Soul floor-filler ‘Loving By the Pound’ (written for Bettye Lavette, apparently!). There are more previously unissued treats here from Mitty Collier and Arthur Conley, as well as several sides receiving their CD debut. Otis’ skills as a songwriter were patently second to none and it’s hoped that “Hard To Handle” will increase perception of just how important an all-rounder he was, and how long his career as a singer-songwriter might have sustained if the Grim Reaper hadn’t had other plans. By Tony Rounce (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2012 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Have Mercy! The Songs Of Don Covay This latest addition to our songwriter series focuses on the behind-the-scenes endeavours of Don Covay, provider of great material to some of the biggest stars of the 1960s. Don made his recording debut in 1956 as a member of the Rainbows vocal group. His idol at this time was Little Richard, whom he managed to meet in 1957. Richard took him on as his opening act, bestowing upon him the nickname Pretty Boy, as which Don released his first solo disc. When record sales proved meagre, he channelled his energy into writing songs with John Berry of the Rainbows. Off the bat their compositions were picked by name artists Gene Vincent, Dee Clark and Wanda Jackson. ‘Pony Time’, Don’s first record to bear an additional credit for his backing combo the Goodtimers, saw him enter the Hot 100 for the first time in 1961. The same week, a cover by Chubby Checker debuted on the charts on its way to #1, leaving Don stuck at the lower end. Convinced that financial security would come from writing rather than recording, he signed with song publishers Roosevelt Music in New York’s famous Brill Building, where he shared a cubicle with his cousin, ace arranger Horace Ott. Gladys Knight & the Pips delivered Don’s ‘Letter Full Of Tears’ into the Top 20 in 1962. His profile raised, Don was sought out by Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler on the hunt for material for Solomon Burke, thus beginning a long and fruitful relationship that would see the name Don Covay grace the record labels of many of the company’s major soul stars. In 1964 Goodtimers’ guitarist Ronnie Miller came up with a catchy lick that evolved into ‘Mercy Mercy’, which saw Don finally crack the Top 40. The number would be a cream cut on the Rolling Stones’ “Out Of Our Heads” album in 1965, swelling Don’s coffers further. Meanwhile, he was added to the roster of Atlantic, who dispatched him to Stax Records’ studio in Memphis to record. The trip did as intended, returning him to the charts with the blistering ‘See Saw’, co-written by guitar genius Steve Cropper. 1965 also saw Little Richard enjoy the biggest hit of his post-50s career with Don’s masterpiece ‘I Don’t Know What You’ve Got But It’s Got Me’. Don continued to record prolifically for Atlantic, but of his subsequent singles for the company, not one reached the Hot 100. Fortunately, the fallow period was offset by the massive success of Aretha Franklin’s version of Don’s ‘Chain Of Fools’ and her revival of ‘See Saw’. Don remains best remembered as a performer. Given that his catalogue runs to several hundred songs and his client list as a writer includes – in addition to those already mentioned – Connie Francis, Etta James, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Ben E King, Jerry Butler and dozens more, the man deserves to be a household name, regardless of his great body of recorded work. By Malcolm Baumgart (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2012 | CD | 20.00 € |
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| VA: - Heart Of Southern Soul Vol. 2 24 biisiä |
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Ace Records 1996 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Heart Of Southern Soul Vol. 3 - The Flame Burns On excello soul |
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Ace Records 1997 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Heavy Soul - Old Town & Barry's Deep Down & Dirty Sides Though this CD hails from the same stable and labels as our recent "Old Town & Barry Soul Survey" CDKEND 244, it is a very different animal, as the first track clearly shows. Thelma Jones was featured on two tracks on the uptempo CD, both slick uptown productions. Here she opens at an almost funereal pace, demonstrating her accomplished, gospel trained vocals on the excellent ballad I Won't Give Up My Man. From the sparsely instrumented opening bars, the arrangement adds apposite strings and a crisp horn section, reminiscent of Otis' version of A Change Is Gonna Come. As compiler and sleevenote writer John Ridley states "several [Old Town / Barry] releases had more than a touch of Memphis about them." Similar Southern-influenced ballads include Bobby and Betty Lou's fine duet on their self-penned Sugar and Donald Height's Tribute To Sam. Old Town already had a long and successful track record in producing and selling blues records by artists such as Bob Gaddy, Larry Dale and Roscoe Gordon, so their updating of the genre with some soul music thrown in was a natural progression. Roscoe himself attempted this with his wife Barbara on two singles and we have featured the superb It Ain't Right here. Lester.Young was very bluesy in his approach to writing, singing and playing the guitar and this is shown on four fine sides. Stop is a stunning ballad that belies its New York studios origin, while I Love My Baby is a previously unissued master tape that will please both blues and soul fans. Though Thelma Jones had the biggest number of singles releases on the labels, jazz singer Irene Reid got to make an album for Barry. Label owner Hy Weiss tried to take her career down a soul path and he succeeded in producing some great songs, but without much commercial success. Just Loving You is a lovely ballad and still retains much of Irene's jazz heritage, whereas 'Dirty Old Man' is a fully-fledged funky black American slab of dance music. There are plenty of uptempo moments on the CD; it isn't all doom and gloom. Jesse Gee's first featured number starts off as a slow blues rap but then accelerates into a nitty gritty mover called She's A Woman. He uses a similar technique on the even low, down and dirtier Don't Mess With My Money. Like most sizeable indies in the 60s, Old Town picked up masters from around the country and the Nashville-produced I'm Sorry For You, by Frank Howard & The Commanders, is a soul group ballad with some heavily-featured lead guitar work. This could conceivably have been performed by one Jimi Hendrix, a friend and colleague of the songwriter Billy Cox: the two were reputedly hanging out together in the Music City at this time. The labels were running down by the 70s, though another Old Town series was started in 1969. Bobby Long & the Dealers' Heartbreak Avenue was a highlight of this period, melding Southern soul and what could imaginatively be described as country rock. In the 70s producer and journeyman singer/songwriter Dickie Williams came up with a gospel inspired I'll Be Standing By for the label, and chanteuse Peggy Scott delivered his beautiful Making Love To My Mind. Hy Weiss was a hard-bitten record man who trusted to his instincts and was quite prepared to be unconventional if the situation called for it. There were therefore some very interesting releases on his labels, none more so than John Standberry Jr's Marie. A Greek chorus-like, wailing intro slips into a guitar lead paean to his beautiful Marie that is totally original and quite breath-taking; particularly in its final emotional crescendo. Unlike our "Old Town & Barry Soul Survey", which was a re-make of an earlier, long deleted Kent CD, this compilation comprises 24 fresh soulful nuggets awaiting your voracious appetites. By Ady Croasdell (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2005 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Here Comes The Hurt “Here Comes The Hurt” is a successor to the two volumes of “King’s Serious Soul” that John Ridley compiled for us about 10 years ago. This time, by not sticking strictly to southern soul origins or influences, we’ve been able to include many excellent tracks that weren’t eligible for those previous releases, although the south is still well represented. James Duncan, Thomas Bailey and Billy Soul have many followers; their tracks, like most on here, appear on CD for the first time. Charles Spurling’s ‘Don’t Let Him Hurt You Baby’ is a great ballad from a man who lived and worked well north of the Mason-Dixon line and usually wrote and sang uptempo numbers. His second offering, ‘Buddy Boy’, also displays his command of all styles within the soul genre. Ricky Lyons, June Sims and Lee Holland were one-shot artists but cut the mustard on their lone singles. Ricky Lyons’ 45 came out on both the Federal and King labels and has the authority of a soul standard, yet it seems to be his only recording. Toni Williams’ ‘Precious Minutes’ is a little-known southern masterpiece, as is Bobby Wade’s lushly produced ‘Blind Over You’. Bigger acts such as Earl Gaines, Marva Whitney and Pat Lundy sing lesser-known but terrific soul tracks. Vocal group collectors will enjoy the early soul of the Snapshots and the King Pins and dig the later harmony of Dee Dee, Joseph & David. Lee Holland’s ‘Give Me Back My Heart’ features fabulous backing vocals too. Tony & Carol ‘Let’s Not Wait’ is a harmonious duet that builds to quite a crescendo. Acts from an earlier era show how they could adapt to the brave new soul era; Hank Ballard and the Bobbettes give virtuoso demonstrations of how to deliver a soulful ballad. Lynn Davis is backed by a female chorus on ‘My New Love’ which, like the Bobbettes, will impress lovers of the girl group sound. A great deep soul Federal recording, ‘Fall In These Arms Of Mine’ by Johnny Soul is released here for the first time ever. For those with a gospel bent, Christine Kittrell’s ‘Ain’t Never Seen So Much Rain Before’ is a tour-de-force and T.C. Lee & the Bricklayers’ ‘Get Away From Here’ features a preaching lead with chorus straight out of the church. The sound quality is immaculate; all tracks are taken from the original master tapes. US soul enthusiast Bob Abrahamian provides informative and fascinating notes and there are some great new photos from the King archives. The recordings stretch from 1960 to 1971 and feature a wide range of soul styles on slow burning ballads. By Ady Croasdell (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2012 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Hitsville West - San Francisco's Uptown Soul |
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Ace Records 2010 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Holy Mackerel ! Pretenders to Little Richard's Throne 25 breathlessly rockin' homages to Little Richard ! |
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Ace Records 2009 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Honey & Wine - Another Gerry Goffin & Carole King song colle As a kid Goffin developed a taste for Broadway musicals and began creating songs in his head. With a vague ambition to one day write a musical of his own, he enrolled at college to study chemistry. It was there that he met 17-year-old Carole, a keen amateur rock’n’roll songwriter in search of a lyricist. They hit it off right away, penned a few songs together and dropped out of college to get married. In 1960 they joined Carole’s pal Neil Sedaka as staff songwriters at Aldon Music, a fledgling publishing house headed by Al Nevins and Don Kirshner. Within a couple of years they were the most successful songwriters in the country. We like our original versions at Ace and a few are included here. Bobby Vee recorded ‘Go Away Little Girl’ before Steve Lawrence got his mitts on the song for example, while the Rising Sons (Ry Cooder’s early band) cut ‘Take A Giant Step’ before the Monkees did and stylish jazz diva Nancy Wilson’s reading of ‘No Easy Way Down’ was taped before Carole’s own version was released. If you’ve ever wondered how many Goffin and King compositions the Monkees recorded, the short answer is 18, the most successful of which was ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’, the couple’s restless ode to life in suburbia, included here. (The long answer is contained in the booklet.) While not all of Goffin’s lyrics are autobiographical, it is tempting to assume that ‘So Goes Love’, heard here by the Turtles, documents the breakdown of his and Carole’s personal relationship. Thankfully, they continued writing together after their divorce. As with our earlier volume, this set includes familiar hits (the Monkees, Maxine Brown’s ‘Oh No Not My Baby’, the Drifters’ ‘Up On The Roof’, Gene McDaniels’ ‘Point Of No Return’, etc), overlooked gems (Chuck Jackson’s ‘I Need You’, Jan & Dean’s ‘The Best Friend I Ever Had’, Freddie Scott’s ‘Brand New World’, ‘I Happen To Love You’ by the Myddle Class, to name just four) and some new to CD rarities (‘Stage Door’ by Peter James, ‘They’re Jealous Of Me’ by Connie Stevens, ‘The Boy I Used To Know’ by Andrea Carroll, Jody Miller’s very non-PC ‘He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss)’ and Carolyn Daye’s ‘A Long Way To Be Happy’). BY MICK PATRICK (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2009 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Honky Tonk - Charlie Gillett's Radio Picks had just passed my thirtieth birthday when I got my own radio show in March 1972, being set loose to play pretty much whatever I wanted, Sunday lunchtime on the BBC’s local FM station, Radio London. Just 45 minutes at first, it was fairly soon extended to an hour and then to two hours, broadcast every week until 31 December 1978. For a while, all I wanted to do was play every great record with rock’n’roll in its blood, many of them rarely, if ever, heard on British radio, and most of them emanating from the southern states of America. In those days, pop music in the UK was played on medium wave stations and this show on FM radio might easily have remained a well-kept secret if it had not been championed by John Collis, radio correspondent for London’s weekly listings magazine Time Out. When John heard the rumour of the show he called up a week or so ahead of the first programme to ask what I was planning to do; it soon became clear that he needed some kind of identity for each programme in order to be able to justify mentioning it on a regular basis. So I began with a programme of records made in New Orleans and Louisiana, and returned to that region several times, as well as moving west to Texas and even further out to California, north to Memphis and Chicago, and often grouping records with particular themes. I can no longer remember how I ran across every track included here, but probably as many as half of them were tips of one kind or another, while many of the others had been unearthed during the previous five-year period when I was working on a history of popular music, called The Sound Of The City, which traced the emergence and evolution of rock’n’roll out of independently-recorded R&B and country music in the late 1940s and early 50s. As the grapevine spread, listeners started to get in touch to tell me about records I seemed unaware of, not only obscure originals from the 1940s and 50s, but current artists too. I had a pretty frosty attitude towards a lot of current British pop, even though much of it was made by people my own age and with similar tastes. I never did play T Rex, Roxy Music, Wizzard or Slade but was thrilled to make room for JJ Cale, Jesse Winchester and Delbert McClinton. No coincidence, most of them were from the American South too. Among the regular listeners were many people who knew far more than I did, some of them dedicated to finding every possible piece of information about the records they liked best – dates and locations of when and where they were recorded, names of any and all sessions musicians and which little label released the record first. Such people can be notoriously possessive of what they have discovered, but I was lucky to be befriended by Bill Millar, John Anderson, Ray Topping, Errol Dixon, Rob Finnis and others, who between them managed to make up for my woeful ignorance and gave me a much better education than I ever had in school or university. As far as I was concerned, Honky Tonk was a shared forum and bulletin board for the music we all revered. One of the greatest surprises was that the programme drew an audience of real live musicians in London, who liked this kind of music themselves, and some of them began to submit their demo tapes. By Charlie Gillett (ACE RECORDS) |
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Ace Records 2009 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Hood Dreams Vol. 1 - What Chance Has A Man 21 tracks |
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FTR Records 2004 | CD | 19.00 € |
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| VA: - Hoss Allen's 1966 Rhythm & Blues Revue - The Beat The !!!! BEAT was the first syndicated black music television program in history and was the brain child of William Hoss Allen. Allen was a disc jockey on WLAC radio in Nashville, a 50,000 watt clear channel station that could be heard from Alasca to Jamaica on a cleaner night. By the mid sixties Allen owned several record labels and publishing companies, a production company and managed and booked recording artists. In 1966 he set his sights on a syndicated television show and a deal was struck for 26 shows, with a fabulous house band, (The Beat Boys), fronted by the legendary Johnny Jones with Clarence Gatemouth Brown, backing a who's who of the rhythm and blues world at the time. |
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Superbird Records 2010 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - How Many Roads - Black America Sings Bob Dylan Not for nothing is Bob Dylan considered to be one of the greatest songwriters of his, or any other, generation. His compositions have provided a prime source of repertoire for hundreds, even thousands, of recording artists for 50 years, and his catalogue continues to be regularly revised and revisited in all genres of music. Spanning more than two decades of Dylan compositions, “How Many Roads” offers 20 first-rate examples of how well his songs have lent themselves to being remade/remodelled by high profile names in black American music. Few of his peers have had their catalogues visited as regularly by black singers and musicians. Only John Lennon and Paul McCartney (the subjects of the next volume in this short “Black America Sings…” series) come close in terms of breadth of catalogue and number of covers. Black America was very quick to wake up to the potential of Dylan compositions and savvy singers started covering them almost as soon as he released them. Early fans included the Staple Singers, who cut no less than three songs from his breakthrough album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” and can be heard here on a stellar version of ‘Masters Of War’. Sam Cooke was inspired to write his masterpiece ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ after hearing Dylan sing ‘Blowing In The Wind’ on TV and wondering why no black songwriter had come up with anything that spoke so eloquently of the need for racial equality as the song’s opening line, “How many roads must a man walk down before they call him a man?” That song is heard here in a compelling 1968 rendition by front-tier Memphis soulman O.V. Wright, one of more than 30 black American artists who recorded it within five years of Dylan’s version. This set includes some of Dylan’s favourite recordings of his songs and the CD comes to you with his blessing and approval. My own favourite tracks include the Persuasions’ glorious a cappella remodelling of ‘The Man In Me’ from Dylan’s “New Morning” album, Con-Funk-Shun’s surprisingly effective funk-up of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and gospel queen Marion Williams’ heart-wrenching deep soul version of ‘I Pity The Poor Immigrant’ from “John Wesley Harding”. There are many other great tracks that finite CD running time didn’t allow us to include here, so keep your fingers crossed for a second volume. Until then, there’s plenty of superbly soulful singing to be savoured, on some of the finest songs that will ever be written by anyone, anytime. By Tony Rounce (ACE Records) |
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Ace Records 2010 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Impressed: 24 Groups Inspired By The Impressions I use a basic if somewhat ridiculous method of musically grading my 45s. Firstly I describe the tempo as S, M or U. There are the obvious variations like M/U and S/M for which I run the risk of myself being classified as a bondage fan or preserver of jams. If there is a certain amount of funk in the rhythm it may get an additional 1/4 F or 1/2 F and waltz, rockabilly or cha cha cha tend to get described longhand. Next I give my value judgement of musical merit by awarding marks out of 10. This sounds simple, but I have managed to make it a lot harder by narrowing down the limits so that no record gets more than 71/2 or less than 51/2-.-NB there are also marks like 63/4 / 7 / 7 which I don't think I can explain. This means that something as perfect as say the Impressions I Need You only gets two points more than Hayley Mills Let's Get Together-.-a hard world indeed. Finally if there's an obvious sound to the record that reminds me of a better known artist, I'll put that beside the score. Such standards include Otis, JB, Jackie Wilson, Beatles, Spector and Shads. The most often described acts though are definitely the male soul vocal groups. Whether they consciously copied other acts or not I couldn't say but they sure are easy to pigeonhole. Possibly because the layout of the singers within the group was distinctive, or because their lead vocalist heroes were such individuals, they seem to instinctively slip into categories. The Drifters are obvious contenders with their strong NYC influence and the Miracles soundalikes tend to copy Smokey's lead. There are noticeable influences from the Temptations, though I'm sure most of the groups copied their looks and footwork. Even the Superbs' beautiful West Coast soul sounds get described as a genre on my old singles bags. However the most influential group of them all has to be Curtis Mayfield's Impressions, particularly in their mid 60s heyday. "Imps" or "Impsy" gets scribbled regularly and the records may have originated from any part of the US, not just that swingin' Chicago stronghold. Sometimes it's an instinctive thing and when I later play the single I wonder what aspect of the music made me think it was Curtis related in the first place. If we analyse the music too much we could find a case against all of the selections on Impressed, if only because they aren't the Impressions, but some of them get damned close so why spoil the fun? Now to the tracks: the Players He'll Be Back, a beautiful ballad concerning a lost love in Vietnam, is one of the better known tracks, having been a fair sized R&B hit on its 1966 release. Less well known, but arguably as good, is the Pacesetters What About Me, Baby released on the same Minit label two years later. By then the bandwagon had moved on and although the song is of comparable quality it made no impact whatsoever. On the plus side however it has saved a small musical gem for our appreciation thirty plus years on. Shamefully I probably wrote "Imps" too quickly on the Astors' Just Enough To Hurt Me and filed it before I realised what a great song it was. I've played it at least twenty times since my rediscovery of it-.-and it's not enough. I can allow myself a bit of pride on the next track as no one had heard the Enjoyables' 'Bout My Baby until it was summoned up from Capitol's tape vaults to see the light of day for the first time since 1964. It's as fine a finger clicker as you could wish to come across on a new CD. I've snuck on a few long time favourites from the Climates, Poets, Saints and Falcons, and I was alerted to the Imps-like qualities of the Dontells, Brilliants and Sonics by fellow enthusiasts. If you don't know the tracks by the Presidents, Expressions, Voice Masters or Realistics then you're in for a treat, in fact I can hardly wait for it to come out. Apart from supplying excellent sleevenotes Peter Burns helped guide the whole project with suggestions for and against inclusion-.-to have the co-operation of one of the world's foremost Impressions experts was invaluable. I think the project is a worthy tribute to the Impressions and if it does half as well as I think it will, there will be more volumes to come. And of course we're working on similar tributes to the Miracles, Drifters etc: now where's Bill Millar's phone number? By Harboro Horace (Ace Records) |
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Ace Records 2002 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - In The Naked City |
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Ace Records 2008 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Intruders & Friends - Philly Soul Rarities Vol. 1 |
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Collectables 1997 | CD | 13.00 € |
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| VA: - J & S Harlem Soul Zell Sanders' nest of labels brought Harlem and Bronx talent to the local black New York soul scene. |
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Ace Records 2008 | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Jack Nitzsche Story 1963-78 - Hearing Is Believing 26 biisiä mm Jack Nitzsche, Frankie Laine, Round Robin, Paris Sisters.. |
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Ace Records 2005 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerk ! Shake ! And Vibrate ! |
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Soul City Records | CD | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerk Boom Bam Vol. 5 |
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Jerk Boom Bam 2012 | LP | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerk Boom Bam Vol. 6 |
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Jerk Boom Bam 2012 | LP | 18.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerk Boom Bam Vol. 1 |
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Jerk Boom Bam Records | LP | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerk Boom Bam Vol. 2 |
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Jerk Boom Bam Records | LP | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerk Boom Bam Vol. 3 |
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Jerk Boom Bam Records | LP | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Jerry Ragovoy Story - Time Is On My Side 1953-2003 A Celebration of the musical genius of this superb R&B / Soul all-rounder. Includes the original versions of many hall of fame classics |
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Ace Records 2008 | CD | 17.00 € |
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| VA: - Jim Jam Gems Vol. 2 |
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Stag-O-Lee Records 2013 | 10" LP | 17.00 € |
