While I was on an instrumental soul and funk tip with The JBs, I began exploring the interweb for new discoveries in that vein. And I came across Oliver Sain. (more…)

James Brown’s backing band The JB’s were pretty much in a class of their own when it came to funk. Pick Up The Pieces was one of their finest moments from 1972. (more…)

No one had a voice quite like Esther Phillips, with that distinctive Minnie Mouse twang, which is why I remember her only hit – this disco classic from the Seventies – so well. (more…)

The Stylistics dominated the early Seventies with their smooth soul ballads, defining the smooth soul sound synonymous with producer Thom Bell. (more…)

This wasn’t a hit for Labi Siffre in 1975 but it’s got a place in pop history, spawning the sample that brought Eminem to the world. (more…)

Linda Lewis was a one-off. Not just for her extraordinary five-octave-spanning voice, nor her blissful smile, but just as a black girl with a guitar. (more…)

It’s easy to forget that The Bee Gees had pretty much disappeared from view by the mid-Seventies. So much so that this comeback single was sent to DJs in a plain white sleeve with no band name. (more…)

This tribute to the falsetto singers of the doo-wop era lived up to its name by entering the American charts at No.18… with a bullet. (more…)

This song is an important piece of pop history. Emile Ford was the first black Briton to sell a millon copies of a single. Almost as historically, it topped the charts on my second birthday.

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Sometimes a song’s so good that it doesn’t matter who covers it.
I’m not sure which is my favourite take on It Hurts So Good, though the one I first heard was Susan Cadogan’s sweet reggae take, produced by Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. (more…)