Category Archives: Soul

GEORGIE FAME HEARD THEM HERE FIRST.

GEORGIE FAME HEARD THEM HERE FIRST. Not many compilation series has enjoyed the longevity and success of Ace Records’ Heard Them Here First series. There’s a reason for this. The series allows music lovers to hear the music that influenced some of the biggest names in music. This has previously included The New York Dolls, …

Continue reading

PRIVATE WAX VOLUME TWO.

PRIVATE WAX VOLUME TWO. Nowadays, when a record company releases a successful compilation, the followup follows hot on its heels. Sometimes, only six months or a year has passed. However, it’s a case of striking while the iron hot. After all, it’s not easy for record companies to make money nowadays. So a successful compilation …

Continue reading

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE-LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST-OCTOBER 4TH AND 5TH 1968-VINYL EDITION.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE-LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST-OCTOBER 4TH AND 5TH 1968-VINYL EDITION. As promoters go, Bill Graham was one of the best. He seemed to have the uncanny knack of spotting bands on their way up. Often he managed to book bands just before they made it big. This meant when a band …

Continue reading

TUXEDOMOON AND THE CULT WITH NO NAME- BLUE VELVET REVISITED.

TUXEDOMOON AND THE CULT WITH NO NAME- BLUE VELVET REVISITED. After the commercial and critical failure of Dune in 1984, David Lynch knew that his next film had to make an impression on critics and filmgoers. There was no buts. So David Lynch made a conscious decision to write a much more personal story. The …

Continue reading

LEON THOMAS-FULL CIRCLE.

LEON THOMAS-FULL CIRCLE. For Leon Thomas, Full Circle represented the end of an era. It was the last album Leon Thomas released on Flying Dutchman Productions, and marked the end of his “classic period.” It had started four years earlier in 1969, when Leon Thomas released his debut album Spirits Known and Unknown. Since then, …

Continue reading

BETTYE SWANN-THE VERY BEST OF BETTYE SWANN.

BETTYE SWANN-THE VERY BEST OF BETTYE SWANN. The Bettye Swann story was a case of what might might have been. She could’ve and should’ve been one of the biggest names in sou music. That looked like being the case. Bettye Swann released her debut single Don’t Wait To Long in 1964. Three years later, Betty Swann …

Continue reading

RIM KWAKU OBENG-RIM ARRIVES.

RIM KWAKU OBENG-RIM ARRIVES. For collectors of Afro-funk and disco, many albums remain tantalisingly out of reach. This includes Ghanian drummer Rim Kwaku Obeng’s legionary lost debut album Rim Arrives. It was released in 1977, four years after a perilous time for Rim Kwaku Obeng.  He found himself stranded in London, without money, documents or …

Continue reading

THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA-RESISTANCE.

THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA-RESISTANCE. It’s ten years since The Souljazz Orchestra released their debut album Uprooted in 2005. However, The Souljazz Orchestra were no strangers to the Canadian music scene.  They came to prominence two years after a new millennia dawned. Since 2002, The Souljazz Orchestra have been showcasing their inimitable sound. Back then, The Souljazz …

Continue reading

MORTEN QVENILD-PERSONAL PIANO.

MORTEN QVENILD-PERSONAL PIANO. Over the last twenty years, Morten Qvenild has been at the heart of the Norwegian music scene. The thirty-seven year old pianist and keyboardist is one of the most versatile and creative musicians of his generation. That’s why, when anyone in the Norwegian music scene was looking for a pianist or keyboardist, …

Continue reading

ISAAC HAYES MOVEMENT-DISCO CONNECTION.

ISAAC HAYES MOVEMENT-DISCO CONNECTION. Disco. Never has a musical genre divided opinion like the D word.   It’s been described as musical Marmite. People either love disco, or they loathe it. There’s no in-between. However, forty years ago, in 1976, disco’s star was in the ascendancy. Artists were jumping onto the disco bandwagon. Especially artists …

Continue reading

ALL ABOARD! 25 TRAIN TRACKS CALLING AT ALL MUSICAL STATIONS.

ALL ABOARD! 25 TRAIN TRACKS CALLING AT ALL MUSICAL STATIONS. Nowadays, most compilations seem to be genre specific. They feature only soul, funky, jazz, psychedelia, pop or rock. Some compilations go even further, and focus on a sub genre of music.  That’s because nowadays, many people seem to gravitate to one genre of music. It …

Continue reading

LONNIE LISTON SMITH AND THE COSMIC ECHOES-VISIONS OF A NEW WORLD.

LONNIE LISTON SMITH AND THE COSMIC ECHOES-VISIONS OF A NEW WORLD. Bob Thiele understood musicians. He understood that often, a large record company wasn’t the best environment for musical pioneers and mavericks to thrive. This understanding came from a lifetime in the music industry. His career started in 1969. Thirty years later, in 1969, and …

Continue reading

SWAMP DOGG-I’M NOT SELLING OUT/I’M BUYING IN.

SWAMP DOGG-I’M NOT SELLING OUT/I’M BUYING IN. During the sixties, Jerry Williams was for most part, a regular guy. He was a successful singer, songwriter and producer. Mostly, Jerry Williams was content to help other people become stars. He wrote songs, played on their albums and produced their music. Then, as the sixties drew to …

Continue reading

IAN LEVINE’S SOLID STAX SENSATIONS.

IAN LEVINE’S SOLID STAX SENSATIONS. The Stax Records’ story began in 1957, when Jim Stewart founded Satellite Records. Four years later, in 1961, Satellite Records changed its name to Stax Records. That day, one of what become one of the most successful independent soul labels was born. This success lasted fourteen years. Then on December …

Continue reading

DAVID PORTER-…INTO A REAL THING…AND MORE.

DAVID PORTER-…INTO A REAL THING…AND MORE. Ten years ago, in 2005, David Porter was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame. By then, David Porter was a veteran of the music industry. He started off as a singer, and then became a producer and songwriter. It was as a songwriter that Dave Porter’s best known. …

Continue reading

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE-LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST-OCTOBER 4TH AND 5TH 1968.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE-LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST-OCTOBER 4TH AND 5TH 1968. As promoters go, Bill Graham was one of the best. He seemed to have the uncanny knack of spotting bands on their way up. Often he managed to book bands just before they made it big. This meant when a band were …

Continue reading

DORE L.A. SOUL SIDES 2.

DORE  L.A. SOUL SIDES 2. In the mid-fifties, many small record companies sprung up across America. Especially, in cities like New York and Los Angeles, which are two of America’s musical cities. One of these new labels was Era Records, which was founded in 1955 by two cousins, Lew Bedell and Herb Newman. The two …

Continue reading

GROOVE WITH A FEELING-SOUNDS OF MEMPHIS-BOOGIE, SOUL AND FUNK 1975-1985.

GROOVE WITH A FEELING-SOUNDS OF MEMPHIS-BOOGIE, SOUL AND FUNK 1975-1985. Ever since the birth of rock ’n’ roll, music has continued to evolve. As a result, musical genres have come and gone.Those that were resistant to change were left behind. That could’ve happened to many within the Memphis music industry in 1975. By then, soul …

Continue reading

HENRY STONE’S-MIAMI SOUND.

HENRY STONE’S-MIAMI SOUND. Henry Stone was a record man. That was the case since he founded his first record labels in 1952. Rockin’ and Glory were the first over over 100 record labels Henry Stone founded. These labels sold over 100 million copies. The most famous, and successful of these labels was T.K. Records, which …

Continue reading