Category Archives: Articles

The Harlem Gospel Travelers


“Rhapsody”

Label:  Colemine Records
Release Date: Friday 23rd August 2024  
Format:  LP Vinyl

With The Harlem Gospel Travelers’ new album Rhapsody, the extraordinary vocalists Ifedayo, Dennis Bailey, and George Marage are able to fully explore the entire range of music that influenced them. The follow-up to their acclaimed 2021 release Look Up!, the record is a dive into a lesser-known but hugely important era in the evolution of gospel music.

Starting in the mid-1960s, local gospel groups and singers began incorporating elements of popular soul and funk styles and in 2006, Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group released Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. HGT’s longtime friend and mentor Eli Paperboy Reed approached the group with the idea of digging through the Numero catalog and recording some of the gospel-funk material, reinterpreted in their own way—from the high-energy, old-school soul of “God’s Been Good to Me” to the hip-hop-inflected “Get Involved.” 

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Bridge 


“Crying For Love” /“Listen”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP104 
Release Date: Friday 26th July 2024  
Format:  7’ Vinyl

Paul Tillman Smith is a significant figure within in the music community of Oakland/Berkeley, California. His connections and collaborations read like a who’s who of famous musicians.

As leader of 70s Buddah Records group ‘Vitamin E’ and then onto ‘Bridge’, the subsequent band cut an album in 1981 for the CBS distributed Bang label that never saw the light of day. It was released by First Experience Records as a double LP and CD in 1999 and is recognised as being one of the finest unreleased discoveries within its genre.

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Soul Discovery Show – An Exclusive Interview with Candi Staton 19/06/24

In the early ‘70s with a string of hit R&B records, produced by her great friend, the late Rick Hall of the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals: “I’d Rather Be an Old Man’s Sweetheart (Than a Young Man’s Fool),” “I’m Just a Prisoner (of Your Good Lovin’),” “Sweet Feeling,” “Stand by Your Man” and a cover of “In the Ghetto” that remains nearly as celebrated as Elvis Presley’s original. In the late ‘70s, she reinvented herself as a disco diva, returning to the charts with “Young Hearts Run Free.” She then returned to her gospel roots, a move that unexpectedly led to her career resurgence in the ‘90s and 2000s, as two songs originally written as Christian anthems, “You Got the Love” and “Hallelujah Anyway,” won new audiences with dance remixes.

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Robbie Love

Robbie Love’s musical journey began the day she was born. Growing up in a rock & roll household, Robbie is no stranger to the music industry. It wasn’t unusual for her and her brothers to go shoot billiards at the home of front man Dennis Edwards of the Temptations or to spend weekends over Uncle Charles Wright of the Watts 103 Street Rhythm band’s house, or even get a knock on the door from Mr. Willie Hutch. Robbie’s first photo shoot was at the tender age of 4 months by Mr. Lamont Mc Lemore, one of the founding members of the acclaimed musical group The Fifth Dimensions. 

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Erica Falls & Vintage Soul “Up” / “Making Of Love”

“Up” / “Making Of Love”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP105 
Release Date: Friday 10th May 2024  
Format:  7’ Vinyl

UP by New Orleans songstress Erica Falls is considered by discerning real soul heads to be one of the finest soul tracks from last year.
From the intro and opening line ‘Baby take me for a ride on your magic carpet. 747 glide through the clouds, baby be my pilot….’ you just know UP is going to be special. The incredible soulful vocals ascend in harmony until reaching the apex, and if you don’t want to come down, simply play it again – It’s ‘classic in the making’ tag ensures freshness upon multiple listens!

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The Shades Of Brown 

“Searchin’ For Love” / “Black Woman” / “Teasin’ Woman” /“Girl In The Streets”

In 1969, a transformation in Albina was underway. Displaced by the Vanport flood two decades prior, an influx of Black residents had settled in the area after redlining practices among the city’s realty boards provided few other options. A local economy among Albina’s Black residents had flourished for a time, but soon declined due to chronic disinvestment by the city’s elites. As with many urban centers in America, the impending ghetto-ization of the neighborhood developed as the civil rights movement was in full swing. And the citizens of Albina had something to say about it. 

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Williams Brothers 

“That’s Life” / “Rap On”  

Label: Epsilon Records Co
Catalogue Number: EPS 030 
Release Date: Friday 10th May 2024
Format: 7’ Vinyl

The Exciting Williams Brothers Band got their start by their father and mother Mr Roscoe Williams Sr. and Mrs Esther Maude Walker Williams in the late 60’s.
They started out in Gospel music like their father and family of brothers before them whom you will see photos of “The Original Williams Brothers” throughout this site from time to time.

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Sharisma

“Trouble, Trouble” / “Something Wonderful” / “Love Is the Way” 

Label: Soul Direction Records
Catalogue Number: SD021  
Release Date: Tuesday7th 2024 Available to Order – Monday 29th May 2024 
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Available for the first time on vinyl courtesy of Emandolynn Music & Manny Campbell. 

Emandolynn Music did release the tracks, but in digital format only. This prompted Soul Direction to strike a deal to license the tracks for a 7” vinyl release and believed that showcasing all 3 tracks together was the perfect package. This being the way it was meant to be released. 

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Lawrence Beamen

“Thinking Of You” / “Been A Long Time”

Label: Izipho Soul Records
Catalogue Number: ZP100 
Release Date: 8th March 2024  
Format:  7’ Vinyl

Izipho Soul Records are incredibly proud to announce our 100th 7” vinyl single!

The unsurpassable bass-baritone voice of Lawrence Beamen originally recorded Think Of You in 2008. After years of pleas for a vinyl release; it’s finally here and sounding fresher than ever. The 7 remix has added a magic touch and beefed up this classic even further!

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Lady Lois Snead

“I Found Out” / “Until We Learn”

Label: Divine Chords Recordings
Catalogue Number: DCR001
Release Date: Expected 1st March 2024
Format: 7′ Vinyl

Divine Who are thrilled to announce an exciting collaborative release with the legendary gospel artist, Lady Lois Snead for the brand new year!
We’re launching 2024 with this back-to-back double sided slice of audio dynamite, available on collectable, limited edition 7” single. It’s primed and packed tight with goodness to spiritualize your club session for the more discerning dance floors around the globe.

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THE STAPLES

“Take This Love Of Mine” / “Precious, Precious”

Label: Soul4Real Records
Catalogue Number: S4R34
Release Date: 1st March 2024  
Format: 7’ Vinyl

With the collapse of Stax Records, The Staple Singers signed with Warner Bros in 1975, leading to a brief and fruitful collaboration with Curtis Mayfield. Their first work, the OST ‘Let´s Do It Again’, became the Staples’ all-time best seller. Such was the success that the major decided that Mayfield would also produce their next work, ‘Pass It On’, in 1976.

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TOMMY TATE

“I Can’t Do Enough For You Baby” / “Hold On (To What We’ve Got)”

Label: Soul4Real Records
Catalogue Number: S4R33
Release Date: 1st March 2024  
Format: 7’ Vinyl

Tommy was born in 1945 in Homestead, Florida, and after his first foray into music in a church choir, he launched his secular recording career in Jackson, Mississippi, working mostly with Tim Whitsett and his Imperial Showband in the latter half of the 1960s. After a short stint with the Nightingales, he signed with KoKo in 1971 and had six impressive singles released, followed by records on Sundance, Juana and Urgent Records.

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Atlanta – Hotbed Of 70s Soul

Label: Kent Records
Catalogue Number: CDKEND 518
Release Date: 29rd March 2024  
Format: CD

The GRC Records set-up in Atlanta produced a wealth of great soul music. Because of the sudden curtailment of the company, due to owner Michael Thevis’ incarceration, so much of it never saw a release.

The tapes were preserved though and with many tracks being issued. This latest batch of tape discoveries is of shockingly high quality. Sam Dees’ presence is a major cause of this.

Standouts include Miss Louistine’s original version of ‘Con Me’ – surely a contender to be a Deep Soul Treasure, had Dave Godin heard it. Her take on Dees’ ‘Extra Extra’ is possibly the opposite emotion – sheer joy at finding her lover; equally well expressed. ‘Paperman’ is a classic mid 70s Dees’ composition, well sung by Wes Lewis with his group Alpaca Phase III. Dees collaborated with another major GRC talent, Joe Hinton, for the funkier ‘Shouldn’t I Be Given The Right To Be Wrong’. Hinton co-penned two songs with backing singer Louvain Demps who left her job with Motown’s backing girls the Andantes to move to Atlanta with Hinton. Their ‘Grant Me One More Day’ is a beautiful track and ‘Depend On Me’ is another worthy find.

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