Funk | Soul 178 Items

Truth & Soul is proud to present the second volume of our Fallin' Off The Reel compilation on double long playing vinyl.

Curtis Harding says that soul music, and his music, speak for themselves. It's self-evident on the Atlanta artist's debut, Soul Power. The driving sound of his electrified Stratocaster, the foot-stomping backbeat and the lyrics swimming in reverb -- with something this flourishing, it's almost reductive to just dig around the roots. Harding's style was born in Michigan and bred on the road, a restless childhood spent singing gospel alongside an evangelizing mother, then cultivated in Atlanta, where he sang backup for CeeLo Green and befriended the Black Lips (he plays with Cole Alexander in Night Sun).

Limited edition repress of those brazilian beauties!

Limited edition repress of those brazilian beauties!

One of the great characters in rock and soul music is Jerry Williams, better known as the eccentric, idiosyncratic, and always entertaining Swamp Dogg (no relation to Snoop Doggy Dogg). A Virginia native, Williams invented his own legend by claiming that he had little proper schooling, only to wake up one day and find himself a musical genius (his words). Actually, Williams is very talented, and an early association with Jerry Wexler and Phil Walden led to him working for a number of years as a producer, engineer, and occasional songwriter with Atlantic in the '60s. At decade's end, however, he decided that the time was right to unleash Swamp Dogg's singular view of the world on an unsuspecting public. The initial result was one of the most gloriously gonzo soul recordings of all time, Total Destruction to Your Mind. The album's charm may have to do with Dogg's world view: part libertarian politics; part Zappa-style critiques of commerciality and capitalism; and part horny male, the latter defining for better and worse his view of women. Although he spent years working in the industry, Dogg was simply not the standard-issue soul type. And that was good. Dogg continued to make records, albeit infrequently, after 1969, some good, a few great, and most all extremely difficult to find. With contemporary soul sounding increasingly mannered and sterile, Dogg's yelling, screaming, and general craziness is missed. Thankfully, he hasn't disappeared for good, although he only makes records when he feels like it. It would be wise to not count him out; just when you think this Dogg is down and out, he sneaks up and bites you.

More raw funk from Saint-Petersburg via Detroits very own FNR!

For almost 45 years a complete album of Vic Pitts & The Cheaters tapes has been forgotten, waiting to be released until now. In the late 1960s, Vic Pitts & The Cheaters were one of Milwaukee’s top R&B bands. They had their own TV show, played some of the city’s biggest clubs, and backed up big name acts. Between 1969 and 1970 they recorded over a dozen songs with producer Andre Williams at Chess’ Ter-Mar Studio. The results show why they were such a popular live act; some tracks reveal their roots as James Brown fanatics, others relate the happening sounds of Sly & The Family Stone and Chicago’s first record.

26 early Rock'N'Roll songs by Ike & Tina Turner, Ruth Brown, Bo Diddley, John lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, etc.

Can you feel it? There’s a rumble in your ears, a tremble in your knees, the world as you’ve known it is about to split, swallow you up whole and spit you out! Then, and only then, you will know you’ve heard ‘BodyQuake’ the long awaited and eagerly anticipated third album from Laura Vane and The Vipertones!

Some people have to wait for fame; some people wait even longer than most. Donnie and Joe Emerson are in a league of their own.

As teenagers in Fruitland, Washington in the late ‘70s, the farming brothers dreamed of being heard. The synthesizers were sometimes crude and the 8-track recorder had its limitations, but the brothers aimed at nothing short of perfection in their home studio on the farm. They titled their 1979 debut Dreamin' Wild, and, as multi-instrumentalist Donnie later admitted, “Joe and I basically lived the dream of the title of the album.” The same goes for their parents who heavily believed in their sons' musical dreams, taking out a second mortgage on the farm and investing $100,000 in a dream that refused to die. But their privately funded, private press record sank without trace, the family lost most of their 1,600 acre farm, and as Joe focused on the family farming business, Donnie focused on his solo career.

As for Dreamin' Wild, things began to change three decades later, when record collector Jack Fleischer bought a copy of the album for $5 at a Spokane thrift shop. Something about the brothers' smiles, bouffant hair, and matching white jumpsuits gave him a good feeling. Fleischer's blogging about the album brought it to the attention of cult musician Ariel Pink, who recorded his own version of standout track “Baby.” Eventually re-released on Light In The Attic and widely available for the first time, the album chimed louder a lifetime after its conception: Pitchfork described it as a “a godlike symphony to teen hood.” The New York Times flew out to the family farm, while Jimmy Fallon took to Twitter to proclaim his love for the duo.

But Dreamin' Wild does not tell the full story. In a relatively short span of time (just two and half years) the boys put close to 70 songs down on tape, all recorded at that magical home studio on the farm. A dozen of them are included here on Still Dreamin' Wild: The Lost Recordings 1979-81 and ready to be enjoyed for the first time ever. With a familiar blend of FM rock, power pop, and new wave, these 12 tracks cover the entirety of that fruitful period, stretching from the second song Donnie ever recorded (“Everybody Knows It”) – to tracks documenting his temporary move to L.A. in 1981.

Donnie's life story is in these songs. Where Dreamin' Wild captures the teenage experience, Still Dreamin' Wild tells a broader story, one in which teenage dreams turn to painful yearning. So where the Beach Boys indebted “Ooh Baby Yeah” is inspired by a teenage girlfriend, “Big Money” shows the emergence of a naive political awareness. Later, 1981's “One True Love” captures the sound of what Donnie described as “the city as imagined from the farm,” and the epic closing track, “Don't Disguise The Way You Feel” found Donnie after high school, feeling stifled and frustrated in the isolation of the countryside and mourning the loss of his friend and occasional backing vocalist Dwayne. It is, quite simply, heartbreaking.

The long-belated success of Dreamin' Wild has given the Emerson brothere, still close and still the heart of a loving family, a new lease of life. They've finally taken their music on the road, performing at Seattle's Showbox followed by New York's Mercury Lounge. Still Dreamin' Wild proves that the album wasn't a fluke, and that Donnie's songwriting is as consistent as it is rare. All this time later, we finally have the pleasure of hearing the brothers' music. And the good news? They've still got the jumpsuits.

12-inch contains a remix by Tom Noble, a re-edit by J Rocc, and on the flip side, the original extended version of the original track produced and performed by The Soul Investigators, running at over 12 minutes length.

St. Petersburg gets funky again!

St. Petersburg gets funky again!

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2014

From the opening bars of their debut LP, you can tell AJ & The Jiggawatts came to play rough. In a world where mid tempo and middle of the road soul permeates the airwaves, this crew of G.E.D. Soul killers are drawing a line in the sand by making soul music that hits harder, faster and nastier than just about anyone in the game today. AJ Eason's gin soaked vocal howls drip with a carefree carousing not unlike that of a street smart hustler making moves to make ends meet. The band follows suit with highly syncopated melodics, often at breakneck speed, all while maintaining an almost inhuman tightness. Toss all of these elements into a highball glass and garnish with a pinch of rock n' soul and you've got the makings for a serious raw soul cocktail.

Mastered and cut at 45rpm for high quality and loud sound, these 7"s are packaged in lovingly produced Brazil45 sleeves. Dancefloor essentials for all DJs and collectors!

One Of The Finest And Most Collectable Rca Single From 1967, The Former Just Brother Delivering A Mega-Classic Stomper Backed By A Slick Finger-Clicker

Combining the sounds of Afrobeat, Ghanaian Funk, and Ethio Jazz, Derobe (Pronounced Day-Row-Bay) Dance Band creates a unique brand of heavy dance music tinged with dark intensity. Their debut 45, "Gogoplata" b/w "Kem Dahg," was recorded at Secret Stash in late 2013. The haunting melodies and intense driving rhythms crafted by this 13 piece Minneapolis based outfit make this record a must have.

In-Demander By The 12-Piece Ensemble From Milwaukee Taken From Their Self-Titled Lone 1976 Brunswick LP!

We could get some more copies for a lower price, so we also lowered your price. A bargain! /

In the early seventies, Hank Swarn and Shirley Nanette collaborated to form Never Coming Back. Swarn had been on the road for five years, lending his guitar-backing talent to Earl Grant and his band. While on tour, he wrote some tunes that were ultimately released on the Never Coming Back album. Al Nanette approached Hank about putting together a record with Shirley, who was also keen on getting in the studio. Luckily, Swarn already had songs to bring to the session. With the support some talented local musicians, the album was recorded–mostly in one or two takes–in a little over a week. Unfortunately, the album saw little exposure. Needless to say, this tremendous effort by Nanette, who continues to sing and perform in Portland, has touched the hearts of many who’ve recently heard the album for the first time.

“The re-release series of original Ethiopian classic vinyl continues — the finest Ethio jazz by Mahmoud Ahmed and his band from 1975 plus two tracks from 1978. The liner notes: ‘Melancholy blues, piercingly minimalist country airs, brassy, danceable urban jazz, heart-wrenching, off-key crooners: a rich and stirring patchwork of sounds, crossing Afro-beat, Latino-swing moves and Eastern arabesques (Anaïs Prosaïc).’ Such were the first — informed and enthusiastic — opinions of the music press when the first strains of modern Ethiopian music sounded on our shores. This was in 1984-1985. Such a positive note, struck about such a country at such a time, created plenty of reverb. The country had been so thoroughly trashed by the media’s feeding-frenzy, which spewed out a mix of horror and pious pity, bitter denunciation and humanitarian appeals, wallet-tickling clichés and refusal of identity. In one brutal swoop, TV-reality transformed Ethiopia into a cursed nation, forsaken by God and by man. In contrast to these tragedies, but in the same hackneyed tones, Mahmoud Ahmed’s life resembles an edifying fairy-tale where destiny, talent and achievement combine to triumph over poverty, fate and the evil eye. Biography, history and legend, with the help of God, infallibly weave the lesson of merit rewarded. But who can argue, in spite of the mockery that celebrities invariably draw, when faced with one of the greatest voices in all of Africa? Once upon a time, there was a street urchin in Addis Ababa, who started off as a shoe-shine boy and went on to become one of his country’s biggest stars, opening the door to Ethiopian music to Western audiences.” — Francis Falceto

A few years ago the world discovered a unique sound coming from the distant Ethiopian capital Addis Abeba. The emotional blow was only matched by the brightness of this original and magnificent discovery. The Ethiopiques series directed by Francis Falcetto and edited by Buda Musique provides a comprehensive landscape of this subtle musical universe where local and western cultures do magnify each other. This new Ethiopian Urban Modern Music release follows the first Soul & Groove installment and keeps revealing some essential parts of the modern Ethiopian puzzle. An unequalled soul funk signature until today.

Another Boogie classic on PPU! So, so good!!!

Instrumental … more sweet funk from Detroit!

Classic big bucks Northern Soul sides on nice lookalike label reissue 45!

Truth & Soul's rst and only all female group, Lady, lead by the incomparable
Nicole Wray, are back with a tribute to the 60 minute man.

Classic big bucks Northern Soul sides on nice lookalike label reissue 45!

Damon Albarn & Four Tet dig this gentleman, so you should dig this forgotten master of african synth-craze, too!

Eccentric Soul: The Bandit Label takes a look at the underside of Chicago soul through twenty tracks of blistering R&B, sweet soul, and discofied funk. Hundreds of hours were spent researching, interviewing, re-mastering, and compiling the history of Bandit and the life of Arrow Brown. Unearthed in the process were two cassette tapes worth of acappella rehearsals that we've done our best to preserve in their lo-fi, in-the-red state. Numero 003 might be the deepest we'll ever dig. No map, no shovel, just a stack of 45's and a city of three million people.

The album was mostly recorded at Dan Auerbach's (The Black Keys) Easy Eye studio in Nashville, as well as L.A. and Budapest, and was produced by both Dan Auerbach and Kevin Augunas (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Florence & The Machine).

180g Colored Vinyl with heavy-duty card sleeve!

Original recordings remastered

Classy jazzy soul from Caro.

Bow down to the 'Screaming Eagle Of Soul'! Download code for the full album is included.

"Fire Walker" is Jungle Fire's sophmore single that's blazin' up dancefloors around the world!

Classic big bucks Northern Soul sides on nice lookalike label reissue 45!

This might be the Gil Scott-Heron track next to 'The Bottle' that lights up dancefloors everywhere. Now reissued on a handy 45!

As then, calypso carries the swing. There are four more Lord Kitchener songs — in consideration of his wife leaving him for a GI, cricket umpires, a fling onboard an ocean-liner and West Indian poultry — besides a hot mambo cash-in, cross-bred under his supervision, and an uproarious, teasing Ghanaian tribute to him in Fanti by London visitors The Quavers.
Other calypsos range compellingly from the devaluation of the pound through jiu jitsu, big rubbery instruments, football fans, heavyweight champ Joe Louis and the sexual allure of English women police. The Mighty Terror contributes the woe-begotten, cautionary tale of his beloved Patricia's change of heart: 'I cannot believe, not for one moment / She gone with Millicent... / You may think I am jocular / But this really happened in Manchester / I felt so ashamed, my friends laughed at me / I had to take a train for London city.'
Ambrose Campbell is back, with six more shots of prodigal, limber, melancholic, visionary West African highlife. Also the Rolling Stones' favourite Ginger Johnson, with a percussive Latin scorcher; and Mona Baptiste, with some wonderful, soulful exotica.
Jamaican mento makes its first entry in the series, with a brace by Tony Johnson: a drily witty drinking-song, and a love-letter to Marilyn Monroe. Also finally getting some dues, the path-breaking Latin-African-jazz experiments of Ghanaian drummer and percussionist Buddy Pipp, with spine-tingling playing by the great Jamaican saxophonist Joe Harriott.
Expert jazz idioms course sophisticatedly through all the selections, which include a straight-up, South London version of Duke Jordan's Jordhu, something from Dizzy Reece's soundtrack — brokered by Kenneth Tynan — to the British crime film Nowhere To Go, and a trio of magnificently hybrid, hard-swinging instrumentals led in turn by master-guitarist Fitzroy Coleman, Kitch's innovative arranger Rupert Nurse, and trumpeter Shake Keane — named after Shakespeare because of his love of poetry — from St. Vincent.

Songs Volume One is a collection of material written, produced and recorded by Dwight Sykes on 4-Track Cassette, in his home studio L.U.S.T. Productions.

One of the finest voices in Southern Soul, George Jackson’s success as a writer meant he wasn’t pushed as an artist and so his vinyl output is disappointingly small. Kent Records is rectifying that with this 12-track LP.

BigM Productions is back full force!

14 tracks feat. Raashan Ahmad, The Real Fake MC, Jehro & others!

Limited edition reissue of 500 on deluxe red vinyl!