Funk | Soul 307 Items

New Series Reflecting Soul Togeterness' Love For 70s Northern Inspired Crossover & Modern Soul Inc. Loads Of Currently In Demand Dancefloor Fillers

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

A limited edition 7” release by MIAMI, both tracks taken from the “PARTY FREAKS” LP. Again DYANMITE CUTS give you never been on 7” release. Including a wonderful re-production of the original sleeve.

Strut presents the definitive reissues of two all-time classic Caribbean soul and funk albums, The Beginning Of The End’s ‘Funky Nassau’ (1971) and ‘Beginning Of The End’ (1976).
Emerging from Nassau in the Bahamas in 1971, the band was formed around the Munnings brothers (Ray, Leroy and Frank) and the first song they recorded, ‘Funky Nassau’, became a No. 1 Billboard R’n’B hit, selling over a million copies. “We wanted to create something new,” remembers Ray Munnings, “something that was truly Bahamian. We loved funk but wanted to include elements of junkanoo, the indigenous music of The Bahamas.” An album was written within a week and recorded at Criteria Studios in Miami. “We brought in more Bahamian themes, like ‘Monkey Tamarind’, a wild fruit that grows there.”
By the time of their second album in 1976, the band was managed by Don Taylor, also Bob Marley’s manager. “Don took us to Byron Lee’s studio in Jamaica and used Teddy Randazzo (Little Anthony & The Imperials) to direct the sessions,” recalls Munnings. “He gave us more of an uptempo jazz funk sound with Chicago-style horns.” The album led to a run of incredible bad luck. Booked to support Marvin Gaye’s ’What’s Goin’ On’ tour, the US Musicians Union stepped in and ordered a US group to fill the slot. They were then added onto a major Bob Marley tour in 1976 before he injured his foot, cancelling all dates.
These definitive official reissues of ‘Funky Nassau’ and ‘Beginning Of The End’ are remastered by The Carvery from original tapes and feature full length tracks from the studio sessions. Both albums feature a history of the albums and the band by vocalist Ray Munnings, alongside rare photos. ‘Beginning Of The End’ appears on loud-press 2LP for the first time.

One of the most coveted unreleased Low Rider / Soul Ballads. A Huge tune, up there with Darling dears (google that shit). Only released on a Japanese compilation 20 odd years ago without the bands consent (and with some of the channels missing) we bring you the full unreleased Version for the first time. This is a big one for people who know the score.
If that's not enough, we found this rather good unreleased disco gospel number on the master tapes of their Private Press LP sessions (also coming soon) but we had to give the ballad to the A side, roll the windows down and blast it.

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.

Motown's First Ladies of Funk finally release their vinyl
debut, some 45 years after it was originally scheduled!
As the '70s dawned and Motown relocated to the West Coast, the
era of their honey-toned '60s girl groups came to a resounding
halt. The Sisters Love were the antithesis of the traditional
Motown group and came to the label from A&M, armed with a lot
of funk, sass and attitude.
Paired with some of Motown's finest writers and producers - Hal
Davis, Gloria Jones, Pamela Sawyer, Paul Riser and Willie Hutch
- they got off to a rousing start with the gritty "Mr. Fix-It Man"
and went into high gear for the UK only release "I'm Learning To
Trust My Man".
Motown had them playing arenas with The Jackson Five (probably
not their smartest move!), issued the odd single and scheduled
more but Sisters Love's anticipated breakthrough didn't happen.
In 1980 New York DJ Danny Krivit pressed up an extended
eight-minute re-edit of "Give Me Your Love", an old B-side from a
1973 single! That song was somewhat of an underground classic
but the Krivit mix brought in a whole new legion of fans amongst
the rare groove crowd, both in the US and the UK.
Sisters Love had long been rumored to have recorded a complete
album for the Motown subsidiary MoWest. Get On Down Records
combed the vaults with Motown's help and the result is the
original 10 cut album, plus a bonus cut, "Give Me Your Love."
Although Gwen Berry passed away some years ago, the other
three members of the group - Jeanie Long, Lillie Fort and
Vermettya Royster have all been actively involved in this release.

Includes two bonus tracks.

Following up on the massive worldwide success of their debut album 55, Bacao Rhythm & Steel band is back with another heavy duty offering. Picking
up where they left off and incorporating a ton of new recording techniques they take a huge step forward with The Serpent’s Mouth. Named after the
eight-mile strait between the island of Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela, The Serpent’s Mouth is a journey through both originals and covers,
combining classic elements that wide-eared music fans already know, and mashing them up in new and unique ways.
Take “1 Thing” – on it, the group attacks the galloping, chopped Amerie smash hit, with singing pans that follow the R & B vocal. The sound is crisp
and up-front, arguably more muscular than the 2005 original. On “Great To Be Here,” they take on the Jackson 5 B-Boy favorite (which stretches back
to the Zulu Nation / Bronx block party days) – uncoincidentally, the original version featured a guitar lick that emulated a steel pan run. Here, it gets
an even more pulsating groove, adding open-drums breaks throughout, to get DJs salivating. The group veers through more inventively-constructed
covers as the album’s sequence continues, including Gang Starr’s “All For The Cash”, Mary J. Blige’s “I Love You”, and the recently unleashed first
single, “XXplosive” and “Burn,” paying tribute to both Dr. Dre and Mobb Deep for a bi-coastal funk party. And, as band leader Bjorn Wagner states,
“My favorite cover on the album is probably ‘Crockett Theme,’ which is the theme to ‘Miami Vice.’ I always loved the melody, and the cosmic vibe of
the song, and I was honestly surprised that it worked without synthesizers.”
This time around the group’s originals are even stronger, as evidenced by cuts like the flute-fueled break-fest of “Hoola Hoop”, the slow and spacey
“Touchdown”, and the album’s title track, the future-epic-adventure-movie-soundtrack cut “The Serpent’s Mouth.” Wagner explains, “I wrote the song
with Bernhard Hummer as an instrumental fantasy story – think of pirates, smugglers and a dangerously beautiful sea passage towards the island. It
became an allegory for our mind travels into the world of the steel pan.”
The Serpent’s Mouth is sure to please past fans and newly-minted ones alike. It seems like a new era for Steel Drum music is upon us, and Bacao is
firmly leading the way into the hearts of music fans around the world.

Robbie M of Midnight Express (Danger Zone) is back with his latest single! This is the first track from Robbie's Upcoming LP.

"It'd be easy to mistake this release for yet another soul revival album made by a dude who wasn't there the first time around - but it'd be the listener's mistake to make. What kind of record is a man with a punk past going to make when he's been a mod, a rocker and a rare soul collector in between? One that draws on a familial history of activism, sacrifice and earnest hustling - the very same things we're all being called upon to conjure as a society in this present moment. This is a body of work that lets neither performer nor listener off the hook, yet still understands the need for care and cause in the spaces between. Consider it: A band of fighters meant for the clear-eyed lovers of the world. Ben Pirani is not fooling around, and neither are the working musicians who agreed to make this record with him." - Jocelyn Brown Colemine Records is proud to present the debut LP from Ben Pirani. A record that feels so very easy and familiar, but at the same time fresh and relevant. Like the hype sticker says, "Soul music that's so positive it might just spark a revolution!"

Big Crown Records is proud to present this tough as nails split 7”

The A side is Paul Ramos version of the Mandrill classic “Fence Walk”. Originally released on the Harlem label, and later licensed to Falcon only to oddly appear on their Kris Bravo LP. Ramos stays close to the original, but adds enough to the tune to make it a must have for funk collectors.

The B side “Funky Resurgence” comes by way of vibes player/bandleader Ulysses Crockett who was a stalwart on the Bay Area scene of the 1960's first with his Latin Jazz group Afro Blue Persuasion and later Ulysses Crockett Magic. He also played in The Skins w/ the legendary Bill Graham. "Funky Resurgence" was one of several compositions he wrote for the 1971 play "Resurgence." During this period, Ulysses was also going through law school and he remains a legal voice, writer and activist in the Bay Area.

Athens of the North are proud to presentRenée Geyer's modern soul masterpiece ‘Be There In The Morning'. Recorded in the USA early 1977 but only released as a single in Australia how this was not a worldwide hit is beyond us. On the flip we have the impossibly rare 1976 version recorded in Australia before Renee headed to the USA. Timmion Cutting Laboratory did the lathe worksoit’s cut loud and deep, sounds amazing, an essential 45 for disco or modern soul heads.

In the great and ongoing culture war between high and low, raw and refined, the real versus popular, certain territories have been ceded: styles
considered mainstream get to be pretty, lovely and optimistic. Styles originating underground are presumed to be gritty, burly and practical.
So it’s a subversion of a kind, and definitely an intellectual challenge, to bathe a foreboding bass line in a lilt. To make gloomy shine. To trojan
horse some heavy feelings in a delicate vocal.
Adrian Younge’s Voices of Gemma embodies the potential of the hybrid. By just saying no to the borders a label like underground might impose
on a creativity like his, he’s able to fashion a sound that elbows its way past your defenses, whatever they are. You don’t want to hear anything
grim today? Had enough of that on the news, thanks? Younge has a couple of angels on hand to waft a hard truth over so that when it hits it
feels like a kiss. Sick of the saccharine piped over aisle 4 at Walgreens? Younge’s palming you a melody fit for impending doom.
Voices of Gemma comes from Younge’s refusal to accept the premise. His stance is there in every artist’s job description — the determination
to suction up sounds and flavors and phrases from all over the past and present and imagined and documented, and then splice and dissolve
what he finds into more possibilities and new ways of seeing, something fresh.
On this project his songs are precise, the set ups delivered with a satiny finish and, in the low end, just a hint of louche. His characters are
lyrically poised, but when it comes to their emotional lives, as portrayed melodically, it’s one cliffhanger after another. Younge’s female leads
take up residence in their upper register, a fairytale landscape pierced only once by a man’s voice. The dreamy, internal feeling singers Brooke
deRosa and Rebecca Engelhardt conjure up is tethered to the earth by music that’s filmic and deeply intelligent. Here there are easter eggs left
in accent notes and fills. Care has has been given to every detail, and the old way of doing a thing (bring in an orchestra, record to tape) is the
way its done; it’s like listening to a five-star hotel.
Voices of Gemma is luxurious, a style that we forgot could be present day, as accustomed as we are to sampled and thrice-removed versions
of it. This is high-class signified, a world-class realization.

A permanent fixture in the world of Rhythm and Soul, James Hunter follows up five critically acclaimed albums with his latest recording, Whatever It Takes, for New York City’s renowned label, Daptone Records. At the height of his famed recording career, Hunter and Daptone co-founder and producer Bosco Mann recorded an elegantly crafted collection of 10 originals that are evermore poignant and compelling than the singer’s previous works. The James Hunter Six and Mann recorded Whatever It Takes straight to tape at Daptone's Penrose Studios in Riverside, California.

The first Brit to sign to Daptone Records, Hunter is revered by critics both in his native UK and stateside, with MOJO touting Hunter as “The UK’s greatest soul singer” and the Los Angeles Times praising his “extraordinary soul voice.” Of his prior recordings, Rolling Stone called his U.S. debut People Gonna Talk, “a treat not to miss” and his second album “unbelievably awesome,” while The New York Times noted of The Hard Way, Hunter’s “tight, slithery groove” and “sweet growl.” Hunter’s accolades include milestones of reaching #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, a GRAMMY® Award nomination for “Best Traditional Blues Album”, years as a singer touring and recording with Van Morrison, and many TV appearances on Conan, Later…with Jools Holland, and other late night TV shows.

Subsequent to his acclaim as one of today’s renowned soul singers, Hunter’s restless genius penning emotive and captivating works results in his best written compositions to date on Whatever It Takes.

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2018! Remastered and resissued double A sider for soul aficionados, B Boys and jazz funk lovers.
Both instantly recognisable across the generations, the A side sees a reissue of one of the most feel good records out there in – ‘Express Yourself’. Most famously sampled by the mighty N.W.A. in '89…. ‘Whatever you do, do it good’.
On flip you get pure funk destruction in the form of The Meters – Just Kissed My Baby. An insatiable, groove laden intro which has been prime sampling material throughout the years - most notably in Public Enemy’s ‘Timebomb’. Here’s a chance to own two gems on one limited green Colored Vinyl, with a large / dinked centre hole.

Another outstanding Jazz fusion release for Dynamite cuts. limited edition 7” release of 2 masterpieces by Alice Babs and Nils Lindberg's Orchestra. Both tracks taken from the “Music With A Jazz Flavour” LP.

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2018! Two seminal cuts from Norman Whitfields standout project, The Undisputed Truth. Remastered and reissued on 180g vinyl.
If you’re not familiar with “You + Me = Love”, well that bass synth intro will have you hooked from the off. “Sandman” on the B side is a funk bomb nestled on the Smokin’ LP….must have!

It's finally repressed. This 180g heavy weight vinyl comes in a gatefold cover with liner notes. Funky Chicken brings together some of the best Belgian dance tracks from the early seventies.

It's finally repressed. This 180g heavy weight vinyl comes in a gatefold cover with liner notes. Funky Chicken brings together some of the best Belgian dance tracks from the early seventies.

Tuxedo is back with a new single, “Shy,” the follow up to their critically acclaimed “II” album. In collaboration with the iconic funk band, Zapp. Tuxedo delivers a highly addictive new funk single for the dance floor.

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.

Attention: the sticker says "incl. booklet", but there's no booklet inside!

Now-Again Records is proud to present "Back From The Brink", the only legitimately licensed collection of the godfather of Iranian psychedelic rock, Kourosh Yaghmaei. Known within the Iranian diaspora simply by his first name, Kourosh’s Pre-Revolution recordings were thought lost after Islamic fundamentalists took control of Iran. They weren’t: Kourosh had protected them – along with key ephemera from the 70’s. Their collection here - spread over a 3-LP - bolstered by Kourosh’s first person recollections of Iran’s 70s rock scene and its death after the Revolution, tells the story of an immensely talented artist’s desire to persevere in the face of terrible adversity.

Reisue pressed at GZ Media, CZ.