Still digging into early-Seventies soul, I have to admit I’d never heard of Brick and consequently I’d never heard of their disco and jazz hybrid that they called “dazz.”

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Everybody knows Aretha Franklin. Few apart from hardcore soul fans remember the Queen of Soul’s big sister Erma. (more…)

Jazz-funk was never my thing, conjuring nightmarish visions of George Benson and Level 42, but it did provide a moment of Pleasure in 1979.

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I have to confess I never really paid much attention to the rise of D’Angelo, wrongly filing him away as a smooth R&B crooner of bedroom ballads.

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Here’s a song from 1971 that I’ve never heard before by an artist I’ve never heard of before – Christopher Blue.

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Here’s a slice of vintage funk from the streets of the motor city. Except it’s not. D/Troit are an all-white funk revival outfit from… Copenhagen.

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Clean Up Woman is one of the greatest soul songs of all time, recorded by Betty Wright when she was only 17. I’m amazed I’ve not posted it before. (more…)

Tony Clarke never had a big hit in his lifetime but is revered here for one of the biggest Northern Soul favourites of all time – Landslide. (more…)

This was the first single The Impressions released with Curtis Mayfield as lead singer. (more…)

This song’s lyrics could not be more pertinent today – half a century after it was recorded by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes.

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