Category Archives: Record Labels

Kent Records Jan /Feb 2023

Release Date: 27.01.23
To celebrate Kent’s 40th birthday (admittedly a month late due to pressing times), we are releasing our first ever box set of singles. This is due to getting access to the Loma vaults and finding some previously unheard soul gems to augment the best of the soul dance tracks from the esteemed imprint.
Starting with THEE discovery of the soulful ‘20s we present L A soul group the Marvellos whose ‘It’s Your Love That I Need’ – written by the great Willie Hutch – a Motownesque dancer whose arrangements and melodies are so stunning we also issued the backing track as an instrumental B side to it.

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The Intruders 

“You’re My One & Only Baby” / “I’ve Got Love For You”

Label: Soul-Direction Records
Catalogue Number: SD015
Release Date: Mid/Late February 2023  
Format: 7”

The original group consisted of five members who formed in 1959. When that group broke up, Phil Terry joined three remaining members: Robert (Big Sonny) Edwards, Samuel (Little Sonny) Brown and Eugene Daughtry. “Little Sonny” and “Big Sonny” both worked at a barber shop on Ridge Avenue in North Philadelphia and called Main Line Record Distributor owner Barry Golder to hear the group sing over the phone. Barry sent his 19 year old brother Michael over to the barber shop to hear them audition, liked what he heard, and took the group to Reco Art Studios to record some tunes for his newly formed Gowen label.

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Centaura featuring Jewel Bass

“I Need Love” / “Just Don’t Love You” 

Label:  Creative Soul Records 
Catalogue Number: CS-1003
Release Date: January 2023  
Format: 7’   

This time we’re shining a light on the very talented and rarely heard Jewel Bass, pulling the incredible ‘I Need Love’ out of the shadow of ‘Just Don’t Love You’, both recorded as Centaura on the near mythical Spiral LP from 1979.
Whilst we know and love Jewel Bass and her recordings as a solo artist, within groups such as Centaura / Carbon Copies and as a featured (but often uncredited) vocalist in her work with Natural High, Sho-Nuff, and Freedom, very little is known about Centaura.

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Just When You Thought It Couldn’t Get Any…BETTER

Warren Raye & The Infernal Blues Machine “It’s The Feeling I Get” / “I Can’t Turn You Down”

Label:  Kent Select City Records 
Catalogue Number: CITY 086
Release Date: End of January 2023 
Format: 7’

Yet again a new 100 Club Anniversary 45 has been instantly acclaimed and has become highly sort-after on release. Warren Raye’s ‘It’s The Feeling I Get’ is now available on a commercial pressing and this superb Crossover number will be one of the biggest sellers of the year. 

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Various Artists – It Hurts So Good  

Label:  Soul4Real Records 
Catalogue Number: S4RLP01 
Release Date: 9th December 2022  
Format: LP   

It doesn’t always hurt to hurt…
Soul 4 Real’s first venture into the albums market is as compellingly essential as the label’s impressive singles catalogue. Its 11 tracks explore every lonely street and losers avenue that soul music has walked down since the early 60s, tempering essays of heartbreak and love lost with the occasional glimpse of positivity and happiness. “It Hurts So Good” is very much in the tradition of those great 60s soul compilations where diverse strands of black American music sat side-by-side with each other, and still formed a satisfying listening experience despite their apparent disparity because, in the final analysis, the music mattered most.

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The Harlem Gospel Travelers

“Do You Know The Man”

Label: Colemine Records
Catalogue Number: CLMN-231
Release Date: 18th October 2022
Format: 7’

The Harlem Gospel Travelers. “Do You Know The Man” is an amazing and heartfelt cover of a classic gospel tune, with lead vocals from HGT member, George Marage. This song is available on 45 as part of the Colemine-exclusive bundle with their recent LP, Look Up’.

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The Ironsides

‘Changing light” / “Sommer”

Label: Colemine Records
Catalogue Number: CLMN-176
Release Date: 14th October 2022
Format: 7’

Breezy instrumental soul from California’s The Ironsides. Featuring members of Monophonics, ‘Changing Light’ is a cinematic and orchestral track that is uber-pleasing to the ears. The B-Side, “Sommer” is a cover of an obscure 1973 song by Stig & Steen, but the mood seems very modern with the help of some excellent production by brothers Max and Joe Ramey.
Terry Cole

The Lovemasters

“If you see Kate” / “Let’s stay together”

Label:  North Broad Street Records
Catalogue:  NBS 007BL
Release Date: 3rd Sept 2022
Format: 7’

As North Broad Street Records goes from strength to strength, September will see the arrival of the seventh vinyl release in their series of quality previously unissued soul recordings. NBS 007 takes us to the Windy City for two fine tracks by the group who previously gave us a northern soul classic on Jacklyn Records. A key figure in this particular origin story is West Yorkshire record collector and DJ Dave Box. When Dave passed away in 2018, the UK soul community lost a vital connection with some of the finest Chicago soul artists of all time. Boxy’s involvement on the soul scene goes further back than most—Normanton Baths soul nights from 1967, the all-nighters which followed in the early 1970s, and in more recent years, the Wilton and Frobisher events. Dave’s close friendship with a number of recording artists culminated in some UK stage appearances which discerning soul fans had only dreamed of experiencing. His commitment to the scene was unyielding, and the legacy continues with this latest release by North Broad Street.

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James Lately

“What you’re doing”

Label: MD Records
Catalogue: MD-120
Release Date: Sept
Format: 7’

Here you have the first release of the previously unissued version of the Johnnie Mae Mathews flip to ‘Two Sided Thing’ sung by James Lately. This was uncovered in the Pioneer vaults being digitised as part of the MD Pioneer project.
Interestingly we have also uncovered the original recording of the ‘Two Sided Thing’ which was also recorded at Pioneer Studios.

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Tomangoes ft The Gambrells

 “Love’s gotta hold on me” / “Since you’ve been gone”

Label: MD Records
Catalogue: MD-119
Release Date: Sept
Format: 7’

So, the story of the Tomangoes keeps growing and unfolding. For years it has been rumoured that the band may have been a studio band with Dusty Williams heading up on the vocals. MDs wor with Pioneer Studios has evidenced that there were in fact three members of the band; Claude ‘Dusty ‘Williams and two guys where we only currently have the names James and Lamar.  We are continuing our search for more information on this and will bring you the story in full as soon as we can. You can always keep up to date on the story as we publish in the Soul up North fanzine by Howard Earnshaw.

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Kim Tibbs

THE SCiENCE OF COMPLETiON VOLUME 1.

Label:  Izipho Soul Records
Release Date: 16th September 2022
Format Options: Red Double Vinyl (Limited Edition of 200 Copies) / Black Double Vinyl & CD.

Recorded at the legendary Royal Studios in Memphis, TN, USA and co-produced by Lawrence Boo Mitchell, son of the late great Willie Mitchell.Twenty five musicians played their part on this project and have created the most authentic 70s soul you will ever hear in 21st century music, attention to detail even went as far as retrieving Al Green’s microphone from the original Hi sessions to enhance that vintage sound!

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Don Bryant

“A world like that” / “It was jealousy”

Label: Creative Soul
Catalogue: CS-1002
Release Date: August 2022
Format: 7’

Written by Memphis performer and songwriter, John Paul Keith, ‘A World Like That’ is a response to the racially motivated fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri by a serving police officer in 2014. Don gives a moving vocal performance with sympathetic accompaniment from a seasoned set of Memphis based musicians including Charles Hodges and Howard Grimes, which sadly proved to be the legendary drummers last recording session.

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The Harlem Gospel Travelers

Things are looking up for The Harlem Gospel Travelers, who return here with a new album, a new lineup, and a new lease on life. Produced by Eli Paperboy Reed, Look Up! marks the group’s first full-length release as a trio, as well as their first collection of totally original material, and it couldn’t have come at a more vital moment. The music still draws deeply on the gospel quartet tradition of the ’50s and ’60s, of course, but there’s a distinctly modern edge to the record, an unmistakable reflection of the tumultuous past few years of pandemic anxiety, political chaos, and social unrest. The songs are bold and resilient, facing down doubt and despair with faith and perseverance, and the performances are explosive and ecstatic, fueled by dazzling vocal arrangements punctuated with gritty bursts of guitar and crunchy rhythm breaks. 

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