Category Archives: Articles

SHRINE NORTHERN – The 60s Rarest Dance Label Various Artists

Kent Records

Label:  Kent Records
Catalogue Number: KENT 526
Release Date: 28th April 2023  
Format: LP

Ace Records is proud to announce the purchase of the Shrine label and Eddie Singleton’s independent productions.
To celebrate we have compiled an album of the very best dance recordings the label made in 1965 and 1966, primarily in Washington DC.
The business’s failure made this music incredibly hard to find for record collectors and Shrine is rightly known as the rarest soul label.

It is much more than that though. The music was made by some one of the original founders of Motown, Raynoma Liles Gordy and her Motown-schooled cousin Mike Ossman, New York music business luminaries Eddie Singleton and Harry Bass and the up-and-coming talents of Washington’s Keni St Lewis and Maxx Kidd. The acts included the hugely respected Ray Pollard and fellow New Yorker J.D. Bryant, talented and established Washington and Baltimore acts Eddie Daye & The Four Bars, Bobby Reed and the Enjoyables. Importantly, they discovered and developed the local talent of the area in the shape of the Cautions, Les Chansonettes, the Prophets and Shirley Edwards.

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This Is Flying Dutchman 1969-1975

Label: BGP 
Catalogue Number:CDBGPD 314
Release Date: 31st March 2023  
Format: CD / LP

Bob Thiele is one of the great producers. For his work with John Coltrane alone, where he gave free reign to the saxophone great’s wildest musical visions including ‘A Love Supreme’, ignoring the usual cost consciousness of a major label, he deserves to be lauded. In addition to this his 8 years at Impulse saw him recording seminal works by scores of musicians including late blooming masterpieces by Ellington and Hodges, and a whole wave of ‘new thing’ jazzers such as Archie Shepp and Pharoah Sanders. He didn’t stop there and when he launched his own label Flying Dutchman in 1969, he continued to innovate and record music that reflected its times, but that also resonates down through the ages.

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Tunnie Smith 

“Join Together” / U And Me”

Label:  Pass The Baton
Catalogue Number: SDE67  
Release Date: April 2023  
Format: 7”

During the summer youth program of 1970 and ’71 at St Paul’s Catholic church a young Tunnie Smith was singled out by Father George Artist for his outstanding singing abilities. He was soon introduced to Joe Delpit and Reginal Brown to sing along with their show and dance band “The 13Th Amendments. It didn’t take long before Tunnie was a full member of the band and became a featured singer performing throughout Louisiana. After a year and a half of performing at nightclubs, military bases and universities Tunnie landed a record deal with Rick Hall’s Fame/UA record label. His first single from 1973 was a wonderful mid-tempo number entitled “Finders Aren’t Always Keepers” flipped with “Do That To Me” It gained National distribution and had some good success.

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Bobby Harden & The Soulful Saints

“One Night of the Week” /“Feels So Good” 

How do you define a true Soul Man? With difficulty, given that so much is down to a certain mystical mojo. But if anyone knows one when they see him, it would be Stax legend Eddie Floyd, who has spent 60-plus years perfecting the role. When Bobby Harden joined the star-studded Blues Brothers Band in 2012 as one of two singers in support of Floyd, the elder Soul Man immediately recognized similar qualities in his understudy. “He was everything I’d been when I was younger,” said Floyd, who gracefully passed the torch after several tours tag-teaming on stage. “I always tell him. ‘I saw you, my man,’ and I said, ‘That’s it! I can go back to the house and rest!’”

You get the sense it will be many years until Harden makes a similar transition into retirement. The true Soul Man, after all, lives to work, recognizing that success don’t come knocking on the door with a gold-plated invite. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Harden was blessed with a voice to raise roofs, and after a stint in Houston attending college, headed up to New York City to pursue his passion. It wasn’t always easy, but years singing soul classics on the wedding band circuit sharpened that church-trained voice and polished his moves in the process; they also instilled in Bobby the necessary professionalism to not just survive, but thrive on a slow, yet inexorable, rise in reputation.

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Izipho Soul Records February 2023

The original 1975 version on Roulette is a much loved classic, Ron Foster’s 1985 instrumental version is a completely different interpretation with a full 21+ orchestra and now it takes on a new identity with the original lead singer of Whirlwind, Sandi Everett, who recently recorded a new vocal – This composition’s 48 year journey is now fulfilled! On the flip we are proud to present Lee McDonald’s  “Let’s Play Luck”, a hidden gem from his iconic LP ‘Sweet Magic’; released on a 7” for the very first time and as an extended mix!

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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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The Rhythm Roots Allstars Feat: John Arthur Bigham

“Say I Do” / “Island Hustle”

Label: F-Spot Records 
Catalogue Number: FSPT-1027
Release Date: 16th Dec 2022
Format: Vinyl Color: Yellow / Blue / Black 7’

The Rhythm Roots Allstars began in 1998 as the house band for the weekly Rhythm Room at Temple Bar, a popular Los Angeles club that served as the epicenter for underground urban funk, soul, and international music for over a decade. This collective, featuring some of L.A.’s busiest musicians in the scene, is most notable for co-writing and crafting the music for 2017’s Grammy-nominated album “And The Anonymous Nobody” by De La Soul, in addition to recording with artists such as Ghostface Killah, Aloe Blacc, Raheem DeVaughn, Afrodisiac Soundsystem and more. Having backed up and supported numerous artists such as De La Soul, Talib Kweli, Brother Ali, and Barrington Levy, to name a few, it’s been a long time coming for Rhythm Roots Allstars’ first official solo release.

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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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Will Wheaton 

Will Wheaton is set to release his new single, a remake of the Michael Jackson classic “Lady in My Life”in Life on his record label Platinum Bass Records. In 1992 he won Dick Clark’s USA Music Challenge talent contest and received an MCA recording contract. Blessed with a sensual baritone bass voice, Will Wheaton is an extraordinarily refreshing singer/ songwriter. His fertile gospel background helps him cultivate his own unique sound that is rich and gritty. With a deep resonant voice, reminiscent of his earlier influences Barry White and Teddy Pendergrass, Will strips away the veneer of a traditional ballad with vocal prowess and perfection usually reserved for such contemporary artist as Luther Vandross, John Legend, or Maxwell.
Will has earned a reputation as an accomplished background vocalist by working with a stellar lineup of talent as Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Coolio, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Luis Miguel, Montel Jordon, Kenny Loggins, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Chaka khan, and Rod Stewart. Will Wheaton classic rendition of the Michael Jackson song,”The Lady In My Life” Available on all digital platforms November 21st

Double O’s Demingo’s

“Color One Tear Black” Parts 1&2

Label: Symphonical Records
Catalogue Number:  SR-012 
Release Date: 26th October 2022
Format: 7’  / Digital  

Double O’s Demingo’s Cincinnati teens Bill Smith & Randy Vandivier would play together during the late 60s in a group called ‘Billy & The Hitch Hikers’ fronted by James Bowens, who through his fascination with James Bond would adopt the nickname ‘Double O’ Hailing from Lincoln Heights, the group would be surrounded by and play with the likes of Bootsy Collins, Charles Spurling who became staples at local King Records.

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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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